One downfall with all this rain is that with rain brings mud…everywhere.  Yes, you all can see whats coming next.  I damn near wiped completely out on monday while walking to work (again, fathers child…nothing i can do about it.)  I swear this patch of mud was the same color as the sidewalk, but nevertheless, it was dumb and almost a complete tragedy.  I stepped directly onto this mud patch and slid probably 2 feet, did a little dance to make sure I didnt fall, then centered myself for a good 30 seconds.  And if you dont remember, i am stared at all the time on a regular basis, so when things like this happen in front of a large group of venezuelans waiting for the bus, it makes for an even more awkward situation for me.  All in all, tho, I came out of it unharmed and with only minor mud damage to both my ego and jeans…totally salvageable.

Also…right now, Senora Zully is in the kitchen singing Halo by Beyonce.  This never gets old.

—————————–

Sorry this one took a little longer to get up here. I just got back to bqto this evening after a few day vacation to Coro, one of the oldest cities in all of South America.  By far it was a highlight of my time here.  More on that later…now I’ll catch you up to what went down last week!

Monday the 22^nd, I met up with the girls and Hugo after work, and we walked to the autopista (the highway thing that is next to the Cardenalito that leads out of the city to the east), and enjoyed each others’ company over a pepito and nestea!  It was really nice to get together with almost all of the interns and enjoy a little break from the norm.  plus, pepitos are absolutely delicious, so that counts as a plus for this evening as well.

I felt good enough on Tuesday to go for a run!  I’d like to think that is a sign that I was completely over my sickness.  And it was so nice and therapeutic to go on a run after 5 days of not even thinking about lifting a pinky finger without some kind of need.

Thursday, I treated myself to a falafel sandwich for lunch.  I have money to use up, so what else is there to do but feed myself.  And let me tell you, my tummy is happy!  I guess maybe I’ll get myself something to remember my time here, but, really, who am I kidding…I have extra money and I’m going to dine on some high quality cuisine!

Also, on Thursday evening, a priest came up and down my street with a big group of people singing and carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary.  Each house had out a small table with their bible, a candle, and other assorted things to receive the priest and the Virgin.  Then there was a little neighbor’s get-together with cake and Coke.  This was all to start the Holy Week off on the right foot.  Kinda cool.

Friday, I fainted in the bank as I was waiting to deposit my check.  Not cool at all.  It was super random…the guy behind me grabbed me, led me to a chair, a lady got me some water, 5 minutes later I felt fine, deposited the check, and went on my merry way.  But holy cow was I embarrassed.  I mean, people stare at me anyway, but now I faint in a public place where there are tons of people because it was pay day.  Ooof.  I should have charged admission!

That evening, I didn’t do anything special.  I was supposed to go over to Brian’s house with some work people, but nothing ended up happening with that, and I instead just helped Cadence move into a different apartment.  Long story about her living situation…but now she’s moved into Marysia’s old place with senora adelina who speaks zero Spanish…it’ll be good for Cadence as she’ll be forced to speak Spanish and learn!

Sat and Sun were relaxing days…laundry, trinitarias, cardenalito, etc, etc.  Sunday, the statue of the Virgin that was going around with the priest was brought to my house to be put on display.  Zully dressed up all nice and her daughter came over.  I was just getting back from the bus terminal, and so I helped with bringing the statue in the house.  It was set up pretty much like a shrine…flowers and candles and the whole works for this statue of the Virgin.  I then took a nap, but before I fell asleep, I heard the family reciting some bible verses and doing some prayers.  Not really my thing, but it should be interesting to see what happens in this household (and all throughout Venezuela) for Holy Week and Easter.

Sunday night, Cad and I took a cab to the bus terminal to meet up with Alejandro Silie and head to Coro for a few days.  We left at 10pm and arrived in Coro at about 4am.  Slept a few more hours before eating some food and heading out to see the city.  Coro is actually one of the oldest cities in all of South America, so there was a lot of history.  Cobblestone roads, buildings made of mud, churches, and the like.  Coro itself is a smaller city, so the feeling was nice and humble…and with the historical factor added in, it really made for a nice afternoon throughout the city.  It actually reminded me of Guanajuato a little bit…I mean nothing compares to Guanajuato, but the houses and the colors and the size of the city and the history definitely had similarities to mi querido Guanajuato.

