Crossing the Amazon in Flip Flops

I've never been anywhere where a street existed that was impossible to cross. I've seen a lot too. But, literally, the street was impossible to cross. There was not a single break in the traffic. Not for one second. I guess that's what happens when there are only 5 stop lights in a city with 2.2 million people. Little did I know that crossing the street from my apartment to the office was going to be like trying to wade across the Amazon, piranhas and all. I did have that experience for the first time today, however.


All I wanted to do was meet the building administrator guy so I could get the keys to my apartment. Of course, it doesn't help that I have to go two blocks too far, either way, to find a cross walk. I'm not sure why I bothered, though. Nobody stops for people in the crosswalks. You're just as safe making a run for it without one than with one. I did finally make it across to meet Oscar, the building administrator, however. I saw my life flash before my eyes, though.

Today was my first day in the office here in Panama and, as always, that comes with several realizations. Some, of course are very good. Some are bad. But, that's life, right?

I really enjoyed arriving to the office this morning and seeing that there STILL is no furniture. I mean, they've known that the office was going to be in Panama for, like, a year and a half yet amazingly there's no furniture! Remember when you were reading the previous blog where I commented on the "communal" office and its inconveniences? Well, take those, multiply them by two million and that's what it's like right now. There are 30 of us crammed around three tables with cables and phones and computers and bags and feet and legs all strung everywhere. It's very enjoyable.

I did really like the temperature of the office when I arrived. They've got the air cranked. I love it. And, frankly, it's necessary. After the five minute walk to my apartment this afternoon, I was drenched from head to foot...and that was only five minutes! I'm so happy the Panamanians believe in air conditioning, unlike many of their South American counterparts.

There's really good, free coffee too. That's very inviting. Whatever they didn't spend on furniture, they must have spent on the coffee maker because it's pretty swanky!

There are several fast food restaurants close for lunch. The mall is also close and it has some great stuff to eat. Don't laugh at me now, either, while you're thinking about the "great stuff to eat" at the malls in the US. You can actually get a good meal that they fix fresh (ie: grilled chicken breast). That'll work. It's not within walking distance, but it's a very short drive.

I think the best feature of all is the ice cream stand that's on the corner. It has great ice cream! It's perfect for an afternoon break. So, maybe I'll gain 700 lbs., but who cares? I'll be happy!

And thus went my first day at the office. All in all, it wasn't a whole lot different than I expected, which is a good thing. Now begins the adventure of turning on the electricity, getting my furniture out of customs (It has arrived. It just has to clear customs.), and getting the cable/internet turned on.

Peace out.

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Houston, We Don't Have a Problem

I don't know who said, "What goes around comes around." But, it makes sense. And, on the flight to Panama City yesterday, I got my dues. Nevertheless, other than that little incident, which I will describe later, arriving in Panama was very uneventful. I am very thankful that all went as planned.

Of course, saying good bye to your dear friend and family is always very difficult, but that's always how your day is going to begin when you're moving away for an extended period of time. Once I got those tears out of the way, there weren't any hiccups on the trip. I'm not even sore today from carrying my very heavy bags. I was two pounds over with one bag and six pounds under on the other. Delta didn't give me any trouble about it, though. I was thankful.

At the gate in Atlanta, waiting for the plane to Panama City, I met a nice fellow who was very chatty. He was Panamanian, from the Chiriquí region in Northern Panama but was living in Louisiana at the moment. He was asking me all about what I was doing. I let him know I was moving to Panama. He laughed. Then he told me not to do it! That's always comforting.

After talking to him for awhile, though, I began to realize that the reason he had said not to live there was because he had had a very difficult time finding a job. He later acknowledged that if you had a good job that you could live very well in Panama.

Once we finally got on the plane and got under way, I was ready. I was sitting by a very quiet Panamanian couple. I was glad for that since the other fellow had tired me out with his many questions. I did notice when I sat down, however, that there was a very active young boy sitting in the seat in front of me. He was probably 8 or 9, judging by his size. But, he acted a bit younger...in my opinion. Anyway...

