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This past week, my group (62) reconvened for the first time together since we departed for our sites back at the end of the October. The purpose of this was to give an update on how things went for the first three months, receive some additional training and fine tune our Spanish. Or in my case, learn a bunch of additional things that now have me more confused than before the classes. OK, I’m embellishing things some, but really the time spent together was great.
The training ended after lunch on Friday and we all dispersed back to our sites. Well, most of us anyway. Because of the hour that we were let go, and the distance some people have to travel to get to their site, it was not possible for people to get back home. Since I only lived a couple hours from where we were at, I invited my friends Jay and Julia to stay with me on Friday night. (By the way, I have plugged their blog before, but after my sister told me how much better their blog was than mine last week, I feel like I need to do so again) So, they told me they were in. Cool. From there, that’s when things really get interesting. As word spread that they were staying, before I knew it, I had a couple more interested. OK, not a problem. Then a couple more. Now, I am starting to think how I can handle all these people!
When the dust settled, I had seven people coming to stay with me now. Sadly one person had to back out on Friday morning. In any case, it was quite a bit of people. Thankfully, my house is pretty big, but I had a few minor details that I had think about. First, I have a water shortage problem during the day. This wouldn’t be that big of a problem since we would be getting back late and they would be leaving early, but I wasn’t sure if I had enough water that night for everybody to take a shower. Second, we wanted to cook dinner, but my stove is not fully hooked up yet. I have been just using a single hot plate to get me by. What if we wanted to make a big dinner?! Third, where was everybody going to stay? I have bed room for three people, a hammock and a sleeping mat. That adds up to five, which is short of seven. Lastly, what would my community think of all the gringos in the community?
In the end, everything worked out. There was enough water. We opted to make some tacos that were fantastic (I lapped the field eating six!). The sleeping situation was not ideal, but we all survived. Only one person slept directly on the concrete floor. Finally, my community loved the visitors. My counterpart and cooperative president, Sergio brought his little boy over on Friday night and had dinner with us. Then the next morning we went down to the port where we met a couple of boats that were just pulling back into the port after staying out at the ocean during the night to do their fishing. One thing the group of fishermen caught was a sting ray and we got to see them carve it up so it could be sold. I think the group had mixed feelings on that.
Then 9:30 came and the group pulled out to head back to their own worlds. My house became empty and quiet again, but the buzz in my community remained. After cleaning up, I headed out to chat with some folks. They were impressed with my friends and asked when they were coming back.
Soon, I told them. Just let me get my house in order first.
About Me
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Dancing in the Dark
You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
~Bruce Springsteen “Dancing in the Dark”
When I was just a baby, my parents changed my middle name from Jared to Matteo. My parents made this switch to honor my recently passed away great grandfather, whose first name was Matteo. Now what does this have to do with me being in Panama? Well, it was my great-grandfather that brought the Sacchetti side of the family to America through Ellis Island after World War I.
Having just passed my first six months in Panama, I was reflecting about how I ended up in turning my life upside down during the time and the factors that led me to the change. Of course, there were the obvious reasons – I wanted to help my fellow man, I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted to learn a new culture and language, etc. All those were inspiring and played a big role in leading me down here. However, there was something more that ultimately pushed me to go. It was that ‘spark’ that started the fire. Sure, it wasn’t the feel good reason like the others, but it was the final push that led me to a small fishing town in the Auzero region of Panama.
And that’s where my great-grandfather comes back into the mix. I am sure there were multiple reason to come to America (better life, American dream), but I can’t shake the thought that a big reason that he decided cross the Atlantic with his family was because something inside him pushed him, just like me.
That’s when I stared to think more about our two situations and I realized that this is my version of my great-grandfather coming to America.
In no way am I implying that my voyage is as difficult. For starters, I don’t have a family to take of. And while I get paid a low wage, I never have to worry about where my next meal is coming from. While I’m alone here in my community, I have a great support staff that is watching my back constantly. Finally, if I get homesick, I have plenty of options to turn to (phone, Internet, iPod, books).
At the same time, though, there are a lot of similarities. We both left behind out lives in our native country. We both spoke very little of the new language. We both didn’t know anybody in our new land. Lastly, we both thought the move would be to the benefit of our futures.
I never got a chance to talk to my great-grandfather, but judging that he raised his family and stayed in the States, his dance in the dark proved to be a great move. While, I’m not going to stay in my new country to live after my service is up, I can say that after six months, my own dance in the dark is proving to be a great move, too.
You can't start a fire without a spark
~Bruce Springsteen “Dancing in the Dark”
When I was just a baby, my parents changed my middle name from Jared to Matteo. My parents made this switch to honor my recently passed away great grandfather, whose first name was Matteo. Now what does this have to do with me being in Panama? Well, it was my great-grandfather that brought the Sacchetti side of the family to America through Ellis Island after World War I.
