Human Interest

About The Author: Reese Carlton Randall is an award winning author and publisher who is known nationally for his award winning authoring and publishing.

We sat in the Atlanta airport enduring a layover that only grew longer and longer with every thirty minute flight delay. Anyone in terminal E that day could’ve spotted us. We were the loud group in matching tank tops seen pacing around the airport, introducing ourselves to unknown travelers and gorging ourselves in whatever final American food we could cram. After such activities lost their luster, some of us resorted to such desperation as doing our homework. I’m more stubborn than those people. However, a mixture of guilt and boredom led me to begin my first blog entry. In This section, Human Interest, I sit down and talk to members of this “Team” with whom you may not be familiar.

         Megan Mills

 To kick things off, I asked a few questions to Megan Mills. Megan’s position on this trip is our “Co-sponsor and attending RN”. Sounds official right? Megan is a critical care nurse at KU Medical Center who majored in Spanish and often uses her Spanish at work. Megan attended the University of Kansas and studied in Mexico during the summer entering her senior year. Do you want to know who she went to Mexico with? Our faithful leader, Ms. Marten herself, but Ms. Marten and Megan go further back than that. Ms. Marten and Megan grew up best friends living on the same street in the small town of Clearwater, Kansas. Although Ms. Marten moved away from Clearwater before the seventh grade, they both ended up at the University of Kansas and both live in the Lawrence/KC area now. “I would say KU rekindled our friendship,” Megan said as they both laugh. Whenever Ms. Marten and Megan talk, they talk like sisters, even twins in the way that they speak in their own language. They are always on the same page. And not only do they look a lot alike, they share a lot of the same mannerisms. While interviewing Megan, she and Ms. Marten got carried away with their variety of stories from being in the children’s choir in Clearwater to confusion in the back of a taxi in Mexico. 

Experiences such as studying in Mexico for seven weeks, interning for the EPA and working as a nurse, are some of the many things that have prepared her for her two weeks in Panama. If there is any sort of medical emergency within “Team Panama”, she is our own personal “first responder.” That, along with the fact that she is always excited to “see and experience everything”, is what makes her such a dynamic member of our group. We are so excited to have her on this trip with us. Even though we’ve been in Panama for 24 hours, we have the ingredients to become an even closer, bonded group. It’s people like Megan that keep our group driving. During the duration of this trip, I will post more and more about other members of this team. Keep us in your thoughts as we continue our experience.   ¡Hasta luego!  - Reese Randall

Barb Thees

Barb Thees, or “Chill Barb”, as we like to call her is our travel planner from ISE. Her official title is “Latin American Program Coordinator”. If you take a group of high-schoolers anywhere south of Texas through ISE, Barb will be your leader. 

Barb has a self-prescribed case of “The Travel Bug.” She told me in our interview, “I’m obsessed with traveling, I guess it all began in High school when I went on a similar trip like this but to Ireland.” Since then, traveling has become her life. Despite the fact that she is still in her twenties, she has visited nearly every country in Europe and a majority of South/Central America including studying abroad in Spain and living in Ecuador for a year. 

Needless to say, Barb has an extremely cool and unique job. I’m guessing it’s not an easy job to get either, but when you meet Barb it’s obvious that she is an extremely driven, hard worker. She carries a notebook around with her and is constantly writing; she may be taking notes over everything that happens as it happens, but she also writes any questions she may have or words she doesn’t recognize. Barb is also one of those people that get along well with anyone. If she isn’t writing, she is usually striking up a conversation with locals. She helps us out in more ways than I have time for. Because she has so much experience in other countries/cultures and she is fluent in Spanish, she is the person to go to with questions. Which is really nice especially because she will be in the community with us for most of the Home Stay.

I’ve said a lot about how great Barb is, but Barb also had something to say about how much she likes us. “I love traveling with high school kids, and you guys are easily the most fun group, You guys are the most adventurous and you have the best attitudes, I’m extremely impressed with Baldwin High.”  - Reese Randall

Kenny Weeks

Kenny is the tour guide on our trip, and like everyone on this "team," he has become like family. Kenny is a very personable guy with vast knowledge of all things Panama.

