aiight so thanksgiving was pretty darn beautiful

we had a big ole family type reunion lookin giving of thanks

mad panamanian fam n profes n of course tio philly n his lovely fam

we had spanish english prayers n an intro to what thanksgiving means to us and where its roots are which was hype as told by danez and translated by jair lol

____________

people was sayin this was one of they best thanksgivings

for me because it was one where i realized what i have at home,

that dnt realize wat u got til its gon thing

i appreciated wat i have waiting for me at home when i land in the chi

i think a lot of us did

_____________

BUT we all also saw what fam we have in eachother

which is what this program is all about

community

fam

comunidad

or at least wat its suppose to be about

_____________

so here go a peak of fotos and the link at the bottom can take you to more of our thanksgiving fun from prep for the day to the evening where danez thought he was cuban

_____________

enjoy

we wish u coulda been

much love

THANKSPANAMIVING

Thanksgiving 2009 Highlights (Just to name a few...)

-Danez and Jair beginning ceremony speech…Hilarious.

-The Bilingual Prayers….Beautiful.

-Meeting even more wonderful people.

-All the food. Leftovers will be even more legit.

-Dancing to soul music and seeing Adam Levin chi-town step. :)

- Talking to my family in the U.S. (I have to say it one more time: Skype is amazing.)

-Philly’s kids. Blaire-Blanco love the kids.

-Wearing a strapless sun dress. I’m going to miss this weather.

-Having a great music discussion in the session.

- Having this be my first Thanksgiving without the fam but, still being with my family…Unforgettable.

-Overall, wonderful people getting together and breaking bread.

***BONUS: Lupe Fiasco’s Mixtape “Enemy of the State: A Love Story”…Nice.

NOTE: stolen from Blaire blog

CURUNDU - UN DOCUMENTAL DE ANA ENDARA MISLOV

Check it. We watched this in our espanol class and it cracks. Here go the trailer. Its a documentary by a student from a couple years back. Its the story, as told by one of the hearts of the community, of what Panama really be packin; what be unknown to the visitor. This documentary is the truth; exposing the social cycles present in life while being a testimony to the fact that they exist all over the world because it is so engrained in our collective conscious that we cannot unwrap ourselves to realize the potential in our selves and in others.

On Sunday the 22nd of Noviembre we celebrated the completion of 20 years of life for a very special

Jair Alvarez.

He is now 21.

What'd we do?

Well, all the women folks and Jair went to the shop. The beauty one. We got some nails done and some did toes and some call that manicure and pedicures. But, don't be fooled. This was Jairs idea. I think he only invited us so he wouldn't have to go alone and feel bastante feminine. Naw, he loves us. And we loves him. And to be real it was pretty tight. Its mad cheap here. For a manicure and pedicure it cost like $12 and for a hair wash, cut, and dry its like $8. Later on Saturday night, because we did all this Saturday, we had a lil fiesta at the crib and had some friends come over. It was fun; FW folks was the only ones dancin lol. Which follows our theory that Panamanians just dont b gettin like we do. Folks enjoyed themselves though and the night passed into his actual bday. On Sunday, after a long day of studying at Dunkin Donuts for this Stats test we just had hoy,

Sofia and I made a presentation:

"Here ye here ye, come all minions," we said.

Gathered in the outdoor room in the back of the crib

and read a homemade card to Jair

that wouldn't be anywhere near appropriate for this here ye blog.

Something about the things you can do when you are 21;

but, he was presented with

play-doh,

hersheys kisses,

a package of mini kittens,

and a pony on a stick

(i dont know what they actually called;

them things you pretend you a cowboy/girl on when u young).

It was a good laugh.

Made him blush.

And he got two real kisses from two beautiful women afterwards;

on the cheeks of course.

And thats how we did what we do when we dig.

