It's been a long time coming, but I have finally received my Bachelor's degree! A paltry 13 years after the first attempt, I have attained my Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (Global Health) from Antioch University, Seattle.
Now, on to the next step...
If only I knew what that was right now.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Wrapping up Panama
OK, of course, there's more to talk about. I spent a further two weeks in Panama...one week finishing up life, the universe, and everything, and then a very fun week with Sky traveling around and generally having a good time. So...where to begin?
The last week of class was fine if unexceptional. Various folks left class at different points during the week; it was strange to feel like the last of the 'original' group (even though that wasn't the case) but good to get more studying in and feel like my Spanish definitely improved with the one-on-one classes that I received as a result. Ups and downs, right?
The last week of study/work followed the spirit of the previous three - fairly quiet, not a lot going on, just trying to get things to stick in my head, finding a drink or two in the evening to unwind and not worry about grad school, passing the time...Friday was officially my last day of class (amazingly, I had spent four weeks there!) and I was required to present "something" to the rest of the students. I decided to present the recipe for tiramisu that I had learned (and tweaked occasionally) at Bottega. That went fine, although colloquial usage for verbs having to do with cooking is, apparently, considerably different from dictionary-stated applications. Words for browning, pouring, etc., are not...hmm...what you might guess. That's how I learn, I suppose!
That pretty much does it for the last of my studies! Now I have to wrap up all the requisite bits to get my credits all lined up - writing some papers, doing an interview to verify I made progress with my Spanish skills, collating some photos and getting ready to finally receive my bachelor's degree in June!
I'll write up the tourist portion of our travels in the next post...that'll be the one with the fun stories.
The last week of class was fine if unexceptional. Various folks left class at different points during the week; it was strange to feel like the last of the 'original' group (even though that wasn't the case) but good to get more studying in and feel like my Spanish definitely improved with the one-on-one classes that I received as a result. Ups and downs, right?
The last week of study/work followed the spirit of the previous three - fairly quiet, not a lot going on, just trying to get things to stick in my head, finding a drink or two in the evening to unwind and not worry about grad school, passing the time...Friday was officially my last day of class (amazingly, I had spent four weeks there!) and I was required to present "something" to the rest of the students. I decided to present the recipe for tiramisu that I had learned (and tweaked occasionally) at Bottega. That went fine, although colloquial usage for verbs having to do with cooking is, apparently, considerably different from dictionary-stated applications. Words for browning, pouring, etc., are not...hmm...what you might guess. That's how I learn, I suppose!
That pretty much does it for the last of my studies! Now I have to wrap up all the requisite bits to get my credits all lined up - writing some papers, doing an interview to verify I made progress with my Spanish skills, collating some photos and getting ready to finally receive my bachelor's degree in June!
I'll write up the tourist portion of our travels in the next post...that'll be the one with the fun stories.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Semi-weekly update
Not a whole lot to talk about, actually. But a little retrospection for those who like such things.
Let's see...Since last Tuesday? I didn't go to the clinic at all last week, I instead focused on getting some Spanish into my head. Everything was going well until the subjunctive. Unlike most of the rest I've learned here, I've never learned the subjunctive before - I didn't get that far in High School. So I'm trying to learn tenses for which there is NO English equivalent for the first time. It's been going less than stellar. Oh, the conjugations are simple enough, but learning to recognize when I'm supposed to use the darn things and having it occur to me in mid-sentence is rough. It just takes practice, I'm sure.
I'm running into the 'standard' stumbling blocks of Spanish-for-English-speakers, but otherwise I feel like I've made good progress. While I'm not going to return to the States a fluent Spanish speaker, I have a lot more at my disposal and I can hold conversations with people I don't know, usually. Kind of depends on the accent. I can often follow any conversation with the exception of the occasional verb or noun, and while I might not recognize in the moment exactly which tense I'm hearing I get the gist more often than not.