As we were underway, I was engrossed in my book, "Sundays at Tiffany's" (a fantastic read, by the way, for you girls. It's not a guy book.) when all of the sudden I smell this rather rank odor. Well, I knew it wasn't me...for once. Although, I did actually have to think about it for a minute to make sure that it wasn't (sorry mom).

So, there I am squirming around in my seat like you do when you're in a very confined space and there's a bad odor. It's like you think that by moving a quarter of an inch you're going to be able to move away from the smell. Because, yeah, that'll help.

Needless to say, it didn't. And, this young gentleman continuously farted through the entire trip. Besides having to pay eight dollars for a sandwich on the plane, that was definitely the worst part of the entire trip. But, as I said earlier, I'm sure I had it coming. So, I've been paid back.

There really hasn't been anything else eventful since I got here. Today (Sunday) I went over to Bennigan's to hang out with some friends from work and also catch the US vs. Brazil soccer match. It ended up being a very good game. I figured the US would get shellacked just like they did last week. But, there for awhile, it even looked like we might win! It was a good time.

So, that's what my weekend has consisted of. The plans for this week are to get the electricity turned on in my actual apartment and start car shopping. I gotta hurry up and get a car. You need it if you want to go anywhere.

The moving company comes to take my passport tomorrow and they head over to customs to start trying to clear all my furniture etc. They tell me it usually takes about a week to do that. Here's hoping...because right now I am sharing a two bedroom apartment with three other ladies. As nice as they are and as much as I like them, I believe that if we have to spend more than a week together, we may no longer be friends, acquaintances, or co-workers. We will only be enemies.

I'll follow up here in awhile. I'm sure I'll have plenty of interesting tales to tell once I start trying to get electricity etc. turned on. There may be a lull in the updates after this week as I don't know how long it will take me to get the internet hooked up at the apartment.

Peace out.

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Panamusings

If you've ever traveled or lived abroad, you know the feelings I'm about to describe. Generally you'll experience one of the two once you step off the plane and begin your journey out of the airport and into the real world. First, there's the feeling of general euphoria. I mean, you've saved all your money for this trip and have wanted to visit this particular country all your life. You're ecstatic. You can't wait to see what there is to behold right past the scary customs agents with M16s and behind the dirty, smudged sliding glass doors. This is generally the feeling you have when you're on a vacation you've been waiting for or a short term work assignment

Then there's that other feeling. The feeling you have when you get off the plane and know you're there, your new home. You collect your luggage and pass through customs where the agents are glaring at you and who you just know are thinking, "I sure hope that gringa isn't staying here. Stupid Americans." You head out to stand in line for the taxis, hauling all your own luggage because there's no tourist guide to greet you and no friends to pick you up. The dirty, smudged sliding glass doors open and you begin to think, "WHAT have I gotten myself into here?"

But then something happens. As you're riding in the dirty cab to your particular destination, you start to notice your surroundings. You begin to think of what an awesome adventure you've begun. Everything is new and exciting. You have the opportunity to make tons of new friends and try new food. You get to hike in the jungle and lie around on the beach dousing in the tropical sun. You come to the realization that you're gonna have fun.

And, that's exactly how I feel. There are moments when I begin to wonder what in the world I have done. But, in the end, it's all just gonna be great.

I promised I would write some snappy little musings about my impressions of Panama, and below I shall list them.

The Panamanian people are fantastically nice. I don't have one bad thing to say about anybody I met on that trip from the guy on the street to the taxi drivers to the idiots in the bank (They may not do their job well, but they were sure nice about it!).

Honestly, and I've seen lots of places, Panama City is fairly clean. There's not a whole lot of litter around and everybody picks up their own dog poop. That's not anything like Madrid. Man, you had to watch your step there...let me tell you. (Of course, Madrid also had the city workers on motorbikes with vacuums attached to the back who road around and sucked up the poo. That was always amusing. Panama City doesn't have that!)