Later that afternoon, we ventured to Los Medanos…the rolling sand dunes that stretch for miles and miles and you can’t see the end of them.  So amazing.  Definitely a highlight of my time here. I was in awe of the sights.  I took some really great pictures of the dunes and all the formations…plus, we got there in late afternoon when the sun was starting to set.  So beautiful.  It was just a really amazing place to get to see and spend time at.  When the sun was about to set, we grabbed a cocada (kinda like a coconut milkshake that was beyond delicious) and walked out of the national park to catch a cab home.  It was Ale’s father’s and bother’s bday, so I was under the impression that we were going to have some people over to the house and celebrate.

WRONG

We ate some pasta, and then loaded up some cars to go to this restaurant type place where Cadence and I were fed beer after beer after beer with no time in between them as we played hours and hours of dominoes with alejandro’s brother and cousin.  Of course, since we were the only two white people in the entire place, we were thoroughly embarrassed when asked to dance together in front of everyone, then sing happy birthday to the two guys.  It was awkward, but all in all a good time.  We were not expecting a huge party like that, but it turned out to be a really great time!

We slept a lot that night after we safely arrived back at the house after a mini-sort-of-adventure-type-deal.  I was exhausted, so I brushed my teeth and got into bed.  OH!  I got to sleep with AIR CONDITIONING for the past 3 days.  WHAT?!?!  I forgot what it felt like to have A/C, and it was so good.  I’m back in Bqto now in my sauna of a room sweating as a write this blog, and I am dreaming of the room I stayed in back in Coro.  It was really nice and I slept beautifully.

The next day, we relaxed in hammocks on the roof of Ale’s house.  Then we adventured to La Vela, a beach area with a sea-side walkway.  Also, the flag was made in La Vela, so there was an evolution of the flag display as well.  We stopped for a beer, then went to this church with a HUGE statue of the Virgin.  I obviously took a picture with it before heading back in the car and driving along the Caribbean.  Before making it back to the house, we stopped for 5 BsF chicken burgers.  For being only 5 BsF, they were actually pretty tasty.

Cad and I caught a bus at midday to come back to Bqto today.  It was the perfect little trip to Coro…exactly what I wanted to do.  We are going to have a BBQ with the Lee family either tomorrow or this weekend, im going to get together with Vero to go to the cine, im going to get pizza at Danny’s pizza with the Hot Dogs, and then my Semana Santa will be complete.  What a great week filled with everything I wanted to fit in!

April tomorrow!  Wow!  Totally crazy!  I wonder if they do April fools here…

Until death swept over me on Thursday.

Holy I Don’t Feel Well, Batman.  I have already been sick I think 3 times here in Venezuela, but this forth time takes the cake.  I was lucky enough to have my last two classes on Thursday canceled, so I got to go home…and God almighty did I need it, because I was shivering cold in my 5pm class.  I got a ride home from the Hot Dogs, blasting the heat…THE HEAT…in their car (I hope you are now starting to understand just how bad this was…HEAT).  I picked up some magic in a box called Alivet (the stuff Cadence bought last week, because I’m pretty sure I had whatever she had), got home, and changed into the warmest clothes I have here.  But man-oh-man, was I still cold…and every part of my body ached.  Even my eyes ached.  No, not like a head ache…like a muscle ache, in my eyes.  I made my little Alivet tea, enjoyed it thoroughly, and tried my hardest to go to sleep.

FAIL

I hardly slept at all.  I actually hardly slept at all for the past 3 nights.  Combo of my little bed that I don’t fit in and feeling like I was going to rust over and crumble into tiny pieces.  It was a real downer all weekend…edit: I was a real downer all weekend.  I just laid low and tried to catch some Zs every few hours.

OH YA!  I am embarrassed to say this (mostly because of my most recent post), but it rained on Thursday night.  I know, I know…I didn’t blog about it.  But give me some slack…I wasn’t entirely functioning at 100%.  Well, anyway, it was a HUGE thunderstorm.  Like, water came through the roof in Ramón’s room, and there were puddles in the dining area in the morning.  Whoa.  Ok, yes, I love when it rains here, but that rain was just inconvenient as hell.  I was actually sleeping, was awoken by the torrential downpour, and was unable to fall back asleep for more than a 15 minute span.  Sometimes I feel that Mother Nature hates me.

