In which I become a Panamanian TV star (for 15 minutes)

Today, I was interviewed about what I am doing here, the benefits to UTP, and what HCI is.

I spoke English and Elba-the-incredible translated.

It's funny how something I know quite a lot about became hard to explain clearly.  I ended up repeating my motto, "If the USER can't use it, it doesn't work" several times.  And, since this is a technical audience (if, indeed, anyone is interested and tunes in), I told them about why HCI matters and what it means for them.  I hope it was clear.

This is a good preparation for the upcoming CHI conference where I will need to be totally "on point" and clear.

Later today is a Faculty Meeting, followed by a meeting with the Dean.

So it's a full and happy day.

Oh, and if you're in Panama City, tune in Channel 11 on Saturday, May 3 at 5 pm and judge for yourself whether I was clear or not.  Since this is the night before the national elections, I really doubt that anyone will watch.  I will be en route back to Panama from Toronto so even I will miss is.

<sigh>  So much for my 15 minutes of "glory" (yeah, right)

One box, two box, what is new, box?

Once again, my many thanks to the US Embassy of Panama!  As always, they were so gracious and helpful!

Some of you have heard of My Box Saga.  Basically, I shipped 4 boxes to the State Department in Washington, DC, before I left.  The boxes were to be put in the Diplomatic Pouch and carried to Panama.  They included books donated from personal professional libraries (thank you, Elisa Miller and Christopher LaRoche!) and by Rosenfeld Media (thank you, Lou!) as well as books I bought for UTP's burgeoning  HCI program.  They were lovingly packed and shipped from the Post Office using media rate.

Perhaps that was the mistake.

Although the boxes were trackable, and despite being well wrapped, one of them self-destructed (or so we are lead to believe by the PO).  David got the top back - seemingly cut off of a box - with a note saying the box was not trackable.  It's so frustrating!

But the word came last week that 2 of the remaining 3 boxes had arrived!

Yippee!  Hooray!  Huzzah!

It took me until today to go get them - and only then thanks (once again) to the woman-who-moves-mountains-and-has-a-heart-of-gold.  You guessed right - Elba!

Elba picked me up and drove over to Clayton where the Embassy is located.  We were a bit concerned because I hadn't been able to reach either Sarah Ferguson or Dalys Degracia by phone during the trip.  Turns out, we arrived at the Embassy during the Cultural Affairs section's staff meeting, but thankfully, wonderful Dalys ducked out, and came down to the guardhouse with the books.  She's such a great person - and this kindness was so appreciated!

So we happily made our way back to UTP.

The elevator in Building 3 which houses our department is now broken as of last Friday, which means that we'll get into shape I guess, but which made it mighty inconvenient today trying to get the boxes up to the Panamanian 2nd/American 3rd floor.  Luckily, Elba snagged one of her students who bounded up the 2 flights of stairs effortlessly.  And another colleague took my briefcase up for me.  Me, I huffed and puffed, but made it upstairs without stopping.

And so now, thanks to Elba, Dalys, and our "bearers", we now have a set of books, including all of the Rosenfeld Media books plus books from each of the private collections.  The labels haven't come yet, and I still have to buy a bookcase, but soon, we will actually have an HCI/UX library!

Elisa, Christopher, and Lou:  Thank you so much for these generous contributions.  I can guarantee they will be used well by our students.

Sentimental Journey

Another great Sunday!

This one also included my Balboa friends.  And Patricia invited me to go out to lunch and then on a sentimental journey with her friends, Millie and Arminda.  Millie's husband was a pastor at Balboa and so was Millie.  Patricia was there on staff at the time, so they know each other well.  Arminda lives with Millie now that her husband has died.

We picked Millie and Arminda up after church and went to a delicious lunch.  The lasagne was terrific, rich, and copious - I took more than half of it home and then gave it to the guard.  He always waves and calls cabs for me, so it seemed appropriate, especially since I am well-stocked following my trip to Rey yesterday.  Plus I'm heading to Chiriqui on Thursday with Aris and her boys for the Easter weekend, so I figured it was best going to him.

After lunch, we piled into Patricia's car and went for a drive.  It was fabulous!  I got a guided tour of the old canal zone, with commentary and stories and many laughs.  They marveled at the changes - everywhere, there were new buildings in the place of old ones.  Some places, old historical buildings were unoccupied and showing their age, with caved in roofs and overgrown rooms.  Remarkably, they said there are no squatters living in them.

I loved it!  I got to hear about a slice of history and to see the area through their eyes.  I hope to get to talk with all of them again - soon!

On the way back to my apartment, we encountered a large number of supporters of one of the Presidential candidates - the current president.  It felt kind of tense to me with chanting flag waving people in cars beside us on one side and on the street on the other side.  Arminda laughingly reassured me that if I hadn't seen this kind of thing, it wouldn't really have been the full election experience.

That said, I'm a bit concerned about the election, which takes place Sunday, May4th.  I return from Toronto and CHI the night of the 3rd and doubt there will be any issues then, but there's always a potential for violence on election day itself.  This year the parties have been particularly vicious towards each other according to my friends and that could signal a problem.  I don't plan to go to church that day, and I have a supply of food on hand that will see me through in the unlikely event that I can't get out.

I'm working tonight.  CHI looms large and I want to be fabulous in both my Case Study and my "course".  So I'm working through slides and putting together thoughts.  It will make it easier to sleep tonight and will calm my rather over-active stomach.

  

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!

Politics! On every lamp post!

As I mentioned, there was a Presidential Debate Sunday night.  It was interesting getting people's opinions about who came off the best.

But the election signs and flags that I noticed early on have been proliferating and now, it's almost impossible to find a lamp post, sign, or corner that doesn't sport at least one and in most cases many different signs and flags.  To an outsider, it is a dizzying array of color and graphics.

Every photo below is from a different location.  You will see the same faces on signs.  You will see different faces using the same colors.  You will see different sets of people on the same signs.  You will see flags.  You will see billboards and huge temporary signs between lanes.  And flags of all sizes  - and I didn't even take photos of the flags and signs on people's cars or campaign clothing.  I've never seen anything quite like it.

Who will win?  Who knows?  But it's certainly a colorful season here!