April has passed in the blink of eye... and May has arrived bringing with it baseball and some hot hot weather! It also signals the halfway point of my third year extension, just six months left. My job as regional coordinator has been very different from my first two years and I have gained a valuable new perspective on Peace Corp and development work. A lot of people ask if this job is more 9 to 5 or Monday thru Friday.....my answer is usually "sometimes but...well not really....it is kinda hard to explain." So, I took some along my camera on a recent site development trip to try to better explain what I am doing in beautiful Panama.
Back home a "business trip" usually involves driving and flying to meetings usually wearing heels and a suit. Here the preferred modes of transport are usually 4 wheel drive vehicles, hiking, public buses and my personal favorite boats. Professional attire usually means a polo shirt and jean skirt. Here I am traveling to a community meeting with a few other volunteers and Peace Corp staff.
There are three meetings that myself and the staff have with a community before they are eligible to receive a volunteer. The first meeting I visit the community, usually with other PCV's who live nearby, to walk around talk with local leaders and generally check it out to gauge interest in Peace Corp. If that visit goes well, I set up a second meeting where the program assistant comes out and talks more about what is Peace Corp, who are the volunteers and what are the commitments the community has to make to work with Peace Corp. The third meeting is then with the director who talks about the project the community was to work on with a volunteer. The above photo is of one of the programming assistants, Antonella, presenting the information at a school. 
Plenty of space to park and its free. No need to read the parking rules here. Complete with security guards and everything!
Back home, an early wake up call usually means rushing to get to the airport or jumping in your car to make it somewhere on time. While waking up early never gets easy, it doesn't hurt when you are treated to sunrise over the Caribbean. I will miss being out in nature almost everyday....except when the weather is bad!
These next few months will be full of visiting volunteers, working out in the campo, and helping to train the next group of regional coordinators. I am trying to enjoy my last few months here, while still planning for what is to come.
