Thanksgiving.... from a new perspective

While I was very bummed about not being able to spend the traditional Turkey Day with the Harty/Bach family, I was very lucky to be welcomed to the celebration of one of Cesar's family friends that I've gotten to know over the last 4 months. This family adopted the Thanksgiving tradition when they lived in the US for a few years, so we gathered around the table, ate some delicious food, and shared what we are thankful for. To make it feel a little more like the Thanksgiving I know, I did my best to make a sweet potato casserole, but considering I had to substitute two of the most important ingredients of the dish - sweet potatoes and brown sugar - it just didn't turn out to be what I expected. Surprisingly enough though, people still liked it. I had to use batatas (which are grayish white) instead of the orange sweet potatoes we know, and instead of brown sugar, something called 'refined sugar with honey'... so I came away from this with a new recipe. It was strange however, to celebrate such a US holiday in such a non-US setting. Between all the Spanish, the new people, and the lack of real sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry bread, and all the other favorites, it just wasn't the same without the family. In the end though, I'm grateful that I was still able to celebrate the holiday and see it from a different perspective.

since it's been a while....

So, I realize it's been a while since my last post so there's lots to write about. Since the last time I've written, we've been to a few birthday parties and a wedding, and done a little traveling. It was fun to see how weddings are celebrated here, and found lots of similarities to the weddings I've been to in the US. The ceremony was held in the cathedral in downtown Maturin, and the reception was at a nearby hotel.


















Last weekend, Cesar and I took a short trip to Puerto Ordaz to have lunch with his grandparents and visit La Llovizna National Park. It was really interesting to see such a growing, industrial city right next to a little piece of tropical rain forest. Unfortunately it was a little rainy the day we went, but that meant we pretty much had the park to ourselves. I got to see some wildlife, including a couple of poison dart frogs.














There is a river that runs through the park, and just before the park, a dam that produces power that's even sold to other countries. While we were there, the door of the dam were shut, so you can just imagine what the waterfall is like when the doors are open.













Other than that, work has been going well and I now have an exciting opportunity to start an after-school program for the students whose parents work at the school. I will spend the next week planning activities and start the first week in December providing an extra hour and a half of supervision three days a week. I look forward to the chance to work independently and provide structure for the kids - a couple of them are in first grade and they could really use some extra attention. All the teachers that interact with the first grade comment on how difficult of a group it is to work with, and we've really worked the whole school year to try and get a functioning classroom where the kids can learn. It's been quite an experience, and I am somewhat relieved to hear that not all groups are so hard to work with.
In other news, elections are this weekend, so it should be interesting to see what changes take place, and how people react to those changes.
Well, more updates to come soon.
(more pics can be found on Cesar's facebook)

So here are a few pics I've been meaning to put up for a while. The avocados, as you can see, are much bigger than the ones we get in Cincinnati. And the other pics are from Cesar's garden - he is growing sunflowers, sweet peppers, watermelon and basil.

















Avocado....















Sunflowers...














and Basil.

Movies, birthday parties, and.... work visas

It's been a while since my last post.... For the first time since I got here, Cesar and I went to the movies this week. We saw a Will Farrel comedy subtitled in Spanish... always funny. Not too many big differences between movie theaters here and in the US. The food options include popcorn, candy bars, pizza, nachos, and tequenos (similar to cheesesticks). And just like movie theaters in the US, everything is really overpriced.
In the past week, we have had three birthday parties in Grade 1. Apparently it's a pretty big deal to turn 6 (or any other age) here.... When there's a birthday to celebrate, the classroom is filled with balloons, party favors, cake, jello, and... screaming children. Well, one more birthday in the month of October to go :)
In other news at the school, this was the last week of the quarter, so we got a long weekend - no school tomorrow.
Aside from the birthday parties and movies, most of my effort has gone into getting all the necessary documents together to get my work visa. To have the school's law firm take care of it would cost me nearly four months of paychecks, so with the help of Cesar and his family, we have been working on doing it on our own to avoid the cost. This has involved getting papers proving where I am living, a notarized work offer, a medical certificate from the Ministry of Health, and, finally, I have to write an exposition of motives for wanting to work here. So far the only thing I still have to complete is the exposition and get the medical forms certfied. The process of getting the medical certificate has been the most stressful. I have already made 4 trips to one of the public hospitals, and I am hoping that tomorrow will be the 5th and final. I had to have 2 blood tests done and provide documentation that I have received certain vaccinations. These tests, required by the government in order for foreigners to stay in the country, are only provided in public hospitals. While I had the experience of working in a public hospital when I was in Nicaragua, being treated in one is a very different feeling. Tomorrow will be a second try at getting all of my medical forms certified - last time I tried, the person that was going to take care of it for me decided to leave the office early for the day.
After I have everything together, it looks like I will be making a quick trip to Caracas with Cesar on Tuesday. It's been a complicated process, but fortunately I only have to go through it once.
Well, more to come after Caracas...

