It's a Bittersweet Symphony, This Life

Yes it is. And it's also a song-title post. So, get ready for a ride, since you'll get a recap of the last very full and very busy 4 weeks of my life :). Please click on the pictures to see the rest of them. I created slide-shows, but they won't let me publish this post, and it's midnight so I don't care at this point. I'm just trying to get it posted.

Saying Good-bye in Dothan, part I

We must begin, of course, with my last weekend in Dothan. I crammed a lot of friend-time in to my three days there, on top of running a few errands, like closing out my savings account. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see everyone I wanted to see, what with time being so short. But I did have a wonderful visit with everyone I was able to see. On Friday, August 1, I mostly ran around getting things done and ready for my major changes in life. Then that night, I went over to Stacy's where I got the oreo balls made for the oreo truffles and mixed most of the punch ingredients to freeze for the luau the following night. Then Stacy, Tammy, and I went to Ruby Tuesday to celebrate Tammy's birthday. Following a fun- (and laughter-filled) dinner (we think the server thought we were a tad nutty), we headed to the theatre to watch Mamma Mia! Now that was a great movie! It made me want to dance! Such great hits (that I never knew was ABBA) made me want to get up and dance! Woohoo! Hits such as "Knowing me, knowing you" and, of course, "Dancing Queen." And oh so many others. (You can thank me for the fact that you will have that song in your head for the rest of the day ;)... And Stacy, you'll have this one in your head: Super Trouper ;)). Anyway, I loved the movie. Then we went to Wal-Mart at about midnight to try to find a few things Tammy needed. Though we were successful in finding what we were seeking, we opted not to stand in either of the (only) two endless lines to make the purchase. Oh, and Stacy and Tammy.... I have one more word for both of you: Trampas.

On Saturday, I ate breakfast at IHOP with Julia-Ann. After the late night I'd had with Stacy and Tammy, I will admit I was a bit tired. But it was a lot of fun to visit with Julia-Ann one more time before I left. After breakfast I went by HLML to see Kristin and Hilda and a few others. Kristin and I made a trek under the library building to the page rec room to commemorate my last visit there by my adding "2008" to the wall. It had been 8 years since I'd last ventured under there. Let me just say 8 years have not been kind to me! It was a lot harder to walk bent over at age 27 than it was at age 19. Hahaha.... But it was lots of fun, and Kristin and I laughed a lot and took a lot of pictures under there. It was so wonderful to see Kristin and spend that time with her, and it was really fun to creat the memories of going under the library one last time :). I can literally said I've been all over HLML -- from top to bottom. I have even been on the roof once. It was also really great to visit with Miss Hilda. I will miss her terribly. She is one of the neatest ladies I have ever met :). I left the library around lunchtime to meet up with Karen for lunch at the Olive Garden. She and I just gabbed for a long while, and then I went with her to the grocery store just so we could visit a bit longer. Then I went back to my dad's, got a shower, and headed over to pick Stacy up for the girlie luau at Kira's! We got to Kira's at about 5:15 and we both went to making or setting up our stuff. I got the punch in the punch bowl (still partially frozen!) and started dipping the oreo truffles in orange-tinted almond bark. Okay, so the almond bark was a little hotter than it should have been. The result: my oreo truffles looked more like something covered in orange sherbet! I wasn't happy about that, but at least they tasted good ;). Eventually, Tammy and Becky got there. Karen had been invited also, but seeing as it was her 17th anniversary, she wasn't able to make it :). Kristy wasn't able to be there because she was flying to a family reunion way out of state (I think Michigan). We missed them both, but we had a wonderful time! These are such dear friends, and I knew I'd miss them (and I do!). We had way more food than we could possibly eat (is that surprising to anyone out there???). In addition to the oreo truffles and punch, we had Hawaiian Haystacks made by Kira and Tammy, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, a bread bowl with spinach dip made by Stacy, a Hawaiian dip made by Becky, and frozen grasshoppers (the chocolate Keebler cookies). The decorations were made by Stacy. She is so creative. They were "Party Chicks" (just like us!) and they were so cute! We each got to keep our party chick as a memento. So neat! Oh so much fun. And oh we just laughed. And then we took tons of pictures. Some funny, some normal. You can see what I mean in my pictures ;). Becky gave me a going-away present... She made me a tie quilt out of UA fleece-type fabric (I think). It is wonderful! It is so soft and warm.... it will surely keep me warm up here! (P.S... The weather since I got here hasn't gotten out of the 70s during the day). Becky also got me a can of green boiled peanuts to remember the South. I never was a fan, but I figure I can sucker some future Washingtonian friend into trying them, the way I get people to try Chinese plums! And finally, Becky got me a Rachael Ray Everyday magazine for airplane reading. So sweet! Becky, I will never forget you! You have been so kind and wonderful. And to top it all off, Stacy had made a keepsake frame for me with an envelope attached. Inside the envelope, each of them wrote me a letter. It is the sweetest thing. I will treasure it always. I will also make a copy of one of our group pictures to put into the envelope to help remember the evening. It was a very special evening with very special and wonderful friends. Friends I will never, ever forget.

