November 2012
1 post
been awhile..
had a pretty rough day today and realized that the last time i let some words flow onto this thing was my last day in panama back in april so figured maybe it would help to get some thoughts out again.
i have not been living my life right AT ALL since i have been back in the states. i have been so incredibly selfish, hurting people, using people, making poor life decisions, hanging out with the...
April 2012
6 posts
back from bocas. :(
honestly, i almost didn’t leave. have you ever been somewhere that just felt so right that you never wanted to leave? that’s how i felt about bocas. met so many amazing people, had such a great time, pretty beaches, happy faces.. waiting for the bus yesterday i was like what the hell am i doing leaving this place? but then i just thought to myself that i WILL come...
bocas has been absolutely incredible so far.
met a girl on the beach yesterday who had come here for a few days to give her boyfriend space. they have been living in costa rica for the past seven months, but she is originally from quebec and is going home the week after me. we spent the whole day and night together sharing stories, advice, and discussing matters of life. i was telling her the...
alrighty guys, sending myself off from panama SO proper. headed to bocas del toro for 3 nights then boquette for 3 nights and going completely solo. bought my bus ticket this morning, heading out tonight on the over night bus. never traveled alone, and never for this long so i’m extremely excited/anxious/grateful to test myself on this experience and see the last two places in panama...
just got back from my last valley stay and boy did i have a GREAT time. tiffany, hannah, and i went to pedasi for a few days and got back late saturday night. woke up easter sunday am and was trying to decide if i had the energy and motivation for the journey to the valley. finally dragged my ass out of bed with the help of my good friend lillian and we headed out to our final stay in the valley...
this morning while everyone else at the san miguel house chose to have a relaxing movie day, i dragged myself up and out to get a little exercise. not only do i need it, but also how many more chances am i going to have to wake up in the morning and take a beautiful, challenging hike in the natural beauty of panama? i tried to take it in as much as possible, as this may be the last time i am in...
came back early to san miguel yesterday because my adults told me they wanted to have a party for me. we left the details of the event extremely unclear so i was unsure if it was actually going to happen, but if it was, i didn’t want to miss it!
lillian has her friend in town from texas, so we all made the trek out here together. the bus was crowded as hell and i felt bad she had to...
March 2012
15 posts
teaching my final adult english class and look out the window to see some of the girls hula hooping with the hoops we made in my workshop the other day. so rewarding! what a great and wonderful ride this has been and sad to see it winding down.
finally killed our obese white chicken we had in san miguel a short few hours ago. some of the boys from the valley slit her neck and are now preparing...
the librarian at my school just told me i need to love myself so that i can love others. i asked her what she was talking about and she pointed to my stretched ears and dreads.. -___- isn’t it 2012? do we still not accept people for their physical attributes? geez louise.
on another note, mission: get courtney back in shape is in full force. last night had a hot yoga sesh, this morning...
throughout your life people come and go, friendships fade, people grow apart, but everyone you meet is put in your life for a reason. i want to take some time out to write about my latest and greatest lesson teacher i’ve met in panama, my dear friend erin keigher.
never in my life have i had a friend that i’ve just felt to be on the same exact wavelength as me. same passions, same...
on a happier note, i absolutely love teaching english to adults and seeing how much they progress due to my guidance each and every class. i love each and every one of my students that have stuck with me this semester. seriously touches me to the bottom of my heart <3
so many areas of my life are at a crossroads right now. friends are growing up and settling down, i’m shifting from student to ???, where to live, what to do, and whether or not to listen to my head or my heart.
it makes me sad that my nearest and dearest friends are settling down and growing further from me, or so it feels. i am happy for them, of course, but still falling into the #2...
i already touched on this on my facebook, but i’m going to say it again. not having a cell phone for the past two months has really opened my eyes to how i acted when i did have one. numerous times i would catch myself not even listening to the person talking to me as my eyes were fixed on my cell phone screen. or look around where i am to see zombies everywhere transfixed to their little...
one of the best and worst things about traveling is the “temporary-ness” of friendships and experiences. i have met so many great people on this journey, truly open and inspiring people but at the end of the day, we usually end up going our separate ways. it’s great to have the opportunity to meet so many special people while i’m here, but it’s always hard for me to...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWi1dGT9UY →
i feel i never told you the story of the ghost
that i once knew and talked to
of whom i’d never boast..
cause this was my big secret
how i get ahead
and never have to worry,
i’d call him instead.
