Thank You (August 28)

To everyone who read my blog over the summer I want to say thank you and I truly appreciated all of the love and comments. I know some of the entries were long but I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Until my next trip...

Love,
Dominique

Last Day of Work!! (aug 17)

Well, it's been 10 long weeks but I have made it to the end. Today is my last day of work and it's going by smoothly. I have a few projects that I'm trying to wrap up but other than that it's a normal day in the Consular Section.

The past few days have been good. On Tuesday night we were supposed to go to the Opera however the tickets were sold out when we tried to buy them. Instead we went to dinner at this great place called Twist. It had a nice ambiance, Thai-inspired menu and wonderful service. I really appreciate it when a restaurant operates like a well-oiled machine. It means the managers are doing a fine job training their employees and here in Panama...it's not often you find that.

Wednesay evening I went out to dinner with one of my coworkers and her husband. She wanted to thank me for all of the work I've done over the summer and in her transition to our department. We went to Crepes and Waffles a funky place that reminded me of Gladys Knights' Chicken and Waffles in Atlanta. I ordered a curried shrimp and spinach crepe and had strawberry ice cream for dinner. The serving size was big and the food was appetizing.

Thursday was a very interesting day. Panama is currently going through some problems because Suntracs (a union) is fighting with another large union group. The other union killed a member of Suntracs in the midst of their arguing. This sparked quite a few riots throughout the city and countryside. The Embassy was telling families to keep their children home from school and were sending employees home early from work to avoid the protests and traffic jams. At first it was kinda scary/daunting because on nearly every block you saw a red-beret, MK-47 toting army guy standing guard. However it seemed the situation had dissipated by the end of the day when I left work and was back to some sense of normality. That morning I was supposed to go on a boat tour of the Canal with the Association of the West Indies Heritage Center. It was to highlight the efforts of the West Indies workers during the construction of the Canal. The story behind this experience is tooo long to type but it'll suffice to say we spent 3 hours trying to find the launching dock of the boat and the Canal authorities' left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. I had a good time with the 3 other ladies with whom I was traveling but I was really looking forward to that tour and history lesson. Thursday evening Yolanda and I went to a crafts fair with over 450 vendors showcasing their work. It was a tiring experience to walk up and down each aisle but it was fun still. I was able to purchase a few more trinkets/souvenirs.

I have made checked in for my flights tomorrow and printed my boarding passes. Unfortunately I have a 5 hour layover in Newark because all the flights through Houston were full. I will probably pass the time by chatting on my cell phone for the first time in 10 weeks and/or reading a book in Borders. I am prone to reading whole books in the airport lol and there's actually a new book I saw online I wanted to read.

Hmmmm....

My Last Weekend (aug 10-12)

I had a WONDERFUL last weekend! The weekend started off around 8:30 a.m. when I got to work lol. I didn't have that much work to do so the day went by very smoothly. I had a nice, long lunch with one of my co-workers just talking about Panama, my experiences, my excursions, etc. She chided me for not doing more and getting out to the countryside more and when I tried to explain to her that she didn't help me out any she didn't want to hear any of that of course lol. So after work Friday I rode with 3 co-workers to a happy hour at this little dive on the beach. It was called Kari Mar and was literally located on the beach. The water level was not very far from the edge of the restaurant. I ordered seafood soup and a drink only to discover they did not take credit cards and I didn't have enough cash. Forunately, the co-worker with whom I ate lunch said she would pay for my meal as a "going-away" gift. We stayed there talking and laughing until about 11p before finally heading home because it started to rain.

Saturday we woke up early for what would become a very LONG day of excursions. The first stop was Gamboa Rainforest Resort. We were scheduled to go on an 8:30 tour of Monkey Island however the website-quoted 20 minute ride ended up taking closer to 35 minutes and therefore we missed our departure time. Fortunately there was another tour scheduled for the morning but not until 10:30. To pass the time we ate breakfast in the resort's restaurant and enjoyed the beautiful view it offered. The boat ride took us from the Chargres River through the Panama Canal Channel and up through Lake Gatun where Monkey Island is located. While in the Canal Channel, we were right next to the HUGE ships that come through the Canal. I felt incredibly small while sailing next to them. Quick aside...Lake Gatun is a man-made lake created during the Canal's construction. It flooded numerous towns/villages that are now deep below the water's surface. While in the boat, we saw many islands which are actually the tops of hills/mountains from the undersea towns. Moving along...on the tour we saw a sloth and two different kinds of monkeys. The capucchin monkeys actually came onto the boat and the guides were feeding them apples. I was able to get some wonderful pics that I'll upload later. After the tour we rode back to town and got ready for our next stop of the day. This was to the Japanese Ambassador's house for a bbq. He was having the bbq for his daughter who was in Panama for a few days before starting college in Maryland. The food was yummy (I ate curried shrimp & rice, grilled veggies, cake & ice cream) and the house was very nice. He lived right on the oceanfront and the waves were crashing up and onto the deck! After lunch we stopped at the mall to buy our tickets to the Chinese Circus then headed home. Unfortunately we both fell asleep and thus missed our dinner appointment before the Circus. The Chinese Circus was AMAZING!! The things the acrobats were able to do with their bodies...the different twists & contortions...I don't think I want my body to even try some of their moves lol. Nonetheless, it was a 90-minute show of cool costumes and effects. After dinner we walked across the street to a restaurant called Jimmy's where I had pizza and Yolanda had her usual corvina (sea bass).

