[Let me first apologize for the length of this post. If you do take the time to read it in its entirety, you'll find a few good laughs at my expense and be glad that you aren't living this! I also apologize that it's so late. It was very painful to have to write about everything and relive the adventure! (wink, wink)]
Do you ever have one of those days? Just, one of those days.You know what I'm talking about. One of those kinds of days that starts with you catching your foot in the sheet while you're trying to get out of bed in the morning so that you go flailing into the wall head first and then ends with you knocking your knee, shin, three of your toes, and hip so hard on the bedpost on your way to bed that night that you're just positive you're going to be lying in fetal position crying and rocking for the next three days. The days where, between the black eye from the wall that attacked you that morning and the searing pain that forced you into fetal position that night, you forgot your breakfast and had used all your cash and your checking account is empty, so you sat in your chair all morning with your stomach burning. Where, when you tried to turn on your computer when you got to your desk, it gave you a fatal error message but nobody at the IT Help Desk arrives for another hour. Where, while you were waiting on the Help Desk to get to the office to fix your computer, you were writing yourself notes and dropped your pen on the floor under your desk, bent over to pick it up, and bashed your head on your desk. Where the Help Desk finally arrives at the office, takes a look at your computer and tells you that it's fried and you've lost 10 years worth of presentations, documents, personal information, etc. Where at lunch you drop the whole Rubbermaid container of marinara sauce on your shirt and pants and don't have time to go home and change before the meeting at which you have to present your current projects to the Vice Present of your department, who understands nothing of what you do and will ask you a million painful questions, all while staring at the colossal crimson stain the size of Jupiter on the front of your shirt and pants. Where when you're finally driving home and are driving exactly the speed limit some dude tries to run you off the road while he's merging so you have to speed up so he doesn't plow into you and you get pulled over by the Hi-Po. That's the kind of day I'm talking about.
But, Kristin, why the long and painful description...because it was long and painful to read? You only went on your house hunting trip/visa trip to Panama with your cool dad. That's just like a vacation. You toured the city and went to the beach and went shopping and had a brilliant time. Nothing was nearly as painful as you described above. None of that has actually ever happened to you...well, except for the falling into the wall thing and the giant marinara stain.
Well, My Friends, you are wrong. Very wrong. Honestly, though, I should preface this re-telling of the house hunting trip by saying that it all could have been way, way worse. Way, way, way, way, way, much, much, much, much worse. The Lord really had my back, even if nothing went smoothly at all, it still went and it still was taken care of...well, all except for the bank account. But, we'll talk about that later.
I'm going to structure the rest of the story in a time-line format. The time line starts several days before I actually left, believe it or not. I'll then post some pictures of dad's and my adventure. (Dad came with me for moral support...and also to stand behind me and look mean while I negotiated with taxi drivers, the realtor, the building administrator, the manager at the bank, the guy at the restaurant, the other building administrator, the dead cat on the side of the road...well, basically everybody)Panama House Hunting and Visa Trip: May 17-23Thursday, May 14, 2009
- I go to collect all my visa papers from the administrative assistant who has been handing the process for everyone and has been communicating with the lawyers in Panama. She discovers that she forgot to send my police report (That only had my one arrest for "solicitation" listed. Just kidding.) to Oklahoma City to have an Apostille from the State (That's basically a governmental verification of the paper.). I have to have this paper for the visa. Panama, of course, wants to make sure I'm not some criminal.
- She calls the Secretary of State for Oklahoma. They do the apostilles in one day and mail it back that same day. The Admin. Asst. says there will be no problem. We'll FedEx overnight it, it'll get there on Friday and Oklahoma will send it back on Friday and the paper will be delivered to my house Saturday morning. No problem.
