Our house on Isla Bastimento.
BFFs for nearly 23 years, reunited in Panama!
Post pig-out on Isla Taboga with Christine and Drew.
Christine introducing her baby: CELI!
Sorry guys...didn't realize it had been a month since I last updated! So for logic's sake, I'll report in chronological order.
Meeting the RELO, Wednesday February 23rd
Michael Rudder, the Regional English Language Officer for Mexico and Central America, was here the week of February 21 (the week after Access camp). I was fortunate enough to get to spend a little time with him. Thankfully I had his visit to look forward to because it was a really tough transition going from being so busy and inspired with the Access camp to coming back to the city and not having much to do. When I told Michael what I had been doing for the first 6 weeks of my time here (helping teach classes at Latina and Access camp) he was a little caught off guard by the teaching. He said, "Well do you want to be teaching?" Then he explained to me that the ETA program is misunderstood worldwide. He said our role isn't really to be in the classroom teaching as much as it is to do more extracurricular things around the language like: drama clubs, movie clubs, writing centers and writing contests, conversation tables, cultural presentations, etc. I was a little surprised to hear this but so excited at the same time. I definitely enjoyed connecting with my students, especially in the Written Communication II and III courses. I know I brought energy, excitement and passion in to the classroom and I know I had a positive impact on my students. However, the things Michael listed off just sounded like so much fun! And they also seemed like activities that would allow me to have a more far-reaching impact. So began the process of trying to get these ideas in motion...
I spent the next couple weeks talking with my contacts at the Embassy to try and get everything sorted out. They had me sign a contract before I spoke with Michael. This contract stated that up to 25 hours were to be spent in the classroom (language directly from the Fulbright ETA website). They're so adamant about me being in the classroom and following the guidelines of my contract that they weren't really listening to me when I was explaining the dysfunction of the situation. I was either teaching the entire course with limited assistance/supervision of a full-time faculty member or I was just sitting in the classroom. Overall I was feeling under-utilized and slightly bored. After many email and phone conversations, some quite emotional, I still didn't really feel like much was accomplished. I continued my pattern of going to the classes and doing what I could. I finally had a breakthrough when talking with my stepdad, David. He said, "Listen, just do what you went there to do. If they're not going to help you do that, then figure it out for yourself. If they get mad at you for simply trying to help them then solve the problem if it arises." I had been feeling like I needed permission and needed to jump through hoops. Well the bureaucratic process really hadn't worked for me up to this point so a couple weeks later I would finally take matters in to my own hands.
Drew's Arrival, Tuesday March 1st
Why did I wait a couple weeks to get started? Because I had visitors! Drew Haverly, the other Panama ETA arrived on Tuesday, March 1. I was so so so so so happy to see him and provide an informal in-country orientation for him that I, unfortunately, didn't really have. I met him at the airport and immediately saw in him what I know people could see in me just a couple months earlier. I could tell that he was in a bit of shock to be here. He and I had been preparing to come to Panama for nearly a year; for the planning to finally become reality was definitely shocking. I set him up on one of Christine's air mattresses in the apartment and this became his home for his first week in Panama. On Thursday I took him to the canal and my beloved Parque Omar and for a delicious Lebanese lunch at Los Cedros on Via Argentina. We went out in Casco Viejo that night to a great restaurant called Mostaza. It was a little pricier than we were prepared for but it was really delicious and I got to spend more time in Casco Viejo. That night we also met up with my dad's business friend Urbano for a couple drinks (I stuck with lychee martinis...so good!). We spent Friday relaxing, went to a friend's pool and just hung out.
CELI Opening, Wednesday March 2nd
Drew was off early in the morning for his meeting at the embassy. I spent the day at Latina helping Christine prepare for that afternoon's huge event: CELI ribbon-cutting. We re-arranged her office, made sure we had plenty of copies of informational brochures and just took in the moment that this was finally happening for her. Two member's of Latina's board, US Ambassador Phyllis Powers and Panama's Minister of Education were all in attendance for CELI's grand opening. There were also a number of TESOL teachers and embassy employees, and of course Drew and I there to support Christine and this huge project. There have been a couple other bi-national centers (which CELI will hopefully turn in to some day), but they have failed. Other countries in Latin America have had bi-national centers for 60+ years. Hopefully CELI will still be alive and thriving in 2071.