BUENO, aquí estamos en el último mes del primer semestre en Panamá. Mientras algunos de nosotros regresarán a Panamá en enero, la otra mitad se quedarán en EEUU en Wisconsin. Ya les extraño. El próximo semestre iré bastante diferente. Pero estoy lista. Ahora estamos preparando para el día de acción de gracias. Vamos a celebrar la fiesta en nuestra casa con más de 50 personas!!! Queremos invitar todos los profesores y sus familias y algunos de nuestros amigos. Hacemos una lista de toda la comida que queremos comer en la fiesta. Después escogemos la comida que cada una va a cocinar. Cada una de nosotros tiene que pagar como $20 por persona. Pues si quiero que mi amiga venir, tengo que pagar $20 para mí y $20 para la otra persona también. MUUUUIII CAAAARO!! Pero la comida va a ser costosa y en el fin es vale la pena para pasar la fiesta con amigos.

I hope that all of yall at home are counting the blessing of being able to spend the holidays (if you celebrate) with friends, family, or whoever it may be you share it with. We miss all yall back home and will be home in less than a month’s time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL

BEKAH "BRICKA BRACKA" BLOCKER!!!!
"you a beast" - Kim Anh

FW FAM FO LIFE!!!
love from PANAMA hermana

YO.... So I was just sent THIS ARTICLE from a beloved friend TONY G. It's from The Daily Cardinal, which is a campus newspaper @ UW. I found it interesting and thought to share it. I should say no more. Have fun.

i will stand with you for as long as you dont let go
in front of this candle
praying to something far bigger than our small vessels

So we (D-nast, Dom, Kelsey, Sofia, n I) went to Chiriqui this past week during our time off. We didn't have school for the week because Panama celebrates their independence. You know...like 4th of July for us, right. But, they get a week cuz they tighter. So Chiriqui was a 7 hr. busride away. We was invited by a bboy we know that also in Sofia and Kelsey crew. He nos invited to stay wit his fam...he originally from there. So we made the trip, trekin it. And it was more than beautiful. More than anything we expected and too much to exhale into story. With that said know that these pics do not accurately rep what we was doin because the majority of the time I was too busy having the best week of my life and couldn't remember to take a foto. We don went swimmin in rivers, seen the parade of our lives, subimos a mountain, hiking like a mug basically; in flip flops; country as a mug, crossed a ragin river and a creaky homemade bridge, ate too many plates at $2 a meal, seen a beautiful valle where rich folk are selling and to more rich folk, and MORE.

So please enjoy a little of the window into our journey; viaje if you will.

off to Chiriqui Mega super gettin it Bus double deckin view
sleepin a**es

oc

Rodolfo crib we stayed @ wit his fam

the view they wake up to every mornin

gotta throw one in of the cutie

i like this 1

the desfile we went to celebratin Panamaian independence

let me tell you. Panama knows how to do a parade. this crap was the whole ENTIRE day from noon until the NIGHT and afterwards across the street everyone came to dance it up @ the discoteca. shooooot. US parades like 4th of July dnt got NEthing on Panama.

and this him laughin when he seen the blog

lil blushin just cant see it through the static

so tony garcia got his P.R. necklace on

and no shirt cuz who knows why

and that to his left is his arm around an invisible person

(symbolizing FW)

im only doin this to make him blush

and done

CHECK ADAM: thinkin he can be gettin it in Panama

you can download it and play it while you live life

or

you can play it on the webpage and THEN download it!

haHA

yea thats him eatin some guayaba. and you tought he rapped.

Comin @cha

We just got back from Chiriqui!!!

It's another PROVINCIA (= states like in US) en Panama. This whole last week Sofia, Kelsey, Danez, Dominique and I were in the freaking PUEBLO (yes, the country). Why? Because Panama celebrated its INDEPENDENCE and there was no clases! ey EY. It was more than beautiful, taking of breath, and something I wish I could pull a Harry Potter and suck out the memory to give it to you all.

Pictures and some lil bits of favorite things we did comin asap.