dos mil once

I am stoked about this new year. 2011 is already off to a great start, and so much is in the works. Right after the new year was rang in, I came back to Panama City to go on a weeklong English-Spanish interpreting job with a group of university students from the US. They came down here to work in a rural community, building 11 water filtration systems and 8 eco stoves for a total of 16 families. The work was challenging - we weren't just interpreters. We were group leaders and problem solvers and pipe cutters and soccer players. I got to see a side of Panama that I had only seen in passing. Nearly half of these families didn't have electricity. Their lives are simple, rustic, but they are happy. Their kids are adorable. And their impact on the visiting students and on me will be long-lasting. It reminded me of one of the reasons I wanted to make the exodus - to do something "good". I hope to be able to work with Global Brigades again. For the rest of January and most of February I will be working 1-3 jobs back in Bocas. At the end of February I will be heading back to Costa Rica to help guide a trip with Discovering Deaf Worlds. We have a group of 10 tourists, coming from Germany, England, the US, and Australia. I am excited to go back and to see the friends I made while I was there! This tour guide job, by the way, will turn into a yearly gig. It could turn out to be more than once a year as well, including other destinations like Thailand/Cambodia and eventually Kenya as well. After guiding this trip, which ends at the beginning of March, I have no plans. As of now, I plan to head back through Panama and onward (finally!) to Colombia and more of South America.

Otherwise, I have a big blank spot between March and August. In August I have friends getting married in Portland, and I will be officiating a wedding (thats right, Rev. Sara Romes!) in September. So no matter what, I'll be stateside one year after leaving. There's also a chance I'll be doing the Thailand and Cambodia trip in August before making those weddings. And what else happens between now and then, who knows. Maybe I'll fall in love with somewhere else. Maybe I'll break down and take a more permanent job here in Panama. Maybe I'll spend the end of the year living in Denver. I have no idea! But playing tour guide, Spanish interpreter, bartender, traveler and priest isn't a bad framework for a new year!! I still can't believe this is really my life! :)