Carnaval, Saturday March 5th-Wednesday March 9th
People kept telling us to get out of the city, that the best parties were in the smaller towns, namely Las Tablas. Apparently Las Tablas Carnaval celebrations make Rio's Carnaval and New Olreans' Mardi Gras look tame. We decided to test the waters in the city, thinking that it couldn't be that bad here and not wanting to deal with the traffic caused by the mass exodus of people fleeing the city for celebrations. On Saturday the weather ended up throwing a kink in our plans. It was overcast in the morning and we had already planned on checking out the Cinta Costera (the coastline where all the Carnaval festivities were taking place) and after lunch the skies opened up with a torrential downpour. Luckily we had not yet ventured to the Cinta Costera and were instead holed up in the apartment. This gave Drew the opportunity to chat with his friends and family back home so we just took it easy and let the rain run its course. We would try Carnaval the next day. On Sunday we went to Atlapa Convention Center across from the Sheraton to check out an Afro-Antillean expo. We were both expecting a little more than what was there: it was an open room with tables along three walls and a stage in the center. A man was telling a story on stage. On one wall, trinkets were for sale and on the other 2 food vendors were set up. We walked around and decided to get a plate of food. We only spent about 2 hours there; there was not much to do or see which was kind of a let down. The weather had similar plans for this day so instead of trying Cinta Costera we went back to the apartment where I came down with a fever, chills, body aches, the works. I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in bed.
We finally got down to Cinta Costera on Monday afternoon and realized why everyone told us to go out of the city. It was a total bust. It started with me getting felt up (seriously felt up) by a woman police officer--what kind of bomb could I possibly be hiding in my size A bra? The area was kind of deserted. There were a couple stages set up but no one was performing. The streets were lined with food vendors blasting their reggaetón music. Otherwise there were people walking around throwing bits of paper on each other and squirting passersby with water guns. The locals were right; it was kind of lame.
Christine, Drew and I originally planned to go to Contadora, Pearl Islands on Tuesday but didn't realize the ferry was already sold out. Instead we took a 45-minute ferry to Taboga Island. This was yet another thing people warned us about; some said we could spend our whole time in Panama and not go to Taboga and we wouldn't be missing a thing. This time, the peanut gallery was wrong. Taboga was beautiful. There were a lot of local people there enjoying the beach and the water. We got a couple hours of sun before more rain came through in the afternoon. That evening we walked around the town a little (reminded me a ton of San Cristóbal, Galapagos) and had a delicious dinner of prawns, shrimp, fried yucca and beer. It was a great day with two great people. We spent the last day off of Carnaval at Christine's friend Linda's place in Club de Golf. We went to the pool and hung out with her two kids.
Amigas y vacaciones! Wednesday March 9th-Saturday March 19th
On Wednesday night Susan Willey arrived! I met her at the airport and sat with her at dinner at the hotel. The next day, I took Drew to the bus terminal and wished him buen viaje as he began his journey to David (a city about the size of Cedar Rapids, about 7 hours away, and the location of his ETA program). I spent the rest of the day with Susan. I brought her to the university, showed her around and introduced her to Christine. From there we went to the Bahai center--an egg-shaped building at the top of a hill with gorgeous views and peaceful gardens. Then we went to Ancon: the highest point of Panama City where a giant Panama flag is flown. From there we had views of Cinta Costera, Casco Viejo, the causeway and the canal. We drove down and had lunch on the causeway and then got Susan situated for her next day transit of the canal. I took her to Mostaza in Casco Viejo that night for a lovely dinner. We had a couple glasses of wine, a delicious dinner, and wonderful conversation as we enjoyed the beautiful colonial scenery. Katharine arrived Friday night and after a day of showing her the city, we were off for vacation!
We flew to Bocas del Toro early Sunday morning. Bocas is a chain of islands near to the border of Costa Rica on the Caribbean side. When we arrived we dropped our bags at a restaurant, explored the town and purchased groceries for a week. A boat picked us up at 11 and took us 45 minutes to Isla Bastimento where we rented a 2-bedroom house for 4 nights. Our days consisted of: waking when we felt like it, reading, laying out on the beach, sea kayaking, swimming in very seaweedy but very clear water, margaritas at 4pm sharp, dinner and wine. It was the perfect break for all of us (even though you could catch Katharine with a 20 lb law book and legal pads strewn about). Our last two nights in Bocas (Thursday and Friday) were spent at Al Natural Resort: http://www.alnaturalresort.com/ We stayed in a hut on the water, showered with a view of the lush forest behind our cabin, and consumed delicious food, bottomless wine glasses and perfect maracuya (passion fruit) daquiris! Mealtimes were family-style so we got to know the other guests at the resort: there was a woman from Michigan and her Costa Rican husband, a number of people from Toronto, some from Berkley and Oakland, a couple from Argentina, and an American family living in Panama. It was great to get to know some of these other people and share travel stories. We said chao to Bocas on Saturday afternoon and flew back to Panama City. We had time for one more dinner before Katharine and her mom had to go to their airport hotel as they would fly back to CR early the next morning. Katharine and Susan: thank you so so so much for spending your vacation with me! It was great to have you and so fun to experience a new part of Panama with you.
