Beer Bottle Under the Tire = Get home at 6:30am

Was out with some friends...LATE night. As we were leaving the parking space, we ran over a bottle. Some ********* intentionally put a bottle under our car tire so we'd get a flat when we left.

My friends are Panamanian, so I asked "What about a tow truck?" Apparently either they don't exist here or my friends didn't know of any OR they didn't want to spend the money. We put on the spare, but of course it went flat right away too (bad luck that night). At this point in the night, the only option was to get a spare from someone OR take a ride with the flat tire to a 24 tire guy who would fix it. We got a spare from my friend's dad, but of course it was too small. Luckily, there was 5 of us, so some stayed back to watch the car while we continued the madness (apparently its not a good idea to abandon your car in certain areas and come back in the morning). We finally take the original tire to a 24 tire shop and get it fixed. After all this fiasco, I get home at 6:30 in the morning. Ironically, I was ready to go home around 1:30am.

Moral of the story, when out partying late night, check your tires before you drive off and make sure your spare has air in it.

The Panama Schmooze...Get Used to It

As much as I hate to admit it...its a fact! In Panama, it's all about the schmooze (aka networking).

It so click-ish here that unless you can schmooze your way into a network, you might be stuck on the outside looking in. Let me break it down.

Here in Panama city, its not about how talented, attractive, smart you are...its about WHO YOU KNOW. You could practically offer a service for free here and folks would still rather go to a place they know (or their friends like) and pay full price. I'm not exagerrating.

Unfortunately, its common here for people to just follow each other or only do whatever the "IN" thing is. To get ahead here, you have to get to know people...lots of people. To do this, you HAVE to schmooze. In other words, when someone invites you to an event...GO! By going as someone's friend/guest, you are introduced to that inner circle. Once you're introduced, you have to schmooze and make contacts. These contacts will help build your network, which you will need if you want to start a business, organize a club, get support for an idea you have, go out to parties, etc.

I personally like to be a "ninja". In other words, stick to the shadows and pop out when I FEEL LIKE IT. Uh-uh! That doesn't work here. Panama city is really small and unlike other places, if people don't know you, they rarely go out of their way to get to know you. I'm learning that I've got to do Panama on Panama's terms, not mine. You've got to be a visible and a schmoozer here.

Beer Pong in Panama

Got invited to a Beer Pong party. Never been to one cuz I'm not in a White fraternity (or a Black one either). An American friend invited me so I decided to check it out (on my way to watch the Strikforce PPV at the Sportpage restaraunt).

If you don't know what Beer Pong is...look it up on youtube, google, etc (I did).

Side note: I've realized that Panama is small and not a place where people go out of their way to be your friend...so if you wanna get to know people, you have to insert yourself into whatever is going on and make an effort to meet new people and try new things. As an outsider, if you don't take iniative, you'll find yourself BY YOURSELF. :)

The guy hosting the party had it on his rooftop apartment. The place was nice and the people were cool...I made some new contacts. The crowd was mostly Americans or Panamanians who spoke perfect English.

The host had 3 beer pong table setup in an empty living room. People were playing and getting into it. Not being a beer drinker, I just watched and networked a little (I learned some info about Panama that I can't repeat on here, but I can tell you in person).

At one point, 4 girls were talking about their "bitches" (little dogs) and how they're are trying to breed and raise them. Then the same girls starting "slamming" beers. AKA punching a hole in the side of the can and then drinking the entire can.

Oooooooookay...so that what its like at a frat party...interesting. This was the first time that I actually felt like I was in the US, here in Panama.