In the past few weeks, my life has changed from basking in the tranquility of my little house in the country to tackling a set of hurdles on the way to fulfilling a new role.  The first jump was moving from my site, pop 400 to Chiriquí's capital, David, pop 100,000.  During the first couple of days in my new "city" apartment, we hosted 14+ people over the course of two nights.  Life has settled down a bit since then, and I enjoy the occasional visitor.

Training for the role of Regional Leader of Chiriquí has been fun, since I have a month of overlap with the current RL, Liz.  Thus, we share a house and job responsibilities for awhile during a time of adjustment for us both.  This month I've visited several agencies in town, traveled to see four out of seven of the new volunteers in the province, and done a little more paperwork than I'm used to doing.

Finally, I'm proud to say that I finished my first marathon last Sunday!  Looking at the results, I'm happy to have finished 14th in the female division, with a time of 4:11:32.  It was a fun race, and a nice cloudy morning, although raining for the last few miles!  The first day of recovery was rough, but today I can say I'd do another in the future!  I heard a rumor they give prize money to the top 12 finishers in each division, so I have a goal to shoot for next year!  Thanks to all those who were supportive.

Next on the list is tackling the grad school entrance exam and applications, along with a solid waste/recycling project in towen and other RL duties.  It should be a busy few months.  I'm looking forward to a month vacation to the States over Christmas.  In the meantime, in Panama there remains a new adventure to be tackled daily.  Saludos!