A dream came true this afternoon!

Back in 2003, Alice started seeding amongst us in the family, the realization that Planet Earth had been screaming out loud for help for quite sometime and that it was time we all started recycling, taking our own bags to supermarkets, walking when possible, change lamp bulbs for low energy ones etc etc. Thank you Darling!

I embarked heads down on it. A few months later, I saw the DVD on Al Gore's talk called "An Inconvenient Truth" a talk about global warming. It is very good and it REALLY gets you thinking and changing your habits.

As my passion for taking good care of the environment grew, the more I wanted to "meet" Al Gore and then ... voila... it happened today, here in Panama, Al Gore brought "An Inconvenient Truth" to 3 blocks away from our flat.

It was unbelievably fantastic! The man is

F R E A K I N G - G O O D

at what he does and was sure able to pick a very good team to work with. The talk is amazingly good and very well displayed (by the way, he does his presentation on an Apple - my new passion. It's full of great features). In his talk, he not only brings world facts, as he also inserts a great deal of data and facts about the country he is in - today, Panama. He brings up all the negative stuff that is happening leading to global warming, but he also brilliantly brings us hope by giving various examples of how major events in History took place, simply because people believed in the change. He is one of those people that points out problems and together with it, brings solutions to the problems. He shows how we can change!

... and of course, he left on a Toyota hybrid car!

Oh man... I loved it and please, if you're also passionate about an environmental improvement and ever have the chance to see him, do go! Trust me, you won't regret! The whole things is phenomenal!

Well officer, right now only my word, but tomorrow I can prove it!!

This morning I had my first encounter with the police here in Panama. It's always been like that, why would it be different here in Panama? Amazing, I always have to have an "encounter" with the local police in my early days in a country... amazing... how boring and predictable and even knowing it, I wasn't prepared for it, can you believe it?

So, after the service this morning I decided to go to a mall near the church to change the strap of my watch. I always leave church very inspired. We have been attending this great church here in Panama. It's a truly bilingual church! Sermons and announcements are in English and hymns and songs switch back and forth between English and Spanish and the beautiful thing is that everybody triumphantly sings in both languages without leaving a single second in the air for adaptation. The pastor is American, but has been in Panama forever, so he too, is completely accent-less, fluent in both languages. The result is that both Joel and I are really enjoying going there and it leaves us very inspired for the rest of the week.

So, loaded up with all the above, I left church and off went to the immensity that Albrook Mall is, parked the car, quickly found the shop I needed, had the straps changed, went back to the car and left the parking lot only to find a police check point. There were some 4 or 5 cars in front of me and as I approached the policeman, I noticed that as drivers approached him, they showed their driver's license. I then immediately remembered what my friend SR had told me...
- "when you come to a police check point, show your driver's license as they stop you."

So, I tried to get mine before it was my turn at THE man, but didn't managed, so as I got face to face with him, he asked for my license, to which I replied:
- "yes sir, in a second" and turned around to get it in my purse. The license that I was reaching for is my Hong Kong license, which does NOT bring a picture in it. But I quickly thought: "let's play blond and don't initiate anything on my own. Rather wait for his request". Of course, as expected, as I handed him a foreign driver's license, he asked for my passport to which I, VERY naughtily, gave him a copy of the only thing I had with me that could perhaps resemble it. A copy of 2 pages of my passport. One had my picture, my parents name, my date of birth, the passport's date of issue and date of expiration. The other showed my Angolan visa on it. At the back, was the document's authentication stamp, done in Angola, therefore in Portuguese.

The policeman then told me that driving in Panama with a foreign driver's license is only allowed for the first three months that you are here. After that, you need to have a local license. So, he continued to say, "I need to see your original passport to see when you came into the Country."

Well, although I knew ALL of the above, I was very lazy this week, and did not care to go to our lawyer's office to get my passport back from him, after he filed our visa papers with Panamanian immigration. So, as soon as the policeman confirmed it to me, I knew I was in deep trouble.

So, doing my very best to remember all that I've been learning at school, trying to use all the freaking pronouns Cervantes thought to be necessary when one speaks Spanish, I told the policeman that my passport was at immigration, therefore I wasn't able to prove him that I was legal and have not been driving here with a foreign driver's license for more than 3 months.

He then kind of rolled his eyes, like all policemen in my previous encounters have done and told me to go and wait on the road shoulders. I don't know what is up with policemen, but when they stop me and I don't have the documents they want me to produce or don't speak the local language, they all roll their eyes up, LOL!!

