August 27, 2011

WOW, the past two weeks have been crazy. I am working only 80 percent now (trying this retirement thing out), but I have put in six day weeks with 10 hours a day at school, then more at home. The opening of a new school is just plain crazy. BUT, it is totally fun. Today, we had our inauguration for the school. It was really interesting. We met in a nearby theater for a very formal invocation. The Panamanian Minister of Education was invited for this event. She is well known for being extremely late, then sending someone in her place. So, we were told that it is suppose to start at 9:30 on Saturday morning, but it may not start until 11:00 or so. BUT, she was there right on time. She was referred to as “Your Highness” (well, that was the way it was translated). Several people spoke. Some were in English, but most were in Spanish. When the Minister of Education spoke, it was all in Spanish and I was really sorry I didn’t understand it, since she seemed to be a very dynamic speaker. I was told later that she really hoped our school could help the public school system in Panama and give them guidance and advice. Afterwards, we walked over to the school. NO ONE was allowed to walk ahead of her. There was a very strict protocol and it had to be followed. So, very interesting. After a month of in-service, I really can’t WAIT for the kids to come and to actually start doing what I love!! (which is teaching). I have been working with teachers and instructing them how to use their iPads and Smartboards this past week. Most are really so new to all this technology. It is really fun.
I don’t know what else has happened. I have been so focused on school. Our weather has been incredible for about a week. I guess that when there is a hurricane in the Atlantic, then our weather is wonderful because the power of the hurricane takes all the moisture / energy from our area. So, now that Irene has moved away and up the East coast, we are back to more tropical weather with rainy afternoons.
This is a great story. A good friend of ours has been driving the past many months illegally with his “state side” license and his tourist visa. That is perfectly OK providing you have your tourist visa which is good for 3 months after entering the country. But he has been getting a different immigration status and really is illegal. But, even after being stopped several times, he never got a ticket or anything. Then, he finally got his Panamanian driver’s license this week. But, when he was then driving a day later, he was stopped and given a ticket for NOT wearing his seat belt. Now, there are many drivers who drive and pass on the shoulder, take left turns on a red light, run red lights, and on and on and on. And he was given a ticket for not wearing his seat belt. Oh, well.
Perhaps, I will get back to normal and try to update weekly. Can’t believe how much fun this job is NOW (granted the pay is still HORRIBLE). But I really need to learn Spanish. An international school is so different from an American-style school in a foreign country. Never knew that before.

August 14, 2011

Wayne decided we needed a bank account at a second bank. So, for weeks he has been gathering documents and papers, copies of everything imaginable, signatures, papers, etc. He has gone to the back in April and gotten tons of forms that needed to be filled out. So, yesterday was the big day. He was expecting to go to the bank and take hours to probably accomplish nothing. And it happened. Nothing was accomplished. The papers he picked up in April have been changed. He has a whole stack of new papers now that have to be filled out and signed. Plus more documents he never heard about before. However, once they accept your papers doesn’t mean you get an account right away. It could be still weeks before it can be approved. There are so many banks in this country. Seems like there might be some competition?? And as I mentioned before, you walk out with a terrific headache, but no toaster or any free gift like you do in the states.
Yesterday was the “fun” day of our month of in-service. A bus hauled all of us teachers to a beach for the day. How fun was that! After a zillion years of teaching in the Midwest, we never went to a beach for inservice. What a terrific group of teachers! This is really an international school. So many countries were represented. Probably the only common characteristic is that the language of the school is English and everyone could speak English. Just about almost everyone knew a 2nd, 3rd, or more language. On the way there, we stopped at a roadside stand and most got a chicheme, a corn-based beverage mixed with water, sugar, and cinnamon. Panamanians tout the drink for its nutritional properties. Sounds terrible, tastes great. Like a milkshake made with corn and not fruit.

Funny story though. Our director (headmaster) is really trying to overcome the Latin America “being late is a perfectly ok” attitude. He stressed so much yesterday the bus was leaving promptly at 8:00 am and they were waiting not a second more for anyone. So it worked with the teachers. Everyone was there before 8:00. BUT (again it is the culture), the bus didn’t arrive until sometime later.
I have my first iPad workshop this week to help the teachers begin to think of how a one computer device per student program can work. I am in hog heaven doing those things. We actually get to teach the kids in their world, not ours. Love learning all these new technologies and how it changes education.

