Is my blog at the stage where the writer slowly loses the motivation to keep writing and lets more and more time go between posts until updates cease altogether? It's been awhile. I have a ton of news though.

My boss sent an email awhile ago and asked if I wanted to participate in a special project, translating for US Navy medical tour. The USS Iwo Jima came to give free surgeries and medical care. It's practice for them because one of the ship's assignments is disaster relief in the Caribbean. So I went up to Bocas del Toro and translated a whole bunch of hernia examinations. I was going to write you a timely and detailed description of the visit, but I got sick. It's the normal thing to do in Bocas del Toro. I ended up in the hospital in David with the worst GI problems I've ever experienced. It was my first visit to the hospital as an adult and I learned many things. One of them is that nurses don't like it when you take out your own IV.

From there, I went home to Cerro Papayo and moved in to my house. It's still a little bit rustic. Felix and I failed to connect the water, so I have to go to the neighbors to bathe and wash clothes and the walls are completely see-through and the roof leaks and the yard is all torn up, but I love being on my own again. There was nothing wrong with any of my host families, it's just that I haven't had my own spot for these six months. I'm finally not living out of a suitcase anymore and I get to live by my own schedule and I don't have to worry about stepping on anybody's toes.

I was only able to stay in Cerro Papayo for a week or so before I had to come down to the city for the All Volunteer Conference in Chitre. Every year there's a meeting with all 200 volunteers in Panama. More gringos than any of us had seen for a long time. It was very fun. It was the first time I was able to meet many business, health, and education volunteers and I learned a lot about the different sorts of projects that volunteers are working on in Panama. It was also good to catch up with the environmental volunteers that I trained with. After three months, we all have a better idea of the role we'll fill in our communities. Talking with my friends, I learned their approaches to community integregation and project management and have new strategies I'll be able to use in Cerro Papayo. It was very encouraging.

But I'm hoping to get back to site tomorrow. Too much city time makes me nervous.

Love,

Andy