The Eagle has landed!

What an amazing day!  I left last night on a red-eye to Houston where I had about a 4 hr layover, then on to Panama City.  All went smoothly and, except for some turbulence (OK, severe turbulence) coming in and out of Houston, the flights were great,

Once we landed, I cleared Immigration and Passport Control and exited (with 3 ENORMOUS cases plus carry-on) to find Dr. Victor Sanchez, Director of International Relations for UTP, waiting to pick me up in - luckily - a large car.  What a lovely man he is!  He was so gracious and generous to help me with my Spanish and to explain a little about Panama and Panamanians.  He saw me up to the apartment - a cozy spot that's just perfect for my stay!

After he left, Nitzia and I covered all of the details, including counting the number of towels and spoons for the inventory.  While we tried to get my credit card to go through (note to self:  make sure to handle this with the bank BEFORE leaving for outside the US!), I beaded up a quick little bracelet for her - what fun for me!  About the time the credit card finally went through, it was done.  :-)

Nitzia left and I started settling in before realizing I needed to lay in some food.  I flagged a cab, asked "Cuantos?" ("How much?") to go to the Super 99 ("Super Noventa y Nueve") up the street.  I had my shopping cart and a list in my head (the one on paper was conveniently on the dining room table in the apartment) and had a blast wandering around the store for about 2 hrs - it was so interesting to see the brands and to contemplate what I wanted to eat in the near future.  I realized as I walked up and down the aisles that I haven't spent 4 months "alone" (e.g., without another person living under the same roof) since before I met David - in 1997!  Wow!  It's been a LONG time!

Supermarkets are always great fun for me.  I love figuring out what everything is - although here, that wasn't much of an issue because there were so many "American" brands.  In the "old" days (and in some parts of the world, like China, still today), it was fun to guess.  I would sometimes play a game with local colleagues where we would go to the grocery store and they would pick something that I had to figure out.  It was often quite hilarious and the guesses quickly would grow increasingly preposterous as the objects got "stranger" (at least to the stranger).

I just returned, put everything away, and made some supper.

And the most amazing Karla Arosemena just pinged me on Skype. She's sorting out the schedule.  I'm excited about what lies ahead for so many reasons, with Karla being a really important one.  Every time we have spoken it's been interesting and exciting.  What a remarkable person she is!  I can't wait to meet her in person.  Soon.  Sooner.  Soonest!

But, now, as I sit down to write this, I am finding my eyelids drooping and my body starting to feel a bit sluggish, as I am yawning and trying to fight sleep.  I won't be able to do so much longer, so I will end this day's entry with thanks to all who have made today possible - both over the process of applying for this post, preparing for it, and making it happen - all the way to today, when I actually landed.  And of course, dear reader, to you for being with me on this journey.

Good night!

"Off we go..."

"...into the wild blue yonder!"

Yes indeed.  My bags are packed and have been weighed (thanks Suzanne).  None are overweight and I still had space for a few beading things (thanks, Sewellyn).  I've gotten the VPN installed so I can surf safely from wherever (thanks unoTelly).  Still waiting to forward my US Cell to my Skype number. That I will do that tomorrow morning before I leave Houston.  And for a while it'll be dicey but once I arrive, I'll forward my Skype number to my yet-to-be-identified cell phone in Panama (thanks Itzel).  And, best of all, David has serenaded me with gorgeously rich tones of Schubert, Chopin, and Bach much of the day (thanks, David) So... we're ready.

Gulp.

But also WOW!  This is going to be a life-changing time filled with wonderful people and fascinating  work in a field I'm passionate about in an interesting and beautiful place.  Wow!  I'm about to go off into the wild blue yonder...

And tomorrow at this time, I'll be in PANAMA!

Thanks for being with me on this journey!

Generously donated...

I'll say!  I am blown away by the generosity and commitment to the education of savvy UX folk shown by Lou Rosenfeld and Rosenfeld Media!  When I wondered if they might consider giving me 3 copies of Steve Portigal's great book on interviewing, they agreed to send a copy of each of the UX books they currently have in print AND the 3 copies of Steve's book!

I am simply blown away.

And I know that these will be among the *most* useful in the library at the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá.

Thank you, Lou for your vision and generosity! 

Time warp

Thanks to David for making this possible.  There, that had to be said.  Right up front.

And now that I've been clear about that, I simply cannot believe that I am actually leaving for Panama in 3 days!  It is surreal.  All this time I have been preparing, reading up on things, planning, pulling together course material (or rather fodder) and dreaming of this opportunity of a lifetime.

And now, I'm (mostly) packed.  I have an apartment lined up.  I have collected materials.  And I'm (almost) ready to go.

But it has all come upon me with a loud whoosh!

How is it possible that I STILL have such a long (!!) to-do-before-I-leave list?  How can it be that I am still locating things - like last night getting a shopping cart at IKEA - and figuring out things - like how to pay our house cleaner who is going to come twice as often while I'm gone, thereby off-loading some of the mess-prevention (or post-mess intervention)?  And how is it that, once I cross one thing off the list, another whole page leaps onto the list?

But the most important thing to "pack" is my excitement and my flexibility.

And the amazing friendships that I am so lucky to have - both those already formed and those a-borning not to mention those that haven't even begun to seem possible or even on the radar.

And the certitude that this is going to be a most remarkable and amazing experience.  Thanks again, David!  And all of you who have made this possible!

Gracias!  Muchas gracias indeed!

