Site location woo

So I´ll be living/working in a community called Loma Bonita in the Cocle province. i have a whole bunch of info on paper but the best info ill get is after i´m there. im not sure how easy it is to find on a map, but you should be able to find El Cope which is relatively closeby.

Next week my CEC group is checknig out a different town in the area so i may get a good idea of what its like there. the week after that is our culture week for the region. not sure what well be doing but its supposed to let us see the cultural differences in the province. 2 weeks after that ill actually be visiting my site for a week which is when ill be able to share a little bit more with you all.. i´m amped

few details.. bit over 300 people, running water, no electricity, i do get cell service and i have some volunteers nearby. more later

its letter A, the one in La Pintada

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=es&q=loma%20bonita%20cocle%20panama&lr=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

oh and here is a little game i made for a 2nd grade class. my group is doing an eco parade in a few weeks with a school and my class is doing reptiles and amphibians. they knew all their names but the reptil o amfibio was a little tough

Volunteer Visit

last weekend i finally got to check out a current volunteers site and stay at his place for a few days. it gave me a really good perspective on what i want out of the next 2 years.. as far as what projects i want to work on and where i want to be. i went up to a small town called Boquerron in the province Colon. I find out where i´ll be for service next wednesday.. heres some pictures from boquerron. We had to hike about 30 minutes into the mountains to find a place that had some cell signal to make some mothers day calls.. i wish i had a camera with me because i was on a ridge in the middle of no where with an awesome view.

besides that, theres nothing really new going on.. besides 8 hours of training a day. gotta practice my spanish this weekend cuz weve got a test next week but im not too worried. saturday weve got a community analysis project to work on and then well probably get out of town and check out a movie. i think on sunday im going to panama city with my host family, but schedules tend to change a lot around here so we´ll see.

let ya all know next week where i´m placed.

oh.. a kinda funny story from the weekend. the volunteer i visited, jake has running water which was awesome and luckily lives about 30 seconds from a river. i was showering on my last day there when the water cut out and i was half covered in soap.. so i threw on a toalla and hopped in the river, way convenient and i got to skinny dip in panama

Pictures from Panama City

pictures are..

1. few of us with the city in the background

2. me in front of.. dont remember haha

3. me and monkey

4. a river near training we all went to hang out at

finally an update (with pictures)

so ive got way too much to say in the amount of time i have left to be in this internet cafe, but everything is going great. i didnt feel too hot in the beginning, getting used to the humidity and all but its cooled off by now. so i live in a little area with 5 or 6 houses.. all family. another trainee (not volunteers yet) is part of my family.

the food is all awesome (no worries there i feel fine). mostly rice and chicken, but they throw in some soup and salad every once and awhile. breakfast is usually corn patties, cheese, and hotdogs. coffee ALL the time.

class is good too, everyone in my group is fun.. and i already feel way better about my spanish and its been less than a week. still not sure exactly what ill be doing but like i thought, its going to be along the lines of environmental education.. both working with the teachers to improve their env curriculum, teaching the kids.. and working with community groups.

i find out where im going for the 2 years on may 20th and swear in is.. june 30th? heres some pictures..

my room (and mosquito net).. my house, the church, the park, few pictures from kimberly (girl in pink)´s 6th birthday.. kimberly is my... host niece and okito is her brother.. perrito also got in the picture. miss you all.. oh, and no worries the swine flu isnt here as far as ive heard. PC talked about it for awhile. all the panamanians ask me what i know about it (which isnt much haha)

the pictures may be all over the place, im not gonna try too hard to make it organized.

i have a video of the piñata but it was taking forever so i gave up.. adios