After my first week in my new dwellings for the summer, I have come up with three observations of the city: 1) street signs do not really exist, when getting directions you will receive something like “take Avenida Espana, go down 5 blocks, and by the church take a right” This is fine, except in Latin America a church is just about as common as a Starbucks in any major U.S. city 2) plantains (a delicacy in my opinion) are freely common and available in just about any form. In fact I just had sushi wrapped in plantains for dinner the other night. If you don’t believe me, I’ve included a photo below. Best sushi I’ve had in my life! No joke. 3) mailmen in Panama are just as elusive as the tooth fairy or the Lochness monster. I have neither seen a single mailbox nor mail couriers in the city. This has lead me of course to believe that once young Panamanians turn a certain important age in their lives, they will be visited by a winged mailmen in their sleep who tuck letters under their pillow.
Class was conducted for the first time this week, and it was exciting to begin! The guys seem just as enthusiastic to begin learning, and I see a lot of hard work in preparation and instructing this summer. Tim Schnippert is my co teacher and together we will lead a 2 hour class 3 times a week where the first hour is in English and the second hour is about computers. Some of these guys have never touched a computer before, and their eyes are about to be open to the wide world web and all the possibilities that can come with it!
I'm off now to explore some more of the city.
2 comments:
No street signs?! And I thought driving in Austin was atrocious! But it sounds like you're adjusting. I hope all goes well with the start of your teaching!
It's great to read of your experiences and observations while in Panama. Almost makes me feel like I'm there! I'll look forward to more. In the meantime, I'll try and make plaintain wrapped sushi the new fad in Austin by asking for it wherever I go :-)
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