Goodbye Love

It's 10:22. We're leaving tomorrow morning for El Cope Parque Nacional--this is the beginning of our month on the road. As mentioned before, I won't have much cell phone signal much less internet contact, so it might be quite a time before the next post comes. Even still, they will come... eventually.

This last week we had our interviews with different "saving the world" agencies in Panama. By this I mean social development organizations, government agencies, animal rescue, forest conservation... everything. We went off in pairs and met with different groups.

On Tuesday Becky and I met with MIDES (http://www.mides.gob.pa/) which is the Ministry of Social Development in Panama. We met with someone from the Department of Communications and learned as much as we could in a 30 minute interview. The building was close to where we lived so it was only a 5 minute bus ride. Their headquarters were quite vast, a labyrinth of halls and corridors. This organization is working hard to improve social capital in Panama. There are programs for illiteracy, young people's involvement, community building, and much more. The website details a lot more if you're interested but for me, the experience just made me realize how many people are fighting and just how big the problem of poverty and underdevelopment actually is. Sitting in our comfortable homes, we often forget that our world is still sick, both in its physical health (land, ocean, atmosphere) and in its people. I started to realize that people can only attack this problem little by little and achieve small successes here and there, but not until huge changes in mentality occur, not much global change will be seen.

Thursday morning, Andrea and I visited the APPC (www.panamerican.org): an organization trying to educate people about wildlife, promote eco-friendly development, and rescue animals. After the interview, we got to play with some of the animals they used for demonstrations. There was this adorable squirrel monkey named Kong (after King Kong), who ironically could fit comfortably in my hand. He did enjoy jumping around the cage quite a bit though. There was also a baby ocelot (who stayed in its cage thankfully) that was also muy tierno. There were some other monkeys, snakes, rodents, and some other animals... all in the backyard of this small building (the area didn't allow them more room for the animals :(...)

New York Bagel, our little taste of home that we frequent pretty often to do work and eat wireless. Thought it was appropriate that I at least post a picture of it before I leave the city.

Lecture this week was with Dr. Varela, who brought the face the difficulties of dealing with Panama's problems. He also introduced the term social capital, and how it often is overlooked when building capital. (Social capital refers to community building, youth programs, parent organizations, and in general things of social nature).

Thursday we had our "debrief" in this nice Indian restaurant called Machu Pichu. If you didn't know, Panama is very similar to many US cities in that it has every genre of food. Chinese, Indian--you name it.

Friday I turned 20. No longer a teenager, eh? Though I'm behind for my grade and thus was called a "jovencito" by a couple people. lol. Although it was sad to be away from my family and friends from home for my birthday, I definitely had my friends and family here.

During our break in Spanish class, we had a mini-fiesta where the group had bought some Chicha de Avena and some pastries from a popular bakery to celebrate. I blew a candle, we sang some songs, and hey, I turned 20. :P

Party time!

Cati (Katie) She's like our group mom, always looking out and worrying about everyone :)

Señora Elvia on the last day of Spanish class... She was an awesome teacher!

Friday, unfortunately, was also exam day so I spent 2 hours in the afternoon typing furiously until my Panamanian family surprised me with cake, dinner, songs, and even more celebration. I've been very blessed. :)

My birthday cake from Momi's (the bakery)

My family! Grandpa, Grandma, Señora Eva, Michelin (gf of Jose), Jose

After that, we went to watch a documentary on urban poverty in Panama, which was extremely sobering. I'm typing this on a computer I could afford, in a room that has been arranged for me, with the knowledge that if all else fails, I still have the comfort of my bed back at home. It's easy to forget not all share this blessing. After the documentary a couple musical groups sang... but then we were soon gone.

One of the groups that sang with the hilarious bassist.

The other group we stayed for. They had a drum box.

To where? Karaoke and dancing of course. One of the girls said it was the "most fun we've had as a group since we've been here." And although I was completely exhausted, I'd have to agree. We sang horribly to Juanes and the Beatles, danced on a stage, and met many local Panamanians. Only cost 3 dollars, too. Late that night we headed home.

Alejandro (Brooks) was the first to sing. Knee-popping action.

Dance the night away folks.

This next month, as I said, I will be gone with the exception of a few stops back at the house, on which days of course I'll have to check in just to assure people I'm alive. But I'm excited about this next part. As someone who has never known life without technology, I'm hoping this will be an amazing and sobering experience. I'll keep you posted.

Intermission

Seems every time I finally find time to return to the blog, another week as passed.

