here i am

Today marks five weeks since I arrived in Natà--I never thought time could fly quite so fast! I feel like I am adjusting very well to everything, I feel more comfortable and confident in this environment everyday.

Let me start with school: so as I said in my last post, school goes from 7-12:35. I stay with the same group of 29 kids (only 7 guys!) for all of our 8 classes--each class is 40 minutes long and after 4 classes is 15 minutes of "recreo" or recess. Each day of the week we have a different schedule of classes, the different classes I have throughout the week consist of Panamà geography, Panamà relations, civics, philosophy, Spanish, English, biology, chemistry, physics, math, and gym. Math I have every day of the week, but gym only once a week (but it lasts for two periods), so it really varies how often each class occurs. If you know me, you probably know how much I disliked and struggled with chemistry and physics when I had to take them at East, so naturally I'm not happy that I have both of them in my schudule here, and since they're taught in another language they make even less sense! The one thing that keeps me from totally hating those two classes is the fact that they are my only classes (besides English class) that has air conditioning :P. If a teacher doesn't show up to teach a class, we have that period as "libre", and students spend the time studying or socializing (no substitute teachers here!). English class is interesting, the teacher has poor English skills and I get a lot more attention than he does in that class. Currently we are working on "greeting and good-byes", good times. All my other classes I have a hard time understanding--most classes consist of either copying notes from the board, listening to the teacher talk, or taking a test. When it's test taking time, I generally "try", but I really don't understand much at all. My teachers understand and don't push it. I love the kids in my class a lot, they are all very friendly and warm and they often invite me to do things with them in the afternoon. And of course they help me understand what is going on in school and they are helping my Spanish improve immensly. There is one other AFS student at my school from Germany, Sara, and she has been here since August, and she too is very friendly to me. Since she knows English (those Germans are so educated) she translates for me when necessary, but she's had to less and less lately. Students don't really call teachers by name, usually it's just "profe". My class is in the "secto año" which is the oldest grade in escuela secundaria (equivilent to 12th grade). There is a morning session and and afternoon session of school, I am obviously in the morning session. Apparently there are almost 1200 students total at CMPA, I'm not sure how it's split up between morning and afternoon but I'm guessing fairly 1/2 and 1/2. I find myself daydreaming a lot during my classes...when I "wake up" it feels so weird to be in a classroom in Panamà :P. I take a "colegial" to and from school everyday--like a small school bus. One last thing about school: there is no passing time between classes, the next class just starts whenever most of the students get to the classroom.

Alright, other things. So this is a random list of everything, please excuse my poor English and organization: animals that can be found running around everywhere include dogs, iguanas, chickens, etc. There are all sorts of fruit trees around the neighborhood. My favorite so far are the mango trees--fresh mangoes every day are the BEST!!! Panamanian lifestyle is very laid back--people are never on time for anything, and people drop by our house all the time without warning. I feel my Spanish improving rapidly, I still have a long way to go but I think I've come a long way from when I got here. Another thing about Panamanians is they like everything to be very clean--I have to shower twice a day, wash my clothes (hand wash!) once a week, and my house is swept out several times a day. The funny thing is, although everything needs to be clean, Panamananians litter like none other. I don't think recycling even exists here, it's crazy. As far as I can tell, people burn large amounts of garbage...so small controlled fires can be found randomly. Occasionaly I get small bursts of homesickness, but it generally passes quickly. It's in the 80's and 90's everyday here, so let me just say that I sweat like CRAZY and consume a lot of water! Rainy season is supposed to start soon (in April) and apparently it will rain every day for the rest of the time that I am here. April will also bring: an AFS orientation at the beach (I'm so excited!!!) and traveling with my family for semana santa (easter). I think we are going south of here to see some traditional dancing, I'm really excited to travel!

Sometimes it feels like I'm not really here, like it's all a dream, and any minute I'll wake up. But at the same time, Madison feels so far away. Here is what my schedule generally looks like on school days:
5am- wake up, shower, dress, eat breakfast
6am- colegial picks me up
7am- school starts
12:45pm- colegial takes me home
1pm- get home, change, eat lunch
1:30/2pm- I generally spend the afternoon doing a variety of the following: take my self for a run, go for a walk, hang out with friends, do my homework, clean the house, do laundry, watch tv, go to the internet cafe, help out my host parents, etc.
6pm- eat dinner, watch tv with my parents, and at 7:30 or 8, I head off to bed!

Alright. I think that's a pretty legit update for now. If you're my friend on facebook, you can see all my pictures, but here are some. From top to bottom: my house, some of my little nieces and nephews, me at the river, a colegial (school bus), the church in Natà (oldest in NA), me and friends at the top of the steeple, my host parents (didnt mean to post that twice), and classmates at school.

Thanks so much for reading!
-Delia