August 6, 2011

You gotta love this conversation. Utility bills are difficult to get here without mail service, but the cable bill can be retrieved on a special channel on the TV. So Wayne saw it and paid the bill in full. Then, last Saturday, our internet service was cut about 90 percent. Taking a couple minutes to download a simple email message was annoying to say the least. So he called the company the next week, finally got a hold of an English speaking person (which is difficult). So the conversation goes:
Wayne: Our internet service is very slow
Cable: Your bill is not paid
Wayne: But I paid it in FULL
Cable: It wasn’t enough.
Wayne: But I paid in FULL
Cable: It wasn’t enough
Wayne: What do I owe?
Cable: You need to come to one of our offices and find out. (Keep in mind the office at the mall we have visited has NO English speaking person there).
Cable: When you do, service will be restored in 30 minutes.
So Wayne goes to the mall, finds out what he owes (which wasn’t listed on any bill he could find, but found out it was an unlisted charge from previous month) and pays it. Comes home.
Four hours later and still slow service, so Wayne calls again. Spent much time (with two disconnects while waiting on the phone) trying to once again get a hold of an English speaking person. Tells them our service is still not restored. They go, “oops”. And they then restore it within seconds while he was on the phone. Cable customer service down here is universally like any cable customer service in the world – lousy. Wonder if they all compare notes.
Last night we were out with friends. Coming home, we ran into probably the third roadblock in the past couple of weeks. Wayne rolls his window down, he is obviously a gringo and they immediately wave him past. Talk about profiling! They do it all the time here. Being gringo can have its benefits.
We were walking down the street the other day and right in front of us was a short palm tree. It actually extends across the sidewalk, but when the sidewalk was built, they left the tree there so you have to walk around it. Anyway, sitting in the tree at eye level were probably 30 or more little lime green wild parakeets! Talk about beautiful. Had I not scared them as we got close I would have loved to have gotten pictures. Talk about an amazing sight.
Speaking of sights, attached is a picture that is taken from my new classroom at my new school. It is still not finished since it is one big remodeling project. But, if you look out the window of my classroom, you can watch ships travel through the Panama Canal. How many people can say they see THAT from their windows at school! My in-service started this week. We have a month of in-service this year to get the school up and going. I am in hog heaven with all the technology they are getting. Every kid from 3 year olds through 6th grade (it is only going through 6th grade this year) will be given either an iTouch, iPad, or a MacBook depending on their grade. I get to figure out what everyone does with them. FUN!!!!
And getting to meet the teachers on Monday. WOW, talk about International! I couldn’t believe how many countries were represented in that group. Thankfully, English is the language of instruction!

July 30, 2011

One of our favorite past times as we walk lately is to watch the “cutter ants”. 1000’s (although the colonies can reach millions) of ants parade along well worn paths to take their piece of leaf that they have “cut” back to their home. They are fascinating to watch. You can see the worn paths they follow and actually follow them yourself to see where their home is. All these ants, each one carrying a piece of a leaf they have cut from a plant. Now if they were in my yard, it would be a different story, one of annoyance rather than amazement. But they are way fun to watch.
We lost our internet again this week. Such a frustration when your phone, computers, television all depend on the cable working. Unfortunately, it is a common story here. One positive is that my new school is just down the street. We both grabbed our laptops and headed to the offices of the school and did our work on their wireless network. They use a different service than we do, so generally both do not go down at the same time.
Currently, it is raining this morning. Really, seldom does it ever rain in the mornings, but today it is. Not a hard rain, but a wonderful soothing slow rain. We could still take our walk, but with an umbrella. I was watching the widgets on my computer desktop. 75 degrees here in Panama, but high 80’s and 90’s in the places we watch in the states (Cincinnati and Midland MI). Now we are thousands of miles closer to the equator, yet our temperatures never get to the misery of the states. NOW, if you TALK about humidity, it would be is a different story. It is not a miserable humidity though, but is certainly a high humidity. One where mold loves to grow, if not under control. For the past few days, our A/C has been off and the windows all opened and absolutely wonderful. Oh well. I mopped my floors today and wonder if they will even dry (ever!!!!)
This is an interesting story. We went to the mall one day last week. There was a lighting center there (a rather large store that sold nothing but various light fixtures that you would put in your house.). Little did we know that it was their grand opening. The store has been opened for several weeks, but apparently this was the ‘big’ opening event. Anyway, there were gals and guys (dressed in tuxedos) that were roaming around the store offering you glasses of wine as well as appetizers (!!!!). Hey, we could have spent the whole evening there, “shopping” for light fixtures! Another good story is that our lawyer called to explain to us that the bank called him saying that the purchase of our condo was being delayed AGAIN because a very important statement was left out of the deed. The lawyer kindly pointed out that it really WAS in the deed. The bank went….”OH I see it!”. Three more days delay, ARGGGGG !!!!.

