Little Ones and A Village

2 cool events this week:

The Little Ones

(Lynea)

We've been asked to teach English twice a week at a pre-k school here in El Valle. There is a 3 year old class and a 4/5 year old class. After our first lesson, we came home confident that the 4 and 5 year old lesson went well. They learned 13 new action and greeting words/phrases!! Hello, How are you?, I'm fine, Goodbye, sit down, stand up, jump, run, stop, eat, drink, What is your name?, my name is. They loved it.

The 3 year old class was not as successful. It's difficult to teach English when they are barely speaking Spanish yet. Luckily half the class opened up and was willing to talk. A few, just stare at you like you're a zombie. However, this is their first week ever in school, so it's to be expected. Needless to say, we need to rethink our strategy for the little ones.

We need some help with this. We need music and books. If you have any good kids songs (esol, english, or spanish) you could email us, we would greatly appreciate it. Lyneaj@gmail.com.

I also need to buy some picture books. The school has a stack of books about 3 inches high and that's it. I bought a few today and plan on buying more next week in Panama city. If you would like to help us buy some, you can give money or a check made out to Lynea Mitchell to my mom (1531 Parker Drive, Mayfield, OH 44124). Sorry no tax credit.

The Embera.

(Kyle)

Got to hang out with some friends of David and Lisa this week, the Embera. They are an indigenous group whose land has been declared a national park. Though they still live in their traditional way, they have adapted to accommodate visitors and tourists. When groups come they give a presentation of their culture with music and dance, and also explain how they live, build, cook and create. The experience as a whole is pretty unreal.

Getting There

It's an hour long boat-ride in a 30 foot canoe, dug out of one tree. The boat was propelled by a motor (yes, the joining of the modern and ancient!), and it definitely helped as we went up river the whole way. Since the dry season is in full effect, we had to get out numerous times and push the canoe. Much fun!

In the Village

We arrived to a festive tune, played by the village folks on drums, shakers, and flutes. I guess the shocker is supposed to be the lack of clothes, but with all the National Geographic, Human Planet type shows out in all their HD goodness, it felt pretty normal, and we got used to it fairly quickly. I got the sense that everyone was comfortable in their own skin; nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

In situations like this I try to ask myself "what can I learn?" I got the feeling of hospitality and genuine care. They really absorbed every word I said, and they responded thoughtfully and without pretense (we were both speaking Spanish as a second language). I really enjoyed the simple lifestyle and the sense of community and sharing. No electricity, so bed time is when the sun goes down. Not a lot of laundry either (i joke).

Overall, super sweet experience, and I hope to go back and stay longer!

Click here to learn more about the Embera.

This is the main gathering area of the village. The first few huts are all housing. The last one is the community center/market where they sell their crafts.

We visited their village school, and walked around in the 2 classrooms. The school uniforms come off quickly when the proverbial bell rings.

The teacher let 3 of the students leave the classroom and show us a path in the forest.

Cooking lunch. Inside the hut, they build a little platform full of sand to build the fire on.

The women are very skilled at weaving baskets.

a home, new pet, and salmon.

This is a family from church. Left to Right: Shaina 16, Emmanuel 18, Chaneth (mom), Cleo (dad), Isaac 14, and the little ones Anadili 4, Kyliler 6. We have become great friends with the parents and the two oldest. Cleo owns a gift shop in the market selling jewelry, hammocks, trinkets, clothes, etc.

Last Friday Kyle and I spent 2 days in the city. We walked around Old Town found some cool looking buildings and a great little café. The food was creatively unique. We ordered smoked salmon with goat cheese and pesto on flat bread, thai red curry soup and a grilled vegetable with goat cheese on foccacia bread. It was wonderful. We sat and talked about our goals while in El Valle, while in Panama, and for 2012. A perfect date.

As a side note, we had to go back to the city yesterday for another dentist appointment (I have to go 4 weeks in a row to the dentist to fix a bad root canal job). Since I went through so much trauma at the dentist (I’m a weenie). I treated myself to a butterfinger blizzard from DQ. (Mom I can hear you “tsk”ing and “oh”ing.) It was wonderful. Haven’t had that in quite awhile. I figure, if I’m going to take advil for my tooth pain, I may as well eat some dairy and enjoy myself!!!!!

Last week a group of college students from Patrick’s school, Un. Of Tenn. Chattanooga, came down to help build a house and do VBS programs for the kids in out town. Our kids loved the skits and songs they sang. And he house is coming along great. The man on the right in the blue shirt is Cruz. He is the man we are building the house for. He has a home now, but the property he lives on is being sold which means he has to move.

Gio is about 20 months. His parents, Rachel and Giovanni, have become good friends.

A friend of ours found a baby 3 toes sloth with no mamma in her tree. Of course Lisa has a knack for taking in random wildlife, so now we have a pet baby sloth to add to Luna the monkey. Can you guess what I named it? SID of course. It’s a girl so we decided Sidney…but mostly just Sid. I don’t know if Lisa really likes it, and she can name it whatever she wants since it’s hers. But, for now I will enjoy having, “Schid the Schloth” to play with. Isn’t she so cute?

Randomness in El Valle

Hi. Our blog has taken the back seat since we've moved to El Valle because our camera was old and then I dropped it, so it broke. It's hard and discouraging to do a blog with no pictures or videos. I'm sure you guys would still read it some, but I know it's more fun to scan through and look at all the pics.

I was able to scrounge up some pics from others' cameras, so here are some random stories, thoughts, and pics of what we do here.