On Sunday, I got up and went to church for probably the last time (at least in a very very very long time) in Dothan. It was nice to see familiar faces and to see Karen again before leaving. I spent the rest of Sunday getting everything ready and packed for the trip to Panama. Following are pictures of the weekend, plus a couple from after we got back from Panama, which I will explain at the appropriate time in the time-line :). But you can look at them with this group, since they fit into saying goodbye in Dothan.

Panama

Day 1 : 8/4/2008 -- Let's face it. I'm not a morning person. I went to bed Sunday night around 11. My dad is a nervous traveler who thinks of a million things to do before he has to leave for a long trip. So he went to bed at 2 a.m. Monday morning. He woke me up right before going to bed to ask me what time the flight was. I groggily responded that it was at 8. He responded with a shocked, "8 o'clock?!?" And then I had to tell him to wait while I thought it over. I was wrong (what can you expect when I've been woken from a deep sleep?) and that the flight was to leave at 6. I went back to sleep only to be re-awakened by my dad walking up and down the hall at 3 a.m. Ugh. I was not in a good mood. The taxi came at 5:00 and we got to the Dothan airport at about 5:15. We went right on through to our flight. Everything was on time both there and in Atlanta. I was told in Atlanta that I didn't need to get a tourist visa since I had documentation showing I was born in Panama. But when we arrived in Panama and got into the forever-long line at customs, I was told I did need a visa. So my dad ran and bought one. When it was my turn to get to the counter, the guy told me I didn't need it after all when I showed him my registro civil paper that showed I was born there. Sigh. And so that is how I spent (read: wasted) my first $5 in Panama. We got a rental car and headed on our way. Okay, you'll want to refer to the scenery pictures for what I'm about to tell you... There were no lines painted on the majority of the new roads in the city. It was insane! The traffic is about 10 times worse than it was when we left. I was rapidy sure that I wouldn't be driving the car. And just to save you the suspense... I didn't drive in Panama at all. I was chauffered. Hahaha.... I think I'd have been in about 100 accidents if I'd have driven. It was nuts. Anyway, so since there were no lines, it was a question how many lanes there were. Well, technically there should have only been 2, but when you don't have clearly defined lines, you can make them up, right? So they do. So we ended up with 3 or 4 lanes, and then the motorcycles would find a new lane either on the shoulder or between the other lanes. It was crazy! We finally made it into what used to be the "zone" area. It was immediately apparent that everything has changed. There are now buildings where there used to be stables, billboards where there used to be jungle. Albrook AFB is completely different. They have some new shopping centers there, and it's just so weird to see them on Albrook. We drove by my old elementary school (Los Rios Elementary) and I took pictures. There are gates up all around it now, so we couldn't go into it. It's still used as a school. Then we decided to try going into Cardenas to see what that is like. We took a couple of pictures of the Temple on our way into Cardenas. I was highly shocked to see a guard at the entrance to Cardenas. Seems my old neighborhood is not the "elite." The guard allowed us to pass, but I was slightly unnerved by his presence. We drove around a little and then decided to leave and come back. I was so sad to see the changes there. There were several places that used to be big open fields that were replaced with new houses. There was graffiti in places. And when the guard told us we weren't allowed to take pictures there when we left and mentioned that we were going to come back to do so later, it really upset me. I started crying. It is a strange feeling to feel like an outsider in what used to be your home. I tried not to cry, as I knew that would upset my dad. But I couldn't help it. Never before had Thomas Wolfe's title hit home for me like this: You can't go home again. By this time it was getting later. It was about 4. And with me being distraught, we decided to go on out to the Gansers' house. It was neat to see them after 10+ years. They barbecued some chicken and we sat around visiting until my dad and I turned in for the night in their little house that sits across from their house.


Day 2 : 4/5/2008 -- On Tuesday we woke up early and got moving. I had to go start the process of obtaining my cedula, but not before we traded in the Hertz rental car for the National rental car, because it was cheaper that way. Then we headed into the chaos that is Panama City. We finally found the Tribunal Electoral, where I had to go. We were there for 4 hours waiting in tons of lines to speak to tons of people to explain why I didn't already have my cedula (because I was living in the States) and to prove I had a right to have one, and to ask them to hurry it up because I was leaving in a couple of weeks. At least my photo turned out nice :). But it wouldn't be ready for a couple of days they said. Oh, and though I didn't know it would at the time, it ended up being my 3rd piece of identification for me to get my Washington State driver's license. So yay! After leaving there, we stopped by my old junior high school: Curundu Jr. High School. I took a couple of pictures there. One outside of the cafetorium, which is where we ate our lunches, but also where they put on plays and had dances. It was a huge dome-shaped building. And if you notice in the pictures, you can see the walls to one of the buildings (it was the 1-, 2-, and 300 building)... Turns out that crap all over it is "modern art." Personally I thought it was leftover machinery that remained attached to the outer wall when they took down a/c units or something. All I know is that it's ugly. Anyway, by then it was around 2 p.m. and we decided we were hungry, so we went to Niko's Cafe in Balboa. This wasn't there when I lived there 10 years ago. But it's a lot more easy to get to than the one in El Dorado. Even though the traffic in the "zone" is just as bad now as the driving in the city. Which is why I didn't drive at all. For lunch at Niko's, I got the gyros con papas (gyros with french fries) with maracuya juice to drink (passion fruit). Yummmmmmy! My dad got tentacion (plantain cooked to make it sweet), deditos de pollo (chicken fingers... but not like chicken fingers in the U.S... these were not fried and you could really taste the culantro in them), and potatoes. He also had maracuya juice to drink. After a filling lunch, we went to Goethals Monument, the Administration Building, Stephens' Circle, and the Prado (these are all basically in the same place) and took pictures. Then we headed back to the Gansers' house where they had a delicious pork chop dinner waiting on us. So we sat and visited with them and watched some tv before turning in for the night.


