You're not an orphan...

On Thursday, we took some of our students to an orphanage as a service project...

She took about 1,000 pictures of herself :)

 I fell in love with a boy...
and he gave me the best hug of my life...

Funny girls :)

"See how very much our Father loves us, 

for he calls us his children, 

and that is what we are!"

- 1 John 3:1

I swear I work, too...

Although it might not seem like it, 5 days of the week are spent inside the school walls, and it would be no surprise if you found me there on a Saturday or Sunday as well. I love what I do... I am not working to live nor living to work... I am just living and loving :)

Here are some of the atypical/typical events from the past... what month are we in? With very little weather change, I swear it could be August or December, and I could not tell the difference...

Less recently, I was one of the soccer coaches for our 4th-6th graders. We had a huge soccer jamboree within the Caracas international school community. The three international schools ("the British school", "the international school", and "the Christian school") got together on a Saturday morning for a day full of intermingled small aside tournament games.

Some time after that, one of my friends from Germany came to visit for two and a half weeks as he traveled around Venezuela. We went to Morrocoy (check a couple posts back) and saw things around Caracas. Lucky for him, he has now seen more of Venezuela than me! I'll get there...

Weekend Beach Buddies...

My dear friend celebrated his birthday at our house, which turned into an awesome dance party... Gringos got some great salsa and merengue lessons, and then we brought the soulja boy...

We worked on Thanksgiving for half of a day, and the secondary students served us a pancake breakfast...

This past week we had our precious Christmas concert...

This is 2nd - 6th grade

4th - 6th Grade

One of mine...

Last night, we got to visit a family's restaurant. Delicious dinner turned into a dance party... 

Food and dancing, this is my typical life :)

Another of mine...

I'm trying to play Christmas music, and remind myself that although I am still running in a tank top and shorts, it IS December!

For Christmas, I will be traveling by myself to Colombia for 8 days, then I will experience a Venezuelan Christmas. 

 ~ Desiderata ~

"Go placidly amidst the noise and haste..."

Tiempo De Gracias...

I worked on Thanksgiving Day. It made no difference, because I spent time with my friends and family. We had a feast, and I entered into a food coma to awake at 4am the following day to head to Margarita Island.... ah, gracias...

We have arrived!

Buenos Dias, Playa

Don't think you can get away with no sunscreen here... mas SPF!

Dinner on the beach...

Great friends, co-workers, family...

Roomies and Friends...

Beach Food

empanada

 Sunday morning brunch... 

It requires a flower in your hair...

Roomies and Friends...

More Beach Food...

tostones

We Speak Americano...

This past weekend a friend from Germany came to visit, so three of us decided to get out of Caracas and visit Morrocoy for the weekend to check out some of the islands along the Venezuelan coast.

We left after school on Friday to catch a bus from a local hotel. Walking through the city with backpacks is an instant target of tourist. With a little uncertainty, we finally made it to our frozen cocoon of a bus. All of this country is tropical; however, it contains very limited air conditioning. The entire sum of Venezuela's need for air conditioning occupied this coach-sized bus. As soon as I sat down, I immediately entered into a natural state of hibernation.

I was awakened to de-board for arrepas before returning to the wintry cave on wheels.

Once on board, I fell fast asleep again into my comatose. All of a sudden I heard, "Mira... the national guard just boarded the bus... He's checking cedula's... Pretend you don't know Spanish." A cedula is the key to being a Venezuelan national - we have none. National guard = army attire, complete with machine guns.

Finally he made it to the back of the bus... "Cedula." We hand over our paper copies of our passports. This isn't going to cut it. "Get your bags and get off the bus." He walks away with our papers in his hands.

"....he wants us to get all our bags?! We're going to jail... they're going to deport us... we're losing our jobs... I'm not going to be able to buy a ring for my girlfriend!"

"Dude, chill.... what's the worst they can do?"

"DEPORT US!"

I sleepily make my way off the bus... ignoring all of the stares that are now magnified ten fold as the rare gringos who entered this portal are now being forcefully removed off of the vessel.

