Last summer I made a big decision that I wanted to travel to Azuero, Panama by myself and live with a host family for the summer. This was a scary big step to take because I never traveled by myself and I’m not fluent in Spanish, I had my mind set on going. I went through a program and there was a long process of getting ready for the trip, we had training before we went so that we don’t disrespect anyone in the different country. We were told what clothes what to wear so people don’t look at us the wrong way, we were told how to act and what to say in different situations. A lot of U.S. citizens have the mentality that when a group of people from the U.S go to another country, “they are helping them”, this is the mentally that we were trying go away from. This is because we are not helping these people, they are fine and they are happy, but we are working with the community, to see what they want, not what we think is going to help them.

OUTLINE:

  • introduce what I did last summer
  • what training
  • U.S. mentality
  • what we are actually doing

Things that might be different

  • religion based, many celebrations
  • many stray animals
  • kids walked freely
  • their school happens when we have summer
  • receyele a lot
  • no garbage man
  • a lot of fruits and foods on the side of roads where everyone eats off of.
  •  hospitality, welcomed with food, etc
  • traditional wear