A year ago yesterday (June 18) marks one year since I
arrived in Panamá. In some ways, the
United States seems like a place far away in time and space – a different
world, really – and in some ways, it seems that I cannot have possibly been in
Panamá for a whole year. I find that I
have adapted to Panamá in a lot of ways – and in other ways I still feel very
stubbornly American. Thus begins a
season of reflection, as I go to attend Mid-Service Training in a week, as I meet
the new Trainees who will be attending Tech Week in my site a month from today,
and as my Training Group celebrates one-year-in-our-communities in September…
I’m going to have to save writing most of those
reflections for later – much too busy at the moment – but suffice for now to
say how grateful I am for all of the support I have received from friends and
family back home (not to mention my new friends, both fellow Peace Corps
Volunteers and those in Quebrada Pastor) – throughout this past year. That support has made all the difference in
making this all possible. Thank you!
A few pictures:
Some activities haven’t changed much in the last year –
the similarity of these pictures to those taken last September are proof: I
still hang out with my host family, I am still little-by-little trying to
encourage the community to make necessary improvements to the central aqueduct,
and I still like taking pictures of frogs!
3rd birthday party for Heidy, my “host sister”
– I made her a coconut-caramel-brownie using her family’s cacao and coconut oil
from Dylan’s site
Cleaning the tanks for the aqueduct to which my house belongs (and the improvement of which is a significant – and challenging – focus of my work) – this little friend provided an interruption and entertainment!
No comments:
Post a Comment