December 31, 2011

It has been a long time since I have updated this blog. We were so excited about the fact our son was coming to Panama. Needless to say, I was worried because the Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun before he came, it RAINED. It rained all day, it rained all night, it rained between rains. IT RAINED. We had all these activities planned for him and it was pouring. Many times, I mentioned that I never missed my morning walks because of rain, but with these four days, I missed my walks in the morning. Anyway, Josh came on Monday and it was beautiful. And it hasn’t rained since. So, being told the rain just suddenly stops when the dry season must be true. Now, it is hot and windy during the day and beautiful and dry at night. Much lower humidity. It is just so strange. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time with Josh and were really sad to see him return to the states.
Strange things have happened in our “foreign country” in the past few weeks. Went to a concert downtown a couple of weeks ago. . Driving home was a nightmare. 6:00 pm and massive amounts of people everywhere in town. Everyplace you looked there were crowds like I’ve never seen. The once four lane main highway going through town was reduced to two lanes, since the two outer lanes had become parking places! There was a Christmas parade that day. We thought the parade would be over by 6:30, since it is getting dark by then, but not so. Then we get home and read on the internet where NO ONE was going to be at the parade this year since they were all at home in front of their TV sets watching the return of Noriega. Could have fooled me! Then apparently there was another parade of sorts with big balloons last week (similar to the Macy’s parade). We were at the beach and had no clue, but apparently there were so many people there that the public transportation couldn’t handle the crowds and it was total chaos.
Then today (after Christmas), we met a friend at the mall (an interior decorator that is helping me with the apartment). For security sake, you cannot take packages or bags into a store. Well, the lines must have been 30/40 deep to check your prior purchases at the store entrances before going in. Why would anyone WAIT in those lines? But most that go to the malls don’t have cars, so really there is no other option. By the way, our huge, nearby mall just opened another dozen new stores. That entire section of the mall is beginning to look JUST like Kenwood Mall. They have Banana Republic, Kenneth Cole, Crocs, Gap, etc etc. And this is a FOREIGN country???? Go figure??? So life goes on in this place. It is interesting. It is unique. It is crazy. But we are taking a risk and that is pretty cool!

By the way, Josh and I met Santa on the beach. Strange he was on the beach Christmas day, seems as though he would be tired. But he certainly had a cup full of beverage.

Merry Christmas 2011

Another year has gone by. And so quickly, too. Here we came to Panama for a year as an adventure and decided to make it our home for the time being. We have given up all of our “stuff” in the states to live in a third world country. But one can’t beat the adventures we have had and we pray that we continue to have. All the materialist stuff just doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Very few things that we gave away we have missed or wished we had them back. Right now, I think we are seeing things this year we just missed last year because we were always with that “deer in the headlights” look. There was just too much to comprehend. Now we can walk and notice the flowers, the birds, the sights. Unfortunately, we still deal with the traffic and the craziness of the drivers. We still deal with the language difficulties, but are working like crazy to resolve that. Meeting new friends is always fun, but losing those friends when they return to the states or whatever country they are from is not fun.
But here we are, God is good. We wish you a terrific Christ-filled Christmas season.

Wayne, Janet, Ace

December 10, 2011

No post for a week. Busy with this and that. We went to the beach last weekend. They have several all inclusive resorts around here on the beach and occasionally I can get coupons for a night or two that make it very, very reasonable to go. It is really nice to go someplace like you see pictured and it is only a two hour drive, not a day’s flight. Anyway, it is one of the very few places in the Americas that you can see the sun rise from the Pacific Ocean. I love the beach, but don’t think I would want to live on the beach. Wonderful place to visit and that I get to do more often than when in Ohio.
Thursday was Mother’s Day here, which is always the 8th of December and a national holiday in Panama. I felt really blessed as I got to hear from two of my boys. Granted, they had NO clue it was Mother’s Day, just a coincidence they called. It was really special, though. All government offices are closed. Schools are closed. Thankfully, the mall wasn’t closed though. I had several things to shop for on my day off.
We think the dry season is almost here. After two days of probably more rain than Ohio sees in a year, the skies cleared, the winds started blowing, and it is beautiful, cool, and low humidity. So strange to see the wet season move out and then all of a sudden it is nice.
The big news here is that Noriega is coming back to Panama after 22 years of being in prison in the U.S. and France. I guess he arrives Sunday and has another two 20 year terms to serve in prison in Panama, but of course everyone is really worried. It is interesting to hear the stories about Noriega that never made the history books, but from people who actually lived through it all. I have had the opportunity to hear stories of his reign from all sides. So protests are being organized this weekend along with some Christmas parades – a odd mix. Traffic will be a nightmare again (like it ever isn’t a nightmare).

