Friday, January 15, 2010

My Puppy and Other Minor Details.

















Here are some newer photos from my community. My puppy, Lincoln, is the black one! He is one month old. There is a picture of a puzzle my host dad did in two days, 1000 pieces, a christmas gift from my mom. He loved it! And my English class for kids. There is also a picture of my host brother working on his casita aka fort! So adorable. It is very hot here and things are going well.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Bring in 2010 with a visit from Mama and Timbo!





































I am not quite sure where to start so I will probably keep this short. I spent New Years in Panama City and had a fabulous, "classy" time with Peace Corps friends. We danced a ton and tried to record too many moments because there was a lot of sweating going on due to the intense humidity. haha.
Mom and Tim got in late afternoon and we enjoyed time by the pool and introduced lots of friends. We visited the Canal. Super exciting body of water...NOT. We decided to head out to my site and I made them eat at FRIDAYS when we got to David, the city on the other side of Panama...because I wanted a taste of AMERICA. Well, my plan was thrown back in my face when I received a raw burger as my meal. Awesome. Not even Tim would eat it...you know something is wrong then.
We spent a few days in my community hanging out on the beach, meeting people and we even got to go fishing with my friend Daniel. It was a lot of fun and even though we sweat a lot - none of us lost weight because I made sure to stuff us full of water and food every minute of the day. Mom got to practice her Spanish, Tim got married off a few times (obviously, what else is new) and then we headed to the Caribbean side of the country. The Pacific is gorgeous but we had places to see and people to abuse. So we took our three buses to the other side of Panama and then a boat to the Island. We had four days of glorious weather, beautiful beaches and really good food. We played an absurd amount of Gin Rummy and Spades. And the entire time mom made sure all of us knew she is a "card shark"...too bad she lost so much. Yeah, some card shark you are Ms. Ritner. Myles made it nice and even for the two days he came out to visit us; it definitely made cards fun to be able to play Spades. It got so pathetic that we carried our card hands in our pockets to dinner and played while we waited for food and after. Whatever, go ahead, judge us. Foolish on your part because we had a GREAT time.
All in all an amazing time, it was so good to see my family. Now is the hard part - going back to the jungle alone. I already miss them and miss the states more than ever. May come quickly!!! March will be Lettie and Bill, I am excited but don't know if Panama is ready. haha.
Happy New Year Everybody!!!