Pizza Wednesday, Friday beads, and a lovely Saturday

Life's been a bit hectic as you can probably tell since there haven't been blog posts since Wednesday.

Here's a recap:

Thursday, when I came home to a bare fridge and not enough energy to climb the hill to go to Super Extra for groceries (not to mention insufficient energy to cook once I got home), I went exploring.  There is a nice pizza place that I went to with Elba just down the street, but there I had seen another pizza place just next store, so I climbed up (but only a little part of the way to Super Extra) and brought home a lovely large ham pizza - perfect for several nights' worth of dinners.  Yum!  It hit the spot.

Yesterday, I originally planned to meet with students, but Zenith, a colleague who works in the area of disabilities arranged for me to go to meet with a technician in audiology who she works with off-campus.  She had seen me cupping my hand behind my ear so I could hear better.  I had told her that my (old) hearing aid no longer worked.  I thought it was because of the moisture from sweating.

But she knew how to figure out if it could be repaired, and Friday was the time that the technician could see me.  So, after making apologies to the students, we climbed into the car of her colleague (and mine too), Lydia, and we went off to my apartment to get the old hearing aid.  We found out that the parking place associated with my apartment is on the bottom-most floor of the parking structure, and that Lydia is a fellow beader!  Then, once I had collected my hearing aid, we went off to the technician.  He was lovely - and I was mortified that the problem with it was that the ear piece was clogged with wax.  <blush> He cleaned it out, tested it and declared it fit to wear.

Lydia and Zenith in front of the school

And me too

A lovely sign in the school

I am so glad that my hearing aid is, indeed, working, although I will have to be very careful about moisture - something that is hard here because it's so insanely hot outside that I won't be able to wear it due to sweating.  I hope that David will be able to find my new hearing aid which is more water resistant, although I'm concerned that it, too, will have problems with the sweat.

Once we had checked that out, we headed back to UTP where Aris was just finishing her class and then lunch.  She had volunteered to take me down to Avenida B in a rather rough part of town.  I had been told to go there ONLY with a local, and Aris volunteered.  Avenida B has a few bead shops and we were in pursuit of some beads since I have used many (most?) of the beads I brought down.

We parked behind a public market that had a row of vultures perched on its roof, a somewhat intimidating welcoming committee, and then set off.  I followed Aris closely, paying close attention to her and to our surroundings.  I can see why I had been advised to come with a local, and was very glad for her leadership!

We checked out a couple of stores that were lacking in anything other than seed beads which we passed up in hopes of finding stone beads.  We didn't see any of those, so we moved on.  Walking down the street, we saw a new store with many stone beads.  Inside, a shop keeper was fanning himself.  We went in and I found some really lovely (and not too costly) beads.  I had brought some cash - luckily since the store didn't take cards - and that amount was the limit.  Happily, with my thirst for some new beads slaked, we walked back to the car and then drove back to my apartment, where Aris left me as she scurried home to get her twin 5-yr old boys to karate.

On the trip, Aris asked me if I would like to come with her and her boys to her familial home in David, in Chiriqui for Easter. Of course I said yes!  And I'm so excited!  My only concern is the heat which is much higher than in Panama City.  This seems almost impossible but it is true according to Aris and every other person, website, and book I've seen.  I may regret not having shorts!

Which brings me to today, Saturday.  I slept in until 9 am (!) which was lovely, then hurriedly got dressed and went to El Dorado Mall in time to catch the stores that opened at 10.  I set out to find hearing aid batteries and an appropriate book of meditations for Aris' Dad.  I then went to the department store, Gran Morrison, for a map of Panama so I could see where we had gone last week when we were in Veraguas, and so I could plan the time that David will be here in late May.

Then I went to Rey, the supermarket there.

Tired and hot, I returned home with food to see me through.  I took a quick shower and then worked on what I want to say at CHI.  I'm actually quite excited at the 5 "lessons learned" for HCI that we'll share during a "course" (a very strange course at that) on Thursday, 1 May.

The best part of the day came at 4:30 when Elba arrived to take me downtown.  We had originally planned to go to the Causeway, but, since one of the candidates for political office was holding a rally or a concert down that way, we went to Panama Antigua instead.  The ruins date from very early in Panama City's history, and the site was fascinating!  We walked amongst the ruins, talking and snapping photos, and generally enjoying the warm breeze in the late afternoon sun.

When we left, Elba gave me a guided tour of the downtown Cinta Costera, a park running along the water that is reclaimed land.  We then found our way back to a fabulous restaurant, Niko's Cafe, where we had gyros, juices, and yes, dessert of Arroz con leche (traditional Panamanian rice pudding)   It was yummy!  

But even better than dinner was the conversation!  We covered many topics - and, as is always true with Elba, the time flew by.  Elba is a really terrific person in every way - and I LOVE talking with her!

And now, it's time for bed so I can get up nice and early to go to Balboa Union Church again - for Palm Sunday!  Sweet dreams!