Friends - fearsome and otherwise (Monday)

Today, we headed over to UTP in the morning, where David got to meet a number of my dear friends there.  Being an early Monday morning, not everyone was there, but he did get to see where I work and got to talk with some of the folks I know there - at least ones who speak English.

He (and I) also got to "meet" my new diabolico.  Oscar picked him up for me when he was down in Los Santos over the weekend.  I must admit, this is a totally fearsome fellow, don't you think?

Before 

After

Now we "just" have to get him home.  Intact.   Here's hoping he makes it with all of his points!

Seeing the Sights (Sunday)

We saw a lot on Sunday.

We began at Balboa Union Church where we met friends - though there was an unusually small turn-out for the service.  But he got to meet Grace and Gerry Lindner as well as Martha May which was terrific.  I had a great conversation with a new friend who works at Deloitte and who is interested in possibly doing some work with UTP (!) and David had a chance to play the piano at BUC a bit before we had to leave.

Rogelio picked us up at 11:30 am sharp.  He's really quite amazing - especially since he broke his ankle and foot about a month ago, yet he can drive even so - despite a cast on his right leg!  He uses his toes to depress the gas pedal and his left foot on the brake.

We started by heading up Cerro Ancon - literally "Ancon Hill" - that overlooks both the Canal and the Pacific side of Panama City.  It's quite something - a large hill (over 600') that is like an "island" that is almost completely jungle.  The views were awesome.

Then, off to the Amador Causeway.  This was built with earth excavated from the Canal, and it is a delightful road past yachts at anchor, with gorgeous views of downtown Panama City in the distance. David and I turned to each other and grinned since we had once planned to transit the Canal and would almost certainly have dropped anchor here before taking off to more remote places on the coast.

We then took the newly open portion of the Cinta Costera - the wide boulevard that was built on reclaimed land and includes walking and jogging paths, a skateboard park, and playgrounds for kids.  The newest part just recently opened.  It stretches from the newly built Football (Soccer) Stadium along the ocean front, sweeping around Casco Viejo and then connecting to the previous part of the Cinta Costera.  It's lovely.

We sped along it - all the way down to the Mercado de Mariscos - the Fish Market.

Here, we stopped for a yummy lunch.  Cerviche (mine was mixed, David's and Rogelio's were covina or sea bass), then a main - shrimp for David, covina for Rogelio and me.  And great people watching. It was a feast!

Panama Cerveza for David

 

After lunch, David and I strolled through the actual market where there were still stalls with fish.  It was near to closing time though, so the activity was less than it was earlier in the day when the entire market was full of vendors replete with fish in every stall.

Full and happy, we went off to drive around Casco Viejo with Rogelio describing the different buildings and the history.  As much fun as it was to walk around it with Elba and Nicolas shortly after I arrived, it was nice to ride this time, given the heat and my sore ankle (it's been bothering me pretty must straight on since it started to rain)  We stopped for shave ice cups as a special treat before leaving.

Finally, we sped to the Panama Canal.  As before, I was excited to watch ships transit.  David knew quite a lot about the Canal from his reading of National Geographic and books when he was younger - so we gave the museum a miss and went straight up to the viewing platform where a ship was just entering the locks.  It was a "Panamax" - a ship with the maximum width that can go through the current canal.  The expansion project will increase that size - but it has been delayed by a strike by the construction workers for almost a month.  Still, it was great to watch first a large container vessel and then a tanker transit through the locks.

Entering the lock

The "mule" alongside as the ship is lowered
in the second lock

Moving ahead 

Almost all the way down in the second lock,
awaiting exit

Captain David

 

By now, it was getting late, and the visitor center was closing soon.  Happy and tired, we went down to where Rogelio met us to bring us back to Green Park.

We watched a couple of short movies, but we lasted only until 7 pm or so.  This "tropical paradise" stuff is tiring!

More Friday Photos

Sr. Sanchez, who got us safely there and back

A Super Saturday

DAVID'S HERE!

'Nuff said.

Friday Fun

Today was a day that was full - but not with teaching.

We went off to UTP after checking out of the hotel, passing a gorgeous colonial church and other interesting sights.

Maritza sporting her
"Susan Special"

Girls on the move

 We arrived and settled in.  The audit team went off to do their work and I did some work.

Then, Nicolas and Euclides came by to take me out to try to find a diabolito or devil mask that the Azuero peninsula is famous for.  These masks are used during the feast of Corpus Christi that takes place in June.