Sunday was another long day of fun. We woke up and went to the beach with another co-worker. Santa Clara was about 1.5 hrs away from downtown Panama and well worth the ride. The water was a wonderful temperature, the waves were fun, the beach wasn't crowded and the sun was nice & hot! I forgot to put sunscreen on my face and definitely felt it later in the day and on Monday because my face was tight/chafed/burned. We stopped to buy some food at the groc. store on the way so we had our own lil cooler of food to enjoy on the beach. While riding the waves I scraped my knee a few times on the sand so had a slight burn there...but it's gone now.

All in all, this was a wonderful end to a wonderful summer. Going into my last week of work I plan on having a great time each day doing something different. Tonight (tuesday) we're going to an opera. Wednesday we're going to an Annual Crafts Fair that's in townand reggae night. Thursday is open but will be filled with something quickly. Friday the Foreign Service Nationals are hosting a big reception/happy hour to raise funds for their annual Christmas gala so we're going there. Saturday I leave!

Hump Day (Aug 8)

Today's Wednesday and I leave in less than 10 days. How wonderful :-)

Monday night Yolanda and I went to get some ice cream because she was craving it. I didn't buy any but I accompanied her on the trip

Tuesday we went out to dinner with out coworker Michael to this Italian place that Yolanda kept raving about. It was good food but the menu item I chose (spinach ravioli in a creamy pesto sauce) wasn't that filling. The meal was made wonderful though because Michael paid for it!!! Boo Yah! What yall know about bein a broke intern :-)

Today we are going to a Ladies Night Out after work. It's Dinner and a Movie time! We're first going to Gourmet Pizza to get our grub on. Then we're going to Extreme Planet to see the new Catherine Zeta Jones movie "No Reservations". I'll give a detailed rundown of the night's happenings manana.

CIAO!

My 2nd Last Wknd (Aug 3-6)

This was a nice weekend. Friday night I came home from work and went to the mall. I hadn't been clothes shopping all summer so I thought I deserved a few items lol. My main goal was shoe shopping because everyone knows I have a slight shoe fetish...I think I got it from my mom :-) You can never have enough shoes. The black heels with the buckle are different from the black heels with the strap which are both different from the black heels with the peek-toe. As you can see, each shoe would be worn at a different time and with different outfits...therefore you need multiple shoes to satisfy the wardrobe/event demand. I can rationalize anything, right Daddy :-) So I ended up not buying any shoes because I walked into the first store I saw and discovered they were having an annual sale with prices in the Marshall's/TJ Maxx range. Yeah, I had a field day. Hour and a half later...I walked out with some good steals and I was very happy!! Unfortunately, none of the shoes they had were in my size so I couldn't buy any and all the other stores were closing by the time I left that store. For whatever reason, the mall closes at 8p here instead of 9 or 10...and on a Friday! Friday night we were supposed to go out to celebrate my FSU and UNC friends' last day in Panama but I guess they were tired or busy because they never called.

Saturday Yolanda and I met her 2nd cousin who took us to a jewelry store where Yolanda bought some nice items for her family. Perhaps I have't acquired the taste for that yet so I was not desirous of making such a large expenditure. After that stop we went souvenir shopping in a large outdoor strip mall. We were able to finish off nearly 95% of our souvenir shopping so that was wonderful. The next stop was this large building called CasaCor (http://www.worldeventsguide.com/event.ehtml?o=2556). CasaCor is hard to describe. It used to be a large hospital and different designers/architects were brought in to redecorate each room (different designer per room) with their own style and flavor. The purpose I guess is to showcase their work for future clients. It was a nice thing to walk through and get different ideas for your room and to see the artist's work. However, it wasn't worth the $10 I paid. The silly lady wouldn't give me the student discount of $5 because I didn't have my ID and she wouldn't let Yolanda buy two tickets using her student ID. WHATEVER!!! That evening we went to a dinner show about the history of Panama. It was alright....just alright. Nothing to write home about! Oh, we went to the dinner show with Kara, another person we've met down here who is a teacher in NYC.