his answer came in actions…
he never spoke a word
or maybe i laid down the phone
before he could be heard..
i somehow feel forsaken,
like he had closed the door..
i guess...
thank you www.reallyghetto.com for turning my frown upside down today. you’re welcome.
lindsey's visit
MONDAY
monday am we spent the day wandering around the city. hit up NY bagel for a breakfast sammy before getting the day started. then we went to the canal. it was pretty interesting and also met a guy from portsmouth there, small world! after the canal we walked around casco viejo for a little while. had to face the facts that i had to go to san miguel so we braved the public bus system. fairly...
mainfestation
recently, most notably after my envision trip, i have been thinking a lot about manifestation and how plausible it is to actually manifest something to happen and whether or not it is actually something real or just happens to be good luck. on our envision trip, everything fell perfectly into place. was it meant to be, did we manifest it with our energy, or was it all just perfect luck?
i want to...
envisiOn festival
holy moly, it’s been awhile since i’ve updated this on my latest and greatest adventures. let’s throw back to last wednesday..
WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY
got all my work done at san miguel and was in a hurry to get back to the city as i was to leave with erin for envision at midnight on the bus! waited at the bus stop for a solid hour and no bus ever came. lillian, hannah, miriam (the...
i’m going to update this soon, i swear guys! just got back from costa rica sunday night and leaving for san blas tomorrow. full update sunday night!
February 2012
11 posts
strizzessss
tensions are running high out here in the san miguel house.. today was the first day of school and we were not present because we were not ready to start up with the lesson plans and felt uncomfortable starting out in school when our director was not here. she had to stay in the city to do some other work for the company. i, however, will still have my class this evening. our class is not...
oh yeah! last night erin and i headed to our favorite restaurant beirut, but at another location (the causeway) to meet our friends from brazil that we met in san blas! how special it was for me to be able to see these people again,; they really left an impact on me when we met them for the first time.
they decided to get off the boat and go on to something else. alexandra has four more days here...
santa catalina was an interesting time. rode there with my friend i made in panama city and two other people. spanish was spoken the entire way there so i just slept and put my headphones in. we arrived to the hostel, surfer’s paradise, saturday night pretty late and just passed out. we decided to tent it for the week instead of getting a room cause it was only $5 a night, pretty good deal!
...
locked, loaded, and off to santa catalina for carnaval! took me long enough to decide, but should be a good time. supposedly one of the best surf spots in central america and my friend is driving so i dodged the whole “public bus system for 5 hours” bullet. lucky girl. i have no idea when i will be back.. might try to go to coiba for a few nights. stay tuned <3
ohhh, life. i’ve reached a crossroads. done a lot of thinking from san blas and i just don’t know what path to take right now. what will i do after kalu yala i keep asking myself? return to VA (the last thing i could ever want to do), find another job… but where? doing what? how will i get there? i find myself asking the same questions over and over: what will i do? how will i...
i wish i could eloquently explain what an amazing, beautiful, awesome, inspiring weekend i had in san blas these past days, but i will do my best to recreate the feeling i felt for all you guys reading this..
THURSDAY
thursday night i headed back to the city to get some supplies for san blas and to talk to some people one last time before i went out of touch for awhile. impressed myself quite a...
hola from san miguel! didn’t realize there was limited internet at the school until today for some reason.. no access to facebook or twitter but can use skype, gmail, and tumblr. apparently none of my friends and family check their email, however, so i’ve been sitting here for about an hour waiting for someone to write me back! (thanks guys)
got here much later than expected...
decided to stay in the city one more day.. emailed the founder of spay panama and heard back right away! went over the place and got a tour and met one of the surgeons and all the pets there! seems like a great group of people and i’m excited to get started with working with them! they have their orientation and work days on wednesdays and saturdays so i will probably only be able to work on...
oh how i love panama city and the people i meet here every weekend. hit up the pool both days (of course) and just meet the most interesting people there.
YESTERDAY
went to the pool by myself.. no one ever wants to go! but i’m okay with that. met two amazing retirees from miami. one was a former NY firefighter that served on 9/11. met another couple originally from san diego but have been...
what a week in san miguel! lot’s of stuff accomplished, connections made, and fun times had.
MONDAY
had a farewell lunch with hakan.. lunch being margaritas. i was feeling a bit stressed and on edge and that seemed to do just the trick! bummed to be parting ways, had a great time hanging out! anyways, got ready and headed to san miguel with alex, anne, rob, lillian, hannah and tiffany....
