English version below as usual ;)
Wisst ihr noch, wie ich gesagt habe, ich hätte das Gefühl, umso mehr Zeit zu haben, je älter ich werde? Wenn du mich nicht darauf aufmerksam gemacht hättest, Raffi, hätte ich glaube ich den Widerspruch gar nicht bemerkt! :) Inzwischen hat auch noch die Begegnung mit dem Präsidenten der Universidad Latina in Panama City dazu beigetragen. Macht keinen Sinn? Ich erkläre es gerne: Als meine Tante erfuhr, dass ich nach Panama gehe, „beauftragte“ sie mich damit einen Panameño zu finden, mit dem sie in ihrer Studienzeit in Deutschland zusammengewohnt hat – der jetzt eben besagter Präsident ist! Es war nicht gerade einfach ihn zu finden, aber letztlich war ich dann erstaunt, wie ich einfach so ohne „Anmeldung“ in sein (gut klimatisiertes :) ) Büro spazieren konnte. Er war ganz aus dem Häuschen mich zu treffen und unbeschreiblich nett, und während er mir so erzählte, was sich seit damals alles so in seinem Leben getan hat, war ich wirklich beeindruckt angesichts der Feststellung, wieviele Erlebnisse noch vor mir liegen!
Inzwischen haben meine bisherigen „Mitbewohner und –arbeiter“ das Dörfchen Tortí verlassen, in das ich Anfang vorletzter Woche zurückgekehrt war (und diese Woche werden sie zurück nach Deutschland fliegen), und so sehr ich es genossen hatte es zugunsten der Stadt zu verlassen, so sehr freute ich mich, wieder dorthin zurückzukehren - warmes Wasser, ein sauberes Haus und eine richtige Küche sind zwar etwas Tolles, wenn man es lange entbehren musste, werden einem aber auch schnell wieder auf seltsame Art und Weise zur Last. Ihr erinnert euch vielleicht an das Zitat, das ich euch vorgelesen hatte, „Security is not having money; it’s knowing you can do without it“, und genau so scheint es auch mit allem anderen zu sein. Es ist erstaunlich festzustellen, wie man es sich trotz widriger äußerer Umstände allein durch seine Gedanken, seine Aktivitäten und vor allem seinen Umgang mit anderen Menschen sozusagen „in sich selbst“ bequem machen kann. Und genau das ist es vielleicht, was man unter „zu bequemen“ äußeren Umständen vermisst, und was der Autor von „Escapism“ als die „unerträgliche Leichtigkeit des Seins“ zitiert. Oh und es erinnert mich auch an eine lustige Stelle aus „The Geography of Bliss“ (ja, ich lese mal wieder mehrere Bücher gleichzeitig ;), in der der Autor aus einem Luxushotel geflohen ist: „A few minutes later, I’m checking into another hotel – no fleabag, mind you, but not a tomb, either. No one greets me at the lobby entrance. A good start. I notice that the ceiling paint is beginning to peel. There’s a small crack in one wall. A wave of relief washes over me...“ :D
Mit meiner Bachelorarbeit geht es langsam auch voran - immer wenn Carola mir etwas Neues erklärt hat, wusste ich erstmal gar nicht, wo ich anfangen soll, aber nach einer Weile fand ich mich dann in die jeweilige Aufgabe hinein. Im Moment wechsele ich ab mit dem Beginnen des Schreibens der einfachsten Teile, dem Lesen von Literatur und Nutzen von „Citavi“ (reuvoll stelle ich fest, dass ich Frau Schlindwein vielleicht doch etwas besser hätte zuhören sollen ;) ), der Literaturrecherche und weiterhin der Eingabe meiner Daten in Excel, womit (und mit SPSS) ich sie dann, wenn ich damit fertig bin, statistisch auszuwerten beginnen werde. Das Lesen meiner ausgedruckten Literatur wird zugegeben schon ziemlich durch die Temperaturen erschwert, und im Moment habe ich noch meine altbekannten Probleme mit dem VPN-Client, die hier durch die langsame Internetverbindung vermutlich noch vergrößert werden, allerdings kommt Carola damit klar, also vielleicht gibt es Hoffnung... (Mir war gar nicht klar gewesen, dass man sich ja von überall aus ins Uni-Netzwerk einloggen kann!) Einmal hat es seltsamerweise sogar geklappt den „AnyConnect“ runterzuladen und zu verbinden, und dann wurde mir auch die Suchmaske des „ISI Web Of Knowlege“ angezeigt, was nur passiert, wenn man über die Uni eingeloggt ist, aber seitdem hat es nicht mehr geklappt... Hilfe, wo ist der Helpdesk? ;)