Interestingly, with the Pig Flu Pandemic of 2009 happening, I've learned that I understand a lot more when I can see someone's lips moving as they talk. For instance, this week I'm in the clinic a lot (trying to get some of the 'medical' of my 'medical spanish'). They have required that the doctors and nurses wear face masks in the clinic, which extends to me. I've learned that my comprehension goes way down when the doctor is wearing her mask...often to a very, very low level. That's a bummer.
The time in the clinic otherwise is...well...not that exciting. But undoubtedly good for me. And I've had some neat discussions with the doctor.
Let's see...what else has been going on? Last weekend one of the students left (Bye, Akilah!) and the others headed out of town. While I briefly entertained the idea of going with Hank, Sara, and Dewi, I ultimately bowed out and just stayed home. It ended up being a relaxing weekend. I visited the Panama Canal Interoceanic Museum, which took hours actually, and was quite interesting. Unfortunately, it was a lot of reading. In Spanish. That was...quite the exercise. Neat stuff, plenty of words I didn't know, but I was pleased I went because (a) it was a good museum if you like that sort of thing and (b) I felt like I was able to actually understand almost all of the 2 floors worth of reading and exhibits. I had to pull out my dictionary from time to time, and it took a while, but all in all I was pleased with myself.
I also tried to visit the National Anthropological Museum (closed), the Afro-Antilleno Museum (closed), and one other museum (closed). The weekends are, apparently, not a good time to visit museums in Panama City. So I hit the mall, which was just like malls everywhere in the world except that they have better options in the food court (asado...mmm) and it didn't feel very "real". Sunday, then, I hit the "real" shopping area, Avenida Central, where Panamanians who aren't rich go to buy their t-shirts or what have you. I loved that. I literally spent hours just sitting in the Avenida with my Coke (followed by coffee) just absorbing the rhythm and pace of life, listening in on conversations, people watching...It was a good time. It was freaking hot, though. That was less nice.
Today at school (after being in the clinic, and after trying to comprehend the pluscuamperfecto tense) I learned to make arroz con coco (with frijoles), which is a lot like the gallo pinto Niall and family are eating in Costa Rica only different, somehow. The owner of the school is actually Costa Rican, and she went to great lengths to tell me that it was NOT the same thing and that this dish is afro-antilleno in origin as opposed to gallo pinto which is Costa Rican, but as near as I can tell the only difference is that arroz con coco includes some coconut milk. It's good stuff, though I think I'll spice it up a little bit if I make it at home.
Which brings me to the food of Panama City. The food has been less than stellar, edible and cheap though not delectable. I'm hoping when Sky and I get out and about a bit more it picks up a little. I think I had high hopes after Honduras - where I really liked the food. On the one hand, I like that I can get pretty tasty asado chicken pretty much everywhere, or even whole fried fish. On the other...well, I'm a bit tired of chicken. I've had the ceviche a few times (when we've been places it's offered), and it's tasty enough...I don't know that I was expecting to be floored by the food, but it's just seemed rather on the mediocre side. Perhaps part of the problem is that I have to find my own lunch every day, which means I've been eating out for the main meal of the day and the neighborhood in which I'm living only has so many options. That's probably a significant part of it, actually. Now, however, I kind of dread having to go to lunch, as it ends up a toss up of food court places which I've already eaten at a few times. I guess that should be a lesson to me - don't stay somewhere long enough the food can get 'old'! (we moved around a lot more frequently in Honduras).
Bright spots about food - when they've made me Panamdian food at home, it's been quite tasty. I've had many things whose names I have forgotten, but I recall sancocho (chicken soup), arroz con coco (see above), bufe (liver in criollo sauce), bollos (i think, fried corn fritter things), and tortillas (which are thick and dense and utterly unlike Mexican OR Honduran tortillas), also pollo asado, beef asado, some salad they make with potatoes and beets...it's nice to try new things! Also the ceviche is good pretty much uniformly good (ok, sometimes they're a little heavy on the acid, but i'd rather too much acid than uncooked fish). The whole fried fish you can get most places are often cooked excellently, which I would be hard pressed to find in the States. And they usually know how to make a very nice Cuba Libre (with the exception of the one place I expected them to know it, being the nightclub). So it's not fair to say the food is bad, it's not. I've just hit the point of 'been there, eaten that' for my little neighborhood.