- I offer to drive to OKC to deliver the paper in person and pick it up in person. She says there's no need. All is well.Friday, May 15, 2009
- Check on the paper in OKC. The apostille has been done and they're FedExing it back as we speak. I have all the other papers together and assume all is well with the police report and apostille.Saturday, May 16, 2009
- 1:00 AM: Track FedEx package containing the papers. Package is in MEMPHIS TENNESSEE and scheduled for delivery on Monday, May 18th (our flight is on Sunday)
- Call FedEx at 1:05 AM and they will not put me through to warehouse in Memphis so that I can intercept the package and maybe get it on a flight for Tulsa at some point that night. They put in an incident report and tell me to wait for a call from the local Tulsa FedEx facility. I plead, gravel, and beg. They are of no help.
- 6:16 AM: Receive call from local Tulsa FedEx. They inform me there is no way the package can get here today. No planes coming in. Won't transfer me to the Memphis warehouse and say that if I drive to Memphis, I will not be allowed to collect the package as it's not at its final destination (never mind that it has my name and address on it.)
- Call Maria, the Admin. Asst., and let her know what's going on. She says she'll collect the package Monday at the FedEx location (where the package has a hold on it) and will re-FedEx it to Panama City. The soonest it can arrive is Wednesday. I need it for the appointment with Immigration on Tuesday.
- Stagger around the house, as I've only had about 3 hours of sleep, beginning to do laundry and try to get packed and organize things around the house (as the movers are coming the following week). Have a million things to do and a million errands to run.
- Electricy goes out at the house. It's a nice day outside. No rain. Normal wind. No storm. No nothing. The electricity just "pop" went out.
- Decide I better just run the errands I have and maybe the electricity will be back (I called it in immediately to AEP). Go to unhook the garage door so I can manually open it and whack my head on the metal bar.
- Run the errands. Am gone for 4 hours. Thankfully, I was able to find everything I needed and managed not to yell, kick, scream, bite, punch, put a spell on, grab, or hang any human I came into contact with during the errands. I consider that a very successful trip.
- Arrive home, electricity is back on. Looking forward to having the NCIS marathon on the TV while I'm ironing and doing laundry and cleaning and packing. Cable is out. Cox guy can't fix it over the phone. Need a technician to come to the house. None are available until Monday. I am gone Monday.
- Call and make an appointment for the taxi to pick us up at the house at 4:50 AM as our flight leaves at 6:20. Remember this time. It is important.
- Finally get laundry done and things organized, and am ready to start packing. It's 10:30 PM.
- Dad arrives. It's nice to see a friendly face. I've just started packing. Packing lasts until past midnight.
- Set the alarm clock for 4:10 AM. Check it SIX times to make sure it's set correctly.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
- Dad comes flying into my room frantically. It's 4:51. The phone woke him up. It was the taxi driver asking if we were on our way out.
- I call the dispatcher. He was just rude completely...the three times he called me back (I'm not sure why he kept calling me back.). I run out to talk to the driver in my pajamas. He's very kind. I ask him to wait 15 min for us and to just let the meter run. He told me I was nice, so he would wait (with the meter running of course).
- With the fear that we're going to miss the flight completely (the only flight to PTY for the day) fueling me, I dress, pack my carry on, pack all my medicine, and pack my toiletries in 15 minutes. Dad did well. He even got shaved without cutting himself. He looked better than me. I didn't have any make-up on. It was scary.
- After a very, very expensive cab ride to the airport, we pull up and see a huge line at the ticket counter. At this point I almost have a stroke. Thankfully, in the huge rush to pack everything, I did remember to take my blood pressure pills!
- The little guy at the self service machine was kind and helped us hurry through the check in. We run to security. Thankfully that line is short. Get to the gate where they are already boarding the plane. Whew, we made it.
- Arrive in Houston. Go grab a quick breakfast pastry, run to the gate...they're already boarding, we make the flight to PTY (Panama City)
- Finally breathing a little easier, but wondering what else could possibly happen (Boy did I not have any idea.), we arrive in Panama and collect our luggage. The luggage was there and in one piece. Sigh of relief.
- Had made arrangements to meet the realtor at the airport who was going to take us to our temporary apartment (arranged by my company) and then take us to look at some apartments. No need to waste any time as our time there was short.
