Still adjusting

Well, the test and frustration of the last weeks come to fruition today. Let me explain. (Please keep reading...this is funny, although it sounds kind of depressing!)

For the last two weeks, I have been tested like nothing else. Everynight before I go to bed, it always happens. There is always this little scurrying sound. The last couple of days, I have heard it when I wash dishes, when I take a shower and when I am getting ready to get into bed.

Now, it can be kind of unsettling going to bed knowing there is a creature big enough to make scurrying noises in your house, lurking in the darkness. And while I have learned to handle all types of bugs flying in my house (alright, I lie, I still struggle with tolerating cockroaches), images of big rats and mice have filled my head the last couple nights as I venture to bed, hoping to God in heaven that they havent nested in my bed.

And as any good American, where scurrying noises mean only one thing-rats and mice-I have covered my apartment with rat poisin, and submerge from my deep slumber every monring, awoken by the excitment that I might have got the best of our furry friend, only to be be disspointed by the lack of keeled over rodents.

Today, I learned why. Take a look at the picture. (Well, Mom...dont look at this picture!)

Anything wrong here with this picture?

Thats right. While I was talking on the phone, out struts our friend, the lizard. He walked right over like he was looking for a best friend. He was very docile, even allowed a nice little photo shot.

That is definatly NO rat...

I pulled myself together, grabbed a bucket and safely removed him from the premises. He was sad to leave, until I stomped the ground really hard...then he took off!

And know I qaulify to be an exterminator. I will have all you Animal Rights people out there now that no animals were injured during this process...

So lesson learned...maybe I need to invest in some lizard traps. Hey, I still learning little by little about the new world I live in!

keep exterminating...

Happy Birthday Cassie

Happy Birthday, Cassie!

I wanted to say Happy Birthday to my little sister, Cassie. I hope that everything goes well for you! You have grown up so much and I am so proud of you! I cant wait to get to hang out with all of you again in a couple weeks!

Hopefully you have learned this much in Spanish class...feliz cumpleanos...que cumplas muchos anos mas y que sean de alegria y salud....te amo...tu hermano..

sigue estudiando (keep studying)...

ps. jamming to some coldplay just for you!

The Wedding...through Chris' eyes

April 8 was Becky and Noriel's wedding. It was so beautiful. The wedding itself was held at the church in Balboa. And after all the planning and the stress that had me convinced that eloping is the best option, after seeing all the guests and family and Becky and Noriel enjoying themselves and being as happy as they were, I guess a wedding will be worth it someday.

So a little background. Becky was a missionary here in Panama. A testimony to the work that she has done here in Panama was the support she had from the women of the church. Anselma (who has dubbed herself my Panamanian grandmother), Yazmina (who has dubbed me her hermanito) and many others, spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday preparing the whole church and the event. They not only stripped and rewaxed the entire floor of the church, but prepared and served a buffet dinner of salads, meat, traditional panamanian food and other appetizers (long live HUN PAU!) Noriel, who comes from the provience of Chiriqui, is a wonderful guy, whose humor I get! I am actually not supposed to encourage him with his so called "dry and chessy jokes" by laughing, but cant help it. He is studying architeture in the National University and is a person who has taught me so much about Panama and its culture...in as much as he has told me as well as just by the way he acts.

Becky, has spent the last four months of her life, slowly pulling this wedding together. And since most of my teaching duties are at night, I had the priveldge of doing alot of wedding planning and shopping together during the days. I also had the priveledge of being a groomsman in the wedding, so I got to get all cleaned up and dressed in a tux.

With all the out of town guests, fruit baskets needing to be carved from watermelons, cupcakes to be made, and food to pick up from different restaurants throughout the city (among many other things), none of us really slept for more than 3 hours a day the days before the weddings. Some slap happy memories including laughing at the dairy queen tip dipped cup-cakes, try to lug around a huge vat of watermelon (oh yes, it was about 8 pounds), and eating all the rejected cupcakes. Even when we were slap happy, or dead tired, standing at the altar and seeing Noriel and Becky say their vows (bilingually I may add) was enough to keep us all going.

Please pray for Becky and Noriel as they start this new part of their life together. Pray that they would continue to walk in God's ways all the days of their lives, and continue to be an excellent model of a Christian couple to the people of the church in Panama.

And now for some pictures. Thats right ladies, eat your hearts out. This is one of the few times you can feast your eyes on me in a tux...

Noriel and I put the cake on the cake stand. I was in charge of picking the cake up...that was the most nerve racking twenty minutes of my life. Big thanks to Dave for carrying the cake and saving me from having a cake meltdown in Panamanian traffic. You can tell by the looks on our faces that we are just a little aprehensive about setting it down. That cake weighed a ton! To qoute Noriel's grandma, "Esa vaina pesa." (translates roughly 'that shit is heavy!')

Noriel and the cabelleros (groomsmen), and the pastors. The pastors informed us that is was our job to make sure that the wedding went off...that we were to make sure Noriel didnt run off at any point in the ceremony. While the damas (bridesmaids) where there for elegence, we were spiffed up body guards. Just kidding!

Becky and the cabelleros. Our job was to make sure that Noriel didnt go running out of the church. Here Becky is congradulating us on sucessfully holding him back. Just kidding...But we are smilimg becuase we are about to leave the church and have the opportunity to take off our sweaty jackets. Yeah, tuxes and non-airconditioned buildings, not so fun.

Ana and I leaving the church. Ana had hurt her foot the day of the wedding, so here we are practicing the slow march out of the church.

More pictures of Becky and Noriel to come! Stay tuned!