AAANNNYYWAY.  Moral of the story: I was sick, it was absolutely terrible, but I’m all better now and I’m ready to get back into normal function mode (whatever that may be).

I did work on a presentation while I was bed-ridden.  On Saturday night, we had an AIESEC party for the going away of Tanya and Lise, the welcoming of Cadence, and the cultural presentations of Mimi and Me. J  I had JUST broke my fever Saturday late morning/early afternoon (after not sleeping all night, I talked to the folks for a bit, then tried to sleep again, with tons of success…and I woke up 4 hours later dripping in sweat!), so I was not 100% for this presentation or party.  I finished that puppy about 30 minutes before heading over to Rosemary’s apt with Cadence.  Eventually everyone showed up, and I got to give my presentation…and it was a HUGE success.  I loved every minute of presenting about the USA, about some of the culture, and about my life.  And everyone loved it as well.  I got a lot of laughs, and many of the people came up to me after and said they wanted to go to the University of Wisconsin…SCORE!  Badgers, we rule.

[Pause: I am listening to music on my iTunes on shuffle.  I never do this because I’m pretty sure I don’t like/know half of the music I have on there.  HOWEVER, not only do I know the first four songs played, I also really like them.  I feel like this is some sort of good sign for the upcoming week…or at least I hope it is.]

I genuinely LOVE talking in front of big groups of people and being able to represent something.  I need to find a job where I can do this.  I was having a really good time with all the AIESEC people in spite of still being ill and exhausted, so I stuck around until pretty late, then walked with Cadence back to our neck of the woods.

I was still chilled last night, but at least I got a solid 5 hours of sleep.  Woke up early and took a LOOOOONG, HOT shower and got ready for the day.  Pedro Paris took Lise, Tanya, Sveta, and me to Tintorero and Cubiro for the day to do some souvey shopping and general adventuring.  It was such a great day!  I had been to Tintorero before, but didn’t buy anything.  But now that I actually have money saved up, I got a few neat things.  We were only there for about 45 minutes before moving on to Cubiro.  We ate some lunch and then rested for about 40 minutes on the hills.  Cubiro is up in the mountains, so it was such nice weather, and there are all these rolling hills everywhere where people gather every weekend.  We then made out way to this place where we did some hiking barefoot.  Bad idea?  No.  Great idea?  Yes!  There is a river that comes from a cave in Cubiro, so we basically trekked through the cold running water up to the cave.  It was a lot of fun, we got pretty wet, but it was all worth it!  We ended to day with a stop in the centro of Cubiro for some fresas con crema (strawberries and cream).  Overall, today was incredible.  I had so much fun with Pedro and the girls.  I will definitely miss Tanya and Lise.  Plus, I feel like the day trip to Cubiro was therapeutic in a way…I think is helped me feel a lot healthier…I feel ready to start this work week.

[Update: songs 5, 6, 7…great songs as well!  WHAT is going on?!?!]

[Wait, wait…and #8 gets a big thumbs up…iTunes, you are messing with my head.]

5 days of work until I get a break for Semana Santa (Holy Week).  I’m ready for it this time around.  And, like things have been going, it should fly by.

Thanks for reading!  Check back again soon!

yes, this is still big news.  and yes, i will still continue to post a blog whenever it rains.  deal with it.

WAH WAH – BLOG FAIL

Ya, so that last paragraph were my thoughts from Saturday afternoon when I attempted to write a blog but failed miserably. I ended up spending tons of time at the cardenalito with the other interns, so instead of updating all of you, I was chowing on an alfajor cookie and sipping on a Gatorade in the café with Lise and Sveta.

Alfajor + Gatorade = Contentment

But for real, last week was brutal, and I was so exhausted when the weekend rolled around. I’m glad I got to relax this weekend and not do too much thinking about anything. Here’s your week update that was so rudely interrupted by Argentinean delicacies and Venezuelan venues:

-As I mentioned…IT RAINED! On Monday. For like 4 hours. 4 HOURS! That day was full of cool weather and golden glory. And all was right in the world.

