Thanksgiving in Panama

A November Thanksgiving in Panama does not really exist except to Americans (Canadians have their Thanksgiving in October). The last Thursday of the month is just another day around Panama for most people. Robert and I originally had no plans on celebrating but we accepted a last minute invitation.

By chance we came across frozen brussels sprouts, which were the first ones I have seen in over 10 months. I grabbed six boxes with the intention of keeping four for us. After we were told to anticipate over 25 people at the party, I knew I would have to give them up and hope more would be at the store later. In addition to the sprouts, Robert made delicious honey butter to accompany rolls. Our traditional comfort food was well on its way. 

In preparation for today, Robert and I tried not to eat a lot. We started the day off running errands and incidentally had the breakfast of champions. Don't judge!

The host told us that dinner would be served around 12:30 but to come as early as 11:30. Robert and I got to the condo around 12:15 and we were the first ones there. Eventually people started coming and by 2:30 the food was ready which is typical in Panama. Interestingly enough, this was the first Thanksgiving for the majority of the people who came as there were people from seven different countries at the party including Panama, Venezuela, Argentina, the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia.

Ironically, the Australians are the ones that volunteered to cook the birds (which were chickens due to everything coming together last minute), but there was also a turkey. Their stories about cooking a bird for the holiday was hilarious, in part because the chicken still had its head and feet attached. I overheard another person saying that this is a very common way to get chickens from the butcher (frozen, packaged ones don't really exist here).

There was a lot of delicious food that omnivores and carnivores could enjoy. 

Can you guess whose plate is whose?

After we left the party we went back to the store to get more brussels sprouts. They were gone and frozen chopped spinach had taken their place. And this, ladies and gentlemen was why I was hoarding them, and I turn into this: 

I am thankful for a lot of things. I am grateful for Robert, my family/friends, living in Panama, our dogs, our health, being able to eat brussels sprouts, and being able to have our first Panamanian Thanksgiving. 

Interestingly enough, although Thanksgiving is not a tradition for most Panamanians, Black Friday has infiltrated stores here. From what I have been told by expats living here for 5+ years Black Friday and the commercialization of Christmas is a relatively recent tradition here. And for those of you wondering, I will not be participating in Black Friday festivities.  

Panamanians are catching on quicker than
the Americans

While I know not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving, today was a fun day to see people come together. After all, this is what the holidays for us are about family, friends, and good memories. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Our First Movie Theater Experience

I have to be honest: I enjoy The Hunger Games books and movies. Seeing the latest movie once a year on opening weekend has become an accidental tradition. Despite what we originally thought, being in Panama had no bearing on our ability to see the movie opening weekend which enabled us to have our first movie theater experience. 

When you see a movie in Panama they either have Spanish subtitles or are dubbed over. If it is a popular movie, you have to see the subtitled version quickly. We have found that those versions do not stay in theaters very long before the only showtimes they offer are dubbed. 

Because of how quickly subtitled movies go, we wanted to be sure to try to see the movie opening day, if possible. The plan was to get the tickets (just in case it was busy) and get dinner and come back for the 8:00 showing. The show times online were very different than the actual show times. It was 6:30 when we got to the theater and the movie started at 6:35. 

Robert stood in line for the tickets while I stood in line for the food. We had no idea how much either of these would be so Robert gave me $30 so I could buy us "dinner." Ten minutes later Robert had the tickets and I had the food. 

The cost of an evening showing in 3-D was $7.75 a person. What surprised us the most was how you literally pick your seats (they are all the same price) and you were expected to sit at the seats you picked. The picture above was our ticket which was different than the typical stubs you get in the States. 

Dinner included two 32 oz drinks, a hotdog, nachos, a large popcorn (I hope it was it was a large and not a medium), and Skittles.  After spending $15 for food we were ready to go. When we got into the theater it was us and a handful of other people; not at all what I was used to, especially on an opening night.

I am not sure what it is about this movie but it seems like we always sit next to the talkers and the people who have never read the book. This time proved no different. A woman and her mother showed up late and sat in our row and talked throughout much of the movie. They were talking so much Robert and I eventually moved down a few seats. 

They, along with other people in the theater clapped and "awed" during a few scenes. The Hunger Games may be a guilty pleasure but my guilty pleasure stops after I watch the movie one time. 

Despite the talkative people our first movie theater experience was a positive one. The movie itself was not anything fantastic but it made for a fun date night. We have been meaning to see a movie and Thursday night we finally did. 

A Trip to the City

One of the things I enjoy about my job is that I have an excuse to travel and be a tourist. I admit, there are easily 100 different places I want to visit in Panama and this week I got to cross one more off the list. This week we took a trip to Panama City and visited the BioMuseo. 

This building is a landmark when you leave Panama City. People I talk to seem to either love or hate the building design. I like it if only for the uniqueness of the building.

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The building’s design is meant to tell the story of the formation of the isthmus and how it connected two continents and the influence that this had on biodiversity. There are several ongoing projects that will continue to add to Gehry’s design and is expected to be completed in 2020. The focus of the BioMuseo is to focus on Panama's biodiversity.

The inside of the museum was very interesting and educational. Robert and I seemed to enjoy the museum just as much as the middle schoolers that were walking around. Robert enjoyed the new knowledge he gained about how Panama was formed. I second Robert in saying I learned a lot from the museum. Neither of us realized that Panama was not originally part of North or South America and that Panama was formed from volcanoes. 

