Dumped Trump, conquered the bank, and back to church

I joined an online Expat group called InterNations before we left, and they have a pretty healthy chapter here in Panama. We had planned to go to an event at Trump Tower on Friday night – over 130 people had RSVPed! – but Eric wasn’t feeling well, so we bailed. We’ll make it over there at some point, and there will be other InterNations events. I wondered, when we were thinking about going, what language do you use when you start conversations? The website is all in English, but people post in Spanish sometimes, and everyone posts the languages they speak on their profile. I guess you start in English and just see how it goes? Or maybe you start in Spanish b/c you’re in Panama? I’m not sure. Sounds awkward. I don’t do awkward well, although I’m doing a lot of it here.

I guess I managed to not write about my trip to the bank on Friday. As an aside, I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to write about something twice, so please forgive me if I do. I do actually sometimes go back and read what I write to make sure I don’t do that, but you never know. Okay, aside over. So I was super nervous about this trip to the bank. Everyone had been saying that all these banks hate dealing with Americans b/c the US has made it such a pain for Panamanian banks to work with us b/c of whatever paperwork they have to do and blah, blah, blah. But we really need to get a bank account. So there’s some pressure on me. And Eric’s frustrated, and rightly so, that I’ve put off going for a little while. Oh, and PS, I have to manage all of this in Spanish. And everyone has told me that Panamanians don’t care at all about customer service, so they’re usually not super nice about stuff like this. Great. I’m super excited about that cause I NEVER take it personally when people are mean or even lukewarm to me.

Well, as it turns out, the worst part was finding the stupid bank! It was in the Albrook Mall, which is just a few stops down on Metro. Unfortunately, once you get off Metro, you have to navigate the biggest mall in the whole world. Pretty sure that’s accurate. After about 25 minutes of wandering and getting more and more nervous and sweaty-palmed, I called Eric, told him I was at the Delfín (dolphin) and that I couldn’t find the hipopotamo (really? you can figure that one out). Did I explain earlier that the whole navigational system in this mall is based on sectors that are named based on the giant animal statute in the middle of that sector? So the poor bank, this professional institution, has to say on its website that it is in the mall near the hippopotamus entrance. Ridiculous. So Eric guides me past the dolphin, the pinguino, the carousel in the food court, the rinosaurante or whatever, and finally, I see the hipopotamo…and the bank.

And this is where you find out that the story is pretty anticlimactic b/c the guy at the bank was completely nice. Of course they allow Americans to open bank accounts! My Spanish was pretty killer, if not completely grammatically correct, and we managed to talk through all of the requirements for us to get a bank account. I was out of there in 10 minutes.

Iglesia – Parte 2

We went back to the same tiny presbyterian church yesterday. Eric was frustrated with me for being a little late. We showed up at the apartment at 3:06 or so instead of 3:00 when it was supposed to start. The Lees, our new missionary friends, were already waiting in the lobby. The first Panamanians, however, including one of the lay pastors, didn’t show up until 3:47. The last of them to show up – the pastor who preached last week – got there at 4:12. Eric was keeping careful watch over this…I suppose in preparation for next week. The good news, I suppose, was that we had more than 6 of us there this week. I think there was a total of 12, including the 18 month old who ran around, screamed, wiggled, laughed, cried, and whined through the whole thing. Here are a few photos.

Michael Lee preached this week. It was good to hear that even after all of his time in Costa Rica and Mexico, his Spanish wasn’t perfect. Or maybe that was disheartening…I’m not sure. Either way, I could certainly understand his sermon a lot better than last week’s because it was a lot slower.

After the sermon, I had a good little chat with a few of the women that I hadn’t met before. One was a lawyer, and she explained a bit about how law school and practicing law worked in Panama. The other women asked why Eric and I moved here and were glad to hear that our main reason for being here was for me to learn Spanish. They were very encouraging, and I found their accents easier to understand than some. Maybe they were just speaking slowly for me. Either way, Eric noticed that things were going well and encouraged me when we left.

We’re supposed to have Bible study at another apartment nearby on Wednesday night. The Panamanian pastor, Pablo, specifically said it would be from 7 to 8 pm. I have no idea how to interpret that time. It’s at an American’s apartment though, so I guess I’ll be there at 7 and we’ll see how it goes. I’ll make sure to eat dinner beforehand though!