Nun aber zum besten Wochenende, das ich bisher hier verbracht habe! Am Samstag bin ich in die Stadt gefahren, um die Nachhaltigkeits- und Ökomesse „Eco Feria“ zu besuchen, auf der auch Forest Finance einen Stand hatte. Die darauffolgende Nacht habe ich in einem Hostel verbracht, weil das Gästehaus mit Besuchern der Messe belegt war, und habe das sooo genossen! Es war mir alles so vertraut von Neuseeland her, die Stockbetten in Zwölfer-Dorms, die mit beschriftetem Essen überquellenden Kühlschränke, die eigentümliche Mischung aus Gemeinschafts- und Freiheitsgefühl, das Gewirr aus verschiedenen Sprachen (vor allem Ivrit, wer hätte es gedacht ;) )... Am Sonntag bin ich dann nach El Valle gefahren, einer kleinen Stadt in einem der größten bewohnten Vulkankrater der Welt, was laut Busplan eine, in Wahrheit natürlich zweieinhalb Stunden dauert ;) und habe mich dort mit einer Couchsurferin aus Toronto, Rachel, getroffen, die derzeit als Aupair hier ist und sowohl mich als auch eine weitere Couchsurferin aus Deutschland (Candy), einen Couchsurfer aus Guatemala (José) und dessen Arbeitskollegen aus Mexiko (Bako) zu diesem Trip eingeladen hatte. Ich fand es wieder mal unglaublich, wie selbstverständlich wir eine Gemeinschaft bildeten, obwohl wir uns alle zuvor noch nie gesehen hatten, und habe mich lange nicht mehr so wohl mit Leuten gefühlt! Das hat mir eine Aussage aus meiner beliebten Zitierquelle bewiesen, “There is no such thing as personal happiness. Happiness is one hundred percent relational.”, und mich zugleich erleichtert feststellen lassen, dass es wohl doch nicht nur an mir gelegen hatte, wenn ich mit manchen Leuten hier nicht zurechtgekommen war – wobei ich das, was ich aus diesen Begegnungen gelernt habe (und noch lerne), nicht missen möchte. Jedenfalls haben wir den dortigen wunderschönen Gemüse-, Obst-, Pflanzen-, Blumen- und Kunsthandwerksmarkt besucht, haben uns dann auf eine Wanderung zum 70 m hohen Wasserfall “Chorro El Macho” begeben und sind anschließend noch in einem “natürlichen Swimming Pool” schwimmen gegangen. Leider wurde die arme Rachel von einer der dortigen Ameisen gebissen, wogegen sie allergisch ist, aber ihre Antiallergika vergessen hatte, sodass wir sie in die nächste Krankenstation brachten, wo sie zum Glück verarztet werden konnte (was auch etwas dramatisch ablief, da sie eine Nadel-Phobie hat!). Als wir in die Stadt zurückgekehrt waren, machte ich mich zu meinem diesmaligen Schlafplatz auf, der mich erneut an einer völlig anderen Welt teilhaben ließ und es mir ermöglichte Einblick in das Leben in einem der gigantischen Hochhäuser Panama Citys zu gewinnen! Er wurde von einem Couchsurfing-Neuling (Andrew) bereitgestellt, der ursprünglich aus England ist, schon jede Menge für seine Jobs in der Welt unterwegs gewesen ist und im Moment hier für Tetra Pak arbeitet (schon wieder eine Firma, von der ich nicht wusste, dass sie aus Schweden stammt!). Meine “Couch” war ein “Fünf-Sterne”-Gästezimmer im 20. Stock des Hochhauses mit eigenem Bad und atemberaubendem Ausblick!