On the twenty-ninth, I'll be leaving to an internet-less abyss for a while. If I get a quick stop in an internet cafe or stop in the city for a day or so, I'll be sure to write that I'm alive. Other than that, the blog posts will stop for a while and apologies to the Diversity Abroad people, but that's what happens when you sign up for a Study Abroad program that takes place on the road and in the forests. I could try plugging my laptop into a tree? We'll see what happens.

Recount the time; lots has happened, lots I've wanted to share, tell, write... but there wasn't time. So I'll stick to the events. Monday we began a course with Ariel Rodriguez, a Panamanian professor and mammal expert. That's right, we were off to see the mamíferos de Panamá. Monday: Spanish class, lecture with Ariel. Not much there. Tuesday morning we started at 5:30 AM. Yep, seems lots of mammals are nocturnal in the tropics. So after waking up at four and waiting for everyone to get settled, we head for Cerro Ancon and stayed there until 10. After another afternoon of Spanish class (four hours...) we had to soon head back to sleep because the next morning we began even earlier at 5:00 AM... until 12. And of course class afterwards.

We celebrated Natasha's and Alyson's birthday at a Peruvian restaurant called Machu Pichu on Monday! It rained like crazy... I couldn't even leave the house for a while... and probably one of the only times in my life that I thought the rain could actually bring the roof in.

But let's skip the unpleasantness of waking up at crazy hours and instead see what benefits were reaped, eh? We saw many many sloths, monkeys (I'd never seen them outside of a zoo), birds (Toucans as one of the more exotic ones), large rodents(like conejos), and more--all of different species.

Sleepy Sloth.. it's name literally means "lazy bear" in Spanish

Huge caterpillar. Colorful, though eh?

Plenty of spiders everywhere :) And not just huge, poisonous. Yay!

Can you spot the monkey? There around fifteen in this bunch (but only one in the picture)

One of the lakes that was formed when they made the canal

At the top of the tower looking over the canopies. Becca doesn't look too happy.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we had class with Juan Mate, culminating in a trip to Isla Galeta where we snorkeled all afternoon after a morning of studying mangroves (which, as it turns out, are extremely interesting). Oh and a two hour drive. But what better excuse to sleep? The reef was beautiful and although most of our snorkel gear was faulty, we all eventually got to simply float in the ocean, admiring the wonderful world below.

During class one day. We realized there were no pictures of Laila. :)

Isla Galeta!

"class"

Pretty?

Studying Mangroves

Saturday Night I accompanied my Panamanian mom and brother to a graduation/birthday party of one of their family friends. Most of the people at the party were part of a closely-knit black community and church, which according to what I've learned, do not part take in dances as they often tend to be more on the conservative side. In place of this however, there was a constant stream of group games under the direction of a maestra. And it was extremely exciting! Until I got volunteered to play. I was playing a game similar to Catch Phrase. The goal was to get me to say the word as fast as I could given any clues by my three partners. The problem? The game was in Spanish. I knew the first couple but when it was my turn to do the guessing, twas tough pulling vocabulary (I couldn't remember "culebra" for snake and could only remember the word for serpent) and eventually was replaced by a native to the language. Didn't help though, the girls still won. :) There was much singing and laughing. I felt privileged to be able to have a glimpse into an important moment that community, from when the grandparents teared up talking about their granddaughter becoming a true adult to the self-composed songs sung by three boys (perhaps younger cousins of her). Either way, I was glad to have been there.

The next morning, I met up with Michelle's (a friend from Emory) family and went with them to their church, Crossroads. The church alternated between English and Spanish every week and most could speak both. Even more amazing, I met a friend of Michelle who could speak Chinese as well as I could! This, too, was one of the uplifting experiences I needed to remind me how awesome study abroad is. Just by being with Michelle's family I could understand her better, Panamanian culture better, and realize that in the end, we still all share the "human" culture, eh? (I'm repeating myself from other posts, but still... I call it like I see it). The church was extremely generous (I got a gift just for going!) and spent lunch out with my adopted family for the day. The rest of the day of course was spent writing papers for class, but it seemed almost odd to be doing so. Homework and essays aren't the true work in Panama.