Last thing, the whole country is in pre-election fever for elections being held this coming Sunday. Everywhere you look and any time you turn on the radio (or, presumably, the TV), it's all about the elections. Exciting times, apparently. The right-wing candidate is leading handily in the polls but all the real people I've talked to think that the social democrat is going to win. Regardless, there's going to be a big-ass party in the City on Monday. We'll just have to wait and see!
Let's see...Since last Tuesday? I didn't go to the clinic at all last week, I instead focused on getting some Spanish into my head. Everything was going well until the subjunctive. Unlike most of the rest I've learned here, I've never learned the subjunctive before - I didn't get that far in High School. So I'm trying to learn tenses for which there is NO English equivalent for the first time. It's been going less than stellar. Oh, the conjugations are simple enough, but learning to recognize when I'm supposed to use the darn things and having it occur to me in mid-sentence is rough. It just takes practice, I'm sure.
I'm running into the 'standard' stumbling blocks of Spanish-for-English-speakers, but otherwise I feel like I've made good progress. While I'm not going to return to the States a fluent Spanish speaker, I have a lot more at my disposal and I can hold conversations with people I don't know, usually. Kind of depends on the accent. I can often follow any conversation with the exception of the occasional verb or noun, and while I might not recognize in the moment exactly which tense I'm hearing I get the gist more often than not.
Interestingly, with the Pig Flu Pandemic of 2009 happening, I've learned that I understand a lot more when I can see someone's lips moving as they talk. For instance, this week I'm in the clinic a lot (trying to get some of the 'medical' of my 'medical spanish'). They have required that the doctors and nurses wear face masks in the clinic, which extends to me. I've learned that my comprehension goes way down when the doctor is wearing her mask...often to a very, very low level. That's a bummer.
The time in the clinic otherwise is...well...not that exciting. But undoubtedly good for me. And I've had some neat discussions with the doctor.
Let's see...what else has been going on? Last weekend one of the students left (Bye, Akilah!) and the others headed out of town. While I briefly entertained the idea of going with Hank, Sara, and Dewi, I ultimately bowed out and just stayed home. It ended up being a relaxing weekend. I visited the Panama Canal Interoceanic Museum, which took hours actually, and was quite interesting. Unfortunately, it was a lot of reading. In Spanish. That was...quite the exercise. Neat stuff, plenty of words I didn't know, but I was pleased I went because (a) it was a good museum if you like that sort of thing and (b) I felt like I was able to actually understand almost all of the 2 floors worth of reading and exhibits. I had to pull out my dictionary from time to time, and it took a while, but all in all I was pleased with myself.
I also tried to visit the National Anthropological Museum (closed), the Afro-Antilleno Museum (closed), and one other museum (closed). The weekends are, apparently, not a good time to visit museums in Panama City. So I hit the mall, which was just like malls everywhere in the world except that they have better options in the food court (asado...mmm) and it didn't feel very "real". Sunday, then, I hit the "real" shopping area, Avenida Central, where Panamanians who aren't rich go to buy their t-shirts or what have you. I loved that. I literally spent hours just sitting in the Avenida with my Coke (followed by coffee) just absorbing the rhythm and pace of life, listening in on conversations, people watching...It was a good time. It was freaking hot, though. That was less nice.
Today at school (after being in the clinic, and after trying to comprehend the pluscuamperfecto tense) I learned to make arroz con coco (with frijoles), which is a lot like the gallo pinto Niall and family are eating in Costa Rica only different, somehow. The owner of the school is actually Costa Rican, and she went to great lengths to tell me that it was NOT the same thing and that this dish is afro-antilleno in origin as opposed to gallo pinto which is Costa Rican, but as near as I can tell the only difference is that arroz con coco includes some coconut milk. It's good stuff, though I think I'll spice it up a little bit if I make it at home.