…… Aaaaaaaand that’s about it for this week. Haha. I mean, I ran some errands and got complemented of my Spanish a couple times, and by the time Thursday rolled around, I was exhausted beyond belief.  Starting work at 8am and ending at 930pm with a few hours of break in the afternoon takes it out of you. I think the worst part is the turn around…getting home around 10pm, eating quickly, checking my email, then hitting the hay right away to wake up 7 hours later and start up a full day of work again. The days were long, but the week went by super quickly and I found myself leaving at 630 on Friday evening with Mau and Miguelito…relieved to have the weekend! I ate some tuna sammies, then met Claudia and Miguelito at the trinitarias. We strolled on down the street to the Nardi apt, had some wine and ponche crema, then Claudia, Mau, and I taxi-ed it to La Nova…which we thought was a newer, nicer bar, but turned out to be a pretty swanky restaurant. It was still a pretty nice time, as there were only three of us there, and it wasn’t the bunker…so I was happy. We decided it wasn’t for us, though, and headed out after an hour or so to venture to Mau’s house. We were there for quite some time before I got dropped off at home and immediately fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

HOWEVER…since it gets so hot so quickly here, I cannot sleep past 10am. Even if I try, no dice. My room is a full-fledged sauna by 10, and I wake up damp more often than not. I would actually prefer to walk around in the buff, but that’s not an option with Zully and the familia Ramirez around. Bummer.

I skyped with the rentals in the morning on sat, and (as I triumphantly mentioned) I was able to get in 2 loads of laundry before the afternoon as well.

Andy: 1 Venezuela: 59283746529384

I eventually met up with Cadence, we ventured to Farmatodo to pick up some magic in a box called Alivet for her cold. She saw ketchup, she got inspired, and 1.5 hours later we were sitting down to homemade French fries and iced water. We also watched Con Air. HAHAHAHAHA! Hilarious.

Note: she has A/C in her room…so we definitely took advantage of that and set it to like 15 degrees!

Note: I have started to think of all weather matters in Celsius. I actually have to think about it for a second when I want to talk about the weather in good ol’ Fahrenheit. I looked it up, and 15 is about 59 Fahrenheit. We weren’t messing around.

Sunday. Nothing day. Ate some tequenos with Cad. Went to the cardenalito with Lise and Sveta. The end.

It is March 15, 2010, holy cow! I got paid today, which is super nice! However, who knows when I will actually get the money, because AIESEC has yet to deposit money into my account from the end of February. It’s been 17 days without receiving payment. NOT COOL. Especially when I have things to do with that money. Hell, even if I didn’t have things to do, it would still be nice to have some money in my bank account. So we will see. We will also see about this work week. I am praying that I have less than 46 hours of work…or at least a morning off somewhere in there.

Spring break in 2 weeks. Looking forward to it. Traveling and general adventures. Should be a great time. Also, two of the girls, Lise and Tanya, are done with their time at Alpha this week and next week. Which is a bummer! I have really enjoyed my time with the girls, and I am really glad we all were here at the same time. At least we will all get to go on one last trip together this Sunday to Cubiro. It will be nice for all of us interns to be together before Lise and Tanya head out on some Venezuelan adventures and then home. And Cubiro is a place I want to go to before I leave, so I’ll get to check that on off the list.

Chau for now (unintentional rhyme, but oh so worth it).

Ps. Daylight savings was yesterday. I had no clue, but I am all about it, as now I am only 30 minutes ahead of CST (for in VZ, daylight savings does not exist). It’s like a baby step to my return to the USA

