Bienvenido a Panama!

I am sorry it has taken me so long to put up my first post! I intend to try and put up a new entry at least every couple of week. I left home a week ago tomorrow and it feels like so much has happened I don't know where to start. We arrived in Panama on Wednesday and have been staying in an area outside the city called "Ciudad de Saber" or City of Knowledge. It is an old US government "city" that was turned over to the Panamanian government when they gained control over the canal in 1999. It houses the Peace Corp office as well as several other NGO's and US govenment organizations such as USAid and USDA. It is right across the street from the canal, which is awesome. It is not that hot here, but the humidity is intense so we are all adjusting. There are 35 people in our group and are divided into 2 sectors, community economic development (CED) and environmental health (EH). A lot of people are in their early 20's, but there are a good amout of people around my age/ early 30's as well. We also have two married couples who are in there late 20's and two guys who are in their 50's. So far everyone is awesome and we are having a great time getting to know each other.

The staff here is incredible, both the US staff and local Panamanians. Each group, CED and EH has a project manager, plus we have a country director, medical officer....the list goes on and on. Our project manager, Zach, is so inspiring and did his service here in Panama in a very remote are of the country. We have all been up at 6:30 am every morning and in seminars by 8 am. We have gotten vaccines, taken swim tests, learned how to make flotation devices out of our jeans, taken language interviews, medical interviews, been debriefed by the US embassy,...needless to say we are being throughly prepared for our sites and any possible issues that will arise over the next two years. This morning we all went out to a current volunteer site to see an example of where we could be placed in the next two, which was great. I will say more about this later when I have time. Tomorrow, we are leaving to move in with our host families for training which will be an experience to say the least. I could keep writing, but I have to go pack up. It has only been one week and already this experience is more than I could have imagined and it is only going to get better.