Which brings me to the food of Panama City. The food has been less than stellar, edible and cheap though not delectable. I'm hoping when Sky and I get out and about a bit more it picks up a little. I think I had high hopes after Honduras - where I really liked the food. On the one hand, I like that I can get pretty tasty asado chicken pretty much everywhere, or even whole fried fish. On the other...well, I'm a bit tired of chicken. I've had the ceviche a few times (when we've been places it's offered), and it's tasty enough...I don't know that I was expecting to be floored by the food, but it's just seemed rather on the mediocre side. Perhaps part of the problem is that I have to find my own lunch every day, which means I've been eating out for the main meal of the day and the neighborhood in which I'm living only has so many options. That's probably a significant part of it, actually. Now, however, I kind of dread having to go to lunch, as it ends up a toss up of food court places which I've already eaten at a few times. I guess that should be a lesson to me - don't stay somewhere long enough the food can get 'old'! (we moved around a lot more frequently in Honduras).
Bright spots about food - when they've made me Panamdian food at home, it's been quite tasty. I've had many things whose names I have forgotten, but I recall sancocho (chicken soup), arroz con coco (see above), bufe (liver in criollo sauce), bollos (i think, fried corn fritter things), and tortillas (which are thick and dense and utterly unlike Mexican OR Honduran tortillas), also pollo asado, beef asado, some salad they make with potatoes and beets...it's nice to try new things! Also the ceviche is good pretty much uniformly good (ok, sometimes they're a little heavy on the acid, but i'd rather too much acid than uncooked fish). The whole fried fish you can get most places are often cooked excellently, which I would be hard pressed to find in the States. And they usually know how to make a very nice Cuba Libre (with the exception of the one place I expected them to know it, being the nightclub). So it's not fair to say the food is bad, it's not. I've just hit the point of 'been there, eaten that' for my little neighborhood.
Last thing, the whole country is in pre-election fever for elections being held this coming Sunday. Everywhere you look and any time you turn on the radio (or, presumably, the TV), it's all about the elections. Exciting times, apparently. The right-wing candidate is leading handily in the polls but all the real people I've talked to think that the social democrat is going to win. Regardless, there's going to be a big-ass party in the City on Monday. We'll just have to wait and see!
Friday, April 24, 2009
figured it out
no thanks to you all...though the photo is poor, the below bird is a crimson-backed tanager. Very striking bird in person.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Another ident, please
There are lots of neat birds here, unfortunately they're often juuuuust out of range of my non-telephoto lens, and then they like to sit in the shade. Which is fair, I suppose, as I like to sit in the shade myself.
In any case, as a result I had to push the exposure on this shot up pretty far after the fact to make out the color, and it's nowhere near as brilliant as it is in person. It's a bright blood red rump and breast - quite striking. And the beak is actually white, that's not glare.
So...what bird?
(it also hates to sit still...I've seen the bloody thing a half dozen times, now, but by the time I get my camera raised, it's gone! I can't understand why anyone would want to try to take pictures of birds for a living - talk about frustrating!)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Ident, please
Can someone tell me what bird this is? I haven't seen it before today, when it showed up in my yard.
unrelated update
Just got offered an internship for the summer. Still on the waitlist at the UW, but this is very cool nonetheless.
At least now I know what I'll be doing this summer!
At least now I know what I'll be doing this summer!
Comings and goings
So, since last week I've been keeping busy, mostly trying to stay focused on classes and really getting this Spanish stuff down. However, there's always a little time for fun as well, no?
A brief recap - since I'm supposed to be finishing my homework.
Made a visit to Casco Viejo, an old colonial section of Panama City with lots of artisanal shops and old plazas. It also seems to have a very high concentration of squatters - buildings people are living in without paying rent because, well, no one would ever be willing to pay rent for the kind of buildings they are. In that regard it was a fairly stark contrast - upscale restaurants catering to the tourist crowd, expensive 'hand-made' indigenous crafts, and then old gutted buildings where the poor live. Very curious. A neat area, though.