December 9, 2011

These are birds I see daily at my place. I can't take credit for taking the pictures though. One of my friends if MUCH better with a much better camera!

November 27, 2011

I love turkey. But turkey is not as popular here as in the states and I do miss it. You can find it, but for a price. But this was a turkey week! Wednesday, we had a turkey dinner (lunch for Latin people) at 4:30 after school. It was fun. But one of the “North Americans” got up and explained to people what Thanksgiving means to those of us from the North. Out of about 40 people, just a handful of us were from the states. Most though, had stories of being in the states and seeing people celebrate Thanksgiving. It holds very positive feelings for people here that a day is actually set aside for giving thanks. Some do celebrate here, but not like in the states. Possibly because November is just so packed full of Panamanian holidays, they really don’t need more. Three Independence days, a memorial type day, then Mothers’ Day the first week of December (a day off where everything is once again closed down). SO, we did have school all day on Thursday. Just seems strange to get up and go to work on Thanksgiving. Then on Thanksgiving Day, we went to a “SMALL” gathering of about 90 or so of us. We had a wonderful traditional meal and ate at tables set up outside. Ahhh, to have my traditional dinner while in shorts and a sleeveless tshirt. Only had to worry about bug bites and not frost bite. After we got home, we started laughing because Wayne realized that we were probably the oldest people there. We don’t feel as though we are older than MOST if not ALL. That is a good thing. But when a lot of my friends are pregnant, you gotta realize that you are older.
There was no school this past Monday. Once again, like last year we have had too much rain, and there is a water shortage??? Yep, go figure on that one. Technically there is a reason. I just find it really funny.
No Black Friday here (thank goodness from the stories I hear). Friday is just another normal workday for people here.
On Friday, we went to our friends’ place and they had left over turkey we munched on. So three nights, three turkey dinners. I was happy!
Had my first Spanish lesson. I just have to learn. I realize that I have learned a ton since being here. What is frustrating is that I just can’t “hear” it nor can I put together a correct sentence. But give me a multiple choice test and I can ace it. But that is not going to get me very far. I have a few phrases that I can say very well. Apparently, I say them so well that when I use one of my phrases, the other person starts talking me to like I understand. Then I can’t even pick out a single word. Hopefully I get better and fast!
I am off school Monday. It is the third Independence Day for November. Crazy. All the RED/WHITE/BLUE decorations in the mall are getting mixed up with the RED/GREEN Christmas stuff. Then, it is also graduation for the public schools since their school year ends in a week and their “summer” break is until March. Too many colors!

November 18, 2011

TOTALLY weird day….totally weird! There was a conference at a local university about using technology in the educational setting (the typical academic process here is memorization). Several months ago, I met the head of education for Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge, which is a technology / education park) that asked if I would present there. Hey, I thought it would be interesting to say the least, so I agreed. Got up and looked for something to wear, knowing I needed to look a LOT more professional than when going to school. All of my “big girl” clothes were moldy! They had been stuck in the back on the closet for months. Had to run a quick load of laundry. My nicer shoes had to be wiped clean, because there was mold all over them, not having been worn for months and again in the back of the closet. So, I got ready to go. Was picked up by a 21 year old. She was born here and was about to graduate from college, but she was disgusted with the way the professors instructed their classes. She was presenting from the college students stand point, me from the educator point of view, and a gentleman who owned a lot of businesses in Panama and talking from the “we don’t have the skilled workers stand”. Now what anyone “really” said I do not know as it was all in Spanish except for me.
At the conference, I needed a translator to translate my English presentation into Spanish. When I spoke, I had to use short sentences and few words, so he could translate to the audience what I was saying. I had this presentation that I wanted to give, but had to reduce it to just a few words. There was a question / answer session afterwards. I kept looking at the translator and seeing if there was a valid question or just a comment that needed responded to because he had to listen to the question in Spanish, then translate it to me. I was totally dependent on his ability to translate. I am standing at the microphone, watching the audience (70 people ???) just staring at me. They had no clue what I was saying and I had no clue what they were thinking. When they introduced the business man, all I got from the introduction was University of Illinois. That did not get lost in translation. So it was fun to talk with him later since we for a few years lived only 20 miles apart AND he could speak English.

