Día 2: El Tipo de Salsa Superior

 Josey:

This morning, I woke up about the same time and got ready for the day. It's convenient being so close to the school, because I can leave the apartment 10 minutes before class and still get there on time. Class started at Casco Antiguo Spanish School promptly at 8 am, and we began the morning by learning some directions. Héctor dutifully reminded us that people here are horrible at giving directions, but we were determined to learn nonetheless. We started by learning the words for common directions like "turn right," "continue straight," or "make a U-turn," and then practiced using these instructions in sentences. Next, we played on of my all time favorites: the memory game! Here we would match the image to the correct name, and if we were wrong we had to use both of the phrases we had chosen in a sentence. This was plenty of motivation for me to do my best!

After becoming masters of the directions, we used an online program to tell us stories about people and we had to follow the directions to find where the person was on a map of the city. This proved more challenging than expected, but was easy compared to what we did next…

Héctor determined that we had proved sufficient in the classroom, and now it was time to take our learning into the real world. So, we went out into Casco Viejo and began asking people for directions on how to get to gelato shops, bakeries, and plazas. While some people definitely took it easy on us by speaking slowly and clearly, others were not as kind and everyone (including Héctor) struggled to understand the detailed directions from some of the people. Eventually though, we made it to Plaza de Francia, which includes a beautiful walkway overlooking the ocean filled with vendors and an archway of flowers. While we were walking I was taught about the history of the area, including the many pirates that came through when they heard about the gold being sent to Panama. 

After our practice and tour of the neighborhood, we returned to the classroom to continue our learning with imperativo. The first step to this was playing a school friendly version of poker where we determined whether words were masculine or feminine. While this may seem simple, it was more difficult than expected as we quickly realized the many outliers to the commonly accepted rule of an ‘a ending’ = feminine, ‘o ending’ = masculine. Eventually, though, we got the hang of it and were ready to put this into use. This included using both direct and indirect nouns, and replacing them with their pronoun, then adding these pronouns to the end of the conjugated verbs. While not exceedingly difficult, it still took a while to figure out the right order and of course the many exceptions to the rule. But, when we finished, I felt much more confident than I had when we started. 

To finish up the class for the day, we found a song that used many verbs conjugated in imperativo, from this song we translated the lyrics and identified the verbs. This was both a good way to expand my vocabulary and identify when imperativo is often used. By the end of the song our class time was up so we said goodbye and I went to discuss some of the volunteer opportunities I would have for the rest of the week. Through the school, I was setting up 2 days a week where I could work with students at a local school to help with crafts, math, english, or yoga classes. 

After setting up as much of the volunteering as I could, I headed back to the apartment to enjoy some Panamanian tortillas for lunch. Unlike the tortillas we are used to, these ones are thicker and can be filled with different ingredients like queso. After this satisfying lunch break I was ready to continue touring Casco Viejo by visiting Iglesia de San Jose, one of the most famous churches in the area. Legend has it that the altar, which is covered in gold, managed to avoid being taken by Henry Morgan’s (a pirate) attack because it was painted black so he didn’t know where it was. Whether or not this is true, the altar is still a beautiful centerpiece for the church. The church is also home to an intricate nativity scene depicting the time from Mary finding out she was pregnant with baby Jesus all the way until after his birth. After finishing our tour of the church, we were able to go inside La Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. This cathedral was also filled with sculptures of important figures in the Catholic denomination and also images of after the crucifixion of Jesus. By the time my touring was done for the day I was hot from the afternoon sun so I took a quick smoothie stop to cool off before heading to my evening activity: Salsa lessons! 

I arrived once again at the school for the Tuesday night activity, where I met the friendly teacher Señora Jasmine. There were only two other people in the class so it was a small group, but I still had so much fun learning the four different steps, then getting a little bit of an overview into the different types of salsa dancing and the key differences between them. It was fun to be able to go out for the night and get to practice my Spanish more. To my surprise, many of the words I had been learning early in the day, ended up being used in the dance (like vuelta meaning spin). 

My second day was another successful one, and I am excited to keep learning and practicing around the city! 

Sutton: 

Today marked a significant milestone in my incredibly dramatic journey to Panama. I made the lovely drive to downtown Houston for the second time to the Passport Agency: my newest “lugar favorito.” The security guards gave me odd looks as I sweated profusely - after all, my bag contained every single important document ever and with my recent luck, I did not want to mess around with identity theft. I was pleasantly surprised by the very short line since yesterday I broke the record for “longest time standing in line in a government building without collapsing.” I was given my new passport (adult passport! not expired passport!) and asked to review for errors. With a meticulous eye, I determined the passport was utter perfection except for my very unfortunate passport photo. While this whole process has been beyond frustrating, I am grateful for the learning lessons I have taken from the passport renewal experience. I have managed the bulk of this obstacle independently, and I now feel like an expert in international travel and negotiating with passport expediting services. 

On another note, Josey kindly sent me pictures of her notes from her Spanish classes at the Casco Antiguo Spanish School. I reviewed the command terms, Imperativo, and directions and think my best friend should be a scribe. Having practiced my Spanish, I am very desperate to be in Panama right now so I can apply my language learning to cultural experiences and meet Hector and Ervin, but I will need to wait until this Friday. In the meantime, I am starting work on our video using the footage Josey has shared. Get excited!