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

This week was the start of march, which I still find completely bizarre. March?! Are you joking me. I remember when I first arrived here in Venezuela, I thought the ‘spring months’ would never come (of course, they are spring months back home…its still a blistering 100+ degrees here, and that is by no means spring weather). And here I am, on March 7, 2010, chillin’ in my living room after the laziest Sunday of my time here. I literally did NOTHING today, and I like it that way. I was supposed to do laundry…pause, let’s recount the entire story, shall we? So as you can remember, I wasn’t able to do laundry (or shower, or flush the toilet, etc…) last weekend. And I am only allowed to do laundry on the weekends because apparently there is more water on Saturday and Sunday. I really don’t know if this is true, but I’ve learned to bite my tongue and just accept some things here in la Rosaleda, Casa #29. I also must wait to do the laundry until Zully wakes up or is around the house. I’m pretty sure she thinks that I know nothing about taking care of myself, so obviously I don’t know how to properly use a washing machine. ANYWAY…so I couldn’t wash my clothes last weekend, so I asked her right away on Saturday morning if I could wash them this weekend (gloriously, we had water the entire weekend). She told me to wait a little bit because she had to put in a load…which turned into 4 loads, and lasted about 4 hours. By the time she was ready for me to put in my laundry, I was about to walk out the door to meet up with some friends. I asked her if I could wash it today, Sunday, right away in the morning, and she was totally cool with that. Well, it’s Sunday, and I woke up at 9am so that I could put in my clothes right away. But Zully told me she was leaving with her daughter for just a little bit, would be right back, and then I could wash my clothes. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is now 5:30pm here, and Zully has not returned. This means that I have not been able to wash my laundry. And I’m a little nervous that she wont be back in time for me to wash it today…which would be a big problem because I have pretty much gone through all my socks, underwear, and shirts, and I have worn the same pair of jeans for 2 weeks now. BLARGH! This will be interesting. I absolutely need to do laundry today or tomorrow, otherwise it looks as if I will be going commando in the days to come. And I would really prefer to avoid that situation.

Alright, looks as if that’s the problem of the week. Maybe I should always start with a problem of the week section in my blog haha! Seems as if it’s becoming the norm around here. 

To recap my week for you all: I got to talk with Aaron this week, which is always nice. We don’t talk as often as I talk with the parental unit, so I value when we do.

On Thursday, I actually had a visitor! This girl, Lexi, who is a Fulbright Scholar, came into to Barquisimeto. She is a friend of Anna Hainze (my MYSO buddy), and she has her basecamp in CCS as she is doing research on El Sistema (the system of youth orchestras around Venezuela). She came to Bqto to do some research and work in the ‘nucleo’ here at the conservatory…which is conveniently right across the street from Centro ISI. (note: I am SO very disappointed that I have not been able to do any kind of music at the conservatory during my time here…more on that later…) We met up after my classes on thurs morning, and I took her around the east, showing her my ‘hood. We also got to talk a lot about our experiences…it was really cool to hear her story and share our thoughts on our personal journeys both here in Venezuela and before arriving. We ended late in the afternoon with a falafel sandwich before heading back to the east for more rehearsal (her) and more classes (me).

Thursday night, I got off of work at 630, and it was nice to have an evening to do some things around the house. I went to get some sandwich material from the bakery, and on my way back, the neighbor lady stopped me and invited me to hangout. Her name is Helena, and I met her about 2 weeks ago. She did an AFS exchange to USA when she was in high school and lived in Minnesota…it was so cool to be able to share stories about the Midwest and its lovely people!! She speaks like 8 languages or something like that, and has had a very interesting life journey. We talked for a good 2 hours before I made my way back to the house to eat and relax for the rest of the evening.

Friday I had the morning off, did some errands and cleaned my room. In the evening, I went over to Cadence’s apt after making some egg dumplings (which I haven’t had in over 2 months because I couldn’t find flour anywhere!) We talked for a while…as I am kinda her go-to here for any problems or concerns. We tried to go get some booze, but by the time we got to the bodega, it was closed…so we bought some snacks instead and made our way back to her apt. Claudia, Laura, Isa, Mau, and Antonio eventually arrived after a while and we all hung out, drinking some wine and listening to some quality jams.

Sat, I went to see a movie with Ale Silie and Mayrim. We saw Alice in Wonderland…it was dubbed which is annoying, but I didn’t falter in my understanding of anything…take that Spanish language! The movie was ok. Not the best, but it was pretty interesting. We drove around for a while after, picked up Grecia, and went to the Sabor del Este for some beers. I was home at a reasonable hour, and went right to bed.

Like I said, today I did nothing. Nothing except arrange some music. Like I said, I am super bummed that my schedule here did not allow for any extracurricular activities. And I am currently really having a hard time not having music in my life. It’s something I have done since I was 10…and it has been a VERY big part of my life up until now. I by no means want that to end, so I am looking forward to being able to start up with a lot of music in my life when I return. For now, I still arrange for Redefined, and that helps me keep in touch with that part of my brain. It’s not an amazing outlet, but it will have to suffice for now.

Hopefully Zully will be home so I can at least get a load of wash in.

