Panamanian Thanksgiving and Playa Bijao

We were invited to join one of James' coworkers and his wife for a "Thanksgiving" dinner this past Saturday.  Javier lived in LA for a couple of years and his wife lived in New York for five years and still celebrate this American tradition.  On our way to Javier's house, he called us and said we'd actually be going to his father-in-law's house for the Thanksgiving feast.  Once we arrived, Javier's wife introduced us to everyone (at least 25 family members) there, most of whom did not speak English.  We had such a great time talking to everyone and Javier's wife made sure that my glass of her homemade sangria was never empty!  As it turns out, Javier's father-in-law loved the American tradition of Thanksgiving feasts and when he got married, he convinced his wife to celebrate "Thanksgiving" with him every year.  This tradition grew and grew until it became the big family celebration that it is today.  They had 2 beautiful turkeys, excellent bread, potato salad (maybe the best I've ever had), 7-layer dip, ceviche, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, a cake...I mean, we left STUFFED!  Javier's brother-in-law even invited us to come to his beach house in Coronado and ride his blond horse, haha.  Everyone was so nice to talk to and we had a really great time!

Early Sunday morning, we got up and started packing for the all-inclusive Sheraton Bijao (pronounced BEE-HOW).  November 28th is one of Panama's numerous Independence day's (This one celebrated their independence from Spain), so James had the day off.  We headed west on the Pan American Highway and crossed over the America's Bridge (it goes over the Panama Canal).


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It was a little under 2 hours to our beach resort.  The hotel was beautiful!  James and I drank many Dirty Bananas and Dirty Monkeys, as well as margaritas, daiquiris, and cervezas!  Genevieve really enjoyed the pools and loved playing with some of the fountains in the pools.  Once again, Genevieve commanded the attention of everyone around us!  Unfortunately, the sun was only really out for about the first hour we were there...then it began to rain.  It was pretty gray and rainy for the rest of the evening as well as the next day.  Our resort did have its own beach, so we took Genevieve down there to let her play in the sand.  Of course, she loved it!  Since it was still cloudy and rainy when were down at the pool/beach today, we decided to just head back to our apartment.  Since we have our rental car until Tuesday morning, we decided to drive down to the Causeway and then around Panama City a bit.  All in all, a great holiday weekend!

Playa Bijao

Genevieve and Mommy with matching hairdos :)

Genevieve and Daddy

Genevieve wants Daddy's margarita!

Playing in the fountains in the pool!

So much fun!

Beach/Pool day #2!



Bijao Beach



Family pic!

Mommy and G after Daddy went down the waterslide

James pretends he's a kid again

Genevieve visits the Pacific

G was intrigued by the coconut on the beach

This child LOVES the sand!

proud of herself

What would a day at the beach be without tasting some sand...by the fistfull

One of Genevieve's MANY fan clubs in the background

Hugging/Kissing her teddy bear :)

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Happy Thanksgiving!

We'd like to wish all of our friends and family back in the states a very happy Thanksgiving!  To us, however, it kind of just feels like another Thursday!  We will be having a very small Thanksgiving feast (if you can call it that) tonight in celebration (how could we not?!).


Mini-Thanksgiving

Genevieve was so excited about her first Thanksgiving that she woke up at 4:30am and was ready to play!  (Mommy and Daddy were not so ready...).  We will definitely be jealous as we read about everyone's Thanksgiving celebrations on Facebook, but hope that everyone is enjoying the day!  I still cannot believe I am missing out on Black Friday sales...

As far as things in Panama go, I learned a valuable lesson today... dress the way you want to be treated.  Dress like a bum, be prepared to be treated that way!  The other day I went to the supermercado in my workout clothes (I realize Stacy and Clinton from What Not To Wear would probably be super ashamed of me but I mean, it is hot here!) and I felt like people were staring at me on the street, ignoring me in the supermarket, and just plain looking at me like I was crazy.  Anyways, I decided to wear a sundress to the supermercado this morning as a little test.  What do you know?  I had people stopping to help me around every corner!  They came up to talk to me, to Genevieve, to ask us if we were looking for something in particular, etc.!  One Panamanian lady even stopped to talk to Geneveive and said I should be thankful for such a beautiful, happy baby (I am very thankful for my little girl :) ), and then proceded to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving.  I did not feel the awkward stares and definitely did not feel ignored by the grocery store staff.  I guess a little dress up goes a long way here!  Oh, and on a side note, they take the whole "10 items or less" line in the supermarket stuff seriously!  The other day, I had 12 things in my basket, had loaded them all onto the belt, and the cashier looked at me and pointed to the 10 items or less sign and told me to find another line!  Won't make that mistake again!  Maybe she only made me move lines because I wasn't dressed nicely enough...