Really, whoever said three times was a charm? We have a U.S. address that we can receive packages which are then forwarded to us here in Panama. We rarely use it, because once it gets to the Miami address, we have to pay to have it shipped here plus any customs charges. But it does come in handy in some situations. So, we had a small package coming. About the time we figured it should be in Panama, Wayne went to the freight office to get it. However, the office was shut down, totally. So he (silly thing to do) walked up to where the business was, thinking there might a sign posted saying they had moved with a new address or anything. Of course, nothing. So, he came home (can’t call on the phone - still that language problem) and searched on the internet. Yes, they had moved and found a map to the new location. So we went out looking for this place. It was nowhere to be found. Came back and realized the map was wrong (typical). Found another map and went out on Saturday morning to look for it. Now, you have to understand there was NO address, you just you turn off a main street at certain business, look for another business that faces their offices and it is next to another business. So indeed, (like a big treasure hunt), we DID find it (or so we thought, since there was absolutely no sign identifying the business), but they were apparently closed on Saturday. So Wayne returned during the week (this was TRIP NUMBER 4) and finally picked up the package. Now, there are two ways to look at this. One is to become totally frustrated or the other is to solve the mystery and have one more challenge conquered.
We went to a store we haven’t been to before this weekend. I was shocked when I saw this sewing machine in there (see picture). The store had all the modern “stuff” you would find in any store, here or the USA but one of these sewing machines? Then I realized there are probably a lot of tribal people that need to sew that do not have electricity where they live. Guess they would come in handy for home w/o electricity.

November 12, 2011

A job fair was held last week in Panama City. The country is in great need of skilled workers for tourism, technology, communications, construction and financial institutions. Panamanian companies representing the need for 15,000 jobs were there, but only 5000 people showed up for the fair. Meanwhile, the government had to relax immigration rules to allow over 700 people to come into Panama to work on the canal expansion. Generally, no company is allowed to hire more than 10 percent foreign hires. So, it is practically impossible to get a job here if you are a foreigner (usually). Now, they need over 11,000 new workers just for the hotel industry next year and there are not near enough workers. It is said that any Panamanian who “wants” to work, can work. Salaries are low (compared to U.S. standards), but adequate for Panama. One man who writes daily editorials here in Panama suggested that everyone running for an election in the states should be required to make a road trip to this country and see what they are doing “right” to keep the economy booming. Granted, this still is a Third World country with many problems that are unresolved. But, unemployment doesn’t seem to be one of them.

One more opportunity for workers is the new metro transit system they are building in Panama City. Goodness, the traffic, which is already terrible, is even worse with the streets torn up. Lots of road and bridge construction is happening. Just hope it gets done soon and solves some of the congestion problems. One of our friends who lives downtown mentioned that an apartment building (65 stories) that is close to her remains unoccupied. It is leaning!!! Several attempts have been made to straighten it up, but to no avail. Developers are also building an island in the bay in front of Panama City with a bridge for access. Then, a residential area will be created on the island. Can’t imagine how much those houses will be.
Last year, I posted some pictures of the flags around here. During the month of November, there are flags everyplace. November has a number of patriotic Panamanian holidays. It is really cool. This picture is in front of a Social Security building in our neighborhood. Originally, it was the hospital for Fort Clayton during the 50’s when the Army was stationed here. Actually, it was where Wayne was born. Another strange thing about these national holidays is that practically everything is closed - businesses, stores and restaurants. Not only for the holiday itself, but for the weekend after, as well. Not like the malls in the US, where there are always tons of sales and it is business as usual. Here, pretty much everything is closed.

