So! Approaching week 8 of 10.

Week 6- I was in Veraguas (one of the provinces here in sunny Panamá) for the week, with my fellow trainees! We had what they call “practicum week”. We spent the week practicing the LLS side of my job (Leader ship and life skills). It was both one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences thus far in PST.

Let’s talk first about my host family. I got the unique opportunity to stay with a new host family! A family who has never hosted a PCT (Peace Corps trainee) before, and welcomed me in with open arms. I improved my Spanish a lot that week because of the amount of conversation I had with my family. Every night I was excited to go back home and see the hoard of neighborhood kids run up to me, ready for a hug and an English lesson. I also became close with my host brother, and sat and talked with him a lot. My most mother told me she really wanted a daughter/female in the house and the week meant a lot to her and that I always had a mother in Veraguas with her. One week. That’s all I spent with this family and by the end, I was easily ready to call that place a second home. I am so often struck by the pure kindness, open nature and willingness to share of the Panamanian people. I’m always in awe of how they take such a unique situation and don’t make me feel like some outsider burden but a family member they don’t want to say goodbye to.

My first day in Veraguas my host dad took me on a tour of the property. He explained a lot of the trees to me. One tree-a mango tree-was very exciting for him. I misunderstood his explanation of when the mangoes would be ready (misunderstanding people is my new hobby) and excitedly asked “ahh mangoes para mañana?!” I’ve never seen anyone laugh so hard since I’ve arrived in Panama. He proceeded to tell the whole family about our fun exchange and it became a running joke in the family. I never took offense to it, because they said it so simply and so loving. It broke the ice and that was my week, speaking about “mangoes para mañana”. There have been many times I misread ques or don’t fully understand what’s going on, but I have never felt belittled. Being able to take a joke with grace is one of the most important parts of cultural integration. A hard lesson to learn is how to navigate taking a joke and giving one, in a language you hardly understand. Or being able to stop unwanted advances. I have no sage advice for this, but think it’s something myself and other trainees struggle with. Learning a second language is super hard and I really respect all my students in Japan and now in Panama. I’ve been lucky so far that I’ve only had positive experiences, but know that difficult times are on the horizon. But! With patience and the ability to laugh at myself, I have faith I’ll be ok. I will always remember “mangoes para mañana”, and go from there. If you can laugh at one thing, you can laugh at everything, right?

Work that week-holy heck it was rough. We (myself and two other dudes) taught this LLS class to 9th graders. My Spanish level wasn’t exactly up to par with my co-teachers and I often felt very overwhelmed and undermined in the classroom. Usually, i would harbor these feelings and hold grudges. But! Here in PST I’ve had to grow as a human. Twice I had to have tough conversations to stand up for myself (what?! Kallie stand up for herself… check her for la fiebre amarilla). After those conversations I was able to navigate the rest of the week without tears (thank you, Kiki, for allowing me to call you sobbing and talking me off the ledge). My brain and heart left Veraguas and the whole experience both full and tired. It’s hard to explain the emotional drainage that comes with the territory and yet the feeling of accomplishment and love.

On Friday we did a fun trash pick up with a local group of youth! My host brother happened to be there and never told me he was going. Another miscommunication but we had so much fun together! It is really cool to see how I will get to work with the local youth in my community and hopefully support such things and be a positive influence. It really motivated me to get involved in whatever community I end up in!

That weekend we were allowed one “unaccompanied overnight trip” and went to the beach with all the people in our group! 19 Americans traveling together. Super easy, right? One lesson I’ve learned in Panama/in PST? You cannot be super introverted. I’ll be able to have some alone time in the future but it ain’t now! The beach was fun, but I chose not to go during the day. My skin hates me already and I didn’t want to deal with the pure heat of the sun. So, sorry I have no daytime photos from the beach.I cannot express how strong the sun feels here, I feel happy that rainy season is upon us! I’ve already gone through 3 bottles of sunscreen since I’ve arrived in Panamá, and only one minor sunburn #wishmeluck. I did to go the beach at night! When we put our feet in, some phosphorescent plankton made themselves known! It looked like sparks in the water all around my feet, I cannot describe what a moment that was. In Panama, in the ocean, surrounded by people whom I hardly know and yet know so well, watching plankton light up. Transcendent.

Week 7- Not as eventful but equally as challenging and definitely humbling. I had a LPI (language placement interview) in week 5, and we got our results on Monday. I stayed the same level, and everyone else advanced. So, while I’m not getting worse, I’m certainly not improving in my Spanish. I didn’t “move down” a Spanish class, rather the class below me worked their tails off and got to my level! Still, it was humbling to see how very little I’ve improved. It was the kick I needed to try a little harder, but it was a very disappointing and emotional day.

We also got the opportunity to cook some exciting Panamanian food! My new class and I cooked “Pollo Guisado” which is chicken cooked in a spicy (by Panamanian standards) sauce. We also had some delightful Piña ensalada, ensalada de papas rojas (potato salad with beats in it that make it red) and brown sugar fried plantains (yummmm). It was a fun and relaxing day. While I still don’t love cooking, it was fun to learn how to explain processes in Spanish and learn more about the culture of food here.

We also have a fun tradition of “pass the hat” and for a week someone is recognized for either being “officer safety”, “cultural cowboy”, or “comedy king”. I was recognized this week as the cultural cowboy for all the fun classes I did in Veraguas! I spent all my free time with my family and neighbors. I also am a “higher education specialist” in my group and got the unique opportunity to lead a session for all my fellow trainees with another guy. I gave a short lesson in Japanese to show what our students will feel like in our class, and to discuss “teacher talk”. I’m not exactly sure how it went but I got really good feedback from my team. They are too nice to lie… but it felt good either way. I was super happy to be up in the front of a class again! So, because I went out of my comfort zone to teach that class, I was given the cowboy hat and felt super thrilled. A good way to end my week that started off rough. #proudofthathat. I thought I’d be over being recognized by now, but even now at 29 I felt so happy to get it!

Next week I’ll be in an elementary school practicing co-teaching! Exciting stuff. We only have 3 full weeks left of PST and will soon learn our sites and I will have more info for everyone. For those asking- the blog posts cannot come everyday. I apologize but, today is the first fully free day I’ve had in three weeks! Be it travel days or “not required but strongly recommended” weekend activities. I am busy all the time. Also, trying to soak up as much of the culture and language as possible. Also, I’m not sure what the people want to hear. So please let me know, and I’ll try my best to incorporate some interesting things and not just a play by play of my week.

Kallie’s experience in Panama facts- it’s mango season, did you know you can eat the skin of a mango?, also-turns out im not as allergic as I thought to mangoes, (have I said mango enough in this post?), rainy season is starting, chickens often go uphill in a full sprint and it’s legit the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, I often have lunch with three tiny birds that live in a coconut shell, my new natural scent is bug repellent, coconuts can go bad and taking 20 min to open them to see the rot is the most disappointing thing ever, PB&J tastes just as good anywhere in the world as it did when I was a kid, I worry where all the cats are, I’m bad at salsa/merengue/cumbia dancing-but people always want to learn footloose, and of course “mangoes para mañana”.

Ya esta. Thanks, as always, for reading. Please let me know what you people want to hear from me. And please please please have patience with me! Biiiig Love from sunny Panamá. (Also sorry for the sporadic writing. I kept remembering things to add, but c’est la Kallie, right?)

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Oh, yeah. I also saw the Panama Canal!

My fan club.

My hermanita added flowers to my practically dreaded hair.