HOME SWEET HOME

Syd's photo

Six weeks after leaving Canada, after surviving one earthquake, one flood and living in 5 different “temporary” homes, we finally have a place to call home. We have empted and put away our suitcases. What a great feeling. It was like Christmas finding all kinds of clothes I had forgotten about. I was really just wearing the same clothes over and over again, it was so much simpler. What a time we have had finding a suitable place to live. We are now living in a 2 storey, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroom “A” framed home in an area we love. The house breathes and is very bright so mold is not that big of an issue. The temperature is just perfect. Warm during the day, cool at night for sleeping. So far, a nice quiet neighborhood. I say so far because the holiday celebrations will start up any day, and that could mean a few weeks of noise at night! Just a 5 minute drive to town, 15 minute walk to the local “Chino” as they call them here because all the corner stores seem to be owned by people from China. I know, not very PC.

The house came “furnished” but let me expand on what “furnished” means here. Couches present, but extremely uncomfortable. Table present but slanted. Pass the salt takes on a whole different meaning! We call it cardboard furniture as it seems to be the uncomfortable theme in all the places we have lived here in Panama. We had 3 beds, but all of the mattresses I am sure had mites living in them. One of the mattresses had tire tracks on it! We have had to put a bit of love and elbow grease into this place to make it livable: New water tank, new water filter system, new shower heads, new mattresses, and new toilet seats as the old ones were just awful. I actually had to get a screw driver and chiseled some unidentifiable matter from it. That is coming from a nurse! Ewwww. We have had 2 different workmen in to fix a stove and fridge and as of 2 days ago, internet. I could cry I am so happy to be able to connect with people again. I am sure many of you thought we had been washed away by the floods or sucked up into the earth by the recent earthquake, but no, we are alive and kind of well. All of us have been fight colds and viruses. Nothing major, just change of climate and lowered immunity due to the stress.

We have a huge yard with orange trees and the potential for a nice little garden for my daughter the budding horticulturalist. I asked her to take some pictures of the house today so I could post them on our blog. She came back with photos of every flower, tree and nest! She is her Opa’s granddaughter.

Our sweet little home. Look to the top right balcony, we have a little lounging couch we set up. It is our favorite spot to hang and watch the birds and stars.

The kitchen. We had to buy dishes, cutlery and that great storage shelf to the right. Love the open concept idea, hard to find here in Panama

The living room complete with a coffee table engraved with the name "Edgar". It matches the engraving on the lower kitchen cabinets!

The dining area viewed from the loft

This is the master bedroom on the main floor with an attached bathroom. You may note that the bed is tiny, it is a double. We were going to get a larger one, but after sleeping on it we found it surprisingly cozy.

The home schooling loft complete with a door out to the upper balconey.

Syd's room.

Josh's room. The kids bedrooms and the loft are all upstairs with another bathroom and shower.

Our yard.

There ore no photos of the bathrooms for good reason. Hey we wanted to simplify and scale down and that we have done!

So much more to blog, but all in good time. Hope everyone is staying warm. I heard about the snow fall in Calgary. I won’t tell you what our temperature was today!