Nature's Flood Protection

As always I, as Mr. Rogers, have some words of ... something... before I sign off this time. Learning a foreign language is truly a struggle. I began keeping track of the number of times I speak in English accidentally... in the hopes that it would motivate me to use Spanish in all aspects of the day. Learning a language, however, has its own "w", it's own ups and downs with which we just have to be patient. For example, after my Sunday trip speaking in Spanish and writing in Spanish the entire day, I found my speaking abilities greatly diminished today, from a mixture of exhaustion and brain malfunction. If you ever get to this point, don't be deterred or fall into the pit of speaking your common language just because the person you're talking to can understand your native tongue. Breathe, start slow, and try little by little. Becoming fluent means using it as your native tongue, right? Meaning we gotta speak through the energized and the tired... Meh. Buena Suerte.

-Tim

New Place, New Happenings

Breathe. Try everything. Breathe. Smile. Breathe. And keep going.

As this has become one of my only remaining English outlets, this has also become my place to share the lessons I learn... as I learn them. I'm of the belief that you should love your enemies. I mean, love everyone else too, but love your enemies. Having said that, it's no easy task. So... make less enemies. Simple enough, eh? Kinda.

It's hard to yell at a smile. Granted, some people get even más enojado when you do so, but then it just makes the situation that much funnier. If someone is yelling their heads off and you're smiling, trust me, the situation will seem quite a bit funnier. For example, at frisbee tonight (I'll explain more in a second) a woman yelled down field at another player "teach him how to throw a forehand" in a not too pleasant tone. I, of course, was "him." Now having played ultimate frisbee before, I felt immediately offended at this... I had been throwing forehands all night, hadn't I? Well I had two roads. One, I could label her as "crazy intense", not too gentle with words, and just a unhappy person in general. Second, rationalize that there's probably some reason she said what she said and in the tone that she said it. Maybe she'd just been fired and wasn't so happy. Maybe she wasn't too skilled at expressing her thoughts in a more peaceful manner. Either way, it doesn't really matter. But in the second way, I'd go up to her and as sincerely as possible say, thanks for the advice, thank her for playing with me, and ask what else I could do to improve? Needless to say, the second way was much funnier given the bedazzled look on her face. It's rare to see a face of shock, confusion, anger, happiness, and speechlessness all at the same time. But at least by going to second route, it meant I wouldn't be playing "avoid crazy lady" and instead, now have a friend (who considerably loosened up after that interaction).

Now, this is all Barney-give-me-a-hug and after school special-like, but hey, Barney and friends and the Power Rangers had reason. And either way life is just a lot more fun when funny.

Oh and I stood on my head today. An Argentinian guy was doing after the game (seemingly to de-stress) and said "try it." And hither to the first line of this post, I did... though with much less skill, and much more blood rushing to my head. Ponytail dude (I forget his name) instructed me how to do it better next time. I hope I remember his name.

And another point. By try everything, I mean that if your foreign country mom invites you to church, temple, grocery store, or something else, do it. If "guy in car" asks you to get in and go hit the bars... use the thing between your shoulders.

The breathing thing. You'll hear this a lot and I've said this already once, but remember to take a break from the world to truly relax. Stress builds without you knowing. But don't cling onto your "relaxing agents" too much... you have limited time in a FOREIGN country. Or if you're applying advice to life, you have limited time in.. umm.. on this planet.

Hmm... so quizás (perhaps) the advice is a bit too crazy optimistic/unrealistic, but as it turns out, the optimists tend to have a lot more fun. And yeah, it's hard... and at times it sucks (when it's just much easier to judge and be angry)... but it gets easier. :)

This is seeming a bit more like an advice column. To news! I'll try and recall to the best of my ability everything that's happened since the last post... so since... Tuesday.

There was a new happening with the Spanish teachers, but again I'm not at liberty to write them on the internet. Let's just say the choice 1) choice 2) advice came in handy their as well, though I didn't deal with it as well as I could have... because at the same type, I do believe you should speak your mind. Sorry, this is a bit cryptic. Hmm.

Moving on, we returned to the forest with Dr. Roy Thursday morning, this time the Parque Metropolitano (last time was Soberania) which was very cool. Didn't get to see much in terms of animals, but studying vegetation is actually really interesting. Plants are pretty dang smart. Oh so are bugs. By the way, skip some of the pictures if you're scared of spiders.

Like this one. :)

Hail Caesar!... Dr Roy and the magic of candidity.

So the plant he was explaining in the previous picture is this one... whose name escapes me at the moment, but it tends to grow in "light gaps". Plants of this type sprout up quickly but aren't of the long-term type.

