Hola from Panama : )

Well I’m here!! Can’t believe I am already in Panama, I am so excited! My flight and trip went very smoothly yesterday. The view coming into Panama was gorgeous as we circled around the skyscrapers of Panama City. Customs and Immigration was what I was nervous for and that couldn’t have gone better! (easy cheesy lemon squeezy, as they say in my new third grade class). As I exited customs, I walked into a crowd of people all yelling and holding signs for various people they were trying to pick up. I looked around for my name or a sign for crossroads for about ten minutes before I started getting worried. A very nice Spanish taxi driver began helping me search. It didn’t help that my phone wasn’t working what-so-ever either…Finally the man and I have never been happier to see my own name! Apparently they picked up a French doctor woman name Danielle as well, I guess she assumed that no one else named Danielle would ever be in that airport at the same time…haha I guess there was enough questions for them to realize that this was not the right Danielle and they turned around, thank God. Besides this event, everything went wonderful! My host family, The Olivers is so great! Their house is gorgeous, I could not ask for a nicer arrangement. Their house back up to the jungle…literally…. they told me that often times you will see monkeys climbing from tree to tree, way too cool. They have three kids Diana, Diego and Luciana who all attend CCA. They made me welcome home signs for when I walked into the house. Mauel and Nubia (Mom and Dad) are so sweet and helpful. The whole family is fluent in English and actually the Dad speaks Spanish, English and Russian. Mom speaks Spanish, English and French. Their family has lived all over the world including Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, France and Spain. They are an AWESOME family. I am so blessed! Today is my first day at school and I already love it! The third graders are adorable and are already hugging me and saying I love you, so cute! They are a very diverse class, with students from France, China, the U.S. and several Latin American countries. I know this is going to be an awesome opportunity for me and definitely a growing experience. I will be very busy these next few weeks and am already a little overwhelmed with everything, but I will try to keep you updated as best I can! Thanks again for all you prayer and support. I love you all!