It's Official!!!

Since I returned from Barranquilla and my site visit, a lot has changed! In the last few weeks, I finished PST (training), moved out of my host family in Santa Rita, and swore in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. It's been a crazy few weeks and I'm trying to update my blog one last time before I move into my site tomorrow and have much more limited access to internet.

In the last few weeks of training, I began to learn Ngäbere, the indigenous language spoken in my site. It’s a huge challenge and I’ve forgotten how difficult it is to start learning a new language. I don’t know how to say much, but in class, I made a video introducing myself in Ngäbere. 

I am saying my name, where I’m from, who I’m working with, what I’ll be doing, and that I am excited to be in Barranquilla. I am also wearing a Nakwa (pronounced Nag-wah), the traditional dress of the Ngäbe people. The dresses are typically worn by women and decorated by “dientes,” which are the colorful stripes and designs embroidered on the dress. Many women in Barranquilla wear the nakwa, so hopefully I can acquire a few of my own!

I also wanted to give my host family in Santa Rita a gift, but it was hard to come up with something that would work for my host parents and both host sisters. I decided to make dinner with another VOLUNTEER because our host families are related. After much debate and a thorough cost-benefit analysis, we decided to make tacos. It sounded really simple, but just finding all the ingredients proved difficult. We spent over an hour in the grocery store calculating what .78 kilograms meant in pounds, how many Panamanians that would serve, and searching for crunchy taco shells. Overall, the dinner was a huge success and we did not burn down the house or give anyone food poisoning. It was quite a feast and we had so much leftover, that we fed a bunch of volunteers too!      

During my last weekend in Santa Rita, I took a trip to an island with a few other volunteers. We went to Isla Taboga, which is a small island about a 30 minute boat ride from Panama City. There were same awesome views of the city from the boat. It was a perfect day to hang out on the beach and escape Santa Rita for a while.

The Bridge of the Americas

Panama City in the distance 

My host sister and host cousin

To finish off our time in Santa Rita, the volunteers worked with our language teachers to plan a "despedida" or sendoff/goodbye party with our host families. It was the perfect way to thank them for all the hard work they put in over the last 11 weeks. We had a ton of food, games for the kids, and several performances. The volunteers translated a song into Spanish and sang it for the families and my Ngäbere class presented a traditional dance called the "baile de las mariposas" (dance of the butterflies). It was a lot of fun!!

Piñata scrums are culturally universal

On Monday morning, at 4am, I gathered up all of my stuff and headed out of my host family. The volunteers spent two days in Panama City staying near the Peace Corps Office for the final training sessions.   

They are heavier than they look...

Heading to Swear-In

Wednesday was a much awaited day: I finally upgraded from a trainee and swore in as a Volunteer. It was a very cool ceremony that took place in the center of Casco Viejo (the old part of town, and the best in my opinion). We had leaders from the agriculture and health ministries, as well as the US Ambassador to Panama and the Peace Corps Panama Country Director present. Our entire training staff was also there!! All 45 members of G79 swore in and officially became Peace Corps Volunteers.  

G79 after Swear-In

WASH G79

After swear in, we had two free days to celebrate and enjoy each other's company before we all head our separate ways. We spent some time in Panama City and also went to the beach for a night. It was a lot of fun and a perfect chance to celebrate together!

Fountain in Panama City

During our last day at the beach, we gave each other paper plate awards. It was really adorable! I was voted "best site nickname." My Ngäbe name is Buchi, which means little guava and is what all the people in my site call me.

My paper plate award!

PST has been quite the crazy, busy, informative experience! Tomorrow, I'll be arriving in my site and starting my work as a Volunteer. During my first three months, I will not be leaving my site often so that I will be able to focus on integrating and doing a community analysis. After the first three months (around the end of December), I will move into my own house and no longer live with a host family. I will also be able to start working on projects and have a few more training events. I can't wait to get started on this journey and get back to Barranquilla!

PS: I will be using WhatsApp almost exclusively to communicate. Download it and I (or my parents :) can get you my Panamanian number!