Typical Happenings

The week following camp was an annoying one.

1. Being back at school wasn't fun
2. The week before a break is always slow
3. Nothing was as simple as it should be

I had yet again more trouble reloading my phone. I paid and everything worked like it should until I got home and realized I didn't have 3G and I couldn't use any apps that required internet, which of course are the only apps I rely on here. So I grabbed a spanish-speaking friend and walked back up the hill to the kiosk. After a couple of phone calls the guy said there was nothing he could do and it might just be a problem with the phone company. Awesome. Then my phone decided to quit connecting to wifi at all. (Luckily I was able to get a replacement phone while I was home and everything seems to be working now).

Then a group of us decided to go out to dinner one night. We decided on Lebanese. Long story short: we drove around a not-so-great part of town for an hour and a half. Our taxi played chicken with another car as they were head to head because of a broke down car in the opposing lane and our driver got out to argue with the other driver. Then he got out to argue with another driver again after a bus bumped our taxi later on. We finally gave up on the Lebanese place we couldn't find and went to a burger place. As we were walking in, the hostess told us that their credit card machine was down. So we walked to a nearby mall. Over two hours after we left our apartments, the five of us were squished together eating Mexican fast food at a two-person table. We couldn't even talk about how annoyed we were because the speaker next to us blasting reggaeton. From the sounds of it, there are often events like this that don't go as planned, but I guess it could be worse so as annoyed as I was, I still laughed it off. Some of the people who have been here for a few years no longer find it funny though.

Hungry and Grumpy 

Camp Lagunazo

Updating my blog is WAYYYY overdue. The past month has been crazy busy and I haven't had a chance to properly tell the cyber world about it. So I will highlight the most important parts of the past weeks in the next couple of posts. And then hopefully I can get back on track with my weekly updates; it is much more interesting when I can comment on certain details while they are fresh in my mind.

So this post will highlight my time with my students at Campo Lagunazo. It was a three day/two night trip (that felt like much, much longer) that the grades 6-10 take every year. The camp is located about four hours west of Caracas. The location and the land is gorgeous; it was such a refreshing change from the city. On the way there and back, our rest stop was carefully planned and we had to be extra cautious because I guess it can be dangerous? Our superintendent didn't even want us to stop at all, but all went smoothly.

I was chaperoning grades 6-8, who stay in cabins in the main camp and do normal camp activities. While the 9-10 grades go on a three day hike and camp. My job was awesome because me and the three other teachers who were also chaperones just got to “supervise” and participate in the activities we wanted. There were counselors who planned and led everything for the students. It was a lot of fun for the kids as well as us! I took part in the kayaking, horse-back riding, and made it to the top of the climbing wall.

Miss Morgan ready for fun. 

(Slowly I am turning into Miss Morgan instead of Miss Hunter)

Kids doing "normal" camp stuff.

Chaperones Maria Elena, Tracey and Me 

creeping on the kids' "dance." 

The one thing that I did not enjoy about camp was the food. I emailed the director ahead of time to let them know I was a vegetarian, but apparently they did not plan accordingly. The first lunch was big hamburgers. When I told them I was vegetarian, they told me they could make me some chicken. When I told them that I do not eat chicken, they said they could prepare some fish. When I told them that I don't eat fish and asked if they had rice and beans, they answered that they didn't have anything for me. So I had iceberg lettuce wraps filled with tomatoes... All three days were about the same.

Overall, I really had a great time and it was so cool to see the students in an environment outside of the classroom. I look forward to it next year and hope I get to be a chaperone again.