Verdict: Panama

I'll stay. :)

I'm not sure where to begin talking about Panama. I've been here for four days now and I've already seen too much to fit into one neat little packet of observations. The first thing that struck me when I arrived here, apart from the sticky heat in the jet way between the airplane and the gate, was how much America has seeped into this country. We signed the canal over to the Panamanians sometime in the late 70's and have been minimizing our government presence here ever since and still, there is America all over the place. The biggest sign? There is a KFC on almost every corner in the city. And where there isn't a KFC, there is a Popeye's or a McDonald's. You can't get away from them... well, you can't get away from them in the city.

You can get away from them where I live, in Ciudad del Saber, or the City of Knowledge. It's a part of the former U.S. canal zone where most of the housing has been turned into schools. In the middle is a giant park with lots of baseball diamonds, tennis courts, and a swimming pool. At night, there are more fireflies than I have ever seen in my life. We can see the boats going through the canal from our apartment (though they're easier to see from the upper floors). There are green parakeets in the palm trees outside that make me want to squeeee with delight (though I think Tim wishes they came with a "snooze" button).


This weekend we had two adventures: we went grocery shopping, and we went to the beach.

I love grocery shopping in foreign countries. It's wonderful to see what I take for granted that just isn't available, what is universal, and what is totally bizarre and new. For instance: potato chips=totally universal, everywhere I've ever gone on earth. In India they have different flavors, but they're still Lay's potato chips. However, super-pasteurized milk that doesn't need to be refrigerated? I thought they only had that in France, but they have it here too. I also love seeing the different varieties of beer (Balboa!) and drinking coke in bottles (made with real sugar!). Saturday, I made Arepas (sort of like a really thick corn tortilla) for lunch that were just amazing. I melted Oaxaca cheese on top and then piled on black beans and sprinkled on lime juice, salt and cayenne pepper. So good.

Yesterday we traveled a little way out of town on the Pan-American highway to the beach. Panama still hasn't embraced the tourism industry the way Costa Rica has so it can be a little hard to find the beaches sometimes (you're thinking, just go towards the horizon, right?). Well, that's sort of what we did, which meant parking in what I think was basically someone's yard and then walking along the beach until we entered a "resort" from the side. When we walked up to see where we were we got shooed away for not having ID bracelets, but they won't kick you off the beach because, well, it's a free country. The beach had beautiful sparkling black sand, but unfortunately it also had insane high tides, so we mostly just laid around and splashed in the tide-pool (which was deep enough to swim in but not as satisfying as the open ocean).

One of the benefits of Panama not realizing it's tourism potential quite yet is that underdevelopment means cheap dinner. Tim and I stopped at a road-side, open-air restaurant and had arepas with freshly grilled chorizo and pork, and I tried my first bowl of Sancocho, which is sort of Panama's national soup. It's basically a chicken soup with garlic and potatoes, that is amazingly hearty and satisfying. That might not sound good after a day sweating on the beach, but oh my word it was.


Luckily, this week we have a car which someone at the Embassy was kind enough to lend us and which we won't usually have, so hopefully I'll be able to explore some more and take more pictures of the buses, which are turning out to be one of my favorite things about Panama. I love DC's mostly-fast, mostly-efficient bus system, but I have to admit that the buses here deserve to be recognized for their artistic merit. They're almost shocking in their creativity.

Also--I'm hoping to work on my Thesis (sounds of the heavenly choir) while I'm hear and I'm writing it about boxing. If you know of any books or short stories about boxing, or hell, any good movies about boxing, let me know.

The Book Review Five Months in the Making

I have been waiting to write this book review for a very long time. Since January, in fact. These are the books I read over my Christmas break, but couldn't find time to review because this semester was chock-full-o'-nuts (if you will). There are actually a couple of other books that I've read since then that I'd like to write up, but let's hop in our WABAC Machines, Mr. Peabody, and pretend I'm writing this review five months ago, before those books even "happened" (if you will).


The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
By A. J. Jacobs
Once, back when I had a job (dun dun DUN), I needed to know something about the Arctic. Maybe what time zone it was in, or if it had penguins, or something I now can't imagine applying to legal staffing in any way whatsoever. But Paul was standing nearby and I asked him and he said, "hold on, I have someone we can call, he read the entire encyclopedia." So from my desk phone, we called A. J. Jacobs and asked him if people in the Arctic get cell phone service, or whether or not they have an airport, or something. And I'm pretty sure he knew the answer, but I think he also said something like, "did you try looking on Google?" Which wouldn't have been nearly as awesome for me.

I wanted to read the The Know-It-All before I knew that my boss was in the book and I got to talk to A.J. Jacobs on the phone. I like non-fiction books that are the equivalent of a bildungsroman, that is to say, the author goes on a journey, and there are two narrative arcs: the one where you learn about their journey, and the one where you learn about the thing they're learning about. That is precisely how this book operates. It both about the ridiculous quest of reading the entire encyclopedia (why would anyone do that) and trying to make it worthwhile by attempting to get on Jeopardy (a man after my own heart!), and about all of the strange and wondrous things one finds within the encyclopedia itself. Plus, Jacobs is funny. You have to have a sense of humor to walk around with a ten pound book in public.

