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Oh I Love This Country...

Where do I start.  About two weeks ago we were told that the school would be taken over by the Military for the Elections on Nov. 23rd.  The first round of information was that we would have a half day on the Friday before and the Monday after.  Then two Fridays ago we were told that we would have those two days off work.  Later that same day it change to no school Thursday, Friday, or Monday.  On Monday it change to half a day Wednesday and no school Thursday, Friday, or Monday.  When we came in on Tuesday they told us in the afternoon that only teachers would be in on Wednesday and no one in on Thursday, Friday, or Monday.  Finally, Tuesday night I received a phone call that we would not be allowed into school because the military had called and was taking over on Tuesday night.  In other words we were off Wednesday through Monday.  Meanwhile on Thursday afternoon it started to rain really hard, which would not be so unusual although everyone says the rainy season ends at the beginning of November.  However, the rain came down supper hard for more than four hours, which presents a problem because all of the apartments and barrios are set on the mountains.  When all was said and done there were enormous traffic jams where people were getting out of their cars and walking away and then even worse their were landslides all over the city.  This presented problems for a lot of people but thankfully we were all O.K.  We returned to work on Tuesday and I thought the excitement was over until Christmas, however, the excitement never ends here.  I got to school this morning to find out that a main water pipe that serves over 30% of the city ruptured over night and I am part of that 30%, of course.  Of course this would also fall with the day that I have homework help and kick boxing and I am not done until 5pm.  I rushed home and found that we still had running water so I jumped in the shower and then quickly filled two buckets and two jugs of water in my tub because they are saying we will be without water for 72 hours!  Needless to say there is never a dull moment here and I might be taking sponge baths for the next two days and flushing my toilet with a bucket of water, what am I living in a third world country or something?!?!

Long Time No Post...Sorry

So it has been forever since I last posted anything because things around here have been crazy. I have had several visitors and taken a few trips. Needless to say I have become a bad blogger. Things at school are still going well. I love the classes that I teach and I am really getting to know and love the people that I work with. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. I have found some great traveling partners. First up Jeff came to visit at the beginning of October for my October break and we traveled with a group of teachers to Isla Margarita which is an island in the Caribbean owned by Venezuela. We had a blast. It was a bit of an adventure to get there and took a lot longer than everyone told us but we made it there and back in one piece and had a blast. First we drove to the town of Puerto La Cruz which everyone said was a three to four hour trip. That turned into about 5 1/2 hours driving on this crazy road that was one lane each way for most of it. We finally got there but had no where to stay so we ended up in this dump I will have to post pictures because it was pretty bad. We were only there for six hours and then it was off to the ferry. Once again people said oh the ferry takes around 2 hours well three hour later we were finally there. It was great although we got some rain (which according to locals is never suppose to happen). Overall we had a lot of fun in the sun. I will put some pictures up soon...Sorry for the long absence but there will be more to come soon!!!!

Fiesta Fiesta Fiesta (and I could drink!)

Last weekend I had my first Venezuelan experience clubbing.  It started off at a co-workers apartment where we drank Cuba Libres and around 10pm we headed out to the first club.  We got to the door and realized they were charging a cover but soon found out that they would give us tickets equivalent to our cover that we could use to buy bottles.  So 10 of us set out to find a table in the club and ended up right next to the blasting speakers ( I am still having trouble hearing!) We decided that since rum is the most popular drink we would get two bottles for the table.  We pooled our tickets together and began to dance to the live music while we were waiting for our drink to come.  When they finally arrived they had brought two bottles of rum, four glass bottles of coke (equivalent to a can of coke), and lime juice.  I thought for sure they just couldn't fit all of the coke bottles on their trays and that they were going to come back for more, however, I was quickly told that is how we do it in Venezuela.  So we set out drinking well mostly rum!  After two sets of live music and one with the DJ half our group decided to go home and the rest of us headed to the next place.  After a short cab ride with my principal, his wife, and two fellow teachers we arrived at the most famous salsa club in the city El Mani, but I was wuickly warned we were in a bad part of town.  So we quickly went into the club and before we had a table and ordered another bottle of rum someone was asking me to dance.  The great thing about this club and Venezuela in general is that people love to dance so there is no underlying intentions in dancing with someone.  I didn't sit down until 5 minutes before we left which was at 430am!!!  I must have danced with 18 year-olds and 75 year-olds and everything in between.  What a blast.  After an adventerous cab ride I made it home in the rain around 5am and quickly went to bed because I had a school BBQ the next day.  On Saturday night I had a co-workers birthday party to attend which of course included more drinking and dancing.  It was a blast but another ex-pat teacher and I wanted to leave early so we had them call a cab.  When we got downstairs there was an unmarked explorer waiting for us so we jumped in and were off on the scariest ride of our lives.  The ride had taken 35 minutes to get there but he managed to get us back in 11 and stop and gawk at 8 police cars stopped in the street!  Over all it was an adventure.  The weekend ended on Sunday with another party at the house of a US embassy worker so I enjoyed a lot of american food.  I think I have finally recovered from all of the rum!

