Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Saying Goodbye

For most of you this entry comes as no surprise. I have one week remaining in Peace Corps Panama! I could ask where the time has gone but I think we all know the answer quite well. To answer a few generic questions I anticipate receiving at some point in the near future:
1. Yes, I am excited to come home.
2. Yes, my service and time in Panama was fulfilling and life changing.
3. Yes, I have plans for after Peace Corps - Graduate School.
4. University of Washington in Seattle where I will be a Masters in Public Affairs Candidate.
5. I want to study urban education and education reform as a long term goal.
6. This summer will be spent primarily in New Jersey with family and friends.

I am sure there will be more but that should satisfy the bulk of questions most people will ask initially. Things are going well here, I have had all the closure I need to be able to move forward. After here I will be heading to Colombia for a two week romp as I backpack through Cartagena, Medellin and Bogota. I fly home June 16th and will be home until the end of summer. Somewhere in the end of August I will be driving out west to Washington state to move to Seattle for school. Life is good and the future seems even better.

I have decided to move my blogging experience onto a different site. You can follow me at the following link as I journey to yet another city for the next phase of my life: gretchenchristine.tumblr.com

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Where Did The Panamanian Summer Go?!

December flew by as I was fortunate enough to spend the Holidays with Myles's and his family in Los Angeles. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of my trip because we were on the move the entire time. Needless to say his family was amazingly gracious in letting me spend Christmas with them and making me feel so welcome. Myles gave me a great tour of the area and we got to go to a hockey game. Right before leaving we got to see Valeria, my good friend from Peace Corps Panama who recently moved to Venice Beach in L.A. with her new family. I have been fortunate enough to see her and her beautiful baby Nico twice in a year since she left Panama!
January came and went in a flash starting with Mom and Dana's awesome visit and ending with a visit from two of the newest trainees in Peace Corps Panama coming to my community for a week. Mom and Dana spent a week with me hanging out on the beach and relaxing in the hammock. Dana went fishing and caught tons of fish, obviously. "Dora the Explorer ain't got nothin' on her!" We got to meet up with Myles and my friend Mary on her beach for a day as well. It is fun to have our own car for a week, Panama is really not that big. Mid-January I had some training of trainers sessions to attend for up-coming seminars and got the chance to catch up with some volunteers I have not seen in a while. All-in-all January is a distant memory now.
February is slipping through my fingers as I write this...Grandpa and Grandma came down for a visit the first week of the month and we started February with a bang! They are crazy-brave travelers with no qualms about exploring dangerous cities in foreign lands. Sadly enough I was very busy with work during their visit so I could only meet up for meals! It was great to see them and catch up on each other's lives. They are fabulous and hilarious.
Both weeks of teacher training seminars went really well. We raised all the necessary money for our Primary School Seminar! I would like to extend a special THANK YOU to those of you who so generously put forth donations to help our project come to fruition. It means a lot and the teachers were incredibly grateful for the special English teaching training and resources. There was actually money left over that we are going to put toward kits full of English teaching resources for other Elementary School teachers in rural areas of Panama.
On to other good news - I am 3/3 for graduate program acceptances! The first three schools to contact me have said "Come on down, you are the next contestant on the..." oh wait, wrong daydream there, my bad. But seriously, I was accepted to University of Missouri, University of Arizona, and University of Maryland. All fun choices. It is still early and I have three more schools left to hear from...I am hoping one school gives me a bunch of money so my decision will be made for me!

All right, enough updates. Enjoy the pictures!
 Sweet Reunion! Success!!!
 Sunrise on my beach.
 Yeah Mama C in the house!

 Can you untie the human knot?!
 Saying goodbye to our English professors after a fun week!



 Yay! Pictionary!!!

 My teachers from the Burica Peninsula!
 Trust Building Activity! Woohoo!
 All of our lovely Primary School Teachers.
 The delicious cake we bought for the last day celebration!




Thursday, January 20, 2011

Help a sister out!

We Need Your Help!!!


Six Panama Peace Corps Volunteers (including your's truly) are trying to raise funds for the project described below. We need to raise our funds in the next week so please pass this on to friends, family, co-workers, or strangers with the urge to help us out!



Description:
A group of six of us are currently working on a Teacher Training Seminar for Panamanian Elementary School teachers who are now forced to teach English without any English background. We are trying to raise enough money to bring all of our counterparts out to a local city for a week long training with accompanying support materials they will be able to use in their classrooms. This project has taken quite a long time to put together/coordinate and we are all very excited. If you are interested in donating any amount of money at all it will be greatly appreciated.


**How to DONATE:
2. On the left-hand-side page guide click on Donate to Volunteer Projects
3. Enter the name Seliga under the space for name or project number. (It is the last name of the volunteer in our group who posted the grant online so our friends and family can donate to our project!) Underneath you will see our short description and more information on how to make a donation.

Feel free to spread the word to friends you think may be interested in making a donation! Thank you all for your support.