Panamania

May 9 th The past few Sunday evenings I’ve watched the luchadores (WWE professional “wrestling”) with a group a 50+ yr. old men.  The men really get into the program. They usually start yelling at the television when one of the wrestlers they don’t like appears on the screen, when someone inevitably breaks the “rules,” or when a move looks especially painful.  This past Sunday after a match that the men found particularly exciting I was about to ask them if they knew that the whole program was a well-planned act.  I stopped myself after I thought back on how a similar conversation had gone with a group of men in Uganda. When I was in Kampala, Uganda, a group of my coworkers started looking through a Sports Illustrated I had brought from the US.  When they got to an article on WWE wrestling they told me that it was one of their favorite programs.  I replied that although they liked the program I didn’t think Sports Illustrated should have an article on...

May 7th A few days ago I changed houses.   It was the fourth time I’ve moved in with a new family since I’ve been living in Panama.   I was a little sad to leave Yarineth’s house, I’ve really enjoyed living with her family and she’s become my best friend here, but it will be good to expand the number of people in the community that I know intimately.   I moved into Ernesto Perez’s house, in the sector (neighborhood) of Nazareno.   Ernesto is the president of the environmental co-op, president of the Padres de Familia (the PTO), he will be my de facto landlord when I move in to my house, and he is a very intelligent and nice guy.   Ernesto’s house is a fun place to be because neighbors and family members are constantly dropping by, there are lots of kids playing together in the neighborhood, and there are a lot more people closer to my age that live in the surrounding houses.   Ernesto has organized it so that each day I eat all of my meals with a di...

 May 1 st I’m still observing in the school two days a week, but I’ve had the opportunity to help team-teach some of the classes.  Last week I taught the kindergarten class about different family structures in Panama and around the world.  After the story and lesson we played a game, which hopefully taught them that everyone’s family looks and functions a little differently but they all are equally as important.  I’ve also been helping to teach proper pronunciation to the English classes.  This week I’m going to hand out a survey to the teachers, which will teach me what environmental and computer skills their students know and which skills they would like the students to learn.  Next week I’ll have a meeting with all of the teachers and the director of the school to figure out my schedule for teacher training and teaching classes in the school next trimester. I’ve been spending a lot of time working with community members on their environmental ...

April 9 th This past week was Semana Santa (Week of the Saint, which is the week leading up to Easter).  My experience celebrating Semana Santa in Piedras Gordas was very different than it was in Spain.  When I was living in Spain, Ben Scott, Trey Richards, Jeff and I took a road trip a down the coast of Spain from Barcelona to Sevilla.  It was a week of traveling from city to city, sleeping in a cramped car, watching floats being set on fire, dancing, drinking, setting off fireworks, and attending all-night parties.  The only things that Semana Santa in Piedras Gordas has in common with my experience in Spain are the fireworks.  However, in Piedras Gordas fireworks signal the start of the church service instead of the beginning of a new party.   Each day at the Catholic Church there was a different activity to commemorate the events led up to El D í a de Resurrecci ó n (Easter).  There were daytime precessions for the men and women, a nig...