La Moda y el Hash

I can't believe I have been here for almost a month already! Time flies when you are busy all of the time I guess. I'm sorry I do not have many pictures from this week, but there were a lot of memories made.

After school on Monday, I took the public buses for the first time. I went with one of the other new teachers who has used them to go to a nearby mall. Although if I were not paying attention he would have had us get on the bus going straight to the barrio! Once we got on the bus it was easy to get to the mall, it just took a while because of traffic. The Centro Comercial Plaza Las Américas is a five story mall; it is nice with a lot of clothes shops and salons. The store I was most excited about was the grocery store! It was huge, but unfortunately that did not mean a better selection; it just meant more of the same things... There was a whole isle of one brand of margarine.

As soon as it started to get dark, the shops started closing and the mall emptied pretty fast. Finding the correct bus to get on to go home was a littler harder because it was a larger stop. I was laughing at one bus in particular that was pimped out with LED lights around the windows, on the windshield wipers, and on the wheels. Of course that was the bus we had to take to get home. All of the buses have names, they have them displayed on the outside. Most of the houses here have names too. 

I observed some of the trending Venezuelan fashions while at the mall as well as waiting in the doctors office for a couple hours… Obnoxious patterned leggings, with heels, see-through shirt, and giant purses seem to be the outfit of the season. And don't forget multiple bracelets and necklaces.

I had my first spanish lesson on Tuesday! It went surprisingly well. My instructor is extremely nice and I understood a lot of what she was saying (the whole lesson was in spanish). I am excited to start learning.

My ninth grade students have challenged me to the ice bucket challenge. I'm hoping they forget, but I will be taking extra clothes to school tomorrow just in case :)

Yesterday morning, I went to a cafe and ordered my first "cafe guayoyo" myself. I was proud when I was able to answer all of the barista's questions like how many shots, what size, and if I wanted sugar.  I also was able to have him put it in my travel mug. Yay for saving the environment/ not drinking plastic chemicals! Usually the steaming hot coffee is served in thin plastic cups. It doesn't make sense.

I also booked my flights for winter break! I will be meeting Lane in Curacao from December 13-21, then I will be in Columbus from December 22-28, and then Jacksonville Beach from December 28-January 2 and I will flight back to Caracas from Miami on January 3. I can't wait!!!

One of the highlights of my weekend was my first Hash run (…walk, let's be honest, we all know I don't run). They have them all over the world, but it's a running club with a drinking problem…or a drinking club with a running problem…something like that. You follow a trail of flour around the city and finish with dinner and beer. The locals must think it's crazy that the hashers are pouring flour on the ground because flour is one of the items that there is often a shortage of right now :/ But I will definitely go to the one next month and I encourage everyone to check out their local hash. http://gotothehash.net

(View from part of the hash walk)

The week ended with a worldly brunch with my teacher neighbors. We had blueberry Venezuelan pancakes with Canadian syrup and fresh Honduran coffee and Peruvian Chicha (drink made from purple corn). Followed by lots of lesson planning and online classwork.

One Full Week of Teaching Down… A Lot More To Go.

Here are some highlights from the first week of school:

-Getting life advice from a 7th grade boy, "Don't get married until you are 28."

-The morning view from the school:

-Having two senior boys share ONE piece of prize candy. The winning boy had made a pact with his friend that if either of them won they would share the prize even though they did not know what it was. Sure enough, the winner took a bite of half of the chocolate and gave the other half to his friend. But the first boy's bit took the hazelnut that was in the middle. This caused a whole class (all four students) uproar! "You don't take a Venezuelan's nut!" Noted.

-Being called Miss. It's similar to in Florida where everyone said ma'am.

-My new "gym"… many of the parks here have body weight exercise equipment aka adult playgrounds.

-Salads that don't actually have lettuce in them.

-Arepitas (like mini corn dogs without the dog):

-Getting my second pedicure of my life and accidentally way over tipping.

-Stealing some of the street vines and replanting them in my window planter. I hope they take off, they're a pretty green and purple.

-Sunset views from my living room:

Now for some not-so highlights from the week:

-Finding out how LOW my students are in math. It's a school-wide phenomenon and I cannot pinpoint why.

-Spending my whole local pay-check in one stop at the grocery store.