Oh! I also found out I get an entire week off for Semana Santa (holy week)! I originally thought I would be about 2 or 3 days, but nope, it’s the whole week! I think im going to try to get down to Angel Falls in the Gran Sabana…I mean, I did see the movie ‘Up’ 2 weeks before coming down here…I feel like that was a sign that I need to go there! I hope I can make it happen! Done for now. Check back soon. Time will fly. Watch out, I’ll be home in no time!

Haha BTW…so much for a short blog. 

Yes, all of the above is completely the truth.  I am actually sitting in my living room now in sport shorts and a v-neck, white t-shirt…I am still sweating buckets.  It’s so hot.  And ever hotter in my room, which only has one window (that doesn’t do much as it goes out to the ‘patio’ area that has 3 walls blocking any breeze that would ever want to come through), no air conditioning, not even a fan.  It been a tough time trying to fall asleep with a blanket over me, cuz I wouldn’t DARE to sleep without a blanket and risk my entire body being covered from head to toe with mosquito bites.  And the fact that the water is being sketchy is not fun at all.  Zully came running downstairs when I flushed the toilet yesterday…I guess going to the bathroom is a no-go as well.  I mean, it would be one thing that it is so hot, but having limited water on top of that is super annoying.  I feel gross.  I took a polish shower today (bucket of water on the patio with some soap), but still, a proper shower would be nice one of these days.  It also has not rained since 2009.  Which adds to the intense feeling of being uncomfortably hot All. The. Time.

As my mother has said, things seem to be getting sketchier with each day that passes.

And in addition to the aforementioned business, this past week has been one wild ride as well.

1. Mau and I helped Brian move a fridge into his new apt.  We did this at like 3 in the afternoon.  Crazy hot, but all in all a smooth ride with the fridge.  We ended things with a couple of cold ones in Brian’s new pad, which by the way is enormous and really really nice.  He also has a coconut tree.  Yes, please.
2. Work has been stressful.  There are always problems with the schedule, last minute changes, and avoidable errors that lead to a sometimes unpleasant environment.  I also teach A LOT of kids groups these days, which is tough.  Especially with these spoiled kids that take classes at ISI.
3. As you all know, I’ve been applying for jobs.  Well, I got offered a phone interview with one of the companies, and had it all set up for this Wednesday!!!  Needless to say, I was pretty pumped and did a ton of prep for it…my first actual interview for a job out of college!  Mauricio actually has the MagicJack…a phone that hooks up thru the internet and acts as a phone in the United States.  I was all prepared and ready to go at Mau’s house, nervous as hell, when the phone rang.  We talked for a grand total of 7 minutes when the phone malfunctioned and we lost connection.  AAAAHHHHH!!!  All I can say is Murphy’s Law…gets you every time.  I tried calling back and emailing, but nothing worked.  Needless to say, I was devastated.  Plus, when I got home, I had no internet, so I couldn’t even see if they emailed me back or what they said in regards to the situation.  The next morning I was able to see that they were totally cool with it and had rescheduled another interview.  Dodged a bullet there.
4. Skyped with my dad the next day about the whole situation.  Felt better about things.
5. Friday came around, went to the Venus bakery to use the internet in the morning because I had no class in the morning and my internet was not working at the house.  Got the interview all set up for that evening and was feeling good.  Came back to my house for lunch and randomly checked my email one more time.  Thank God I did, because my recruiter had emailed me telling me that my interviewer had something come up in the afternoon and needed to do the interview in the morning.  The time that she needed me to interview: 1pm my time…the time it was when I opened the email: 12:59pm my time.  Shit.  I emailed them back right away, saying I could be ready in 20 mins.  They emailed me back in 8 minutes saying that worked, leaving me 12 minutes to get over to Mauricio’s.  I literally put on my running shoes without socks and ran the entire was to Mau’s in the 100 degree weather.  I got there with about 2 minutes to spare, had no time to think, drank a glass of water, and started the interview.  Thank GOD this time there were no hitches…we talked for a good 35 minutes, and all in all I am proud of how I did.  I am just hoping that all this jumping through hoops pays off and I can get a shot at this job for when I return.  That would be sooooooooooo clutch.
6. Went over to Cadence/Nardi residence after work.  Ate some cheese sammies with Mau.  Went dancing at a bar in the Trinitarias with Cad, Lise, and Mariya.  Got humiliated in front of EVERYONE in the bat by the live band…but it was all in good fun.  Talked to them for a while afterwards, then hit the hay.