Panama Scenery Pictures:



Day 3 : 8/6/2008 -- On Wednesday morning, I got dressed and ready to go. We left the Gansers' around 10 and headed into town. We stopped in the Forest Preserve and took pictures near the little waterfall there. I guess I should mention that most pictures have me in them because I don't like pictures of just scenery most of the time. I like to actually be in the picture to prove I'm there. I'm not being vain though ;). Despite what my dork brother might say ;)! Anyway, so then we went to Pedro Miguel Locks and took pictures there. You can't get into those locks as tourists. That's always been the case. I wish I'd have taken advantage of my dad's ability to go in there back when he worked there, but it never occurred to me to do so way back then. But oh well. I also took a picture with El Puente Centenario (Centennial Bridge) in the background. Then we went to Miraflores Locks. That has really changed, since they built a huge visitors' center in 2000. My dad and I got in free since he had a cedula and I had the paperwork to prove I was getting one. I took tons of pictures at Miraflores. And it got so humid while we were there. There is one picture where you can see the sweat on me. Yuck! But the thing with the humidity was this: when it got really really humid (worse than Alabama, by a little bit, it turns out), it meant the rain was coming in. And then it would rain for about 10 minutes or so, maybe as much as 30, and then it would cool off. The temperature was never out of the 80s though. It was just very humid. Anyway, like I said I took a lot of pictures, so you'll have to check those out in my "My Panama List in Pictures" set of pictures. After Miraflores, we went back to Niko's and ate some lunch. After that, we went into Corozal, where the PX used to be. Now ACP has it (Autoridad del Canal de Panama -- basically what Panama Canal Commission used to be). We had to be sponsored on by someone my dad used to work with, which really upset my dad. He thought it was ridiculous that they have everything fenced off now, since back when PCC had it, there was a big stink made if the US ever tried to put up fences to keep anyone out. And now there are fences everywhere. But anyway... So we got on and my dad was able to visit with several of the people with whom he used to work. There have been a lot of changes, and a lot of people aren't sure that the changes are good ones. Apparently they've disbanded the unit my dad used to work in completely (Sanitation and Grounds) and they no longer hunt mosquito larvae to make sure they are under control. That could play out badly, since if they don't keep the mosquitos in check, the malaria and yellow fever could become an issue again. Anyway, after we left there, we took a quick trip out to La Boca and went to what used to be Panama Canal College, but is now a branch of Florida State University. I took a picture by the sign just for Kristin :). I got a great picture there beneath the Bridge of the Americas. It was a shot I was very hopeful I'd be able to get... one that few people know exists, unless you lived there. Then my dad and I drove across the bridge to the West Bank and took pictures looking back toward the East Bank. Too cool. After that, it was around 5, so we headed back to the Gansers' house and ate beef san cocho (a soup) that was delicious. With culantro in it, of course :).


Day 4 : 8/7/2008 -- Thursday was the magical day when we called and they told us my cedula would be ready for pick-up at 1:00. So, on our way down to the Tribunal Electoral, we stopped by to speak to a lawyer who helped my dad deal with stuff with the land in Boquete last time he was there, and then I bought some eyeliner at Arrocha. Then we went to a store called Noveys, which is like Lowe's. And I hated that store when we used to live in Panama, because it was so boring to me! Then my dad and I ate at Don Lee (Chinese food) where I got vegetarian chow mein and wontons with a soda. My dad got the same, only he didn't eat any wontons. It was so yummy! We got back down into the heart of the city to pick up my cedula. Despite being told we'd have it as soon as we got there, it was not ready. So we were there almost another 2 hours. My patience wore pretty thin by the end of that. What can I say? I'm not a patient person, and I think I'd done pretty well up to that point, considering the 4 hours from the other day before. After finally getting my cedula, we went back into the zone area and drove through Los Rios filming. We got stopped by a policia who told us we weren't allowed to take pictures because it makes the residents nervous. Ugh. I still took a picture by Los Rios Swimming Pool. And then we went to Cardenas where I took several pictures. The bus stop picture you see. It didn't used to have a pay phone by it. Me on the balance beam... Haha... I'm so old. My dad had to help me stand up there at first. I couldn't seem to get the balance I used to have, or the heave-ho I used to have to stand up there like before. And then the island-hopping... Well, it's all overgrown down there now, so there weren't really any islands left. I was so sad. But I did the jumping anyway. I also found stickers and took lots of pictures for you to see what stickers are. They are rather cool, unless you step in them barefoot. We got to knowing where all the sticker patches were on the hill behind our house and we always avoided them. But these plants are open, and then when you touch them, they close up and they have thorns on their stems that stick your feet. OUCH! Hahaha... What a thing to consider a happy memory :). We also went to the little park. People at the tennis courts kept watching us, so I quickly got a few pictures and then told my dad to let's go. I felt like such an outsider. So, I cried again when we left there. It was hard for me to deal with that. Maybe that's wimpy. But it was hard to be faced with the fact that things are nothing like they used to be, and they never will be again. We drove through Gamboa on the way back to the Gansers' and saw the big resort hotel there. It's very pretty. Perhaps I will go back on a honeymoon and we'll stay somewhere like that. We'll see. That night I treated the Gansers' and my dad to dinner at the Camping Resort Hotel. Then it was back to home and to sleep :).


