Today is officially one year in country! Crazy to think about. Instead of continuing on my recent trend of 1,600 word long posts about whether I should be here or not, I opted to write a lighter post today that I've been randomly jotting down in my notebook for some time. Enjoy my collection of stuff I'll miss, won't miss, never got used to, and finally adjusted to here in Panama. Some of it is a litttle bit conflicting since at times my opinions on certain matters will sway from one direction to the other.
I'm not sure I'll ever adjust to...
- Too much free time
- Panama hour in which it's the norm to show up an hour late to a meeting
- Ticks, ants, and spiders... surprisingly as I write this I've grown to be pretty cool with spiders. Except for one type that haunts me and I will use my machete if it ever finds its way into my house. As far as ticks, without exaggeration I've probably pulled about 300 off of me and been bitten times.
- Tropical Diseases... I'll save you the nightmares
- Peace Corps Acronyms... Off the top of my head I've managed to write down PTS, PST, APCD, CD, RL, SSC, MST, ET, COS, PCV, RPCV, IST, PML, CEC, TE, EH, CED, SAS, VAC, GAD, UWB, PCMO, VRF, VICA, TOT, COS, RM.
- Cold Showers... Almost every time I leave site I enjoy hot showers and AC. Every first shower back in site is so cold.
- Having conversations without Wikipedia at the ready... So much wasted knowledge!
- Burning Trash... mmm burning plastic
I've gotten used to and generally don't mind...
- Latrines
- Hand washing laundry
- 20 minute walk and 20 minute bus ride to the closest Internet cafe and food store.
- No refrigerator
- 3 hours a day of electricity
- Almost no cell signal
- Lack of Reddit, Facebook, etc
- Setting my own schedule
I miss...
- Good beer... Thankfully there is a brewery in the city
- Being able to fully express myself when talking... Spanish is tough
- American Food... I refuse to think more on the subject
- Microwavable foods
- Leftovers
I'll miss...
- Nature
- My dogs roaming about freely
- Fruit fresh off the trees
- Coffee fresh off the trees
- Hammocks everywhere
- Saril (See my previous blog post)
- Fresh juice
- Fondas... Basically restaurant/cafeteria hybrids
- Bistec Picado... Roasted beef
- A great group of coworkers
- Falling asleep to chirping insects at night
- 24/7 Spanish
- View from my house/desk
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