Planning (Tuesday)

Today, I met with my class on a Tuesday - a day usually reserved for Karla's lectures in the evening.  However, this week, Karla was (supposed to be) in Austin, Texas on vacation.

Except that early Saturday morning, luckily before she set out for the airport, she realized her passport had expired.  Oops!  So instead of being away, she was here.  We went to lunch, and planned a number of things including how we can organize the Panama UXPA chapter, how to get more work from Panama published, and how we can continue to work together after I leave.  It was lovely.

And then, we met with the students.  I was trying to teach in Spanish - which lasted about an hour and then my brain gave out.  Luckily, Karla was there.  She helped to explain more about what we'll be doing tomorrow when the students meet with the Dean (Nicolas) who is the stakeholder for the web page redesign work we're doing as our class project.  We practiced open-ended questioning again, and covered NDAs and other things we need to have prepared for the interview.

The students will be coming to my office tomorrow morning for a last review and then, with luck, at 10 am, we'll be in our meeting.  It promises to be interesting!  And fun (I hope)

It will also be in Spanish.  So I'm heading off to bed early so I have as much Spanish "bandwidth" as possible.

Of lights and cold storage (Monday)

The day began with a city-wide power outage.  Luckily, I had come down early and grabbed a cab BEFORE the power went out.  There were tales that the power draw from the new Metro had caused a problem - a huge problem - and had tripped the whatever-it-is-that-protects-the-grid-from-power-surges.  Or maybe not.  But whatever it was, the whole city was plunged into darkness (for those without windows or in elevators)

Whatever the cause, when I got to UTP, the lights were off and the lift was not lifting.

So I lifted myself up the stairs.  As usual, a kind gentleman took my briefcase up for me which was really helpful because I was bringing back books I'd used over the weekend to put together the slides for the course I'll be teaching at the Regional Centers next week.

Thing was, I didn't know how long the courses were going to be.  I had a meeting with both Nicolas (the Dean) and Geralis (the Dean of Academics) at 9 am to sort all of this out.  But, alas, Nicolas had another meeting elsewhere.  So I wrote out an email EN ESPANOL!  And it was almost all correct!  I was very proud of myself.  Of course, I couldn't send it until the power came back on so the wi fi was working again.  But a small detail.

It was lovely because I could see (my office is near a window) and my laptop was charged so I could work, at the same time that I heard a veritable party swirling around me.  I like these times.

And, best of all, it was a reasonable temperature!  Usually the office is frigid!  Like SERIOUSLY frigid!  It seemed colder than in our house in Minnesota in the winter.  Everyone keeps scarves, shawls and even jackets (as in for outside in the cold) in their offices to deal with it.  I have a scarf, a gorgeous hand-woven shawl given to me by Simone Barbosa in South Africa last year, AND my wool ruana in my drawer.  And I often am STILL freezing.

The power did come back on after not all that long (at maybe 10 am?) and, although the temperature was fine at that point, it promptly plummeted.  Precipitously.  Perilously.  Plummeted!

Soon, despite my layers (one of which was the jacket I wore to work in the morning), my teeth were chattering.  I kid you not.  I was freezing.  I tried making myself a cup of tea.  I walked around a bit.  I went outside the office area where it's not air conditioned.  None of it warmed me up.

So I had to leave.  I went home and worked on my class and little by little, my brain thawed and I was actually able to think.

The course isn't all complete yet but it's definitely a lot closer than it could have been had I stayed.

I need to wear (left to right):
A turtleneck shirt, a jacket, a scarf, a wool shawl, and a wool ruana
Not shown but in my desk drawer for extreme times:
Long underwear!

Sharing Mothers Day

Today was International Mothers' Day.  Even though Panama celebrates Mothers' Day in December, we celebrated today.  I had the wonderful opportunity to go to brunch at the Intercontinental Hotel as the guest of the wonderful Patricia Thomas.  What a lovely person she is!

You may recall a month ago I had the chance to go on a "Sentimental Journey" around the old Canal Zone?  It was Patricia who organized that and who drove us around and regaled us with the stories of the Zone prior to handover to Panama.  It was a special day.

And so was Mothers' Day!

We had a delicious brunch and a most delightful chance to talk.  I learned more about Patricia and her husband, George, who died just over a year ago.  He must have been an amazing guy to have as wonderful a wife as she!

We luxuriated in the ambience, the food, the music and, most especially, each others company.

And, when I came home, I had a lovely chance to catch up with Anna Rachel.

Sweet!

Ouch!!!! (Saturday)

This critter made my day - but not in a good way!  After a day spent working on the presentation/class I'll be giving at the Satellite campuses of UTP week after next, and having a delightful Skype call with Sewellyn,  I settled in to watch a movie and do a bit of beading to relax.  I was quietly minding my own business when, about 9 am, it felt a sharp bite on my leg.  I jumped up, and felt 2 more bites as I tried to shake whatever it was out of my pants and, since that wasn't being successful, stripping them off as fast as I could.  Out crawled the able beastie.

Stomp.  Die you!  (wiggle wiggle)  Stomp STOMP!  (wiggle)  Stomp STOMP STOMP (with vocals added and a couple of, well, let's just call them "R" rated words)  Finally, no wiggles.

BUT I felt my tongue getting tingly.  And maybe to swell?  Panic!

