Ja Tuaita Panama

Imagine these photos in reverse order, I forgot to put them in the right order...



leaving in the rain



They said that the wheelbarrows were a good idea... I beg to differ!



The luggage caravan of neighbor kids!



Hiking up the hill for the last time




Me and Encarnaciona



chillin in the wheelbarrows





























Farewell party with the tourism group



Showing off my bling

Imagine these photos in reverse order, I forgot to put them in the right order...

Well I have officially left my site. After three farewell parties, visits around the community, and saying goodbye to my host families, not to mention another goodbye with Mile, I am feeling a little emotionally drained. I finished my last job as a Peace Corps Volunteer in my community with the Earth Day activity. The kids drew lots of pictures for the drawing contest, and we had a little geography competition. I had wanted more involvement from the teachers, but they were all having a party by themselves after letting out school early. Typical. So there was tons of disorder but I guess it went ok. I think that the kids that participated had fun.

After the party with the tourism group, some of the professors at the high school gave me another little party where we all shared some memories of living in Chichica, gave me some gifts, and of course the obligatory food. I also said goodbye to some of my other friends at the high school, and that last day I just started crying while I was there and I am sure that everyone thought I was crazy! I tried to go around and say goodbye to everyone as much as possible, but I missed a lot of people. I still feel bad that there were so many houses that I hadn't even visited, but I just reached a certain point where I figured that Chichica is so big and I can't work with everyone nor does everyone want to work with me, so why try to socialize with everyone? I said goodbye to my closest aquaintances and friends at least.

I also invited everyone I spoke with for the last month to my official farewell party at my house, but attendance was not that high (not that I am surprised, why should the trend change?) That's ok, the ones that came got to take a lot of my stuff. I had been preparing to leave and was suffering from a lot of mixed emotions. I didn't think that it would be as hard as it was, since I feel like I have contributed as much as the community would take from me and I was ready to move on, but at the same time I have had a great two years here and have made a lot of friends. It also didn't help that I was kind of hormonal, things that normally wouldn't bother me very much seem to be so much worse during certain times of the month! So I gathered up all my belongings, gifted a lot of it and sold some of it. I was really overwhelmed the night before I left, really emotional and trying to pack and organize all my stuff, and I invited my neighbors to each choose a couple of things for presents. Everyone had been waiting 2 years for that moment, and the kids especially just swarmed like piranas until I had to chase them out of the house. At that time one of the bracelets I had recieved from the tourism group went missing, so I asked everyone to return it to me if they saw it. So all that just added anger to my emotional stew and I didn't pass a very good last night.

The day of the farewell party was better, but very busy. I woke up early to make all the last minute preparations, and then the guests came. We played games and I gave prizes of my stuff. Encarnaciona, Tia Lipa, and Ana had cooked arroz con pollo and everyone ate, and I had also made rice pudding to give to the ones who arrived first since I like to reward punctuality. I didn't feel much like eating, but Encarnaciona made sure that I drank chicha de nance so I wouldn't get too tired. Taking care of me to the end! Also, Marietta came with a great gift, a pollera (a dress for dancing tipico) so I put that on and it was beautiful! Jess also came dressed in her campesina grandma dress, so we made a great pair! She was the event photographer because my camera was broken. After food, I said a few words thanking the community for working with me and taking care of me and teaching me for two years, and then they thanked me for my work, friendship, and sacrifice. Needless to say I started crying again. Then I had my yardsale, where I sold my furniture and stove by having a drawing (since lots of people had expressed interest in buying them) and also selling lots of the best stuff. At the end I ended up giving away most of the clothes because nobody wanted to buy them, not even for five cents a piece (probably because I am so tall) but when I said that they were free people just pounced.

It is also really hard to leave Mile, I love him a lot. I got one more chance to say goodbye to him in Santiago after I left Chichica, and this time went better than the last. Last time I think he was really upset and didn't even know what to say, but this time he talked to me more and it was a lot better way to part ways. He says that he wants to visit me sometime within the next year and we want to do a California road trip. I would love to have a visitor, and with Mile it would be especially fun! I hope it will happen.

And this week I have been in Panama City doing all sorts of fun stuff like interviews, language interviews, physicals, blood tests, injections, ear cleanings, dental cleanings, and while vacilating between the freezer that is the office to the inferno that is Panama City. It's not all bad, I have eaten some pretty good food and have been staying with Ruperta for one last time. It's been a pain due to traveling in all the traffic every day, but at least it's saving me a lot of money in hotels. I am really tired and keep having to get up really early to travel but it will all be over soon.

Well I think I will post next time in the states!!! It will make the blog 100 long- a perfectly even number of posts! I like the symmetry.