Life Lately

Hi, hello, it's been too long since I've written! I'm in the US right now on my one-month "special leave", a major perk of being third-year extension volunteer. Here is a short recap of life over the past couple months.

Living in San Félix is kind of a mixed bag. I'm still basking in the amenities - a refrigerator, a freezer, WiFi, a washing machine. I've been continuing to make house improvements like having my handyman neighbor install a skylight in the main room! But there are downsides... the blaring bass on nights when there are parties (I live only a block from the main party venue in town), the stifling heat, and the overwhelming machismo. Some men here are soooooo gross. I can't go on a run at 6:30 AM without getting at least four catcalls, poorly executed English pickup lines, or wolf whistles. I was the only white person in Cerro Gallina, but I was Bei Kwitubu and everyone knew me. Here, I know a few San Feleños but not many. So I'm just the mystery white girl that everyone stares at, haha. I don't feel at home in San Félix like I did in Cerro Gallina, but it's okay because that's what I was expecting.

Being a Regional Leader is also both wonderful and difficult. I have volunteers almost every day at my house, and I love hanging out with them and coaching them through issues. I also love visiting them in their sites. My fifteen new volunteers finished their three months of integration and got to move into their own houses a couple weeks ago. They all seem to be in pretty good spirits, which is awesome. At the same time, it has been a bit more challenging than I expected having people in my tiny house and sharing my space all the time. But I continue to remind myself that being a giver who shares without a second thought is a process. October was super busy with site visits and regional meeting, and then I planned agency visits for the new cohort in early November. Besides the técnico from the Ministry of Environment showing up an hour and a half late to our meeting, it all went quite well, haha. I was feeling increasingly restless during November and early December on the days when I didn't have much work to do. I was so ready for a break from the heat and a brief return to the comfortable and familiar life at home in the US. I am hopeful that I will go back to Panama in January in high spirits and ready to tackle site development 2019 with animo!

I've been filling my free time with reading, puzzles, yoga, music, Netflix (I admit), and some new hobbies. Jacob looked in my fridge one day and said "Sierra your refrigerator looks like a science experiment." I was making bean sprouts and also attempting to do some fermenting. I made fermented pineapple juice (pineapple wine?) that came out so-so and fermented kiwi juice that tasted like straight-up vinegar. Still working on it. I've been having fun baking with yeast, so far I've made bagels and challah that both turned out very yummy. 

I almost forgot! A big success on November 30th was our World AIDS Day event. It was a collaboration between Peace Corps, MINSA, and the American Embassy to Panama. There were speeches, games, presentation of gifts to special guests, dramas, and free HIV and STI testing. Over 300 people came!! The Health Center in Hato Chamí created all of these beautiful decorations and it was a super positive day. Photos below.

G83 WASH volunteers after our tour of the San Felix water treatment plant. My neighbor Serafin (far right in the blue) who is a plant operator, was gracious enough to offer to take us on a tour after our meeting with MINSA. It was really cool to see all of the steps: intake pumps, primary disinfection, flocculation, coagulation, filtration, secondary disinfection, and storage. We also got to check out the control rooms water quality testing labs. I learned that they even add fluoride to the water, and the intake pumps in the San Félix river automatically shut off when the storage tanks are full. Coming from a place with rudimentary at best gravity-fed aqueducts, I was quite impressed with how high-tech it was.

Erick, the técnico at IDIAP, giving the SAS volunteers a tour of their office orchard. We came all dressed up, forgetting it was casual Friday, haha.

Kids dancing jeki for the distinguished guests.

Comarca volunteers giving a presentation on the transmission of HIV.

The awesome young actors who created videos on healthy relationships and HIV prevention!
View the videos HERE!

With Rigoberto! A friend from Quebrada Honda who lives in Panama City and came all the way to Chiriquí for this day.

Alvaro (ponytail, collared shirt) crushed it with his freestyle rapping. He is truly a warrior for HIV prevention in the Comarca.

Some of the kids got really into writing positive messages and decorating this banner.

The female RLs plus Shellee at our Thanksgiving celebration in Chitré, Herrera // G83 SAS + Shellee + Eliana at another celebration that I hosted in SF. We had ridiculously good meals. In Chitré we all had to lie down on the floor after eating and then take a long walk around town to process all of that food. Making up for 2016 when I didn't get to celebrate at all, stuck in my community with a dead cell phone during a hurricane!