People Come & Go So Quickly Here

°Bonus points if you know what movie/book I stole the title of this post from ;)°

The sky just looks different here. Every time I start to feel like I´ve been here for forever and everything is familiar, I look up and know this is another place entirely. The clouds are just beautiful, so much so that they apparently render me inarticulate. I really don´t have adequate words to describe it, I promise to put up some pictures later. So yes, I do feel comfortable here. Sometime after the first couple weeks I stopped feeling like a tourist. I am prepared to be suprised by my own culture when I return home. I have made friends, and gotten close to many people in my village, but I feel like it´s all been tainted by the fact that they know I´m only here for the summer. Volunteers and tourists from the states come to Panama often, but they never stay very long. People here are very kind and hospitable, though I just can´t shake the feeling that we would be able to be better friends if they didn´t think of me as being impermanent. At the same time I hate the thought of leaving, but am excited to go home. I can´t believe I´ll be leaving Panama next week (to go to Mexcio)! This has been an amazing summer so far. I´ve loved learning about Panamanien food, culture, economics, politics, and education. It has made me examine the culture I am accustomed to in a new light. Annie (the other volunteer in my village) and I are throwing a party for our students tomorow, just to hang out and say goodbye. We are teaching our students a song from The Lion King with a dance that we made up (and also using it to review vocab. about animals and the zoo). During the party we are going to have a dance-off to the song from the movie, and use it as an excuse to get rid of the rest of the prizes we brought with us. Early Friday morning Annie and I will catch a bus back to Panama City. I feels like I´ve been here a long time, but each day has seemed short.. if that makes any sense. I promise to write more posts when I have time, I´m too preoccupied with thoughts of leaving to be able to write much more now.