flowers

Caripe pics

Mountains surrounding Caripe













A hotel, built into the mountains
We stopped here just to take pictures

















Caripe













The Cave of the Guacharo

Opening a bank account..... and other big news for the week

I received my first paycheck on the 10th of this month, which meant it was time to open my bank account and we were able to get around to it this week. Fortunately the banks in the malls are open until 9 at night, so Cesar was able to accompany me and help out with translation after work. Tuesday night we went to the bank to open my account and waited in line for about an hour and a half, only to find out that the school had made an error in the letter I was to present to the bank in order to open the account (they left out a couple of numbers from my passport). Soooo, we were told we could come back the next day and bypass the line. Well, that was the plan for Wednesday evening, but the power was out throughout the city until about 9 that night, so it didn't happen then. Last night, Thursday, we were finally able to make it to the bank, open my account, and deposit my checks. After 3 attempts to fill out my deposit slip, we finally did it right. The first time around I filled everything out just right, but slipped up when I heard setenta (70) and accidentally wrote sesenta (60). So we had to start all over again and the the person working at the bank gave it a try - he messed up too so Cesar filled out the form and I finally made the deposit. I celebrated by going to the grocery store..... bread, muenster cheese, milk, eggs, apples, avocado, watermelon, crackers, frozen strawberries to make juice, bubble gum, and this may surprise you..... dulce de leche flavored ice cream = 149.30 BsF., or about US $70. I will enjoy every bit of it! Also some big news..... I took a taxi on my own for the first time yesterday, managing to get where I wanted and conversing (in Spanish of course) with the taxi driver the whole way there. Other than that, there's no school today, so I have the day off - yay!

It's about time......

It's about time I finally set up a blog to keep everyone updated on what I've been doing in Venezuela, so here it is! I've done my best to pass on what I've done up to this point, but a blog may work better..... I will try to post pics and stories about what I've been up to here as frequently as possible.
So far I've seen a little bit of Caracas (the capital of Venezuela) and Puerta la Cruz, explored the Cave of the Guacharo, camped out at Puy Puy, a remote beach on the Caribbean coast, and most recently hiked upriver to Puertas de Miraflores and stayed the night in a cabin in the mountains surrounding the small town of Caripe. The majority of my time has been spent in Maturin, a smaller city of about 450,000 people located in the eastern part of the country. We are now in the fifth week of school and I've gotten into the routine of waking up at 5:30 every morning, starting classes at 7:30, and heading home at 3:00. So far, work has been fun and I've learned a lot as I have never worked in a classroom before - last time I was in a first grade classroom, I was the one learning how to read and read numbers. Now I'm helping the kids learn their letter sounds, adjust to classes taught all in English, etc.....
So far, just to name a couple of things that have surprised me are: the price of gas and the number of power outages. Cesar can fill up his tank for about US$1. And as energy-rich as Venezuela is, power outages are frequent due to a weak infrastructure. Sometimes it just can't handle the demand. Another big shock for me at first was the difference in how people speak here. I still find it hard to keep up with conversations for two reasons: in this part of the country people can speak extremely fast, and there is a lot of new vocabulary as people use a lot of slang that is distinctly eastern Venezuelan. So I am doing my best to improve my comprehension, and I hope to gradually be able to keep up with the conversations - maybe one day I'll be able to join in!
I hope to post pictures soon.