November 5, 2011

Having not shopped in the states for quite some time, I am not really sure about the shoe styles anymore. But, in the pictures are the typical shoes of the typical Panama woman. They wear these EVERYPLACE. As short as the locals are, they really don’t seem all that shorter than I am. But, then the shoes are so high. Some news articles say there is a big problem with drivers having to let the ladies out of the car as close as possible to their destination because these extremely high platform shoes and the ever present broken sidewalks just don’t work together very well. But the ladies wear these to the grocery store, the mall, on the bus, literally everyplace. You see a bus stop with large groups of people. The ladies are all in jeans and these extremely high heels. Can’t imagine how they can walk in these, especially with their jeans, which appear to be sprayed on. They gotta be uncomfortable.
We went to the mall (stupidly) on Saturday, which was also payday. Coming down one hallway, we saw this long line of people waiting to get into the bank. You have to pass several guards before going in who have hand metal detector and they limit how many people can be in the bank at one time. Anyway, we ate lunch at a food court where we could watch this line. The 45 minutes or so we were sitting at the food court, the line just got longer and we saw very little movement.
Only two days of school this week. Lots of national holidays around the first of November. Day of the Dead (our Memorial Day?), Independence Day and Flag Day. All the schools in Panama were required to march in the parades that were Thursday and Friday to exhibit civic pride. It is fun to see the nationalistic spirit. That is something that I have not seen in the USA. This was the first year that International schools here in Panama were required to march. If you didn’t, you had to pay a steep fine. Our school got a free pass this year since we don’t have high school yet. Apparently, it is a big deal to really show well in these parades with a band or drill team, so the local schools practice, practice and practice. (needless to say, this is at the expense of school and learning). And we wonder why Panama ranks so low among the world’s countries in education? But, I have definitely come to the conclusion that it is worth appreciating a different culture, regardless of the warts. It is not the USA, but I cannot help but compare. At first, I thought everything should change, but have come to realize that it just is. It is what makes this country what it is. And I am blessed that I can actually experience the culture. There are way too many people in the world that never have that opportunity or take the opportunity.

October 29, 2011

I was walking to school this week, marveling at the gorgeous weather, bright sun, clear skies, cool temps (70 degrees). Birds, beautiful birds were all around. Some powder blue, some turquoise, some yellow, parakeets, a toucan, many I haven’t a clue what they were. It was heavenly, until I was almost at school and a darn bird pooped on me!! With all these birds, I guess it was inevitable to happen sometime!
We had several days of amazing weather. Then Tuesday afternoon the skies open up for about 30 minutes to, I bet, well over an inch of rain during that short time. Looked out the window and there was a cruise ship in the locks. How sad to spend THAT much money to take a cruise ship through the Panama Canal and have it rain so hard during the 30 minutes you are in the largest locks on the canal. No way you could stand outside and watch the locks.
We had an interesting evening this week. Most of the foreign embassies in Panama put on a big gathering at the convention center. Each embassy had a large booth, selling their country’s best of food and drink along with other “craft” items the locals made. It was fun to literally eat and drink your way around the world. Food was fabulous EXCEPT for the USA booth. There you could get hot dogs, B-B-Q, popcorn and cornbread???? The beverage being served was Miller Lite. I didn’t realize that cornbread was an USA treat?
Told you before that we don’t worry about bugs coming in since we have no screens, BUT occasionally we did get another visitor of sorts. You see a picture of the monster moth that came in to visit.

October 23, 2011

You leave in the morning with a list of errands to do, wondering if you will accomplish anything. So this is how it went. Three errands, pharmacy, bank, gasoline. Seems pretty simple. Went to the bank and was amazed. Got an English speaking clerk, got the business done. One Down! Then to the pharmacy. No parking spaces anywhere. Most establishments must think that people don’t drive. Just check the traffic and you know that isn’t true. But, not a single space. So you think, well, just park illegally as many people do. But even those spaces were taken. So you might just think, wait around for someone to move out. Well, you better be ready to be hyper aggressive to get that space when one does becomes available. So anyway, you either find a place to park before 9:00 am or forget it. Of course, the store you want isn’t necessarily open by then either. So forget that errand and on to the gas station with the hopes of getting two errands completed. Whoops, gas station had run out of gas! Oh well, 1 out of 3 is better than 0 out of 3.
Speaking of parking, check out the story below. One of my friends posted this on her Facebook Wall. Typical of what happens here. Crazy, but it really happens.
“Panama City, 5 PM (height of rush hour). Mother driving Mercedes SUV stops in middle lane of main road and lets two 7 year old girls out of the car, to walk through traffic to go to Dunkin Donuts. She pulls over to left lane, still on main road, puts on the blinking hazard lights, brings traffic to stand still, and waits on main road. Five minutes later, girls come out, each with a donut in hand. Mercedes SUV pushes button to automatically open door for girls and goes on their merry way. All the while, when "encouraged" to park in a designated parking area, the said mother smiled and waved.”
I went to a ladies retreat this weekend from my church. The Gamboa Resort was the location and was it ever beautiful. Thankfully, we had a lot of time to just roam amongst the jungle. I met two gals, one from Singapore and one from Mali (Africa). It was almost too funny to hear their thoughts on Panama, which they both have recently move to. The one from Mali couldn’t get over the cleanliness and safety of Panama. She just couldn’t be happier to be here. The one from Singapore didn’t feel that way having moved from probably the safest and cleanest place on earth. Anyway, the resort was incredible with the exception of all the “Watch for Alligators” signs. I didn’t want to venture off the beaten path for sure. Forgot my camera, but did get a couple pictures with my phone.

