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.