final days

My last week in Panama absolutely flew by. I had no clue a week good turn into mere hours just like that. Monday and Tuesdays classes were filled with presentations. Tuesday we had a lil bbq @ Matteo's aunts house. That was some good food and it was decided that we were going out. We went to Rock Cafe and I have to say that was probably THE best discoteca I've been too. They played music i like and it was like a male review for us ladies the first hour or two plus open bar. Amazing!!!! This was probably where I started to lose sleep cuz I definitely didn't catch up on any during the week.
Wednesday I had my exam in my conversation class and had to give a lil presentation there. My teacher told me that my pronunciation and overall speaking really approved. YAY!! and then Shai and I decided to head over to multi centro to get somethings. That was a mistake. We made our purchases and were all set to leave. We didn't want to stay to long because we had an exam in our class the next day. Well wouldnt you know that we couldn't get a taxi. It was freaking rush hour in the city. We left the mall @ 630 and tried to catch a taxi till like 715. I was sneezing all crazy because of all the dust and smoke. At that point we were both frustrated and decided to go back inside and get somethin to eat and wait till 830 or so and try again. We ended up going to Hard Rock Cafe and had some good eats. We tried the taxi again and had sucess. I didnt end up getting back to the house till a lil after 9. At which point I spent the next several hours trying to study for my exam.
Thursday exam day. I didnt do as well on it as I did my first one but classes are over. My other class was cancelled and they took us to Mi Ranchito for lunch. I got shrimp so happy there was no rice I needed a break. It was also Will's 23rd bday and Julia's 20th the next day. SO our teachers surprised them with a cake. The lunch ended up running really long and with traffic we didnt get back for awhile. That wouldnt have been a problem except it was the night of our farewell dinner. Soooo the dinner. Great!! Everybody looked soo nice and cute. We even had a lil show which was a lot better than the one that was put on @ San Blas. Also, got to have another salsa dance with Jorge. I really like it I think I'm going to look more into it. And since it was our last night all being together it was only fitting to go to the discoteca one last time. It was empty in there though because everybody was leaving for carnaval. But of course we made it worth our while. Even my brother, who is not a fan, came out. We said bye to the boys as they are staying longer for carnaval, so jealous bout that.
Friday we went to this island and were only this gorgeous island. The water was clear it was like moving glass. Absolutely beautiful. Shouldve gone there awhile ago. From all the sun and lack of sleep I was exhausted. But I mustered up some energy to go check out the carnaval activities in the city for a bit with my family. I was finding that I was falling asleep and asked to be taken back home while my family stayed for a salsa show that was going on. I had finished packing and was ready to go home. I had to be @ the school @ 6am that meant I got bout 3 hours or sleep. I said bye to my brother cuz he was the only one awake and got on the bus to the airport. Home was just a 5 hour flight away.

