2 weeks out

I have now been out of my site for two weeks! Well, I did go back for one night in between weeks but I didnt (this keyboard has not apostrophes, sorry) do anything. The first week out I did work. We had an in-service training that everyone from my group (#59) had to go to. It was good times. We actually talked about some really useful information and I got a lot of materials to help me teach English. Then last Friday (exactly six months from when I arrived in Panama!) Andrew flew in to visit me! So I went on vacation. :) We hung around Panama city for two nights and went and saw the canal and the Miraflores Locks and visited my host family from training in Santa Clara. That was really good for me, that family is so wonderful. Even if I was sick. Then we went to my site for one night and headed to the all-inclusive beach resort Decameron for a two days/three nights vacation. It was awesome! So beautiful and relaxing and ALL INCLUSIVE! Thats such a great idea. :-p I got to swim in the ocean, relax by the pool and read my book, eat really really good food (apparently I miss good bread like crazy) and hang out with Andrew. I also got a professional massage which was very much needed and very nice to get (though that wasnt included). It was a fantastic three nights there, loved it. Then we woke up super early on Thursday the 22nd to make it out to the town of Cerro Punta in the province of Chiriqui for a volunteer Thanksgiving feast. And let me tell you, it was so worth the early rise and the hours and hours of bus rides to get there just in time for the dinner and see everyone I love here in Panama and eat a DELICIOUS volunteer-cooked traditional Thanksgiving meal in another absoultely beautiful location. It was my first time that far west (almost to Costa Rica) and we were up in the mountains with nice cool air in a lovely hotel that let us use their kitchen to make the feast. So some volunteers arrived on Wednesday before with all the food and they made everything! Turkey (4 of them!), real stuffing (though never as good as my moms), mashed potatoes, 4 types of gravy, salads, pies, even vegetarian food for the vegetarians! It was amazing. And it was really fun to celebrate Thanksgiving with an Australian (Andrew) in Panama. :-p That night everyone just hung out and had a good party and we eventually made it back to the cabin where 15 of us were staying in the middle of the woods. So gorgeous. Hanging off the deck the owners had hung about 5 hummingbird feeders and Friday morning I stood outside for about an hour just entranced by all the hummingbirds. There were dozens! Just in this one little spot. It was amazing, Ive never seen so many at once and just been able to watch them for so long. They were playing around and fighting each other occasionally (dive bombs) and they would fly so close to my head the sound of the wings sent shivers up and down my spine. They were the most beautiful colors. It was amazing. I did take lots of pictures, but unfortunetely I wont be able to post them for awhile. Ill get to that later. But after Thanksgiving we (Andrew and I) headed back to Panama City (took the more relaxing two day trip this time) and went to the Hard Rock Cafe and just chilled in a super super nice hotel. Its really hard to get out of bed in these hotels, let me tell you. So freaking comfortable! And Andrew left this afternoon. It was a really really good vacation. I needed it and am glad I got it and it was wonderful. So tomorrow Ill head back to my site after a morning meeting with ANAM and Ill be all refreshed and ready to rock out! Woot!
The only bad thing that happened all week was... my camera broke. I dont know how, it was working through the whole week until we got back to Panama City on Saturday. I opened it to take a picture of the sunset and instead the lens just made a bunch of bad, broken sounding whirring noises and refused to open and then I got the Microsoft blue screen of death. Kinda weird on an Olympus camera. But so I dont know whats wrong with it. All the pictures I have on the card are still fine. Thank god. If I lost those I really dont know what I would have done. And I can still turn on the camera without opening the lens to look at the pictures. Its just the lens that is busted and wont open and leads to the blue screen. This made me believe that I would still be able to plug the camera into a computer and upload the pictures since I dont open the lens for that but after trying it repeatedly, that wont work either. After plugging in the camera it tries to open the lens again or do something that makes bad whirring noises and wont work. So I wont be able to upload any more pictures for quite awhile. Not until I find a computer that I can just plug my photo card into without the camera. But Ive never seen one here so I dont know when that will happen. :( Sorry! There were a lot of good pictures from this week I wanted to show too. And meanwhile, Im going to have to decide if I want to buy another camera here or wait till July when I go home and buy one there. But honestly I dont see myself waiting that long. Disposables are fine, but I need a camera! Theres just too much that happens here. I love my photos. So yea, thats the long explanation of the bad news. :-p
Ok, I think thats it for now. Great vacation. Good friends. Beautiful location. Love life. :)