El Avila and the Hash

This last weekend was a blast, in fact, I had so much fun that I forgot whether is was an A day or B day on Monday.  Saturday morning I woke up and went up the Avila which is a large mountain that sits to the North of the city.  I went with a group of 23 people and it was arranged by the middle school guidance counselor at my school, Jose.  He belongs to a four wheeling club called Club Meru Venezuela.  We went in a caravan of about 9 cars up and over the mountain.  We made a quick pit stop to have a hot chocolate and some breakfast close to the top of the mountain.  After that we headed to the Stone museum which was quite a unique experience.  To start with it was an interactive museum, but you must walk around without your shoes on and to enter the museum you must recreate a stone statue (it consists of three stones balancing on each other) and it was not easy to recreate.  Finally we participated in a variety of activities and it was a blast because we had to work together and few of the people from the club spoke English so we had a blast.  We continued the trip by going back up to the top of the mountain where we took tons of photos.  The highlight of the trip were the gorgeaous views from the mountain with the city on one side and the ocean on the other.  We made it back home safe and sound around 9pm and I crashed.  The next day I was invited to a Hash which is a club of "drinkers with a running problem" that exists in major cities around the world.  You start by running or walking a route that is set up by one of the club members.  We walked for about an hour up and down hills so it was a good workout.  Once we finished the party started.  We went to a members apartment complex and socialized.  It was a great time.

Lessons Learned at the Beach

So on Sunday I set out at 7am on an adventure to the beach.  Although the beach is not that far distance wise from Caracas there is unfortunately quite a large mountain known as El Avila between the city and the coast so you have to drive around the mountains to get to the beaches.  We set out early and only hit a few spots of heavy traffic mainly due to national guard check points.  We reached the beach around 10am and set up several umbrellas and chairs.  Our guide was the middle school guidance counselor from the school so he got us all set up on the beach and quickly ran off to get ice and beer for the day.  When he returned we all learned lesson #1 - When you are on a beach in Venezuela you must always be drinking a beer no matter how early it might be.  So everyone but me decided that they must do as the Venezuelans do so they were throwing back beers at 1030am!  Lesson #2 was also one that I learned very quickly when I arrived to the beach and is best demonstrated in photos that I took.  The lesson is that swim suits in Venezuela are clearly one size fits all.  In all seriousness it was great because I never once felt self conscious on the beach because everyone no matter what shape or size was walking around uninhibited.  As someone said when I first arrived to Caracas trust me whatever swim suit you brought will not be skimpy enough you will need to buy a new one!  I guess they were right.  Well that is all for now. I will keep you posted I am suppose to go four wheeling up the mountain this weekend because we had a slight mishap and locked the keys in the car but it was fine because I got to watch the sunset over the Caribbean. I am loving the Caribbean life!!!!  

Fiesta Time

I now know why I moved to Latin America to teach...the fiestas.  So on Friday my school had the first of many TGIF parties.  Basically, the school administration hosts parties through out the year on Fridays.  The school provides the drinks, music, and dance floor (the canteen) and the teachers all bring appetizers to share.  Man do Venezuelans know how to party. Unfortuantely I am still not allowed to drink because of some of the medication that I had to take while I was sick, but it was still a lot of fun.  The party started with a barrel full of beer at 3 o'clock as soon as the students left. This is a picture of a group of the female teachers when the party started.  We all ate food and mingled and around five the real party started becuase all of the students had finally left.  The bottom left  picture is a few of the administrators and department heads hanging out at the party.  The party moved up to the Canteen and we cleared the lunch tables and created a dance floor.  Next thing you know everyone from teachers, administrator, bus drivers, and cleaning staff were on the dance floor.  Several cases of beer and songs later the whole staff was dancing the night away.  Which you can see in the photo below.We were finally kicked off campus around 8:30 but the party was simply moved to another teacher's apartment.  We continued dancing and drinking until around midnight.  I don't know how I am going to keep up with all the drinking once I can again.  Loving life here in Venezuela!

Human Again...

So after a week of feeling pretty horrible I am finally back to myself.  I did a bit of adventuring with the bus system again on Sunday and went to an area called Chacaito where they have a plaza and a bunch of different department stores.  It was great.  While we were there we decided to get an ice cream and there are people with ice cream carts all over the plaza.  However we decided that we wanted this one type of ice cream bar in particular so we went from person to person trying to find the magnum cookies and cream.  After about four people we located the infamous ice cream bar.  Now the adventures really started when we went to sit in the plaza to eat the ice cream.  We could only find one bench that was free or didn't have a pair of "novios" making out on them.  However, we soon realized that the bench was free because a group of crazy preachers were holding a very enthusiastic sermon right next to us.  After we finally got over that craziness we were approached by a guying doing interviews in spanish about the environment I thought for sure he would know before coming up to us that we were clearly all gringas but no he tried to interview us nonetheless.