- Come out of customs to see Roberto, the realtor, happily greet us. Whew. We have a ride. A representative from the company who owned the temporary apartments was supposed to be there with keys and an address. Nobody was there. We looked for them for half an hour. I didn't even know the name of the building where the apartment was located because the temp apartment people were taking care of all of that.
- Thankfully, Roberto called incessantly to the number I had for the company and, rather firmly, told the fellow he'd take us to the apartment but that he better be there with the keys. I was very thankful for Roberto. After an hour of trying to locate the guy, we finally got the keys and dropped off the luggage. (My fellow co-workers who were there did not even have as much luck and me with the apartment dude. One had to stay at another co-workers house and one had to stay at a hotel until they could finally find the temp apartment guy. It's a great company that temp apartment company.)
- We take a look at 5 apartments that day. All were nice. One was even a penthouse and had an upstairs! I just didn't see anything I really, really liked. Plus, they were all far from Hilti. (And traffic in Panama is insane. That's for another blog. I'll save that one for when I start driving.).
- After looking at the apartments, Roberto drops us off at the mall so I can get a cell phone and dad and I can eat. We have only eaten breakfast the whole day.
-Buy 60 bucks worth of groceries at the grocery store because the apartment is far from everything and we have no car.
- We take a taxi back to the apartment and crash. Day 1 is over.Monday, May 18, 2009
- Have meeting with Citibank at 10:00 AM. Go to Citibank in taxi. Arrive 9:30. Ask for the guy, Eric, with whom I am to have the meeting.
- Wait
- Wait
- Wait some more
- Wait
- 2 hours later, this Eric finally shows up. He had left the office. I had confirmed the appointment with him only the day before. Awesome.
- Sign a million papers for my bank account. They tell me it takes a couple of days to open an account (How is that possible? I mean, really.). Sign some more papers. I ask specifically if I need to give them the money to deposit in the account. They tell me, "No, no. Not at all. You've done all you need to do."
- Go across the street to the mall to eat lunch. Have an appointment at the lawyers office in the afternoon to fill out all the necessary papers for the visa.
- Get a taxi to go to the lawyers office. The guy has no idea where it is. He keeps asking me. I keep telling him I have no idea. I've not been there before. Dad's face was white he was so scared! I mean, the dude was nuts. Finally, after we had driven around in circles, he stopped and asked somebody. We eventually made it to the lawyers office. I wasn't scared, just in shock of the crazy cabbie and his toothless grin.
- Lawyer was really nice. We joked about my not having the papers. He said he'd do his best to still get me the visa. He looked like he knew what he was doing.
- Finally got home. Wanted to make a frozen pizza that we had purchased at the grocery store. It's 6:30. Oven in apartment won't work. Call the temp apartment guy. Says he'll come fix it, but not until 9:30.
- The guy never shows. I go to bed hungry. Tuesday, May 19, 2009
- Meeting with immigration in the morning. Two co-workers and I go to try to find a cab in the morning rush hour. Nobody wants to take us to where the immigration building is. Four or five cabs pass before we find one, which already has one passenger, who says he'll take us.
- It's 800 degrees, and the guy doesn't have the air conditioning on. It was a long ride.
- Finally made it to immigration, about 20 min late (traffic)
- The lawyers assistant is there with us, has our papers ready, we register with the country of Panama to let them know we are starting the visa process. We're only there for a couple of hours. All went smoothly.
- Try for another thirty min to hail a cab outside the immigration office to go back by the apartments, get dad, and then all of us go to lunch. My co-workers wanted to eat at Tony Roma's. Ha ha ha ha. I can't get away from the US!
- Roberto is supposed to come get us and take us to look at apartments at 1:30, after we eat. He comes at 3:30. Thankfully we were at the mall and had time to look around and a place to sit. We even had DQ (yes, there' s DQ in Panama, Kara. Now you can come visit me.)