I raced into the bathroom and grabbed an Alavert - 10 mg of Loratadine in a Fresh mint flavored  disintegrating tablet.  The welts on my leg were getting bigger and bigger and I felt panic!  Here I am in Panama, with minimal Spanish and a numb tongue!  What to do?

Luckily, one of the wonderful people at Balboa Union Church, Emily Maduro, is a doctor.  I quickly grabbed my phone and "What's App'ed" her.  And, doubly luckily, she answered!  We had a back and forth conversation where I told her what had happened, and what was going on now.  At first, it seemed like I should go to an ER - fast!  I was afraid!  How to get there?  (Cab)  What about my bad Spanish?  (She said that a private hospital should have English speakers so not to worry about the issue of language.)  But I was really scared.  I think that made me feel tightness in the chest - but then, the welts started to go down and the pain eased, while the numbness of the tongue started to lessen as well.  I can't say it's totally gone now - but perhaps that's from something else.  Emily stayed with me until it seemed that the crisis had passed.  I am so incredibly grateful!

Whew!

Another lucky moment!  Thank you so much, Dr. Emily!  

Hola! Chica? (Friday)

(Friday's blog was written on Friday - but alas, a widespread outage of Internet service meant it could not be posted.  Nor could I watch a move or listen to music or anything else electronic.  So instead, I went to bed early.  Lovely!)

Today was a lovely day.  I had an early teleconference with Michael from Kenya who is planning to come to Panama next month for a vacay.  I'm hoping he can help my students with data analysis and with creating paper prototypes after the visits we'll be doing to improve the UTP website.  Then, I headed into work.  I had to be back home for a fabulous session in a virtual conference, "You in UX" put on by two of my favorite folks - Tracey Lovejoy and Gayna Williams.  The other sessions have been great too but this one, done by Donna Flynn, who I first worked with when she was at Microsoft and who is now at Steelcase.  It was inspirational.  She talked about being very intentional about her work and family life and had found ways to weave things together with her current post.  Donna is a great person, and it was wonderful to hear her so happy.

In between, I had a visit from Lydia.  She brought me the lovely hair ornament I've posted above.  It's a Tembleque, a head dress worn by women wearing the Pollera - the national dress of Panama for women on the Azuero Peninsula.  If only I had a bit more hair!  But I love it and am so touched by Lydia's generosity.

Big rain (Thursday)

Today I experienced my first "Big rain" in the city.  We had a "big rain" when we were in Chiriqui at the river, but that was different because there wasn't flooding or lots of traffic.  Plus it tamed down quite quickly.

Today, however, it hit when Lydia and I were coming back to campus from a trip into the city for a meeting.

And HIT is the right word too!  The rain pelted down, at times obscuring vision and turning the streets into rivers, streaked with mud.  Some lightening and thunder but mostly just RAIN!  And more RAIN!  Pelting, furious, pounding, unremitting, torrential, HUGE RAIN!

I felt so sorry for the beverage and fruit sellers who hawk their wares to motorists at stoplights who were drenched within seconds - one guy was huddled under his stand's umbrella looking rather miserable but others were simply out in the rain.

Lydia

Lydia is the consummate "back roads" driver and she know the way to avoid a huge flooded area on Tumbla Muerte, so we snaked through the neighborhoods, racing water as it flowed down the streets. In one low spot, there was a large puddle - no, make that a small lake.  Lydia's 4x4 made it through with ease - she said that the rain and the subsequent pooling of water had influenced her decision of vehicle.  I could definitely see why.  Ordinary cars had a hard time making it through - the water was up over the bottom of the doors for some of them.  (This reminded me of a time in Mumbai when I had hoped to visit the artisans of Marketplace India in Dvari, but was told not to come because the water was up over the floors of the auto rickshaws)  It would definitely make for a damp ride!

We did have to wade through one rather large "lake" - that's the one I tried to capture here.

Or, since photos rarely really capture it, I took videos.  But, of course, Blogger can't process them (despite everything!)  I'll keep trying...

And then, as suddenly as it had started, it slowed, changed to drops instead of sheets, then turned to drips and then, by the time we were back on campus (at most 5 minutes after these photos), it had almost stopped.

So I didn't really get to use my beautiful new umbrella much.  I did put it up for the walk down from the car, but it really wasn't necessary.

I know that I WILL use it, however.  Definitely.  AND my custom-made raincoat (Thanks, Sewellyn!)  And I'll still get wet I know.  I just hope I won't be quite as wet as the hawkers.  Or if I am, that I dry quickly.

(Check out more photos of Diablos Rojos from today)

Curiouser and curiouser (Wednesday)

It's another fun day in Paradise, and one with an upside-down feeling to it.  The elevator (ascensor) has been playing with us - sometimes not working, other times deciding to work, though always with a threat of shutting down (regardless of whether there are people inside it)  It's almost as if it has a personality of its own and wants to skive off sometimes.

So it shouldn't have been a surprise to find a sign this morning saying:

"Please use the elevator to go to floor 2 only.  You must push the button "1" to go to floor 2 directly.
Do not press any other button.
Do not press the "Stop" button or open the door ever."

Curiouser and curiouser!  

But continuing in an Alice-in-Wonderland vein, I wonder if this might help my Spanish?

“Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing--
turn your toes out when you walk---
And remember who you are!”