Momentum: The User Experience Professionals Association

The User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) conference in DC was another opportunity for spinning dreams and making connections.  Plus a place to begin practicing my Spanish (Tengo que aprender español, pero yo no hablo todavía - sólo un poco!)  During the conference I met and brainstormed with three incredible folks from Latin America.  They are full of such energy and creativity!

Claudia Gutierrez is a professor in Chile and has great contacts throughout the region.  She is also the woman who leads the Spanish Translation Team for UX magazine.  She volunteered to do Spanish language coaching via Skype.  ¡Hola!

She and I also discussed a wide range of ideas - including ways to engage both academics and professionals across the region.  We cooked up the idea of a Development Consortium for Latin America that we propose to take place at next year's UXPA conference in London.  This would be modeled after Development Consortia that have taken place at the CHI conference.  We would bring key people from a region in the so-called "developing world" (at CHI, it was South Africa for one and Brazil for another) to the conference right before the conference starts. They would spend a day (or two) discussing how to build, nourish, and support a regional community - and then generate plans and recommendations for what they need from each other and from the organization to sustain their growing community.  The Consortium is a community-building activity itself but it also focuses on extending and growing community.  It's been a very successful model in the SIGCHI community and it seemed to us that it would be a wonderful event at UXPA - if the Board approves it.

At the final reception, I also met Adriana Betiol, who is the Regional Director for Latin America on the UXPA Board.  What a wonderful conversation!  Adriana is from Brazil and has been doing a great job of representing Latin America to the Board which works hard to make sure there is international input and reactions to ideas.  Adriana also oversees the Portuguese translations for UX Magazine.  

I created a proposal for the Development Consortium and submitted it to the Board the night before I left (actually, it was at about 2:30 am - and I had to be up and out by 4:30 am!)  The Board met after the conference this year, but did not get to discuss it fully.  However, I am hopeful that they will approve the proposal later this year, once the website has finally launched and other loose ends have been sorted out.

Oscar Yepez is from Peru but now works in Boston.  We spoke of ideas throughout the conference and then, brainstormed in an extremely early morning (o'dark-thirty!) cab ride to the airport.  Once we arrived, we then sat together in the terminal for more brainstorms.  Such exciting ideas - including ways we might make a Development Consortium work at UXPA if the Board approves it.

I am so incredibly impressed by these wonderful folks and can't wait to work directly with them!  I was excited before - but now I am practically flying! 

Momentum: Fulbright's Amazing Jennifer

While in DC, I also met my Fulbright mentor, Jennifer Fox.  She and I have been corresponding and talking on the phone for a long time and it was a delight to finally meet her in person.  She's incredible - which I already knew from my interactions but which was confirmed in spades when we met in person.  She's extremely bright, of course, as one would expect of someone in the Fulbright organization, and she knows SO much about the program but even more importantly, the process.  She was very encouraging and she got as excited as I am.  What a terrific afternoon!

She confirmed that Fulbright Scholars are encouraged to make connections with other organizations (such as the OAS) to extend their impact as far as possible.  Her one caution (which is a key one!) is not to over-extend too far.  That's a serious possibility, given how expansively the network is growing.

But how to make choices about where to focus my energy is something I haven't really mastered yet.  Perhaps by empowering others to do things with support I can accomplish all that I hope to?  Sounds like a good way to go to me anyway - thanks, Jennifer!

Interestingly, we were going to meet on Monday, but had to postpone our meeting because Jennifer was stuck in San Francisco (!) due to a plane crash at the airport shortly before she was leaving for DC.  How ironic!  I was taking the red eye to get to DC in time for our meeting - but we could have had it in SF had we only known.  She was in SF to fulfill something on her Pre-30th birthday bucket list - namely hang-gliding! See what I mean about amazing?

Momentum: The Organization of American States

Wow!  What a lot has happened since I last logged in and wrote about this wonderful adventure - but I haven't been idle.  Not at all!  Instead, there's been so much going on there just hasn't been time to write - a good reason, right?

I've now talked with many more people - including some Panamanians and Jean who taught at UTP on a Fulbright last year!  What terrific information they've shared with me!  I echo my earlier post:  People have been so open and willing to share even very nitty gritty information (like whether I need to cover my tattoo - which apparently I do)  To all of you, THANK YOU!

In the meantime, I've also been working on building relationships with people in Latin America to help define and build on my goals.  Matt Kam introduced me to 2 folks from the Organization of American States (OAS) when I was in Washington for the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) conference in early July.  I had a truly inspiring conversation with Dr. Juana Maqueria and Cecilia Martins - what incredible people and what vision for education in Latin America!  We agreed to work together going forward, so I'll keep them in the loop as things move ahead.  They can (and will) introduce me to the Minister of Education in Panama, Lucy Molina.  She has a big interest in how technology can improve education.

We also discussed the need for more open educational resources (OERs) in Spanish to make knowledge more readily available and accessible, both physically and linguistically.  I hope that UXPA's magazine, UX, and/or journal, JUS, can help provide high quality articles that are available online.  UX already translates the abstracts of the articles into Spanish (along with Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean - one of my proudest legacies to UXPA from my tenure as Director of Publications)

OERs are going to become increasingly important IMHO going forward, so I discussed the possibility of publishing Spanish-language content in UX.  There are some significant issues with this, as Whitney Quesenbery, the talented person who has gotten UX online (another of my legacies to UXPA) pointed out.  She and Gerry Gaffney (my extremely wonderful successor) promised to look into this however so I'm crossing fingers that we can see such content from UXPA available throughout Latin America.