A Week Revolving around Art

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time -Thomas Merton. 

The quote could not be more true, especially this week. It was filled with art and memories that will last a lifetime. We started the week off by doing a lot of miscellaneous things. I am not entirely sure what we did, but before we knew it, Thursday had arrived. What did we do earlier in the week?

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day. Robert and I celebrated the holiday by going with some friends to a bar that had Irish food, music, and games. They also had a contest with limericks. I did not participate, but here is mine in spirit of St. Patrick's Day:

There was an old woman by the bay,

who had a lot to say.

Some things were nice,

while others made you think twice.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Friday was a typical yoga day for me, followed by a painting class. The class is one of the "brush bar" classes where everyone generally paints the same picture.  Everyone at the class had their own painting style that others admired. Some people were very talented with reflections, while others created painted perfect waves. This was my first time ever painting on canvas and won't be my last.

The week ended with a fun trip to The City (Panama City). We went with some friends and stayed the night at a hotel. The purpose? To see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). The play is a compilation of all of Shakespeare's plays condensed into 90 minutes. While none of us fully understood all of the jokes in the play (which would have required us to read all 38 plays), the three actors did a hilarious job and were full of energy throughout the show. We even got to hear a condensed version of Othello. 

It was a great ending to an art-filled week. Thomas Merton was right about art. Losing yourself is quite the cleansing experience and one I hope we get to do again sooner than later. 

A Week of Being Sick

Do you ever notice that when school starts weird, funky illnesses start going around more rampant? Public school in Panama started earlier this month. Illness is everywhere. Robert was the unlucky one this week who caught the latest bug. Luckily he is better now and rejoiced in his feeling better by going on a bus with 20 other people and going to dinner. It was a nice way to end the week.

While Robert was bed ridden much of the week I decided to continue on my trend of making things from scratch. I tried making biscuits from scratch. I was hoping to have them turn out to be nice and fluffy. Instead they literally turned out to be hockey pucks and had a brittle texture. After doing a little research, I think I figured out what not to do for next time.

I also made dulce de leche out of condensed milk for the first time. Move over carmel, you have been replaced by something even more amazing. The texture is thick like peanut butter, sweet like carmel, and incredibly smooth and creamy. Never having dulce de leche I found a lot of things saying you can eat it with a spoon or pair it with other desserts and make it like a dipping sauce. I decided to make cheesecake. Yum!!

Another day while Robert was sick I decided to take a trash bag and pick up some trash from the beach. It is something I try to do once a week if I have the time. I enjoy picking up trash on our beach due to the river that carries debris from other parts of the area, which makes for some interesting garbage. Last post I complained about "boring trash." There was no boring trash here! I found old tubing and a lot of fun, bulky trash to compliment some of the smaller things I found like bottle caps and straws. I even found a bed and a bed spring. I was not able to dig it up but plan on doing it in the upcoming week. 

Robert began to feel better so we decided to partake in a dinner club experience in which we got on a small bus with 20 other people and went to a restaurant. Neither of us knew many people, but we thought it would be fun to get out. We sat with two people we met earlier in the year and have hung out with on a regular basis. The food was good, the company was good. It was a nice ending to our week. 

A Month of Volunteering and being AWOL

Has it really almost a month since my last blog? Apparently so, and the blog isn't the only place we have been AWOL on. We went to brunch earlier this week with some friends and the owner of the restaurant made several comments that it has been too long since we've seen one another. When he asked what we've been up to, we did not have a very interesting answer.  What have we been up to?

We donated blood, again. This time we did not take pictures. This experience was almost identical to the first time both of us gave blood. We were done with the process within an hour of us getting there, It is quick and easy and you feel like you did something good for the day. Neither of us fainted, both of us enjoyed our cookies, and we potentially saved six lives with our donation.

We also have figured out how to vote while living here. Despite what some may think, Robert and I did not have to revoke our US citizenship to move to Panama.  After spending time in Panama it has become evident that people from many different countries are paying attention to the US election. While the system may not be perfect, unlike other expats here, who are not citizen, I am able to have an opinion and do something beyond make memes like this:

Robert and I continue to teach English. There is one other teacher who helps us with our class. The three of us make a great team and we seem to enjoy it. The more we teach, the more I continue to realize that learning a new language is difficult for everyone. We are taking Spanish classes. One thing I have realized is that our student's and classmate's (including my own) gripes about learning the other language are almost identical. 

Pretty sure this applies to Spanish too....
link

We also participated in a beach clean up with some of our friends. This beach clean up was not nearly as exciting as a previous ones because we did not find anything outside of the normal stuff: plastic, cans, and bottles. Although Robert did find a used tampon, and our friend found a dirty diaper. Even though we did not find anything "exciting" we picked up a lot of small trash which I know will make a positive impact on the  animals in the ocean. After all, every bit helps! 

Dead Jellyfish on the beach

As we continue to settle into living in Panama, life is becoming more normal for us and less exotic seeming. We stay busy and have a constant reminder of how fortunate we are to be in a place where we can work and have time to do things we enjoy. Life has been good to us!