Choque del dia IV.

I am keeping the tradition and posting another bunch of situations, which took my breath here for a while:

• Avenida Central = Via Espana - First few weeks in Panama city I was a little bit puzzled by the name of the streets. I was told, that the main avenue, which is going through the whole Panama city center is Avenida central - quite obvious name I thought, and it looked as a good landmark. But after few days we were in a car and I had a feeling that I know that street. But I was told, that I am at Via Espana... It was strange, but probably the streets were just similar. Then again after several days we were at Via Espana (I was almost sure about it), but when I asked, what is the name of the street, I was told, that we are at Avenida Central... That confused me a lot until I looked at the map, which I bought and realized, that all the main streets in Panama have two names. So if you will be looking for Avenida Simon Bolivar and they will send you to Transistmica, don't be surprised, it is the same street. As well as Calle R. J. Alfaro and Tumba Muerto... etc.
• Currency - In Panama the official currency is called Balboa, however there are no Balboa bills, just coins. The exchange ratio Balboa:US Dollar is 1:1 and in Panama all the time your are using the US Dollar bills to pay and either US coins or Balboa coins, which are the same size. But of course it would be too easy in this way. As I said the US Dollar bills are accepted in Panama, but not all of them. 50$ & 100$ bills are not accepted almost anywhere. People are probably afraid of falsification. So when I came to Panama with 2 bills of 100$ Franklin told me that we have to go to casino... When he saw my face, he realized, that probably he should explain it more and I was told, that the 50$ and 100$ bills are accepted only in banks and casinos and in casinos it take much less time to change it. So I have already visited several casinos in Panama. Don't worry - I am not into gambling.
• Taxi drivers - when you stop the taxi on the street (there are plenty of them and they usually use the horn to get customers, which is making me a little bit sick of taxi drivers) first you have to tell the taxi driver, where do you want to go and then ask, if he is willing to take you there. If you are lucky, the second or third taxi driver will say yes and you can sit in the car. If the taxi driver is not in the mood of taking you where do you want to go, he just drives away without telling you anything. My personal record is 5 cabs in a row refusing to take me.

Uno, dos, tres, pausa, cinco, seis, siete, pausa

impossible happened. I started to learn how to dance. I have never been very much into dancing (lot of people can prove that...) and even the simple waltz was difficult for me. But here I realized, that I will have to do something with it. Here everyone likes dancing, which gets me into not perfect situation. And then one of my friends asked me, if I want to go with him to salsa lessons, which are in place very close to my house. I was not sure for a while, but then I decided to try it - it might help me to survive here and it might be beneficial in future to know how to dance salsa. And anyway I have to find some regular activities out of AIESEC...

It isn't time-limited course, you just come on Thursday evening, pay 3$ and join the group based on your skills. There are three levels, I of course went to the first one, where we were learning the basic steps and basic rounds. It looked pretty easy and I got the rhythm very fast, but then after 60 minutes, there was 15 minutes break and they played normal salsa music (not just the rhythm) and all the people could practice, what they learned. I felt like mentally disabled person - I didn't hear rhythm within the music and when I saw the people dancing, it looked totally different and totally difficult. On the other hand, what could I expect after one hour of learning salsa. But anyway my ego was hurt a lot.

The lesson takes 3,5 hours, which was for me a little bit more, than I was able to manage - I was leaving totally exhausted, tired, my legs hurt more than after jogging and my shirt was totally wet. But I had decided to come again next week, to see, if I remember anything. And I did. I felt much better, I remembered most of the steps I was taught and I also started slowly to get the rhythm also when they played normal salsa. And after 2 hours the instructor told me, that next week I can go to the second group - I felt so proud. Of course - not for long time. Yesterday I went there third time and went to the second (intermediate) group. And of course - the feeling of frustration and some mental disease came back. We will see next week.

I also found my picture on their webpage (www.talleresdesalsa.com). If you think I look like I am being tortured, the picture is from my first visit there and it has been taken almost at the end of the lesson.

My long-term plan is screwed up

I have never been focused on long-term plannig, half a year was for me a very long period, but as I came to Central America I realized, that probably next few years are quite set for me. I was planning to spend one year in CAS MC, come back to Europe in June 2007, having finally some holidays, go back to school in september 07, finish the three semesters, which I still miss, graduate in January 2009 and then either to go on some traineeship or start working... I didn't see many alternative options to this scenario. But as I use to say: "Life would be very boring, if it was easy".

Yesterday I was told, that IC 2008 will be in Brazil...

Brazil - country which is somehow my dream destination, country, where I applied to MC last year and was considering the application also this year, country where I want to go... There is no logical reason behind this, I don't know, why I want to go there, I don't know very much about the country, but because of some reasons (which are also unknown to me) I want to visit that country.

And now, when I was almost sure, that I will become alumnus after this term, they select Brazil as IC host country for the year 2008. Why the hell they want to get my life more complicated? Well - let's leave it for a while, think about other stuff, focus on short-term goals and later maybe I will come back to the idea, how and where to spend august 2008.

Choque del dia III.

Another post focused on the special situations you should count with when coming to Central America:

• Bus schedules - it was more culture shock for them than for me, but I was also surprised, when I was explaining them the bus schedule in Europe - that you have exact minutes in hour, when the bus is supposed to come, and that it actually comes at that time (+/- few minutes). Here you come to the bus stop and wait - you never know, how long will you wait, but usually it is not much, the busses are coming very often, sometimes it happens, that few busses come at once.
• Hola vs. Chao - when you meet somebody, you greet him "Hola", and when you are leaving or someone else is leaving, you are using "Chao". This is a bit difficult for me, as I am used to our "Čau" and I am using it in both occasions - so I usually create lot of confusions among people, when I meet them and tell them good-bye...
• Street sellers - as in Czech Republic and Slovakia also here are sellers present at crossroads. It is usual to see people selling newspaper to car drivers, who are waiting in traffic jam or at the traffic lights. Also very often (and this I see as practical as well) they sell the pre-paid cards for mobile phones. But do you think someone can earn some money selling maps of world at crossroads?

I am saved - Warsteiner in Panama

I don't know why they didn't tell me earlier, that there is a german restaurant, where they have normal german drought beer. Anyway I fell in love with Warsteiner beer - it is the first European draught beer, which I had in Panama.

As usually after the LC meeting we were planning to go somewhere, but I proposed to change the usual Lime bar, where we were going all the time and asked, if we can go somewhere else. So we picked Unplugged - bar, where I was once and which I like, because they play very good music (Green Day, U2, Nirvana, Oasis) and when I was there, there was live band playing this kind of music. "Unfortunately" the bar was closed, so they come up with the idea to go to Gasthaus. When I heard the name, I started to feel, that the night will be good.

The first impression of the restaurant was very good - it looked as typical european pubs - tables, not very strong light, no music (especially no Reageeton music, which is very popular here). When the waiter came, we asked what kind of beers they have. As soon as I heard some brand, which I knew, I stopped her and ordered it. The next question made me almost cry of happiness: "3 Dcl or half a liter?". So it means, that I WILL HAVE DRAUGHT BEER AND NOT THE BOTTLED ONE!

And the moment came:

To finish the status of absolute happiness we realized, that in there is a CD player, and by chance I had my 2 CDs of Polemic with me, so in few seconds I was drinking good beer with exact temperature and was listening to my favorite music. What else can I ask for?