2nd Day of Work (june 12)

Today I must admit I was a little homesick. I was frustrated at work because I still did not have my computer ID and could therefore do no work. I took a tour of the building with the HR rep who’d been my main point of contact prior to coming to Panama. That was decent. I stood behind and shadowed the officers while they interviewed visa applicants and issued or denied visas. That is always fun/interesting because you never know what the case may entail. I ate my lunch around 12:30 p.m. in my office because I was hungry only to find out that everyone goes to lunch at 1 p.m. and so I was alone in the office reading a sports trivia book that whole hour while they were gone. I was given some work on the computers using another employee’s ID so that helped the rest of the afternoon pass by quickly and when I finished the work she let me stay on for the last 15 minutes before 5p to check my email – first time since I’d arrived to Panama I had internet access. I was very happy to get in touch with the rest of the world as I tried to quickly scan my inbox and even go to facebook to see what’d happened in the world while I was away for those four days. You never realize how much you depend on technology until it is stripped away from you. So anyways, I could only use it for a few minutes because my ride was outside waiting for me but it was long enough to receive an upsetting email about a job offer I thought I’d already secured. So that just put a negative twist on my entire day regardless of the good work I’d done on the job. I immediately came to my house and was so distraught I turned on my cell phone to call home. Yall know my cell phone works everywhere so I was able to quickly get the signal and connect with my family back home. I spoke with my mom and dad for a few minutes so I can only imagine what my phone bill will be like next month lol. However I needed to hear a calming/recognizable voice because I have been so out of touch down here. No internet in the house nor at work. No cell phone and yall KNOW that thing is hooked to me like white on rice and I do not go anywhere without it and am always on it. I have been on four other internships prior to this one and I attend school 1000 miles away from my hometown so I am definitely used to being away from friends/family. However, this is a new experience all of its own and will take some getting used to. Perhaps once I get my internet access at work I will feel better because I will at least be able to send emails regularly, update my blog, maybe access AIM Express, etc. Moreover, my phone card does not seem to work so I used my roommate’s last night but don’t want to use up her minutes so until I can get to the store to buy one like hers I’m stuck. To top it all off, our kitchen has these little ants and they got into my box of croissants that I just bought and hadn’t opened so I had to throw it away. I’m going to ask the HR lady about an exterminator tomorrow when I get to work and hopefully they’ll be able to take care of this because I don’t do bugs. To make myself feel better I bet you know what I turned to…you guessed it…ICE CREAM!! I fixed a nice bowl of cookies and cream, set in the kitchen talking to my roommate while she fixed her dinner and felt much better after about 30 minutes. Later on, she and I watched Crash on my computer and analyzed it while we were watching it and then set around afterwards talking about race, prejudice and stereotypes – enlightening conversation indeed. By then I was sleepy so I just laid down without reading any of my book and went to sleep.