Panama Ponderings: Official!

It’s official! I am a Peace Corps Volunteer! The Swearing-In ceremony at the US Ambassador’s house took place Thursday afternoon. Taking the oath almost made me tear up a little – it’s been a long time coming to finally be able to say that I am a Volunteer, and there was something powerful and moving about saying that I will serve my country and the people of Panamá in the interest of peace and friendship.

There is potentially a lot to reflect on about the end of training – the last few weeks have been incredibly hectic. It has felt a lot like the last week of a college semester, right before all of your exams, when you realize that you haven’t reviewed your notes all semester or started any of the projects or that ten-page paper, but you really just want to spend all of your time hanging out with your friends. In this case, the sentiment was intensified because we all knew that we would not be seeing each other all together for at least three months after training ends.

The end of training involved some learning of the Ngӧbere language, which many members of my community speak besides Spanish. It was fascinating to learn an indigenous language – completely unlike English or Spanish, and with a different degree of structural complexity and different range of vocabulary – and it makes for an interesting study of the concept of language itself. Plus, I had forgotten what it was like to learn a language starting at zero – since my Spanish studies began a while ago – and how much fun it is to treat the language as a puzzle and set of formulas to piece together, like a math problem!

We also did some final projects, which included some participatory analysis tools with our families (like the map of the training community that my host sister Alexandra made with me), and writing some responses about things that we learned, such as the process of cultural integration and taking into account gender roles in our work, which are the topics of the limericks below:

Learn poco a poco don’ts and do’s:

Abstain in community from booze

And eat what they please

Clothes cover my knees

But at least those chacos are dress shoes.

To ensure a project does not fall

Victim to unequal outcome for all:

Women have a say!

Even find a way

For us girls to get to play fútbol?

The pictures are:

1. My host sister Alexandra and the map we made of the training community

2. The official host family portrait

3. My role in a skit during our goodbye event with our host families (Nick – the other Missourian in my Environmental Health group – and I did a virtual road trip around the US introducing the various trainees and their home states)

4. The coolest tree in the training community

5. Truman the Tiger helps me pack up the rest of my things to move out of my training community host family’s house

6. Looking sharp in my brand new Peace Corps polo
7. The Bocas group all dress up for Swear-In!

Moving into my site for good tomorrow! Very exciting – both eager and anxious about it. There will certainly be plenty more to share the next time!

Mailing address for my site:

Packages and Envelopes (let me know if you have sent me something here so I know to expect it):

Alexandra Litofsky

Cuerpo de Paz

Entrega General

Bocas del Toro, Bocas del Toro

Republica de Panama

Envelopes only (I have my regional meetings here and it is slightly more accessible):