The One with Christmas on the Beach

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are resting up for a fun filled New Years celebration.

Obviously things are a bit different for me this Holiday season. I traded in the snow from Tahoe for the sand on the Pacific side of Panama. I spent two fun filled days with 16 other volunteers from my training group; playing in the waves, relaxing in Hammocks, and catching up on each others lives. Honestly, there was absolutely nothing about the day that reminded me of Christmas. I would often have to remind myself that it was, of course the phone calls home were a bitter sweet reminder.

On Christmas morning we did a white elephant gift exchange. Nothing says Christmas like stealing presents from your friend’s right?

Christmas Day was spent playing in the ocean, walking the beach in search of seashells, playing football, relaxing in the hammock and simply enjoying each others company.

For Christmas dinner we went to this German Restaurant on the beach. We had the place to ourselves and they made us a special 3 course Christmas dinner. Even though it wasn’t a traditional Christmas dinner, it proved to be one of the best meals I have ever had.


I think it is true that you appreciate something a lot more once you don’t have it. I know that my Christmas’s in Tahoe are not gone forever, but being away for the first time EVER has made me value the little things that Christmas usually brings.

What I missed most about Christmas….

• Family
• Cutting down a tree with my Mom and always having the honors of putting the star on top.
• Reading Christmas cards about what family and friends have been doing the past year.
• Christmas cookies, especially the cinnamon ones
• Zucchini Bread ( even though I did get some when I went home last month, thankgoodness)
• Getting creative when making my Christmas gifts
• Good conversation while making Tamales (and eating the Tamales too)
• Polar Plunge into the Lake
• My Pops fake palm tree Christmas tree. Even though I had plenty of real ones around.
• Midnight Mass
• Christmas dinner at the Rasmussen’s
• Snow/ being cold

From the list above it seems that what I missed most are the things that are traditions, things that usually happen every year for Christmas regardless. And I know that the entire list happened this year without me, and that’s ok. I agree that traditions are good, and for me Christmas IS tradition. However, that being said, I know that in 10, 20 and 50 years from now, my memories of all these traditional Christmas’s may just blend together, but I will always remember that ONE Christmas I spent on the beach in Panama, and I am thankful for that.
But missing 2 Christmas’s is enough! Only one more to go, and I then I will be looking forward to returning to the traditions =)

As my gift to you, here are some more pictures =)
This first link is my Buena Esperanza album. I added a bunch of new photos at the end. Most of them are of my new host family because I put together a photo album for them for Christmas. http://picasaweb.google.com/maguilar317/BuenaEsperanza?feat=directlink

And this is a link to some pictures from Christmas. I actually didn’t have my camera with me, so all the Photo credit must be given to my friend Derek. http://picasaweb.google.com/maguilar317/ChristmasAtTheBeach?feat=directlink

I want to say Thank you for all the warm holiday wishes. It is nice to know that within all the commotion that Christmas brings you were able to find time to send me a message; I very much appreciate it and feel so lucky to have such great friends and family.
Have a safe New Years celebration!
Miche

The One With the Hotdog

Well, here I am back in Buena Esperanza, “good hope” (Which is exactly what I have returned with) The past 2 weeks sure have been a whirlwind. I still find myself opening my eyes each morning wondering if it has all been a dream.

For those of you that knew my Uncle Tim, know that he would have wanted me to return to Panama ASAP. So that is exactly what I did, even though I am missing out on some serious fresh powder back home. The day after the memorial I was back on a plane and traveled more than 24 hours before making it to my village. Even though we were all brought together by the tragedy of my Uncle’s death, it was wonderful to see all of you and receive your words of encouragement. I also had no idea how many people were actually reading my Blog, so maybe now I need to put a little extra effort into it =)
So let’s get into it…..

• The first point I would like to share with you is some “reverse culture shock” that I experienced during my trip home. Because I was so rushed to get out of B.E and be with my family, it really never even occurred to me that I might experience any sort of reverse culture shock. Oh but it hit me right when I set foot in the Huston Airport. Moving sidewalks? Best Buy vending machines? and flat screen T.V’s everywhere. I found the restaurant directory and B-lined it to the closest Jamba Juice, where I happily indulged in a Caribbean Passion smoothie with a boost of Protein (much needed) and 2 ounces of wheatgrass of course. The total came out to more than $10… OMG did I really use to pay this much for a smoothie? Moving on, I should have know better than to peruse the infamous airport magazine wall, but I had a few hours to kill and of course I was curious on what I had been missing. WOW, talk about information overload. Oprah’s leaving? Britney is married? And Tiger cheated?
  
