Interesting day so far!

These are some of the kids i got stuck with when the first rain of winter hit us outside. I was with a friend I made earlier in the day Richard and we ended up playing soccer with these guys for about an hour and a half. The first question they asked us was if we were from New York :) I took this picture so I could send it to them later.... we were pretty bored before we gave up and started playing soccer in the rain. The girls in the middle and on the left are Chomby and Daniela. Chomby was awesome at playing.

Today I went to the market and got some handcrafts from a kuna man. This morning I went birding in Parque Nacional Soberania. If I was better at it, I'd list all that I saw.... there were so many birds I didn't know what to do with myself. I definitely IDed a couple kingfishers though.

Tonight I have tickets to go see Calle 13 but I don't know if they'd already started playing or not by now. I might go out to the causeway tonight with my friend i was playing soccer with and a big group of zonian's kids that were here for a wedding.

For Aunt Betty, a guy named Rush said he knew Sheryl Dunning and said she played in the band in Balbao High.

Love,

Aylin

Lots of news, I don't know where to start...

Lunch went really well, he seems like a good guy that Sr. Sanchiz. They all want to support my fencing but were worried about how the process of changing the nationality was going.

Found an FIE rule saying I had to wait 3 years after changing nationalities to fencing again. Problems ensue. there is another subrule saying that if the change is for valid reasons and the two federations are in agreement it can go through with less time or no time at all. GAR

Anyways, now we're working on that. I'm not sure itll end up happening after all, but I guess we'll see.

This morning I went on a tour of lake gatun in gamboa and it was lots of fun. Saw monkeys, and other things like bats, sloths, snail kites, grey hawks, osprey, and lots of other birds. I ejoyed myself a lot and the guide was fun to joke around with. Now I'm back home and pondering what I'll do.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping for trinkets with Martha and hopefully that night me and Sasha are going to the Movifon music festival and seeing Calle 13 (YAYYYY) and La Quinta Estacion... both super famous bands. I'm looking forward to it!

I got a strange sunburn on my arm hahaha. I missd a couple spots with the sunscreen.

Heart,
Aylin

coming at you from the homebase...

Hello all. This morning I recieved a call from Marlen, whom I think works for the Olympic committee and had been working out my practices. Bad news is that I had to cancel the trip down the rio chagres tomorrow, but the good news/scary news is that tomorrow I was invited to lunch with the president of the panamanian olympic committee. I hope that my spanish holds up. Today I went and bought a nice set of clothes (pants, shirt, necklace, adn two sets of earrings) for only like 18 dollars. Badabing badaboom.

This afternoon I'm going to pick up my designs for my knickers, go to practice, and get back here in time to eat dinner with the sherry's.

I changed my ANCON trip to the only other one available this weekend, the panga ride around Gatun lake/the canal that I did with my family last time we were here. That's Saturday.

Phew, I feel like I haven't had a moment's rest since I've been here this is insane!

Eileen

PS. Have I mentioned my passport photo looks like I'm going to murder someone?

Yay

I have my cedula and passport. Unfortunately, my passport photo makes me look like a serial killer! Late lunch, then I'm off to do some fencing, and afterwards I'm getting dinner with Manuel. I'm pretty lightheaded from hunger. Oy.

Oh, I'm doing the embera tribe trip on friday. check out the ANORCO explaination of the trip:

Early in the morning we are picked up at the lobby of our hotel by an Ancon Expeditions of Panama Naturalist Guide and transferred to El Corotu on the shores of Madden Lake. The main reservoir of drinking water for the cities of Panama and Colon, Madden Lake also supplies 40% of the water required for the operation of the Panama Canal. Here, we board a motorized piragua (dugout canoe) and travel up the Chagres River to the Embera indigenous village of Embera Drua.

The boat journey takes us through the rainforest of the 320,000-acre Chagres National Park, which is the largest of the National Parks protecting the Panama Canal Watershed. Along the Chagres River, we may be able to spot Little Blue and Green Heron, Great Egret, Anhingas, Neotropical Cormorant, Amazon, Ringed, and Green Kingfishers, along with Keel-billed Toucans and Ospreys flying above. At the Embera village we will be greeted with dancing and music.

We will learn about Embera customs and their relationship with nature. Therewill be handcrafts available for sale and we will have a chance to be painted with the traditional jagua, a natural dye the Embera use to adorn their bodies. After a picnic lunch we visit the nearby waterfall where we can take a dip in the crystal-clear waters of the Chagres River before heading back to Panama City.

Fun, right? I hope panama fencing doesn't need me or my hundred dollars.

