Finally, with less than two days to go, someone has told us it's hard to read our web pages on the Smart boards at school with the dark background we had. So we're using a new template with a light background and dark print. Tell us how it looks (soon!). We'll see you all on Monday!
Three lists from the kids:
1. Things we're looking forward to when we get home: our cat, our lizards, our friends, going outside without a grownup, school, music lessons, colder weather, our relatives, having our own rooms, Goshen, the Farm, bikes, roller blades and scooters, Beal's
2. Things we'll miss about Panama: our friends, riding the roundabout, the park, snowcones, empanadas, everything we need being within a short walk, great wildlife close by, counting taxis, eating on the roof, Manolo's, Punta Culebra, watching TV
3. Things we're looking forward to leaving for the Panamanians to enjoy: honking cars, bad city smells, traffic, the pesticide truck, dangerous leaves and coconuts, hot and sticky weather, filthy feet, rented living space, life-threatening holes in streets and sidewalks.
We're on our way! Well, almost. There are a million things that need to be done: birthdays, meetings with teachers, solstice and Christmas in New Hampshire, a visit to the grandparents in Rhode Island to drop off the cat, tearing apart the kitchen and packing away the first floor to prepare for renovations that will take place while we're gone, farming out geckos and house plants... no rest for the weary. It almost makes the trip itself sound relaxing.
We will fly from Portland to Atlanta, then on to Panama City. The flight to Atlanta takes about three hours, and the one to Panama takes four. The amazing thing is that, after all the hours of flying, we will still be in the same time zone. Panama is more or less directly south of Maine (OK, well Buffalo, but you get the idea). Once the kids take over the website, you will see links to places we go and things we discover, including a live webcam at the Panama Canal locks. I'm the unskilled labor that covers low-tech tasks like editing.
Ostensibly, we are going down for Eric's work. Actually, we've had the wanderlust for a long time, and the work provided the excuse we needed. Eric is founder and director of the Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology, a non-profit network of Fulbright scholars working and studying in science and technology fields. This includes engineering, education, health, environment, sciences, social sciences... Each year the Academy (meaning Eric) organizes an international conference. This year's is in Panama City during the first week of March, and concerns formulating plans to address the United Nations Millenium Goals in various disciplines. It seems like a good time to have an adventure, quick before the children's social and academic lives become too complex. So off we go!
In November, Maya made a quick trip down to Panama and, with the kind help of colleagues at the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, found an apartment. We will be on a tree-lined boulevard that is one of the only places in the city that combines the hustle and bustle of commerce with a bit of green space. We are on the ninth floor of a relatively new building. We knew that living in a big, noisy city would be a challenge for the children, but have only just realized that, growing up in Maine, they've never, ever been on the ninth floor of anything! Hopefully, we'll be up above most of the noise, and can catch an occasional breeze through the many windows. Panama City is relentlessly hot (95°) and very humid. There is luckily a café that serves ice cream on our street, conveniently located next to a park with a playground.
The three months of dry season in Panama, January through March, are summer vacation, so we will be learning at home and on lots of field trips. We intend to keep up with the kids' studies in Maine, but with a decidedly tropical focus. Teachers are being great about allowing us to be very flexible with our interpretation of learning goals, as long as the goals are met. At least one week will be spent at day camp at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, which has its own plot of tropical forest and an outdoor aquarium, both in Panama City. We hope to have a university student help the children learn Spanish and accompany us on adventures. Graham, Tristram, and Cecilia will each have their own page on this website as a journal, and we will exchange information with their schools in Maine via e-mail and through the website.
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