November-December Update

Desde la entrada anterior, mi español ha mejorado, pero todavía estoy preocupado del dialecto de panameño.

I feel more comfortable in my weekly conversations with Rosmery and José, but they do not speak at the rapid pace nor with the swallowed speech pattern common of Panama City. (For an example, here is a link to a Panamanian comedy skit show, La Cáscara). I’ve been told by other people who have lived in Panama, and who speak Spanish, that the dialect is pretty tricky to grasp.

My second concern once I get there is learning public transportation. For my interviews I will need to travel around the city to various sites. Additionally I will be making multiple trips out to Kuna Yala and I will want to travel around the country in-general. In Uganda it took a while to feel comfortable with the taxi and bodaboda system, but once I got it down, those 14*-passenger vans and motorcycles took me everywhere I wanted to go.

 *14 was the suggested number of passengers, I have been in one of those taxis with as many as 20, not counting chickens).

To top my list of pre-trip preoccupations, I am still figuring out my housing situation. At this point I believe I will be staying at Luna's Castle (picture from their website shown right). Said to be THE place for backpackers who want to have a good time. I figure I can spend the first few weeks getting my bearings and looking for an apartment while meeting some friendly folk.

The great news is that all the advice from former student researchers says do NOT try to start interviewing or seriously working on your research within the first 3 months. The reason being that it takes about that long just for you to get accustomed to the new city you are living in, and to mold your research plan to the people and the places you are going to come in-contact with. When I think about being in Kampala, Uganda, it took me until about the 3^rd month to go through most of my stages of culture shock and to really get the hang of the city and its people. If I had tried to start my research prior to that, I would have wasted mine, and a lot of other people’s time.

So what’s the plan? January 14, I arrive in Panama City in the evening. Rosmery’s sister, who is and English professor at the University has generously offered to pick me up from the airport (still to be confirmed, though).  I will stay at Luna’s Castle for a few weeks, meanwhile looking for apartments. The Wednesday after I arrive I have a required meeting with the U.S. Embassy. Other than that, I will rapidly be attempting to meet up with anyone and everyone I have been in-contact with the past year, starting first with my affiliation. I know the first few weeks will probably be the roughest, though I hope to not bore you with a bunch of emo posts regarding how much I don’t belong and miss home more than I ever thought I would, blah blah blah.

I’ll try to write again before I leave, but if I don’t, this next entry should be from Panama City, Panama! (and should be a whole lot more interesting)