Settling in...

 

We have been living in Panama for almost three weeks now!  Wow, feels like so much longer :). 

 

We have moved into our place and are trying to get settled.  We got the keys to our apartment on Friday evening, but we didn't feel up to moving everything (not that we have that much stuff) on a Friday night, so instead, some fellow teachers joined us at the pool for dinner and drinks. We headed to the apartment on Saturday morning to clean and wait for the internet guys to come.  They actually showed up, which was shocking because our friend waited 2 days for them to come, and when they walked in the door they wanted a glass of water and the bathroom.  Hmmm. Then they proceeded to sit on the couch and play games on their phone, I think, while also hooking the TV up and watching soccer (we did not request TV, only internet).  I went about my business and about 20 minutes later they unhooked the cable from the TV, wrote down the password to the WiFi, finished their water, and left.  Strangest situation ever, but the internet works so we can't complain.

 

We walked back to the hotel and decided to grab some lunch on the way.  We found a little place with delicious empanadas, patacones, and carne platters.  It started raining but we weren't too concerned since it has rained pretty much everyday since we've gotten here.  It only lasts 15-45 minutes usually, but this one was a long one. It lasted about 2 hours. We finished lunch and had to have a few more beers while we waited.  The rain here is not like the mist in Seattle.  It is torrential downpour and crazy loud thunder.  Streets typically flood, and no one seems to care.  We eventually just had to suck it up and walk the 3 blocks back to the hotel.  We coincidentally got a call from the mechanic (oh yeah, our car had to get towed to the shop because it broke down....it's in somewhat working order now) and it was ready to be picked up, so we walked the 2 miles to the shop(sometimes it's just faster to walk than take a taxi in the terrible traffic), drove back to the hotel, packed up and drove all of our things to our new place!

 

This doesn't even do it justice.

One of 3 local brews

 

 

Take a look at our new spot. It's very bare at the moment, but getting a furnished place is pretty nice.

 

 

 

Guest room

View from guest room

Master

I've never had so much closet space in my life.

Living Room.  Alex broke the lamp today(can you see the white things hanging down?) He claims it was caused by the earthquake we felt today...pretty sure it wasn't that strong

View from balcony. The Canal is behind the building to the right.

Our view to the left.  If I were cooler, I would have a panoramic pic....but I'm not...

 

 

We spent Sunday doing what Alex loves most: shopping! We started at a store called Novey, which is a mix between Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot.  Alex is pretty disappointed that he didn't bring any tools with him because they are pretty expensive here.  House stuff was affordable so we bought lots of things and moved on to the next store.  Conway wasn't as great, but they had lots of clothes.  Our final stop was Pricesmart, which is just like a Costco. We stood in line waiting to get our membership for about an hour (have we mentioned things move really slow around here?), and once we got that, we went to town, stocking up on meats, snacks, spices, toilet paper, and of course, wine and beer. Two of our other friends had come with us as well for the day since they don't have a car yet, so the ride home after shopping all day was quite interesting.  We were filled to the brim! And getting everything from the car to the elevator and then out of the elevator to our apartment was annoying.  Guess we'll have to get used to that.  We spent the rest of the day/night unpacking and getting settled in, and Alex cooked our first meal in our new place. It was super delicious, of course, and we have been able to cook every night since! So happy to have a place we can call home! 

 

The next morning I had my first day of school. There are 4 other teachers in our building so we all carpool together. The drive isn't bad, it takes about 20-25 minutes, but there are 3 tolls each way, costing about $8 round trip.  That adds up when we drive it everyday. We left at 6:15am on Monday, which we knew would get us there by 6:40 at the latest, giving us 45 minutes to get ready for the day (school starts at 7:30....soooo early). We got to the second toll and it was dead stopped. All of us immediately start to worry since we never hit traffic the week before when we went to school at that time. It ended up taking an extra 20 minutes to get through that toll, simply because they didn't have all the lanes open, and we also had an altercation with a taxi driver, who told us he was going to "ram into the back of our car if we didn't stop trying to merge into his lane" (the driving here is comical). We showed up 20 minutes before school was going to start.  I walk up to my door and I have parents waiting for me.  Not a good way to start your day, let alone on a Monday and the first day at a new school. I wasn't able to get anything done before school, and the whole day was chaotic.  It also didn't help that we had rainy day recess all day, and none of the kids knew their bus numbers when they walked out the door to go home.  Needless to say, today was much smoother and I'm looking forward to the week getting better from here!

 

 Alex is heading to the Caribbean tomorrow with our new friend Cory (also a non-teaching husband). Check back for pictures and info from their adventure!