- Roberto takes me to another apartment. It's closer to Hilti. It a nice older apartment. It had nice moldings and a nice little office area. But, it still just didn't feel like home.
- One building I had seen on the internet and asked about was very close to office. I had asked Roberto to try to get an appointment for us to see an apartment there. At the last minute he was able to get the appointment (they weren't even giving out the keys yet it was so new). Things were looking bleak as we only had one other apartment to see. I was pretty sure I was just going to have to chose one of the other ones, which were good apartments, they just weren't quite as convenient as I had hoped.
- San Francisco 67. We go into the social area (pool, sauna, gym, grilling area) to meet the building administrator, and it's really awesome. Has a great view (you can see Hilti, actually.). He takes us upstairs, opens the door, and I see this beautiful, brand new apartment with a balcony with a great view, two bedrooms, three bathrooms, full size washer and dryer. This was it.
- He had another one on a higher floor. It was awesome too. The only difference was that it was a tiny bit smaller and the kitchen was open. The view wasn't quite as good, but it was good. It took me about 15 minutes to decide that I wanted the one with the open kitchen...but in that time somebody had already rented it. So, I yelled, "This one! I want this one (we were standing in the other apartment at the time.)!" I love the place.
- Roberto dropped us off and went to work on the contract so I could sign the papers for the apartment on Wed.
- Called the bank to check on my account. Still not open.
- Had dinner with co-workers at their temp apartment eating the frozen pizzas we had purchased earlier when we went grocery shopping. Had a good time.Wednesday, May 20, 2009
- Went to the other mall in Panama City to check it out. They had cool stuff. Dad bought a Panamanian baseball jersey (that's what they love, baseball. We looked EVERYWHERE for a soccer jersey and there wasn't one) and also some shoes that he had been needing. The security guy in the sports store was funny. He insisted on speaking English to me so he could practice. He helped dad pick out the shoes and took good care of us. He was funny.
- Roberto still hadn't finished the contract. Let me know we'd meet up tomorrow.
- I call the lawyers to check and see if the famous papers have made it to them (stupid FedEx). Thank the Lord they had JUST gotten there a few minutes before the lawyer had to take all my documents to immigration to begin the visa process. Bullet dodged.
- Headed to meet co-workers who had made a reservation for us at the restaurant on one set of locks at the canal. Edwin, a taxi driver Pamela had met earlier in the week, took us on a mini-tour of Panama City on the way out to the restaurant. We pay him a flat rate, he gives us a tour and waits for us while we eat dinner (as there are no taxis out there. It's a ways out of the city). We also stopped at the bank...again...because my co-workers didn't have their accounts open yet either. They too were waiting on the bank. No luck, and no answers.
- The canal was fantastic. We had a ton of fun watching the boats pass through the locks. We saw 5 or 6. I also ate my weight in Panamaian food, which is a lot of food.
- Edwin takes us on a brief night tour of PTY. It was nice.Thursday, May 21, 2009
- Meeting with Roberto at 10:00 to sign contract with Oscar, the building administrator, at my new building.
- We arrive, Roberto shows the contract...and then the fun starts. Roberto explains to Oscar that to get his money, he has to wait about a week so my firm can give me their part of my rent and then I'll give the rest.
- Oscar freaks and says he can't do it, that he needs the money immediately. He and Roberto fight for awhile. I explain that the my company is a good company. He knows my company. He's still fighting.
- Finally Roberto and Oscar come to an agreement that if I paid the deposit by monday (two days away and also Memorial Day here in the US), that it would be okay to wait for the other part.
- Easier said than done. My company had misinformed me about the moving deposit. They said they'd pay it now, when my account is open. Then, they changed their minds and I don't get the money until I step into Panama permanently. However, they didn't tell me this until I was already in Panama. So, I had NO money with me for the deposit...and it's a lot. I had my checkbook, but Oscar wouldn't accept a check from me because it would take 5 days to clear it since it was a US check.
