Gracias Blog, 

I have been so giddy with all of the emails I have received about making donations. I need your addresses to send thank you postcards. Thank you to those that emailed me (especialmente mis primas!). I was genuinely concerned about funding for the recycling project and for the Internet stick. Last week visiting the Panamanian agencies was just so disheartening.  Randomly however the environmental agency, ANAM, dropped off five concrete sacks to my house. They apologized for only being able to provide all ten sacks but I was still pretty impressed. Transportation is still an issue. But my old supervisor mentioned to my site mate before he left that we should just begin recycling. All of it would have been burned anyways, so at least we are attempting to recycle and we are providing recycling education to the community in the mean time. I have put a lot of work into this recycling project and the invitations have been sent out for our first recycling day. Now the project is in my communities hands. My counterpart at the school, maestra Jacinta is under the impression that a lot of community members are going to participate. We shall see April 2nd...

I just want to put it out there that I love emails, fb messages, phone calls, text messages for those that are reading this feel free to send messages my way (I feel that I am better at communicating if someone initiates the conversation)

What else is new? I have begun teaching recycling education at the elementary school. I have 22 teachers to work with from pre-kinder hasta sexto grado. I have worked with 8 teachers so far, they teach 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders. The activities I have shared with them have been fun. Recycling soup was the most successful activity. We threw water bottles, soda cans, batteries, white paper, and milk cartons into "our drinking water." I asked the kids if they still wanted to drink the water. They all said "que no, que no."I explained to the group that we would be recycling all of these things this year.  And then I went into recycling definitions.  I also used 3 short recycling videos on the projector which they seemed to like. I have also started observing the science teachers in the afternoon (junior high) and I would like to start working with them next week.  

I have started doing yoga at my home and I love it. I even play the long time sunshine song at the end of my workout. I forgot how difficult yoga is. Downward facing dog is so difficult.  I am using one of Deepak Chopras videos that is absolutely amazing.  I have been trying to keep it a secret from my community though, I dont know what they would think aout it. They might think, "ugh, what is that crazy gringa doing now?". They already laugh and make fun of me enough when I go for jogs. 

I have more kids participating in my English classes every week. They are so funny. We have been working on pronunciations and sounds. Today they were learning "a man" and they all kept saying "amen." Once I have an opportunity to take a picture of them, I will. They are so cute! I have decided that their homework will always be to borrow and read three books from my book shelf. Their reading levels are really behind. And their reading skills are so much more important than their English skills. 

Panama according to a friend of mine out of 139 countries surveyed ranks 129th in terms of education. The kids copy all day long. They are not asked to think critically or creatively.  In waiting for superman, the narrator refers to great teachers as professional athletes.  I am beginning to agree with this description. Great teachers take an avid interest in their students lives, their abilities, and their goals. They are willing to come early and stay late. They keep the lectures up to date. They go out of their way to support their students. I would hope that they take an interest in the community in which they teach. They are like professional athletes. I will write more about education woes in the following blog.   

Okay ya, 

Hasta Luego, Sonia