Annalisa en Panamá

I got to visit a huge arts center twice in two weekends.  It's an impressive-looking place near the University of Panama and the Metropolitan Park called the "Ciudad de las Artes".   [ Odd language thing : singular, it's "el arte"; plural, it's "las artes".  Slowly, slowly, I learn.] The stairs leading up to the many entrances of the U-shaped Ciudad de las Artes. The photo shows only part of the "U", so I could get the sign in the photo. The first week we went to this place, we went in error; my friend Jessie wanted to attend a book-launch event in a Ministry of Culture building, of which this place is one.  Once we realized we'd taken the bus to the wrong Ministry of Culture building, I called an Uber to get us to the right place.  However, it was a fortuitous mistake as far as I was concerned, because now I knew how to get to the Ciudad de las Artes, and that's useful information! The book launch event, with a guitar player,...

Forecast:  85°/74° with thundershowers possible after 2 p.m..  Humidity :  79% Sunrise  6:17 am.,  Sunset  5:57 p.m. These azulejos celebrate Thanksgiving with bananas and birdseed. Today is both U.S. Thanksgiving and Panama's Independence from Spain Day. I asked my Panamanian friends how they're spending the day: they said, "um  . . . sleeping?"  Apparently, the spate of celebrations that happened early in the month sap the energy from this particular day, and it's mostly marked by government offices shutting down.  Maybe a bit like our U.S. "President's Day"? Atop a banana tree, the Chachalaca pretends to be a statue. So far from my family, and so far from cold weather or a house with a well-stocked larder, my husband and I aren't going to do the traditional turkey dinner or large gathering, either.   Here are a couple of Chachalacas a bit closer, standing on the "Monkey Bridge" and on a platform  where they can eat papaya. ...

The paperwork saga involved with Immigration to Panama -- even though it's only temporary immigration, as I'll be here only nine months -- is a big process.  All Fulbright scholars get a copy of an incredibly detailed, and yet still somehow incredibly confusing, list of paperwork we need to pull together both before and after arriving at Panama.  I described the U.S. paperwork portions in this blog post ; and the pre-Immigration-Office stuff in this blog post .  And on Monday, the 25th I had my actual immigration appointment.  I was accompanied by a woman from the Embassy, who I'll call "Beatrice" (not her actual name).  Last week, Beatrice sent me this email:  This email is to let you know that your registration appointment has been scheduled for Monday, November 25, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. The location is National Immigration Service building ( Via Ricardo J. Alfaro),   2nd floor Special, Trámites Especiales Section. We are going to meet at least 10 ...

Back in September, I wrote a post about all the paperwork I did before coming to Panama, which I was told I'd need for my temporary immigration status here.  It was a saga in and of itself to get that documentation all together in one place! I ended that post saying, " I've brought all of this stuff to Panama, and done a few more things here.  My best guess is that I'll be wrapping things up at this end some time in September, but I'm not yet sure about exactly when.  I'll do an update on the Panama side of paperwork when I know more. " Apparently, "some time in September" was overly optimistic . . . The overly-brief synopsis is that my sense of urgency was very much misguided, but I'm still glad that I got the icky bureaucracy aspects of the trips in my rear-view mirror as much as I could. This is an ad I see all the time in my web browser.  I haven't clicked on the link (and this photo doesn't link to the advertiser, so you can...

After I arrived in Panama, the closer I got to November, the more people around me started making knowing comments about what a busy/crazy month it would be.  For example, a Bible study group that meets roughly every two weeks was planning ahead and said, "Okay, so we'll meet October 21 and then . . . oh, and then it's November " -- and everyone in the room shook their heads and laughed. Part of a November parade in the Ciudad del Saber. So, what's the big deal about November?  It's a combination of two things: one is that Panama has become its own country twice: declaring independence from Spain in 1821 and separating from Colombia in 1903.  The other aspect is that Panama is kind of stretched out, and historically news travelled bit-by-bit through the country, so in addition to the National holidays, there are multiple celebrations that are province-specific.   Here are the National holidays, with descriptions below: November 2: All Saint's Day November ...

Last Friday marked three months in Panama -- one third of my planned time here.  The day turned out to be a surprisingly full one.  Sometimes an anniversary is only different because it's a special day on the calendar, but this particular anniversary came with some real differences. People Two days before, my husband returned from his travels around the U.S. (and Hong Kong and France, as well) to Panama.  Having him back is of course a huge, huge difference for me; I'm really enjoying having him around. One of the things I'm learning by being in Panama is something I knew intellectually before, but am learning experientially by being here: having people around me to share my experiences makes a world of difference.   Having said that, I have been starting to construct my own world of difference, as well. My Whatsapp contact list is growing fuller and fuller, and while many of the people in that last have been flash-in-the-pan acquaintances, others are becoming ...

November here in Panama is a month of many national holidays (I'll write more about that later).  I've heard lots and lots about parades that happen all over the place, so when a parade happened right in the middle of the month, and also right in the middle of Ciudad del Saber where my host's office is located, I was excited to get to see it.   The parade started at the Colegio Isaac Rabin (Isaac Rabin school) Ciudad del Saber has a bunch of schools on its campus, and so many of the parade groups were themselves schools that had obviously practiced quite a bit.   The first parade group was from the Colegio Isaac Rabin;  their banner says they were founded in 2000, which is when Ciudad del Saber itself started up. The parade proceeded quite slowly; groups were often marching or dancing or performing in place in front of me.   Many groups had people dressed in the traditional Pollera outfits,  which for women includes these amazing skirts. And ...