Eileen

In the City

Hello All,

Yesterday was quite fruitful, and I expect today to be too. Yesterday I went to the Tribunal Electoral/Registro Civil to get all my paperwork in order, and Lic Santos was indispensable. I got everything in order except having my identity verified (theres a dumb rule where someone with your last name whos a citizen has to ID you), but it seem like today we found a way past that anyways. They kept asking for my return flight ticket because they were worried we were tricking them but it ended up being alright. After I finished everything that I could yesterday at the Tribunal, I went to visit Anibal Illueca's law firm and spoke with the secretary about everything. Anibal is sick so he's sending her orders and shes doing everything. Everything seems like 'esta marchando' here.

I went back up the street to Via España, ate at mcdonalds (I was starving and I didn{t have the presence of mind to find anywhere else), and bought me and my friend Panamanian soccer jerseys which are, in my opinion, awesome.

On a random note, I keep hearing all this Panamanian words and slang, and the only reason I've heard a lot of them before is because of Ruben Blades' songs. Its hilarious because everytime I hear them my mind goes straight ot the song its from. Like, for instance, whenever I hear Rio Abajo (a place in panama... where I really want to go!) I think of his song about where he grew up.

Last night I had a fun dinner with the Purmalis' where I talked about fencing and my reasons for coming to Panama. They said that they thought it was worth the trip jsut to ge tthe citizenship because they think having dual citizenship is great and indespensable. The conversation turned from there to their Latvian routes, and to Sasha (the son, my age)'s name's meaning . Evidently it meant 'Protector of Man', mine means 'Bringer of Light', and Purmalis is 'from the bog{, and we decided that Sasha was the protector of bog men hahaha.

This morning I came back to the Tribunal Electoral to get my ID verified and everything, which worked out, and I{m waiting for the 'fabrica' to make my card so i can pick it up in an hour. After that I{m going straight to grab my passport. I just got out from a little cafe on the street where i ate empanadas (who knows what was inside, but it was tasty!) and drank coffee (I hope my stomach takes them well), and now I{m in an internet cafe on the same street as the tribunal. I love my country! I know it sounds strange, but I feel like I'm coming home. I could do this on a more regular basis. There are SO MANY different kinds of people here. Inside the Tribunal I saw people from north america, asia, europe, latin america, kunas, emberas, jamaicans. It was amazing...such a melting pot!

While I was in the cafe I spoke to Manuel Alvarado, the Panamanian friend of the Sherrys. He invited me to get dinner with him. Tomorrow night Marge and Art Sherry also invited me to dinner. I should probably call them again since I spoke with them yesterday. I'm thinking that today before I go back to get my cedula I'm going to call or visit ANCON expeditions and try to book a trip for later this weekend. I feel like my time is filling up here!

Thanks for your comments. MOM: Don't worry, we{re just confused as you are on the relations. It was hilarious trying to explain it to the Purmalis'! We were all laughing and confused.

Love you all, and hope you're doing well in the States, and VAMOS BARCA!! CAMPEONES PA' SIEMPRE! ...ahem.

Eileen

End of First Day

Buenos Dias!

I've made it to Panama intact and am staying with the Purmalises at a BEAUTIFUL house in Albrook, the old army base. I'm probably about 15 miles outside the city but evidently the traffic here is atrocious so itll take at least 30 minutes to get there. That's fine by me since it seems I'll probably be staying around the city anyways during the day today.

Already two people from the fencing commission have called me and they're already organizing practice for me. The other lady who called was from the office, and she wants to meet with me today as soon as I get my cedula so we can order the FIE lisence and run my information by the Olympic committee. My lawyer is planning on calling me as soon as she gets the call from the Registro Civil. Susan's friend Manuel is planning on coming with me to ID me.

In other news, I found out that the problems that Panama was having during the panamerican games are still in action and there is a sanction on the Panamanian olympic comittee right now. Talking with everyone though it seems like it is being resolved, and they will probably lift it by april 10th or so. When I get more news on this I will let you know as it kind of effects me greatly. Don't worry! I'll get to the bottom of it. The good news it that they're coming after me bigtime it seems. the poor purmalis'; I've already gotten about 4 phone calls this morning to their house.

In other other news the Purmalis' dogs are adorable. One's sleeping next to me right now and running in its sleep with its tongue sticking out. aw :)

In other other news, I may be using an extra cell phone the purmalis' have here and buying minutes to use it while I'm in Panama. I'll let you know more about this later.

The weather here is great, probably about 80 something with some humidity. I'm sweating my butt off but I'll take it any day over 35 and rainy.

Love,

Eileen