New Normal

My US “normal” was sort of out there already for people who don’t do technical theater/live event work. 

Until a week before I left I was working as a stage manager, house manager, theatrical electrician, with the occasional temp admin job thrown in for good measure (or a semblance of stability).  I lived a very public professional life.  I would get recognized or bump into a colleague pretty frequently.  I didn’t have much of a social life because I was always working and the little social life that I had was directly related to the work I was doing at a given moment (coffee before a show call, post show drinks, going to see a show at a theater I was hoping to start working for).  Sometimes I’d treat myself by going to the movies (usually alone), but that was pretty rare.  I didn’t have a smart phone, or a single stable employment.  I used WiFi to watch TV.

Peace Corps is the most stability that I’ve had in years and it’s exactly what I was looking for when I decided that I wanted a change. 

I still live alone, but I have a cat now (my first pet, ever) and I’m reteaching myself how to cook (after forming some very bad cooking and eating habits living the freelance life), I’m friends with my neighbors. 

Sometimes the water or electricity go out, and it’s annoying, but totally manageable.   The potential of not having water or electricity was a huge source of stress before I came to Panama, but it doesn’t really stress me out anymore, if it happens I deal with it.

I’m much less of a picky eater in Panama.  I’ll eat pretty much whatever I’m given.  The only exception so far was sau (pig feet).  I just couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t get past the consistency.  [I’ll do a post on food soon.]

I light my stove with a lighter (or matches), which used to scare me but now I get confused if I don’t have to light a stove that way. 

I throw my toilet paper in a trash can, which used to be really gross, but now it’s just life. 

I know what I can find in the local store (and how much things cost off the top of my head) versus what I need to get from a bigger grocery store in Santiago (and what I can find in each of those stores.

I’m getting better at budgeting money and I know exactly how much I currently have in my bank account.

I eat a fondas  (small restaurants) now that I never would have gone to in my pre-Panama life because their general aesthetic would have screamed “food poisoning”. 

If I’m out, one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast is fried chicken.  Which I’ve eaten with my hands sitting in the bus terminal waiting to go to my friend’s site.

I still use public transportation to get everywhere, but now I actively avoid traveling at night (what used to be one of my favorite things to do).

I could keep going, and maybe someday I will.

I just know that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.  When I saw one of my college roommates in the US, she told me I was glowing.  I’m at my best when I’m traveling.  I like the challenge and the adventure of it.

Who knows how many “new normals” I’ll find.

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

A Tour

The word that I always hear my gente (community members) use to describe my town is tranquilo (calm).  

Top Five Ways to Spend Time in my Site:

1. Visit the Church and adjacent park: 

There's a big Catholic church in the center of town (in addition to the Mormon and Jehovah's Witness houses of worship).  It's simple and elegant.  I can hear the church bells from my house, which is not terribly pleasant when they wake me up at 6am on Sunday, but also makes me nostalgic for the song of church bells floating through the air in my hometown.  The park is beautifully green with lots of trees (perfect for playing hide and seek) and has a lovely gazebo in the center of it (perfect for escaping sudden rainstorms and holding impromptu English lessons).  

Park!

2. Play with (or teach) the neighborhood kids: 

The majority of the kids in my site go to school in town and we're slowly becoming friends.  Sometimes they show up at my house and we play games like chess, hide and seek, or frisbee.  Chess and frisbee are new activities for them, but rapidly becoming highly requested.  Sometimes I "play cards" with my neighbors, but she and her brother are 5 and 4 years old, so our card games are usually based on shifting rules that she makes up and changes at will.  I never know what's going on, but it's always a good time.  New goals include teaching her and her brother "Go Fish" to give our card games some more structure.  Story time is also a hit.

3. Pasear to Prima's: 

Going next door to hang out with Prima's family is one of my favorite things to do.  Prima is willing to answer all of my questions about cooking and my site and I answer her questions about my life in the US and Peace Corps.  Her two youngest daughters are still in school (university and high school) and they're really fun to hang out with.  The visit will be full of laughter and probably food.

4. Cook Patacones (or "Peace Corps French Fries"):  

Fry: Start with some Platanos Verdes.  Draw a large kitchen knife down one of the ridges on the platano to break through cascara (shell/peel).  Peel the platanos and then cut them into roughly half inch wide sections with 2 flat sides.  Put all of those pieces onto a plate.  Take a frying pan and pour about a half inch of vegetable oil (or whatever kind of cooking oil is in the local tienda).  Set a empty second plate next to the frying pan.  Turn the stove on and put as many platano pieces as will comfortably fit (usually no more than 8 at a time, depending on the size of the pan).  Fry them on both sides until they're golden brown.  When they're done take them out of the pan and put them on the second plate.  Repeat until all the pieces are fried

Smush: Take your handy dandy patacon maker (or the flat side of your kitchen knife) and aplastar (smush flat) all of your fried pieces are flattened.

Patacon maker

Fry: After all the pieces are aplastado (flattened), fry them again for a few minutes.

To be enjoyed with ketchup or salt (or both).

5. Eat some mimbre in a hammock:  

Mimbre (or fruta china) is delicious.  We tend to call it "star fruit", which always makes me think of "star leaves" from The Land Before TIme.  

You could also eat some mamon, mamon chino, or an orange Panamanian style (cut a top section off and suck all the juice out).  

Hammocks are a perfect way to pass a windy (hot) summer afternoon (reading, writing, studying, sewing, or napping with a purring kitten).

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

Que Dijeron?

I haven't heard many dichos (sayings) in Panama, but another volunteer told me an interesting one.

Here's the story (as I remember it):

There was a family of mice who were being terrorized by a cat.  Every time they left their home to get food the cat would appear and chase the mice away.

The mice were trying to come up with a solution to their cat problem.  After a couple of ideas were dismissed outright, one of the mice suggested tying a bell (cascabel) to the cat's collar so that they'd be able to hear it coming.  All of the mice thought this was a fantastic idea.

One of them asked "pero quien va a poner el cascabel?" (But who is going to put the bell on the cat?) and none of them volunteered to do so.  The cat problem went unsolved.

Meaning/Analysis:
Great ideas are meaningless if no one will take the risk to put them into action.

To be used in situations where lots of good ideas are floating around, but no one is putting them into action.


Other things that people say:
1. Something that Panamanians say in conversation all the time is oiste? or oyo? (did you hear?), especially when explaining something or giving directions.  It seems odd because typically there's no way that you could have not heard the person, you may not have understood them, but you definitely heard them.  It's just something that people say here and most of the time it's a rhetorical question.

2. Me explico?
I really like this construction.  It means "Am I explaining myself?" and it's much nicer than saying me entiendes (Do you understand me?) because it places the burden of being understood on the speaker instead of the listener and doesn't make the listener feel unintelligent or silly if they need to ask for clarification.

3. Buenas
The most common greeting in Panama.  It literally means "good", but is used to greet people on the street as you're pasearing in your community or to call into a neighbor's house (or store) to see if anyone is around and to get their attention.

4. Vaina
Literally means "thing/stuff" but can be used in conversation to refer to almost anything in a positive or negative way.

5. Chechere
Similar to vaina, it also means "things" or "stuff" but in a less formal way, closer to "junk"

6. yeye
Meaning "fancy", "rich" (monetarily), or "posh".

7. Bochinche
Gossip.  A person can be bochinchos@.

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015