I Have Arrived (Yo He Llegando?)

I'm here.  Well technically I've been here since Wednesday but I haven't really gotten the chance to blog.  I have to state the obvious and say everything in Panamá is so different.  It really is though.  It's the little things that keep surprising me though, like the fact that the dial tones make a different sound.

 Originally, I wanted to document every part of my journey between leaving America and getting to Panamá.  At first I was doing really well and starting taking notes as soon as I got to the airport, but it soon devolved into sleep deprived nonsense before I just gave up.  It started with me wondering if the TSA lady patting down my hair was racist and ends with me being too tired to chew gum and falling asleep in the airport during my layover.  There are some fun middle bits like when I freaked out about how small the first plane was only to calm down because the lady next to me was reading Hunger Games as well as a section where I thought I'd gone deaf and everyone on the plane knew but me (why else would they keep giving me those sympathetic looks??), so I may post them later.

Actually arriving in the country was like being thrown into the deep end of the pool.  Except instead of water I was drowning in people who not only spoke Spanish but also knew about the times I read comics instead of doing my Spanish homework, and they were terribly disappointed in me.  But despite their passive-aggressive judgment everyone is pretty friendly and helpful here, which is great because I got lost almost immediately in the airport.  A man pointed me to a payphone so I could call the number I'd been given to contact, but then when I proved to inept for that he found a quarter and called for me.

Things were looking up after that, because then I met Vanessa, my program manager, who is just the most adorable thing.   Christian, the Costa Rica program manager, was in Panamá visiting so he was there too.  He's super cool, I'm pretty sure he's a Costa Rican Fonzie.  He'll probably be gone by the time this goes up though.

 Here's a pic of Christian, pictures of Vanessa forthcoming!

Since the airport, it's been pretty smooth sailing.

There have only been a few minor glitches.  My phone had a major freak out when I got here.

 If can't find Sprint Service Area then am I even phone???

I thought I'd bring my phone, attempt to call my mother to let her know I was here and then keep it in airplane mode so I could use it as a watch/alarm clock.  But apparently Panamá and Sprint have some sort of feud with each other (seriously I can't even get to the Sprint website) so there aren't any cell towers and the phone won't work anywhere (you can't even buy a sim card for it).  My phone did not react to this well.  When I turned it on it refused to believe it wasn't 12 am Jan 1st of what year I don't know and I could do nothing to change it.  The alarm clock and calendar were inaccessible.  Eventually, I put it in airplane mode which made it calm down.

Me: Feeling better?
Phone: Quite.
Me: Oh great.  Can you tell me the time now?
Phone: 8:00 P.M. a-duh.
Me: Hmm. Well-
Phone: And I was being stupid before when I thought it was Jan 1st, clearly it's Jan 5th.
Me: Ah.  And I know I'm going to regret this, but what year is it.
Phone: 1980. Like, obviously.
 Me: Alright, nap time for you.      

So I had to buy a little rental phone so I can keep in touch with people in Panamá.  It's a real old school Nokia that cost like 18 bucks.  And it even has the old Nokia ringtone.  Remember me?  Except it was one of those little differences situations and the Nokia tone has been replaced with this funky Spanish guitar seduction version of itself.

And the internet is a little wonky in my house.  Everyone else's computers work fine with the wi-fi but mine is not cooperating.  It connects but then cuts in and out and doesn't let me go on any websites.  So I can't get on the internet without an ethernet cable.  I've been working on fixing it since I've been here.  I've tried all the DNS and IP solutions Google is willing to give me but still nothing.  So stay tuned for when I try to when I try to tangle with Panamanian tech support.   So excite.

But those are little things.  I am enjoying my stay.  My family is great.  My mama's ex-marido is French, also in town right now and is French Fonzie (going abroad is a great way to get mileage out of dated pop culture references).  So everyone in the house speaks three languages.  They speak them all so well and switch so seamlessly it's fascinating to watch.  Though often I think I'm following a conversation pretty well and suddenly I don't understand and I realize they've switched to French.  AH!

Dora (mi mama) and Emma (my sister) are so wonderful though.  They are so friendly and funny and they've really made me feel welcome in their home.  Since for the most part it's just the two of them, they really remind me of my mom and me.  Dora is even a talented, do-it-all type like my mom.  Emma reminds me of myself. Though she's much cooler, more fashionable, and more confident than I was at that age (she's 12).  Hell, she may even be better than me with those things now.  So maybe I should be playing little sister.

