Thanksgiving in Caracas

Thanksgiving was last week. I think it may be the one and only holiday that is not celebrated in Venezuela. So while most people I know were stuffing their face and watching football, I was at work. Thanksgiving day was pretty exhausting for me. We had a whole school problem solving day where all the kids were in mixed groups, nursery to 12th grade. It was fun, but those elementary kids are so much work. It was funny to see the high schoolers complaining about them, just like we complain about the high schoolers. That lasted a couple of hours and then we had shortened classes afterward. My seniors decided the purpose of the event was actually to decrease teen pregnancy. They said they never wanted kids after dealing with them for three hours.

Directly after school I helped out with a volunteer activity with 50 kids from an orphanage. So again more screaming children draining my energy.

Then I stayed at school to watch the middle school students put on their Spanish drama production. It was called "La Zapatera Prodigiosa." I was so impressed! Although I couldn't understand everything that was said because it was in Spanish, I got the general idea. My students may not be good at math, but they sure are good at acting. I would almost say it was better acting than my high school ever had.

Then I rushed home to have my Spanish lesson. My Spanish tutor, Isabel, is extremely nice, but this lesson she did tell me that it is very important that I spend a little bit of time every day working on Spanish. I think that was her nice way of saying I need to ensure I do my homework… I may not always do my homework, but I am improving A LOT with comprehension. And I have been practicing a little bit more with speaking, to the vigilantes and the drivers mostly. One of the school drivers even complimented me on my progress yesterday when he took me to the bank and we were discussing our Christmas plans :)

On Saturday afternoon (after the Buckeyes beat Michigan!), some of us expats celebrated Thanksgiving. Ironically it was held at a British lady's house, but it was nice all the same. Everyone brought a dish and we even had a turkey. I was really surprised with how well the meal turned out considering the barriers to getting ingredients here. After the meal we were all stuffed and lounged around, drank lots of wine, and played some games. It was enjoyable but I am so excited to spend the holidays at home with my family! I cannot wait!