Nun ja, inzwischen bin ich wieder zurück in meinen bescheideneren Lebensumständen ;) - letzte Nacht wurde ich in meinem Bett von Ameisen überrascht (wobei mich das noch nicht so schockiert hat wie vor einiger Zeit *innerhalb* meines Moskitonetzes eine Kakerlake anzutreffen!), die Mücken suchen auf meinen Beinen noch mühsam nach einem nicht bereits verstochenen Plätzchen und die Temperaturen haben mich veranlasst mir einen Rock zu kaufen, auch weil ich angesichts der langsamen Trockungszeit von Kleidung hier noch ein zusätzliches Kleidungsstück gebraucht habe. Ihr glaubt auch gar nicht, was alles die Fähigkeit besitzt zu schimmeln, selbst Romys Lexikon und Heikos Wanderschuhe hatte es getroffen, und ich hoffe, dass mein Laptop die hohe Luftfeuchtigkeit besser übersteht als Frederiks, der hier völlig seinen Geist aufgegeben hatte! Immerhin weiß ich inzwischen, dass das seltsame „Gebell“, was ich draussen immer höre, nicht von Hunden stammt, sondern eine sehr eigenartige panamaische Art von Gesang namens „Saloma“ ist, der wohl ähnlich schwierig für Nichteinheimische nachzuahmen ist wie der Buchstabe „Ain“ für Nichtaraber. (Auf youtube gibt es wohl Videos dazu, ich kann sie nur wegen der langsamen Ladegeschwindigkeit hier nicht anschauen.) Das hat mir Fernando, unser neuer panamaischer Praktikant erklärt, ebenso wie die Tatsache, dass ein Großteil der hiesigen Bevölkerung aus der Provinz Los Santos in Südwest-Panama stammt und zur Landnahme hierher gekommen ist, was sowohl den hohen Anteil an Indigenen im Vergleich zu Latinos als auch die im Vergleich zu Restpanama ärmlichen Verhältnisse erklärt. Trotzdem ist es bei weitem nicht so extrem wie was ich in Uganda gesehen habe. Kürzlich habe ich sogar meinen Rucksack im Supermarkt vergessen (typisch, ich weiß!) und als ich ca. eine Viertelstunde später zurückkam, erklärte mir ein Mitglied der Gründerfamilie (dessen Frau und Tochter auch dort arbeiten und immer sehr nett zu mir sind), er habe extra darauf aufgepasst – toll, wenn man Menschen so vertrauen kann!
Für nächste Woche habe ich mir vorgenommen für kurze Zeit in einen fortgeschrittenen Sprachkurs in der Stadt einzusteigen, weil mich die Tatsache frustriert, dass ich so wenig zum Üben komme. Selbst wenn ich mal nicht unter Deutschen bin, hat man hier mit Menschen, die selbst nie eine andere Sprache als die eigene gelernt haben, das Problem, dass sie sich dementsprechend wenig in jemanden hineinversetzen können, der ebendies versucht. Ich wäre schon manchmal fast zum Michelin-Männchen (Weibchen?) geworden, wenn mein Gesprächspartner auch bei meiner fünften Nachfrage immer noch haargenau denselben Satz wiederholt hat, mit genau denselben Wörtern und in genau derselben Geschwindigkeit... Naja, immerhin tragen die Taxifahrer mit ihren vielen Fragen zu meiner Bildung über Deutschland bei – so habe ich inzwischen nachgegoogelt, was „Deutschland“ wörtlich bedeutet und wo Hitler begraben ist – hättet ihr’s gewusst? :) Was mich auch etwas beruhigt hat, ist die Tatsache, dass die Jungs aus Guatemala und Mexiko selbst so ihre Schwierigkeiten mit dem panamaischen Spanisch haben – gemeinsam konnten wir uns unter anderem über die Eigentümlichkeit der Panameños den Kopf zerbrechen, bei manchen Wörtern einfach die Silben umzudrehen! Bekanntestes Beispiel hierfür wäre „¿que sopa?” statt „¿que paso?” (“was geht?”), aber auch “yapla” statt “playa” (Strand) oder “mopri” statt “primo” (Cousin) stehen dem in Faszinationsgehalt wohl kaum nach...
Puh, ich hätte wie immer noch viel mehr zu erzählen, aber in eurem und meinem eigenen Interesse ziehe ich hier einen Schlussstrich!
