Power outages, water scarcity, yet delicious cachapas!

            Something has to be said about the lack of efficiency down here. I love the mountains, bright birds and flowers; but not the power outages, water rationing, and general unpredictability of available goods: sometimes there is toilet paper, sometimes not.

             I laughed when I heard of Venezuela running out of toilet paper, but I wasn’t prepared to discover that this is no phenomenon. Every time I go to the grocery store I am baffled by the search for certain items that I want. “Where are the tortillas? Where is the salt? Do they sell milk?” All of these are questions I have repeated more than once, only to discover that Venezuelan stores often run out of choice items, or don’t sell them at all. Fresh milk is only sold in bakeries. The boxed or dried milk is sold at the only grocery store/bakery in walking distance, so I have learned to do without. Salsa is a thing of the past. I have made do as best I can by mixing a tomato paste with chili sauce. It worked out pretty well, but of course not exactly what I expected.

            This will come as no surprise to those of you who have spent any time in another country, but there are few brands here- sometimes even just one brand or certain products. For instance, my grocery sells but one brand of toilet paper (great loss, I know). There is also only one type of egg. There are 2 brands of spaghetti, and 2 brands of rice. I am not bothered by the lack of brands, except when it comes to shampoo- of course they don’t carry my favorite kind.

            The water shortages are still a puzzle to me. I’m not sure what causes them, but I’m almost sure it’s not actually a lack of water. I think it has more to do with failures in the general upkeep of the water filtration system, but I’m not really sure. Some buildings have their water rationed on a regular basis, but mine just randomly turns the water off for a few hours every couple of weeks or so.

            For those of you who have never lived in a country with this issue, water rationing is this: the building allows you to use water for a period of time every day, say 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. The rest of the time there is no running water. Like I said, thankfully my building has only cut water every now and again, and never for more than a few hours, but I can’t be sure my luck will hold out.

            Power outages in my building have also been random, but thankfully less frequent than the water shortages. My power has gone out 3 times, and only once for more than an hour. I admit that it was actually exciting for me, rather than frustrating. Of course, had the power been out for more than an hour or so, I would have started to really feel the effect.

            I feel I could bear the occasional lack of power and water much better if I could rely on the grocery store to provide everything I need. I miss milk the most, but there is no valid reason why Venezuelans shouldn’t embrace Salsa or at least sell pico de gallo.

            However, in the end I reconcile myself to the simple, but important benefits of living here: a great job and salary, finally having a class of my own, and a much-sought-for experience in another country. Of course having the ocean only an hour and a half away, and the beautiful scenery can’t be ignored either.

            Oh! And I forgot to mention, there are some delicious foods here that I will never be able to find in the US: large and tasty avocados (they are green here, not purple), hand-made passion fruit juice and orange juice, cachapas (cornmeal pancake omelets with unique Venezuelan cheese inside), and arrepas (potato pita/type things stuffed with your choice of shredded beef, cheese, avocado or just about anything else!). Fried plantains are also a favorite of many, but I personally prefer the organic bananas I can find in the store or at fruits and vegetables stands. The fact that the US dollar is worth a lot more than the Venezuelan Bolivare is a huge plus as well- I can buy food down here for about a third of the price I would pay in the US.

Pics of neighborhood and a pretty sunset ;-)

Here's the view from my living room, looking down of course. People like to walk their dogs or jog on the sidewalk you see criss-crossing through the trees.

Below, you can see out my laundry room window you can see these buildings, and the little park beneath- also a popular dog-walking spot.

Below are some of the many apartment buildings in front of mine.

I had to capture this sunset! Being on the 7th floor gives me a great view of the  sky.

*Climbing Mt. Casupo*

Now, when I say "Mt. Casupo," I admit it's rather an over-statement: I'm not sure Casupo is tall enough to be an official mountain, but it is sure rugged enough to brag about climbing! Embarrassingly, I nearly passed out the first time I attempted to climb it! I attribute a good part of that to the heat and lack of water bottle, but of course the rest was lack of fitness and lack of pacing- only the fittest can climb Casupo quickly. I did end up making it to the top the second time I climbed it, but only with the help of a few much-needed rests along the way!

Casupo is on the outskirts of Valencia, one of the first mountains surrounding the city.

As you can see, I wasn't the only one to make it this far. Casupo is a popular climbing spot.

Beach Pics!

I never knew what mangroves were until I moved down here- they line all the beaches!

 Below is a pic of one of the beach boats, though not the one we were in. It seems to be the thing to do to take a boat out to an island rather than camp out at the beach. Instead, you hire a boatman to take you to an island for the day.

I have to give a shout-out to Kelley and Jenny for taking some amazing ocean pics!

Here are the beach houses we stayed in- kind of like KOA's, even though this picture makes them look more sophisticated ;-) We had water, but no heat or soap to wash our hands (thank goodness us ladies brought our own!). Meals were available here, as well as dominoes and ping-pong ;-) After we tired of the dominoes, Lorena's brother brought out his guitar we took turns playing and singing together.

Here we are, disembarked after a long day at the beach.

Palm trees are everywhere, but they do stand out nicely against the blue skies at the beach, whereas in the city they tend to get lost amidst the other tropical trees and the green of the mountains beyond.

The floating displays of jewelry, lobster and drinks was quite amusing for those of us who had never seen such a thing before! These vendors would walk right over to you, since the water was shallow enough here to wade in.