"My Panama List in Pictures" pictures:


Day 5 : 8/8/2008 -- Friday was the day for us to go to the Atlantic Side. Here's the weird thing: when I lived there before, going to the Atlantic side seemed like a huge trek and like it took forever. Probably partially because we almost never went. Okay, so it's all of an hour and a half away. Shoot! I did that in my sleep practically back in Alabama! Funny how one's perspective changes when they become an adult and start driving. Of course, I guess I should qualify that drive time and say that that's when they aren't doing road work. Because when they are, it tacks on an hour to the drive... an hour that you just sit in stopped traffic. Yuck. We stopped on the way to visit an old friend of my grandmother's. Then we headed into Colon where my dad was able to visit with someone he worked with at Hertz 35 years ago. It was neat to see them visit and catch up. I guess 35 years really makes for a lot of stories to tell. I never remember ever going into Colon when I lived there, but my dad says it has really really changed there. They filled in the bay and built hotels and shopping centers on top of it. We also went to Gatun Locks and I took a lot of pictures there. Again got in free since I had my cedula by that point :). I took some videos of a ship going through the locks there. I'll upload one here. After that, we drove through Margarita where my dad's parents lived until they moved. This is what really depressed my dad. To see the changes and how things haven't been kept up. It's sad. That night, we ate chicken and ribs with the Gansers. My dad went over to our little house before I did. If you don't like to read about bugs, stop reading this now and skip to the video of the canal :). Anyway, I stayed watching TV a bit longer with the Gansers. Then I headed over to the the little house. On my way over, I noticed something in the shadows moving. I stopped about 5 feet away from the door to the house and watched. Guess what crawled into the light!!! A tarantula! I kid you not. It was about 6 or 8 inches long, no joke. And it crawled right into the doorway where I needed to go to get inside! I had to wake up my dad who told me to try to push it out of the way with a stick or something. I touched it with a stick and it reacted, but didn't move out of the way. I was like, "Okay, I'm not having this thing jump on me, so you just let me in the back door." So he did. I wish I'd have gone back and taken a picture, but I really was concerned about coming across another one in the dark that might have been bigger and closer. So I didn't. But, that's a true story.



Day 6 : 8/9/2008 -- On Saturday I spent the morning washing clothes. Then, at about 10:30, my dad and I left for Panama City where we were following directions to Paitilla so I could meet up with Chimene. I finally made it there at about 11:45. It was crazy! We had no idea where we were going, and nobody seemed to know where Via Israel was. Finally we found someone shopping in Arrocha and we asked him. Turns out we had almost found it on our own, but we gave up and turned one street too early. Figures. Anyway, my dad dropped me off at the hotel and Chimene and I spent the afternoon window shopping at the huge new mall in Paitilla. It has 3 stories. We ate some gelato ice cream that was fabulous. Then we went back to the hotel room to just sit and visit until her parents returned. I got a shower and got ready for the cultural event that was to take place on Amador that night in celebration of the Temple dedication. The whole thing was amazing. There were tons of people there. I got to see a lot of the Typico dancing, which is the traditional dancing of Panama. I took some video so I could share it here with you. After the festivities were over, I went back to the hotel with the Seegmillers and stayed with them so that I could ride with them to the Temple dedication the next day. We turned in around 10:30 and I fell asleep quite quickly.

Day 7 : 8/10/2008 -- We woke up early on Sunday morning, because we were scheduled to go to the 9:00 session of the Temple dedication. We got dressed, ate breakfast, and got on the road. There were already a lot of people there by the time we got there, but we were ushered in quickly. It was a beautiful experience. Absolutely beautiful. The Temple is breathtaking. There's really not more to say, other than it has to be one of the neatest experiences I've ever had. I'm glad I had the opportunity; glad that my dad made this possible for me. My dad picked me up around 2:00 that afternoon, and he and I drove around a bit. We went by my old high school (Balboa High School). It is now offices for ACP administration, much like the Administration Building was for PCC (and still is for ACP... I don't know why they need so many administrative offices, but whatever). Oh, one thing to note... They have put up this circle as part of the roadway. It takes some getting used to, and people fly onto that thing at fast speeds. I'm amazed I didn't see any accidents there. But at one point there are 6 lanes from which to choose, and if you don't know how it works, you can end up going around on that thing for hours. The Gansers' daughter apparently got stuck on it for 2 hours one time. It's crazy! But you had to use it to get just about anywhere... including Balboa. We ended up taking that crazy circle so many times that I'll never forget how it works :). It was weird to see how many roads they don't use anymore. Things we used to always use. Oh well.