-Nothing is priced at the grocery store and if it is then it's most likely not the current price.

-Getting into a closed line at the grocery store and not realizing until the cashier said something and I had already put all of my groceries up. (Luckily she was nice enough to ring me out still AND the baggers even used my reusable bags!)

-Grocery shopping in general is pretty much the worst thing I have to do here. I never minded it back in the States, but I DREAD it here.

-Being woken up by the worst sound you've ever heard in your life! These ugly turkey birds screech starting around 5 am. I told myself if I saw one I would kill it that's how awful the sound is. Well I saw one when I was walking down the street; luckily for him I did not have a gun. It is as ugly looking as it sounds. It is called a Guacharaca after the horrible sound it makes.

-Not being able to go places and explore by myself. Luckily I've had a lot of work to keep me busy, but I don't like staying around the apartment so much.


After a full week of school, I was exhausted and fell asleep at 9 pm on Friday night. I'm expecting everything will get easier as the weeks go on. 

First Day of School!

My classes:
    6th Grade…… 12 students
    7th Grade……  7 students
    9th Grade……. 8 students
    10th Grade……4 students
    11th Grade ….. 4 students
    12th Grade…..  5 students

ENOUGH SAID!

Here is a picture from our assembly for the whole secondary school (Grades 6-12). We all fit in the little theatre room.

The day went pretty well. The students all seem very nice. I can tell there are a few who will be tough to motivate, but none of them seemed like they would be disrespectful or anything. I actually think my smaller classes will be the most challenging because they are very close friends and were getting off topic while doing our introduction activities.

Most of the school faculty and staff have been extremely nice too. I have been asked at least ten times this week if everything is going okay or if I needed anything for school or home. Our canteen director knows my coffee order already: solo cafe por favor :) and he accommodates for us veggies!

Hoping for a good school year!

Getting Ready for the Big Move

Welcome to my very first attempt at blogging! I thought this would be the most efficient way for my close friends and family to keep track of what I'm doing without having to repeat the same stories over and over. So here we go... 

When I accepted my teaching position at Colegio Internacional de Caracas in Venezuela, I did not realize how much had to be done before I could board a plane and move abroad.

Letter of resignation… check
Loads of visa paperwork… check
Doctors appointments… check
Selling car… check
Selling furniture… check
Setting up finances… check
Getting an internationally unblocked phone… check
Making sure I can access Netflix while abroad…check

However, the hardest thing for me to do was to try and fit my life into five bags under fifty pounds. I learned two important things during this task: one, I might be a hoarder and two, it feels great to simplify life. 

Unfortunately when I got to the airport, I was only allowed to bring three checked bags… It was not a pleasant start to my trip especially considering I had called the airline multiple times to check on any possible baggage embargoes AND other teachers were able to bring six checked bags.

After a layover in Houston, I boarded a red-eye flight to Caracas and had already stopped worrying about my left behind bags. We flew into the city around 5:30 am local time (only thirty minutes later than Columbus time). It was a beautiful sight even though it was still dark outside; the mountains were covered with sparkling lights. Sadly all of those pretty lights were coming from the barrios. The first thing I did when I got off the plane was use the ladies room….One half working toilette, no soap, and no paper towels or working dryer… Welcome to Venezuela.

We were picked up by the School's superintendent and drivers who took us first to our apartments and then to a welcome breakfast at the Principal's apartment. I like my little place. It's my first time living by myself and I think I am going to enjoy it. The view is the best part:

                                                 (and one of my neighbors has a pet sloth)

Going grocery shopping was pretty overwhelming. It was super crowed and not very well organized. Plus the food selection was not especially vegan friendly. Luckily the produce section was quite large. But because of the recent shortages of different goods, people were buying vegetable oil and flour by the case. I was also advised that anytime I am at a store and there is TP, I should buy some and stock up just incase there is another shortage of that…I also found it strange that anytime you purchase anything you must give the cashier your passport number and name.

Since I've been here the school staff has already been super helpful in getting my life together; it's a good sign for this year compared to the last couple :) Here is the view from my classroom and the hallway; I love the mountains, it's such a nice change from Florida.

And today we went on a mini tour of city/ found the US Embassy to visit a little art market type deal (http://www.hannsi.com.ve). I found some awesome dark chocolate that I obviously bought; apparently it's the best in South America.