Panama is in the Tropic of Cancer and is located just above the Equator, so it's nice and warm all the time! Swimming at the beach on Christmas anyone?

Panama is in the Tropic of Cancer and is located just above the Equator, so it's nice and warm all the time...like 8,000,000 degrees every single day of the week with humidity of 785% all the live long day. Living on the surface of the sun anyone?

There are tons of things to do around the city. It's not a lot bigger than Kansas City, but it feels more like New York City. The place is vibrant and people seem to always be having fun. It's the whole Carribean laid back attitude. Good for living, bad for working

The traffic in the city is the biggest, most collasal mess I've ever seen in my life. They're supposidly working on it. It'll not be resolved any time soon, however. It's just too many people living right on top of each other. Driving is going to be an adventure every single day.

Other than mosquitoes, there aren't many insects.

The pace of life is a lot slower. That makes most things a lot less stressful. It can, however, make work more stressful. I like the laid back attitude, though.

Gonna have to get used to everybody being late for everything again... I'm very American in my punctuality!

There's no mail system in Panama, so there are no addresses. Nothing has a street address. A lot of buildings have names so everything is caddy corner from such and such next to the Banco General ATM etc. It's not easy when you have no idea where you're going!

The beaches are awesome and only 30 min to an hour away. Sweet!

Domestic labor is cheap. I'm totally hiring somebody to clean my house and cook for me!

Rainy season isn't actually all that rainy. It rains really hard for, like, an hour and then it's gone. Of course, then the whole place becomes one large sauna...but at least it doesn't just rain all day long.

As I mentioned above, the place is hot. And, nobody wears shorts. Nobody. Everybody dresses to the nines all the time. Men are in suits and ties. Women are in heels and skirts or suits. I mean, I don't know how they do it. Although, everybody did tell me that there was no way I was going to hide the fact that I'm a gringa, so I've decided if I can't hide that fact, then I'm just going to go ahead and wear shorts and be comfortable. Why pretend?

They have peanut butter in the grocery store. YAAAAAAAAYYYY!11!11!1111!!!!

There's a McDonald's one block from my apartment building. I rarely eat there while I'm here in the States, but there's just something comforting about eating at McD's when you're away form your native land. There's also a Dunkin' Donuts across the street.

Because Panama is so close to the Equator, when the sun comes up, it comes up. It immediately pops over the horizon. There's no dawn. There's also no dusk. When the sun sets, it's immediately pitch black. Because of the whole Equator thing, there are basically 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. That makes the sun set by about 6:30. Every night I'd look at dad and say, "Wow, it's late. I'm gonna go to sleep." Then, I'd look at my watch and realize that it was only 7:00 or so!

Panama's currency is the Balboa. You know what it looks like? It looks just like dollars. Wanna know why? Because it is dollars. Panama uses American dollars as their currency so I never have to change any money. That is really nice.

Taxi rides are cheap. The most expensive taxi ride I had was 5 dollars. I also never had a taxi refuse to take me where I wanted to go. It's the blond hair. Several of my co-workers had a really hard time catching cabs. If they don't want to go where you're going, they just don't take you! I've never seen anything like it!

If I were any other girl, this would be a plus. But, since I absolutely hate shopping, I can't really give it a plus: There are several huge shopping malls with any store you could ever ask for. You can find anything you need in Panama.

All movies are subtitled. What's that mean for me? No stupid dubbed over voices speaking Spanish for Al Pacino and Robert Dinero. I can see all movies from the US in English! It is not like that in Spain.

Communications infrastructure is pretty good. I can have decently fast internet and whatever cell phone I want. I'm just happy to have internet so I can use the sling box.

There are American restaurant chains everywhere. Come on. I'm moving out of the US. I'm supposed to try to learn a new culture!

