Happy New Year!

Hey y´all, how´s it going? I trust you all had a happy new year. For the first time in years (maybe even ever) I actually celebrated New Years. The day after Christmas lots of new years dummies were displayed at every house, made out of old clothes. They represent the old year, and at midnight they are burned to make way for the new year.

That night I checked out the Evangelical conference that is held in Lajitas, just down the hill from Chichica. It is an annual conference that has been held there every Dec 31-Jan 3 since the sixties, and it generally has 2000-5000 participants. This year there were only about 2000, but that is still a lot of people given the number of bathrooms. The stream running through the campsites was looking pretty scary, I was afraid to get my feet wet while crossing it as I was wandering around. There were also some gringo missionaries there that I talked to for a while. They have been working in Panama for 23 years, and are fluent in Ngabere. In fact, they worked on the translations of the hymns in the hymn book that I bought in Llano Ñopo. There was also an elderly missionary there, I am assuming she was Charlotte Teubner from Germany who has become a local legend in the Comarca and lived in Chichica for quite a few years. However, I didn´t get to talk to her although I would have liked to, I have heard a lot about her from the people here.

Anyway, the conference was basically a lot of people coming to church, kind of like the LDS General Conference. There was a lot of singing both in Ngabere and Spanish, lots of praying, and several sermons. The first night I went was especially full of Ngabere, I didn´t really understand a lot of what was said although I recognized plenty of words and learned a few more, and got to use my hymnbook for a practical purpose. I´m sure that I know the tunes to a lot of the songs in there, but I just don´t know which is what. I figured out that Ti Dankien Kri is How Great Thou Art, and one of my English students went though it with me although he isn´t the best teacher because he moves too quickly and talks too fast. The second night I went they used more Spanish, probably depending on who was in charge that night.

Since it was a full moon I walked home without having to use my flashlight, which is one of my favorite activities. I love to go walking in the full moon but don´t get the opportunity very often. When I got home the neighbors had a midnight meal ready of rosca bread, boiled yuca, pork, and hot chocolate. When twelve o´clock rolled around they set the dummy on fire, which had been stuffed full of firecrackers and cherry bombs. That thing kept exploding for a good 20 minutes, every time I thought that all the fireworks had to have been set off, another one would explode. But next year I am going to have a dummy of my own to burn, it reminded me of when Amy and I burned our little Christmas tree in the backyard in Provo. It is one tradition that I would like to carry on in the states, although I´m sure highly illegal.

I am thinking about getting a cat soon, there is a family nearby that say they have kittens but I´m not so sure that they will be in good condition because all their animals look stunted and close to death every time I see them, so we´ll see how that goes. But it would be nice to have a pet of my own that would also earn its keep by chasing cockroaches and keeping mice away. I practically have all the benefits of a pet dog without having to feed one, since Rocky spends most of his nights sleeping on my porch, accompanying me on walks, and greeting me enthusiastically when I arrive. What more could you ask for from a free pet? His brother Bruto loved me too but he got sold a while back, although he found his way home once and hung out at my house for a week before the new owners came looking for him. My chicken looks like she´ll be reaching maturity soon, her comb is growing steadily and hopefully she´ll start laying me some eggs. If not, her name will be appropriate to her status: Kwi Jiani, or Boiled Chicken (for some chicken sancocho).

Guess what else, I just went and picked up my package that my mom sent me a few weeks ago! This one arrived much faster than the previous ones, I am not quite so angry with the company any more since it got here in a timely fashion even with the holiday rush. I was excited to recieve my camera charger because I have missed so many photo ops, but even more exciting was recieving the letters from Mrs. Kay´s 7th grade class. We have been awaiting them since October, but due to transit problems it´s taken them this long to get here. As we PC volunteers always say, "Oh, Panama!" Everything takes ten times as long to happen here, I will have the patience of a saint by the time I go back. Anyway, my English classes are starting up this week so these letters will be fun to incorporate into the lessons and make a practical use of what they are learning. It was also fun to learn a little more about the kids back in Nephi, and soon (by Panamanian standards of course) we´ll be able to send replies.

Better late than never, I will be able to post photos of my birthday party so be sure to go back to that post and check them out! I also plan on taking many many photos and even some little movies of me and my neighbors and students. It will be so nice to take pictures again! Thanks to everyone who sent me something in the package, and also for my christmas money from my family. Well, better go because there´s a lot of work to do. Happy New Year!