We enter the humid heat of the night... nearing midnight, we stand in the headlight glare of the bus in front of two national guards armed with machine guns who begin to yell at us about our missing papers: "Where are your passports?!"
"Ho-tel.... Car-a-cas"
"Why would you not have your passport?! You can't be here without your passport!"
"Se-cur-i-dad?"
"You cannot be here without a passport!"
"......Ho-tel.... Car-a-cas.... La playa....No se....."

The national guards are getting angry, frustrated.
"You are in Venezuela. You don't have a passport! You cannot be here without a passport!"
"La playa..... Venezuela a Venezuela..... Ho-tel.... No passport..... Ho-tel"
(If only I could fake my fluency as well as my lack of comprehension...)

One army official says to the other... "GRINGOS!"
With a sorrowful look I peer at our bus driver, he says, "Get back on the bus."


Oh Morrocoy... with all of the drama.... I can't wait to see you again (passport in hand).

Ahorita...

Oy... Where has time gone?!

I can hardly believe that it's almost November...

Awesome Things:

Elections are over.

Patagonia....

Trying to get warm before sleeping in the airport in Santiago, Chile 

2 nights at Casa Teresa in Porto Natales, Chile

Wild horses coming to check us out and drink from the creek

Sunrise from our camp site

 Reaching the end of the trail

Filling our water bottles from the lakes, rivers, and creeks

Checking out a glacier

Trekking with no one in sight as far as our eyes could see

Always noticing the small rays of joy

Indoor evening tea before tackling the extreme winds in the camp tent

nature's phenomenal beauty

Hiking and trekking in Patagonia's extremely diverse landscapes

Camping for 5 nights in a row

Living on granola, trail mix, crackers, and Fuch's bread 

(salami and tuna for luxury items)

 Having all of my thoughts turn into songs

Awkward Things:

Don't trust anything in Venezuela to go as planned. 4th-6th grade planned a field trip to an insect exhibit. The other teacher and I went to the exhibit to plan the event for our classes, but on the day of the field trip when we arrived with parents and kids, the exhibit had just disappeared. Hmm... so we took the kids to see Valiente (Brave).... T.I.V. (This is Venezuela...)

I finally got my health certificate... Immunizations, OBGYN samples, blood samples, fecal samples, urine samples,... I offered a finger donation, but they said it was not necessary. I'm not sure which was the most interesting:

OBGYN: live video recording of my organs (3-4 hours)

Samples: all given/done at school - community-building activity

Immunizations: wait in line outside to get a number to wait in line inside... waiting room (cement walls and partially outside) of 20 people, when they call your number, go to the table, get pricked and shot up in front of everyone in the waiting room - no bandaid - sit back down. Wait to get your paper stamped. Wait to get your name written in a book. Done, 5 hours later.

Trying to pick pasted dough out of my hair as I type this... We had Fall Festival today. Three students lovingly put me in "jail" where they got to dump water and flour all over me. Hm... time for a new strategy on this predicament... Cheers :)

Tranqi Tranqi

It's around 11am on a Tuesday, and I am sitting on the back patio with a glorious breeze and view of the avila...

School has been canceled for the week due to elections. We were shut down on Monday at 4pm, so that armed military could come in to use the building next door for voting. For the first time, I get to work from home! It's a crazy sort of thing. I am posting assignments online and interacting with my students via a web program. It's a new way to do 4th grade, that is for sure...

Life has been crazy busy, as it goes...

On Friday, my students had a performance showcase of all of the work we have been doing over the past month. Parents came into my tiny classroom, and students got to show off what they know. I was really quite impressed with their knowledge, understanding, and reflections.

Saturday was our staff social - American BBQ that had some volleyball, potluck food, and dance party.

Sunday we were advised not to take the Metro, because there was a huge march...

Avoidance is key... Around the neighborhood I saw tons of people rallying together to go into the city. As much as you hear news of Caracas and Venezuela... I have been blessed enough to not see any of it. For me, everything is muy tranqi... tranquil