Animals that live or have existed in Panama to size.
The giant "bear" looking animal is a giant sloth

Who knew this post would be educational? This week included several trips to Panama City but this was one of the more enjoyable things we did (the other ones were for work). It was interesting to learn about the animals and the diversity in Panama.

I Missed a Week and Almost Missed this Week Too!

 Last week there were two paid Panamanian holidays. That meant parades, a lot of flags being flown,  a lot of beach goers, and us staying barricaded in our house as much as possible due to the high amounts of traffic. We did venture out to paddle board again and this time it was a bit easier than the first. That was our week in a nutshell.

Right now we are dealing with sugar ants (also more uncommonly known as pharaoh ants) in our kitchen. I read somewhere that baking soda and powdered sugar help kill them so that is what we are using. We'll see if it works. So far they do not seem to be too interested but that could change.

This week we have a few trips into the city for work and we had a perfect day of paddle boarding earlier this week since the waves were virtually non existent. I have to admit, I think I am hooked and find it to be a nice excuse to go in the water even when the waves are not good for surfing. There is something about the ocean that makes me feel centered and the fact that I get a decent workout out of it is a double whammy.

Life is great. I hope I do not take the times it used to feel near impossible to take time for ourselves before coming here. It is good to feel centered!

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Sickness has Struck!

Is it Sunday already? Where did this week go? Oh wait, I know; I've been sleeping through a lot of it. Robert has had a cold for the past two weeks and I have the flu for the last three days. After thinking we were invincible to some of the typical yearly illnesses, (and I did think that a few weeks ago) I was proven wrong.

Life is very ironic at times and when you feel like you are invincible you are proven wrong! The upside to being sick now is that hopefully we are both well enough to participate in some of the upcoming festivities and holidays. There are a lot of upcoming ones in the month of November.

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While I will not go into a lot of detail, here is a list of the upcoming holidays for November:

2, November- Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead). 

This day is to celebrate and honor ancestors who have died. 

3, November- Separation Day

This holiday celebrates Panama becoming independent from Colombia in 1903.

4, November-Flag Day

Although the current design is significantly different than the original proposed design, this one was designed by a Panamanian to reflect the current politics of the time. 

5, November-Colon Day

Basically Panama's version of Columbus Day

10, November-First Cry of Independence 

This day celebrates when a townsmen from a village called La Villa de Los Santos requested help from Colombia with gaining independence from Spain. Eighteen days later Panama was no longer under Spain's control. Panama would remain under Colombia's reign for the next 80 years until 3, November 1903. 

28, November-Independence Day

A celebration of independence from Spain. 

A few other facts that I am sure people may be wondering:

• Halloween is really only celebrated by expats (aka foreigners) here, although many stores sell costumes and Halloween candy. Why? Why not, I guess
• Thanksgiving is another holiday for expats and is not celebrated in Panama. Although Black Friday has trickled down to this part of the world.

Needless to say, things here are going to be pretty crazy soon. It is exciting to start rounding out our year of being in Panama with being able to be part of the festivities. Fingers crossed that we are not sick by the time the celebrations start!

A Standup Paddleboard Experience

This week has been boring. I was expecting a snake in the shower this morning to give me yet another thing to blog about, but no such thing happened. And I'm okay with that. But something awesome did happen, we got to go out and get a lesson on Standup Paddleboarding, or other times abbreviated SUP.

What is this you might ask? Basically it is a larger surfboard that you paddle around. People also do other things with it, including  race, surf, yoga, and fish. No yoga on my first lesson; I was just happy that I stood up!

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It was a pretty choppy day that day so I didn't stay out long, but I could definitely see the appeal to this. While I could see myself doing more paddle boarding than I am now, I think surfing on a surfboard will continue to be my method of surfing.

In other news, one of our air-conditioning units went out! We have three individual ones in the house: one in each room and in the living room. Ours went out in the living room. This is primarily the reason why this post is so late. Who really wants to do anything when it is 90 in the house with no breeze?

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Luckily the air conditioning unit works just fine in the bedroom. It is not the most fun thing right now, but it will be fixed in no time and until then, I can be reminded of just all of the luxuries I take for granted.

A Bucket List Milestone

This week was really exciting. As some of you may know, I have a bucket list and I was able to cross one off this week: I donated blood! For those of you wondering, yes, I have a physical bucket list and I have been writing ideas in it for some time. One of them was to donate blood. So alas, after 5+ years of having that on my bucket list I was finally able to say I have done it!

The rest of the page is blurry on purpose...I also realized I put the wrong day.
I normally put the dates as day/month/year. Oops!

It was a fantastic opportunity and I learned a lot about donating blood in the process. A few facts:

• One blood donation can save up to 3 lives, not including babies which may only need 1 teaspoon of blood
• Donations are only good for 6 weeks after the collection date
• Every 2 seconds somebody in the US needs blood. I'm not sure what the statistic is in Panama. 

The actual donation did not take long. In fact, Robert was sitting in the chair next to me and I was able to fill my bag by the time his phlebotomist had him going (between 5-10 minutes). I was kind of hoping to be able to race him, but that didn't happen. 

The worst part of the process was getting pricked by the lancet to find out my blood type. How do people with diabetes do it multiple times a day? The best parts were that I was able to check something off my bucket list (yay!), and that I think it is special that I may have saved somebody's life.

Now on to the next thing to check off: bungee jumping into a pool of sharks swimming in hot lava.

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