Cuidad dormir
Una paliza pulso
Vivir latina

O mi Panamá
Azul, brisas, taxistas
nunca olvidé

mis experiencias

Inicialmente cuando llegamos a Panamá no pienso que la cuidad sería bien. Mi papá dice cosas que me preocupé sobre. También no pienso que mi familia le gustaría yo y quería a salir rápido para mi casa en los Estados Unidos. Ahora la situación es completamente diferente. No quiere salir Panamá. Me encanta la cuidad y la gente. Todo está feliz. Las personas que tienen dinero y las personas que tienen nada en Panamá demuestra que no hay un razón para no ser feliz. La gente tiene música y baile en su sangre y son contenta. Aprendí ser feliz. Hay personas que tienen menos de yo y están contenta. Vida es corto y necesita ser feliz.
También aprendí que juventud no tiene un edad. Hay juventud en los jóvenes y adultos. Los jóvenes tienen divertir en las discotecas, playas y deportes específicamente fútbol con sus amigos. En las discotecas ambos bailan con alegre y con un pasión.
Sin embargo pienso que la gente, especialmente las taxistas, son un poco grosero. Cuando estoy en las tiendas personas no dice perdón, permiso o lo siento. Para mi es extraño porque en los Estados Unidos es un parte de nuestras gestos. Es una experiencia cuando los hombres silban y fija y no es importante que ellas tienen novios o esposos también. Aprendí que es un parte de la cultura con el donjuanismo y si los hombres no silban hay algo mal con tú. Pero para una mujer que no sabe la cultura completamente es un poco difícil par comprende.
Los taxis están una experiencia que yo nunca olvidaré. el primer tiempo que toma solo tuvo problemas hallazgo mi casa y tuvo miedo. Aprendí que no hay leyes en el calle. Cuando tú quieres ir tú vas. Pienso que es un poco peligrosos pero la gente está bien con eso.
Después de todo yo quiero regresar a Panamá. Me encanta la cuidad, la gente y mi familia. Mi familia es muy amable y ayudarme mucho en mi tiempo aquí. En los Estados Unidos no tengo hermanos y es interesante tiene hermanos pero me gusta. Me gusta las discotecas y el amor para fútbol. Mi experiencia aquí es uno que quiero repite pronto.

Los Cunas

Durante este fin de semana nosotros visitamos los cunas. Los cunas son un grupo de indígena que existen un Panamá hoy. Los cunas no llama a la isla San Blas porque San Blas es el nombre de todo de los indígenas que vivieron en la área. Yo aprendí que no hay una problema con crimen en la isla y no tienen problemas con el acceso del agua. Dos o tres tiempos un mes tienen un cuidad reunión y hablan sobre cosas que son importante. La clima es el mismo todo el tiempo con el viento y el sol. La isla tiene 3 iglesias y cada día a las 6 de la tarde ellos si quieren atender iglesia. La isla de los cunas tiene una escuela pare los niños. Los niños aprenden cuna primero y español segundo. La escuela en la isla se acerca al 6 grado y después los niños tienen que ir al otra isla más de escolaridad.
En el principio los cunas fueron un poco tímido pero curioso al mismo tiempo. Después de un poco tiempo la timidez desparecido. Los cunas que podía hablar Español estaban ansiosos para hablar con nosotros. Los niños constantemente saludaron y hicieron "Hola". Las niñas estaban fascinada por mi pelo. Los cunas le gustan el turismo también y los hombres no trabajan.
La mujer es muy importante en la cultura de los cunas. Cuando una mujer recortes su pelo hay un gran celebración. también las mujeres son las únicas personas que llevaran los vestidos tradicionales. También el hombre viene a vivir con la familia de la esposa cuando se casan.