I spent most of the morning actually watching people watching other things. The dynamics of people are just amazing to me. The actual number of thoughts that go through our head without us being aware of it is staggering. And it fit, seeing as though in order to enact change in Conservation and Development, we must also understand people, eh? Conservation Biology really is an extremely multi-disciplined subject.

A very "band of brothers (and sisters)-esque" picture

This forest is much younger, and thus has a lot of "jungle" quality to it.

Arachnaphobes... beware.

The view from the hill we were on.

A flower imitating bug. Just for reference, it's about the size of my pinky fingernail.

A clearing at the top.

After our goodbyes to Dr. Roy, it was a fairly tranquil Thursday night and after a short class on Friday (our teacher had to leave and Natasha was sick) we had a luncheon for our "debrief", which wasn't as successful as it could have been because we were tired and itching to start the weekend. But not a whole lot happened Friday evening, just some seriously needed rest.

This... was our Saturday.

Our huts.

(People in college) "Hey guys you guys want to go hang out at ______'s apartment tomorrow night? Yah! Awesome man."

(Us) "Hmm how about we go to a tropical beach this weekend using public transportation that costs us less than gas would if we used our own car?" Yeah. That's right.



Haha, it was fairly amazing, reading, swimming, relaxing on the beach. It was a 2 hour trip out and two hour back, but well worth it. Careful though, be prepared to pay for every little aspect, as the beach at Santa Clara is less developed with fewer amenities, meaning a dollar here or there for hut and hammack rental, beach entrance, shower, bathroom, etc. Considering it was our first time out as a whole group, it think it was pretty successful.

And after sleeping a complete 12 hours Saturday night, I went to Mass with my mom the following morning. For me, it was fairly moving and culturally rich and a reminder that even though we're all from vastly different cultures, we all still share various important aspects of our lives. Turns out the human experience between cultures isn't that unique. We're all still human, ne?

And in the afternoon, Becky and I set off for the City of Knowledge (Ciudad de Saber) where we had our frisbee games. There were enough people for 2 games going on at once with subs and we pretty much played as long as light allowed. It's nice too, rain doesn't stop you. The rain's not freezing, and still 90 degrees outside so it's rather refreshing. Anyways, Becky and I had a lot of fun and got a ride from Joel (a nice guy we met) for home.

Tengo mucha tarea. Hasta luego chicos.

-Timó or as everyone else pronounces it... Tímo.

Far and few between...

... are my posts as of recent times. The posts are coming much slower than in Japan. Unfortunately I had much more time to post then. But I'll keep trying!

First off, the Spanish class problem. To save face and avoid harsh words, I'll just say that there was a little bit of tension and confusion with the Spanish classes the first week but now everything is resolved and all are happy.

My teacher is Profesora Natasha... a woman whose energy levels are only matched my her feminism "assertiveness" as she likes to call it. She grew up in Panama but moved to the States at an early age so is great for understanding both languages quite well. We spend much time talking and conversing, though we have our share of written homework. I would and wouldn't place it as intense as a college Spanish course. It's less intense in that I'm not chewing off my fingernails worried about tests and scores... and since we have four hours a day rather than the number 50 minutes we're less pressed for time. Having said that, it much more intense in that our class has application in every moment of our day. Put yourself out there and USE THE LANGUAGE.

I've banned myself from further watching TV episodes in English that I've saved on my computer. I quickly realized (after passing hours last night watching Friends and The Office) that it was my escape from the tensions of the a Spanish world, which is great to have... until it becomes more an avoidance rather than a back-up support. Watch TV, read and write in the country you're in. I only have four months, I better make them count, eh?

Time passes much slower and faster here. Every week is unique to the next but twice as tiring as the day before. Find a program where you'll never get bored. :) If you're into saving the world and 'roughing it', do SIT (School of International Training)

Now for the actual updates.

Friday night we went out to Via Uruguay, the night clubbing 'hot spot' in the city. At first we went to a bar that turned out to be quite American in style (they were playing Lynyrd Skynyrd and Red Hot Chili Peppers) and then went to a club called Club Kraze. The clubbing scene here is small, but passionate. Ladies, don't be alarmed when guys hiss and shout out "Oooo Mamí, Mamecito" or regularly tell you that they love you in English or in Spanish. If you're with a guy, this tends to happen less, but it really is just part of their culture and is very normal. From what I am told, ladies from Panama actually sometimes become sad if they're not given these piropa's ("compliments") from time to time.

The music wasn't too far from club music in the states, with their own Panamanian favorites and house music to boot. But then again, this was just one club.

