Q&A

As promised, this blog will be dedicated to a Q&A! But first, a quick overview of what I've been doing for the last few weeks.

We clean up pretty good when
we leave the campo

Most of February, I was out of site for a two week long training event and to visit some of my friends in their communities. For the first time since moving to my community, I ventured far east into the Coclé Province. I visited my friend's community and then headed to a week of "office" training. I was reunited with all the Volunteers in my Group and we spent a week in sessions in a classroom setting. And by classroom, I made an outdoor rancho with an awesome penca (thatched) roof!

Visiting Guyabital, Coclé

Yes, I get paid to play in the river!

The second week of training was hands-on. My group visited a Volunteer's site in the Comarca Ngabe Buglé (she's over a year into her service) and worked to build a tank, rainwater catchment tanks, develop and build a toma (a cement box that captures water from natural spring sources), and were able to practice working with counterparts and facilitating presentations. It was a great, exhausting week and I learned so much that I hope to take back for my community! I lived with a host family for the week and was reminded about the kindness of strangers who welcomed us into their homes without reservation. I also remembered all the reasons I love having my own little house (escape from children, chickens, buchu, etc). Following training, I visited another friend's site for a few days. Then I headed back to Barranquilla after a nearly 3 week absence. It was so nice to finally get home and have a break from traveling with a bunch of stuff.

The ladies after working hard to pour the tank floor

I had a meeting in Changuinola with MINSA (the Health Ministry) to discuss obtaining legal status for my Water Committee and what assistance the government may be able to provide. Then, I had a fun couple of weeks in site. I built a rainwater collection tank made of cement at my house. The water goes out frequently, and so now I will not have to carry water to my house because it rains nearly every day in Bocas. I have a few finishing touches to put on the tank, but it's nearing completion. I also worked with my Water Committee to organize elections that we will hold when I return from vacation.

With my rainwater tank

I will be traveling for the next week because Mom, Dad, and Ian are coming to visit me!! We will be spending time in Bocas (visiting my site) and in Panamá City. In a couple days, I will be heading to the City to get them from the airport and whisk them off to Barranquilla! I cannot wait for their visit!

A cloudy morning in Barranquilla

Q&A

Q: How far is the nearest "store"- your mom said you had pasta your first night in your home, where did you get the pasta?

A: I am lucky because in my community there about 4 different "tiendas." These are small stores in or right next to people's homes that sell the basic essentials. They ALWAYS have things like rice, sugar, oil, soap, and pasta. Some of the nicer tiendas sell eggs (who knew they didn't have to be refrigerated?!), candy, crackers, and pop. One even has a gas powered refrigerator so they sell COLD pop, chicken feet, and chicken neck. Although I can buy many items in site, they are very pricey and not consistently in stock. I bring in most of my food from nearby cities, usually Chiriquí Grande or Changuinola. I try to calculate how much food I'll need for the amount of time that I plan to stay in site without leaving and bring in roughly that amount (while always knowing that I can buy emergency food in site). That pasta was possibly the most anticipated meal I've ever eaten.

Q: What was the hardest thing to adjust to?

A: I think the hardest thing to adjust to was going from training to living in my site with a host family. It was a shock to go from a training community with electricity, reliable water, and living with 4 people to a community with very little water access, no electricity, and living with 15 people. Now, I feel very integrated and well adjusted, but it was a big change to first arrive at my host family's house and not know anybody or how anything worked!

Q: What is the story behind the turtle shirts?

A: The turtle shirts (as featured in photos on my last blog) represent the Bocas province. Everyone Bocas has the shirts to represent our Province and the icon of Bocas is the turtle. That's because every year, groups of endangered sea turtles come to the coastal areas of Bocas to lay their eggs and it's one of the most famous things from the Province. The bonus is that my shirt has my Ngabe name (Buchi) on the back. Volunteers in indigenous sites get local names from their community and that name becomes almost interchangeable with our real names during our service.
  
Q: What's your favorite thing you've eaten? Are you eating more than frijoles (beans)?

A: My favorite thing I've eaten (that's Panamanian) is an hojaldre/a. It's a really simple combination of flour, salt, baking powder, and water that is fried. But, the deceptively simple recipe is quite challenging to get right in practice and the technique for shaping the dough requires a decent amount of practice. Hojaldras are part of a classic breakfast and a well made hojaldra is definitely what I look forward to in a Panamanian restaurant. Because they have to be fried in oil (which is expensive) they are a real treat in my community and I only eat them at special events. And, luckily, I am now eating way more than frijoles! Since moving into my own house, I am in full control of my diet and occasionally make beans or lentils, but am yet to cook rice. After eating rice so much with my host family, I am seeing how long I can go without cooking it myself!
 
Q: Will you be responsible for organizing the local community to work with you on water access or will there be other Volunteers working with you?

A: I am the only Volunteer living in Barranquilla and (as with nearly all communities) so I will be working on my own to organize the community for work. Once my community's Water Committee is reformed and the community is motivated and prepared for a big project, I will certainly need some support from technical coordinators, Peace Corps staff, and other Volunteers with more experience. But, overall, I am the only Volunteer that will be working with my community on water projects.    

Q: Is it everything you expected it to be?

A: I saves the toughest question for last. The answer has to be "yes and no." No, because I had no idea what to expect and all the advice I received said the best thing I could do was have little to no expectations. But, in reality, that's really hard to do. So, I had my expectations, but they were so far off from the reality in Panamá that I quickly realized most things that I thought might happen were completely erroneous. That realization early on made it much easier to have no expectations. So, pretty much everything I told people about what I would be doing in Panamá before leaving the US was either wrong, vague, or made up (sorry!). I say "yes," it is what I expected because I knew it would be quite the adventure. I'd practice Spanish, live in a rural community, and have a lot of hard (yet rewarding) work to do. In that sense (and only that sense), Peace Corps has been exactly what I expected. Overall, despite my incorrect expectations, I couldn't be happier with how the reality of Peace Corps Panamá turned out!

Now for some of the questions that I most frequently get asked by my community members! I try to answer these as honestly and tactfully as possible, but sometimes I just have to move on and come back to it another day.

1. Is Rambo real?
2. Did you know that Chinese people live and breathe under water?
3. What do pilots say on airplanes?
4. Why do I (Emily) have freckles?
5. Why do I have blue eyes? (They call blue eyes "ogo de minchi," which literally means "cat eyes")
6. Why don't I eat chicken neck or feet?
7. How can I only have 2 siblings?!?!?! (The average immediate family is 8-10 people)
8. How does astronomy work? (They're curious about everything: stars, the sun, gravity, and UFOs)
9. What's with my tan lines? Are they tattoos? Do they hurt?

I have some major Chaco tan lines

10. How old is Rambo? Why doesn't he fight anymore? Is he dead? Is Rambo real? (They're obsessed with all things Rambo)

Visiting Cerro Gallina (aka Chicken Hill)

He saved me from the bug he's holding!

Making banana bread with my host siblings