My Weekend

Ok so lemme tell u bout my weekend in San Blas...wow where to start. Ok so we had to take a lil prop plane for a 1/2 hr 45min flight over to San Blas. Like the plane looked like it glided more then flew lol...After that we took a 20min boat ride to the island. Where we greeted by some Cunas. Very nice. Our "lodgings" were lil cabanna hut type thingys and Shai and I would have the one attached to the generator so that @ 10 or whenever they decided to cut the power ours went too...LOVELY!!! So when we got their we had breakfast which I'm sooo glad that Sra. Elle had made me pancakes before I left because breakfast was corn tortilla thingys( it's hard to describe them) with a piece of ham and a slice of cheese cut in half lol wow. Thank GOD there was pan(bread). We tore that stuff up. Next we sat around talking or hanging out in the hamocks until lunch. Which was barely anything either. You know those baby shrimp that get mixed into salads ya well we had that.....with a lil salad and somethin else I can remember. ANd for dessert 4 slices of cantalope. Needless to say everyone was still hungry.
After lunch we headed over to the island where the majority of the Cunas lived. We were there for 2 hours just walking around and talking to them. I got to buy some really nice molas and one of the wrap braceletts that the woman wear. It was interesting learning about their culture. SIDEBAR: If you wanna know more just read my Spanish post(just copy and paste in microsoft word, right click and select translate. it'll be rough but you'll get the point). Next back to the main island where we were staying where we were practically drooling waiting for dinner.
Now dinner....Ok i don't know what dinner was. It was so mixed seafood...squid and octopus or something....i could still see the suckers. So needless to say I was just eating the veggies...Now I did try it but it wasn't going down right. Once again save by pan lol. After dinner the majority of us ended up playing cards...and I learnd how to dance Salsa..thanks to our professor...and surprise surprise I'm not that bad @ it!! and I like it.
So sleeping...or lack there of it. I think I got 4hrs top cuz I was paranoid that the cabanna was going to blow over cuz it was soooo windy. And the insect net we kept over us had me thinking it was an insect.
Day 2: I was revived by the fact that breakfast was PANCAKES and Scramble eggs!!!! SO so SOoo happy lol...the beginning to a great day. Afterwards we headed to another island where I decided to give snorkling a try......well I think that was my first and last attempt...First not a strong swimmer and panicking from the seaweed is not a real good combo. So i staying in the shallows for the rest of the time we were there. Which wasn't as bad as you think once the sun decided to come out. We headed back to the main island for lunch. Which was also good being chicken and rice...But we discovered there was no more pan :(...Everybody was upset bout that lol. I headed on the main island while some people went back to the Cuna Island. Basically just hung around till dinner. Which wasn't too bad...It was some king of fish. But it wasn't overcast and I could actually see the stars(saw Orion's belt). The night concluded with more cards and some dancing with the Cunas that worked on the island.
But I was actually able to sleep through the night and woke up to my alarm. Which I was too happy to wake up to and start packing. Don't get me wrong it's a nice place but it's just not for me. It's boring and too much roughing it. It was cool for a day I couldn't imagine staying there for more than 2 days. After a less than satisfying breakfast we got on our boat that would take us to the landing strip for our 930 flight...which didn't get there till 1030. After getting our bags it was a consensus to go to Pizza Hut. Where for the first time since Thursday I felt full..sooo good.
After getting home I waited for my mom and sister to get home from a birthday party and they took me to Casco Viejo so I could finish up my shopping for people. SO now the rest of my night will be doing hw and catching up on reading as I head into my last week in Panama

La cultura popular de Panamá

La cultura de Panamá es muy interesante. Hay cosas muy distintivas y otras son una mezcla. Una cosas muy tradicional es la pollera. La pollera se debe a conquistadores españoles. No es posible a comprar una en una tienda. Todas de las polleras ha hecho a mano. Mujeres en la provincia de Los Santos específicamente hacen polleras muy hermoso. Las polleras tomar un largo tiempo para completar y para este razón son muy caras. Hay polleras diferentes depende de la región. Por ejemplo las polleras de las Congas, de coquito, marcada y la montuna ocueña. También hay tembleques que adoran el cabello y collares de oro. La belleza de las polleras, se muestra el Domingo de Carnaval y el 22 de julio para el Día Nacional de la Pollera. Los hombres tienen un traje tradicional que se ajuste las polleras de las mujeres.

Carnaval es una gran fiesta para 4 a 5 cinco días en Panamá. Todo del país participa en Carnaval. La fecha los cambio porque Carnaval es 40 días antes de semana santa de cristianismo. El mejor lugar para celebra Carnaval es Las Tablas. Allí hay una tradición entre los dos partes rivales en la cuidad, Calle Arriba y Calle Abajo. Los dos tienen una reina y luchan con un desfile diferente cada día de Carnaval. También el gobierno mantiene estrados para salsa, merengue y otros tipos de baile y canción. Sábado por la mañana es el dís de Mojadura cuando la multitud con agua.

