2RetireesInPanama: ONE COMMAND SPOKEN IN PERFECT SPANISH AND, STILL, I AM IGNORED...AND SO MUCH MORE

One of the first phrases I learned before our first trip to Panama in 2012 was "ayudame" or "help me." For a number of reasons, I thought this would be wise to know then and now. If we are lost, we need help in the store or on the road, trying to understand something being said to us, or need directions, I thought it was easier to learn and memorize this quick command. I had yet to put it to use until just the other day when I found myself in the predicament of being stuck in the womans bathroom stall. Ray and I traveled to Westland Mall to shop first at the Conway store. We were in search of bedroom comforters. But first, a stop at the restroom before shopping. It was easy enough to slide the lock over once inside the stall, but when I tried to let myself out, it was jammed. Not the slider (of the lock itself), but the magnet up at the top of the door (or something up there was stuck). My "Ayudame" came to me quickly, since I knew there was a woman next door. Then, I heard her washing her hands. I heard her grabbing the towels. I shouted my command. Nothing. I rattled the door. I even told someone, anyone, that my husband was just outside the bathroom. Hey, if you don't want to help me, how about if you go get him? Nothing. I shook and rattled and pulled at the top of the door. I stuck my feet under the door and hung my hands over the top for the next woman that walked into the bathroom. There was not a way under the stall, since it was such tight quarters by the toilet (I looked). Then I thought "call Ray". Not in the sense of yelling for him, because I did not know if he was wandering the aisles waiting for me, but I used my phone to call him. He quickly asked where I was and thought I had gone shopping elsewhere while waiting for him to come out of the mens bathroom. I started cracking up laughing trying to tell him "I am stuck and locked in the stall, and no one will help me". He told me there was a woman in the bathroom with me (duh). I told him I knew this, and there were two in with me. And neither one would help me. Why are we discussing this? Please go get someone to get me out of here. He did not want to walk in, since there was a woman inside, so he found the sales girl. In his perfect Spanish, even though he did not know how to say "stuck", he told her his wife was in the bathroom, and the door was broken. She came in, acted like it was an everyday occurrence to rescue a woman from the stall (this is Panama, so I am sure it is), banged the door forward, and out I went, but not after first coming down from standing on the toilet seat (I was trying to see over the stall to see how the door worked, or did not, in this case) to a smiling sales girl. A man outside was laughing with us. Not at me, of course. When I told my Spanish teacher this story (practicing phrases of what could have been said), and I told MC this at House of Hope yesterday, they both said my "ayudame" should have done the trick. Not. But I felt good knowing that when in a bind, I could use my words and try to express myself. But just like with me understanding the Panamanians, perhaps my dialect is a "little" bit off.

Almost me.

Going to Westland Mall was not any part of the plan for last Wednesday. But following the gym, giving blood for the Panama Hospice and Respite Foundation, and before participating in dance lessons, going there was the thing we decided to do in that hour. Not a typical day haha

With giving blood, the Panama Hospice and Respite Foundation supports the Emergency Blood Bank Registry of Panama City. There is a low blood bank inventory at many hospitals in Panama. As we were told a few weeks ago, only five percent of healthy adults donate (this number is ten percent in the United States), and there was a request put out for expats to sign up and donate a pint of blood. The Administration building in Coronado's Equestrian development was where the event took place. It would be held for four hours, and there was a stand by list for those that tried to make appointments, but the day was fully booked. Dr. Montero, a hemotologist who runs blood bank in Panama, came in from the city, and while we were not successful with finding the comforters, we both had excellent blood pressure and hemoglobin levels. He evaluated Ray and I, along with all the other possible donors, and gave us the thumbs up as donors. Thirty expats were able to give blood that day (none were turned away). Refreshments were provided by Playacommunity. Cafe Viana cookies were excellent! We needed our juice and sweets, after all. We had wonderful indoor or outdoor seating while waiting our turn or just chatting with friends after giving a pint of blood and resting. This is just another of the many organizations expats can be a part of volunteering for and offering their time.

http://playacommunity.com/en/

http://www.panamahospiceandrespite.org/donor.html

Ray enjoys his juice while losing a pint of blood.

That same afternoon I had decided I was going to go to Coronado for dance lessons. I would go solo. I would try it out, and if I enjoyed it, perhaps Ray would come along next time. The lessons were being held at the Sukha Bar. Lessons are $5 for two hours. There were ten of us along with two dance instructors. We learned the Easy Swing. And there was another woman at the lessons by herself. We each danced with an instructor. I didn't figure it out until the end that I should have been dancing under either the fan or the AC vent. I was so hot, and I was so sweaty. What a workout that was that afternoon. Ray will go with me this coming week, because on Friday night while at Sukha Happy Hour, I was able to introduce Ray to the two new couples I had met at the lessons. This way he will feel a little more comfortable walking onto the dance floor on Wednesday. I just told him that I, too, have two left feet. Practice makes perfect.