October 16, 2011

Apparently, because of its location, Panama is one of the best countries in the world for bird watching with over 900 species. We notice some of the beautiful ones on our walks with colors that we never imagined in birds. We love the toucans we occasionally see in the freedom of our world and not caged. But apparently, like people, some of the birds have their disagreements. Our balcony is level with the trees, which is home to some species that have territorial arguments. They “yell” so loud at each other in their bird voices that it is difficult to be nearby and talk on the phone. With no screens, I am waiting for the day they decide to fly into the house. One of my friends lives at street level and she leaves some of her doors and windows open all night (there are gates to keep bad people out, just no screens). On Wednesday, she noticed someone had been there eating a banana that was on her kitchen counter. On Thursday, apparently it came back to enjoy another banana. On Friday, she finally noticed it was a bat!
Socialized medicine! There has been a deadly infection going around in the government hospitals here in Panama affecting babies. The government was trying to keep it under wraps, so it wasn’t well publicized any place and continued to get worse. However, pregnant women were soon refusing to go to these hospitals to have their babies and many headed to a private children’s hospital. Needless to say, that hospital became way overcrowded and had more than twice the number of babies as they had cribs. Socialized medicine …. but there is no extensive welfare system here, so at least people can be treated, although it may take MONTHS. And then if you need medicines, you go very early in the morning and wait all day to see someone. It must be frustrating when you are sick.
You GOTTA love this picture. I was with a friend looking for an extension cord yesterday at a hardware store. She needed a three prong one, but there were NONE except heavy duty ones. An entire wall devoted to extension cords and no 3 prongs???? But here I noticed this one. FOR EXTREMELY COLD CLIMATES?? The only time I am cold here is when people turn their air conditioning so low that you need winter clothes.

October 9, 2011

While watching the rain pour down the other day, we were thinking about the fact the Cincinnati is just a couple inches off of their all time record for rain. As the seasons change from wet to dry or dry to wet, the rain in Panama is amazing. We only get rain about seven months a year, and generally only for about an hour on the days when it does rain. Yet, our total rainfall is double what it is in Cincinnati, so you got to figure, when it rains, it totally DUMPS out of the sky. I love it. Absolutely LOVE it (when I am not out in the middle of it). An umbrella is just silly, it does no good at all. But, it typically comes straight down, it floods everything and everyplace, yet minutes after it is over, it has all run off the streets etc. People here were really smart to keep so much jungle area for water shed for the canal. It has been suggested that you need an SUV here because of the rain. The smaller cars just can’t handle the flooded streets should you get stuck in a storm. Then on the Atlantic side of the isthmus, it is almost double again.
Pictures on this blog. One is taken from the classroom window. I walked into my classroom on Thursday morning and watched a cruise ship move on through. It was one of the smaller ones, but still you can’t help but wish you were on it taking a cruise.
The other pictures are the palm trees that are full of coconuts. Now, remember, these are all OVER our neighborhood. Makes walking a little scary when you think that they might drop at any time. The coconuts are also all over the ground, so you know they do drop.
We went to the mall this afternoon. First of all, the parking lot wasn’t packed as it generally is on a Saturday afternoon. Then, the mall didn’t seem as lit up as usual when we were inside. We noticed probably about half of the stores were closed. It was Yom Kippur and all the stores owned by Jewish people were not open. We heard a lot of the retail businesses in Panama had Jewish owners, but not as many as apparently are.