Thursday= jueves

Well today was a good day. It was a regular day of classes and watnot except for my second class we did some type of dancing. I'm sure exactly what it was but my teacher was pretty excited about it. Besides it helped to pass the time and made the class go by faster. Like I said I couldn't tell you what it was because to me it seemed to be 2 steppin with some drums and occasional violin. But to each their own right.
Afterwards Shai and I headed to the mall. Finally got to see the other half of it because the last time we never finished it because it's so big and the time I went with my bro and sis it was just to go see the movie. I have to say I don't think I did too much damage. Just got some earrings and a couple rings. I don't know why I'm soo interested in rings now either because I can remember I couldn't stand them when I was younger. Except for those ring pops and that was just because it was candy probably. Oh and another thing that's different here is that the mall closes at 8 and PROPMPTLY!!! that's probably the one thing that isn't run on cptime here. They had their stores locked up. Which brings us to another situation. So Shai and I are trying to leave the mall and get a taxi. No problem you would thing. We have plenty of enough time to go back home and head to the club and get their by 10 1030 latest. WRONG!!! we stood outside for a good 1/2 hr 45 mins trying to get a taxi. Everybody said no and one guy actually laughed @ Shai. Finally I called my host mom and she came to pick us up and drop us off.
So by this time its like 945. I'm rushing to get ready and only have like this lil bowl of rice cuz I'm expecting Shai any moment wit the taxi. She gets to my host a lil b4 1030 and the taxi driver was telling Shai that he didn't have time to take us to the club. In my mind I'm thinking this can't be right I know that her family had called up the taxi and told them they were coming to get me and then take us to the club. So I just sat in the taxi and Shai told us to take us to another taxi cuz he wasn't even going to do that. Well he didn't do that and ended up just taking us to the club which is like above a parking garage.
We get their and Matteo and his host sister end up showing up the same time as we do so we go in together and since we ended up getting there like 11 we ended up having to pay $5 cuz the list closed a lil before we got there. Whatever. But I actually like this discoteca. It was real upscale classy kinda place. We got on the list cuz it was one of the girl's, Christine, host brothers bday. So this famous Panamanian rapper shows up I guess he sings one of the songs I like but he can't sing AT ALL!!! horrible horrible. Shai and I looked at each other and were like we're leaving soon. I mean everybody in the club was just staring at each other or talking no really paying attention to the guy. SO we end up leaving around 1. Somehow manage to find taxis and head back to the house . Where I will be getting 5 hours of sleep before having to wake up @ 630 to get the university by 730 and catch our 930 flight to San Blas...this should be interesting...

Teaching

Today was my last day of teaching...tear...it was also probably one of the craziest. The boys were off the wall...Actually it was just Juan Carlos. He through down a whole box of crayons, and was making all these noises and being really disruptive. One of the other girls put him in time out for like 5mins cuz we couldn't get anything done because he starting distracting the other boys. Oh we had a new addition to our class. This lil girl was too cute she reminded me of Hello Kitty or Mini Mouse or somethn. She was just always smiling and tried to participate right away. Gives me hope of actually wanting my own some day. But besides Juan Carlos acting up it was a pretty uneventful teaching day. It's just wierd that the 2 weeks of teaching are done. It just makes me realize that my time here is coming to a close and I don't wanna leave. I'm in love with Panama. The weather, the people, the fact that things aren't crazy expensive like at home. Plus since there's such a mix of people and cultures I don't feel weird here like there's not a problem with racism or anything. Everyones for the most part accepted. SOooo I've decided that somehow I'll be back here whether it's for carnaval(which I WILL be returning for) or a vacation or to have like a summer home or somethin I will be back
Classes were much of the same. And I'm getting a lot more confident speaking wise and I can pick up people's conversations now like I would if they were in English(yay me I know). But i'm looking forward to tomorrow shai and i are going to the mall again, but it's the bigger one, wish u were here mom we'd have a blast shopping all day lol. Afterwards I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably be @ GURU again unless someone gets us in for free somewhere else which would b a good look. Anyways more later ciao!