The New, The Old and The Weird

I know, this blog update sounds like some underfunded CBS Soap Opera, but beleive me you want to read this...

Me Celebrating Yom Kippur at one of the few open locations in Panama City.

Happy Yom Kippur! Panamá has a large Jewish population, and more than half the stores celebrate their holidays, so I am ever reminded of our spritual ancestors here in Panama. I decided to repent today and ask forgiveness for my lack of bloggingness during the last week. In order to show my repentence, I have an extra special blog entry today. Hopefully they will have you letting out as much laughter as we tried to hold back when these events transpired.

Today, we went to see some of the sights in Panamá. The history of Panamá starts with Panamá La Vieja (The Old City), which was the first European settlement on the Pacific Ocean. Founded in 1520, Panamá City quickly became important as a trading route. It became the starting point of almost all Southern American Conquests, such as Pizzaro’s Conquest of Peru, and it is said that about 90% of the treasure from all the Spanish’s New South American Empire passed through Panama. This made it a very important city, and a very attractive target for pirate attacks. However, the Spanish built the city right up against the ocean, and they thought is defenses were impenetrable. Hardly did they expect someone to attack from land, (why this did not cross their mind seems like a very large, obvious omission, since they were literally depending on the defenses of one side of the city to carry them through an attack, and three sides of the city were left very highly vulnerable.) Well leave it to Captian Henry Morgan (yes, the pirate man with a brand of rum named after him, more commonly known as one the most feared pirates of all times, although he appears rather jovial on all his liquor jars, like a slim Santa with less manicured locks, and not quite as many teeth) to do exactly what no one was expecting. He marched on the city, from Colón and Portobelo, the most important cities on the Atlantic side of Panamá, and sacked Panamá in 1672. The city was completely ruined, not so much due to dear old Henry, but rather from the Spanish burning the city to make the inevitably ensuing ransacking less successful and swift. The city was left abandoned, and things in Panamá shifted to a new city, which was brilliantly named Panamá La Neuva (The New City).

Me in a ruined convent in Panama La Vieja

The Tower of the Main Cathedral in Panama La Vieja

Panamá La Nueva (although it is “new” it is still called the Casco Viejo, the Historic Part of town) was the seat of the French, when they had rights to build the canal. Therefore, it is very European and very Colonail. The buildings are beautiful, and there are many historic places, one being the Plaza de Francia (French Plaza), which juts into the bay of Panamá and provides great views of the city. We also saw the national theater, the Presidential Palace, a country club that citizens tore down with their bare hands to demonstrate their loathing for Norriega, the national Legislation building, and the Cathedrals of the Casco Viejo.

However, the best part of the day came when we were at lunch. To say the least, a peculiar man was sat at the table next to us. If his large bug-eye sunglasses weren’t enough to merit a quick “don’t make it obvious but check out this weird guy” look, his pet plastic giraffe was. Slung under his arm, like some kind of precious Paris Hilton poodle, was a plastic giraffe. At first I expected a kid to come running out the bathroom and say something redemptive to the situation, like “thanks for holding my giraffe weird sunglasses dude,” however, such would not happen. He proceeded to sit down, by himself (for obvious reasons). Sitting at the table by himself must have gotten lonely, because he sat his giraffe on the table and actually started petting it. At points, we thought we even heard conversations. Perhaps the giraffe was complaining that he did not get enough greens for his taste, or perhaps he couldn’t bend his neck down to reach the plate. After copious chatter and wonderful human to giraffe contemplation, the man paid his bill, picked up his precious cargo, gently tucked him under his arm, and left. Perhaps Geoffrey the Giraffe had to get back to ToysR’Us, having only an hour for lunch break. We finally had a chance to talk openly about the events that just passed before our eyes, discuss if in fact they were not a hallucination, and this was a restaurant, not an insane asylum, and laugh outloud everything we had been trying, not very successfully, to hold in.

Yes, he is staring lovingly into that plastic giraffe's eyes.

This past week has been a lot of meeting people, going out with friends, seeing the country, more orientation, driving around the city and getting to know Panamá a little better. I spent a lot of time driving around, especially downtown, and getting to know the street names. We took a friend downtown to apply for jobs, and that was good way for me to tour the city. I found out that a whole portion of the city is built on fill from the Canal. I also got to go out with friends to a new wine bar, as well as hanging out in our apartments watching movies.

This entire section of Panama City is built on fill from the canal. Safe, really.

New Wine Bar on the Cuaseway. From left, Joy, Kathia, Noriel, Me, Marc and Cheryl

I also went to some of the churches I will be teaching out with some of the missionaries. I went to Río Rita, which is a neat little town. I observed a confirmation class and a theological education by extension class there, lead by one of the career missionaries here, Marcos Kempff. I also went to Los Andes, where I helped out with an English bible study, and music practice for the worship team. I am starting to get a feel for some of the different churches, and will meet more with the pastors to see what things they look forward to in my English classes.

Jesus Divino Salvador, the church I will work at in Rio Rita

I am also starting to really fell the awkward moments of sticking out. Even though Panama is used to having foreigners around, it is still an amazing sight for them to see a gringo. Today at Panamá La Vieja, since it was a school day, there were more students on school trips than tourists and at one point, we over heard a group of them sheepishly heading over to us and whispering amongst themselves. “I want to talk to the gringos.” Also, the gas prices have sky rocketed here, since the government stopped subsidizing the cost of oil. This combined with the fact that George W Bush, his highness, has announced he will visit in November, have lead to “manifestations” in the streets this entire week. In fact, in order to avoid mass problems, the university was completely shut down during the past few days. What a great time to be a gringo driving a car in Panama! No really, it has been very peaceful protests that have only caused some traffic problems in certain areas. Still, pray for all people in the city to stay safe in this time.

Other than that, I am hanging out in Paradise! Things are really well here in Panama, and I am seeing God work in the small things. Panamanians speak really fast, and have a really distinct accent, yet I understand them and have communicated well everything I need. God has provided many people here who can help me with the problems I have, and a group of friends who are my co-workers and have been a blessing to me! He has also provided a ripe situation, as every where I go, I am asked when I am going to start English Classes. I pray for God to use me in these sitautions, to bless the people he puts in my life, and that through them he continues to show me the abundence of his grace.

Until next time, keep plugging…

p.s. stay tuned for nexts week episode, the slow, the fast and the uncoordinated...pictures from Salsa lessons...