One year in Panama! Ohh Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I have officially marked the one year mark in Panama! Ooooh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (this is where I would share an image of me clasping my fist and saying 'Alright' the way my dad always does) In some respects it feels like the time flew by, but in other respects--it feels like I have been here for a very long time....I remember meeting volunteers that had been here for a year already in training and thinking how "mature they seemed, like they had panama figured out." It would be cool if the newly arrived volunteers thought so much about me. hahaha. I have made the jump to feel at home in panama. That seems to happen around the year mark for most volunteers. Panama has become my home, before I would tell other volunteers when I was headed back to Membrillo that I was "heading back to site" and now I say, "I am headed home." I'm glad I have made this adjustment. Our sites should feel like our homes. I need to mention a bit more about the recycling project. The transportation system originally was to use pick-up trucks with the help of local politicians to take the recycling to the recycling center. Unfortunately we had some politicians who didn't show up, or weren't available, or were in the middle of a widely known political party scheme to change parties for 120,000 dollars---- it was just a mess relying on these local politicians. So, I went directly to the recycling center with a letter of presentation about our recycling project and was able to create an agreement with the recycling center to provide the transportation. The owner of the recycling center in panama said, "I want to help you." The center has already sent Aber Miranda to Membrillo to see our recycling project and will be providing recycling education in the near future. How great right? All I had to do was ask. I am now referred to "la cabezona" by my school's environmental committee. Which I guess is a warranted nick-name. So far we have hosted two recycling days at the school, the first day we made 43 dollars and the second day we made 104 dollars. Tomorrow, we will host our third recycling day and I hope and hope tomorrow will be just as amazing as our first two recycling days. The 21st of May, the middle school will host their first recycling day, let's see how they do...I have already provided the science classes for 7th, 8th, and 9th graders with the recycling education charla. It's now in their hands. Last week, I visited the Panamanian national park on Coiba. Coiba is a former Alcatraz, which was transformed into a national park in 2004 to allow for tourists to visit the island. The island is maintained by the environmental agency that I work with, ANAM. The island has been left undeveloped, apart for the 23 jail facilities and the ANAM facilities. A friend of mine, John Cho planned the trip for a group of ten volunteers including myself to visit the island. The island itself is huge. It's about 2 hours in boat from the Veraguas coast. We stayed on the island for 2 days and 2 nights. We visited the jail, a small island known as "granito de oro", and snorkeled a bunch. I actually swam very close to sharks! I saw one turtle and a ridiculous amount of fish. It was really a great vacation. I got back on Friday in time to tell my students all about the trip. I actually had to rush back to site to get right back to work--recycling, reforestation, and my one year visit by both of my supervisors requires a bunch of planning. My supervisors are heading to my site on the 15th to meet my counterparts, talk to my principal, the reforestation group, my host families, and community members about my work and the work that is left to be done during my last year of service. I hope to host a little celebration for my birthday. I have to ask my host moms to help me prepare for the celebration with typical Panamanian birthday food, rice with chicken and potato salad with beets and a cake of course. Vamos a ver si todo va bien. Esto es todo for now, Hasta pronto, Sonia