November has been a very busy month!! In Panama, November is the month of ferias (holidays). There are so many holidays that not much work happens. I got to spend the most important holidays celebrating with my community. November 3rd is Panama's independence from Colombia and November 4th Panama celebrates its national symbols (the flag, National Anthem, and shield). The preparations begin in earnest on Nov. 2 to get ready for the big celebration on the 3rd. My school had a big activity that included: poetry and songs performed by the kids, recognition of the honor roll students, piñatas, relay races, a climbing competition, and of course lots of food! The day started early in the morning with a community breakfast followed by all the activities. The entire community came together to make the day possible. On Nov. 2, I helped the ladies make Johnny Cakes for hours. Johnny Cakes are fabulous; they are round pieces of bread made with coconut milk to sweeten them slightly. We used dozens of pounds of flour to ensure every student (approximately all 386 of them) could have a Johnny Cake for breakfast. It was a lot of fun and by the end of the day I was covered in flour and basically an expert at rolling out Johnny Cakes (and I got to sample a few, obviously for quality control purposes).
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| A busy kitchen |
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| The Johnny Cake Master (the lady, not me) |
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| The rancho all decorated |
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| Cooking over the fire |
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| The finished product! |
On November 3rd, even more people volunteered to prepare lunch for the entire community; that's well over 500 people. I was able to enjoy all the day's activities! My favorite one was the climbing competition. There was a tall, wooden pole stuck in the ground and greased to make it slippery. The kids had to climb on top of each other's shoulders to try and reach the top first. It was hilarious to watch the kids climbing, slipping, and collapsing while trying to reach the top first. No good celebration is complete without a baile (dance). During the day, they played music and many rounds of musical chairs with the kids. By night, the adults came out to dance in the community's rancho (communal meeting space). The next day was a much more serious affair. The kids gathered to sing the National Anthem in the morning and learned about the importance of the national symbols. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun by participating in all the activities!!
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| Celebrating Nov. 4th |
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| Celebrating and playing musical chairs |
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| The first ones up, win a prize |
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| Not as easy as it looks |
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| Success! |
In addition to all the celebrations, I have been working on my community analysis. I had a few meetings with my community to work on drawing a map and making calendars so that I can learn about Barranquilla. I worked with some of my community counterparts to host a meeting with my community during a visit from my boss from Peace Corps. It was very successful and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who showed up for my meeting!! I'm almost done with my community analysis and will soon be working with my community to prioritize our projects.
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| My community members hard at work |
I've been learning a lot in Barranquilla. Most recently, I've started learning to make kras (hand-made purses). I completed my first one and I'm quite proud (even though the ladies in my community like to tell me that it's kind of "cochina"). I definitely have room for improvement, but my community, and the women especially, like to teach me.
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| I bought this purse |
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| My first kra |
I also survived my first hurricane: Hurricane Otto. The week of Thanksgiving, all Volunteers in Panama got a warning that a hurricane was coming to Panama and would cause winds and rain, especially in Bocas (my region). Luckily, my site is not close to the ocean and is protected by mountains, so there was no severe weather. Other communities closer to the ocean had some high winds, but all the Volunteers were fine.
November is nearly over and in December I will be traveling quite a bit. I will have Ngobere language training, a holiday party, and I'll be visiting a few of my friends' communities. I have spent 5 months in Panama and nearly 3 months in Barranquilla. I am working on finding a house of my own to move into and will hopefully be living on my own by the start of 2017!