At the moment, this is everything I remember. It's been a really long day. But, all in all, I like everything I saw in Panama. I'm sure I'm going to have a lot more observations once I get there in a couple of weeks. Until then, I'll actually be working remotely from my parent's and my sister's home in Kansas. The company has allowed me to do that to spend a little extra time with my family before I go.

Hopefully I'll have another update before I leave on the 27th with my "saying goodbye" reflections.

Peace out people.

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Wizard of Oz

I tell you. It looks like a tornado came through this house and spun its way through every room and threw everything in boxes. That's what I'm looking at right now: boxes. Well, that and the TV they thankfully haven't packed yet. My desk chair, in which I'm sitting, and the TV are the only things left unpacked.

I had intended to post the update about the house hunting trip first, but it just go so long... That trip was insane. INSANE. So, I thought I'd post the move update with a few pictures I took with my phone first, just so there is some sort of update to this blog.

It's a weird feeling watching all you own be packed up by strangers. As I was sitting and walking around the house watching them, I'd find myself staring at them while they worked. But, it was not because either one of them was particularly good looking. In fact, that had no influence on my gaze at all. Trust me. But rather I was staring trying to figure out what they were thinking. Are they thinking, "Wow, this lady has crappy stuff"? Or, maybe they're thinking, "Hey, she's not looking, I bet I could steal some of these priceless books her grandma gave her and she won't notice." And, actually, had I heard them thinking that, I would have told them to go ahead and take the books. I can't give them away because "Kristin darling..." is plastered inside all the covers and I don't want them! But it intrigued me thinking about what these guys have seen in their jobs. Hopefully I'm not one of the cases that stands out because of something they find and they go out with their buddies, drink beer, and laugh about the gross underwear they found in the drawers of that annoying curly blond headed girl's house.

Long story not so short, it's been an interesting emotional event, one of those ones I don't like to have to weather, actually. But, all in all, it has gone well.

Gennifer and my father deserve medals for this, though. Gennifer spent two full days helping me pack and go through everything that wasn't needed in Panama, buy loads of things that I know they don't have in Panama, and generally organize everything in my house for Panama. And, trust me, that was an adventure. The best was the trip to Sam's to buy in bulk, without going into too much detail, "feminine products" (I can send toiletries with my packed items and we women get used to something, and there's no changing.). I actually haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was the ONLY thing we had in the basket. When we got up to the check out counter we were trying to think of a story we could tell the lady about our "purchase". That was quite funny. And, to Gennifer's credit, she didn't even complain once.

My poor father has been in Tulsa every weekend for the last two months helping me with random odds and ends. Granted, he did get a free trip to Panama out of the deal, so I don't feel too sorry for him (He went on the house hutning trip with me). He's lifted and shifted and carried everything possible. He came for the puppy last weekend. We loaded her house and all her belongings and he and Kara took my baby to her new home. This weekend he's coming back with a uhaul so we can clean out the garage of all the "I lived in a house and now I'm moving to an apartment so I don't need the type of things that are in a garage" stuff. That's gonna take awhile.

Those are my thoughts on this last week. Every day is a new barrage of emotion, which is always great (that's sarcasm). I am now officially staying with my cousins, which is a huge blessing. I don't know where I'd go if I didn't have them. They're taking very good care of me. Thanks guys.

Here are just a few pictures of the boxes all over my house. Wish them luck. Let's hope we see them again when they arrive at the apartment in Panama! Sorry the quality isn't great. Somebody forgot the cord for her camera and the card reader in her computer won't read her high capacity card...so she can't download photos to her computer until she gets to Panama. The cord is in a box somewhere.



One view of the living room/dining room


A view of the other side of the living room


The bedroom

All in all, the movers seem to think that I don't have that much stuff. When I look at all the boxes I have, I can't imagine how many boxes an entire family has! Whew... thank goodness it's just me.

I'll post the house hunting trip blog soon. I promise.

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