Sunday was very relaxing and uneventful. I woke up and went to church. Then I walked to the grocery store to buy a few items. Upon my arrival back home Yolanda wanted to go somewhere for lunch but when we got to the cafe we learned it wasn't open on Sundays. Good part of the trip though I was able to find a shoe repair store so I'm going to try to go there tonight (tuesday) to see about fixing the heel on my shoe. I wanted to go swimming in our pool but the door was locked so I couldn't get in. Instead I washed my hair and then spent the rest of the day working on my website. I learned how to create a photo gallery so I was very happy and proud of myself.

Monday started my 2nd last week in Panama!! I woke u and did my normal morning run, although I strugglde on the way back because my mind starting to overtake my body. Work went smoothly. After work I accompanied Yolanda to get some ice cream in Casco Viejo. Then I cooked some spaghetti...turned out wonderfully! However, how do I make the sauce less watery??? Any suggestions? I spent the rest of the evening finishing the photo gallery and uploading it to the main site.

First Week of August (July 30-Aug 3)

Well, there's only 2 weeks left of this summer vacation/internship/experience. I would be remiss to say I am not ELATED at this fact and cannot wait to get back to the good ol' US of A...to my regular life....to my friends and family...to my CELL PHONE!

This was a pretty regular week. I went to work each day and I think I relaxed each evening for the most part. Tuesday I fell asleep before 10 p.m. so that was an uneventful evening. Wednesday night Yolanda and I went to our weekly jazz outing. Prior to jazz we had dinner at this quaint restaurant called Rene's Cafe. It was sooo good and they gave us sooo much food for only $16. You receive 6 appetizers, 3 choices of meat, dessert and a drink. Our appetizers were salad, rice, two shrimp dishes, a mango chutney, and I cannot remember the last one. The meats available were chicken, fish, pork and vegetarian dish. The dessert was a pineapple pastry that was very light and tasty. The jazz was...alright...to say the least. There was a drummer in the group and he just kept banging on his drums and, to me, throw off the whole vibe and beat/tempo of the music. Needless to say, I was ready to go long before the hour was up!

Thursday night I went salsa dancing. I had a WONDERFUL time this week which was a definite improvement from the last time I was there. My partner and I had a great time learning the moves and practicing during the 15 min intermissions. Yall better get ready because when I come back I'm going to find the local salsa club and will need company!! Who's game?!

Tonight I think I am going to do some shoe shopping...yes I have a shoe fetish and cannot curb it. My friend from FSU is leaving in the morning so we will be going out to celelbrate her last night in Panama. This weekend my goal is to do some more souvenir shopping and make some major headway on my fraternity's website because I haven't done anything to it all week.

The Weekend pics (July 27-29)

The Weekend (July 27-29)

This weekend had its highs and lows but overall it was a good weekend. It began right after work as Yolanda and I went to the closing reception for the art exhibit that's been on display for the past month. (Frame of reference: the exhibit is in the same place as my weekly jazz night and I met the artist and went out to dinner w/ her and her husband last week) The reception actually was like an open mic jam session. The topic was "Love: What is it" and so each person, or those who wanted to, gave their definition of love and shared a story or anecdote or nugget of wisdom. Afterwards, Yolanda and I went out to dinner with the other student I met last week at jazz (UNC-Chapel Hill). The food was tasty even though I paid $7.00 for a cup of soup. Needless to say, I was expecting a large bowl for the price and was unpleasantly surprised at what they brought out to me.
Saturday we went to Portobelo for what we hoped to be a day of fun. The day was supposed to begin with zip lining. However upon our arrival there was no one at the location. We sat and waited for a few minutes, honking our horn, calling out...but still no one came. HUGELY disappointed we left and went in search of Portobelo. Portobelo is on the Atlantic Coast and is a sleepy town now, but used to be a major commercial shipping port. Its history stretches back to the 1700s and was attacked multiple times, including by Sir Francis Drake, before it became a forgotten port with the advent of the Panama Canal. For more information about the city and its rich history, visit: http://panamaliving.com/portobello.html. While in Portobelo we did visit the Cristo Negro or Black Christ. It's a statue of Jesus made out of dark wood so it's referred to as the Black Christ. It was interesting to see. Continuing on we went to Isla Grande. Isla Grande is an island in the middle of the ocean that took about 10 minutes to reach by boat. There we had lunch (fresh fish!) and walked along the beautiful white sand beach. On our return trip, we stopped in Portobelo to view more of the ruins. One was a fort that still had the cannons lined up ready to shoot. You'll see in the pictures. The trip ended on a sour note as the taxi driver tried to get more money out of us than we'd expected to pay. I ended up paying him $15 more and Yolanda paid $25 more. Story too long to detail here. We relaxed the rest of the evening (got home around 6p) and just chilled. We were supposed to go out but I was tired and didn't really want to.
Sunday we were supposed to go to a water park but the lady with whom we were going to go overslept and by the time she awoke it was too late to get out there and have a good day's worth of fun. Instead...Yolanda and I went to the Intercontinental for brunch. Food was appetizing but overpriced but it's the Intercontinental so what do you expect. After brunch we went shopping for a little bit then came back home. It was too beautiful of a day and I wanted to get in the water so I went to our building's pool and swam for about 2 hours. Then I laid out in the sun to "work on my tan" and take a nap. I met 3 children who also live in my building and had fun talking to them. I came back in the house around 6p kinda disappointed it wasn't later in the day and worked on my fraternity's website. If you'd like to view it, the site is www.akpsi-omegaxi.com. I made one of my favorite meals for dinner: tuna fish!!!