July 26, 2011

Why is it when I have all this free time, I can’t blog. When I am so busy with school that I can’t see straight, I can fit it into a busy schedule? Guess the quote about that if you want something done, give it a busy person.
I think after 13 months I can say I am officially getting frustrated for the first time. Efficiency is nonexistent here in Panama. We are still trying to purchase a place to live and it is certainly anything but easy. There always seems to be a problem. Things that would take a day or two in the states, takes 2 or 3 or MORE weeks here. It is just crazy. I know it is the culture and I am here and this is not my country and I need to just swing with it. But after 13 months, I find some things difficult to take. Some are still just interesting and funny. For instance, last weekend we got a coffee table. The gal that sold it to us put the sales info into the computer. Then it went to another desk for someone to order it up from the storage. Two people got it, cut into the boxes and took EVERY piece out and we had to check it (remember from previous blogs, no returns). Then those two taped the boxes together again and THREE people processed the sale. One after the other signing off on it. I was given several pieces of paper. Took one piece to the guys who cut the box opened. They signed off. Then someone put it into a cart to take it to our car (yes, we could have carried it but hey, that was nice). Getting OUT of the store was another adventure. Took two different people taking different pieces of paper and making marks on either the papers or the box. We finally got out the door. Earlier, we TRIED to purchase a set of pots and pans (we have none at our new place). We found a set we wanted and went to stand in a long line at the register. Got to the cashier and we were told something in Spanish which we did not understand. So, we had to wait for someone who spoke English. Found out we had to return to the housewares department and have the clerk take every piece out of the box to make sure all was there and nothing was broken etc. THEN, we could once again get back into a long line and wait. We decided cooking was way too overrated to go through that again. Cooking could wait a few more days.
Then, today we were trying to quickly get out of PriceMart (Costcos in Latin America). Unfortunately, someone in front of us in line was paying their bill with 100 dollar bills. Oh my, you hate for that to happen. The clerk has to record the serial number of each and every bill on a special form, after she checks them carefully for being real. The clerk signs the form, then the customer has to sign the form as well after recording all their identification information. Then, the cashier has to call a manager over (takes FOREVER). The manager comes, carefully examines all the bills and signs off as well. Then and only then, can the transaction be completed. Guess this keeps everyone honest.
So now I have just a couple days left until the job begins. Needless to say, I am really excited about figuring all this technology out. Should be a blast. Another school start-up!

July 16, 2011

Ace needed a haircut. Spent Monday morning running every possible conversation through Google translator before taking him in. The vet who does the grooming can speak English, but the receptionist cannot. After getting my conversations translated, I then needed to listen to how some of the words were pronounced a zillion time to hopefully be able to say things and understand correctly. THEN, after all that, I drove by myself to a nearby city where the vet is. I am taking baby steps with driving around here. During the middle of the day, it isn’t so bad, so I am trying to build my confidence this summer and take advantage of the “not too much traffic time”. That was the challenge for today! Everyday certainly has its challenges. Successfully got Ace trimmed and he looks good.
Last Saturday, several of us were going on a hike through the rainforest. Our drive to the rainforest, although beautiful was accompanied by torrential downpours. Realizing the hike wouldn’t take place long before arriving, we still continued driving on to the starting point. We got out of the car for one quick picture before escaping from the swarms of mosquitoes that started attacking us. Funny, our apartment has no screens, our windows are opened frequently, and yet we seldom have mosquitoes. But Saturday was different. I guess the heavy rains brought them out in full force, especially in the jungle.
This week has been “cold” by Panamanian standards. We haven’t used our air conditioning all week. Windows opened and a great breeze coming in that was wonderful. But the humidity is quite high. Trying to keep mold at bay is an on-going challenge.
We went to the nearby shopping mall today. Since it was right after 15th of the month (pay day), we knew we had to get there when it opened because everyone goes shopping after getting their paycheck. We got there about 9:45 am (it opens at 10:00). Unlike in America, the entire mall is closed with guards at the doors until 10:00. Crowds of people were waiting at all the outside entrances waiting to get in. Guess there are no mall walkers here. But heck, the weather is walkable outside every day of the year, so why go to the mall.

July 8, 2011

So, I was told to not return to the states for the first year because the honeymoon with Panama would then be over. So we went back to the states after 51 weeks. I didn’t want the honeymoon to be over. I still wanted to live it. Anyway, we went back and now noted some differences. Many good, many not so good, but different. We had a great trip. Visiting children and friends was wonderful. We missed everyone so much, but we just want to live something different. And Panama is giving us that opportunity. We are different people and challenged by new experiences.
So what did we notice! America gave us clean streets! No trash anyplace that we saw. Granted, we did notice a lot of cigarettes butts outside of stores. That we don’t see here in Panama. I guess it is way too expensive to smoke down here. America gave us no mold on buildings, sidewalks, or furniture. Then, those amazing four lane highways we found everywhere in the states (actually two lane roads with wide shoulders). Looks like the people in the US only use the middle two lanes and leave the shoulders for emergencies. Not in Panama. Down here, those appear to be special lanes for the taxis and for those who think they are just too important to wait along with everyone else.
Another difference was with the traffic lights. The red lights in the states were so much longer to wait through. Down here, I honestly don’t think people in Panama would wait that long. For a culture that is laid back with a “mañana” attitude, they are crazy behind the wheel. Oh well, fun to notice.
The weather up “north” was marvelous although we do realize that we were there during the summer, not during winter! Another difference noted was that people in the states pay attention to weather forecasts. Down here, the forecast is pretty much always the same: partly sunny with a chance of showers.
We are now back home. We didn’t have too much mold in the apartment, but there was some. That is the problem with having the air conditioning off for 15 days. Just part of living in paradise. So we got our vinegar water out and started spraying like crazy.