We looked high and low and didn't find them until Nicolas asked and was directed to the home of one of the makers of the masks.

What a treat!

He didn't have any at that moment, but he did have one that he was about to paint.  I paid him for it.  Turns out he was working on making dolls for the birthday party for the nephew of one of my friends at UTP.  Small world!  He will paint it so it's ready by the weekend, and Victor will pick it up before coming back from Los Santos (his hometown)

The rest of the day was uneventful.  Back at the UTP Regional Center, I worked on my blog since I was way behind, and helped Elba edit a table for her dissertation.

We left to return home about 5 but stopped en route to dine, which took far longer than expected.  I finally got home about 10:30 exhausted and ready to sleep, but I did preparation for David and didn't actually get to sleep until 2 am.

Here are some photos of the devil masks and their creators (And if anyone can help me figure out how to manage these photos on Blogger, I'd love to hear!  They act as though they are haunted...)

My mask 

It's Back! (Thursday)

Today was 100% better than yesterday.  Thankfully!

We arrived at the UTP Regional Center in Azuero bright and early today.  The team was fanning out to conduct the audit, but first, of course, there was the mandatory group photo.

(L to R)  Elba, Geralis, me, Maritza, Nicolas, Euclides

There was only one class here at the UTP Regional Center in Azuero, although originally two were scheduled.  I spent the morning working on earlier blog entries (being very behind!) and worrying about my Spanish.

Lunch was great, and put me back a big $2.65.

Then, appropriately fortified, I went off to teach.  At first I was a bit concerned because it was mostly first year students - the very ones who were so tough yesterday.  But there was an important difference - this time there was also a professor in the classroom.  I think this helped with crowd control.

And it went fabulously!  I think it was the best class of the whole trip.  No confidence lapses, no stumbling around, no frustration - just teaching.  In Spanish.  IN SPANISH!  (OK, in Spanish-ish)  I didn't need a lot of help with words, and I handled everything myself without having to have someone else discuss slides or concepts.

Best of all, the class stayed engaged the whole time and it felt wonderful.

So THIS time, the smiles are real.

 

Unfortunately, however, I felt quite ill by the time we got back to the hotel.  Perhaps it was the cookies Elba and I ate for sustenance while the team was doing their evening audit.  Perhaps it was the fried chicken.  Perhaps it was the heat.  But whatever the reason, I was unable to attend a grill put on by the Director of the Center (Rats!) and I went to bed with no dinner - just some sips of ginger ale.

But I was happy even so because the day had gone so well.  Indeed, I think this was the best class of all

Shaking confidence (Wednesday)

Today was a bad day and a great reminder of how it's hard to get your confidence back if it starts shaky.  Which it did today.

I was excited as we left the (amazing) hotel in Santiago.  After all, the first 2 classes went wonderfully and I was keen to have similar experiences in UTP Veraguas.

It was not meant to be.

The morning group filled out the surveys for the audit/accreditation team before I started.  The group was huge - probably 100 or so and most in their first year at UTP.  It would be safe to say that they weren't there because they wanted to learn about UX.  At all.

The course started but "the natives were restless."  Jostling, chatting, texting, and other challenging behaviors everywhere.  Plus bored stares and body language.  It felt as if the entire room just wanted to be elsewhere.

Maybe because of this, or perhaps something else (what?), my confidence in my Spanish faltered.  I spoke haltingly and with even more errors than usual.  I made judgment errors - like trying to explain what "Conceptual design" was - a totally unnecessary and extremely complex concept to introduce to an already fractious group.  I stumbled more.  I had to turn for help more and more.  Let's just say it wasn't going well.

And then El Decano came in and told us to stop.  Now.  Really.  NOW because the checkout time at the hotel was noon.  So, racing through the final slides, the class ended.  It felt like crap.

The afternoon was somewhat better although still not great.  There were older students - third and fourth years - and they were definitely more engaged, but there were several (one girl in particular) who were disruptive.  I wish I had felt that I could ask them to leave - but I had not checked this out in advance and was uncomfortable doing it without being certain that was OK.

So although I'm smiling in the photo with Nicolas, I was crying on the inside.

It was a hot night, and I didn't want to sit in the cafeteria, so we sought out Sanchez and sat in the van while the others finished up.  As self-medication, I made a necklace for Sanchez's wife.  Which he liked a lot.

And then, we hurtled into the darkness again with the wonderful Sanchez at the wheel.

On into another day...