Also made a visit to a peatonal, a pedestrian mall, though inadvertently. We were trying to get to a museum but it had closed before its posted hours (surprise!). The three of us ended up walking around a bit and stumbled across this street where actual people were buying actual things...I like finding those places. They freak out some people, but I really enjoy the sense of 'normalcy' that accompanies centers of activity for the real population. That was fun.
On Saturday we made another trip to the Causeway, only this time there were things open. That was nice as well, very quiet, got a nice walk in, the sights were much the same as before except this time with people and we could have lunch and a batido. Mine was of guanábana, or sour sop. It wasn't very good - not because of the sour sop, but rather from not enough fruit in it - but the principle was nice.
On Saturday night we went dancing. Five students and one of the teachers from school (and her friend) went to a dance-club area of Panama City, whose name escapes me, but we spent about three hours in Lugos, an indoor, air conditioned dance club. However, aircon only goes so far when it's just plain hot and there are a couple hundred people mashed together. While the dancing was fun, and I learned a little bit of the bachata and a panamanian dance called the tipico. The strangest thing, though was when everybody got up (a rarity, unfortunately) to dance what was...the electric slide! (granted, it had a latin flair...but there's no mistaking that dance). In any case, it was a fine time though not quite the exceptional dance experience I was expecting out of a very fashionable capital city. Oh well.
Sunday we made a trip to another student's house where she prepared us a fabulous typical panamanian lunch with oven roasted chicken, ropa vieja, salad, plantains, rice and guandú. Very tasty, we spent the afternoon sitting on the porch looking out over the city, the eight of us even played a round spanish scrabble (!).
My team won. :)
A brief recap - since I'm supposed to be finishing my homework.
Made a visit to Casco Viejo, an old colonial section of Panama City with lots of artisanal shops and old plazas. It also seems to have a very high concentration of squatters - buildings people are living in without paying rent because, well, no one would ever be willing to pay rent for the kind of buildings they are. In that regard it was a fairly stark contrast - upscale restaurants catering to the tourist crowd, expensive 'hand-made' indigenous crafts, and then old gutted buildings where the poor live. Very curious. A neat area, though.
Also made a visit to a peatonal, a pedestrian mall, though inadvertently. We were trying to get to a museum but it had closed before its posted hours (surprise!). The three of us ended up walking around a bit and stumbled across this street where actual people were buying actual things...I like finding those places. They freak out some people, but I really enjoy the sense of 'normalcy' that accompanies centers of activity for the real population. That was fun.
On Saturday we made another trip to the Causeway, only this time there were things open. That was nice as well, very quiet, got a nice walk in, the sights were much the same as before except this time with people and we could have lunch and a batido. Mine was of guanábana, or sour sop. It wasn't very good - not because of the sour sop, but rather from not enough fruit in it - but the principle was nice.
On Saturday night we went dancing. Five students and one of the teachers from school (and her friend) went to a dance-club area of Panama City, whose name escapes me, but we spent about three hours in Lugos, an indoor, air conditioned dance club. However, aircon only goes so far when it's just plain hot and there are a couple hundred people mashed together. While the dancing was fun, and I learned a little bit of the bachata and a panamanian dance called the tipico. The strangest thing, though was when everybody got up (a rarity, unfortunately) to dance what was...the electric slide! (granted, it had a latin flair...but there's no mistaking that dance). In any case, it was a fine time though not quite the exceptional dance experience I was expecting out of a very fashionable capital city. Oh well.
Sunday we made a trip to another student's house where she prepared us a fabulous typical panamanian lunch with oven roasted chicken, ropa vieja, salad, plantains, rice and guandú. Very tasty, we spent the afternoon sitting on the porch looking out over the city, the eight of us even played a round spanish scrabble (!).
My team won. :)
Friday, April 17, 2009
Finally, some pictures
Took a while because of technical difficulties, but I finally have some pictures to share!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Parque Natural Metropolitano
The closest thing to a "Central Park" here in Panama City, except that it's a rainforest. And it has lots of trails. I just got back and need to get the DEET off me (it burns us!) but just a quick recap - managed to spy agutí, coatí, a tucán, and perezoso de tres dedos.