October 2, 2011

A gal in our SS class this morning mentioned that where she lives (on the outskirts of the city), they have been without a land line telephone and internet since August. She just found out this week that they DO plan on having it fixed – within 6 months!! Thankfully, we live in a more “business” area that probably would respond quicker to those needs.
When in Ohio, after a long week of work, you might look outside on a Friday afternoon and see nice weather and wish you could be out there. I wondered what would trigger those feelings here, since the weather is nice most near every day. Well, this week I found out what it was. Looked out the window of my classroom and saw a very large cruise ship going thru the locks of the canal. The school is right across the street from one of the three sets of locks and it takes at least a half hour for the ship to go through. If lucky, there may be two ships in the parallel locks. Rare, but it has happened. Really neat sight. Nice to think you might be relaxing on the deck of a cruise ship. Anyway, it must be the change of seasons, since the cruise ships are repositioning themselves from the Alaska routes down to the Caribbean routes for the winter. For the next several weeks, we expect to see more cruise ships transiting the canal.
This was probably the most exciting week I have ever had at a school in years and years and may ever. I have been setting up the iPads for the children and this was the “roll out” week. I got to go into every class from 5th grade down to kindergarten and talk to the kids about the iPads and then distribute them. Talk about FUN. Needless to say, it was a challenge to set up 150 of these things with appropriate apps to start out with. I was with the kindergarten kids, when a mom came in to remove her daughter from school 15 minutes early to go someplace. She started crying because she didn’t want to leave her iPad! A third grade boy was “talking” to a cabinet in his classroom that stored the iPads. The teacher questioned him and he said he was just “saying good night” to his iPad before going home. Soon, they will go home with the kids, but gotta figure out a lot of logistics first! I think the only week that could compare to this week was my very first year at CHCA when I got a brand new Mac lab. It was probably the first time most of the kids had ever seen a mouse. Now, that was only 20 years ago!
What a contrast in this place. You saw in last week’s blog about the classroom out in the interior where six grades met in one tiny room with little or no equipment. They were trying to raise money for a single computer to be shared by the entire school. Now, I work at another school where each student has a computer.
I dug to the back of the closet today to get a dress for church that I hadn’t worn in awhile. Now it was at the back of my closet built out of cement. Looked at it, noticed all the mold on it. Guess it has to be washed first. Such a problem here during the rainy season.

September 25, 2011

The law in Panama states that a tourist visa is good for 90 days. Many with no residency status leave the country and go across the border to Costa Rica just before 90 days have passed, stay for 72 hours, then come back, which renews their tourist visit. The last official in charge of immigration extended the time limit for a tourist visa for 180 day to the delight for all those that needed the country every 3 months. Well, what typically happens here, happened and that particular official was kicked out of his job and someone else’s friend wa appointed. Since the law was never actually changed, no one knows what is going on now and confusion reigns. Is it 90 days or 180 days now?
Corruption rules here. Getting stopped for a traffic violation is rare, yet when you do, the fines for a ticket I guess are extremely costly. However, police pay is very low, so the easiest way to get out of a ticket and the most cost-effective is to offer a small bribe. Paying $20 vs over $200 makes both the cop and the violator happy, providing you don’t mind giving a bribe. Corruption rules. Very sad, but it seems to be part of the culture in Latin America.
We spent the day today at a small village in Panama. It was only 35 miles from us, but a LONG drive due to poor roads. After crossing several what they “called” bridges, we were glad to get out of there before a downpour began. There were several places you couldn’t have crossed with bad weather.
Beautiful, beautiful outdoor scenery. Mountains, lush growth, amazing clean air. Wonderful. A Peace Corps volunteer teaches at the school shown in the attached pictures. Grades up to and including grade 6 are all taught in the one room. The people in the village were hosting us today in hopes of getting enough donations to buy ONE computer for the school. Again, like most places, you teach a child some technology skills and a little English and they can hopefully get a job. You just forgot how absolutely gorgeous this country is once you get outside the city. The people in the village were just as nice as can be. The ladies of the community prepared a lunch for us (pictures attached). Soup was really great. This was the first time in 15 months that I had long pants on. Not because it was cold, but because I was afraid once you got outside the city the mosquitoes would be horrible. Didn’t see / feel a single one, probably because it was early enough in the day and it wasn’t raining. On our way back home, we stopped along the side the road and picked some limes that were growing wild.

September 16, 2011

Really, you gotta love being away from what you think is normal. It really makes life so interesting. But you need to see it as interesting or you would lose your mind. Last night, our electricity went off at 12:00. We do have back-up power supplies for our computers, but they start beeping every second when there is no power. After a half hour of beeping and crazy dreams about everything, you finally realized what it is. So, Wayne had to get up and shut down everything to turn the loud things off. Got up this morning only to find out the electricity came on and went off five more times. But, thankfully I was able to get online and thought all was well. Then, we continued to lose power three more time prior to 10:00 am. So, as long as we laugh when it happens, we are ok.

