Tomorrow! We swear in to the Peace Corps and officially become volunteers. We moved out of Santa Rita on Monday morning and are now in Ciudad del Saber for a few nights. My last two weeks in Santa Rita were actually full of learning and new experiences - we had Ngäbere lessons, cooked a huge feast for the 24 of us and our facilitators, performed the cup song in English & Spanish in front of a bunch of community members, learned & performed the traditional Baile de Mariposas, I cooked a meal of Thai-style pasta and salad for my host family, we built tippy taps and learned to machete, and my host mom had her baby! In the first few days she was home from the hospital, I ended up doing a lot of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. On Sunday, I actually prepared all three meals for the family! I was not expecting that, haha. I accidentally flooded the whole back room while using the washing machine, and I almost set myself on fire several times trying to work the gas stove. I was cooking chuletas and at one point there was a flame taller than my head…the stove is waist-high…yeah. But I was grateful for the experience and my host family laughed along with me, and seemed to appreciate the help. I had some great conversations with my host mom and grandpa in particular the last week - I will really miss them!! But I’m sure I’ll be back to visit when I’m in the area. I left Santa Rita feeling very welcomed and at home in the Latino culture, and I can only try my best to have a similar experience in the Comarca.
What’s next? After the swear-in ceremony, we're going to spend the evening celebrating in Casco Viejo, and then Thursday we’re all going to have a last G79 hurrah at a beach in Coclé, travel Friday and I’ll be in Cerro Gallina by Saturday morning. And from there, it’s all up to me. The reality of the challenge that lies ahead of me is daunting. Being the only English speaking strange American outsider in the whole community is going to be really tough for me - and for my mental health I am going to take a social media break for a while. I know myself well enough to know that scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed is going to depress me, and I don’t need that. However, having people to talk/vent/cry to when I’m having a bad day is very important to me, and thanks to my awesome 3G signal in site, please don’t hesitate to send me a WhatsApp message! I’ll be checking my phone daily, provided my solar panel functions as expected, and I’d love to hear from you. See the Contact Me tab.
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