Anyway, he checked a couple of cars behind me and came to see me again. I knew my situation was a problematic one, I was wrong but not 100% illegal, so that tiny little bit of not being illegal, plus the time at church I had just had, gave me the confidence to talk to him. I knew that I had not been stopped because I was a foreigner. All cars in front and behind me were being stopped and also because here, Joel and I mingle well with the crowds. We don't look foreigners until we open our big fat mouths and a huge accent comes out of it. Until then, we could well be Panamanians, which is great for a change.

Just to give you a picture of what my scenario was like:
- I was driving in Panama with my Hong Kong driver's license that had no pictures in it, showing him a copy of part of my passport that did not give my nationality nor a number and with a visa and a stamp from Angola.... hum... not great to say the least.

He approached me and repeated the story that he needed my passport to make sure I've been here under 3 months and ends by saying that in these cases, the car has to be toll trucked until all is clear. I immediately respond to him something like:
- "oh no sir, please don't. I know that right now, it's only my word that you have, but please, trust me, I have been here for less than 3 months. Right now now, you only have my word, but tomorrow, I can have my passport with the stamp and prove it to you. Alternatively, you can call my lawyer and speak to him"
and I handed him my phone. To this, he replied:

- "You're Brazilian, right? Don't they have similar rules there?"
With a smile on my face, I replied:
- "yes I am, but quite honestly sir, I have no idea what the rules are for foreigners driving in Brazil". To that, he replies:
- "Ok, I'll let you go, but please go back home now and have your passport with you as of tomorrow, ok?"

Phew, that was a close one, have no idea what was the terrestrial turning factor, (as opposed to the divine intervention, clearly from God)... if it were me being straight to the point with the fact that no, I didn't have a passport right there and then to prove it, but yes, I've been here less than 3 months, the smile, being Brazilian or the confusion of the case of a Brazilian national, who had only a partial copy of her passport with an Angolan visa, driving with a Hong Kong license in Panama or... all the above, but baby, be sure, I came back straight home and won't leave it until tomorrow morning when I'll go straight to the lawyer's office!!

A warm canine welcome to Misty!

Alice and David have just increased their family... what Odila, Alice is pregnant? Wow, you didn't tell me, when is she due? Do you already know if it's a boy or a girl or may be twins? Where are they planning to have the baby? Any names already? How are you and Joel feeling?

LOL ... calm calm none of that... the increase is not a human increase, but... a canine increase, obaaa!! How exciting! They welcomed "MISTY", a cute, curious, playful and normally active rescue dog (or so we all hope, LOL!) into their lives yesterday, Sunday. Misty is about 3 years old and has already shown to them that the best place in the house is their bed, LOL! So cute...

With the fantastic technology available in nowadays, they called me (Joel is in Brazil) and turned on the camera of their computer so that I could follow her whereabouts as she did a thorough and continuous investigation of her new place. When I called her name, she came to the computer screen sniffing it and bringing her toy in her mouth... just so fantastic dogs are!!

Actually, just realized that Joel and I are living quite a great moment in our lives. Both our girls and son in law are in very good company... they all have dogs! Amen to their love for those wonderful creatures!

Christmas already!

I've got to love this Country!! Can you believe that most department stores are already selling Christmas decoration stuff? I'm in pure awe!!

I love Christmas, I love the meaning of Christmas, I love setting up the house for Christmas, I love planning Christmas so learning that in September the Country is already geared up for Christmas is nothing but a huge Bliss with capital "B", LOL!

A quick visit to the locks of the canal here in Panama City's.

Note how cool and how close the huge ship is behind me.

The Global Village strikes again

The Spanish school I attend, takes half of the first floor of a building. The classrooms that face the outside have big wide windows from ceiling to floor, which is really very cool, because we can see the trendy "Via Argentina" (it could well be "the trendy Via Brasil", but they had to choose to establish themselves on "Via Argentina" rather than in Via Brazil, hey?) passing by and students can use many things in the view as examples for learning.

Anyway, the other day I was having my class in one of these classrooms with an excellent teacher they have. She not only is a great teacher from the technical point of view, as well as speaks 5 other languages, therefore understands much better what is going on in the student's mind. Also, she is a pocket full of culture. Classes with her are great. So, there we were, "hablando hablando", when I pointed to something out on the street as an example and she turned to see what I was talking about. When she turned to see it, she also saw this man crossing the street and she says to me in Spanish:"there goes Demetrius, my Greek friend. He is Head of a Department at Bristol University in England" to what I replied: "Wow, Bristol University? My older daughter is a Dr from there and works there too". She heard my reply and walks towards the window, opens it and in Greek calls him and invites him up and we had a wonderful friendly chat about it and about his research here in Panama. Of course, from ALL the universities in the world, he had to be from Bristol University in the UK, of course!