I would recommend this book to: Kristin, and my other friends who love Jeopardy, but also think Alex Tribek is hilarious, especially when people answer incorrectly and he laughs at them.

The Prestige
By Christopher Priest

I just re-watched this movie yesterday and was reminded how amazing it is, which only reinforced how stellar this book is. The book gets filed away under science fiction, which I love and therefore do not want to belittle, but it's so much more than that. This is a novel about rivalry, obsession, dedication, sacrifice, secrets, and... stage magic. That makes it sound a little like a romance novel, but it's not. It's seething hatred and red velvet curtains and deep shadows and crackling static electricity through and through. If you've seen the movie and think that you know the prestige, that is, that you know the twist, and won't be entertained by the book, you're wrong. The movie shaves off 75% of what's important and terrifying about the obsessions and rivalries between the two men in the book--and how it affects their families--and the lengths to which they're willing to go. Perhaps I like the book so much because the accoutrement of stage magic--the top hats and doves and playing cards and beautiful assistants and the intrigue of wonder, of the suspension of disbelief--stir something almost primal in my chest.

I would recommend this book to: Jessica B. R., or someone looking for a book they can't put down.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
By Chuck Klosterman

If Kacie was a dude, and had been born ten years earlier, and wrote books, this is probably the book that she would write. And I would read it every time. I knew I was hooked from this point:

"I once loved a girl who almost loved me, but not as much as she loved John Cusack. [...] It appears that countless women born between the years of 1965 and 1978 are in love with John Cusack. I cannot fathom how he isn't the number-one box-office star in America because every straight girl I know would sell her soul to share a milk shake with that mother____. For upwardy-mobile women in their twenties and thirties, John Cusack is the neo-Elvis. But here's what non of these upwardly mobile women seem to realize. They don't love John Cusack. They love Lloyd Dobler." (2)

Here's the thing. I love Lloyd Dobler. Well, maybe not Lloyd Dobler, but certainly Rob Gordon, who, messed up as he may be, is the John Cusack character someone born in 1983 may be most capable of loving. (ok, I kind of love Lloyd Dobler too. Power Lloyd.) Chuck Klosterman sees pop culture, really sees it, and astutely writes about it amazing and funny ways. This book is a loving mix tape dedicated highest forms of low art. The chapters on Saved by the Bell and the Lakers/Celtics Rivalry changed my life.

I would recommend this book to: Kacie (duh), Jared, Marcus, and Kristin, but not Tim, because Tim doesn't believe in pop culture OR the 80's.

Wuthering Heights
By Emily Brontë

Ok, Emily, what were they putting in your oatmeal that made you so cynical? I hate reviewing classics on this blog, because they are, well... classic. Sometimes they're the most fun to read though because you've heard of them a million times but do you really know what they're about? For instance, I had no idea that everyone in this book was an asshole. I mean that as an absolute compliment. For a novel written in 1847, a novel about love, to have not one character be a blithering wimp is just a real feat. Okay, maybe one blithering wimp, but that's still a record. If this book had a motto, it would be, Come for the classic, stay for the crazy. It's the story of Heathcliff, a foundling taken in by the Earnshaw family, and Catherine Earnshaw, a wild and spoiled child who grows into a tempestuous woman... who marries someone else. It's sort of marvelous how royally things go astray for everyone involved, and how Brontë tells the story though Nelly Dean, one of the household servants.

I would recommend this book to: anyone who thinks old books are boring or overly sentimental. There are ghosts in it for God's sake and Heathcliff is just nuts.

Done!

Today I turned in the last assignment of my first year in graduate school! Let them rejoice!

Right in the midst of what turned out to the one of the worst finals-writing experiences of my life (why? I have no idea.) a wee Cypriot arrived from across the sea, to interrupt my misery with cookie-baking and gourmet meals.

First let me say that Elsa's visit was not only much too short, but cosmically badly timed. So here is a good road map for how to have fun if a friend is visiting and you have to fit a week worth of hanging out into seven hours:

1. Bake Cookies. Honestly this is the best way to spend your time under any circumstances, but it's perfect for catching up with friends. It's active, sugar is involved, the room is full of delicious smells, everyone is rewarded for their hard work, and if your visiting friend happens to be weird (no, I'm not talking about you, Elsa) the necessity of following the steps in a recipe prevents awkward silences. My cookie of choice for this occasion? Sugar Cookie Bars--there are literally six cups of sugar and a cup and a half of butter in this recipe. If that doesn't please you, you're beyond my help.

