Shabbat Shalom

Friday and the end of a busy and wonderful week. We slept late and I drove down to the bakery for some fresh rye bread, bagels and a slice of blueberry cheesecake. We made a light lunch of tuna sandwiches, avocado and cheese. Then we drove to school and signed up to take a second week of classes.

This week we had two teachers Mitzila and Tamara each doing two hours of instruction. Today was Tamara's birthday and we sang "Feliz Compleanos" to her and she was delighted. Each profesora took a photo of our class.

This is Jeff, Judy, Mitzila, Ute and Candise.

Tamara with our class.

Tamara looked outside and saw Bajareque which is best described as a mist rather than a drizzle. It actually looked like snowflurries, but it is just moisture. Afterwards we saw this rainbow outside the window.

We said goodbye to our classmates who are leaving Boquete this weekend and went home to get ready for dinner. Our new friend, Barbara owns the Jewish bakery near our condo. She was kind enough to tell the Chabad Rabbi about us and we are invited to Shabbat dinner tonight.

We arrived at the condo of Rabbi Yakov and his wife Hana at 6:45 and returned home just before 11:00. We had an interesting evening and a delicious dinner. There were two families visiting from Panama City who we enjoyed meeting and also a young man from Chicago who was born and raised in Russia. Another couple from David were there and he was born and raised in Israel where he served in the army before moving to Panama. Yakov is originally from Venezuela and Hana from Brazil. They both speak several languages and so friendly and special hosts.

Jeff and the men davened while the rebbetzin finished preparing dinner. Then long tables were set in the living area and we all ritually washed our hands. A traditional meal was served with challah, wine, baked salmon, couscous, quinoa, tehina, baba ghanoush, two kinds of pasta and salad. Then chicken and rice was served and finally dessert. In between we sang songs and benched after the meal.

The best part of all was another couple that came. They had been on our hike and we got along great and so glad to see them. Turns out she is a Russian Jew and thought we were Jewish, but afraid to ask when we met. He grew up in Levittown and we had been amazed to meet in Boquete when we lived so near to each other. We had so much fun talking during dinner. Alina is from Moscow and she and I grew up eating many of the same foods and same kinds of family experiences. Again we are reminded of what a small world it is. Greg is not Jewish and had never experienced anything like this Shabbat meal. Jeff was able to explain things to him and we hope to see them again to spend some time. They are here for six months and then moving to a coastal area for another six months. They moved here from Charlotte, NC.

So it was a wonderful day and night and now we are looking forward to the weekend.