Wow what a week. So much has happened, and I still can't upload any pictures even though I made it back to Nephi. So I will try to get my camera's programing fixed again so the pictures will show up on the computer.
After I got back from San Felix with my hoard from the regional leader house and box of manuals, I cleaned my house for my visitors and cleaned the casa comunal where the seminar was to be held. I had lots of random last minute arranging to do, such as where the cooking pots and firewood would come from (even though all this had been discussed beforehand and I had assumed that we had a plan, with Panamanians even the most thorough pre-planning will usually not make a difference so always have Plan B). We ended up having to borrow pots from totally different people as the seminar had already started and I was running around taking care of this when I would have liked to be watching or talking with the participants. I had also brought a load of firewood from my house and Ana assured me that she had talked to Generoso, my friend Recelia's son and one of the participants in the seminar, and he was going to get me some wood if I just brought him an axe. So I did, but he looked confused when I came and gave him the axe. So I asked him if Ana had talked to him and he said no. I hate it when she lies like that, and she does it all the time. So I left the axe and asked if he knew where any wood was if he could help me out because Recilia said she would donate some wood, but they didn't. We ended up running out of wood in the middle of cooking lunch, which was already late because Felipa our cook had showed up late without a pot. So as we were all waiting for lunch to get ready the participants looked for firewood and we asked them to bring a little bit for tomorrow too. Anyway, that was just one of the minor crises that we had to solve during the first day, and there were many.
But to skip back in time, I also had to get tables and a chalkboard, and the director of the school had assured me for a month that he was going to let me borrow some tables. I asked him about it about 5 times and he said each time that it was fine. Then the day before the seminar I went to get the tables and he said that they didn't have one table to lend us but he would go with me to get some tables from the high school, which I had already asked and the director had turned me down. So I panicked a little bit again but instead of talking to the director we asked the subdirector and he was more helpful and let us take some tables out of the boys and girls dormitories. I felt bad taking the kids' tables, but when we returned them they had replacements so they obviously had more resources of tables than they like to let on.
As I was running around trying to get everything in place logistically, my facilitators began arriving. Danny, Shirly, and Katie arrived from Volcan and Isla Canas and helped me decorate the building and get the chalkboard hung up. Then as it was getting dark we headed back down to my house where we found Klaus waiting for us. He then informed us that Erin was in Chichica but was lost, so I went to look for here because it was dark by then. Fortunately she had run into Edgardo my neighbor kid, and he pointed her in the right direction. Guarav came the next day, and when he walked up to my house Danny started speaking to him in his broken Spanish and I told him that he could use English because he was a volunteer (Guarav is Indian by descent and blends in well in Panama, and Danny had never met him before). It was pretty funny, especially as Erin, who was taking a bath, heard and realized what was happening and burst out laughing from the back of the house.
So I had a full house for four nights, and everyone brought lots of food so we cooked up some tasty meals. However, I was a little annoyed because I felt like after the first night they let me do a lot of the work and I was always the one to have to start breakfast and gather everyone's water because they wanted to sleep in instead. I was just as tired or more than everyone, and even when they did help out with washing dishes or something they didn't really clean them at all and I had to rewash everything because they were still covered in food and scummy water remnants. The house was really full between the seven bodies and backpacks and sleeping gear, and the floors were as dirty as they have ever been. Oh well, at least they brought food so I wasn't feeding everyone for five days.
When the participants started arriving (trickling in late as usual) it felt like we weren't really ready and it took a little time to get into our stride as facilitators, and of course there were all the minor crises that took up a ton of time that we needed for preparing stuff. So the first day was a little bumpy but on the whole still successful, and the second and third day went very smoothly except for the downpour that happened late in the third day, and the rain on the zinc roof made it impossible for anyone to hear so we took photos instead. During the three days of lessons and activities, we taught about the importance of basing your projects on your personal values, planning projects and coming up with goals, time and money management, how to run smooth and productive meetings, strategies on how to recognize and solve problems, the importance of building enthusiasm and self esteem and empathy, how to communicate the message of the project with the community, how to write formal letters and speak in public, and how to interact and solicit help from the government agencies and institutions. There was lots of material, much of it we take for granted in the states because it is taught to us from an early age. But these guys kept telling us how important that this stuff was, especially learning about budgets, writing letters, and speaking in public were what they were most excited to learn about.
They all seemed to have a great time, especially because we included lots of hands on activities and games, which for the most part is innovative in Panama. I was surpised on how willing they were to participate in the games, since I was expecting them to be a little shyer than they were and be embarrased to do some of the stuff we were asking them to do. But for the most part they were actively participating in the discussions and activities, and it may have helped that we were giving out fake money for when they made comments, asked questions, and won games for their team. There were three teams, blue, red, and green. Blue won the most money for participation because Marietta and Misael are both really outspoken people.
Also as I had planned for, Engineer Carlos Vigil had showed up two hours late and missed the session that he was supposed to help facilitate. I had invited him knowing that this would happen so all along Guarav was going to be the one to take care of it. Vigil showed up for the feel-good part though, where we were closing the seminar with lots of positive notes so it made us look good, which is important because he wants Peace Corps to help Proyecto Ngabe-Bugle with seminars like this in the future. We had them write one thing they learned and would apply in their lives, and then with this paper had a drawing for prizes. Danny and Shirley had brought some prizes to hand out, and I also got rid of some of the leftover food this way so we wouldn't have to carry it back to my house. I made a "mystery bag" of some heads of garlic, and the grand prize was about 10 lbs of leftover uncooked rice.