New Role at Latina
As I said earlier, my meeting with Michael Rudder, the RELO, really inspired me to get some new projects going. My contact at Latina attended the International TESOL conference in New Orleans while I was on vacation. While she was there she met with a rep. from the US State Dept. who gave her a better idea of my program. State reinforced what I was trying to convey after my meeting with Michael. She agreed that my role would definitely be changing at the university.
Instead of leading classes and attending them on a daily basis, I will be asked to give special cultural presentations that tie in to the academic content of that class. For example, on Wednesday I gave a presentation on St. Patrick's Day to one of my Written Communication classes. The academic content area for that day was the comparison/contrast essay. I spent the first 45 minutes talking to them about St. Paddy's Day: the color green, the shamrock, the Saint himself, the parades, the food, the music, the parties, the river in Chicago and the high amounts of beverages consumed on this day. I included a couple great videos from the History Channel website as well as a youtube of an Irish-drinking song. It was a ton of fun for me and for the students. Then, the lead teacher introduced the academic content of comparison/contrast essay and the students had the rest of class to work on an essay comparing St. Patrick's Day to their Carnaval festivities. I will be doing other similar presentations as they come up in the future.
I will also have a consistent presence within CELI. I will be leading a conversation club for one hour, three days/week. The main goal of this club is to just get students talking! That's one of the hardest parts of learning a language so I'm hoping to create a comfortable, open environment so my students will feel confident to practice their target language. Our conversations will stem from the lessons taught in the classroom and will also be focused on cultural exchange. I'll also be providing individual and small group tutoring for CELI students. I'm starting tutoring on Monday with a couple professors. They want fast-track results so hopefully with 3 hours/week with me and an hour at conversation club they'll get the results they're looking for.
I'm still trying to get involved in Latina's English club. However, my contact at the university wants me to provide a conversation club for some faculty. We will meet for a couple hours a week just to talk and get the faculty working on their fluency and accents and exchanging culture. I would like to set up tutoring hours for the English students at Latina; finals are coming up and I know there are students that need a little extra help. Working on a time/venue for this project.
Finally, I will be assisting with Access. Their school-year program starts in 10 days. I will have a similar role with Access as I do with the Latina classrooms. I will be pulling out smaller groups and doing fun, interactive, cultural activities with them.
My role will be just like Michael and I discussed. I will be more of a cultural ambassador sharing my knowledge of US culture and the English language and hopefully learning as much as possible of Panama's culture and Spanish language from the students I work with. Those of you that know me well, know that I love having a schedule, I love having things to look forward to, and I love having an impact. I came here to have a broad positive impact on as many students as possible. I finally feel like these new roles will give me the power to accomplish that goal.
Miscellaneous updates
Just a quick update on my mentor, Alba. She is really struggling in these early stages of chemo and has since taken somewhat of a leave of absence. She will not be returning to the university for the rest of this term (which finishes in 1 month). Hopefully she'll be able to return for next term beginning in early May. Please continue to send positive vibes her way. For now, I've got a great mentor in Christine and am looking forward to working with the Access teachers.
My nephew, Quin, is now over 9 lbs and finally getting full cheeks! My sister is going back to work soon. Can't believe how fast these little ones grow. Also, congrats to Katie on being accepted in to the New Leaders program! You will make an incredible school administrator.
Feliz cumpleaños (happy birthday) to: my mom (March 8th), Katie (March 14th) and Katharine (March 25th). These are three really incredible women who have all inspired me in some way or another.
Jack will be here in exactly 26 days. We've been away from each other for nearly 3 months now; it's been tough but we've gotten through it. He'll be here for three weeks and is going to help me out with some of these projects. Can't wait to see the love of my life and share this experience with him :)
En Fin
Sorry for the epically long post and the one-month hiatus. It took me 2 days to write this, so I will definitely keep up with this beast better than I did for the month of March.
Cuídate.