But. of course, all of this was ON TOP of the school losing their internet connection at noon yesterday, right when I was starting a class that was set up to use the internet. The school has a lot of back up lesson plans. I know this happened way too often last year (almost daily). So, even though it was the first time in three weeks, I was still annoyed. Found out it was almost the entire community. Never did come back on before the end of school. But, when we were out walking about 6:00 pm, we passed by a manhole with a bunch of men around it and looking into it. Two guys were down inside working with wires. Hopefully, they were able to fix it. Oh, well

THEN, the most incredible thing happened this week. Our deed for our condo (which was supposed to have been done around June 1) is still hanging around on some bureaucrat’s desk to be registered. We found out that ALL DEEDS in Panama have a hold on them. The crazy government decided a NEW WORD needed to be put in all deeds and they can’t decide where to put it or how to get it done. So, EVERYTHING has STOPPED. The WORLD has stopped because of ONE single word. Yikes, but like I said, you better laugh!!!

So, my new school has all tile floors. That is customary here, because of the mold and humidity problems you have in Panama. Needless to say, the tile gets dirty with 200 kids walking on it all the time. The janitors are always mopping. One came into my room yesterday and I did say in Spanish (successfully, I thought) that my room is not dirty. She proceeded to mop anyway. Then, just a few minutes later, another lady came in with her mop, looked at my floor and started mopping. Really, I have no comment about that story. Make your own conclusions.

Wayne and I took my headmaster (my day off – remember I am only working four days per week this year!!) to the slums to show him around and tour the facility our church sponsors there in hopes of establishing an opportunity for our students to serve. Karen Hordinski from CHCA really instilled me that “service mind set” and I wanted to bring it to a new country. I am trying to bring many of her ideas here. I love her passion of “selfless” service. Anyway, this country needs that mindset. The “classist” mentality here just doesn’t see service to your fellow man as important.

We have widgets on our computers for the temperatures in the states. We know the temps for Cincinnati and Panama. Can’t believe you are experiencing such “low” temperatures. Granted, perhaps those numbers might kill mold, but we are outside walking in T-shirts and sleeveless tops and being able to swim in the pool anytime day or night. I will fight the mold for good walking weather any day.

September 10, 2011

Just more pictures that were mentioned yesterday.

Check out the cactus growing in and around a large tree as well as the adorable children working in the lab!

September 9, 2011

We did the tourist thing last week.  Went to some place with a nature center that is actually pretty close to our apartment.  Sometimes we “forget” we are still newbies to the area and don’t actually look for things that are typically Panamanian.  So you see a few pictures from there. One is cactus actually growing on trees. Really??? Who would have thought???  It was totally strange. There was a “petting zoo” sort of. You could pet starfish in a big open pond.  No pictures, sorry.  I am totally ceased to be amazed by some all of the nature around me.  How it is so different from what I am used to.  Then feeling a real need for a beach, we hopped over to a restaurant for lunch that was 15 minutes away. Now, you wouldn’t actually swim in those waters but they were pretty to look at.

One picture is of the parakeets in a palm tree very close to our place. I have seen it several times when the parakeets are swarming the tree. Apparently, it happens right after a big rain.  I thought parakeets were only in Walmart stores?  Didn’t realize they really were out wild in nature!!  It is such an amazing sight to see. I have gone to the tree several times with my camera, BUT I seem to spook them when I approach. When it is dry, they are never there.  I really have no clue where they might be during the dry periods or just why they are there after a rain?? But, I actually borrowed this picture from one of my friends on Facebook.  He had the opportunity to capture it through the tinted window of his car and the parakeets apparently didn’t notice him.

I attached some pictures of my “babies” in my computer lab.  They are 3 year olds. Actually, a couple of them are two (soon to turn 3).  They are the darn cutest things on earth in their little uniforms.  They talk to me in Spanish (like I might understand them).

More flower pictures. Really, we are totally amazed by the flowers around here. I am not that kind of person (as you all know), someone who actually looks at flowers??  But, they totally amaze me.  You get so used to flowers that you have seen for 60 years.  Then you see more of God’s creations and it totally amazes you.   Why flowers are created in such a way can only be part of His great plan.