Eno had written a decimo (an improvised song set to a certain piece of music that is popular in Panama) about the seminar, in which he thanked us for what they had learned and the great time they had. We also opened up the stage for any other talents, and Misael played the guitar, Marietta wrote a little poem, Katie and Erin sang Amazing Grace, and Catalino sang a christian song in Ngabere. Then we thanked everyone for their participation, and they presented us with a letter of thanks that they had written to practice what they had learned. I think everyone was really gratified by the whole experience and it went really well in that everyone had a great time and hopefully learned something that they can use in their lives and developing their projects.
However, after all that was said and done, I spent the next day cleaning up everything and preparing for my trip home to Utah. I had boxes of random stuff that I needed to sort through, a huge pile of dirty laundry that I decided to leave for Ana to do for me (at her suggestion), and a filthy house with a filthy floor with washed-but-still-filthy dishes. It took all morning to get everything back to a respectable condition even without doing the laundry. Then I decided to drop in on the birthday party of Diputada Crecencia Prado, which is like the congresswoman of the comarca. She was throwing herself a party where they were selling food and had baseball games and a dance, so I went to make an appearance because I really need to keep myself in the public eye a little more, especially because I am going to be gone for two weeks and I have another seminar out of town shortly after I get back to Panama. I really need to spend more time in-site, I think I will make that my priority after this next ag-biz seminar.
Wow, this is a long post because I haven't even gotten to my trip home yet. Well, early that next morning I got up and went to wait for the Chiva, but they showed up late. Usually they are there dependably at 6:00 am or thereabouts, but I waited from 5:45 to about 7:15 until the first truck came by. Then I caught a taxi to take me to the highway, where I waited for about an hour and a half for the next Panama City bus to come by. I finally got on the road by about 10:30, and arrived in the terminal around 3:30. I got duped by a taxi driver as I was waiting for a bus to Via Espana, who told me that the buses don't go anywhere near my hotel and I would be better off taking a cab. So I took a taxi to my hotel, where I immediately noticed that there were plenty of Via Espana busses driving right past the hotel. Grrrr. Anyway, I went to the hotel to check in, where the desk clerk told me that although I had a reservation it hadn't been paid for yet even though my dad told me that he had paid for it. So I paid, but I tried to get her to call travelocity to find out why they hadn't been paid and she told me that it was my job to do that. Typical panamanian customer service. Then I went to find someplace to eat, but the only place open was Pio Pio (a panamanian fast food chain that is always open) because it was sunday. So I got me some fried chicken and cole slaw and fries, but I was still hungry after that so a little later I went down to the hotel restaurant and ordered some french onion soup and flan. The soup was really good, and the waitress was actually polite and smiled at me so I left her a tip (I make it a policy to not leave tips when I don't get good service, so I hardly ever leave tips).
I was so tired that I went to bed at 7:00. I could have gone to sleep sooner but I made myself wait until dark. Then Mom called me at 9:00 and in my sleepy stupor I thought I had slept through the night to 9:00 am and had missed my flight, even though it was still dark out. I went back to sleep until 4:00, when I got up and had the night clerk call me a cab to the airport, since the busses don't start up for the airport until 9:00. So it cost me $20 to get there instead of $1.00. But the cab driver was really chatty and we talked about life and priorities until we got to the airport. He thought I was crazy for living with the indians with no running water or anything, and I told him I thought he was crazy for wanting to live in the city. Then of course the conversation turned to romance because it always does with Panamanian men, and he told me that I was wasting my youth helping other people when I should be married and enjoying life. I told him that I can always do that after this year, when I'm finished here. He was a pretty nice guy.
So I made it to the airport by 5:00, and it didn't take long at all to check in and get through security. I had found my gate by 5:30, so I had two hours to hang out and wait for my flight. So I wandered around and ate some Dunkin Donuts and read my book and called Ruperta to see if I could stay with her when I got back to Panama in two weeks. Then I boarded the plane and had a nice window seat so I could watch the morning sun on the clouds and ocean as we flew. We flew over Cuba and the entire Florida coast. I thought that Atlanta looked like a pretty town because they have so many huge, beautiful trees. It was interesting to me to see how different each place looked where we landed. Panama was full of shacks and burned deforested fields, Atlanta was full of great trees and nice houses, Las Vegas looked like a motherboard in a computer, and Salt Lake looks like it always has.
It was great to see my family waiting for me at the airport. I almost feel like I never left. I hear all the time about people who are traumatized by reverse culture shock when they get back to the states, but I never really had culture shock to begin with so I guess I wouldn't have reverse culture shock either. I was also happy to see my pets, especially Freckles. I have always felt guilty about her, and leaving her with my mom to deal with. She was happy to see me too, and is a little more content right now. She and Charlie are both chunky lard butts right now because they have been way overfed and underexcercised.
So I've been back only about a day and a half and I've already seen most of my family and eaten lots of good food, like "cornflake" with cold milk, mexican salad at Tomatillos where Amy works, and Dad's yummy meal of smoked salmon, ribs, coleslaw, and creme brulee. I am definitely going to gain weight on this trip. Yesterday I visited my grandma Prisbrey and Don and Rula Gowers and Aunt LuDean. Then we went to dads and I saw my other grandparents, Aunt Nancy and Debbie, Tio Tomas, and Chris and Tia. I had presents for everyone, and I still have a couple left for some friends. I still need to make a few calls and hang out with a bunch of people.
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