January 2012
18 posts
weekend
glad to be back to civilization this weekend. disconnecting is good for the soul, but awful for the wandering mind with a vivid imagination.
every day this weekend i went back to the veneto pool. such a clutch spot, and thankfully none of the other interns know about it so i can just go there to get my tan on and chill by myself for awhile. i met back up with the people i met there last weekend...
really wish i knew what the hell was going on with my life.
yesterday was a rough day for me. we worked on our project proposals and research for about six hours.. got a lot of work done and feel relatively good about what i’m going to do. i’m setting up an after school soccer program for the kids in San Miguel. just need to meet with the parents and principal to clear everything then get going! after this, we went to the mall. got some feel...
holy shit guys, i’m back from the valley. here’s a run down of my past few days..
MONDAY: so after a long night sunday, monday morning was not really high on my happiness list.. got all my stuff packed pretty quick then we shipped out to san miguel. the bus ride is about an hour or so.. not exactly sure.. we arrived to the san miguel house to regroup and chill a bit before we hiked...
yesterday was SO. MUCH. FUN. erin and i finally found a pool which was awesooome! we layed out from 12-630. i got fried like a lobster but i really don’t care because i was fiending for some vitamin D and a darker complexion. we met a lot of cool people at the pool. first we met a photographer/lawyer from the hampton’s and chatted with him for awhile. he was extremely interesting and...
spent 5 hours today in a panamanian tattoo shop. the artist was amazinggg! i resisted the urge to get one, but i love everyone else’s! ordered domino’s pizza for dinner and finally found a jersey shore link. today = success !
yesterday morning i got up at 6, ran 4 miles and did an hour of yoga. i have no clue what brought on the motivation for me to do that, but i was definitely proud of myself and it felt great despite it being hot as hell even that early! we finished up orientation before lunch then spent the rest of the day just lounging around. anne walker, one of the directors, invited all the interns over to her...
hump day!
day three of orientation.. the ceo, jimmy, came to talk to us and do a little Q & A about kalu yala, went through some more information then went off on our scavenger hunt! we went to the indoor mall which was surprisingly really nice.. lacoste, sanrio, lots of surf shops, nike store.. the people i went with weren’t big on shopping haha so didn’t really get to do too much looking...
day two of orientation.. much more laid back. today we discussed the importance of social media and how we are going to use it to promote kalu yala. it was funny, we were all in a room and the leader of the discussion made us all go around and add each other on facebook and twitter and only me and one other girl had a twitter and knew how to use it. i had to create a separate twitter cause i...
orientation!
today was day one of orientation. woke up at 7 frickin 30 holy shit. my roommates are early birds -___- and there was a bird outside our window “chirping” that sounded like a fire alarm, i kid you not. still getting used to waking up so early. holy moly! orientation went well.. got debriefed on all the basic and important info then sent off to do a scavenger hunt in the city. we were...
meep.
yesterday was an extremely lazy day for me. i took a lot of naps and chilled most of the day. all the interns finally arrived so we were all just kinda hanging out, getting to know each other. football games were going on so some of us ventured back to hooter’s to watch the first half of the game. we all came back to the apartment after and it was one of the girls birthday’s so we...
transcending..
off to a late start today.. woke up pretty late due to staying up late the night before. i am so mad at myself because it was pouya’s last day and we had things planned in which i missed out on due to sleeping in. kinda a bummer but oh well. anne, alex and i went to casco viejo & avenue central again cause they hadn’t been and we were trying to do something. we met a man down there...
quatRoO.
got a little schwastey last night folks so i did not update this. yesterday was an epic adventure. woke up early and met up with pouya at his hotel and we decided to go to isla grande. i was a little skeptical because there was a lot to the process of getting there and it a little late of a start we had, but i stuck true to my mantra and just went with the flow. we ended up renting a car for about...
thReE.
today was awesome! the education intern hooked me up with her friend from college who is passing through panama on his way home to texas from columbia. since the directors are still working, we decided to plan out some things to do. woke up early and headed over to his hotel which was super duper nice. free breakfast which was amazing! can’t remember the last time i ate breakfast. fruits...
day dos.
howdy howdy. day two! awoken to the lovely sounds of construction as they are building a hotel or something next door. woke up at 830 which is quite the shocker because i have been sleeping well into the afternoon the past month that i was kinda taking a break from life. my original plan was to go lay out at a hotel but it ended up being pretty overcast so i was bummed! i was bored of sitting...