Although Panama is the safest Central American country, one must use extra caution at night and if you're a woman, do not walk alone (don't get too worried, Mom.)

After Brooks (the other guy) and I walked all the girls home we turned in... that had been the longest day (awake from 3 AM to write a paper until 2 AM).

Consequently, Saturday was spent lazing around finishing some homework and sleeping a lot. Sunday morning, however, the group went off to Casco Viejo, which your tourbooks will tell you is a great historical part of Panama. After perusing the morning market (local goods) we bought some shaved ice (shaved manually, not by machine... twas pretty wicked) and split up into two groups--keeping track of eight people just wasn't too feasible when we wanted to do different things.

By chance, we came across a tour guide and he took us around the President's house, other houses of high status (of other countries) and told us histories of that area. By far the coolest part was when he revealed the otherwise hidden tunnels that prisoners used to use to escape. For example, in many churches there were trapdoors, random stone blocks in the wall were hollow, the bronze sign on a statue revealed a secret passageway when pushed in, among others. We could actually see parts of the tunnel along the beach (much of it had been blown away by cannons through time). Just a touch of history.

Rest of Sunday, Monday, normal. Class... class...sleep. Today, Tuesday, was our first day in the "jungle/forest", it still had a trail and everything, but nevertheless we were all VERY relieved to be leaving the city, even if just for an afternoon. The city has its own wondrous culture, but there are hundreds of odors and sounds that can build up tension if you're not used to it.

For the first time I saw extremely organized ants (walking in set lines and mini-ant-paths for kilometers). One type carried bits of leaves that they would later bring back to their nest to grow fungus on (of which they'd eat) and another type of army ants that swarmed their prey. We did not get to see much in terms of mammals though we could hear howler monkeys throughout the afternoon. For some reason I had still expected the forest to be much more less vegetated... there were tons of species.... of everything. Our group looks quite humourous though with each person wearing enough gear to survive for weeks and enough bug spray to deter even the bravest of bugs. But hey, to each his own.

Oh I forgot to mention, last Wednesday we went to a concert sponsored by environmental groups in Panama where the National Symphony of Panama played two of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi and Beethoven's Sixth Symphony and Pastorale. Afterwards there was a reception... The concert unfortunately couldn't be comparable to other professional symphonies and there were constant interruptions in the audience (one man even answered his phone and had a conversation in the echoing hall as if it was nothing, others kept walking in front of the main spotlight) but it was fun as it was the first trip with the parents and students together at the Teatro National.

Hmm. I also failed to mention that our visit to a museum (that I wrote about in the previous post) is located at the original settlement in Panama. We got to see some ruins. :)

Oh and at long last, pictures.

After I got stranded in the Texas airport, the guy next to me had this bag.
It says "Harajuku"... the place I lived near. Seems Japan follows you anywhere, eh?

Me and my rubber ducky in my hotel room at the Sheraton.

Haha. When's my flight... wait a second...

Raul! My taxi driver...

El Valle. Pretty, no?

El Valle, again. Click it.

The beach at Farallon

Flowers in El Valle. I was having fun with macro.. and I like this shot.

The Capuchin monkey at El Nispiro Zoo in El Valle! (Most my recordings of that day are in video... which would take all of today and tomorrow to load onto the internet...)

This is the peacock with the crazy intricate designs on its feathers. :)

The first sloth I've ever seen! He was sleepy... -_-

Albrook Mall... part of our Sunday "tour."

The food court. There were an unbelievably number of people. We're sitting at one of the kiddie tables a little left of center in this picture.


Part of the last remaining ruins of the first settlement in Panama.

From the tower that's still standing! Here's a cool shot of Panama (and Becca.)

Fresh coconut juice! For a dollar... Becca and Danielle

Lily, Kati, and Brooks

El Teatro Nacional. We were on the third floor... couldn't see.. so moved to fourth.

Oh. And this is Cuco. :D The cutest dog... in the world.

The crazy army ants.... attacking their kin...

Becky found this moth. You can only see it kinda in this picture b/c he's walking around.

This... is the anthill of the ants that were carrying pieces of leaves... you can see them :)

If you can see, the roots of this huge tree are above ground. The soil of the tropics is surprisingly very poor, but there's a high decomposition rate so most of the roots are above ground to absorb nutrients.

Our guide and teacher for this week. Dr. Roy

Brooks, Becca, Becky, and Lily showing off the "zip-off" pants.