Placing a Pickle

So placement day finally arrived. The day we had all been waiting for since stepping off that plane. The day we would learn where and with whome we would live for the next two years. We started off the morning going to the office in Panama City just like any other day, except when we entered the meeting room there was the map awaiting us.

As you can see the map has all of our pictures across the top and then blue and green stars scattered across Panama. The green are for the SAS program and the blue are for EH (me). The map would look quite different by the end of the day. After some pep talks about how we should have no expectations of what we "have to have" and some videos of old Peace Corps commercials it was time to start the reveal. A pot contained the names of all our sites and one by one they were picked out, the site name read with a very short description of where it was and whether it was a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd volunteer (for EH at least. For SAS it was what type of Ag they were doing), and the volunteer's name called that would be sent there. It was a very exciting process an we were all on the edge of our seats waiting to hear our name. Then it happened...I was sitting there listening to them move through sites and announce the winners, when suddenly I heard my name called. It took a second to recognize my own name, but when I finally did I lept up with excitement and went to the front to receive my packet. I took my photo and placed it on my little blue star with all the realization of all the weight that little sticker held. It represented my community, it represented my home, and it represented my future. I then drew the next site and promptly sat down to tear through as much information in my packet as I possibly could.

                   Photo placement

The rest of the afternoon was filled with normal informational sessions after meeting with our regional leaders to discuss our provinces. During every break I would just open my packet again and look through my info packet. On a quick side note my regional leader is also a UF alumni so that is pretty awesome.

I suppose I can include a little information on here about my site, or at least what I know so far. From what I have reas and heard, I will be going into the Darién region (yup the side near Columbia) to a site of about 500 people. The site should be an interesting mix of cultures as it is an afro-indio fishing village. I have my first visit to my site this coming week, so I will have a better idea of the details and more to write on it after that. Until then enjoy these pictures of the completed map!

                  Can you spot me?

       There I am! (Top left guy of the cluster in the bottom right)