Random note: Hey, if you have any questions feel free to post and I'll address them in the blog!

pics of the school and my TA

Here's a pic of the four-square area. All the kids race out the backdoor of the classroom into this area during recess ;-) My classroom is on the right, just out of view of the camera.

Below is a pic of the soccer fields in front of the school. The palm trees mark the end of the school property and the beginning of the neighborhood beyond. The neat-looking red flowers in the front are everywhere, but no one has been able to tell me what they're called!

This is a pic of one of the many tropical trees on campus- this one is right in front of the "Director's Residence"- yes, strangely enough, our director lives on campus! Below his residence is our pre-school.

Here is my faithful TA. She is my right-hand girl. She corrects homework and tests, translates for me and the parents, and helps with all kinds of random errands and tasks throughout the day. I am so grateful for her help!

Venezuela Strikes Again

Hi Everyone!

I was busy correcting a pre-test for Reading. In answer to my question, "What should you do if you read something and it doesn't make sense?" one of my students responded, "Don't read it"- ha! I love kids' candid answers! I won't tell him, but that's what a lot of adults do when they don't understand something too!

This past Sunday I succeeded in climbing to the top of Mt. Casupo- I attempted hiking to the top with Dave & Christi (a CIC teaching couple that live in my apartment) the week before, but almost passed out from exhaustion and heat! This time I paced myself and reached the top unscathed ;-) I have attached pictures of Casupo and of the view from my apartment windows.

As far as teaching and adjusting to Venezuela goes, so far so good! I am happy here, though of course I miss everyone back home. There are certainly annoyances here too, but I am still reveling in some of the benefits- mountains, ocean nearby, an apartment that is paid for and a good job. Some of the annoyances include: not having a car and living some way from the rest of the teachers, several things didn't work in my apartment and didn't/aren't fixed quickly. Overall though, I am surprised at the lack of any true distress signals so far- I haven't really suffered in my transition to life here. I attribute  my smooth transition to the prayers offered by you all back home (Thank You!) and the sincerity of the welcome I have received from the teachers and the Venezuelan people.

My students behave well for the most part. I am glad I haven't had any real discipline issues though- no fighting, name-calling or sassing.

My biggest concern is lesson planning. This last week I spent late nights planning for each coming day, and I am required to have this next week's plans all finished by Monday afternoon (yikes!). I only pray I can actually plan them all in such a short amount of time. Other than that, my only other concern is being rather isolated- no car and only that couple nearby to talk to or hang out with, unless people are willing to drive out to me to give me to say hi. Cars are about as expensive here as in the US, so I doubt I will save up enough to buy one anytime soon, and driving in Venezuela is a little like how James Bond drives- every man for himself and look out for cars flying around the corner! The fact that there are so few accidents here is plainly evidence of the existence of God.

Well, that's all for now. I may send some pics of the beach later, but not sure- I neglected to take any myself, so I'm relying on a friend to email me hers! All of us teachers went to the beach last Friday, so a few others took pictures while we were there.

First few days in Venezuela

Hi there!

Well, I have been in Valencia, Venezuela for about 4 days. The lush mountains, palm trees everywhere, and constant chatter of birds is inspiring everyday. There are bright flowers that I have never seen before, and really everything looks like it could be a part of the Como conservatory/flower gardens ;-)

My apartment has provided me with a lot of space, but also many irritations. I found that all 3 of the showers (yes, I have 3 bedrooms AND 3 bathrooms!) puddle up and refuse to drain unless I squiggy the water into the drain. My washer leaked, but a guy came to fix it so hopefully it will work the next time I try it. My internet is still not fully connected, so my hope of Skyping whenever I want will have to wait until my internet gets fixed.

The school, on the other hand, has been much more promising. The grounds are beautiful- the school is seating partway up a mountain. Fruit trees and iguanas and turtles find their home inside the school gates. Sometimes I watch the iguanas munch on leaves when I get bored of working in my classroom (classes don't start until the 12th).

Everyone here has been very kind to me. The veteran teachers are willing to answer any and all questions I have had, and the staff goes out of their way to help us solve problems that come up (one of the office staff came over personally to show me how to work the stove).

Two of the other new teachers live in my apartment building- Dave and Christi. They have let me ride with them to do all kinds of errands together- shopping, getting to school, going jogging this morning. They are also very kind. Both of them taught at a different Venezuelan school over the past 2 years and Dave is fluent in Spanish. They have been such a huge help! They have been helpful in everything from translating in customs, telling me what a good price is at the store, or explaining Venezuelan culture.

My 2 frustrations/concerns are these:  my internet connection (my link to everyone since the phone line can be expensive!), and lesson planning. I stressed about having enough time to prepare good lessons for next week, though I do have at least 2 paid hours per day next week to work on them, and I'm allowed to come to the school after hours or on weekends if I need.

Thank you for your prayers! Overall, things are going well here and I am optimistic about the rest of my stay.

Pictures of Venezuela and a lil info- more to come!

I meant to really sit down and write a lot about my experiences in Venezuela, but I'm more excited to just get my pictures up! I went to the beach again last weekend and have taken pics of the school. I am going to post what I have and write more later. In the meantime, if you missed some of my earlier emails about Venezuela, I am posting those too. Thank you for your prayers and support as I continue to adjust to a new culture and makes friends in a new land!