There were lots of other birds I don't know, and at least one massive tropical downpour. I have, of course, forgotten my SD card reader, so I need to find a USB cable tomorrow to transfer pictures. No pictures of the tucán, though. Sorry.
There were lots of other birds I don't know, and at least one massive tropical downpour. I have, of course, forgotten my SD card reader, so I need to find a USB cable tomorrow to transfer pictures. No pictures of the tucán, though. Sorry.
Panama...first recounting
--- warning - since I got ditched somehow by my family this morning instead of going to mass, I had a bit of time on my hands and this got rather long ---
Dad gently reminded me yesterday that I have yet to post any updates on the current trip to Panama.
I confess this is due to one part laziness, one part general apathetic fugue, and one part inconvenience. Laziness should need no explanation, and inconvenience can be summed up with "lack of internet at home" + "la Semana Santa in a Catholic country" (which could be roughly translated as "nothing is open"). The general apathetic fugue comes in from the fact that nothing has been open and my free time has been, well, fairly non-dramatic.
But I suppose some of you aren't looking for the dramatic, but what's happened, generally and specifically, over the course of the last week. OK, I'll oblige.
I arrived on Sunday night after an awfully long day of flying having had to get to the airport at...ah...well, "early". When I arrived I was transported to a previous time (em...2006, specifically) by the smell of burning trash hanging in the air. It was abysmally hot and
humid - especially given that it was 9:00 at night. Oh, and my driver wasn't there. I was supposed to be met by a driver to take me to my new living quarters, he was to be holding a sign with perhaps my name, or maybe the name of the school. They said I should just look for
either.
He eventually showed up - after only abut 45 minutes. I figured I would give him an hour before I called someone - I had re-entered Latin America, after all, and Gringo punctuality doesn't generally rank high on the totem pole of social norms.
We had a nice chat coming from the airport to my family's house. Panamanian Spanish is not too difficult to understand, at least not generally, and with a few exceptions I was able to understand the chatter and make myself understood - this, actually, was pretty phenomenal. Among the tidbits of information I acquired from my taxi ride: it's holy week, nothing is going to be open. The school ("ILERI") is very good. May 1st again nothing will be open for May Day (a big deal in Latin America...and other places as well, I suppose). There will be a big party on international workers day. Then on May 3rd (the day after Sky gets here) there will be national presidential elections (nothing will be open), followed by nothing being open on May 4th in order to appropriately celebrate whichever party's victory. Big party. Reggaeton was actually invented in Panama, not in Puerto Rico - to verify this you simply have to ask any Panamaño, apparently. The political candidates make a lot of promises, but nothing is going to change. That won't stop us from having a big party, though.
It was a nice way to flex some much disused Spanish language, crack through the recent French I'd been studying (which is still a problem at times - especially with articles), etc.
We after some 20 minutes or so, we arrived at my host mother's house. It's a nice, smallish house on a hill in a neighborhood called Altos de El Dorado (hills/heights of El Dorado), which is a nice, unexceptional suburban sort of district on the western side of the city. I was shown to my room - which is, rather, a small apartment located at the rear of the house, on the second floor. I have my own "suite", which includes a sitting room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. The sitting room doesn't have a fan or anything, though, so I don't spend much time over there. It's very nice, if a bit separate feeling from the family. I was kind of hoping to be a bit more 'in the middle' of things so that I would be overhearing family chatter and the like. Ah, well. It's nice to have privacy and such.
Lucy is a retired midwife who lives with her daughter, Lizzy, her ___, Luiz (I haven't pinned down that relationship), and I think she provides resident care for an elderly man, but I don't know who he is or what the deal is there, and I haven't figure out how to ask politely. She's very nice, probably in her 70s, and not the most talkative but will chat with me while I eat dinner or breakfast or the like. She has been to the states a few times, has a sister in Pennsylvania, etc. Luiz drives a taxi for a cab company in the city, Lizzy does...well, I'm not sure, but I know she is in classes some evenings. They have one other boarder, who I've only encountered once, named Luna, who is a volunteer from Korea. She will spend a total of 2 years here, she volunteers at a kindergarten. I gather that this is quite common, and there are a lot of volunteers in Panama from Asia, especially Korea, but I haven't figured out how this works just yet.
