January 7, 2012

I have mentioned in earlier blogs about the horrible educational system down here in the public schools. Well, now is the “dry” season, also called “summer” from December until early March. Public schools are not in session. So, a local article mentioned that while the students are off for summer, 69 percent of them are attending “remedial summer school”. The article went on to mention that it was 11 percent better than last summer when 80% had to go during the summer. They are there because they fail too many subjects in the normal school year.
My last week of vacation has been an interesting week for me. We have been trying to get in all those annual doctor appointments that we haven’t done since living here. We are sure to get a doctor that speaks great English (easy to find), but seemingly no one, absolutely NO ONE that works with that doctor does. That includes receptionists, nurses, technicians, etc. I had a Panamanian friend go with me to get my mammogram, because there was no way I would have figured that out with my lovely game of charades. And getting to the hospital was an event in itself. My friend has lived here in Panama forever and has certainly learned to drive just like the locals. My always very low blood pressure probably skyrocketed. But hey, we were safe, she knew where she was going and she knew how to drive. I can’t imagine ever getting that good at driving around here. After driving in the Midwest, I would let everyone in front of me like a typical really nice Midwesterner and be rear ended all the time. AND I would actually stop at stop signs. We really don’t see many more fender benders than we did in Cincinnati, though. Most accidents aren’t too bad because you are generally going pretty slow due to all the traffic.
My most fun moment this week though was when I went into my Chinese product market that I go to a couple times a week. It is a little hole-in-the-wall place and the lady that runs it is sweet as can be. Initially, I told her she needed to speak to me in English, but she should also use Spanish, so I could practice. So, yesterday we got through the entire transaction with her speaking Spanish VERY SLOWLY and me being able to understand and respond. She was so happy when we were done that she gave me a HIGH FIVE and the other two employees started applauding! Now that was fun. Just baby steps … just baby steps.