Christmas Vacation
Well, it’s been a while, but what the heck. I was obviously in Panama during Christmas and was able to celebrate with my host mom and some of her family. Actually, for her present, I fixed Juana’s bathroom door that had apparently been scraping the floor ever since the house was built some seven years ago. I guess it didn’t bother her or anyone in the family enough to fix it.
Christmas in Panama is not nearly as celebrated as in the states; or so it seems to me. Shops are open, buses run on their normal schedule, people go shopping or work in their fields. There was no big family gathering for Christmas Eve, then again on Christmas morning and then yet again Christmas night. There was no eating until you felt like you were going to be sick and then falling asleep on the couch. There was no candlelight service at church. Plus, the sun was shining and it was probably somewhere around 90 or so, which kind of steals some of the Christmas spirit out of the air. There’s no need to sit by the fire and drink a warm cup of hot chocolate. There was no tree in the house or presents waiting below. No Home Alone, Christmas Vacation or A Christmas Story playing on TV. There was however a big parade.
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| Rub-a-dub-dub |
Tae-kwon-do….again
This was definitely my favorite part of Christmas in Panama. I had been taking tae-kwon-do classes in town for a few weeks. I was invited to be in the parade with the class, along with the students and volunteers of AFS. The AFS group is made up of two male volunteers and three female students. The dudes - Arne from Germany, who teaches technology in the primary school and Lucas from Austria, who works in the health center. The girls are Sara and Stephanie from Germany and Tiziana from Switzerland. We met at Maria’s house early in the afternoon to make preparations. Once again I was eaten alive by mosquitoes and went back to the house for my spray. Some people never learn.
People go crazy over the parade. Every little group has a car in the parade and half the time you have no idea what the group is, because there’s no indication what-so-ever; just a bunch of people sitting in the back of a truck throwing out candy. But what fun! I actually had to buy more bags of candy to throw out because we kept circling around town. Then the kids were literally begging me to give them some so they could then throw it in the road. The trucks could barely get through because the people were so close. It was really a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy the pics!
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| The man in black |
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| Have a very martial arts Steven Seagal Christmas |
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