I know Kyle has put up a few posts and info about what's going on, but I'll elaborate a little. We live in El Valle de Anton Valley in the crater of an extinct volcano. Very beautiful. Everything is green, the soil is naturally rich, any direction you look you see a spectacular mountainous view. One view in particular is "La India Dormida" - The sleeping Indian, which Kyle has told you about before. We have a video of one of our hikes up there, but Kyle hasn't been able to get it to post. Hopefully you'll get to see it and the beautiful view soon.

We live with Kyle's uncle and aunt (David and Lisa), an intern just out of college from Chattanooga (Patrick), and for this week only, David and Lisa's son Michael is visiting from Florida. Oh, Luna the monkey, and Duke, the 6 month old black lab puppy who thinks he's a lap dog.

Some of our projects that have been keeping us so busy for the 3 1/2 weeks we've been here:

1- The Teenagers

Building relationships. This is a fun task that is stretching our Spanish. Luckily there are 2 teenagers who can understand some English for when we get stuck. We are having a blast with them. We've gone one two excursions (the beach and the hike), had a movie night, and Patrick organized a soccer camp that they kids ask if he could do again every weekend. We are really enjoying getting to know them and watching them grow in their faith and understanding. The boys love to play soccer and attempt to break dance. Ivan, Gilberto, Felix, George (hor-hay), Richard, Antonio, Blas, Joel, Jackeline, Alieth, Shaina, Manuel, Isaac.

2-Bible Class on Sundays

After service we do a kids class for the little ones (we have 3 five year olds) and the teenagers. It's fun reading the Bible with people for the first time. Most of them have never heard these stories. We are reading through a kids Bible with them learning about Moses right now. I write the lesson plans and Kyle teaches in Spanish. He is doing such a great job teaching and with his Spanish. It works out well. We just read about the "10 cosas horibles" (the 10 horrible things meaning the plagues). We played freeze tag to tie in with the Hebrews being stuck as slaves and God saving them because he heard their cries for help. Tuesday night Kyle's going to teach them about the passover. Saturday we're watching prince of Egypt. And Sunday we'll do some water games and talk about God parting the sea. It's fun. For our fellow teachers reading this we've done some Kagan strategies with them and they love it! I miss teaching.

A lot of times people refer to the building in which we meet on Sundays as "the church." But it's not. That's just a building. The church is the people. Here, the church meets each week (Sundays and then live life together throughout the week) studying the early church after Jesus died and try to model that. It's great. We meet, sing songs of praise and thanks to God, encourage one another, and take communion together. I like it. I actually look forward to it. When we sing there is no music (which I kinda miss) but you can rea

lly hear everyone singing out thanks to God for what he's done in their lives. One Kuna Indian lady, sings so loud and excitedly I can't help but smile (oh and she is totally tone deaf :)). We have a mix of Americans, Canadians, Panamanians, and Kuna Indians in our church. We sing all the songs in Spanish, some in English and some in Kuna. I sang Jesus loves me for my parents the other day:

Spanish: Kuna:

Crist me ama, bien lo sé, Jeuscristo an-sabe

Su palabra me hace ver. E-Garda sogeddeye.

Que los niños son de aquel Bipigana, se naoe,

Quien es nuestro amigo fiel. E-ai-nuedi gue.

Cristo me ama. Cristo an-sabe

Cristo me ama. Cristo an-sabe

Cristo me ama. Cristo an-sabe

La Biblia dice asi. E-Garda sogedde

I love it. Two of our teenage boys wanted to be baptized last week which is really cool. Their mother and sister were baptized last year and have been studying the Bible with the church since and now the two boys have seen the joy in their lives and want that too.

Our Church building in David and Lisa's backyard.

3-Spanish tutoring

A month ago I volunteered to tutor a 9th grader, Ivan, in reading thinking, "No problem, I've done this a ton." A few minute

s later I realized...oh wait, that's in Spanish. Despite the fact that we are Spanish language learners ourselves, Kyle and I have taken the job and it's going really well. Again, I write the lessons and Kyle does most of the teaching. Ivan is going great. He (and Kyle and I) really likes the book we are reading (it's about ninjas!). My goal is to just get him to open up, practice reading, and enjoy it.

4- Farming

Of course there is Thomas' farm which we have been to a few times and then there is our garden we planted. Thomas gave us a bunch of starts in exchange for our work so we currently have in our garden: 3 different types of lettuce, broccoli, peppers, dill, mustard greens, onion, chives, and 2 other things I don't know what they are. We'll find out in a few weeks though!! Patrick and Kyle made a fence to go around the garden to keep Duke out. So far it has worked!

We visited another organic farm, Grandes Pasos, about 30 minutes from us up on the side of the mountains. Beautiful. At some point in the next few months we will go and stay a few days to help and learn. It’s an experimental farm.

Some of you may know I’d love to live in a hut in the rainforest someday. This farm had beautiful huts so this video may one day serve as blue prints!

5- Abuela's house.

Abuela means Grandma, and this is what everyone calls this sweet old lady that lives way way out in the mountains that needs help with her house. There are at least 7 people that live in this tiny shack with a thatched roof.

Abuela and some of her family members.

They have made the structure for a new house in which a team from Chattanooga will finish next week. We will also rebuild their small chicken coops and help level the floor inside the new house. The structure to the left is their kitchen.

6- Last one: Let’s Start Talking

Let’s Start Talking is a program for people who want to practice their English (they have to have some English already) by studying the Bible. We have a list of people in town that want to do it, we just have to schedule the first lesson with each of them. Kyle and I are both excited to start this because it will help our Spanish as well and we get to study with others.

7- Observing the Sabbath…a day of rest.

Once a week we go to El Parmar beach to rest, read, sun bathe, play sudoku, and practice surfing. Here’s what happens when there are no waves: I read, rest, sun bathe, play sudoku…and the boys dig holes, build shelters, and hunt for food (Patrick found a coconut and cracked it on a rock for a nice tropical treat).