don't drink the water!!!

If I never told you, Panama's water is drinkable right from the tap! No risk of parasites (Cuba) or lead poisoning (DC!)

For some reason, I do not like the water in my new city. It tastes.... dirty. As a lover of water, I am perplexed. How can I make it taste better? I tried boiling it first, don't ask me why. It just seemed like something to try lol. I guess I will try a Brita next. The last, and highly undesirable, option is to buy water.

I drank the tap water in Panama (and quietly I drank it in Cuba too, with and without the use of my steri-pen. shhh) I refuse (for now) to buy water in the US when I did not buy it abroad!

new city water: do better! or a concerned citizen can send me back to Panama. whichever.

ok. back to typing my notes.

I miss you, Panama!

I went to a Fulbright reception tonight at the Panamanian ambassador to the US's residence. nice house!!!

My name tag had my name (duh) and "2009 Fulbright student alumna" The 2009 is misleading because that was the year of selection and departure, but I just came back! anyway here is a funny conversation (this was in Spanish) between me and the ambassador's wife, Pilar Aleman (PA)

PA: Are you Panamanian?
me: on my father's side, yes
PA: How wonderful. There are so many Panamanian Fulbrighters.
me: Oh? I haven't seen any others yet. I would love to meet them
PA: You didn't meet them before?
me: Well we are from all over so I didn't know there would be others in DC
PA: Yes yes, we invited you all to DC. Do you already live here?
me: Yes, I live in Maryland. I go to American University
PA: oh wonderful, for how long will you be here?
me:  Here in DC?
PA: yes.
me: Until I finish my dissertation, but I would like to stay here indefinitely
PA: oh wonderful. It is a great city, isn't it? When did you arrive?
me: to the reception?
PA: no to DC
me: oh I just came back last week
PA: back? from Panama?
me: yes.
PA: Oh I came back last night! How long were you there?
me: 11 months
PA: what? 11 months?
me: yes. I stayed an extra month
PA: Before arriving in the US?
me: yes, before coming back to DC
PA: *looking at me suspiciously * Coming back? where are you from?
me: Massachusetts, but I moved to DC when I finished undergrad.
PA: undergrad where?
me: At Duke. I actually wrote to your husband when I was in Panama because he was listed as the president for the Duke Club
PA:  oh Duke!! he will love you! Let's go meet him. But wait, you are Panamanian?
me: on my father's side.
PA: where were you born?
me: In Massachusetts.
PA: you speak Spanish! I thought you were a Panamanian Fulbrighter! oh I was confused.
me: I am confused! lol I won a Fulbright. I was in Panama for 11 months. I just came back last week
PA: *laughing* no! I thought you were a Panamanian studying in the US!

hmmmm maybe that wasn't as funny in the retelling lol but once I realized who she thought I was, it was funny that we were having two totally different conversations with each other. t hee hee.

Soooo no name tag distinction was made between US Fulbrighters who studied in Panama and Panamanian Fulbrighters in the US. I was in a similar conversation speaking in Spanish to Panamanian Fulbrighters studying in the US lol.  Fulbright really did pay for others to come to the reception from NY, NJ, NC among other states. I gave my email address to one of the girls studying at Rutgers, just in case she wanted to come back to DC to visit and needed a place to stay.

anyway.

Senator Fulbright's widow was there as well as many higher ups from the State Department, other government agencies and universities. Look at me, sharing breathing room with Washington elite lol.

I was able to meet  and speak with American University's Director for the center of Latin American and Latino studies. The center just opened in January so it is still new and full of potential.

fun fact: the ambassador is a proud Duke alum! who hoo and fomer president of the Duke Club of Panama.

The house, with its scenes from Panama, made me miss the country even more. Talking to the Panamanian Fulbrighters in the US made me miss Panama. *sigh * so many things make me miss Panama.

Panama, I miss you.

the view from the top of Cerro Ancon! I climbed it on my last day

Panamanian for trash

Someone sent this to me in an email. More than just a way that different words evolve, it is an example of how the ubiquity of certain things (in this case US trash bins) influence a language and culture, and also how languages influence each other.  The tinaco is a popular example when people talk about the American influence in Panama. Further, a tinaker is a stray dog (a dog that roams around the tinacos. The "ce" in spanish is a soft c so it changes to a k. tinaco-> tinacer-->tinaker. get it?)