- Finally Roberto and I come to the conclusion that I'll transfer the money to his company's account from my account in the US and then he'll write Oscar the check. Okay, fine. I have the money. It will be a $50 fee. Whew. I honestly did think there for awhile that I was gonna lose that apartment. I was sweating.
- Dad and I ate at the McDonald's that is 1/2 block from my house because we were in a hurry as we had an appointment at the lawyers office and then we had to go to immigration to have our "carnet" (ID cards/Visa identification) made.
- My name was spelled wrong on my registration papers, but that was the ONLY problem with that process and it was correctly updated and we all got our Panamanian visas! Yay!
- Go by the bank. Account still isn't set up. They don't know when it will be set up. Without that account, I don't receive my rent help from the company.
- Special celebration dinner at Bennigan's (everybody had gotten an apartment and also their visa!). That was not my idea. All the Panamanians said that Bennigan's was really good. Seriously people. Can we please stop eating at American restaurant chains?Friday, May 22, 2009
- Finally, FINALLY, dad and I think we'll have a minute in the morning to take a quick tour of the city and the museum at the locks where we had dinner the other night. We also wanted to visit the Panamanian Culture museum that morning. There would be plenty of time to see that all and then make the appointment in the afternoon at the lawyers office to collect the passport and other documents.
- Needing to now transfer the money to Roberto the Realtor's account, I call Arvest (and yes, I will name them because I was NOT happy with the service). They are not real thrilled about wiring money for me when I'm not there in person. They finally agree to give it a try, but they have to call me back to verify that it's me. I give them the phone number and let them know it's a Panamanian number.
- Arvest then proceeds to tell me that they can't transfer MY OWN MONEY to another account because they can't make an international phone call. BECAUSE THEY CAN'T MAKE AN INTERNATIONAL CALL. Oh, my bad. I forgot we were living in 1875 with only the telegraph to communicate across borders.
- I then ask to speak to the manager (all of this while on a cell phone in Panama, making an international phone call...which is very cheap.). I wait for almost 10 minutes for the manager to pick up. She never did.
- Thus, I have to call and wake up mom (as this was early). She has to go to her tiny bank in Nowheresville, Kansas USA (where, thank the Lord she had that much money) who has no doubts and makes the wire transfer with no problems. Yes, that's right folks, Nowheresville, Kansas can make international money transfers but Arvest Bank, one of the largest banks in the Southwest (and owned by a Walton...of Wal-Mart fame) can't make an international phone call.
- So,now, finally we think we are going to be able to have a little bit of fun on the tour...in our last hours in Panama.
- We called Edwin, our trusty cab driver/tour guide. For a slight fee he was going to drive us around for like 4-5 hours and give us a tour of everything.
- Edwin arrived right on time and we headed to the canal. We got to see another ship go through and as we were headed into the museum, my phone rang. It was the bank letting me know that a couple of my signatures didn't "match" the signature on my passport so I would have to come back immediately and re-sign all the papers. Really people? FIVE DAYS LATER you tell me this? And, how is it possible to make your signature match exactly to your other signatures?
- We had to cut our tour short, which was the only fun we had had all week (besides dinner the other night at the canal) and go back to the bank to sign a bunch more papers.
- Frankly I don't remember what else we did that afternoon... We were at the bank for awhile, though, while I signed and re-signed paper after paper trying to make the signature look just like the one on my passport yet make it look different than the original signatures that "weren't right"...but looked just like my passport to me (and to the guys at the bank!)
- Friday evening we went to dinner with Pamela at an authentic Mexican restaurant. It was great. We had a lot of fun laughing. I had a chicken that had a chocolate sauce, but it wasn't sweet. It was really great. Gotta love the Mexicans for their use of chocolate! Well, heck, gotta love the Mexicans for finding and inventing chocolate!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
- Finally time to head home. Situation after six days as follows: One visa obtained; one apartment obtained and half paid for with my mother's money (how embarrassing); no bank account in any shape or form so I must leave a good amount of cash money with a co-worker...who then has to go to the bank and deposit it for me, poor guy; new relationships with co-workers formed; and generally a good impression of Panama, contrary to the banking situation.
