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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