In Panama, a tinaco is a garbage can. It is the only Spanish speaking place in the Americas that calls their garbage cans by this name. The name originated because in the early 20th century, the Americans owned a garbage pickup company called, Tin and Company.....and they had metal barrels that they would use to place outside each home for garbage pickup. The barrels said, "Tin and Co." The words stuck beyond the life of the company. They closed operations decades ago, but people still refer to garbage cans as "el tinaco." A simple colloquialism,but this example illustrates how words evolve in a language, and how different countries of the same basic language (in this case, Spanish) evolve different words for the same things.

Panama is not Cuba

As you know, the only other country in which I have spent a significant amount of time is Cuba. I have to remind myself that Panama is not Cuba.

I do not have to see everything, eat everything, touch everything, fill my senses with everything possible because I don't know when I will be back. I can come back to Panama whenever I want. I am not sure when I will be back, true, but I don't need  any special permission to return, just money to buy a ticket : )

The only downsides (kinda) about Panama not being Cuba is that I have no baggage weight restriction! US-Cuba-US I was only allowed 44lbs of luggage. That greatly limited what I took with me and what I brought back. Also, the Cubans I know expected me to distribute all of my material possessions among them under the assumption that:  I have. They do not. I should give.They should receive because I can replace... which helps the weight control of the bags but makes for very awkward situations when you have to explain why you want to keep your own things. ummmmm...yeah. *wooo sah. ok I am back*

So me and my expensively heavy 3 suitcases and my personal item (nope, not a carry on because I would have to pay for that) will be headed to the airport tonight. And tomorrow, I will wake up in the US, missing Panama.

on leaving.

...I sit here, staring at my suitcases, wondering how I can solve this puzzle using as little money as possible...

My energy is nervous excitement.
(and hunger. I am down to the end of my food and eating it sparingly is not working for me right now).

I am not excited to leave. I thoroughly enjoy my life here. I do what I want, within reason, when I want to do it, within the constraints of other people's schedules and tasks of necessity. I have a lot of freedom. I also have a lot of self-discipline. I think I could have done more. I could have been better at managing my schedule, done more interviews, written more, changed some things, blah blah, etc etc. Hindsight is 20-20.

I did over 50 interviews. Most of them took more than one sitting. Each sitting is an average of 2 hours. that is a LOT. I am ready for the next challenge: analysis and writing.

I am not excited to leave but I want to leave. Being in Panama means I am in "the field", which means I am not analyzing or writing, which means I am not any closer to completing my dissertation. You feel me??

leaving Panama => dissertation progress => closer to getting that PhD => closer to having a real life + real salary =? maybe coming back to Panama. ?

I need to be outside of this context to better reflect and understand this context.

I am also more than fed up with my roommates so I am ready to live alone! (again).
at 9:30am on Sunday, I will be back in the United States. for good? only time will tell *wink*

I did myself up real nice and stuff.

I went to a gala dinner on Friday night. Surprisingly, I had fun!  A man I interviewed was honored, and I danced the night away with this guy from Brooklyn and one of the new Fulbrighters (2nd pic). I think we were 100% of the young population lol.

I am still sick. I have some stuff to finish tonight so I can go to bed early because tomorrow is my last trip to Colon.

Enjoy these two pictures and I will fill in more later. As you look, notice how much hair I have grown and also   I hope you like my dress (I bought it final sale in March for my Fulbright semiformal.... then the event was changed to a business casual cocktail reception!! Let's all celebrate that I was able to wear it, thus saving you from hearing me whine!)

sick, but worth it. Canal and polleras. que panamena!

 I felt awful yesterday morning and suspected I had a fever, but there were two events I did not want to miss. In true Ariana fashion, I went to the events. and today I am home sick, leaving time to make this blog post.

In the morning I left from Pedro Miguel locks and went through a small piece of the canal to Cuelbra/Gaillard Cut, the most dangerous part of the canal construction and the place where many people lost their lives. Dynamite had to be used to blast the layers of rick, but the medicine used to fight malaria and yellow fever carried deafness as a side effect. I will not bore you with the details, but this trip was part of SAMAAP's "Know your Canal" (conozca su canal) week. Two small boats left from Pedro Miguel and after prayers, songs and speeches, we all threw rose petals into the water to honor the dead

I went home to eat, then left to Colon for the cultural Tuesday presentation. Apparently August is folklore month and there was a "fashion show" of sorts. It was an explanation of different polleras from different provinces! You know I love polleras. Here are a few pictures

I have more, but you will have to wait :)

I felt like utter crap on the bus ride home (so cold I was shivering and my teeth chattering) and was certain I had a fever when I got home. I was still shivering cold and my face was burning hot. I actually think I had a small fever that morning, but ah well. I couldn't make it in the air conditioned library today so I am taking today as a sick day. This is the last one I get so shivers or not, I have to go to the library tomorrow!