Muchos abrazinos, como siempre! :)
Eure Johanna
PS: Ach ja, ich wurde um eine genauere Erläuterung gewisser Sachverhalte des letzten Eintrags gebeten. Nein, Einstein wurde nicht mit einer Machete geköpft! ;) Das Denkmal ist eines der Resultate des jüdischen Einflusses auf die Stadt, der sich etwas indirekter auch in der beeindruckenden Skyline der Stadt niederschlägt, deren Bauunternehmen hauptsächlich in jüdischer Hand sind.
PPS: Übrigens, Moni, wenn ich es schon nicht geschafft habe in Freising ein Pläuschchen mit Zeugen Jehovas zu führen, so ist es mir doch wenigstens in Panama gelungen! :) (In der Cuidad del Saber...) Ich musste so an dich denken und deinen damaligen Bericht, bei dem ich Tränen gelacht habe!
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| Endlich mal ein Bild von unserem Haus von aussen! At last a picture of our house from the outside! |
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| Und die "Strasse", an der wir wohnen... And the "street" by which we're living... |
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| Regnerischer Feldtag (links Romy, in der Mitte Fernando, rechts Carola) Rainy field day (Romy to the left, Fernando in the center, Carola to the right) |
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| Mmh, Kokos(ge)nuss... :P Enjoying coconut... |
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| Chorro El Macho |
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| Wir vor dem Wasserfall... (Bako, José, Rachel, ich und Candy) In front of the waterfall (Bako, José, Rachel, me and Candy) |
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| ... und im herrlich kühlen Nass! ... and in the refreshing pool! |
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| Blick aus dem 20. Stock auf den "Corridor Sur" View from the 20th floor to the "Corridor Sur" |
English version
Do you remember when I said I’d feel like I’d be having more time the older I get? If you hadn’t brought it to my attention, Raffi, I think I wouldn’t have noticed the contradiction! :) By now the encounter with the President of the Universidad Latina in Panama City has contributed to this impression. Doesn’t make sense? I’ll explain it to you: When I told my aunt that I’d be going to Panama, she “commissioned” me to find a Panameño with whom she'd been sharing a flat in their student days in Germany – and who is now the president just mentioned! It was by far not easy to find him, but eventually I was surprised that I could just walk into his (well-conditioned :)) office without any prior registration. He was beside himself with joy to meet me and incredibly kind, and while he told me what has been happening in his life since back then, I was really impressed to consider how many adventures are still ahead of me!
By now my former "roommates” and “co-workers” have left the village Tortí (they’re flying back to Germany this week) to which I had returned the week before last week, and however much I had enjoyed leaving it for the city, I also enjoyed returning there - warm water, a clean house and a proper kitchen are great when you had to do without it for a long time, but also quickly become a burden in a strange way. Perhaps you remember the quote which I had read to you, "Security is not having money, it's knowing you can do without it," and this also seems to be the case with everything else. It’s striking how in spite of adverse external circumstances, one can make oneself comfortable “within oneself” alone by one’s thoughts, activities and especially one’s contacts with other people. And that's what it is, perhaps, what one is missing in "too convenient" external circumstances, and what the author of "Escapism" quotes as the "unbearable lightness of being". Oh and it also reminds me of a funny passage from "The Geography of Bliss" (yes, I’m reading several books at a time again;) ), in which the author has escaped from a luxury hotel: "A few minutes later, I'm checking into another hotel - no fleabag, mind you, but not a tomb, either. No one greets me at the lobby entrance. A good start. I notice that the ceiling paint is beginning to peel. There's a small crack in one wall. A wave of relief washes over me ... ": D
My bachelor thesis is making progress too - whenever Carola had explained something new to me, I didn’t know where to start at first, but after a while I got familiar with the respective task. At the moment I’m alternating with writing the easiest parts, reading the literature I’d printed at home and using “Citavi”, doing literature research and continuing to enter my data into Excel, which I’ll have to evaluate statistically when I'm finished with that. Reading my printed literature is admittedly quite tedious given the temperatures, and right now I’m still having my well-known problems with the VPN client which are probably increased by the slow internet connection here, however Carola seems to be able to handle it, so maybe there is hope... (I hadn't been aware that I can log into the university network from anywhere!)
