The following is a blog that I wrote on Sunday. However, this website somehow shut me down from posting it. I've also updated the picture slideshow, so take a look at that as well. So it's been quite awhile since I've written a blog. What have you been doing this week with the extra time on your hands. But now I'm back and I have an extra long detailed blog about my Friday. So my Friday started out pretty normal, waking up in the morning and going to Spanish class. Nothing too interesting at this point. After class Jaime, Thomas, and I headed to the mall for some shopping for some new clothes since our plan was to go to the discoteca later on that night with Yaravi after a dance competition. Shopping for pants is so hard here in Panama. Not only am I tall, but it's also hard to find clothes that will fit me in the waist. The sizes are way different from in the United States. I understand that it is hard to find pants long enough since I'm the tallest woman in Panama that I know. However, I don't think I'm that fat of a girl compared to the rest of the Panamanians. I've seen my share of thick people here (not as many as in the United States though). I finally did find two pairs of cute jeans after my self-esteem was shattered (I'm 3 sizes bigger here than in the US). On our way out of the mall, we ran into two former missionaries, Chris and Becky, who decided to stay in Panama. Chris took a job with another organization, teaching English and Becky married a Panamanian man so I think she's here for good. It was my first time actually meeting either one of them. We got home and I had a couple hours to relax with my puppy. I can't believe how big he's growing. He's also shedding. I'm not too pleased with that since he's part poodle and cockapoos aren't suppossed to shed. Oh well, he's still a keeper. Very cute! At 4:00, Yaravi came over with his motorcycle to pick us up to go to La Chorrera. Since it was sunny out when we left, I hopped on his motorcycle while Thomas and Jaime followed us in the car. It wasn't until we were going a little faster that I realized that my helmet was very loose and I couldn't fix it. It's a good thing we didn't get into an accident because I don't think that helmet would have stayed on my head if I flew off the bike. About 15 or so minutes into the drive it started to rain. I had the chance to get off the motorcycle and jump into the car, but I thought to myself, "What's a little sprinkle going to do to me?" So I stayed on the bike and about a minute later the sprinkle turned into a downpour for the rest of the ride. I was one soaked girl when I got to Yaravi's house in La Chorrera. After turning down dry clothes (I figured I'd dry off fast enough), waiting for Yaravi to change, and watching Thomas dance with a mop in Yaravi's living room turned dance studio, we left for the dance competition. We arrived at the high school where the competition was going to be held just to find out that Yaravi got the time wrong and they wouldn't be starting for a few more hours. Oh, I think I forgot to mention that one of his high school students was competing in this competition. At the time we had no idea of what all the competition would entail...but I'll get back to that later. So since we had a little time on our hands, Yaravi took us to this place in La Chorrera that is famous for its chichemes (a popular Panamanian drink that I'm not too fond of). But while I was there, I ran into two of my students. (This week I've been running into people everywhere it seems like. It makes me feel more at home in Panama when things like this happen) I also had a chance to talk to Morman missionaries and a homeless man. We still had more time on our hands, so Yaravi took us to his sister's house. While we were there, we found out that another bus had exploded earlier on that day. Thank God no one died. However, earlier on in the week there was a bus that exploded that killed 18 people. So after some good conversation and great apple juice, I was starting to get cold from still being wet. Seriously, who get's cold in Panama? ME! So Yaravi finally conviced me to change my shirt, so once again we stopped by his place. He tried to convince me to change my pants since he's about the same size as me. However, after the low self-esteem shopping spree experience I had earlier, I wasn't prepared to find out that I'm too fat for his clothes. Remember, this is a guy who lifted me and flipped me during dancing. If I failed to fit into his clothes, there would be no more lifts or flips. I continued to wear wet jeans, but at least I was dry from the waist up. We finally made it to the competition. I had no idea this was going to be such a big event! There were thousands of people in this gym. I'm sure if we were in the States, there would have been fire code violations ten times over. So picture screaming teenagers at a pop concert/homecoming game/pagent with hundreds of blow horns, a big band, and loud speakers. Are your ears ringing yet? Do you have a headache just thinking about it? It was seriously that loud. After a lot of waiting, the competition finally began. Since the competition was all on the floor of the gym (no stage), it was very hard to see. The first round was Tipico dancing (a Panamanian dance). At this time Jaime, Thomas and I were ready to get out of there but Yaravi told us to stay for the next round, which was the Choreographed dance. I was so impressed. Each of the six dancers in the competition had about 15 (give or take) back up dancers to help them out. Even though it was still hard to see, I'm glad we stayed because each girl was fantastic. Jaime looked at me and asked me where all these male dancers (back up dancers) came from. The Choreographed dances kind of reminded me of the days in high school when I danced on the dance team and we competitions...except these dancers were much better. I love that almost everyone can dance here in Panama. With a couple more rounds to go, we finally left. The noice and the crowd was a little much. We didn't actually make it to the discoteca. One of these days. So there you have it. That was my day in too much detail. You probably feel like you were actually there with me. I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did. Maybe we can do it again sometime.

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