Miga. Tja kjö Janell.

Naso language training started this week, and I am beginning to think that I am in way over my head. Learning a third language (Naso) in a second language (Spanish) is scrambling my brain. Pronunciation is a maddening struggle. The vowel a alone has 4 different sounds (written as a, ã, ä, and a with both the tilde and dots). The pattern extends to the other vowels as well for a total of 20 vowel sounds. It makes my pea-sized brain hurt. Luckily, as the only student in the class I have the opportunity to spend 15 minutes practicing the ë sound if I so choose.

My language teacher is from the community that I will soon claim as my new home in Panama, and through him I am learning more about the Naso people and my future home. He shared that this week a group of Naso people were in Panama City to meet with government officials to try to seek a resolution for the hydroelectric dam project and in the issue of establishing a Naso comarca (reservation).

On Tuesday I will travel to my site for the first time. I will spend nearly a week in the community, deliver a speech (in Naso, eeks!), meet my community, and learn of its needs and possible work opportunities. I am really excited, but nervous about being a huge disappointment or just looking like a fool. My language teacher has told me of the preparations the community is making for me. If his excitement is a fair gauge for the rest of the community, expectations and engagement levels will be high. He has already expressed interest in working with me in horticulture production, goat husbandry, handicraft production/marketing, ecotourism, and baked goods classes/production. The last interest was named after I introduced him to brownies made from cacao from his own province. While I have much to learn, this many opportunities is a Peace Corps Volunteer’s dream. I am really excited.

After the site visit I will return to my training community for just over a week of training, swear-in as an official volunteer in Panama City, and be turned loose for my new home in Bocas del Toro Province. As I look forward to moving to my new home and learning the full story behind this mysterious indigenous group, I am sad to bid farewell to my training community and my host family here. Getting tackled by my host nephew as I walk through the door, hearing my aunts call out ‘ya viene la muñequita’ (‘here comes the [Barbie] doll’) as I walk home from class, and knowing just where to scrounge the best fallen mangoes are all activities I will leave behind in St. Clara in a couple of weeks. I have grown fond of my fungus-infected mattress, my odorific latrine, weekly bingo at my house, and seeing ants floating on top of my cereal.

My sis, nephew and cousin putting candles in my bday cake

My birthday package from home :)

Sisterly love