Dinner last night was at a Chinese place. It’s always a little funny to eat one kind of non-US restaurant in a different country that’s not the US. Is ethnic an okay word to use for food? Or is that bad? I specifically phrased that sentence so I didn’t use the word “ethnic” for food b/c I wasn’t sure. That’s why it was such an awkward sentence. Anyway, we ordered Chinese food in Spanish and actually did pretty well for ourselves. Always good to discover a good Chinese restaurant in a new place. Now if only we can find the cheap place near home that delivers…

Oh, so apparently I didn’t do a good job of following up about the bugs, and one friend said she was desperate to hear the end of that story. We thought that the last I told you was the end of the story, but Diana, thanks a lot, I think you jinxed us. We keep finding wings all over the bedroom floor, but no wormy bug things. This worries me. Today one wormy bug flew in through the window, so we took the half-busted vacuum cleaner to the window sill and tried to suck some of them out of the track where the window slides back and forth. Eric almost let the whole vacuum slip out the window and down nine stories when a lizard popped up on the side of the wall and scared the crap out of him.

In short, the bug saga continues. I’m ready to move to our new place. Not that we have one yet, but the one I’m imagining doesn’t have flying worms. Shocker.

Now, you didn’t ask for this, and it has nothing to do with Panama, but my niece Laine turns 5 on February 1 and had a ninja bday party this weekend. It was apparently the most amazing thing ever, and I’m going to forever regret missing it. It took place at a karate school of some kind called White Tiger, or something equally awesome. There was a ninja demonstration, a lesson of some sort, some kicking and punching, a zipline, and Laine got to cut her cake with a sword. For a girl who is completely obsessed with the TMNTs (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for those of you who aren’t children of the 80’s), it must’ve been heaven. Indulge me by pretending to care about the following photos.

Cutting the cake with a sword!

I don’t know what a gold belt is, but I’m pretty sure it’s higher than a black belt.

Look at the focus!

Sheer determination. Eye of the Tiger. The White Tiger, evidently.

Tracking down the church & Texting us for Free!

First I want to share photos from our going-away party last week. Eric’s brother, Ray, and his wife, Jennifer, were incredibly welcoming to all of our friends and family as they shared their home with everyone for a big send-off party on January 3. Jennifer prepared an amazing spread that everyone enjoyed, there was a full bar, the last of the wine and beer from our wedding (7 months later!), and tons of friends and family who drove from all over to wish us well. Our sweet friends Jake and Brittany even drove all the way from Pittsboro (over an hour?!) after another party to be with us. It was all very special, and we felt very loved. Here are some photos from that night. I just regret that we didn’t get one of our hosts!

The Bruton Girls! It was a wonderful surprise when Lauren walked in. She spent a year in Mexico, so we enjoyed listening to her stories and wisdom. “It’s not wrong, it’s just different.”

Diana and Kevin

Sonal!

The “Panamanian” outfit that Jennifer and Ray came up with for Eric and me. I wore the grass skirt for a moment, but decided it looked better on Eric.

Brittany and Jake – the two who drove from Pittsboro to be with us!

So back to our adventures in Panama. Yesterday we had planned to go to the Iglesia Presbiteriana de Panama – the Presbyterian Church of Panama – at 11:30 am for worship service. Let me set the scene first. You might imagine that there are not many Presbyterian churches in Panama, but what you might not imagine is that there are actually only TWO in the whole country. And this one happened to be diagonally across the street from our building. Amazing. They have a Facebook page, so I checked it out, trying to figure out how big of a church could fit inside this building with a shop advertising cement work, painters, etc. Here are some of the photos I found.

So we left our place with the necessary two minutes to walk over to the church, but when we arrived…it was completely empty. Why? Because Panama. (I don’t know if I’ve explained that response before, but whenever something doesn’t make sense and one of use asks why it is the way that it is, the answer is “Because Panama.”)

Turns out they had decided to meet at an apartment across town at 3 pm instead, and they offered to call me to give me directions. I facebooked them back, explaining that I got really nervous speaking Spanish on the phone, and since there are no addresses in Panama and directions are confusing anyway, maybe it’s better that they just facebook me back with directions. She quickly wrote back asking for my phone number. Perfect.

My phone immediately rang. I took a deep breath, and Eric started laughing at me. This very nice woman said hello, then started giving me the most convoluted directions ever. I asked her if she could please slow down a little, but she gave up on me and handed the phone to her husband, who I later found out was the pastor and the most difficult man to understand in all of Panama. As you might imagine, that didn’t go well either, although he didn’t give me much of a chance either. He ended up telling me he was going to call his English speaking friend and he would have that guy call me.

