A Very Long Journey (Sunday)

It didn't help that I was up at 5:30 am - not after last night's late bedtime (2 am)

But it didn't seem to hurt all that much either.

I packed and did all those last-minute things one must attend to prior to leaving (except there's no mail here to stop).  And then, shortly before Geralis was due to pick me up, the heavens opened, rent by lightning and booming with thunder and raining so hard I couldn't see out past my own balcony rail.  It was impressive in a kinda scary sort of way.

Luckily, the rain abated at least somewhat by the time she arrived, and we got over to UTP quickly.  The "Dean-mobile" (a small van) awaited us.  We straggled in, and then loaded up to leave.  We had planned to get off by 2 pm but it was almost 3 before we hit the road.  We picked up Eucleades - it was still pouring rain - and then set off.

Slowly, as we progressed to the West, the rain calmed, turned into sprinkles and then stopped altogether.  By now, I know this road fairly well.  It's my 3rd time on it and I am starting to know when to look for things.

 As usual, we stopped in Santiago to refuel (ourselves and the car)  I had Arroz Combination - rice with chicken, ham, and pork - and it was terrific (though copious).  After Santiago, we took a new road to avoid the road works on the main Pan American Highway.  I wish it had been light for it, but it was interesting nonetheless.  Shortly after I mentioned that we would have to be watching for deer were we in Minnesota, there was a plethora of dogs in the road.  I haven't seen any other dogs here - but now, it seemed like every dog in the country was hanging out in the road ahead of us.  We joked that maybe the sign with the cow on it was really a sign with a dog.

The road twisted and turned and rose and fell all the way to the border control checkpoint.  There, we re-joined the Pan American Highway and bumped our way into David.  There was, predictably, a lot of truck traffic making it hard to pass, which made it seem like David was teasing us.  "Come closer," it beckoned, but then there was yet another truck in front of us or, just as it seemed like it would be OK to pass, a truck coming toward us.

And then, seemingly suddenly, we were in David.  Elba and I are sharing a room, and it's safe to say that we were in bed almost immediately.

Early morning tomorrow.  And many miles gone before we could sleep.

Wrapping With Friends (Lydia's workshop on Friday)

 
 

 

 

 

Limpiar! (Saturday)

Saturday dawned early, but I let myself roll over and sleep a bit more because today is the day to get all ready for the trip to Chiriqui, Veraguas, and Azuero to teach (en espanol!) and I needed my strength!

Eventually, the construction noise forced me to arise.  And then, I kicked into high gear!

First, laundry so I can pack.

Although the apartment is basically fine, I felt the need to clean - as in clean not just straighten the apartment.  I swept and re-swept and re-swept.  And in doing so, I found where the nasty-beastie got in!  Turns out there's a gap in the gasket of the door to the porch.  There were a whole bunch of others there - luckily (for me) dead.  I shuddered though, and hurried away to finish the job.

After the sweeping, I washed the floor.

And then I tackled the bathrooms and kitchen to get them as clean as possible.  And so they are.

Of course, such industry deserves to be rewarded so I headed for my favorite reward:  making necklaces!  I made a set of 3 for myself, as well as one with ceramic beads for Geralis.  It was practically spooky to get here What's Ap later in the evening saying it was her birthday!

But the most important task of the evening awaited.  My nails!  So I set to work trying to get them perfect.  And then I let them dry.  For hours.  During which time I watched episodes of my current TV series - Hotel Babylon.  And a movie.  And more Hotel Babylon.  It was a video extravaganza and it was perfect for drying my nails.

Of course, eventually I had to hit the hay.  By this time it was 2 am!  Too late!  But tomorrow is our travel day and I feel pretty much ready to pack - my last real task before leaving.

The Rapper gets a Wrap

The Other Dr. Dray, renowned (???) rapper (?!) most recently appearing at CHI 2014 in Toronto, was wrapped today.  Friend and colleague Lydia applied her expert skills to Susan's head and voila!  A wrapped rapper.

Talking with my hands (at CHI)

No captions please!

Somehow, it's always kind of a shock to see ourselves as others see us.  Or at least it is for me.

These snaps are from the "Official Record" from CHI.

Guess I really DO talk with me hands!  (And face apparently)

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!