Happy New Year to all! I hope 2008 brings wonderful things to everybody. :) This year started out pretty well for me. I spent the New Year´s with my host family in Cabuya Arriba. We hung around, played Sudoku, drank some beer waiting for midnight. Then at midnight there were fireworks and we set fire to a life-sized doll that we made out of old clothes stuffed with banana leaves. It´s called ¨el año viejo¨ and it´s the traditional way in Panamá to say bye to the old year. It was actually kind of creepy. I decided I´m not really a fan of watching a life-sized doll dressed in my host dad´s old clothes with a painted face burn to death in the front yard. ·shudder·. Goodbye to 2007 indeed. :-p But then we went around wishing all the neighbors a happy new year. And eating. Good times. Then I went to bed and woke up on the first day of the new year to discover that all of the men in the area welcome in the new year by not sleeping but instead drinking through the night. Literally. Although I guess it´s not that different. I don´t know if welcoming in the new year completely wasted is any better or worse then welcoming in the new year with a horrible hang over (not that I had, but I know lots of the people in the states do so. just comparing). But so I spent a lot of time just chatting with my host mom and some of the neighbors. It was good. :)
The dry season has officially started. I don´t think it´s rained since Christmas (which may not seem like that long but the difference is very noticable). Luckily it´s also super windy so it keeps the temperature down (mid 70´s). When there´s a break in the breeze and you´re in the sun holy god it is hot.
I have a little more faith back in the postal system here. A package that was sent to me at the beginning of December was not lost. It´s actually been here waiting for me since Dec. 11th, but I just got it today because while my address is Antón, Coclé they sometimes forward packages to Penonomé for furthur searching (because it´s a larger post office than in Antón). And I´m supposed to somehow know this and go to Penonomé to pick it up. Which obviously I didn´t. But now I do. So yes, packages still get to me. And pretty quickly. Now that I know where they go. And having an address doesn´t apparently mean much. :-p
I´m really looking forward to this month. Along with various conferences and seminars in different locations, my cousin John is visiting and I get to go to Bocas del Toro with him which means finally getting to see the Caribbean Sea!!! I´m stoked about that. So there will be lots of traveling this month. But good, productive traveling. I´m excited. And hopefully sometime in between the traveling I will get to work on my house which we now have the materials for and move into my own place!!! Woot! Good times. Good way to bring in the new year I think. 2008 shall be amazing. :)
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I sent you a package about a week ago. A Christmas present, late even though I had it for quite awhile. And the funniest part is I never got to the PO in Phoenix, so then it came with me to Seattle. I never got to the PO in Seattle, so then it went to Baker City. And finally in Baker it was mailed out. So just like you, your package is well traveled!
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