December

Culture and Celebrations

Panama is a country full of culture and celebrations! Every year at the end of February they have carnivals. Carnivals are a huge 4 day, 5 night celebration for the Queens. Every city has two Queens that compete to see who has the prettiest float, biggest fireworks, best dresses, etc. In the end there really is no winner, it’s just an excuse to get out and party! Everyone loves dancing. Dancing is something everyone does not only at parties but whenever there’s music! Next is Semana Santa, which is the week of saints. All the students are off school and most the parents don’t have to work. That week we eat fish almost every meal. Also there is Christmas and New Years, just like here in the USA but they celebrate it a little differently. When they celebrate Christmas it’s just a big party where everyone goes over to someone’s house, and same with New Years. They don’t give out presents and put cookies on the mantle for Santa like we do, but they sure know how to have a good time! Another celebration Panamanians have is called quince anos. Quince anos is like a sweet 16 birthday party, except for it is the coming of age for women at 15 years. At the quince anos, the father gives the daughter a ring, and the mother changes her shoes to high heels. A tradition in Panama is that for every birthday party, after they blow the candles out, they smear icing all over the birthday boy/girl! So it’s wise not to wear your best outfit!

There are many cultural difference in Panama. One thing is every one dresses up when they go out in public, especially in Panama City! Its VERY important how you look and smell. That’s how they judge people. The women and girls put a lot of work into their nails and makeup. Men are not juged so much by how they dress. How they judge the guys is usually by their chickens. If you have chickens, you have money. They don’t just eat their chickens, they usually fight their chickens a couple times a month. If your rooster wins, you win a good amount of money and usually a rooter more chickens too!

November

School!

SCHOOL

What school? Oh I know school is supposed to be a part of the AFS experience. I did go out and buy a uniform, black Mary-Jane’s, white bobby socks… Need I say more? After being here for a week, I started! There are many differences, and I will get to those in a moment. I went to school for a couple of weeks, then I stopped. At first I didn’t know why. One day, then two days… It was like having a snow day. Papa would just say no school today! Lidia and Nani go to different schools and they were still going, so I knew it wasn’t a holiday. Week One, I noticed others were not going to my school too. Week Two, I’m starting to put the story together, If I go, I will itch. So I go through all the possibilities in my head. Does someone have lice? Is it the Chicken Pox? Could it be mold? Week Three, I learn there is something in the walls. Week four, I get sick. Not with the school itchy thing, with something else. Week five, I am still sick. I’ve had so many shots, blood work and IV’s, I feel like a pin cushion. Week Six, AFS is taking me to Panama City to see a doctor to double check my health. (More on being sick later.) Week Seven, School is still not “healthy” so they are changing our school. Of the 5 AFSers who live in Chepo/Margarita, 4 of them decide to relocate to a new home closer to Panama City. For me, it was a no brainer. I am staying with my family. How could I leave the people I love. I think I I will be going to the “Middle School” with my sister Nani. If not, I will be going to The Agricultural and Home Economics School in Chepo called Mexico Panama. My school was a math, science and technology school. What ever school I go to, I will get to go on Tuesday (I think).

School is also different. To start with, everyone wears uniforms! These uniforms gave me a chance to learn my first English word; Iron. Every day before school, I iron my uniform. There is good news here. Unlike the US were I catch the bus at 6:30 AM because school starts at 7:15AM, in Also I don't have to worry about doing my makeup or picking out cute clothes, I just do my hair, brush my teeth, get dressed and go. In Panama, my school starts in the afternoon. They have two sessions. You either go in the morning, or in the afternoon. This is a high schooler’s dream! My school starts at 12:00!!

In Panama, the kids stay in the same room and the teachers change classes. Our classroom is our classroom. We take ownership of it. We decorate the walls… OK we write on the walls. We write ALL over the walls. They re-paint every year so well just star tover again! School is very different though because people are always talking. Even when the teacher is trying to explain something, people are talking just as loud as they would if the teacher wasn't there. And when the kids here are tired they'll just put their head down and sleep and the teacher doesn't say anything. We have a 10 minute break, and people usually buy food then or just find there friends and hang out with them.

October

Food!

I was guessing food in Panama would be like Mexican food. I was wrong! At first I just wasn’t hungry. I guess I was hungry for Pizza or hamburgers. I was hungry for food that I was familiar with. These new things weren’t registering in my brain as food. Don’t worry that didn’t last long. I’m sure I lost weight that first week, but my clothes are a little snug now! We eat rice every day. Here, we never eat it plain. We always eat it with something. My brother Luis taught me how to peel a yucca root. Yucca is good when it is fried or boiled. It is kind of like French Fries when fried and potatos when boiled. Another thing is that we eat a lot is Plantanones. I don’t know how it is spelled. But they are good. They are fried and they taste kinda like potato chips, but a little sweeter. My mom makes this fried bread called hojaldes often. It is good with sausages. I found the recipe for you!