Then it was Saturday, and it was hot, and there was no water, and I had no internet.  I actually tried to go to the Venus bakery…but they PUT A PASSWORD on their internet. NOOOOOO!!!  I was devastated.  I guess I’ll have to come up with another strategy for when my internet decides to not work (which has been a lot lately…).

I am still sweating in my living room.  I opened up the window, and the breeze is helping, but still…its outta control.  Gearing up for the week ahead, should be fairly normal with work and the like.

WHAT!  Tomorrow is MARCH.  I just realized this.  WHAT!

I feel like this blog has been really unorganized and sporadic.  I blame the heat.

I’m going to go for a walk and buy a huge bottle of water.  And probably some bread.  I haven’t eaten a piece of French bread here in over a week.  Again, I blame the heat.

As we were each enjoying a strawberry juice after the meal, Richard got an update on his (surprise, surprise) blackberry.  Guess what?  The governor of Lara state…where Barquisimeto lies…renounced the socialist party and all that was associated with it.  Now, this is big.  Like really big.  For a while now, Henri Falcon, the governor, has not been the best socialist party member.  He has not seen eye to eye on many things Chavez and his cronies have put into place.  He is also supposed to wear a red socialist party hat whenever he is in public, but he resfuses and instead wears a Cardenales de Lara hat (the state baseball team…which happens to be red as well, so he technically gets away with it, but it doesnt look good to his socialist counterparts).  Well, anyway, none of this matters anymore, because he is out, done, no more.  He formally wrote Chavez a letter saying that hes done with the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV or, simply, the Socialist party)…and he’s actually joining the forces of the Partido Patria para Todos (PPT or, simply, the opposition).  He made this decision due to a bunch of reasons, including the insecurity, the mega inflation, the electricity shortages.  Which makes sense…seems like he’s one of the only people with their head squarely on their shoulders.  Apparently, he was thrown out of the PSUV in 2008, but Chavez returned him to his position soon thereafter.  Hindsight is 20/20, Mr. Chavez.

Below is a link, in spanish, about this whole situation.  Have a look if you’d like:

http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/noticia/144533/la-carta-que-henry-falcon-le-escribio-a-chavez-para-anunciar-su-salida-del-psuv/

This is really an interesting time to be living with a Chavista.  As much as it has sucked, who will be able to say they lived with a Socialist-supporting Chavista in a small town in a third-world country…oh ya, that’s right: Me.  That has street cred written ALL over it.  I get a daily lesson on Socialism, whether is be from buying food to saving water to how to live with as little electricity as possible (im writing this blog in a pitch black house…and my battery’s about to run out…).  And now that really drastic political action is being taking in the past couple months, I am getting a front row seat to insight on the political views of the people and I get to witness debates in my own home.  Zully’s kids are not pro-chavez at all, and Zully LOVES to watch and listen to everything Chavez at all times.  I listen to the crazy things he and his cronies have to say, and I also get to hear banter between Zully and her kids.  Like today on the radio, there was this whole huge production where Chavez and “the people” discussed the horrible actions of Falcon.  Zully, because of this, was all fired up and in a particularly odd mood.  One thing led to the next, and she and Ramon were in a debate.  Zully kept calling Falcon a traitor and saying that he has no morals and no identity and that hes not a person.  All in all, i was pretty attentive to what was going on and what was being said…and to say the least it was interesting.  I got outta there to go to work before the the broke out the big guns, but i wouldve been interested in how things ended.

This country is out. of. control.  I am grateful everyday for the opportunities i’m given and for this experience that is opening my eyes to a TON of new things.  But every once in a while, i just think to myself…how much further can they take this before something or someone blows up?

You stay classy, Barquisimeto.

In unrelated news, I got paid 2 paychecks worth of money about 4 weeks ago and promptly deposited it about 3.5 weeks ago.  yesterday, I still didn’t have all of the money in my bank account.  Am I worried?  No.  Why?  Because this is normal.  A few dozen phone calls on my end, and I’ll have the money.

I just realized there are no starbucks anywhere in Venezuela.

And it’s officially the last week in Feb.  I think I’m going to make a paper chain.