Having just passed my first six months in Panama, I was reflecting about how I ended up in turning my life upside down during the time and the factors that led me to the change. Of course, there were the obvious reasons – I wanted to help my fellow man, I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted to learn a new culture and language, etc. All those were inspiring and played a big role in leading me down here. However, there was something more that ultimately pushed me to go. It was that ‘spark’ that started the fire. Sure, it wasn’t the feel good reason like the others, but it was the final push that led me to a small fishing town in the Auzero region of Panama.
And that’s where my great-grandfather comes back into the mix. I am sure there were multiple reason to come to America (better life, American dream), but I can’t shake the thought that a big reason that he decided cross the Atlantic with his family was because something inside him pushed him, just like me.
That’s when I stared to think more about our two situations and I realized that this is my version of my great-grandfather coming to America.
In no way am I implying that my voyage is as difficult. For starters, I don’t have a family to take of. And while I get paid a low wage, I never have to worry about where my next meal is coming from. While I’m alone here in my community, I have a great support staff that is watching my back constantly. Finally, if I get homesick, I have plenty of options to turn to (phone, Internet, iPod, books).
At the same time, though, there are a lot of similarities. We both left behind out lives in our native country. We both spoke very little of the new language. We both didn’t know anybody in our new land. Lastly, we both thought the move would be to the benefit of our futures.
I never got a chance to talk to my great-grandfather, but judging that he raised his family and stayed in the States, his dance in the dark proved to be a great move. While, I’m not going to stay in my new country to live after my service is up, I can say that after six months, my own dance in the dark is proving to be a great move, too.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Nobody Beats Me in the Kitchen
With two weeks down in my new house and nearly everything in place, I have started to settle in nicely and returned to more of a normal life after being treated in a way as a king over the past five months (Yes, Dylan, would like his food right now and his clothes washed, but can you hold the mayo next time). Now all those cooking and cleaning responsibility fall back on my shoulders. In other words, I have got to get myself going again.
The one thing I am really looking forward to over my remaining time here is cooking. I suppose after being held hostage to rice two times a day for five months, I have a strong desire for a little more variety in my life. My Aunt Randy and mom sent me down two great cookbooks and my cousin Colin sent down his fine recipe for pepperoni rolls. I hope to use this latter recipe and tie it in with the youth group in my community. One thing we are to do is help the local people understand our culture, and nothing says West Virginia like pepperoni rolls (mmmm Colasessano’s). So I envision teaching the members of the group how to make them and then we turn around and sell them to the community and hopefully make a couple dollars to fund future projects. On paper it sounds like a win-win for all those involved. Well, that is if I can find pepperoni.
Not only do I want to broaden my American cooking skills, but I want to learn more about traditional Panamanian cooking. These include ajoldres (similar to fried bread), chackies (a type of cookie that is big in my part of the country, and of course the standard Panamanian meal on important days, arroz con pollo (chicken, rice and bunch of stuff added in). Along with these, I hope to learn to take advantage of the orange, mango and coconut trees that are in my backyard.
There should be many highs and lows when it comes to cooking. Anybody that has seen me in action before in the kitchen knows I am prone to a spectacular failure every once in a while. Alas, I’m ready to charge full speed ahead.
Besides if it doesn’t turn out well with the cooking, I can always go crawling back to my host family for meals. This time, though, I just won’t have the guts to ask to hold the mayo.
The one thing I am really looking forward to over my remaining time here is cooking. I suppose after being held hostage to rice two times a day for five months, I have a strong desire for a little more variety in my life. My Aunt Randy and mom sent me down two great cookbooks and my cousin Colin sent down his fine recipe for pepperoni rolls. I hope to use this latter recipe and tie it in with the youth group in my community. One thing we are to do is help the local people understand our culture, and nothing says West Virginia like pepperoni rolls (mmmm Colasessano’s). So I envision teaching the members of the group how to make them and then we turn around and sell them to the community and hopefully make a couple dollars to fund future projects. On paper it sounds like a win-win for all those involved. Well, that is if I can find pepperoni.
Not only do I want to broaden my American cooking skills, but I want to learn more about traditional Panamanian cooking. These include ajoldres (similar to fried bread), chackies (a type of cookie that is big in my part of the country, and of course the standard Panamanian meal on important days, arroz con pollo (chicken, rice and bunch of stuff added in). Along with these, I hope to learn to take advantage of the orange, mango and coconut trees that are in my backyard.
There should be many highs and lows when it comes to cooking. Anybody that has seen me in action before in the kitchen knows I am prone to a spectacular failure every once in a while. Alas, I’m ready to charge full speed ahead.
Besides if it doesn’t turn out well with the cooking, I can always go crawling back to my host family for meals. This time, though, I just won’t have the guts to ask to hold the mayo.
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