Well i just returned from our week long trip into the interior, and i must say it was wonderful except for one thing, which actually made it rather miserable at times and still is making me a little miserable: biting insects. I´ve decided that biting insects are the single thing that I absolutely HATE about the outdoors. There are so many bites ( Read more... )

This week was just more spanish classes in the morning and lectures or interviews in the afternoon. Tuesday afternoon, I went to the Audubon Society of Panama to interview a lady there about the organization. It was quite an adventure finding it b-c the office is just in an apartment building 0 rather odd and she spoke English, so the interview ( Read more... )

my host family is ok. they´re growing on me. we certainly have communication problems. i have a host mom and a host cousin i think. although i´m not positive if she is her aunt or mom. i have my own room and the food is pretty good although they fed me chicken soup without the chicken and thought it was vegetarian ( Read more... )

i met my host family today. they consist of a mother and a sister who is 23 and works at a bank. they both are really fashionable and trendy and make me feel even frumpier than usual and rather intimidated. i also can{t understand anything they say, so i think they think i am mentally challenged. of course, my sister was asking me really ( Read more... )

ok } so i{ve met my group. 13 students in all with only 2 boys (like another treehouse). they{re all nice, but of course lasting friendships have yet to be established. our academic director is quite a character. he{s interesting and intelligent but just goes off on these tangents like his huge red suitcase, or how to make a good stew that ( Read more... )

when i was floating and ruminating in the ocean the other day, i realized that all my friends and family and most of the people i care about are scattered across the globe ' nicaragua, india, california, russia, NYC, florida, indiana, france, england, and with the exception of mis padres y Skip, none of them are together, which is kind of cool and ( Read more... )

so ' here i am in ciudad de panama after an amazingly efficient 15 hour journey here from Costa Rica. I meet my group tomorrow. many of my clothes have stains on them. i took them to this lavamatico, but they still are a mess even after washing. and my legs are a mass of infected mosquito bites. i went to the movies today, which was odd for me ( Read more... )

I was cleaning out my drawers yesterday b/c my mom decided she's downsizing and trying to get of everything we don't need (which is basically half our house) and I determined that I am incredibly weird. I found a bag of Fluffy's old cat fur b/c I actually thought at one time that I would knit socks out of his fur. And I also found a card from one ( Read more... )

wow - can't believe it's this time of year already - many mixed emotions. almost out of meal points, so it's probably good I'm leaving soon before I wither away from hunger ( Read more... )

just finished the "Community Celebration Table" I had to sit at the head table with the keynote speaker and the president and his wife because I had to give a little speech thanking people, which kind of sucked because I have terrible etiquette and manners and am bad at small talk, but the food was delicious. To pull an Emily, there was potato ( Read more... )