I think I'll conclude this post with some things for which I am thankful:

• My wonderful husband and my beautiful, smart, and bubbly little girl.
• All of our amazing friends and family (WE MISS YOU!)
• The once in a lifetime oportunity to spend 3 months in the country of Panama.
• All of the people here who have had so much patience with us and our limited Spanish.
• Everyone who is taking care of our house (Lindsay and Jonathan!) and our kitty, Skills while we are gone (you all are a blessing!!)
• The vacuum my husband brought home for me the other night (yes, I know it is silly, but when you have an 11 month old, a vacuum is a necessity of life!)

I am thankful for so much more than the 6 things listed above but for the sake of time, I'll leave it at that.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone and for those of you venturing out for Black Friday, I'll be with you in spirit!!

Adios!

PS.  Lindsay, I will be sure to post some pictures of Genevieve in her "Mommy's Little Turkey" outfit you bought her! :)

Genevieve is thankful for the couch she is sitting on, remote controls, puffs, and her jeggings :)

Our Address in Panama

If anyone wants to send us anything (no pressure, seriously), we don't really have a way of getting mail at our apartment.  However, you can send mail to James' office at the following address:


KPMG
Attn:  James Bell 
Edifcio KPMG (Calle 50 No. 54)  
Apartado Postal 0816-01089  
Panama, Rep. de Panama

Just Another Panamanian Monday...

The alarm clock went off at 6:30am, about an hour later than usual for James.  Ahh Mondays!  However, it is no ordinary Monday for James since he was starting his first day of work, Panamanian style!  Jerry, the driver who met us at the airport, was meeting James downstairs to take him to work for the first morning.  Apparently the office isn't walking distance, according to everyone in Panama.  It seems that our perceptions of near and far are very different.  To give you some perspective, we were told that our hotel (the Marriott we stayed in Friday night) was very far away from our apartment and too far to walk to.  Yes, it would have been too far to walk with our 800 bags of luggage and a baby, but James and I walked past where our hotel was yesterday just out on a walk!  Anyways, I digress...
Unfortunately for James, the Panama office expects suit and tie...fun, fun, fun in 87 degree, humid weather!  I can't complain about the weather, myself, because I only go out of the air conditioning if I want to. :)   James kissed Genevieve and I goodbye and left the apartment (of course, he was a few minutes late...typical).  While he still has a few more hours of work, James has emailed me a few times today saying how nice everyone is and how one guy was even going to drive him around and show him where things are.  Better yet, one of Panama's MANY Independence days is on November 28th, so naturally, James gets a three-day weekend.  He also found out today that he gets off on Panama's Mother's Day (December 8th), a tradition I believe the US should adopt.  :)
While James has been at work, Genevieve and I have spent our day hanging around the apartment.  She has been playing, eating, napping (the norm), and I have been cleaning our apartment (ew).   We did take a break to go for a walk for about an hour and a half.  I would have liked to have walked longer, but the darkening storm clouds headed our way fooled me into thinking we'd get stuck in a rain storm.  No rain ever came...at least not to Bella Vista!  Genevieve and I walked west along Balboa Ave.  They have a really nice walking/running/bicycling path right along the water and marina.  It was really beautiful and like I said, I would have loved to have kept going.  I discovered that the Hospital de Ninos is literally right next door to our apartment...convenient, but hopefully just a site to notice and not one to ever encounter!  One thing about Panama City is that there are police EVERYWHERE.  And, if there isnt a cross walk, the police will just randomly stop 4 lanes of traffic so you can walk across.  That was helpful seeing how it was difficult to navigate the sidewalks along Balboa ave. as some of them look like an earthquake hit them!  Genevieve and I made it back to our apartment...both of us sweating, and stopped on the pool/play area level of our apartment so Genevieve could go down the slide a few times.
I turned on the TV when we got in only to find a show on that looked similar to Sesame Street, but they were teaching kids what text terms meant (LOL/BFF).  Really?  Not what I expected, but, whatever.   And now after a short break to update our blog, back to cleaning!
By the way, James and I bought a small turkey (pavo) at Supermercado Riba Smith (I think I just like saying the name of the store) on Saturday.  It is slightly bigger than a Cornish game hen and was still $11.  The market had the BIGGEST turkeys I've ever seen...a few of them were over $50!  We stuck to our mini-bird and bought a can of green beans and some instant mashed potatoes.  It wont be quite the same as Thanksgivings in the past, but it won't be one we will forget, either!
Happy Monday, everyone!

James' first day at work!

Kisses goodbye for Genevieve!

The dining room and kitchen of our apartment.

Living room

Genevieve's room/guest room

Our bedroom/bathroom

Seriously, mom...I'm ready for a walk now!