My phone rang again, and a nice guy with a South Carolina accent said “Hey, this is Michael Lee. I’m a missionary with MTW, and Pablo said you need directions.” Wonderful! Lo and behold, he couldn’t give me directions either. Why? Because Panama. After a couple of minutes, he decided that it was just easier to meet us at the metro station and walk with us to the apartment. When some of the streets have two names, some of them have signs and some don’t, none of the buildings have addresses, and only some of them have clearly marked names on the buildings.

Anyway, we got to the apartment and found out that the whole “church” that would be at the service would be the missionary couple (Michael and his wife Tricia), the two Panamanians I spoke to on the phone (the pastor, Pablo, and his wife, Elisabeth), and Eric and me. That’s it. From what I could gather, it’s a weird transition time for the church. It’s normally very small, as you could see from the photos, but there are also old missionaries going out and new ones coming in. Michael and Tricia only got to Panama on Wednesday, the day before we arrived. But the result was a nice experience for us. We had the opportunity to worship with these folks in a VERY intimate setting, the challenge of hearing a fast-speaking Panamanian pastor’s sermon, and the luxury of translators to ease any awkwardness that might otherwise have arisen. I still spoke mostly Spanish while I was there, even when the South Carolinians spoke English to Eric and/or me.

We ended up spending three hours with these two couples, mostly just chatting about the Lees’ past missionary experiences in Mexico and language school in Costa Rica, Pablo and Elisabeth’s experiences trying to grow the church, as well as general talk about Panamá and the Interior, as the part of the country outside “Panama City,” as we Gringos call it, is called. It was intellectually taxing, but a good experience overall. It was also good to add phone numbers to our contact lists.

That brings me to WhatsApp. Does anyone use this? This is a great way to text me for free while we’re here. Download the App, then add me as a contact in your regular contacts list on your phone with the phone number +507-6759-6620. I should pop up in WhatsApp. You can text me through that for free, rather than us having to pay to text internationally. Everyone down here uses it because texting is expensive here. Eric thinks it’s stupid and just uses Google Messenger or whatever, which is fine too, if you want to be like that.

Eric’s number is +507-6759-6633.

The night ended with a little chicken schwarma at a place right outside the metro. Lovely. And relaxing.

Apartamento Numero Tres or Third Time’s the Charm?

After another disappointing apartment loss, we found a third temporary apartment for January and February! I’m going to go ahead and post it here in hopes that if it’s going to fall through, it’ll fall through quickly. I guess the good thing is that I’m not as in love with this one as I was with the other two. Eric made a good point: If we had started off in a place that we absolutely loved, we would be setting ourselves up for disappointment when we move to the more permanent place in mid-February. He’s right.

Plus, this place really is pretty great. Two bedrooms, two baths! We don’t need all that room, but that just happened to be the place that worked out best for us, in terms of price and availability. I have nothing to complain about. i think my lack of excitement now comes from three different places. 1) We’ve been burned a few times, so I don’t want to get too emotionally invested again. 2) The photos are not quite as bright and professional looking as they were for the other two places. Again, probably a good thing because my expectations will be more reasonable. 3) I’m just plain getting nervous about going. Like, really nervous. But that’s a whole other post, and I’m not sure I’m ready to share that one.

So, where is this new place? That’s one of the great things! It’s closer to the water, closer to where I’ll be working, closer to a grocery store, and closer to metro. Here’s another map. I’m getting more tech savvy…slowly…and we’re at the point of me being able to do a screen shot of a google map and draw really fancy circles on it.

Red circle – Lost apartment
Blue circle – New Bella Vista apartment
Black circle – UN Office

The red circle is where we were originally planning to stay, in a neighborhood called El Cangrejo (“The Crab”). It’s near where we stayed when we visited last January.

The blue circle is the location of the new apartment, in a neighborhood called Bella Vista (“Beautiful View”). Better name than “The Crab,” right?

The black circle is the location of the UN Office where I’ll be working. It’s about a 6.1 km from the apartment, which Google Maps adorably tells me will take 11 minutes for me to drive. In Panama traffic, I’m guessing there’s no way it’ll be less than 45 min. We’ll see.

And now, some photos of the apartment.