Day 8 : 8/11/2008 -- Monday morning found us lolly-gagging a bit. It started out as a beautiful morning, but we still got a late start. My dad and I drove over to Madden Dam to take pictures there. That was cool. I don't ever remember going there when I lived there, although I am sure I probably did once upon a time. I remembered hearing about it all the time, but we just never had occasion to go there. We stopped by Balboa and got a picture outside of Balboa Pool, which is still maintained as before, because it is used for ACP employees and their families. Then we braved the crazy Panama City traffic once again (I got to witness my dad's mad driving skills -- and I mean mad in both senses of the word -- in ways I hadn't seen since we lived there! It's kinda scary). We headed to Sorento's Pizzeria for lunch. Oh yummmmmm. My dad got his usual: vegetarian. I got my usual: mushroom. Both with doble queso (double cheese). They still make the pizzas using the fire-place ovens. We had heard that Pizza Italia no longer makes theirs that way, and we had that confirmed a few days later when the Gansers ordered a pizza from Pizza Italia. So sad :(. But at least we got our Sorento's! And if it hadn't been for my mad directional skills (and I only mean mad in one sense of the word ;)), my dad would still be driving around Panama City :).

Day 9 : 8/12/2008 -- Tuesday we got up and drove on out to the Interior. That's what they call it there. But this is the area where the volcano (El Baru) is. It is also where my dad's land is in Boquete. It's about a 6 hour drive from where I grew up. What a long day that was. Ugh. Although the good news is that I got some very yummy platanitos (fried plantain chips) on the way! The bad news is that we got pulled over. Why? you ask. Well, because my dad was driving in the left lane. There were two lanes going in the same direction, he was driving in the left lane, and he got pulled over. He told them that he didn't know he wasn't supposed to, because in the U.S. we drive in both lanes. We didn't get a ticket. But, for some odd reason, the policia leaned into the car and asked me if I understand Spanish. ??? What did that have to do with anything? Oh, which reminds me.... I also had mad Spanish-speaking skills there. I was amazed at how easy it was for me to communicate! All my Spanish came back, and I wasn't embarassed to use it! I used to feel embarassed, because I knew I didn't speak it well. But this time I wasn't. And I think I did much better than usual. No real stumbling over words, etc. It was great! Oh, and I also learned two new words to share with you: jubilado (pronounced "hoobeelado") which means retired. And "carril" which means lane (like, "my dad was pulled over for driving in the left lane"). Hahaha... I was also reminded of two words. One was "chinchipati" which means cheap or crappy. Mr. Ganser used that word a lot. I laughed! I'd forgotten all about that word! The other one will play into another day's events, so I'll leave it until then :). Oh, one more funny thing that happened as we were driving to Boquete: we had to stop in our lane, because there was a big stop sign with orange cones on either side of the lane. We were expecting a police guy to come around the car. But nope. Out of nowhere, our car started getting sprayed by some weird substance! We don't know if it was water or what. It didn't smell like chemicals. It was just so funny! My dad looked at me and said, "What is this?" And I said, "I don't know!" And we tried to roll up our windows. Apparently they try to keep out some kind of germs when you enter Boquete. Haha... it was funny. We got our room at this little pencion place. I made my dad pay the extra so we had a private shower. No way was I paying 25 cents to use the public showers and wear shower shoes. The Nilla doesn't roll like that. Not even for $6 a night. Surprisingly there were a lot of young Americans there, doing the $6 a night thing. I guess that's how you see other countries on the cheap. I am a princess, however :). A Panamanian Princess. I don't believe in traveling that way ;). (Maybe I'm just a spoiled brat?!?). Also that night... We got serenaded about 10 times over by some random guy outside the window singing Dust in the Wind. He was way off key. My dad and I couldn't stop laughing.

Miscellaneous Pictures:

Day 10 : 8/13/2008 -- My dad gets up early a lot. It annoys me when I have to sleep in the same room as he does. But he works hard at being quiet. He's a good dad ;). He even left and walked to get me an ojaldra (pronounced ohawldra), which is fried bread. It wasn't as good as I remember it being, but at least I got to cross it off my Panama list :). And yes, I mean that literally. We spent the day dealing with my dad's land and trying to get that fixed. I proved to be a valuable addition to the trip, because I found the marker showing where the land started. Had that not been found, it could have cost my dad an additional $300. See, I have always told him he kept me around for something! The weather in Boquete is similar to weather in Washington State. Very cool, with little humidity. It was lovely. But there isn't much to do there. So I was pretty bored. We did go by and visit with the daughter of a woman my grandmother knew there. Other than that, my dad and I just hung around our room and read and I napped. Man I'm lazy.

