One Year in Panama

After a year in Panama, I haven’t contracted any fatal illnesses, lost any limbs or degenerated into a crazed, bearded, drooling lunatic. So overall, I think it’s been a success. But I've thought a lot about August 2010 Jack compared to August 2011 Jack and came up with the following extremely scientific chart:

	Jack August 2010	Jack August 2011
Name	Jack Fischl	Jochi
Live with the Indigenous	No	Yes
Speak Spanish	No	Si
Know what a Ngäbe Is	A what now?	The largest indigenous group in Panama
Know how to pronounce Ngäbe	Na-go-bee?	Naw-bey
Poop in a Hole	No	Yes
Sweat Enough to Flood the Panama Canal	That’s gross	Every day
Am a Hiking Machine	No	Sarah Connor..?
Patience of…	A four year old	Mother Theresa on Valium
Bats killed	0	At least 4, including two by hand
Intestinal viruses	Never	Excuse me, I need to go throw up
Electricity	Always	No
Will Save the World	Definitely	Hahahahaha…hahaha..haha
Have Sexual Relations with Females	Yes	What relations? Who?
Pounds of Rice Consumed in the Past Year	Who cares?	947,000
Sleep on a Queen Sized, Pillow-Top Mattress	Yes	Now you’re just making fun of me

So there have been a few changes. But I’m glad I’m here and look forward to the famous “SECOND YEAR,” when apparently most meaningful work is accomplished and everything is spelled in capital letters.

And as the saying goes, that which doesn’t kill me makes me wish I could take hot showers. 

Some pictures from the past year:

Adam jumps over me during training (September 2010)

Second host family house (December 2010)

A traditional Ngobe house in the mountains (March 2011)

Volunteers in indigenous garb during a seminar (June 2011)