  My Uncle’s memorial took place in L.A County. Now, I had culture shock visiting Las Angeles even before I joined the Peace Corps! That place is a whole different world.
  
  When I was home, in Tahoe, I stayed in the house most of the time, trying to spare myself of more unforeseen culture shocks. But, even in the house, I found myself using the toilet even when I didn’t need to and being so grateful that each time I turned a facet the life giving substance of water flowed freely and with such force that if I moved my cup for just a second I felt guilty for wasting that bit of water.
  
  And to top of the “reverse culture shock” when I got off the plane in Sacramento, my hippie brother (who I would often have to remind to put deodorant on for the sake of the mankind) greeted me by telling ME that I smelt….. And that was after I had been to the restroom to “freshin up.” Now I feel bad for whoever was sitting next to me on the plane.
  
• So I made it back to my village in time for their Mothers day celebration, which is December 8th. It was so great to see that woman in have a day to themselves. Even though they still had to cook breakfast and dinner, wash clothes, clean the house and watch after all the kids…. The men cooked lunch for them.
  
  When I was in the states I went to Wal-mar (yikes) and printed out all the pictures I had taken of my host family. I put them in a photo Album for my host mom for Mothers Day. As much as the Nagbe people (especially the women) don’t show emotion, I could tell that she was very pleased with her gift. The photos also kept the kids busy the rest of the day, they must have looked through it 100 plus times.
  
• I have moved into my next and last host family host! Now I am living with the school teacher, his wife, mom and three kids (7 less than before) The kids are: 2 boys ages 3 and 7 and one little girl who is 1 1/2 . My first week in this house has been good. The living conditions are pretty much the same except I don’t have a bed and they don’t have a rainwater catchment system so I need to be a lot more careful about the water I am drinking.
  
  I bathe with a bucket and cup still but it is not in the kitchen like before. Now, I walk about 10 min through mud and cow patties to fill up my bucket in the “Pozo” which really is just a muddy hole with water in it (pictures to come.) But I must admit that even though I am bathing with dirty water, there is something really wonderful almost spiritual about showering outside, especially when the palm and banana leaves act as your shower curtain. I can still remember almost 10 years ago when my Uncle Chip showed me his outdoor shower and I thought he was crazy. Turns out he knew what he was talking about (like always). I have made a mental note that wherever I end up living after Peace Corps, an outdoor shower is a necessity. But a shower head, clean water and a drainage system are musts… actually maybe not, we’ll see.
  
• By now my entire community knows that I don’t eat meat right? They still are fascinated by it and it is still often the topic of conversation. The first night in my new host house the “vegetarian conversation” lasted a good hour. Since I am living with one of the most educated people in the community (the teacher) he helped me establish that I don’t eat “any part of anything that was once living.” This was as clear to all, or at least I thought so… The next morning I received nothing more but a fried hotdog for breakfast! All I have to say about this incident is that if these isolated Indians take one look at a hotdog and genuinely think that it is something other than meat, that should tell us something about hotdogs.
  
• Thursday was my first English class. I had more than 40 people show up. There were so many people that they were lined up outside watching and listening through the window. I began the class with my rendition of Simon Says. It proved to be a good way to give them some vocab without actually having to teach them because they could just follow that I would do. I would say touch your head, touch your feet, touch your knees etc and then repeating and pausing when I usually say the body part to have them fill in the blank. They would laugh so hard each time I told them to touch their butts.
  
  After the Simon says into I taught them the Alphabet , some greetings, numbers and days of the week. I have jumped into teaching English right now because I know that is what the people want and really what they need. However I have absolutely no experience teaching so I would like to welcome any pointers from anyone. The people here are very reserved and I know that it is going to be a challenge to get them to participate in class.
  

Well, I would like to thank my Grandma T for reminding me and everyone else that attended my Uncles memorial, of the saying “Life will never give you more than you can handle.” Yes, it is unfortunate that “life” has prematurely taken my Uncle Tim, but now we each must “handle” this loss in our own way. For me, I know that the words my uncle wrote in that last e-mail will be running through my head each day I serve as a Peace Corps volunteer, and I am so grateful to have that.
And in case you are not on my uncles Marcus’s e-mail list, here is the link to the amazing slide show he put together for my Uncle Tim. http://vimeo.com/8036951

I would like to thank everyone once again for all of your support and acts of kindness.
And don’t worry about me down here! I am still staying positive and trying my best to stay focused.
I love you all very much!

Miche