Day 11 : 8/14/2008 -- We woke up early and headed back into town. I was bored in Boquete and since the people weren't going to start working on clearing and fencing the land until Sunday, there was no reason for us to stay there. So, we headed back to the Gansers. I subjected my dad to Abba Gold the whole way back. Because it's great music to get your blood pumping :). We also saw cars get sprayed by that thing on their way in. Hahaha. I got some oat juice (avena) on the way back. Man I remember that stuff! It was good! Once we got back to the Gansers, we didn't do much. It was a 6 hour drive, after all.

Day 12 : 8/15/2008 -- I wanted to do a session at the Panama City Panama Temple before we left, because I figure it may be my only chance to do so. So, my dad took me back into town, but we found out they weren't having a session until 3 that afternoon. So, we left and just did other stuff while we waited. Luckily, I found a paleta man and paid 40 cents for my paleta de guineo (banana popsicle). Yummy :). I miss those! After that, we went by to see if we could find more people my dad used to work with. He visited with one guy, and then I took pictures by the mango tree near there. Then we went over to the Causeway on Amador. I got lots of gorgeous pictures there, but ended up walking around barefoot, because I was not wearing shoes conducive to walking. It was like being young again... I grew up with bare feet, I swear. That is also where my other Spanish word came back to me. After taking the picture with the Panama City skyline behind me, I went to pick up my stuff, which I'd left in the grass by a light-pole that was on a cement structure. When I stood up, I smacked my head on the corner of that cement structure. And I mean I smacked it hard. I had a chichon (pronounced cheechone) until the day I left for Washington. Man that hurt. I kept asking my dad if he was sure it hadn't broken the skin. Because it HURT! Anyway, then we went and bought some souvenirs, and then my dad dropped me off at the Temple. It was really neat to do a session in Spanish. My dad picke me up at 6 and we headed back to the Gansers. We just hung out and talked, my dad and I, until we got tired and went to sleep.

Critters Pictures (don't look at them if you don't like bugs!)


Day 13 : 8/16/2008 -- Saturday we basically just stayed out at the Gansers all day. It was a very rainy day. In fact, it pretty much rained all afternoon. I did do some weed-eating for the first time ever. That was hard work! It gave me a new appreciation for the grass-cutters who used to come into our neighborhood and cut the grass using just weed-eaters. I didn't get the concept of allowing the weed-eater to hang off the harness that was around me, so I kept holding it up. Let me just say I paid the price for that the next day. But I think I did a pretty decent job for my first attempt. I cut some culantro at one point. Boy you could smell that stuff immediately. That stuff is strong! I was going to try to smuggle some seeds into the country, but I was worried the smell would attract attention, so I didn't. Oh well. During the rain, I was over in the little house getting ready to get a shower to clean off all the dirt, grass, and sweat from weed-eating, when an iguana came running down the hill outside the window. I only got one picture, because the flash scared him and he ran away. The critters pictures are all the pictures of various animals that just showed up. All but the ants on the mango (check out those huge pinchers on those things!) crossed my path while we were at the Gansers. Oh, and while I'm thinking of it... I counted 18 mosquito bites at one point. I was literally being eaten alive. And I promise you I killed at least 2 mosquitoes a day there. Stupid mosquitoes.

Day 14 : 8/17/2008 -- Another day spent at the house. Don't read this if you don't like bugs. I woke up this particular morning, walked out of my room, and saw a spider crawling across the floor. Not a wee little one, either. I was thinking it was a baby tarantula. You have a picture in the critters set. I waited until it got close to my flip flops to give you some perspective. Yikes! Dad to the rescue. He came and got it out for me :). We spent the morning just lazying around and I think I washed clothes again. Then my dad and I went to Niko's to meet up with a couple guys he used to work with. Then we went back out to the Gansers again, but not before a tree limb fell off a tree in the forest preserve, bounced off the road, and hit the car, breaking off part of the headlight. What are the odds?!? I spent the evening sitting out on the roof of the little house with Mrs. Ganser and just visiting and enjoying the beautiful weather. The last two days were were there were beautiful. No rain, no humidity. All thanks to Tropical Storm Fay. See, when there is a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexio, it sucks up all the bad weather into it, and so Panama would get good weather, even during rainy season (which is what is going on in Panama right now). I think this was the night we ended up having Chinese food and Pizza Italia.

Day 15 : 8/18/2008 -- This was another day spent at the house. I had completed my Panama List (thank you, Dad, for being my chauffer and for seeing this trip as "my" trip, and humoring me and taking my picture a million times and doing all the things I wanted to do). My daddy loves me :). So I helped mow the lawn. Another first for me. And again, that was hard work! They had a push mower. Whew! But, I did the fenced area of the yard. And I got some sun! I was pretty proud of my semi-tan :). We basically spent the rest of the day just packing up and getting ready to leave in the morning. Oh, but I also took pictures of a walking stick that was on the wall of the house we stayed in, and also a big honkin' toad. That thing was HUGE! Which was normal for Panama. But man I'd forgotten how big those ugly toads get. I also saw a praying mantis and a centipede with neon blue legs. But, I didn't have my camera at the time, so you'll just have to take my word for it :).