If you have been following my thoughts here in this blog for the last two months, you might remember that our lawyer here in Panama, did his master at Cardiff University, where our younger daughter did her studies... it gets even more interesting when you stop to think that because of its history and geography, Panama's connections with the US are much closer than with the UK. So once again I say, of all the universities in the world, he had to have gone to Cardiff University!!

And last but not least for my global village week... a couple of days ago, I woke up with no internet service in my phone, so off I went to my service provider shop to check what was going on. I got there only to find out that some other people must have had similar problems, so had to wait for some 20 minutes to be called. When the number before me was called, I decided to stand up and be extra alert for my number, you know how it goes... foreigners tend to be a bit a stupid when they are not in their cozy comfort zones, so to avoid any whatever, I decided to stand up and get closer to where I would be called.

Then, out of nowhere, comes this man who was also waiting and starts talking to me. Why me I have no idea!! He goes on talking about nails. He was saying how nails have to be soft and smooth with no lines and he continues to say how he had learned that from the Chinese doctor he had consulted with at the "Emperor's clinic" in Beijing. "Great doctors they are", he says and goes on to say: "You know, just looking at my nails, they were able to see that my pancreas and liver were not functioning well, so they gave me this awful tea to drink on a daily basis and now my nails, pancreas and liver are all good. If you ever go to Beijing, you should visit this clinic, really good"... and before I knew, he was called by the person he was with who had finished his enquire and off they went.

And there I stood just thinking, should I had told him that until I get my permanent visa in Panama, my home address is in China? Do I tell him that I have already been to Beijing? Do I tell him that my family and I have also been to that clinic (probably that is where they take all stupid tourists, he he he), do I tell him that my husband has taken those awful teas for many months and has indeed enjoyed the result? Do I tell him that I'm landing on this side of the planet after 9 years living in a Chinese city? No no no, none of that... he was so excited and happy telling me of his travels experiences that stealing his thunder would have been mean and that morning I was not in a mean mood...

Casco Viejo with hugs and kisses

Two months into our life here in Panama and we are still riding life in high spirits, despite missing Carlota terribly! The sweetness of the Panamanians is amazing, not to mention the many hugs and kisses we get everywhere and mind you, it's me who is surprised with this hugging and kissing thing, me Odila!! While living in HK, I didn't know I was a person who stood out for kissing and hugging until our very dear and great friend PW wrote a very funny and warm Ode for Joel and I, to be read out by him at our farewell party. At a certain point, the Ode goes like this:

"Joel’s big grin extending from here to here.

And Odila approaching with arms as wide as this:

“My dear, how ARE you? Big hugs and a big kiss”

Everybody hugs and kisses here. I am so at home, LOL!! P & J, you must come and check it! We walked into church for the first time, just the two of us and sat down. We knew nobody. A few minutes after the service started, there is that thing of people greeting each other and there you have it... although nobody knew us, we were greeted with hugs and kisses. Than it was time to buy a car. After vising all the dealers, we picked Honda and Joel went back a few times to take care of business. When the car was ready to be collected, the three of us (with Carlota, of course) went to the shop . The dealer had seen us, Carlota and I, only once before but nevertheless, greeted me with a hug and a kiss and a pat on Carlota! The bank people who are dealing with our loan, first a girl and now a man, hugs and kisses every time we meet. Just awesome!

A couple of weekends ago, Joel and I went to see this very old part of town called "Casco Viejo". As I have already mentioned in another entry, it's like Disneyland for photography lovers! This area is not only the berth of Panama City, but of course, Od the Country too. The city was founded back in 1519. It grew rapidly from the moment of its establishment, maintaining its position as chief post of the Pacific and terminus of the first transit route across the Isthmus. The old Panama City saw all the great output of gold and silver from the rich mines of Peru and the mines in the province of Veraguas, as well as the products from the pearl fisheries in the Bay of Panama. The city survived several disastrous fires, but finally was destroyed by a band of pirates under Sir Henry Morgan in 1671. Today, Casco Viejo is an area protected as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, so somethings have already been restored, some are being restored and some are still to be restored.

So, walking through the streets of Casco Viejo, you just can't help but let your imagination fly, wishing cobblestone streets could talk, bringing you into the historical picture of then!! Voila, Casco Viejo for you!!

And here, the photos we loved most!