Of Haircuts, March Newsletters and Pictures

I know. I could hardly beleive it. I have been on blogger almost three days in a row. Wow, you think, that Chris is really cool. He keeps us updated so well on what is going on in Panama. I wish I had his blogging abilities...well, I try, what can I say.

There are more pictures added in my Photo Album, so be sure to check those out. Also check out the March Newsletter under the "My Newsletters" Links.

Oh yeah got a haircut. That was an adventure. You all have to let me know what you think. I will know next time to take my dictionary with me when I go, since the only "hair" term I know is cocobolo, which rougly translates as coconut head...

This is the before picture. Altough I like the curlying out in the back look (my Panamanian friends loving called me Jesus Christ), and the way my hair whisped around in the wind, it was time for a little trim.

Although I have a kind of smug face, I actually like it. It doesnt look that bad. The truth of the matter is that I liked the hippy look, but I am in a wedding this weekend, so would prefer not to lose my life to the bride's wrath than keep my stylish locks (just kidding Becky, I know you would have only hired a hitman, not actually gone through with it!)

On a blogging roll...

Wow, two days in a row! This has to be a record in Chris' blogging career. Now, dont get your hopes up, this two day phase is no guarantee that I might drop of the face of the blogging world for months at a time.

Just thought I would answer the burning question about the Panama Canal. "How do they do that?"

First boat enters. Then doors close. Then water is pumped into lock. Said boat raises. Doors open. Boat Exits. Repeat as nessecary.

Well, thats the idea that was envisoned since 1530 when Carlos V of Spain thought about making a transit route across Panama, what the french struggle with building for 8 years and what Americans worked on for 10 years to figure out how to build. Seems simple, but it really is interesting. I had the chance to take a cruise through the canal, so I learned plenty of interesting facts. Join me on a transit through the canal...

So first we start out in the ocean. The average boat spends about 24 hours waiting before it enters the canal. Then when it enters, a Panamanian Canal Pilot boards and takes complete control of the ship...the only time a captian ever resigns his power over the boat. Then you enter and head towards the Puente de las Americas, the bridge that was the first connection over the canal.

This is actually not in the canal, but getting close.

Ok, now this is actually in the canal, and the going under the bridge.

Okay, so after about an hour of sailing slower than I used to drive in the states, you enter the first set of Locks, called Miraflores. You can see the lock door open, the boat in front of us going in and us getting ready to go in.

The locks of the canal raise each boat 86 feet from sea level to be able to get into Gatun Lake, 86 above sea level.

And here comes the ingenious part of the canal. The water is pumped into the closed locks, completly by gravity. The control ma just opens the right pipes and in flow the water (each chamber has huge pipes running underneath it). The water is pumped at 52,000 gallons a minute into the chamber, and it takes about 8 minutes to raise a boat. There are six locks, three going up and three going down. The best way to think of them is just really big water elevators.

Here you can see the difference in the water levels from the first part where we entered and where we were after the lock had been filled with water. This was at Miraflores locks, and we are now about 8 meters above sea level.

After about three hours and two sets of locks, you find your self almost through the first portion of the canal. The tug boats come along and help your boat into position to navigate through the narrowest part of the Canal, called Culebra Cut. In this part of the canal, the traffic is one way for the largest boats, so getting it right is the most important thing.

A tugboat comes to help the cargo ship in front of us. At a rate of $3,000 per hour, the Panamanain government makes bank with "services" like the tugboat they "offer" (its more like "requirements" that they "issue").

As you enter this part of the canal, you go under the Centennial Bridge, that was supposed to be constructed as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Panama in 2004. However, Panamanian construction schedules prevailed, and the bridge opened only seven months ago.

The Puente Centenario, the newest connection over the Panama Canal. I dont know what was more impressive, the bridge or the overwhelmingly huge power lines...

So, then the whole reason for the locks comes into view. You actually have to cross the continental divide to go through the canal, and digging out the Canal through this area was the most difficult part of construction. Another interesting fact, the Chagres River, the river that has been dammed and holds most of the water used for the canal, is actually the only river in the world that feeds into both oceans simultaneously.

Those two mountains on each side are actually the continental divide, or what remains of it.

After this, you would pass through another set of Locks called Gatun, the largest set of locks, that would lower you all the way back to sea level. There are museums full of information on how the canal and I hope my feeble attmepts quenches the burning desire to know how one of the eight modern wonders of the world works! You can watch a transit of the each one of the locks at http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

keep learning...

A tale of two cities

The streets of Colon and the City of Panama. The difference between the living conditions would make it hard to beleive that these cities arent just 50 minutes away from each other.

Yes, I made it through the last blog entry and I am still alive. I have been busy with English Classes and helping friends that were visiting from the states. We got to do alot of touring, and I have some wonderful pictures and stories to share, and I want to thank Dan and Cindy for all there kindness and generosity while they were here in Panama.

But today I want to talk about one of the surprising shocks I had while I was touring. I have spent time in Colon, the second biggest city here in Panama, on the Atlantic end of the Canal. However, this time it really stuck out to me the difference between Panama and Colon. The city of Panama is very modern, very clean and offers a safe place to do the work I do. In fact, it was commented that if you were just dropped in Panama city and had no idea where you were, you would have a hard time figuring out you werent in a city in the States. The same cannot be said about Colon.

I hope that this blog isnt lost, becuase I know that I am not doing my sentiments justice, but just the wierd feeling of "wow this is how most of the world lives" is still shocking. Even after seeing people living in the object poverty of a Guatemalan dump, this poverty still is eye opening.

I live a very priveldged existence and I thank God for that...

keep thinking...