That was my weekend :-S

All that for only ONE DOLLAR (june 25)

This was a great day. It started off on a sour note because I woke up in a sour mood. I went for my normal morning run and took a longer route hoping it would help clear my mind some more. All it did was help my legs hurt some more, lol. The work day dragged by and it seemed COB would never come. By the time we left the office at 5:46 p.m. I was more than ready to be home. However, we had a full night ahead of us so I knew I wouldn't have time to "do me" for long. Yolanda was sick so she didn't accompany during my adventures tonight. The first stop was my coworker Diane's apartment (5 floors above us). She is going out of the country for the next 2 weeks and needed to clean out her refridgerator so she invited 3 folks over to help out. Clearly I had no problem doing that. We ate bruschetta, fajitas (chkn for them, veggies for me), pecan pie & ice cream topped off with delicious coffee. I hadn't had coffee in quite some time so this was an excellent way to end the evening. The conversation flowed very well in una mexcla de English & Spanish and I learned quite a bit about Embassy affairs and intergovernmental relationships. After dinner, I went to our weekly jazz night in Casco Viejo. There I met up with two of the ladies we'd met at Salsa lessons last week and who we went out to dinner with on Tuesday night. I also was introduced to a junior from UNC-Chapel Hill and a married couple. The wife was actually the artist whose work was on display at the gallery so that was a pleasant encounter. Her website is www.poetryandart.org if you'd like to see her work and hear her story. All of artwork is based on self-love and hope because she was raped and abused as a young woman and this is her way of expressing her feelings. A very interesting story and there's more details on the website. Anyways...After the extended jazz set (ended around 920 instead of 9) we all (6 of us) piled into the couple's Yaris (see picture below) and headed out to dinner. I didn't eat because I was still full from my dinner. Again, the conversation flowed very well and we learned about how the couple met and got married in 10 days and are happily living together still. After dinner (around 1115p), the couple dropped us off at a club on Calle Uruguay called Sahara. There was going to be a band playing live reggae starting at midnight. Pleasantly surprised, 5 of my coworkers were there already so we joined them and waited for the band to begin. They didn't take the stage until around 12:40a but the wait was well worth it. The majority of the songs were Bob Marley so I knew all of them and was really jamming!! Around 2:25 we left the club and the van dropped each of us at our respective locations. Reeking of smoke, I took a quick shower then fell quickly asleep. The only thing I paid the whole night was for my taxi from the apartment to the jazz- $1. I am truly going to miss this economy and being "the intern." :-)

Museum Day (july 14)

These are pictures from my museum day. We visited an Afro-Caribbean Museum, an Emerald Museum and the Panama Canal Museum. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the Afro-Caribbean Museum so all you see from that site is the sign. The museum was less than I expected. It only housed a few artifacts and relics displaying the rich history and struggle of the West Indies people. Nearly all of them came here during the construction of the Canal with the hopes of getting paid much and then returning home to care for their family. Unfortunately, most did not make it back home and either died here or created a new settlement. The black Panamanian presence is still very large today. The second stop of the day was the large cathedral you see below. I do not remember all of the history around it however it is located in Cathedral Square in Casco Viejo and is very well known and important. The pics below show a grave (yes they had multiple headstones in the cathedral floor which indicates there are graves beneath the surface), a row of priests' pictures, a tile from the original building, and the original stone face of the cathedral. The third stop on our tour was an Emerald Museum. Panama does not actually have emeralds on its land but it served as part of the route surveyors traveled when carrying the precious jewels. The lizard looking piece is a replica of an ornate emerald item discovered in some old city. The last pictures are of Yolanda and I in the plaza near the water enjoying the intense sun.