4 cups sifted flour

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Sugar

2 tbsp. Oil

1 / 4 water

Oil for frying

In a bowl together first 4 ingredients, open the center and add oil, knead and gradually add water until dough is smooth. Then take pieces of the dough and forming the hojaldes with your hands, stretching to the desired size, fry in oi luntill its golden until golden.

The biggest difference about food in Panama isn’t so much the food itself. We all use the resources God created. We find a way to prepare the food to nourish our bodies. What is different is that in the US, we put so much effort into sitting down and eating as a family. That is the only time we are all together. It is like it is our one chance at building family relations. Here, you just eat when you are hungry. If you don’t like what your house has for food, you could just go to the neighbor’s house to eat. No big deal. Food is food. Eat when you need it. Being together as a family happens all the time. Family and friends are always together. Not just around the dinner table.

August

Learning Spanish

You know how a dog will look at you and wag its tail. When you talk to it, it wags even faster. You say something else and it gives you a quizzical look. You tell it to go away, and the dog starts wagging again because he didn’t know what you said. The dog keeps wagging his tail because he is so happy you talked to him?

Well that’s me.

I didn’t know any Spanish when I came here. But I think I am learning because I talked to my US mom on the phone yesterday and I had a hard time thinking in English. I’ve been focusing so hard on Spanish! When people talk fast, it is beautiful to hear, but I don’t have any idea what they are saying. My family tries hard to teach me. I do pretty well all day, but at night, my brain is tired and I can’t think any more. It is defiantly a challenge to learn Spanish; remembering words to use and not mix them up with other similar words. Laughing at your mistakes is definitely a quality you need to have when emerging into a culture and learning a language. It is aggravating when I don’t understand what they are trying to say to me. I understand more than I can say. It is really aggravating to have thoughts and not be able to share them!

Orientation

We have had three orientations so far. The first was in Miami before we left the US. The second was in Panama with students from all over the world. The third got all of us new Panamanians together again at the beach in just a month after being here.

In Miami, all the US kids going to Latin America were together. We learned about Traveling, Visa’s and Tourist cards. We also went over general safety rules. We spent the night there and I roomed with all the american girls in panama. It was nice to be with someone who was going through the same thing I was. I was excited to go, but nervous too. It was also nice to have people to travel with. When we got to Panama, I was nervous going through the airport. I couldn’t read any of the signs.

In Panama, I got to meet so many other people from all over the world. About 30 kids were from Germany alone. It seems like all the kids could speak English. I was glad for that. The orientation in Panama was good. We learned what to do if our family wasn’t a good match and we needed to change families. They said this doesn’t happen very often. It was nice to know there was a backup plan, because I was nervous about meeting my family. Other than their names, and address, I didn’t know anything about them. We got to walk around the city. It was neat to see parrots flying around. The culture was already so different. Everything was amazing. It's a good thing everyone's really friendly. It's so scary to be meeting the people you're going to be living with for the next year.

Our third orientation was at Gorgona Beach we spent a LOT of time going over the rules (again) and talking about problems and how to deal with different situations. It got pretty boring at times, but then after we got to swim at the beach and in the pool. The waves were huge. It was great to talk in English again! I don’t think I stopped talking the entire time!

About my family

I love my family!!! There is Papa, Mama, Luis, Lidia and Nani. My two uncles, Larry and Evy, live with us but larry lives in a separate house out back. They are so much fun! Everyone jokes around. Papa works at a port, Mama stays at home, Luis has graduated and will be starting university next year. Lidia travels 2 hours one way to go to an international school in Panama City every day and Nani goes to school in Margarita. I don’t know what my uncles do yet. I have more family that lives close by. Those first days, I cried a lot. I think I met my grandpa then, but I don’t know. I was trying to get to my bed to cry in private. (There really is no sense of privacy here.) I share a room with my sisters. We have 7 dogs that live outside and chickens too! It took a while to learn to sleep though their noises. Our house has windows, but no glass or screens on them; just holes that go outside. Theres lots of lizards crawling on our walls! The best part about my family is that from the first day they treated me like one of their kids. You know how as a guest at your friends house, you friend will do a familiar family thing, like walk in her mom’s bed room and plop down on the bed, and you don’t because it would be weird? Well here, I do. Here I am Katie Jimenez. The third daughter in our family.