2. Play Beatles Rock Band. Nothing brings people together like the Beatles. It's probably also true that nothing tears people apart like my singing, but that's why I turn the volume way up. This is why I miss Elsa so much: because she's the kind person that knows we have to leave in 30 minutes but says "OMGOMG, can we pleeeeeease play Beatles Rock Band?" Yes. Yes, we can.

3. Eat the most amazing dinner of your life. Now, this one may seem hard to do every time a friend comes to visit, but being with the right people can make a meal amazing. The last time I went to Colorado, my mom and I split a steak and a salad with lemon vinaigrette that was, without a doubt, the most amazing meal of my life. I cooked that steak and no steak will ever taste as good as that one. However, this most-amazing-meal-of-my-life came from MiniBar. I never would have been able to eat there without the combined efforts of Jana and Elsa, who are like the rockstars of fabulous dining (Ask one of them what a cookiecakepie tastes like. Do it!). This meal was 29 courses of unforgettable.

The first picture (of these two, which I stole from Elsa) is "Guacamole," the inside was like... tomato popcicle, wrapped in thinly sliced avocado, surrounded by tomato, spanish olive oil, lime, and small pieces of tortilla chip. It made my brain turn inward on itself.

The second was what I called the "Willy Wonka Dessert" but what is really a Kumquat filled with some sort of amazing concoction and surrounded by pumpkin seeds and... other amazing concoctions.

There were 29 courses of this. I ate the only oyster of my life that, rather than merely tolerating, I enjoyed. And I was so fat and happy and almost blissfully confused at the end... and that was before they handed me a piece of bacon with sea salt fused to an amazing strip of dark chocolate. If Tim was a food, that is what he would be. And that, my friends, is why I stay with him through thick and thin.

4. Come for the drinks, stay for the conversation. When you think it's almost over, there is always time for one last drink and a little more conversation (unless you're Elvis, and then there's only room for a little less conversation and a little more action). After dinner, we went to Coco Sala, where both Jana and Elsa drank amazing Malted Martinis and I... I drank tea, because, alas, we all must return to reality (finals) at some point.

It may be cliché to say that life is short, but perhaps it is more appetizing to take it in small, delicious courses.

Cucumber Salad (for Kacie)

Mostly I'm procrastinating when I should, really, really, really be writing. But Kacie also asked me for this, so here it is. I use this recipe to make salad out of EVERYTHING. Especially in the summer. It's very cold and refreshing.

Cucumber Salad:
(Lazy Version)

• 1 Cucumber, washed and peeled in stripes (the peel is the only nutritious part anyway, and it's crunchy, so I leave I like the stripes.), sliced.
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Dill if you like it

Mix all of this in a bowl and let it stand in the fridge for at least fifteen minutes, but no longer than 24 hours because it gets super strong in a bad way.

For the non-lazy version add:

• About 4-5 white mushrooms, cut in quarters.
• 1 tomato, cut into bite-size wedges.

If you're a satanist, I suppose you could add red onion. But why spoil a good thing?

This Oil/Vinegar/salt/pepper (sans dill) mixture is also good on red bell peppers, canned peas (drained), fresh cabbage (minced, I prefer green cabbage, but whatever), and believe it or not, pork and beans. I would never, ever eat pork and beans under any other circumstances, but they're pretty amazing with vinegar and oil on them. Who knows?

There is also a version of this that calls for a small amount of water and sugar to be added to the cucumbers. The sugar cuts the bite of the vinegar. If I make it this way, I slice the cucumbers very thin and don't add any other vegetables, except possibly thinly sliced carrots.

☀Summer is wonderful.

mucky muck

<<--WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING AT ALL WEEK

I'm supposed to be writing a final paper about cleanliness (and biopolitics and ethnic cleansing) in Hector Tobar's The Tattooed Soldier right now. I'm dangerously close to being... dangerously close to done. Or would be, if I had accomplished anything today.

I spent the entire week from dawn until dusk (grad-school time, so more like 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 a.m.) building a website which houses my final project for Sex and Time in 19th Century American Lit. I would link to it so you can see how monstrously huge this project is, but it's password protected. It's too bad really, it's pretty baller. Anyway, six days of building a website out of documents I dug up at the Library of Congress made me a little brain-hurt. Microfilm.

Yesterday was my big presentation day and I planned to spend last night sponging in front of the TV and eating my weight in Chinese food, recuperating for today, which was supposed to be a glorious write-a-20-page-paper-free-for-all of achievement.

Funnily enough, the first part of the plan went well, today however, I have a headache and have spent the whole day a little like Britney from GLEE. "I've been here since first period. I had a cold. I took all my antibiotics at once and now I can't remember how to leave." Except instead of not being able to remember how to leave the music room, I can't remember how to leave facebook.

Anyway, I'll be done in six days. And in exactly 14 days (TWO WEEKS, Y'ALL!!) I'm flying to Panama. My new luggage arrived and it's taking everything in my power not to stop working (or, I guess, looking at facebook) and start stuffing things in it. This is literally the worst part of the semester. BUT, the second after you turn in your last paper? The best.