Let's see...Monday morning I got dropped off at the school by Luiz, met the director of the school, and they threw me into an exam to see where I would fall. I felt...well, "OK" about my abilities, and ended up on the 'advanced intermediate' track (imagine!) and spent the day working with one of the instructors, Raquel. It went fine, we went over the imperfect tense a bit, practiced talking, etc. They close up shop at lunch, so another student and I - Kinji, a doctor from California - went to find some lunch at a cafeteria a little ways away. It was pretty good - the platos tipicos generally include Creole fish or roasted chicken, mashed potatoes or patacones (which I've always called tostones, but they're both smashed fried plantains) and some kind of uninspiring veggie. I will admit that, thusfar, the plato tipico in Honduras was much more yummi. Mmm. And I haven't yet seen any pupusas or the like, which is disappointing - I really liked those. The food so far seems to be...hmm...just fine, if unexciting. As I understand another student friend, it's very similar to Jamaican food, only without the heat. Bummer!
In any case, lunch went fine, back to school for a little practice of medical spanish, which was also fine if uneventful. Returned to the house at midafternoon, not a lot going on, so I tried to wander around a bit, watched some telenovelas, eventually had dinner (which is a re-heated version of what the family had for lunch), and went to bed. End of day one! No drama, but nothing blowing me away either.
I'm going to forgo the play-by-play now, and instead focus on the recap. Tuesday I went with the instructor and another student, Akilah (med student from Georgia), to a clinic in a sleepy town called Paraiso, in the former canal zone. I pretty much was just introduced to the administrator and the doctor (so that I could come back again later) and then we left. I'll talk more about the clinic once I have a better sense of the place.
Tuesday afternoon we visited the much vaunted "Panama Canal Locks at Miraflores". This was neat, but really nothing that exciting. The Poe Lock at the Soo Locks is bigger, the lakers are bigger ships in general than the Panamax, and so...well, it was neat but really not that wild. I guess maybe I'm spoiled on locks and ships given my previous exposures? It's neat to see the Panamax fully loaded with containers transiting the locks, but it didn't really wow me.
On Wednesday I tried to get to the clinic early enough to be carried along to a distant health post in indigenous territory, but traffic put a distinct crimp in that plan. Food - Oooh - also on Wednesday I had bacalao at the tiny restaurant in Paraiso. That was tasty.
Thursday nothing happened. Food - I had Sancocho at school, which is a traditional Panamanian dish. It's actually just chicken soup. Really. There's very little different about it, except that the chicken is in big chunks and there's no veggies to speak of involved. Well, there's ñame, but I don't know if you would consider it a vegetable. It was ok-tasty. Salty, though.
Friday was Good Friday, and nothing was open. Three of us students (there are currently six students at the school. All yankees, unfortunately) decided to head out to The Causeway during the day to stroll and take pictures. Normally, the Causeway is sort of "The Strip" of Panama City, apparently. It's the place to go to see and be seen, it has a lot of restaurants and bars, American restaurant chains, moorage for your boats, etc. Nothing was open though, so we just strolled along and took some photos, chatted about how it was going so far. Of note - it is ILLEGAL to sell alcohol in Panama on Good Friday. In the grocery store, the aisles with the beer and booze had great big Xs on them made of masking tape and signs everywhere saying IT'S PROHIBITED. That was kind of interesting. After we returned from the Causeway...ah...nothing happened, actually. I studied up on my spanish.