This is so us!

Friday night Happy Hour was again a great night. But first, before that, we had met a woman at the Bluwater Bistro Happy Hour Thursday night, and we offered her a ride to the restaurant in Coronado. This sweet woman is staying at the Bahia condominium and is in Panama traveling for a month. She has traveled the world. She came up to Ray and I while we were seated at a long table for eight. We had decided to eat dinner outside for a change, and we knew there was a possibility it was not going to be a pork chop. We resigned ourselves to that until the menus were brought to us. We were handed three different menus, and on the one menu, there was The Flintstone Chop. Can't turn that down! I ordered the Bang Bang Chicken Salad (so good!). Back to meeting friends at the Happy Hour though, our table for eight quickly filled with four more people (two permanent expats and two visiting the two permanent--got that?). I chatted a great deal with this friendly woman, and, after a few hours, plans were made for the next night. This would give her a chance to see where the expats were, since her complex is now very quiet.

At Sukha Bar on Friday, the three of us turned our table for four into a table for eight again, and we had different expats mixing and mingling. Ray and I are meeting quite a few couples that live in this area full time. The snowbirds are slowly migrating north again. At this Happy Hour, the band again is one that I enjoy albeit loud. After a few hours there, we called it a night and dropped our new friend from Denver off at her building assuring her we would keep in touch. She wants to see our house, so we will take her "west" of Coronado to show her the development sometime soon. Back at Casa Cuarenta in Chame, we face timed with our daughter telling her my humurous tale of being stuck in the bathroom. She had a chance to fill us in on her week, and we then dug into the excitement of talking about her upcoming trip to see us in a week! We are all so excited. Her good friend and colleague is coming along with her for the trip. Six days and counting until I see my baby girl again!

And then it was back to Woody's House of Hope I went yesterday. On the way to Penonome is the furniture store, and this lovely man, Cruze, is making most of our furniture for the house. I stopped by the store to make sure of one thing with the staining of the pieces, managed to speak all Spanish, and he told me my Spanish was coming along great! This was good to hear. He remembers Ray and I stopping by many times last year, so he knows how far we have come with our lessons (thanks to a great teacher!).

This is the back of the store.

Beautiful teak!

Once at Woody's, my first task was painting. And then it was an "oh my" sort of feeling. There is an Open House in a few weeks, and I wanted to get started on cleaning and organizing the library. Overall, the house looks great! The deposito which is really a bedroom is now a typical storage room in that it is where things get dropped off, but that room has been adopted and will be cleaned up again in no time flat! The other empty bedroom with an adjoining bathroom has also been adopted. What I was able to do was put the final coat of paint on the last wall in the bedroom Thea and I adopted, assemble a shelving unit in hopes of having a little more storage for books, and then I dug into the library. Where to begin? I moved items around, I wiped down some surfaces haphazardly, and I felt overwhelmed. I found the top of the table and then covered it up again unsure of where to put things. I started putting books in a certain order, and then decided that with MC's guidance and help, we have an opportunity to attack it together the week before the Open House. I did not want to throw anything away, because I did not know what MC would be able to use, what she would be able to restore or what would be repaired in the coming weeks. I needed her to decide what papers are trash, what electronics work, I thought that maybe someone can hang the gigantic chalkboard to get it off the floor and out of the way a bit, and she will tell me where we can store all of the ceiling tiles that are back to covering the table that will one day soon be used by the girls for studying. I felt really good though in the few hours that I was at the house. I was alone while MC was at the orphanage teaching and the girls were inside their rooms or at the dining room table studying. And with MC's assurance, although it did not look like I had touched the library, she could see the difference. I felt that I had broken through the surface a little bit. Just like all things in Panama, little by little. I cannot wait to see the end results of this room. And for the girls, I am excited about this house. It is looking pulled together, and they are really coming together as a core group of friends and family with MC. They are so welcoming and inviting whenever I show up, and the love in that house and for that house in what it represents is a great thing.

Could not figure this puzzle out. Then I saw
the other parts in another corner. Another day, I thought.

The beginning. Where to put the tiles?

Piles. Bags to still sort through, books to file in order, etc etc etc

Once back from Woody's, it was Cholo's for Mexican food! The basket of chips was overloaded this time which is rare. Ray's margarita was delicious. It was all so good, and our waiter was very friendly and just fun.

Today, Ray and I enjoyed lunch at a friends beautiful home on over three acres in Chapala. This area is approximately forty-five minutes from where we live in Chame. Even with it being so dry, the grounds are lovely. The hummingbirds were buzzing around while we drank wine on the outdoor porch. This couple has lived in Panama for ten years. Whenever Ray and I drive back from Panama City, we make mention of "stopping by", but the city can wipe us out! We decided to plan a day to visit them. Lunch was just the icing on the cake. Great wine, great food and great conversation made for another full day for us in this thing called retirement!