Organization, or lack of, and sounds in the night

November 12^h, 2012

I have also posted my blog at WorldPress, but I will continue to post at WorldPress and on blogger also for a while and see how it goes. I find WorldPress a bit easier and more flexible so I may end up staying there.

It's Monday, not that the day of the week makes a big difference these days (except for Spanish lessons that have resumed now). I thought we would stay home today for a change, but someone with a car that might interest us is coming to town so we can take a look at it. Every day seems to be something we need to do. I'm still not very organized either. Maybe if I could manage to have a shopping list in a certain place where I could find it, I wouldn't forget things and I could organize our days better.

I keep forgetting it's only been ten days since we all got here. It seems every day we have a list of things that spills into the next day or two because I wear out before we get to the end of the list. Can we get a butter dish so we don't have to use an eating dish for the butter? Dang, I forgot oregano again. We really need a medicine cabinet or shelves or something for our toiletries in the bathroom. Ma wants dresses, with sleeves. Where is a good place to buy clothes? Does anyone even have such dressed or do I need to buy a sewing machine? Where do they sell sewing machines? What do you mean we are out of onions? When do we get to chill out and do all the things we planned to do here?

I have been trying to slow down and put some fun things into our days now. Saturday we took a walk in the woods and explored the beautiful area across the street. Yesterday, I did a bunch of computer stuff that I'd wanted to do for a while. We are starting to get a system of chores in the house, sharing the cooking, washing up, etc. so no one has to do a large amount. I know we are making progress and this is a process that doesn't happen overnight.

Panamanian houses are built differently than houses in the US. Ours is cement walls covered with a tin roof. The rooms have thin, lightweight drop ceilings, and above the ceilings is mostly open space between the ceilings and the roof. Sound carries! It's almost like there are no walls. Ma doesn't have good hearing and she loves to watch TV, so now that we have figured out how to get some US English channels there has been a lot of TV in the house at a fairly high volume. I don't like TV. There are people hollering from that box in the living room and I have no interest in anything they have to say, especially since the easiest news channel for her to get is the F channel. Blech. I want to study and write and do my own thing and I can't concentrate, so I do much better on the back patio.

There are advantages to the back patio! I was out there last night listening to the sounds of the night. What is this? VIDEO LINK I am still amazed at the variety of birds around here. It seems I am always hearing something new and different. Our neighbors invited us over yesterday for a tour of their yard. They told me they have many many birds that visit when they cook outside because he usually tosses them any leftover rice or other treats. They also have humming birds and when the feeders are full, there are many of them in the yard. Now I need a humming bird feeder! I was really interested to see everything they are growing too. The little things I thought were red peppers grow on a small tree, and there is also another kind of bean/pea that also grows on small trees. There was a lot of more familiar things too, though I don't know all their names in Spanish – avacado, rambutan (same family as the lychee I had in Florida), papaya, pineapple, yucca (he says you need to cook it with pork), tomatoes, peppers, plantains, and probably many other things I've forgotten. He has the equivalent of an empty lot next to the house which he uses as his garden, and his property backs up to the woods across the street so it's a really beautiful place.