Converting to Conversions

It is my understanding, that the United States is one of four countries in the world that uses the English System to measure units. Other countries include Great Britain, Liberia, and Burma. Because Panama is not any of the four countries listed above, I will have to learn a whole new way of measuring using the metric system.

The first time I went to Panama a few things stood out to me. First off, I was terrified that I saw signs for speed limits saying 100km. "Wait, we are going 100 units per hour!?" I frequently had to remind myself that we were traveling at speeds relative to kilometers and not miles. After some research I realized we were really not driving above any speed out of the ordinary: 100 kilometers is roughly 62 miles.

This is the Pan-American Highway in Panama.
Picture not taken by me

I also remember seeing the price of gas. Because I associate gas prices in relation to gallons I could not believe initially how inexpensive gas was. The person who was driving us around quickly reminded me that these units are not gallons, which actually resulted in gas being more expensive in Panama compared to what I was used to.

People ask me all the time what the weather is like in Panama. I say it is around 85 Degrees Fahrenheit year round. I realized earlier this week that I did not know what the average lows were for Panama. So I looked and this is what I found:

                                       

It probably would not be so bad except the temperature units are not familiar to me. Rounding up, the average high temperature for January through April is 90 Degrees Fahrenheit while May and December are around 87 degrees and the rest of the highs for June through November are 86 degrees. The lows translate to be 77 degrees most of the year, except for April and May when the lows are 79 degrees.

As I hear measurements in the metric system, I am trying to force myself to think about what that means relative to the measurements I know. I imagine that eventually the English Measurement system will become more and more foreign to me. Until then, I will have to adjust to how the majority of the world measures everything. 

We are Not Criminals

Great news for us! This week has been filled with answers we have been waiting and hoping for.

First, we got our FBI criminal history reports back and we got the confirmation that we are not criminals. It did mention that Robert is on the "Official Ginger Watch List" for gingerly activity. That was nothing new to me. The news for the FBI reports are great in moving along the process of moving to Panama.

On a joking side, could you imagine the dialogue between us had the reports turned out with anything other than "The FBI has no prior arrest data."  These documents, along with our marriage certificate, were sent to the Panamanian Consulate in Washington DC to become legal documents via the Panamanian government, which is a requirement in the visa process.

The second update relates to our house, as we received not one, but two offers on the house. This has helped us come to the realization that our time in this house is limited. Unfortunately, both of the offers had to be turned down at this time. It would be great if something changed or we got another offer in. Even if this does not happen, it is pretty reassuring that people are at least interested.

Robert and I realized that our time in the house is limited, and that the box of stuff in our spare bedroom need to be sorted through sooner or later.

It looks like we were going through some boxes today!

We also decided that since our time is limited, we should probably get a new mailing address in the event somebody puts in an offer and wants to close quickly. Obviously we have not moved yet, but we both feel like getting a new mailing address will help ease the transition.

Things feel like they are slowly starting to move forward. We will most likely head to Panama to start the process in person as soon as we get the documents back from the Consulate. This will be the next step in order to gain a clearer idea of when we will be able to make the official move to Panama. Baby steps forward are better than baby steps backwards, or none at all, right?

Just a Quick Update

I know it has been about two weeks since my last post. For some of you looking for updates, I thought now might be a good time to do this. There are not a whole lot of new updates, which is why I have not posted anything lately.

We are still waiting on my FBI report (a criminal background check) to come back. It turns out that the week we submitted our FBI report was the week that they changed their timeframe of returning the document from four weeks to twelve weeks. After seven weeks of waiting, Robert was gracious enough to call the appropriate FBI number which informed him that this change had been made. Go figure!

There is a way to fast track this report through a private agency, so we got a new set of finger print cards completed and resubmitted the request. After this, we will be having to get these legalized by the Panamanian Consulate; we also have do the same for our marriage license.

After we get the documents in order, we may have a clearer idea of when we will be officially be moving. At this point, we only have a timeframe of when we would like to make the move official, although nothing is official. We are still living in Arizona at this time and will be living in Arizona until we move to Panama.

Robert and I are also in the process of taking Spanish classes on the weekends. We also went to the bookstore and found some of our own reading material. It turns out that Sam I Am by Dr. Seuss is Juan Ramón because the character in the book does not like jamón ( which is ham in Spanish).

I think at this point, we've both agreed that our best chances of really learning Spanish is to wait until we move to Panama and cannot avoid using it. I think Robert and I could get by talking to somebody in Spanish if they speak slowly. This might be a task with a high learning curve considering every Panamanian I've spoken to appears to love the fact that they speak really fast Spanish compared to many other Spanish speakers. Whether this is really true or not, their sense of pride for speaking fast, from my view, appears to be very much like the pride somebody may have when they say they are stubborn. I guess it shows that if you have a quality about yourself, you may as well embrace it.

That is all for now. As I said, no major updates. The house is on the market with no serious offers yet. But again, nothing surprising considering how long the house has been on the market. Robert, the animals and I are doing well. We continue to stay busy taking care of the house and personal matters. Life is good for us right now and despite not working our office jobs, we are staying very busy.