Monthly Archives: March 2015

Birthdays!

So last weekend (Saturday, March 21) was my birthday.  At the last minute, I decided to be brave and invite over the capoeira group – who I barely know, but who are my best friends in Panama – for drinks and snacks at our apartment.  We live right near where we practice, so I didn’t think it would be inconvenient for folks.  It was an odd thing.  I had no idea what sort of get-togethers this group usually had.  Do they get together at people’s houses?  Do they go out usually?  Do they drink or are they the super dedicated to their health types?  How much food should I have prepared?  Who will come?  Are they going to feel obligated to come but not really want to?  Am I enough a part of the group to invite them?  So many questions!  I was pretty nervous.

The plan was for me to go to Capoeira practice from 4-6 and then for folks to come over after that.  Only 7 people made it out that day, but that was fine by me.  Why, you ask?  Because I found out that it is tradition on a capoerista’s birthday for there to be a roda and for the birthday person to play capoeira with everyone in the roda.  In case you’re wondering, I still know next to nothing.  I have no moves.  I don’t look cool doing this stuff.  I have no stamina.  So as each person got out into the roda with me, I was just trying to throw a few kicks, ginga a little, and breathe until the whole thing was over.  Yes, it was really nice to have this honor, but gosh, I had no idea what I was doing.  Awesome.

After practice, everyone looked like they were pretty much giving their regrets and heading home.  Everyone, that is, accept Moisés, my buddy who was the guy to help me out in the first roda on my first day of practice.  He told me he was going to shower and come over later.

I texted Moi a bit later to let him know that, as far as I knew, he was the only one coming over, and of course he was still welcome, but I didn’t want him to feel obligated.  Eric had suggested this b/c he knew how weird he would feel walking into a house for a birthday party for someone he didn’t know well and finding out he was the only guest.  Yikes.  Anyway, about two hours after we expected him to show up, he came…with three other guys!  Yay!

We ended up hanging out, mostly on the balcony, until almost 1 am.  For them, probably not too late, but for us, that was probably the latest (non-hospital) night that we’ve had since we’ve been here.  It was a lot of fun.  Once Eric had a couple of drinks, he loosened up enough to speak some Spanish, and most of the guys understood at least a little English, so he was able to communicate with them too.  Here’s the group:

George, Dario, Me, Moi, Antonio (Árabe)

George, Dario, Me, Moi, Antonio (Árabe)

I was really happy that they came, and very glad that Eric was gracious enough to help me host some folks that he didn’t understand completely.  It was a wonderful birthday.

Oh, Eric also made some tortillas de maíz for us – these wonderful little fried corn cake things – and one of the Panamanians complimented him on his frying talent.  Someone decided that putting salsa on them was a good idea, although I prefer to eat them plain.

Tortilla de maíz

The Tuesday following my birthday, March 24th, I went to capoeira practice and my new friend Lourdes and her fiancé Mono (well, his real name is David, but his capoeira name is Mono, or Monkey) surprised me with a birthday present!  Completely unexpected and unnecessary, but very very sweet.  Here’s what they gave me:

Regalo de Lourdes y Mono

At the end of practice, Mono called everyone together and he presented me with the official CDO (Cordao de Ouro – the name of our group) Panamá shirt!  I was really honored.  It made me feel like I’m officially a part of the group.  Here’s what it looks like…not that y’all care, but this was a big deal for me.

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So, skipping forward a bit…yesterday, Sunday, Eric and I went to Juan Pablo’s house (another Capoeira friend…we don’t know anyone besides these folks) for his birthday party.  He lives with his folks still in this house at the top of this hill that has a great view of the Bridge of the Americas, which is over part of the Canal.  The directions to get there were ridiculous.  He basically dropped a pin on a Google Map when he was home and sent it to us via WhatsApp, then sent us verbal directions via WhatsApp, along with photos of landmarks along the way.  All of this, mind you, is because addresses do not exist in this silly country.  We still had to guess quite a bit about where we were going.  I said things along the way like, “yes, I think that looks like the tree from the picture.  See how that branch looks like this one?”  Seriously.  That’s how it went.  Ridiculous.  But we made it.

And it was so much fun!  Everyone was outside, and luckily it was shady and breezy enough to be comfortable.  There was a grill area that was covered and that’s where all the food and drinks were set up.  All of the capoeira folks were there, along with a few of Juan Pablo’s friends from school, plus lots of family members.  We spent a lot of time getting to know a Brazilian couple who happens to live in the building right next to us.  We figured this out because the woman, Jessica, posted this photo on Facebook one day:

Rainy day in Panama 3.20.15

I saw it and thought “wow!  That’s almost like our view!  She must live nearby!”  So I went out to our balcony and tried to compare our view to hers to see where she lived.  Here’s the photo from the same day, but a few hours later, from our balcony:

From our balcony

So I figured out that they were to the left of us and not up as high.  I didn’t want to post the photo on Facebook or say anything at that point though b/c we hadn’t talked much yet and I didn’t want to seem creepy.  I told her and her husband all of this on Sunday and they thought it was hilarious.  I’m hoping we’ll get to hang out with them more.  They seemed like fun.