- Our flight wasn't until 1:00, so we slept in.
- We go downstairs to meet the guy from the temporary apartments who was to take us to the airport (the guy who didn't show up the first day to meet us with the keys).
- Even though we had thought we had confirmed with him what time he was to pick us up, Dad had the great suggestion of giving him a call to make sure he remembered. He didn't. But, thankfully he wasn't far away and we were not late for our flight.
- The flight to the US was fine. They even let me out of the country with my visa (which I had to get special permission for...I guess since the visa I have now is a temp visa while they're working on the permanent visa, you're not supposed to leave the country.)
- We arrive in Houston and are just worn out. We board the plane. There's an announcement that the landing gear is not working, so we have to deplane.
- Thankfully we were only delayed about an hour. It could have been much worse.
- We arrive home safely at about 10:00 PM and Danny and Shari (my fantastic neighbors) arrive to pick us up.
- THE END...but wait, it's not!
Situation as it stands today
- Still no bank account. Just today I was on the phone with the bank trying to iron out some details. And, this isn't funny anymore. I arrive in less than a month and without a bank account, I can't get paid. Without pay, I can't do ANYTHING. The situation is almost resolved, I think. Of course, as soon as I think that, something else goes wrong.
- I also found out today that I can't get the yellow fever shot that I need. Apparently there is a shortage here in the midwest. That's awesome. At least it's not required to enter the country. Update June 09: Found the yellow fever vaccination at Visiting Nurses Association. Just got the shot yesterday. It still hurts. But, at least I got it!
And finally, some pictures of Panama City and the apartment.
My building. It's brand new, so it's not quite finished. You can still see some of the bricks.
The pool at the apartment. There's a hot tub, a gym, and a sauna.
This is the main living/dining room. I'm standing just inside the front door of the apartment. That's dad there on the right.
A view of the same room, just from the other end.
The view of Panama City from my balcony. If I was up just a tiny bit higher, I'd be able to see the mountains a little better. But hey, I'm not complaining!
This is a picture of my bedroom from the bedroom door. My camera angle wasn't very good. But, you get the idea.
This is the view from the kitchen window. That's the ocean you see on the horizon. You can see the ships lining up for the canal from there. The entrance to the canal is blocked by the buildings, but it is over the far right, off the picture.
The view from the kitchen window of Calle 50, one of the main avenues in Panama City. You'll also see what is just a block from my building there: McDonald's. There's also a Dunkin Donuts across the street!
This is a view of Panama City from the temporary apartments where Dad and I stayed for the week.
The buses in Panama City are called Diablos Rojos (Red Devils). This is a rather mildly painted diablo rojo. They are very colorful. Generally they have people hanging out the windows as well. I don't think I'll try one of the diablo rojos for a few months.
This is the old Spanish monastery circa 1500 in the Casco Viejo (original part of the city)
The Casco Viejo is on a small peninsula and across the water is the new Panama City skyline. This is, of course, a very, very hot and sweaty me in front of the skyline while we were visiting the Casco Viejo.
This is you know who texting from the awesome orange couch in the temporary apartments. I was not thrilled that Dad was taking pictures of me. And, the look on my face, actually, sums up the whole trip!
This is my co-worker Pamela. She's from Mexico and will be working with me in Panama City. We are at the restaurant at the canal.
A view of the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal.
Another view of the locks.
The gates on the locks...you can see the water levels marked on the walls of the canal and how the gates swing shut. I'm still not sure how they hold back THAT much water. It was impressive.
Me at the canal museum with the map of the canal behind me.
Dad and me at the canal. Awww...And such was my house hunting/visa adventure. I would like it dually noted that this timeline of events does not accurately describe my feelings towards Panama or my moving there. I will, in the next post, post my Panama observations, things I noticed and have discovered, and explain how excited I really am to move there! I mean, come on, you've seen the view from my balcony. What more can I ask for?
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!).
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?
