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

I Love...

I love my friends...
I love Venezuela...
I love where I am...
I love where I have been...


And in all things, that's just enough :)

"Every day you're not in love 

is a day you never live..." 

-cml-

Todo Politica

October 7th - Venezuelan Election Day - 2 weeks from Sunday

Rest assured... I will not be around for it.

That Friday I will be hopping a flight down to the Chilean Patagonia to trek the W Trail in Terros del Paine...

SO stoked.... A picture of potencial scenary:

Yesterday we had security officers from the embassy come to talk to our school. The information was nothing that we hadn't already heard.

The one concern that they express with the election is that it is possible (and they predict) outside communication may be cut off (ie: tv, internet, radio, etc). Although they really can't be sure.

They do expect crime could increase and the city's normal functioning could be cut off. Usually, this lasts 72 hours, and then things come back to normal. Luckily, we will be gone for all of that, so there's no need to worry! If there are any major problems, we have sister schools in other South American countries, but really... They're not expecting this, but it's better to be prepared than not :)

Propaganda is DEFINITELY very prevalent... Walking home from church, we walked through a parade... There are always marches - signs - music - etc. In our neighborhood, however, it's VERY minimal. We live in a great part of town, so if we stay around home, I don't imagine much will be going on. It's in the city center where most of the political action takes places, and it's easily avoidable.

Here's my roomies' hombre de la casa.... whom we bought from a street vendor... He yells at us.

....Propaganda, Propaganda, Everywhere, Everywhere....

Learning to be Light

As I sit on my back patio watching the storm hover over the mountains, I think, "Ah.....Lovely."

Friday we had Fusion with the high school kids, which started with a mini soccer tournament. HOW FUN!

On Saturday I went back to the Avila with some friends. This time we found the waterfall. Casey and I used the roots to climb up to the top where we found a cave... and a private photo shoot of dudes laying on the rocks with the waterfall crashing on top of them in their tighty whiteys.... It was full of aw... AWESOME....AWKWARD.

My mind is thinking in Spanish these days. I'm learning much and am excited to see how I will progress within the year. I accidently started talking only Spanish to my roommate who doesn't know a lot of Spanish yet, thinking entirely that I was speaking the correct language. This doesn't happen on a normal basis, as we live and teach in English, but on weekends when I'm around Venezuelans more, Spanish it is :)

My class has been lovely. Every other Friday, we have chapel with the entire elementary school, so on Fridays that we do not, our class will do some sort of service project. This week, we spent time thinking about and praying for every teacher and worker in our school. The kids then found Bible verses that they wanted to give to each person, and we collected candy as well to pass out to everyone. At the end of the day, I found this on my desk.