In the middle of the party, we had a roda for Juan Pablo.  It was a tiny little area that we had, so it was pretty intense and a few folks fell over on the brick grill area.  Looked painful.  I wasn’t sorry that I was in a dress and heels.  I just played the tambourine and the double cowbell-looking thing and clapped and enjoyed watching.  A few photos from the day:

 

Ready for the roda. Moi in the center in blue (kneeling) and Juan Pablo, the birthday boy, on the right.
Mono, Moisés, y Antonio (Árabe) playing the berimbau (the long bow-like instrument with the gourd at the bottom that acts as an amplifier) and singing.
Mono and Lourdes
Lourdes (in orange, upside-down) and Juan Pablo.
The birthday boy and his sweet girlfriend Ana.
Jessie, formerly featured flying through the air at the performance a few weeks ago, is originally from the DC area. Jessica is from Brazil and is the one who lives in the building next door. Both really sweet women.
One girl had to kick off her shoes in the middle of the roda, so Moi proceeded to use them to keep rhythm. I was just trying to think hard enough to play the tambourine without messing up too badly. I don’t know how I’m going to sing in Portuguese and play an instrument at the same time.

And lastly, a random photo of Juan Pablo upside-down on a beach somewhere that he shared with us.  Pretty cool.

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My parents are here this week, so we’ll see whether I have time to share photos a little at a time or whether it’s one long post after they leave…

Addie’s here!!!

Addie flew in from Atlanta last night, and she got to be the first one off the plane!

My parents, and my Dad in particular, have been working tirelessly to get together all the paperwork necessary to get our sweet girl down here to us.  Beth, our friend and vet who I’ve referenced several times in the blog, was also key in helping us to understand the process.  One of the more stressful parts was that everything had to happen within 10 days of her flying down, so there was little room for error.

Addie’s vet records had to be sent from two different vet offices in Raleigh to a vet in Asheville. My dad then took her to the Asheville vet so that vet could fill out this official USDA form saying she was healthy enough to fly.  That form was overnighted to NY to the USDA headquarters or whatever for their approval.  It was overnighted back to my dad.  Dad and I then wrote up an affidavit for him to sign and have notarized.  He then drove to Raleigh after spending some time on the phone with the Secretary of State’s office to be sure of exactly what paper’s needed to be notarized and what needed to be apostilled (I had never heard of it either – basically internationally accepted notarizing).   His new BFF at that office had the health form apostilled quickly, so he drove back to Asheville that same day.

After all of that, he still had to get the right size crate that was flight approved, buy flight approved hardware for it, make sure the appropriate bedding was in it, tape all of her stuff to the top of it, write all of our info on it with a Sharpie, then, b/c he loves her and us, he drove all the way to Atlanta so she could have a direct flight!!!  He had to get her there about 5 hours early just because that’s what Delta insists upon, and the poor dog wasn’t allowed to get out of her crate during that whole time even though Dad offered to stay and walk her before she boarded the plane.  This is her in the Delta cargo area.  She looks happy enough!  They let her keep her favorite raccoon toy with her (they put it in the crate after the photo)!

 

In the crate in Delta Cargo at the Atlanta airport

In the crate in Delta Cargo at the Atlanta airport

Phew!  So on our end, we had to turn in a form at least three days prior to her arrival asking for home quarantine.  We also had to figure out how we were going to manage to get to the right part of the airport between 9:10 pm (her arrival time) and 11 pm (closing time) so we could bring her home last night.  The best way I know how to do anything that involves the government or any kind of red tape is to call our friend Jorge.  He knows everyone, he’s charming, and he knows how to get things done.

Of course Jorge just happened to know a woman who I understood to be someone who worked in the customs department at the airport.  I imagined a younger woman who just happened to be the one at the counter where we would need to go.  Jorge also has a neighbor with a big van that Addie’s crate would fit into.  Great.  Ready to go.

When we got there, Jorge told me that this contact of his actually works with Presidents and diplomats that visit Panama.  She’s kind of a big deal.  She’s around 60 or so and was pretty intimidating.  While Eric waited with Jorge and his friend, she ushered me past security and to a window where I (nervously) exchanged my passport for some kind of security clearance.  All the while, she was yelling at people to get things done and read the emails she just sent them and generally being completely in charge of everything.  I was just doing my best to understand her accent.

She eventually took me to a room that smelled a little like dogs and a little like plants that said something about the department of quarantine….something…where I was asked to sit on an old leather couch.  Occasionally people came in and out to watch parts of the baseball game that was on.  I spent most of the time responding to WhatsApp messages from Eric who seemed to be freaking out wondering where his dog was, but was actually just really really bored and/or jealous because he wasn’t playing super fancy airport person with me.  The long and short of it is that after about 40 minutes, I found out that Addie’s plane had come in early, but didn’t have a gate, so they had had to wait.  But the second they got to a gate, she was rushed straight to me, thanks to Jorge’s friend.  I still don’t know her name.  We were treated as total VIPs.  It was amazing.

Seeing Addie for the first time was so exciting, although I didn’t get to enjoy it for long because I was on Important Lady’s time and we were always in a hurry.  We took Addie out to the boys then went back upstairs to retrieve my passport.  Jorge then informed me that I was supposed to give this woman a big tip – I was thinking like a Southerner and wondering what kind of thank you note and gift were appropriate! – so I “slyly” handed her a good sum of money and thanked her profusely.  Had we not had her and Jorge, I have no idea how we would’ve managed to get Addie out of there.

Eric quickly got Addie to some grass, then allowed me to take a few pictures to show my parents that Addie had arrived safely.

She's here!

Then we headed HOME!  She took about 30 minutes to check out the apartment, to figure out all the many doors to the balcony and how that worked, and to catch up on her water consumption.

This morning I took her for a walk around 8:30 our time, and it was already pretty hot.  She was panting pretty hard when we got back.  I think we might need to get her hair cut so she can withstand the weather here!  At least there is plenty of cool floor for her to lay on.

And anyone who knows her will not be too surprised to hear that she immediately took to placing pieces of food all over the apartment.  She even has some carefully “hidden” in the carpet.  Perfect.

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