Getting Started!

Hello Friends!

Let’s start with a question.

Who thought I would actually go through with this whole Peace Corps thing?  I’ll admit I had fluttering doubts whether or not it was the right decision.  As January 10^th grew nearer and nearer, I couldn’t help thinking that I was abandoning my friends and family after so many years of being so very close to every one of them.  Before I knew it there were only a few days left, and as I was preparing to leave I realized that the people I had hung out with wouldn’t be seeing me again for quite a while.  But you must know that I didn’t make the Peace Corps decision lightly.  All of you were with me till the very end, and I can’t put into words how grateful I am – not only for sticking with me, but for remaining so close to me over the past 9 years.  As a side note, can you believe most of us have been friends for over 9 years already??  Crazy stuff and great times.  Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for all of the support everyone has given me in the weeks prior to leaving.  Especially those who remained with me into the wee hours of the morning a mere 2 hours before my flight – Darin John and Sky, you guys are some badass troopers.  As 6am approached, it all became real and I was in a state of disbelief.  Driving up to the airport, saying bye to Mom and Dad (love you guys so much!), walking the endless stretch of walkway to the plane, and finally taking off.  For so many months I had dreaded and anticipated that moment, but like all events in this crazy life we live it came and went apathetically, not caring that I was leaving everything behind despite my own feelings of sadness and excitement.  But that’s all said and done, and I’ve been here for over 2 weeks, so let’s stop dwelling on the past and start talking about the here and now!

Side note:  this first post may seem monstrous, but it’s setting the tone for the rest of my Peace Corps service and I promise that all posts from here on out will be much more bearable J.  I know when I read blogs from other PCV’s (Peace Corps Volunteers) it was sometimes a chore to get through everything.  If you get tired of my rambling, bookmark your spot and read it in chunks!  But please try to at least get through this first one, and I promise the next ones will be easier on the eyes and mind.

Before I jump into it, I want to send a special thank you to Amanda and Kim for helping me prepare for my service, simply by talking about your own Peace Corps experiences and giving me the information I needed to get through the application process and mentally prepare for this exciting experience.  Can’t wait to trade stories when we meet again!

And here, we…go!

Here I am in Panama, living in a thatched roof hut with a dirt floor and washing my clothes on rocks.  False.  You may be shocked to hear, but my Panamanian life is actually not very bad at all.  In total, there are 54 people of all ages and from all walks of life that came together for this grand adventure – 32 Teaching English (TE) volunteers and 22 Community Environmental Conservation (CEC) volunteers.  6 members are actually married, making 3 couples that joined group 70 of Peace Corps Panama.  We met in Miami for a night, and from Tuesday the 11^th to Sunday the 15^th we were living in villas in Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge), a small community close to the capital of Panama, Panama City.  It was a good time getting to know everyone and finally learning a bit about what our experience will be like after over a year of cluelessness.  But the real adventure started that Sunday when we left for our first host community.

The TE and CEC volunteers are split up into two training communities for Pre-Service Training (PST) about 4 miles apart.  I’m currently living in a small community called Santa Rita, a 5 minute drive from a larger community called Espino, which is a 30 minute drive from a small city called Chorrera, which is a 45 minute drive from the Capital of Panama, Panama City.  It’s very comfortable living here.  The weather’s a pretty constant 80°F with hotter times during the afternoon and cooler times in the evening (hope you’re all enjoying the bitterness of winter back in the States :P).  I’m living with a 73 year old host mom named Angela Reina, and we’ve got running water for showers and dishes, plumbing for flushing toilets, a gas stove, and even a television to watch the local Panamanian stations.  VERY different than what I thought my experience was going to be like.  But as they explained to us, we’re going to be teaching English to children and it’s not likely that we’ll be placed in a very rural community, for those communities don’t have as much of a need for learning English.  I’ve been using my blackberry from the states, as it was unlocked and I simply bought a SIM card from a local provider called Digicell.  Rates aren’t even that bad.  However, I don’t have internet access in my community.  Not that my world is crashing around me, as I don’t need internet to make me happy, but I am grateful for the brief times I do have it (visiting the Peace Corps office in Ciudad del Saber or in a different city where I currently find myself).  So all in all, not a bad life! 

