Library Fully Funded

Well, one can always use more money! However, our Partnership grant for the community library has been completely funded through donations. This means that the money will arrive soon into our hands so that we can start using it.

THANK YOU!!

Thank you to one and all who donated! We don't know who most of you are, but thank you from both of us and our community. We will now start looking for a way to store the books that will best protect them from all of Panama's challenges. We will be sure to post a blog with photos of the finished library and the opening day for you all to enjoy.

(And if you still want to help some other Peace Corps Volunteer with a project, check out the full list of projects in need of assistance.)

Cultural Contrasts 2

A while ago I posted about some of the cultural differences that I have noticed in Panamá. YOu can read it if you like: Cultural Contrasts. I continue to learn about Panama, myself and the culture in the USA through these differences. These are just my observations...and I continue to observe so here is another couple for you to enjoy.

Flirting:
In the States a guy who is interested in a girl has to work up the nerve to come up to her. A guy has to have the guts to face rejection to get a chance. Just whistling at her or yelling "Que bonita" (how pretty) would not work, in fact it would likely work against him. Here in Panama whistling, hissing, and calling out piropos (spanish for calling out comments or compliments at a woman) is normal.

To my ear it sounds rude, like annoying bored construction workers, I would never pay attention. In fact there are times when I swear the next guy to say something will get the best earful of Spanish I can muster and I walk along practicing a good stinger to give. But here piropos are how a girl knows when a guy is interested...they say that it tells them that they are pretty.


Sidewalk etiquette:
In the USA when we are walking along a sidewalk side by side and someone approaches us from the other direction we automatically yeild some space by merging into single file. I wasn't even concious of this action until I got to Panamanian side walks (which are challenging just as sidewalks). In Panama they do yeild...but only the minimal necessary. They will not merge into single file...they just wait until that last possible moment to squish down to let you pass.

Every time it happens to me I swear that this is going to be the time they bump me off the sidewalk...but it is rare that thier bags even brush me. This felt unbelievably rude to me when I arrived, but now I realize that it is just the way things are done here. They don't run into each other...they just seem to have a different (smaller/closer) cultural norm on personal space needed for passing others. I still don't feel comfortable in those passing moments, but I have come to realize it is because I carry a different cultural expectaition from the norm here.

I have more cultural contrasts to offer...but I need to go catch a bus home. Take care on the sidewalks out there.

Thank You Donars!

Hello,

I just wanted to post a quick note thanking all those who have donated to our Peace Corps Partnership Grant for the community library. (If you don’t remember what I am talking about check it out: Community library post). The total donations have brought our amount needed down to just $175!!

One of the reasons that I wanted to say thank you is because unless you give Peace Corps specific permission to tell us who you are during the donation process (which I have been told means checking some obscure box in the forms) we never find out who gave money. We want all those who have given to know that we appreciate your help...as do the people in our community; we may just not know who you are to say it personally.

If you have not yet donated and still want to...there is still a bit left to be given. You can check it out at: Community Library donations

Last night, by phone, Kevin told me that our library now fills the shelf alloted for it...a shelf that is about 6 feet long. That is a lot of books especially when you consider how many of them are thin childrens books. Poco a poco. (little by little)

You don´t have to live abroad to be interesting

Our relatives are also up to some interesting things these days... We thought that you might enjoy knowing about the other interesting family members.

The following is a bulletin board soon to be seen in the Cincinnati area:

It seems that my Uncle Steve was laid off from his job at the Aces and Eights Harley Dealer just north of Cincinnati. He is an excellent Harley mechanic, he even has a patent for a part for Harleys (a hydrolic clutch if my faulty memory serves me...but it is an iffy memory).

Well, within a couple of weeks of his being laid off the local competitor, Harley Davidson of Cincinnati, had offered him a job. They want all the local Harley riders to know that he now works with them....Uncle Steve has quite a reputation. So if you are in the Cincinnati area and see the billboard please enjoy it for me.

Kevin´s sister Meghan is also up to interesting and new things. She is using her time as a stay at home mom with a Masters in Environmental Science to launch a new business, EcoConsults. She will provide "residential and commercial clients with simple, cost-effective, personalized recommendations for a greener lifestyle", with long- and short-term cost benefit analysis. If you are near Baltimore (or even if you aren't) and would like to have someone knowledgable look over your house or business for ways to improve your environmental impact, check out her site. She was involved in the 2009 Baltimore EcoFestival this past weekend as well.

April's sister Hilary continues to make the world a more interesting place through her art. She specializes in making ¨Melting clocks¨as seen in Salvador Dali's paintings. Examples of her clocks and many other works of art can be seen at the website for her company, Pragmatic Effects, or at her blog of the same name.

Isla Library Needs You!

That was our library of Spanish-language books for loaning about two months ago. It includes thick-page kids books on numbers and shapes, National Geographic en Español, kids encyclopedias and books of science questions, big books of fairy tales, why-things-are and how-things-work books, loads of books from Piggy Press (they do books in English and Spanish, and April bought nearly one of everything they have, around 50 books, a year ago), and Harry Potter 1, 2, & 3. Since then, between April's needs to buy more fun books for the kids and the books we bought with the Health Fair funds, it has more than doubled.

But we need your help.

If you have wondered how you could send something to us for our community, now is your chance. (Or, if you are about to file your taxes and were looking for one last opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation, now is your chance.) Through the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP), friends, family, and others in the United States can make tax-deductible donations to projects sponsored by Peace Corps Volunteers. All projects must have 25% of the cost provided by the community; that can include cash, materials, labor, etc. Ours has a 46% community match.

The summary page for our request summarizes the project, indicates the amount we still need (we started at $525 and have already received $50 as I write this on Easter Sunday; thank you to someone!), and provides a space to make a secure on-line donation.

We already have a lot of books, thanks to April's insatiable appetite everytime she passes the few bookstores in Panama (let's just say that we may have skewed the recent Volunteer Living Allowance Survey with the percentage of allowance spent on "Items for Community Projects" sometimes 1/3 of her salary) and thanks to books brought or sent by family and friends from the states. But of course we want to provide more options to our young (and old) readers.

We also want to purchase some sealable and lockable plastic containers for book storage, along with reusable desecant packs, to help protect from damp, mold, mildew and insects.

Already, we have held several fundraisers with our community members, and we have one more big one planned for the national election (Sunday, 3 May), when many families will have all their members together for the vote (many folks vote where they were born). We plan to take, print, and frame family pictures, something very few families have, and sell them for a slight profit to support this library project.

We will also work with the community members to establish a plan for tracking books as they are checked out and returned, "office hours", holding story times, and expanding the library in the future. We will also talk with parents about the importance of reading with their children, so that it becomes a multi-generational together time.

Please help us encourage more moments like Dianeth, a twelve-year-old friend, reading fairy tales like the Steadfast Tin Solider or Rumplestiltskin to Nina, our four-year-old neighbor. Or moments like when Nina's dad, Julian, comes by on his last trip of the evening from his boat in the cove near our house and asks to borrow a book to read to Nina and his other kids that night.

(Our request amount is rather small, and once the requested amount has been donated, I think they will close the donation option for this project. But if you'd like to support other similar programs in Panama (at the main donation page, select Panama in the Country of Service dropdown and then check the list at the bottom of the page) or around the world with other PCVs, you can. Projects range from small community libraries or gardens to large computer centers or community sports fields. Take your pick of what you'd like to support!)