My hardships

You know, there are lots of things that are hard. They are not bad, just different. It is only hard until I learn the way we do it. Then it’s not hard anymore. We don’t have a car. We don’t have internet. We don’t have toilets that flush or a shower. Here we don’t have after school sports. The kids get together to play soccer a lot. But I won’t be running cross country, helping my team win state in gymnasti, or hanging out with all my friends while pole vaulting for track. I guess I’ll have to get over my fear of the soccer ball! If I want to go to the mall to go shopping, I have to take a two hour bus trip to Panama City. Things are just different. One of the first days I was here, I was excited because we were going to go with friends to the river. We drove there. And when we got there, they started turning away from the river. I didn’t know why we were leaving. Then we drove in reverse right into the river. Why? So we could wash the car! There is so much that is different. But I love it here. My family and my community are great. We are always going to someone else’s house or people are coming here. I love to go to my neighbors Cheli’s house. Shes like my third mom! There are always so many people there. I really don’t know who lives there and who just comes over yet. Oh, and I love to eat there. I just go in the kitchen and get food! And that is OK! At first it was a bummer to not have internet. But now I don’t miss it. It does make keeping up with my blog rather hard.

July

Getting ready to leave!
Most teens have no idea what a Notary Public is and most adults don’t know what an Apostle is; but through my preparation to leave, I have had to learn about and request both. I have applied for a passport, and will be applying for a tourist card and visa within the next few weeks. As a part of my Visa regulations, I will not be able to work while I am in Panama so I have created a budget and coordinated ways to have access to my account here in the USA. I found out which credit/debit card would be accepted in Panama's debit system and what cards would be safest for me to use in Panama.

AFS is a cultural exchange program. My "family" will share their culture with me; I will share my culture with them. While I am in Panama I will be expected to host presentations about my family and community’s culture as well as the culture of America. I have made a power point presentation to do this and have decided upon and have collected small tokens of American culture to show and share. I will also be expected to share my Panama experiences when I return. Experiences like the food, language, religion, celebrations, my host community culture as well as general Panamanian culture. I have set up an outline that I will be able to fill in while I am gone.

This, along with all the vaccinations and a mountain of paperwork, is what I have done in the last 5 months to prepare to go. In the next week, I need to pack a years’ worth of life into a suit case -a 44 pound limit including unique gifts and foods to take and share with my host family. I need to say goodbye to my family and friends.

When I look back and think of the work that went along with “apply to be an exchange student” I can only imagine what work there will be to actually being an exchange student. I have learned so much from the preparing process. I have learned, I have grown, I have found answers to questions that just lead to more question. And I have found answers to those questions. I have worked alone, I have organized teams of volunteers, and I have worked with community members, from local business owners to the Secretary of state. I have read and I have researched. I have made decisions. And I have only just begun. My “year” abroad will officially start on July 30th.

June

Fundraising! It was kind of Fun! My family and friends were a great support. I learned to organize events and volunteers to make these events successful. I applied for scholarships, and earned one! I made brochures to hand out to people and business about the program and why their donation will help me out. I have researched companies to see who has ties to Panama and written letters to these corporations asking for donations. I have solicited local businesses by call them or going to their business and explaining my cause and asking for donations. With all of this hard work, I have earned over 4 thousand dollars. My friends and family have been a big help. They have been there 100% of the time to support me and help me in my fundraising. So far we have held squeegee's, which is when we stand in the drivethu line of a fast food restaurant and ask people if they would like to donate and in exchange we would wash their windshield for them. this was our most successful fundraiser yet! I have also been doing car washes, grass cutting, babysitting, and a one week mini day camp. And I'd like to give a special thanks to AutoZone, McDonalds, and Burger King for letting me hold fundraisers there.

hey everyone!

Hello, my name is Katie and I am going to go to Panama for the 2010/2011 school year. What appeals to me most about being an exchange student is learning and growing. There will be plenty of challenges, the biggest being the language. I don’t speak Spanish. But, challenges are gifts. They are opportunities to learn and the only way to build self-esteem. I love hanging out with my friends. I am very social. I love to listen to music; I pick up the lyrics very fast! I am a member of 4 high school sport teams; cross country, gymnastics, indoor track, and spring track where I pole vault.I am excited about the opportunity to “enlarge my family.” Through AFS, I know I will be placed in a loving family that will welcome me in as one of their own. I hope to build a relationship with them that will last a lifetime. I am excited about learning a new way of life. I only know my family’s and community’s culture. Being an exchange student gives me the opportunity to learn about another way. I want to broaden my life. I’ve heard this saying. You love what you know; you know what you’ve learned. I’m thirsty for knowledge and the love of life it will bring.At church, they recently talked about the difference between consternation and courage. Both words have fear as the major part of the definition. With consternation, you are frozen and can’t move. With courage, you move ahead anyway. I have fears about going abroad for a year. I will miss my family and friends. I worry about returning to my relationship with my friends and wonder if I will change and move emotionally away from them. Will I still be able to meeting the graduation requirements of school? Will I have a hard time learning at the host school? Who will help me if I need it? Will my host family’s life be easy to adjust to? Of course I have fear. But I have courage too.I am sure there will be times I lock myself in the bathroom to cry. Working through learning and growing pains are what build your self esteem. Self esteem is a gift you have to give yourself through hard work and perseverance. There is a song that goes “I’m thirsty anyway, so bring on the rain!” Learning about a new family and culture will be worth any storm I have to endure.