Day 16 : 8/19/2008 -- Another very early morning. I couldn't sleep well, because I kept thinking about the drive to Washington and about how "what if" the brakes went out on the rental truck when we were coming down the crazy high curvy roads in the Rocky Mountains?!? Yes, I'm neurotic. Then my dad, always the nervous traveller, woke up at about 3 and I woke up too. I was ill from that point on. Trust me. It was a long day. We left the Gansers' at 4:30 and my dad drove like a crazy man to the airport. He was making me nervous the way he was driving. He was going 100 kilometers an hour in a 60 zone. On roads that were never meant to go more than about 50. Hahaha. And it was dark. I kept getting on to him. You don't drive like that on a road named Tumba Muerto (Tomb of the Dead). You don't want to give the name credence, you know :). My dad was just nervous about being late. No worries there. The flight left at 7, and we were there by 5. So I was stuck waiting. And you all know how patient I am. Especially when I'm going on about 2 hours of sleep. Let's just say I was pleasant. I was even more pleasant when they delayed our plane in Atlant for 2 hours because the a/c wasn't working. And even more annoyed when they ended up using that plane -- still with no a/c -- at 6:30. If they could take off in it at 6:30, why not at 4:30? And it was also nerve-wracking because the flight attendant was new -- she couldn't get the door shut, the engine took forever to start, and the flight attendant looked nervous. Let me just say it was the most stressful flight I've had in a very very long time. And I've flown a lot this past year. I was glad it was only 30 minutes long! Donna was wonderful and picked us up from the airport in Dothan. She even found things to keep herself busy in Dothan, since we were so delayed. Thanks so much Donna! I really appreciate it! We dropped my dad off at home, and then Donna and I went to Atlanta Bread Company for some dinner, where JoAnn met up with us. And I learned today that JoAnn was my mysterious JAH! Hahah. Donna gave me a lovely gift, which I will have in pictures at the end of this post, since I just now got around to taking a picture with it. But she said it's for me to have as a cheese and cracker platter :). She knows me and my love of cheese so well :)! Thanks again Donna -- I miss you tons! And JoAnn, it was so wonderful to see you one more time before I left! And then, it turned out that Juliebean was in Dothan!!! So, I went over to her mom's. It was so neat that we were able to see each other one last time :). We had a great visit. I was able to give her and Alysha the presents I got for them. And I got to see Shayla one last time, even though she was asleep, so I didn't get to hold her. But she has grown so much! I miss you Juliebean!! And here's a video of the Gansers' parrots that should make you laugh. It makes me laugh. That one bird cracks me up...


Westward-Ho!

Well, the move Westward began almost immediately upon our return from Panama. The very next day, we picked up the Penske truck. I ran some goodies over to Stacy for her to give to everyone, and then went and closed my bank account. I had to call a company to send some men over to load my piano and a couple of other big things into the moving van, since we were taking stuff for my siblings. Then my dad and I got everything loaded up and we got packed. We left a lot later than I had wanted, and I was not a nice girl that day either. I stress out easily, especially over time schedules. I realize I should learn how to adapt, but I'm pretty inflexible about time. I need to work on it. We made it to Tuscaloosa at about 9 that night, so it was too late to do any loading. But we slept at Virginia's, and she and I visited and ate Publix brand mint cookie frozen yogurt (for my last time, since they don't have Publix here). It was wonderful to visit with her one last time. The next morning, both Virginia and I woke up before my dad, even though he went to sleep long before we did. When he woke up, we loaded up the van. Everything fit and we even had extra room! We were on the road by 9. We made it into Illinois that day, and stopped in a little town called Litchfield. It was in the middle of a bunch of corn fields. And there was a store close to the hotel where we stayed aptly named Rural King. I walked there thinking it would be a grocery store. Not so much. More like a farm store. But they did have a few staples like popsicles that you have to freeze and bridge mix. Hahaha.... I did get some apple juice. And I put $1.25 into a Pepsi machine to get a Minute Maid orange juice for my dad, but that took my money, so they had to call the manager over the night speaker to come to the front to "get this nice lady's money back from the Pepsie machine." It was rather amusing. Of course, it took so long that my dad was getting worried about me. He was waiting outside when I got back to the hotel. Now the whole reason we went this particular route was so we could see my grandmother. So the next morning we got an early start and headed toward Springfield, IL. We were supposed to find a road there that we could take off the INterstate. Well, that didn't happen. So we took the business route back in and ended up in the middle of Springfield for about 2 hours. And tensions ran high. It was AWFUL. I mean, we were in a 16-footer truck hauling my car behind it. Let's just say it wasn't easy to just whip that thing around. We finally gave up and left, but not before we both did some yelling at each other. It was awful. We didn't end up seeing my grandmother, which was sad. She's 90 years old, and I had hoped to see her. But let's just say there are no signs in IL. And also, from what my aunt said, they don't do things like you would think they'd be done there either, so you can't make assumptions based on other norms. I mean, even after we got out of Springfield, we pulled off at an exit to get gas. Well, there was no sign to tell us whether to turn left or right off the exit for the gas, so we guessed at right and had to drive all the way into this little po-dunk town to buy gas for $3.97 a gallon (which was exhorbitant up to that point). That's almost the most I paid the entire trip out. And so I determined that IL is the equivalent to the 9th circle of hell. My apologies to anyone who loves that state. I never hope to return to it. That was a nightmare. In fact, I was so flustered when I put on my shoes to pump gas that I ended up putting them on the wrong feet. I didn't even notice until about an hour after we had been back in the truck after pumping that gas. I wonder what the other people at that gas station thought of me and my wrong-shoed feet :). (I took a non-staged picture for your benefit). At least my dad and I could laugh about it all at that point.

