Project Management and Leadership Seminar

Hi guys, well here I am again. It has now been almost three weeks since I´ve been in Chichica, and I´m quite ready to go back tomorrow. I am tired, and although it is nice to have real beds and showers and toilets that usually function, I also like being at my own house. However, I will only get to be there for about four days before I have to head out again for another seminar. I am really excited about this next one though, it should be a lot of fun.

The one I just came from was fun too. I arrived at CEDESAM in Farallón and was waiting for Orlando and Ana to arrive, and I had talked to Orlando three times in the past 18 hours. However, when the bus came, off stepped not Orlando and Ana, but Ana, Ceveriana, and Orlianis! Orlando neglected to tell me that he had been called to work in Panama City and wasn´t coming but had sent his cousin Ceveriana instead, which was fine but it would have been nice to know. And I told Ana that she couldn´t bring her daughter, that it was against the rules, but she brought her anyway saying that she couldn´t find anyone to take her. Which is a lie, they have tons of family that could have watched her for a few days. But anyway, I had three people to facilitate instead of one like everyone else. It ended up ok though, Loli behaved herself as well as could be expected for having to sit around all day while the grownups were working.

I think everyone enjoyed themselves during the seminar. Our community counterparts learned about many topics, including how to organize the leadership in a group, conduct meetings, use agendas and budgets, write letters, solicit help from agencies, and how to speak in public. It was also very helpful for me as a model for how to run my own seminar like this in Chichica in April. I was also very excited to realize that there was only one word during the entire week that I didn´t understand, so my Spanish comprehension is now quite good as long as the people speak clearly. What´s more, this morning as I was talking to some professional from Panama City on the bus, he asked me if I was from Spain. I will take that as a complement that perhaps I can speak tolerably as well.

But back to the seminar. The first full day ended in a Culture Night, in which we watched a slideshow that featured culture from the different provinces. The indiginous counterparts brought artesanry to sell, including my ladies. I bought another chakara because I love chakaras, they are my ideal carrying stuff bag. I also bought a few souvenirs for you guys, you´ll see when I come home! I wanted to buy one of the nakwas that Ceveriana brought, but I didn´t have enough money so I told her to save it for me and I´ll buy it later. It is like an olive green with black and white designs, in other words it is not a typical color scheme which is why I like it so much. Plus it actually fits my height which is good. Next we had a talent show, and some of the amusing talents included juggling, an improvised guitar/harmonica trio, "knife throwing" magic trick which basically consisted of scaring one of the more fiesty counterparts, and a human pyramid. Orlianis and I sang "Five Little Monkeys", although she was so shy that it was basically just me singing and she kind of did some of the actions.

All in all, everyone had a good time and I think that everyone learned something. Of course I have pictures, but I was in a rush to get to my reunion today and forgot to grab my camera so I´ll have to upload them later.

Last night I went to the beach with a group of volunteers and a few of the panamanians. The majority of them were drinking, with the exception of me the abstainer, one volunteer who wasn´t drinking because she was with her 16 year old counterpart, and another who has giardia. It is definitely entertaining to watch drunk people until they get to the point that they get angry or upset or even hurt themselves, which usually seems to happen at these little get-togethers and is why I normally avoid them. However, I really felt like going to the beach so I went and was witness to the craziness.

This morning I had to get to a meeting in Santiago which started at 9:00 this morning, but for some reason I thought it started at 1:00 even though I had it written down correctly. I would have been late anyway because it is about a 3 hour trip, but I got there at 12 so I missed about 3/4 of the meeting. Oh well, at least I now know what I am supposed to do for this next seminar, in which I will be taking a more active role than the last two. In those I was there as an assistant to my counterparts and also learning some things, but here I will be helping facilitate some of the presentations and watching the kids. I am excited, it sounds like something from my Upward Bound days, with tons of games and activities and even a field trip to the canal.

Well, that is all I have for now. I will try and post again on Tuesday if possible and upload photos, but if I can´t I´m sorry for all you whiners who want me to post every single day even though I have to travel for hours to do it and still get everything else done (Craig, I´m pointing at you). Until then, ja tuaita mare.