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!