That day we made it about halfway into Nebraska. I took some shots of sunsets and sunrises along the way. That was also the day my dad noticed a huge nail in my front passenger side tire. Lovely. Something to deal with in Washington. We got up early the next day and got on the road once again. We drove all the way through Wyoming, which was very bleak and boring. That was a very long 6 hours. I actually got to a point when I said I'd rather go back to Illinois than go through that part of Wyoming ever again. No trees in sight! And though there were cool rock formations, even those get old after a while! We finally made it into Utah and saw some pretty cool mountains. We were in Utah for only a little bit and then we crossed over into Idaho. There's nothing for a really long time there. We finally got to an exit with loding around 8:15 local time. We ate at a restaurant there, got showers, and pretty much crashed. We started early again the next morning, which was Sunday. We pushed hard and made it into Washington. We were scheduled to get to my mom's at about 5 local time. And then we hit 2 hours of horrible traffic and rain on I-5. And that just about did us in. We started arguing again. And we were both ill by the time we made it to my mom's at about 8. But then Christina and munchkin Desiree were here to greet us and our tempers soon diminished. On Monday morning, Ben and his stepsons Sean and Tony came over and helped me and my dad unload the truck. Nick was at work, so Christina didn't have a way to get here at that time. Brad and Tarylyn and the kids got there toward the end and we ended up taking some stuff to their house and then we returned the truck with Brad's help. Then we took stuff over to Christina's where my mom was waiting on us and we stayed there the rest of the afternoon. On Tuesday, I went and got the nail out of my tire, went and opened a bank account, and then we went by Ben's so we could visit for a bit. We made plans for everyone to get together for dinner that night, which we did. It was the first time my whole family has been together since 1999. And we've grown a lot since then ;). It also happened that Tarylyn's mom and step-dad were here too. So we were quite a large group. If you want to read more details on that crazy dinner (and how we played musical chairs a lot because of all the kids and drove the poor waitress crazy), read Christina's blog. Of course, my dad had to leave yesterday early. It was sad to see him go. I love my dad. In the end, in spite of all the trials and the tempers, I love him. And I know he loves me. My dad paid off my moving debt, basically. He doesn't want me starting a new life in debt because I'd worked so hard to get out of it. What a wonderful dad. I love him so much. I'm thankful he's my dad, even when he drives me crazy :). (And don't worry, I know I drive him nuts too!).

Of course, since being here, I have a million adorable stories to tell about the kids. Like about how Desiree pretended she was Gisele from Enchanted and how she kissed her huge Tigger when the princess in the movie kissed Patrick Dempsey's character, and then she got embarassed when we saw her do it and she laughed and ran away and hid. Or like how when I pulled up to Brad's house, Saria came running toward me and said, "Aunt Hila, you're so beautiful!" Or how while we were watching The Office at Brad's house, Samuel picked up his blanket and came and sat in my lap. Or like how Benjamin goes around humming the Indiana Jones theme while he plays. I love these babies. And how wonderful that Sean and Tony came and helped unload the truck. They were a huge help and with them, we did it in about one hour. It was amazing how fast it went. They are good kids.

And as for what I've accomplished here so far: I am already learning the roads, and I know how to get to Brad's and Christina's houses. I have a bank account, and I got my car insurance transferred. And today I got my driver's license. I have 3 jobs I am applying for. I have sent off my application for Washington State Certification for Librarians. So, life is getting underway. Tomorrow I know my mom and I are going to Christina's to pick blackberries (they grow wild up here) and we're going to make pie or jelly or freeze some for smoothies. And maybe this weekend we can go to the Blackberry Festival :). That would be fun! Oh, and I learned today that my mother can still embarass the snot out of me. Today she kept harassing me about some guy at the grocery store checking me out, so I couldn't even stand to face him long enough to order what I was getting. How do moms do that??? I remember her embarassing me like that when I was a teenager, but wasn't that supposed to stop when I became an adult?!?

Oh, and in case nobody caught on to why this post was named as it was... I would have to say that this past month has been a bittersweet one. Yes, I have been excited about so much of it. But I have had to say goodbye to so many people, and that makes it bitter. Seeing my family makes it sweet. Going to Panama was a sweet thing. But realizing the changes and being forced to realize that it has changed, that it'll never be what I remember... that was bitter. So yes, life is a bittersweet symphony. But I think that even the bitter parts signify something great. Because I wouldn't feel the sadness if the greatness hadn't been experienced first. I have been so richly blessed throughout my life. It has been wonderful. And I'm looking forward to what the future holds.