Things at school are going really well.  I am loving all of my classes and I am making lots of friends at the school.  Today they decided that it was time for me to learn all of the bad words that they use in Venezuela so that I would feel right at home.  The school is great they are hosting a TGIF party this friday for the staff to enjoy free drinks, food, music, and dance.  I can't wait to try out my latin moves.  I think that I am going to the beach club with a few other expatriate teachers and my principal and his family this weekend so that should be a lot of fun.  Now that I am feeling better I will try and write at least once a week.  

Let the Adventures Begin - Welcome to Venezuela

Well school started without a hitch and I love my students.  My sixth graders are going to take some getting used to because they are so young and innocent but I love them all.  The first week flew by and I was looking forward to the weekend.  A few of the new expat teachers got together and we decided to figure out the bus system so that we could go to El Hatillo which is one of the few colonial looking sections of the city left.  This resulted in me trying to figure out which buses the six of us needed to take to get there because my spanish is the best of the group and most of you know I am not shy.  I found a nice man to show us which bus to take at first and he let the driver know that we needed to know when to get off.  We got to our stop in the middle of the outskirts of a barrio and the drive yelled back and told us to get off and tried to explain where we need to go to get the next bus but I misunderstood so as he began to turn to go down the other way he made sure to yell at us and point us in the right direction.  Once we go there we found another man who put us on another bus and once again told the driver to tell us where to get off and once again we didn't quite understand where to go so the whole bus was trying to direct us in the right direction.  Finally an hour later we reach our destination.  It was great we ate ice cream walked around and finally got some dinner.  Since I was tired from all the adventures the day before I took it easy or so I thought on Sunday so that I would be ready for the week of teaching ahead.  About and hour into my sleep I began to get pains in my stomach and for those of you who have traveled to Latin America you all know what that means.  I proceeded to be ill the rest of the night and finally my assistant superintendent came to pick me up and take me to the hospital because I could barely move.  We arrived at the emergency and she got things moving quickly for me they came to evaluate me and quickly took five vials of blood and hooked me up to fluids this proved disastrous because the minute the fluids hit the routine started again and on my way to the bathroom the nurse yells in spanish but I will translate, "You need to give us a sample!"  Well waiting isn't really an option and now I am realizing that they just took blood, I am dehydrated, and I got up to quickly so I proceed to almost pass out.  The day continued like this for awhile and I landed in the hospital overnight to get medication and fluids.  Thank goodness for the wonderful people at my school because I was not alone through the whole process and they even took me in after I left the hospital.  In the end I had a really bad bacterial infection in my stomach and I am still taking medication but all of my Venezuelan friends have said, "Welcome to Venezuela," because this happens to not only tourists but also locals!  I will keep you all posted...

Adventures with Cedulas

My first days have been great.  I love the school and the people that I am working with.  However there are a few adventures to report.  During one of our orientation sessions we were told that when we go to the store they will ask for a cedula number which is essentially an identification number, however, it will take weeks for us to get our cards but they wont sell you stuff without it.  Needless to say our principal said just make up a number and everything will be OK.  Well we went shopping and one of the other new teachers did what he was told and made up a number, however, the cashier made a mistake and in order to get his receipt to get past the security at the door and she ask him to give her his cedula again.  You can imagine the problems this caused when he made up another 8 numbers and gave them to her because it didn't work.  We then had to proceed to convince the manager and the cashier that he was new and he has trouble remembering his cedula number.  I thought they might call security but we made it out finally and everything was OK in the end.  The second adventure happened today when my aunt came to visit.  First of all she was offered a ride to my place by a family at the church that wanted to take her to lunch and then bring her to my place.  By American standards this sounds reasonable, however, once you have learn "la hora venezolana" you know that this can turn into a 5 hour ordeal.  She was taken to lunch for two hours and then to walk around the area and finally to another place to eat dessert.  After four hours of wondering around the city she finally was on her way to my place but the man driving got lost so he proceeded to call his cousin who is a policeman in the area to escort them to my building.  Needless to say she showed up with a police detail to my apartment.  These are just a few of the adventures in Venezuela so far.  Keep checking back for more.

Arrival

Well I finally made it to Caracas after hours of driving around Texas trying to get all of the extra documents that the Houston Consulate decided to require at the last minute. I packed my bags all five checked pieces and headed off to Atlanta and then to Caracas. It took my luggage over an hour to all make it off the plane and I quickly cleared customs since I was one of the last people still in the baggage claim area. I went to bed around 3am on Sunday morning to be woken up a short while later by the party going on in the building next door that was my first of many introductions to Caracas. I got up early the next morning to remember that I did not bring any towels with me so I grabbed a t-shirt and decided that I had to shower and dry off with a t-shirt. I hit the ground running at the school after a brief tour. I finally made it to a supermarket to get the basics and then it was off to a fiesta at vice superintendents house where we ate and drank until 8 or 9pm although it felt like midnight after so little sleep. I crashed last night and woke up refreshed for a new day. I will post pictures of my apartment and classroom soon. Come back and check the blog often. I will try and update it every two weeks. Hope you enjoy it!