SCENE: Bird on a bus, SETTING: As we casually sit on the morning bus out of our technical training week in Cocle provence, we see an elderly woman board the bus with a young boy. She guides him to a seat near us and coincidently waves her clinched fist in our direction. Sticking out of the fist is a bird's head. A green parakeet to be exact. Apparently you can bring any number of animals on a bus in Panama, and carrying a small tropical bird in your hand is perfectly acceptable. I just wonder why? What is the purpose of this strange ritual? It only got stranger when we glanced back at her and had the bird balanced on the little boy's head. The mystery was never solved.
SCENE: Go Gators/No Teeth, SETTING: While hiking up a mountain to tech week training classes in Cocle at 7am, I suddenly see a familiar sight passing me. An older campo soldier weilding a machete is approaching on my left. While this is becomming a daily occurence, this was not the familiar part. The crazy thing was that he was wearing a Florida Gators hat. Yep, campo farmer in a Gator hat. My man! I of course immediately freaked out and started doing the Gator Chomp wildly yelling Go Gators (which I don't really know how to translate... maybe VAYA LAGARTO! ) while I undoubtedly shocked the heck out of this guy by my sudden display of excitement, his response was even better. Coy campo smile... all four teeth he had. And he walked on into the morning mist. We never did get to discuss Tebow.
SCENE: Pee bucket, SETTING: No big deal, just thought I had to include this little incident. It is perfectly normal in Panama for your new host mom you met just hours before to offer you a delightful bucket to use in case you have to tinkle in the middle of the night. The latrine is a long walk in the dark. The best part was that I was sharing a room with one of my friends, and incidently we got to share one bucket. Luckily I was able to wake up, fumble in the darkness, find the right key on a ring of five, open a padlock, and hike up a hill in time. That bucket stayed dry :).
and one more ..
SCENE: Teaching Environmental Edu/Sex Ed, SETTING: Hi maestra, yes we will teach your class tomorrow as practice for our future careers as environmental educators. Oh and yes we can tailor most subjects to environmental themes. For example, if you are teaching religion or math, we can pepper in some talk of God's gifts or word problems involving subtracting deforrested trees. Easy. Wait? You are teaching natural sciences? Well perfect, that is simple, you see we have these amazing Env. Edu. guides written by your ministry of education. Simple. What's the topic? WHAT? SEX ED? Oh ... um... golp.. ok I guess we can do that. (Imagine this all in broken Spanish and you can get a better picture). So making a lesson reviewing reproduction systems and excretory systems is hard enough as it is... in Spanis. Now try to make it involve a message of environmental conservation. Yeah... we did it, and we did it game show style. My partner and I got creative and involved an overall environmenally focusses lesson at the end of each "system" review. Excretory system matched up with environmental health and latrine use, reporduction with pollution. Yeah that one was a stretch involing fish and pollution affecting sex hormones leading to all female offspring. A bit above 5th grade but it worked. Yes you do need a male and a female to make new baby fish! Win! By far the best part of this story was when we asked the final round question to the team... for the win, explain the difference between sexuality and sex. ..... yeah it's a real toughie, but it WASSSS in the book.
A smal boy raised his hand, stood up, and clearly expressed ( in Spanish) "A boy has a penis and a girl has a vagina!" "Si. Bueno, buen trabajo" (They really want us to stress positive feedback to students). We let the teacher step in and teach that part... but he was correct, just not in answering the question.
So yes, perfectly normal, yet perfectly strange. This is my life here. I adore most every moment and thus far the people I have met are beyond amazing. For example, this new host mom/family I had during tech week was amazing. Leaning about Panamanian culture through delicious meals and conversations on patios is an ideal way to spend an afternoon. My favorite meal so far was coconut rice with chicken asado (cooked in a traditional fagon stove, which is not an eco stove by the way), and plaintains. Oh yes and this was paired with something called arroz y pina or a frozen drink of sweetened pineapple and rice. It's creamy and amazing.
I find out this Thurday where in Panama I will spend the next two years. Words can't realy express the anxiety I feel right now. My training group has become like family and soon we will all be strewn across the country. Crazy to think we have already lost 2 potential volunteers. Statistics say we will lose more before the end of training. I hate to think like that. Honestly this training process has been very difficult. The highs are high and the lows are low. I get pangs of longing for I feel like sometimes I won't be coming home again, at least anytime soon. I can see myself fading into Panama....maybe it's just the start of a change.