But now for the best weekend I've spent here so far! On Saturday I went into the city to visit the “Eco Feria” tradefair on sustainability and ecology where also Forest Finance were having a booth. The following night I spent in a hostel since the guest house was occupied by visitors to the fair, and I enjoyed it sooo much! It was all so familiar to me from New Zealand, the bunk beds in 12-bed-dorms, the refrigerators stuffed with labeled food, that peculiar mix of a sense of community and a sense of freedom, the buzz of different languages (mostly Ivrit, who’d have thought that ;))... On Sunday I went to El Valle, a small town in one of the largest inhabited volcanic craters in the world, the journey from Panama City is said to take one hour, but takes two and a half hours in reality, of course... ;) After arriving I met a couchsurfer from Toronto, Rachel, who is currently working as an au pair here and had not only invited me, but also another couchsurfer from Germany (Candy), a couchsurfer from Guatemala (José) and his colleague from Mexico (Bako) to this trip. Again, I just found it incredible how we formed a community completely naturally even though we had never met each other before, and I had’t felt that comfortable with people for a long time! This has proved a statement of my favoured source of quotes, "There is no such thing as personal happiness. Happiness is one hundred percent relational”, and I was also quite relieved to find that my problems with some people here had probably not only been due to myself, although I wouldn’t want to miss what I’ve learnt (and I’m still learning) from these encounters. Anyway, we visited the beautiful local vegetable, fruit, plant, flower and handicraft market, went on a hike to the 70 m high waterfall “Chorro El Macho” and then took a swim in a “natural swimming pool”. Unfortunately, poor Rachel was bitten by one of the local ants, to which she’s allergic, but she’d forgotten her anti-allergic agents, so we brought her to the nearest medical facility where she could luckily get help (which was also a little dramatic though since she has a needle phobia!). When we had returned to the city, I went to my new sleeping place which allowed me to take part in a completely different world again and gave me an insight into the life in one of the gigantic high-rise buildings of Panama City! It was provided by a couchsurfing newcomer (Andrew) who is originally from England and has already travelled a lot for his jobs, at the moment he’s working for Tetra Pak here (another company of which I hadn’t known that it is originally from Sweden!). My "couch" was a “five-star” guest room in the 20th floor of the building with a private bathroom and a breathtaking view!
Well, now I’m back to my modest living conditions ;) - last night was surprised by ants in my bed (which didn’t shock me as much as the cockroach I had recently encountered *within* my mosquito net though), the mosquitoes are having difficulties in finding a spot on my legs which hasn’t been bitten yet and the temperatures have prompted me to buy a skirt, which was also necessary because I needed another piece of clothing due to the slow drying time of clothes here. You don’t imagine which things are actually able to get mouldy, even Romy's dictionary and Heiko's walking shoes had been affected, and I hope that my laptop will manage the high humidity better than Frederik’s which has completely packed up here! At least I now know that the strange "barking sounds" I keep hearing at times don’t come from dogs, but are a very peculiar Panamanian kind of song called "Saloma" , which is probably similarly difficult to imitate for non-natives as the letter "Ain " for non-Arabs. (There are obviously videos of it on youtube, but I can’t watch them here because of the slow loading speed.) That’s been explained to me by Fernando, our new Panamanian intern, as well as the fact that a large part of the local population is originally from the province of Los Santos in Southwest Panama and has come here for settlement, which explains the high proportion of indigenous people compared to Latinos and the poor living conditions compared to the rest of Panama. Nevertheless, it doesn't by far compare to what I've seen in Uganda. Recently I had even forgotten my backpack in the supermarket (typical, I know!) and when I returned there about a quarter of an hour later, I was told by a member of the founding family (his wife and daughter also work there and are always very kind towards me) that he had been keeping an eye on it – just great if you can trust people like that!
