Week 3 of Teaching

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! This was my first time celebrating it outside of the U.S.A (which my students tend to pronounce as one word-usa). A bunch of the volunteers got together in a nearby town for rootbeer floats. The only problem was that we couldn´t find any rootbeer, so we used Coke, and the only icecream available was neopolitan. It was still yummy! There were about 8 of us total, including two highscool girls from the organization Amigos de America. We sat around talking for over 3 hours. It was great to be able to relax and talk about our experiences so far (in English). Overall a very good 4th of July though I did miss seeing fireworks and eating watermelon.

Things are still going pretty well at the school. Discipline has gotten a little harder though. I think the magic/newness of us (Annie and I) has worn off and the students are starting to test their boundaries. I had my first parent teacher conference on Friday, and I think I held my own pretty well (despite the language barrier). A few things I forgot to mention about the school; there´s no AC, no soap, no paper towels, and no toilet paper. However, the government does provide free milk and cookies to the students in the middle of the day. The other teachers have all been nice so far. In my English classes students are learning everything from the abc´s and numbers, to useful questions to know when traveling to an Anglo-phone country. They all took quizes on Friday, and most did very well.

The biggest things in the news here are the new President of Panama, the coup d´etat in Honduras, and the discovery of Monica Serrano (a girl who was kidnapped 8 years ago). But I have no clue what´s going on in the US. I did hear that Michael Jackson died (big news here too), and that Sarah Palin is no longer governor of Alaska. I do miss knowing whats going on at home, but not quite as much as I thought I would. I´ve never been in a foriegn country for much longer than 2 weeks, and I almost feel like being wrapped up in news from home would spoil it a bit. I haven´t seen a single ´crackberry´here, and I kind of like it. There isn´t an obsession with being constantly in touch, or connected to the outside world. The pace of life here is slower (´We are going to the farm at 3´ really means anytime in between lunch and dinner give or take a few hours). But, it also means that it may take you quite a while to recieve your food in a restaurant. Overall I´m enjoying it though. It reminds me of the Southern U.S. a little... Lots of people drive trucks, own horses, fry any and all kinds of meat, and love KFC.

This weekend our group will be going to El Valle, a 2-3 hr bus ride north of here. I´m excited to see more of the interior of Panama as well as go hiking to the base of a volcano. I´ll update as soon as I can. Miss you all!

Besitas,
Jennifer