Although I've only been here a few days it feels like it's been much longer, in a good way.  I learn something new everyday and my Spanish is improving (I think).  And I am falling in love with this city, but more on that in the next post.  As for my goals I think I'm getting somewhere with those.  I mean for the most part every time I'm in public, someone asks has to ask me "Hable Español?" But there is those few moments before they start speaking too fast and I start making my sad puppy face that I think I've got them convinced.  And yesterday when a joven asked me for my ID when I was buying something she looked surprised to see my EEUU passport and mentioned she had family there so I'm getting close.  And I was able to explain to Christian that sometimes they call the president here Mentirelli instead of his name, Martinelli because he's a mentiroso (liar) and he laughed.  So it's kind of a joke, although it was a political one and I can't tell if I'm being conservative or liberal by making it so it probably doesn't count.  And although as far as I know I haven't been anywhere on my places list I am making progress on my food list.  Haven't gotten to the bars yet either but I did buy a bottle of wine and I ordered a seco (one of the drinks on my food list and the national Panamanian cocktail if Wikipedia is anything to go by) at a restaurant so big kid status is in reach.

Sorry there are so few actual pictures.  Most of the time I've gotten to actually take pictures, I've been in a moving vehicle so they aren't so great.  But they will be up soon, along with some details on what I've actually been doing these past few days.  Until then smooches.              

Pre-Departure Entry

Hi everyone!  If all goes well,  I will be in Panama on Wednesday, and since it's after midnight I guess that's technically tomorrow.  I'll be studying there until August so I've made this blog to chronicle my adventures.

A note on the title.  Well you already know the blog part.

I'm the girl, Tiffani

I think I was having some sort of clown accident on my face this day.  NBD

And hats are awesome.  It's pretty much a universally accepted truth the bigger the hat is the better it is.  So when I saw this 

I had to buy it.  It's bigger than both my cat and my dog.  So now it's going with me on my Panama adventure.

  Rascal wasn't happy about this.

I tried to take a picture of Mimi with the hat but she just started doing a Mexican Hat Dance, even though I've told her a million times I'm going to Panama.  

So this is my study abroad blog.  I've never done one of these before, but I think it's typical fair to talk about how nervous and excited I am (VERY!) and discuss some worries and expectations I have.

Obviously I'm most worried about having to speak Spanish on a regular basis. I think I'm pretty good with reading and writing and I think even my listening has improved over the past semester. My speaking though, not that great. I can't roll my r's. I'm pretty sure rolling your r's is like being double jointed and you have to  be born with the ability. When I try to roll my r's all that comes out is this sort of sad hissing sound, and I don't like hissing at people unless I really mean it.

Hopefully, there aren't a ton of words that have that rr sound and my plan is to never have to use any of them. My program sent me a list of words that I might find useful and I can only remember a few rr words on there. I think they were pizarra which means blackboard and no one uses those anymore so I should be fine there.  Ferretería which is hardware store, a word I don't use in English. And borrar which means to erase, so I've just got to avoid making mistakes which shouldn't be too hard, and if I do I'll use the must cooler destuir (to destroy)  instead.

Expectations?  I'm trying not to have any expectations they've never really done me any good before. I do have some goals though.

1. Convince someone I'm a local.  Despite my reservations about speaking I'd love for someone to mistake me for a local.  It might have to be another tourist but I'll take it.
2. Go to at least 3 of the places on my attractions list.  When I first started looking into this trip, I went to a few websites and compiled this massive list of restaurants, museums and clubs to go to so I'd like to get around to some of them
 3. Make my amazing dance move "The Floppy Goldfish" catch on internationally.  It's pretty much a big deal in the US already, but something this good has to be shared on a larger scale.
4. Tell a joke entirely in Spanish.  Because I think I read somewhere that you've got a handle on a language if you can tell a joke.
5. Go to a bar and order a drink LIKE A BIG KID!  Though I wouldn't be opposed to someone buying a drink for me.

Those are all the things I can think of right now.  I'd like to get some writing done too, but that's an always goal not just a Panama one.  Hopefully, I'll get some fodder for my creative non-fiction class next semester.

Alright time to wrap this up.  There are still last minute preparations to make.  I am going to promise to take a ton of pictures, and hopefully now that I've written it, I'll actually do it.  

Update again soonish once I get to Panama.  I'll leave you with another picture of my hat.

Naysayers may tell you that big hats aren't practical but I promise you that those people are just jealous.