But down to business.  Days are long and hard here in Panama (giggity).  I wake up at around 7am to prepare for the day.  Panama doesn’t observe daylight savings time, so for half of the year it’s EST and for the other half it’s CST, making it pretty easy to talk to and Skype with y’all during my service.  I meet with some volunteers – Miranda, Kayla, and Jasmine – at my house at 8am to chat for a bit and finish our homework, then from 9am to noon we have language training with a Panamanian teacher named Judith.  It’s mentally exhausting, as we converse in Spanish for 99% of the time, but the thought of becoming fluent makes it all worthwhile.  I eat lunch with my mom after class, then take the 15 minute walk down the main road to the school where we have technical training from 1:15pm to 5ish.  Some of technical training is a joke, as we play games that we’ll be using with the children in our school and talk about cultural themes, many of which I’ve learned from my anthropology classes at UNL.  But some of the information is useful, as we talk about what it’s like teaching English to Panamanians and how we’ll deal with the teachers, students and people in our communities.  We have current PCV’s come and visit us and talk about their experiences thus far which is very helpful.  They were the first group to teach English after it separated from the tourism sector of Peace Corps, and they’re in the exact position we’ll be in in a year’s time, having arrived in January of 2011.  After technical training the night is ours.  I usually pass the time with other volunteers of my group, talking about what we miss, what we’re excited about, what annoys us, and everything in between.  When I’m out on my own I’ll definitely miss all of the US culture we talk about – movies, music, and television.  I eventually go back to eat dinner with my mom at around 6pm, watch some TV (‘telenovelas,’ the Central American version of soap operas, are big in Panama), play with a 6 year old Panamanian girl named Milanis and her little brother David that live next door, work out as it gets dark, shower, then read or work on homework for the rest of the night.

After a hard day’s work I get tired and look at the clock, and after seeing that it’s only 10pm EST I can’t believe how drastically my life has changed in the past 3 weeks.  It wasn’t uncommon for me to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning hanging out and partying in the States and waking up at 2 or 3pm for work at 4.  Also instead of eating 1-2 meager meals a day, I’m eating 3 full meals every day, literally stuffing myself with rice or potatoes and smaller portions of beef, chicken or pork, all made by my mom.  I feel like I’m doing so much more for my life right now, improving myself mentally and physically, and at the same time improving the lives of the Panamanians by giving them insight into American culture and teaching some English.  Though the real teaching will start in a mere few months.  It’s both daunting and exciting, as have been all of my experiences so far, and though I’m a bit fearful for what’s to come, I know that I’ll make it through unscathed just as I have with all things in my life thus far.

So that’s the long and short of my experience so far!  If you’ve made it this far in the post, a million times thank you, for it means a lot to me and I want all of you to share this fantastic experience with me.  I’ll be making posts from time to time, both when I have internet access and the motivation necessary to write.  In no time at all, March 21^st, I’ll be sworn in as a full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteer.  Afterwards I’ll be placed in some community in Panama – whether near or far from my current location is still a mystery (Peace Corps doesn’t do the best job of explaining exactly what we’ll be doing and where we’ll be going until the last minute).  When I get to that community, I will start my official 2 years of service.  I’ll be living with another host family for the first 3 months, as well as attending classes as a secondary teacher in the local school and observing how the Panamanian school structure works.  After those 3 months, I’ll be doing my best to inspire and motivate children to learn English, devising lesson plans and working on classroom management in order to better the English program in their school.  It may sound very glamorous and culture-changing, but from what I’ve heard from past volunteers it’s a lot harder to establish that inspiration and motivation and actually get observable work accomplished.  I won’t go into their experiences, for if I did I fear this post would turn into a novel.  Basically, it’ll be hard work and at times I’ll probably want to scream, pull my (short!) hair out of my head, and take the first flight back home, but I’m a pretty strong person and in the end I think everything will turn out to be both exciting and successful.  As the Peace Corps motto goes, it’ll be the toughest job I ever love, and from the short time I’ve been here so far I can tell that will come to full realization over the next 2 years.  That’s about it for now, thanks for the support and sticking with me as it means so much, and know that you’re all remaining close to me though we’re thousands of miles apart.  Catch you guys in my next post!

Much Love,

Nate