More observations

Not a day goes by without me thinking: "Oh, I should write that down!" So here are a few random thoughts:

• Avocados are actually juicy here! Blueberries are not. :)
• Max: "Jess, are we going in for dinner?" (Instead of going out!)
• I brought 7 shirts and pants to the ironing lady. It was $2.50!
• This is the land of slow moving security gates. All of them are on a clicker system, and all of them open at a snail's pace! So any time you think you've made up time, and might get there only slightly late, forget it! You'll be stuck behind the security gate for a few minutes! :)
• Speaking of getting somewhere on time, no need! No one is on time here. Max and I showed up for a birthday party the other day. The invitation read 10:30. So, the punctual American showed up at... 10:30!! Everyone else showed up around 11:30. Sigh... :)
• Doctors here are cash only! In fact, lots of things are cash only, so for someone who NEVER carried cash, that's been an adjustment.
• The local pharmacy wraps birthday presents for you for free! And they do a MUCH better job than I ever would!
• Everyone calls teachers and administrators "Teacher" here, so I am "Teacher Yessi"! So cute!!

All for now! Lots of love!

Spanish is slowly kicking in

Max is definitely making progress in learning Spanish. He is aware of the difference between the languages, that there is English (what Mommy and Max speak), and that there is Spanish, a language that others speak.  He often times gets frustrated and, yes, sad, that people don't understand him.  It's heartbraking at times, but he truly is a trooper and still enjoys hanging out with other kids at school. Now that he is showing awaress of both languages, I'll start introducing flash cards at home, so that he can communicate with Katy better. But communication has been his challenge from day one, so this doesn't seem like it's too unfamiliar to him.  He is quite resourceful, and tries different ways to get his poitns across.

Something cute happened this morning. Max was playing with some play dough, and was trying to tell me in what I now call Max-lish.  Max:  Jess, it's a -urle. Me: It's a squirrel?? Max: No, it's an animal that swims in water. Me: oh, it's a turtle. Max: yes, a turtle. He goes over and grabs Katy (our nany), and says: Katy, come look at my turtle. It's an animal that swims in agua!! Unprompted SPANISH!!!!!! Yes!!!!!! I was so excited for him.

More beach.... I know - life is so rough!!

We just had a week of vacation, so Car, Andrew, David, Harry (the dog), Max and I went to the beach for a whole week. I took Katy (our nanny) as well, which was great. We had a lovely routine: beach in the morning, pool in the afternoon, nap in hammocks in between.

Is there anything strange in this picture? Husky on  a beach??? He loves it, though.  Digs his own swimming pool!

Naptime... aaaahhh

Went to a small zoo in El Valle... mountain town.

Near El Valle - really beautiful

Andrew and Max

The mule can go anywhere and is great to transport tired toddlers back and forth from house to beach.

At the beach!

Some more pics:

Punta Barco

Nothing better than digging at the beach



Husky at the beach... what??

At the Aquarium...

A PB and J - good anywhere, anytime!

Looking out at the entrance to the Panama Canal

Out of the locks! Really big ship!

On a nature trail with our friend, Illeana

It's been a while

It's been a busy few weeks here, filled with welcoming a new nanny (yay!!), buying some furniture for the living room (cha-ching$$), and basically having a busy week with school and life in general. It's been good.  Here are a few pictures and observations about our life in Panama.


My morning commute

It's beautiful in its own way. My morning commute follows the Coredor Sur, right along the water. If you look out further (not in picture), you'd be able to see a dozen or so huge tankers waiting to go through the Panama Canal. The wait time to go through is 24-48 hours, so the ships just sit there for a while. As you can imagine, there is a huge pollution problem and you would never want to swim in this water, but it's beautiful anyway.  The high rises that you see in the distance are a neighborhood of Panama called Costa del Este, and a very new suburb of Panama City.


It's hot!!!

This was one afternoon last week - 97°F. But we are entering the rainy season, with October and November being very wet around here. Streets aren't always constructed with run-off in mind, so there is a lot of flooding. Let's see how my little car does in big puddles!

Shower time at school

Max goes to El Jardin de la Cuadra from 8 until 5:00 M, W, F.  T and Th  we have speech therapy, so I pick him up at 2:45 in order to make our session by 3:30. Lots of traffic issues already at that time... On his full days, he gets a shower in the afternoon.  Isn't that amazing?? Obviously with the weather being so hot, showering the kids in the afternoon helps cool everyone down and freshens everyone up! Everyday, he brings a "lonchera" (lunchbox) for his morning snack, then they feed him a lunch that they prepare, he takes a nap in his PJ's, he gets a shower and changes clothes again.  I love it because we don't need to take another shower (unless he gets super sweaty again), and he's not all grungy in his clothes. 


Morning meeting at Brader

Every morning, all 3-12th graders gather in the open court yard at Colegio Brader. This picture is of the younger kids gathering, because the older ones had exams all week this week.  It's a big part of the school, with the flag raising, the national anthem, and a prayer (Catholic school).




A swimmer needs energy!!  PB and J to the rescue!

Max loves to swim, and is not afraid of the water.  If he's wearing his swimmies and his goggles, he is unstoppable - diving under by hanging on, swimming in the pool alone, jumping in, etc.  I have to really be careful that he doesn't get too comfortable, and forgets his swimmies - that's happened once.  I think it was more scary for mommy than it was for Max. "Why do I need air to breathe, Momma?"

I am learning more and more about Max.  The other day we attended a book fair at this huge convention center right by our house. It was very crowded with lots of noise and activity. Sure enough, they had a Children's Area, with a jumpy house, some stages, and other children's activities set up. As we walk into this area, a line of children participating in a dance was snaking its way through the convention center. A grown-up extends a hand to Max and he takes it, and joins this dance line. With the crowd and the hustle/bustle of this area, Max and I are separated for a good 10 minutes. He is dancing, I am watching from the sides. He can't see me, but I can see him. This kid did not panic (like I think I would have, if a stranger who didn't speak my native language would have grabbed my hand and pulled me into an activity) and I can see him participating and trying to do the line dance correctly. Then, he gathered with the rest of the participants and got a little prize at the end. It was truly amazing to see him so confident and so comfortable engaging in something that was unfamiliar. Made me one proud momma! :)

We are at the end of our second trimester, and now have a week-long vacation. We are all going to the Beach House in Contadora.  Aaaaaahhhh. Will update from there.