Next week I'm intending to take part in an advanced language course in the city because I’m a bit frustrated by my few opportunities to practice. Even if I'm not even among Germans, the problem here is that most people have never learnt a foreign language themselves and are therefore hardly able to put themselves into the shoes of someone who is trying to do so. I sometimes would have almost become a Michelin Man (Woman?) when my dialogue partner repeated exactly the same set of words with exactly the same speed for the fifth time when I didn’t understand him... Well, at least the taxi drivers contribute to my knowledge about Germany by their many questions - I have by now googled for the literal meaning of "Deutschland" and for the place where Hitler is buried - would you have known? :) What also calmed me down a bit was the fact that the guys from Guatemala and Mexico seem to be having difficulties with the Panamanian Spanish as well - together we racked our brains about the peculiarity of Panameños to reverse the order of the syllables of some words! The best-known example would be "¿que sopa?" instead of "¿que paso?" ("What’s up?"), but also "yapla" instead of "playa" (beach) or "mopri" instead of "primo" (cousin) are surely in no way inferior to that with regard to their fascination...
Phew, I'd still love to write much more, but I’d better come to an end here in both my own and your interest!
Muchos abrazinos, como siempre! :)
Johanna
PS: Oh and I’d been asked for a more detailed explanation of certain facts of the last entry. No, Einstein wasn't beheaded with a machete! ;) The monument is one of the results of the Jewish influence on the city, which is also indirectly reflected in the impressive skyline of the city whose construction companies are mainly in Jewish hands.
PPS: By the way, if I didn’t manage to have a chat with a Jehovah's Witness in Freising, I succeeded at least in Panama! :) (In Cuidad del Saber...)
By now my former "roommates” and “co-workers” have left the village Tortí (they’re flying back to Germany this week) to which I had returned the week before last week, and however much I had enjoyed leaving it for the city, I also enjoyed returning there - warm water, a clean house and a proper kitchen are great when you had to do without it for a long time, but also quickly become a burden in a strange way. Perhaps you remember the quote which I had read to you, "Security is not having money, it's knowing you can do without it," and this also seems to be the case with everything else. It’s striking how in spite of adverse external circumstances, one can make oneself comfortable “within oneself” alone by one’s thoughts, activities and especially one’s contacts with other people. And that's what it is, perhaps, what one is missing in "too convenient" external circumstances, and what the author of "Escapism" quotes as the "unbearable lightness of being". Oh and it also reminds me of a funny passage from "The Geography of Bliss" (yes, I’m reading several books at a time again;) ), in which the author has escaped from a luxury hotel: "A few minutes later, I'm checking into another hotel - no fleabag, mind you, but not a tomb, either. No one greets me at the lobby entrance. A good start. I notice that the ceiling paint is beginning to peel. There's a small crack in one wall. A wave of relief washes over me ... ": D
My bachelor thesis is making progress too - whenever Carola had explained something new to me, I didn’t know where to start at first, but after a while I got familiar with the respective task. At the moment I’m alternating with writing the easiest parts, reading the literature I’d printed at home and using “Citavi”, doing literature research and continuing to enter my data into Excel, which I’ll have to evaluate statistically when I'm finished with that. Reading my printed literature is admittedly quite tedious given the temperatures, and right now I’m still having my well-known problems with the VPN client which are probably increased by the slow internet connection here, however Carola seems to be able to handle it, so maybe there is hope... (I hadn't been aware that I can log into the university network from anywhere!)
But now for the best weekend I've spent here so far! On Saturday I went into the city to visit the “Eco Feria” tradefair on sustainability and ecology where also Forest Finance were having a booth. The following night I spent in a hostel since the guest house was occupied by visitors to the fair, and I enjoyed it sooo much! It was all so familiar to me from New Zealand, the bunk beds in 12-bed-dorms, the refrigerators stuffed with labeled food, that peculiar mix of a sense of community and a sense of freedom, the buzz of different languages (mostly Ivrit, who’d have thought that ;))... On Sunday I went to El Valle, a small town in one of the largest inhabited volcanic craters in the world, the journey from Panama City is said to take one hour, but takes two and a half hours in reality, of course... ;) After arriving I met a couchsurfer from Toronto, Rachel, who is currently working as an au pair here and had not only invited me, but also another couchsurfer from Germany (Candy), a couchsurfer from Guatemala (José) and his colleague from Mexico (Bako) to this trip. Again, I just found it incredible how we formed a community completely naturally even though we had never met each other before, and I had’t felt that comfortable with people for a long time! This has proved a statement of my favoured source of quotes, "There is no such thing as personal happiness. Happiness is one hundred percent relational”, and I was also quite relieved to find that my problems with some people here had probably not only been due to myself, although I wouldn’t want to miss what I’ve learnt (and I’m still learning) from these encounters. Anyway, we visited the beautiful local vegetable, fruit, plant, flower and handicraft market, went on a hike to the 70 m high waterfall “Chorro El Macho” and then took a swim in a “natural swimming pool”. Unfortunately, poor Rachel was bitten by one of the local ants, to which she’s allergic, but she’d forgotten her anti-allergic agents, so we brought her to the nearest medical facility where she could luckily get help (which was also a little dramatic though since she has a needle phobia!). When we had returned to the city, I went to my new sleeping place which allowed me to take part in a completely different world again and gave me an insight into the life in one of the gigantic high-rise buildings of Panama City! It was provided by a couchsurfing newcomer (Andrew) who is originally from England and has already travelled a lot for his jobs, at the moment he’s working for Tetra Pak here (another company of which I hadn’t known that it is originally from Sweden!). My "couch" was a “five-star” guest room in the 20th floor of the building with a private bathroom and a breathtaking view!
