Anyway! Where on earth should I start! I literally have so much to say. Traveling went good. In orientation in Miami we went over general rules, safety, and met other kids. I`m not going to go into a ton of detail about orientations because I have so much else to say and this would be a mile long if I wrote about every detail. But in Miami there were 40 kids from all over the country headed to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Honduras, and Panama. Five people going to Panama (three from wisconsin!). I would have to say that all five of us really clicked and got along well. After spending one night in Miami we flew to Panama and got met by an AFS person in Panama City. We spent one night at a hotel in Panama City and took care of immigration stuff (visas etc) and they went over more specific rules and answered questions. Then the next day we got bussed off to our host communities!
The bus ride from Panama City to Natà was about 3 hours, and when I got off at my stop it was about 7pm and there was a large crowd of people there to greet me! One of them was wearing an AFS shirt so I knew I was in the right place. They drove me to my house where even more people were. I was exhausted already, but I managed to make it through the first night excitement. It was quite overwhelming with all the Spanish. On of my nieces who was there it turned out spoke some English so that was a relief. Her name is Jesthy and it turns out she is 2 days younger than me but she lives in Panama City so she wouldn`t always be tere. Everyone greeting my were so friendly, giving my lots of hugs and kisses and introducing themselves. Once I got inside, there was a cake that said WELCOME DELIA on it, which was so sweet! They showed my my room, which is small but very sweet. On my bedside table was a framed picture of my family back in the US that I had included in my application! It made me so happy. That night we had some of my cake, we tried to converse, and I eventually figured out how to call my family back to home to tell them that I had arrived. It was all very emotional and overwhelming, but I`m glad I made it safe.
The next day I went with Jesthy and one of my AFS liasons into Aguadulce, which is a slightly larger town 15 minutes away from Natà to buy my school uniform. We had to get: white shirts, long dark blue skirts, dark blue socks, and a little tie type thing. Also with my uniform, I wear black dress shoes. My first few days were so hot, but the 4th day it poured all day and ofter that the humidity went away for the most part and it was just hot. I stopped sweating a ton. Now it`s humid again, though!
So my first monday there (Feb 28th?) I started school! Jesthy and her family had gone back to Panama City by then so I had no one to speak English to and that made me nervous, so started school made me even more nervous. On monday my other AFS liason, Elvia (who also turns out to be my aunt) took me to school but since it was the first day of school (first day of the school year in Panama! Their school year runs from end of February to December) there were just speeches outside all day, or at least thats what it looked like, so Elvia took me home after like an hour. I didn`t really know why, Im guessing because I didnt need to be there for the speeches. On tuesday I did go to school though and it went well. I have to wake up at 5am though for school, the bus comes at 6 and school goes from 7-12:30. Everyone at school was very nice despite me sucking at spanish. I went to school tues, weds, and thurs, and then fri there was no school because of Carnaval!
Carnaval is a huge 4 day party in Panama. There was no school mon, tues, and weds the next week either because of carnaval. It was a crazy sight. I have to go now, I told my mom I would be home now. Hopefully I can come back to the internet cafe tomorrow to update more. I still have so much to say!
I also want to apologize to anyone who`s messaged me or anything recently. I still haven`t had the chance to reply! It`s so hard to find time for everything. I hope you understand, I have definitely read your messages and I well reply as soon as I can. Everyone should know that I am adjusting very well here and am enjoying myself greatly! Hopefully I can update soon.
Ciao,
Delia
Go Delia! How wonderful to hear your observant, calm, and totally engaged approach to your immersion adventure! You must be absolutely exhausted by the end of each day...Does your Nata-lian family know how very lucky they are to have landed YOU?! Hope you are able to fit in some good quiet time to regroup, read/think/write in between all the learning you have on your plate...
ReplyDeleteIs there anything you need (or would like) that we can send?
We are all thinking of you, and SOOOO proud of you! Helen, sending LOL from all SF HLs, cousins etc.