I have now been living in my community for nearly 2 weeks. I still have not come to terms with the idea that in just a few weeks I will have to leave my family and home in this part of town and move to a new home. Please do not understand me wrong. I have met my second family and they are wonderful as well. However, I have already grown attached to the very diverse personalities of my family members here, to the lifestyle here, to the mornings surrounded by all shades of green, a refreshing breeze and the sound of birds. I guess I just have to keep an open mind and really focus on the long term advantages of living with multiple families. Although I will once again have to adjust to the daily routines of a new family, and somehow, not certain how, move all of my things there, I am certain that in the end it will be worth it. It is extremely important that I have a chance to get to know each part of town well, especially considering how different each sector is. I need to be able to truly know the people and form connections. The kind of connections that I feel are no longer formed within neighbors in the US. At least not in my part of Chicago. I not only need to get to know the community, but I genuinely have to become part of the community, and as you can imagine that can be difficult to do if you do not live in that part of the community. However, I have another few weeks until I have to move out of this little paradise of mine. So lets not think about that. Instead let me tell you all about my experience here!
My first few days here began with many spontaneous little hikes and nature photo shoots. What can I say, my family knows me well. Everytime I get excited about some leaf, flower, or mushroom, they basically say “Time for a hike!!!” And my response is always, “Yes please!”
Our pet birds were the first victims to the persistent lens of mine. To be fair though, with such colorful and well pruned feathers, what do they really expect? Two green parakeets live on one of the trees right next to our porch. It is wonderful to see that they are not caged. Unfortunately, this is due to the fact that they are injured and cannot fly. At least that is what I was told about them. It is possible that the wings of the other were clipped. However, they still have the freedom to explore a bit and often they do. I am always intrigued by how quickly they can climb the trees using their
These two fellos are my favorite to watch. Often they argue, not quite sure what about. Finally one moves over to the next tree and they sit there on separate trees just shouting at each other. Their interaction in many ways reflects that of humans. Well, of the humans that I have known for the past 23 years of my life. It actually is quite intriguing. For the week and a half that I have been here now, I have not heard a single argument. Not between any members of my huge host family. Not between any neighbors. Not between the staff at the school. Nothing. Not a quarrel, not even an intense disagreement. It is fascinating. I am left with no choice but to think that people here are just genuinely happy. I have not witnessed a single selfish action, nor have a been around anyone that appeared to be stressed out, frustrated, nor grumpy. Is this place even real? Are these people real? Can this really be paradise?
After tea time, follows telenovela time. A group of us watches “La Patrona” every night. It’s a Colombian soap opera, that although I hate to confess this, has become my guilty pleasure. It is with this twisted and unlikely storyline that I end most of my evenings and I head to bed thinking how wonderfully drama free my life here is.
There is also our pet parrot, Bebo, who likes to talk. Actually, talk, does not do it justice. This parrot screams! Very conveniently, it feels the need to express its voice most at about 5am. I am slowly getting accustomed to laying in my bed at 5am listening to random high pitched phrases flying through the air, right through my window, and crashing into my eardrums.
Other times however, I have the opportunity to take photos of beautiful living creatures that do not interrupt my sleep on a regular basis. For example, the other day right after I woke up, my parents spotted some monkeys off in the distance so that instantly turned into a monkey and bird watching experience, and of course a nature photo shoot. Unfortunately the monkeys were a bit too far and much too fast for my camera. However, some of the birds were not. The woodpecker has babies in a tree right outside of our dining room window. The other birds with the yellow tails which I have not identified just yet, soar through the sky on a regular basis.
While still on the topic of my first few days I must mention my “walk in closet”. When I moved into my room I discovered that there really was no place where I could put my clothing. My simple but cozy room consisted of a bed, a small table, two windows, and a small random frog drawn on one of the walls. Since I really did not want to live out of my suitcases for a month and arrive to the school with wrinkled clothing everyday, I decided to make myself a hanger out of a rope. However, I did not have a rope of my own so I asked my host dad if he had any that I could use. My rope hanger quickly turned into a whole project. The result was this. The coolest walk in closet constructed in 20 minutes.
While living here I have been trying to find a balance between spending enough time with my host family and on getting to get to know my community. I really enjoy my family and also feel like I owe them quite a bit for taking me in for a month. For this reason every day I help cook which is wonderful because I get to learn many new things. For example how to peel yuca. Yuca is a root that in taste is very similar to a potato but a bit more fibery. Although it grows like a potato, and looks relatively similar, it apparently is not peeled in the same way. I have also been washing the dishes after dinner as often as I can for the dozen people that eat dinner here. Jadira, my host sister and I have quite a system going, and as odd as it may seem I have always been a fan of washing dishes, so it doesn’t feel like a chore at all.
Dinner is often followed by a ritual that Jadira, my neighbor Ckaly, and I have developed. Tea time. Almost every evening he comes by with the ingredients, such as ginger roots or cinnamon bark sticks and we make tea with milk. Apparently lactose intolerance doesn’t exist in Panama. At least not for me :) I still haven’t figured out how my stomach mysteriously became more tolerant of all sorts of things, maybe they are less processed here. On nights when we decide to spoil ourselves we have some bread with our tea. We just sip on our hot tea as the cool night breeze slowly crawls. Evenings here at my site are cooler than I expected. I have been wearing the same fleece hoody every night... will definitely have to invest in some sweaters soon. We chat, and tell stories, and laugh a whole lot. These two love to joke around. Unfortunately it is still difficult for me to follow humor in Spanish, but nevertheless I always have a good time with them.
After tea time, follows telenovela time. A group of us watches “La Patrona” every night. It’s a Colombian soap opera, that although I hate to confess this, has become my guilty pleasure. It is with this twisted and unlikely storyline that I end most of my evenings and I head to bed thinking how wonderfully drama free my life here is.
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