Yesterday, Saturday, we tried to get out a bit again, and we took a ferry to the nearby island of Taboga, a small island in the bay of Panama. It features a very small town on one side, a couple of small beaches, and a few hotels and laid back restaurants. We decided on Taboga because our teachers said it wouldn't be too crazy on the holiday - everybody goes to other beaches instead. The ferry ride was nice, although the humidity is such that you can't get good shots of the skyline or anything. The beach was perfectly acceptable, we did have to shell out to rent an umbrella for the day from the jovens who are in charge of such things. It was not an especially carribean experience, but then we are on the Pacific side, after all. The water was cool and refreshing, the beach was functional (not crystal white carribean but more like Park Point). It was a fine way to waste away a Saturday. It reminded me a lot of the Ile de Goree outside of Dakar - very relaxed, bright colonial architecture, people visiting the beach from the city on the weekends. It was very pleasant.
Some notes:
Panama City is quite large. There are a lot of places I've yet to get to see, which include the downtown and the Old City, which I'm quite looking forward to. The closest city I can compare it to is probably Buenos Aires, though it seems not as large. However, it's certainly more developed-world feeling than the other developing world capitals I've been to. I gather it has about 1.5 million of the country's 3 million inhabitants. There are plenty of sky-scrapers on the skyline.
The part of the city I live in is remarkably clean and appears quite safe, although I have been told a couple of times not be out on my own on foot after nine in the evening. I'm not quite sure why but so far haven't pushed it. Houses have water, which we drink FROM THE TAP - which is exciting and new, and, admittedly, a little disconcerting at first - but nobody has a hot water tap. The city, at least, is quite modern in its amenities and expectations; for instance, people stop at
red lights. Heck, there ARE red lights.
Panama uses the dollar as its currency, and US coins as well, although they mint Balboas which are the exact same size as US coins so supplement the change system. US quarters and Panamanian quartos, for example, are used interchangeably. Dollar based currency at least in
the city results in things being more expensive than I was expecting. Taxi ride to the causeway (15 minutes) is about $5, lunch in the city is $6-7, etc.
There is no effective public transportation system in the city. The system is a combination of taxis, diablos rojos, and sacas. The taxis aren't always interested in going where you want to go (e.g., I flag down a taxi with no rider, say I want to go to Bethania, he shakes his head and drives on. What the? This happened to me three times the other day - I had three taxis decline to take me somewhere, without even haggling on the price. Strange). Diablos Rojos are big old US school buses painted fantastic colors that ply the streets. By all accounts they're quite dangerous, but I think that's mostly bluster. Certainly, they don't drive especially well. I've yet to summon the courage to take one, based largely on the fact that the only way you know where they're going is by the sign on the window, and you have to understand the relationship between and know the names of all the various neighborhoods if you want to get from one place to another. It's on my to-do list for next week. Saca's are the way to go, except that they are only inter-city (I take a Saca to Paraiso, for example). They're also big old US school buses, but are much less gaudily festooned, and behave much more acceptably (OK, they are also undoubtedly less fun). It also only costs about $0.35 to ride the Saca the 45 minutes to Paraiso, which is nice.
The lifestyle in my household compares to Argentina unfavorably from my perspective. For example, the other day I returned home and Lucy, Luiz, and Lizy, were all in their respective rooms, all with the TV on, all watching the SAME THING, but by themselves. Granted, I'm not ever home for lunch - which is as I understand it the 'family' time of the day - but there seems to be very little group social interaction in the household. I have picked up on much the same from the other students about their host families. I think I'm a little disappointed that there's no late nights sitting on the patio drinking wine and hanging out with each other, but to each their own, right?
Anywhoo, that's it for my first week. I'm hoping this next week to get out and about a bit more and see some more of the city as well as learn more about Panamanian life and culture. I understand that Panama has some of the most intact native communities of the entire Americas,
for instance. I'm planning this afternoon on going for a walk through the Metropolitan National Park, which is supposed to have a lot of wildlife.
In general? I'm enjoying myself, and the place is 'normal' enough to not be a reach for me to be able to relax and feel like I can make progress on my language skills, which is why I'm here right now, after all. If anyone has any questions, feel free to comment on my blog - I decided to give another go at keeping it up.
Take care all. Keep an eye on skype if you want to chat sometime!
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Taj Lloyd Munson
phone: +1 206 925-3273
skype: tajmunson
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