I remember the first night we met Kenny. He was patiently waiting for us in the airport when we arrived. He immediately began speaking in Spanish, directing this large group of twenty nine into the bus. While on the bus he grabbed the microphone and began explaining everything to us. Our confusion must have been obvious. It could've been a mixture of being really tired and not being the best Spanish speakers/listeners. He spoke slowly, but we still weren't responding. We finally realized he had asked us a question when our sponsors turned their heads toward us for our response. As we all sat there in the back of the bus, a clear feeling of "Wow, I really don't know Spanish" swept down the aisles. Kenny gave us a bright, wide smile and began speaking English. This surprised us because we had no idea he spoke English. Furthermore, it was perfect American-accented English. Kenny’s grandfather was a member of the US Navy stationed in Panama and he married a Panamanian woman. Kenny's father holds dual citizenship as an American and a Panamanian. This gave Kenny the right to attend the American "Canal" school. His mother thought it would be a good way for him to become fluent in English, but he wasn’t excited to go there at first.

Kenny speaks and instructs us 95% in Spanish. Kenny encourages us to approach him with our questions and he helps us put them into Spanish. It makes it easy for us to just make conversation. He allows us to practice our Spanish while teaching us about the beautiful country of Panama.

When you spend time with Kenny, it's obvious that he really enjoys his life. He is incredibly busy, but he remains eager and positive, always smiling and laughing. He is in on a lot of our jokes and helps us learn new Panamanian expressions.

Kenny makes arrangements with restaurants for us to enjoy traditional Panamanian meals. He gives us options and pre-orders our meals. He and our bus driver always eat last. When we are driving and Kenny notices something he thinks we will like, he makes sure our bus pulls over. Sometimes, it is to buy a jug of corn milk (chicheme) or fresh cashews. Once, he stopped the bus to allow us to see a local carnival. When we seemed interested, he paid our entrances so we could look around for about 15 minutes. After we all left the bus, he told Ms. Marten "we will stay as long as they want." We ended up staying an hour. The carnival was a big highlight for all of us. Kenny is always looking for an opportunity for us to become more than tourists.

Saturday is our last day with Kenny. We are beginning our home stay and he has a day off before starting a tour with another student group. It is going to be hard to say goodbye, and we will miss him. We added a lottery ticket to the group Thank You card and gratuity. Even though I'm not a believer in luck, I hope he wins. If there is someone that deserves it, it's Kenny.  - Reese Randall

Freddy

There are a lot of important and amazing people that motivate, encourage and drive us to be the "team" we are, but Freddy is the man that literally drives us. Freddy is our bus driver, but to us, he is more than the guy that gets us from A to B. Freddy is one of those incredible people that has the ability to talk and relate with anyone. Even though Freddy doesn't know English, all of us feel a connection with him.

We have done a lot of driving on this trip. I think we've been to all eight corners of this oddly shaped country. Wherever we go, it seems Freddy has friends everywhere. I remember when one of us asked Kenny about this, and Kenny said "Freddy has friends everywhere, because he makes friends everywhere." It doesn't matter where we are, a carnival, a market, the beach, the zip-lining place, Freddy is striking up a conversation with a local, and just as quickly, having that person laughing hysterically. 

That's another reason why Freddy and I really get along: he is a notorious jokester. He is also notorious for teaching us some local lingo. When we got here last week, Freddy taught us "Que Xopa" (Kay-Soap-a). We glommed onto it pretty quickly. We must sound really funny saying it, because every time we say it, it always makes locals laugh. It's the equivalent of someone coming to America that spoke little English and saying, "what’s up?" 

Freddy is really funny, but he is also extremely compassionate. He feels a strong connection with us. For the homestay portion of the trip, we had to drive to Santa Clara, and we had a different bus driver. Freddy drove behind us to see us off, and he helped us with our bags. Freddy also promised to be there to see us off when we head home next week. Freddy is an "extra mile" kinda person. There are some people on this trip that I feel like I can't thank enough. Freddy is definitely one of those people.

Que Xopa Freddy, mi hermano de un otra madre. ("Brother from another mother" which is one of the phrases I taught HIM")  - Reese Randall