Well, now I’m back to my modest living conditions ;) - last night was surprised by ants in my bed (which didn’t shock me as much as the cockroach I had recently encountered *within* my mosquito net though), the mosquitoes are having difficulties in finding a spot on my legs which hasn’t been bitten yet and the temperatures have prompted me to buy a skirt, which was also necessary because I needed another piece of clothing due to the slow drying time of clothes here. You don’t imagine which things are actually able to get mouldy, even Romy's dictionary and Heiko's walking shoes had been affected, and I hope that my laptop will manage the high humidity better than Frederik’s which has completely packed up here! At least I now know that the strange "barking sounds" I keep hearing at times don’t come from dogs, but are a very peculiar Panamanian kind of song called "Saloma" , which is probably similarly difficult to imitate for non-natives as the letter "Ain " for non-Arabs. (There are obviously videos of it on youtube, but I can’t watch them here because of the slow loading speed.) That’s been explained to me by Fernando, our new Panamanian intern, as well as the fact that a large part of the local population is originally from the province of Los Santos in Southwest Panama and has come here for settlement, which explains the high proportion of indigenous people compared to Latinos and the poor living conditions compared to the rest of Panama. Nevertheless, it doesn't by far compare to what I've seen in Uganda. Recently I had even forgotten my backpack in the supermarket (typical, I know!) and when I returned there about a quarter of an hour later, I was told by a member of the founding family (his wife and daughter also work there and are always very kind towards me) that he had been keeping an eye on it – just great if you can trust people like that!
Next week I'm intending to take part in an advanced language course in the city because I’m a bit frustrated by my few opportunities to practice. Even if I'm not even among Germans, the problem here is that most people have never learnt a foreign language themselves and are therefore hardly able to put themselves into the shoes of someone who is trying to do so. I sometimes would have almost become a Michelin Man (Woman?) when my dialogue partner repeated exactly the same set of words with exactly the same speed for the fifth time when I didn’t understand him... Well, at least the taxi drivers contribute to my knowledge about Germany by their many questions - I have by now googled for the literal meaning of "Deutschland" and for the place where Hitler is buried - would you have known? :) What also calmed me down a bit was the fact that the guys from Guatemala and Mexico seem to be having difficulties with the Panamanian Spanish as well - together we racked our brains about the peculiarity of Panameños to reverse the order of the syllables of some words! The best-known example would be "¿que sopa?" instead of "¿que paso?" ("What’s up?"), but also "yapla" instead of "playa" (beach) or "mopri" instead of "primo" (cousin) are surely in no way inferior to that with regard to their fascination...
Phew, I'd still love to write much more, but I’d better come to an end here in both my own and your interest!
Muchos abrazinos, como siempre! :)
Johanna
PS: Oh and I’d been asked for a more detailed explanation of certain facts of the last entry. No, Einstein wasn't beheaded with a machete! ;) The monument is one of the results of the Jewish influence on the city, which is also indirectly reflected in the impressive skyline of the city whose construction companies are mainly in Jewish hands.
PPS: By the way, if I didn’t manage to have a chat with a Jehovah's Witness in Freising, I succeeded at least in Panama! :) (In Cuidad del Saber...)
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