Unexpected things...

Just a very quick post today - it has been a very long day.

I hauled myself out of bed at 5am and went for Mass at 6 to discover that I was the one who was to preside and preach - It would have been nice to know!!!  Anyway, that was fine.  In class we planned out our schedule to allow the students time to prepare presentations to make in the class as part of their final grade.  Time is moving on and I will only be here until the 30th of November so it is important to organise.

In the afternoon I got a lift to a shopping mall to buy a cell phone.  Calling home from Panama would

be just too costly on my ordinary phone so I decided to invest in a cheap local one.  I got a grand simple little phone for around 25 Balboas.  The Balboa is one of the official currencies of Panama.  It is tied to the American Dollar and 1 Balboa is the same as 1 Dollar.  Prices are displayed in Balboas but everyone uses the Dollar.  Sometimes change is given in Balboas so I guess it's a question of spending the Balboas before I leave the country.

Everything worked out well with my little trip.  It was all very convenient.  It took us just about 20 minutes to get to the mall, about another 20 minutes to buy the phone, and then almost two and a half hours to get home again. Traffic in Panama city is terrible.  It seems that every corner can be a real nightmare.  Honestly, if it weren't for the police who were directing traffic on some of the corners I think we might well still be there.  What an afternoon!!!

Tonight the seminarians had a gathering around the theme of "Fraternity".  I thought it was going to be a talk or a film or something but it turned out to be what they call here "Dinamicas" - literally that translates as "dynamics" but it actually means what are sometimes called "Icebreakers" in the context of groupwork.  These are little exercises and games that are intended to help people to mix and get to know each other.  They are generally very popular in South America where people tend to be much more expressive and spontaneous than in Ireland; I suppose they are more in touch with their inner child.  Well, after tonight, I can confirm that I'm not.  I find these exercises to be very tiresome and, frankly, the end couldn't come soon enough.

The other thing that I discovered today is that the Rector of the seminary has organised for me to give a number of talks in different places.  I wasn't expecting this but I am glad about it.  Having come this far it is much more appealing to be busy than to be just hanging around.  As far as I can gather they are all more or less close by.  I suppose the topics and the times will all be made clear in time.  It is certainly going to be interesting but, hopefully, I will be able to make the most of work I have done for other occasions to prepare the talks.

That's it folks, after a long day, it's now just after 10pm and I'm off to bed
Hasta Mañana
N