Venezuelan Cooking Night

This is a photo of some fellow students of mine eating their arepas after the power came back on during Venezuelan Cooking Night. In case you aren't entirely familiar with Latin American Cuisine, arepas are the staple food around here. To give you an idea what they're like, imagine a KFC biscuit. Now flatten it, and pretend it's more crunchy. It's about the size of a round of pita bread, and like its mediterranean cousin it also is the proud owner of a pocket in which to stuff fillings - usually ham and cheeese.

Feelin' Groovy

After my second dose of lime juice, things seemed to have calmed down enough for me to function again. Now, on to the fun stuff.

My friend Antoni (who is really everyone's friend Antoni - because he soooo nice) and I have returned twice now to sample more of the famed flavors at Heladeria Coromoto. After much deliberation, I ended up with Coca-Cola, koko krispis, roses, and shrimp with wine. Antoni was not so lucky. We thought that chipi-chipi would have some kind of chocolate chips in it, but that just goes to show that you can't ever trust cognates. As it turns out, chipi-chipi was sardines - but they paired pretty well with the tuna flavor he ordered.

Other than eating obscure ice cream flavors, I've been keeping busy at classes. I've been having a little trouble picking up the books I ordered, so I might have to go to one of the ubiquitous photocopy places around here and get just the stuff I need for my homework.

A bunch of the students in my group are going paragliding this Sunday. I decided yesterday that I would calmly say "I'll pass. Thanks though."

Speaking of crazy things happening, it has been raining like hell the past two nights. Here they call it "palo de agua" which translates to something like "water strike." It's been real nuts. On Wednesday, which was Venezuelan cooking night at VENUSA, we lost power for a while and cooked our arepas in the dark.

The following day, I had class during the nightfall, when it rains the hardest. A classmate of mine, Jack, happened to be looking out the window when a bolt of lightning struck the ground in the park across the street from our building. We all took a moment to catch our breath after that one.

Of course, to say that it simply "rains a lot" here isn't doing reality any justice. There are no gutters here, and most of the streets here are on slopes that resemble black diamonds at a top-notch ski resort. This interesting oversight in city planning has lead to massive fast moving rivers flowing down every avenue throughout Merida. What's more, everyone that drives here has a penchant for splashing. I don't know if it's just a Gringo thing, or if everyone is victim to it, but it doesn't matter if you've got an umbrella and a raincoat, you're going to get wet - period.

I haven't been updating a lot, so I've got a lot to say. If you haven't check out the above pictures yet, that might be a cool thing to do.

Which do you want first?

Okay, I know that it's been a while since you've seen anything from me, but let me tell ya, I've been busy. Let's start with the bad news first, shall we? Okay.

I'm pretty darn sick.

We're not sure if it's parasites or what, but we're on the fast track to finding out. Esperanza, my host mom, had her brother and his family over for lunch today. After sleeping through the whole first half of the day, I woke up to a whole lot of spanish speaking voices outside my bedroom door. After hesitantly taking a little bit of lunch to eat, my mom's sister in law asked me what was wrong, and after listening patiently (it takes me a while to get everything conjugated) she told Esperanza that the best cure was limes. I thought that it might be like tea, you know, limes and hot water, but nope... it was the juice of two limes, that I had to do like a shot. That was about 1 oclock local time. Apparently, I'm supposed to drink a total of 5 more limes today, and then we'll see if I have dead parasites in my stool, because they'll be dead from all the freakin' lime juice.

Okay, that's the bad news. the good news is that I haven't died yet. Just kidding. More to come when I'm feeling up to it. Thanks for sticking with me.

El Secuestro

Today I was waiting with my roommate for the buseta. I had my first day of class on Thursday, but my roommate didn't get here till Friday night. We were all set for a wait, when suddenly my teacher and her husband rolled up and offered us a ride, saying only "Get in" in english. Knowing she was my teacher, and also headed to class, I got in the car without another word. As I turned back to look, I saw a look halfway between sheer horror and complete confusion. It wasn't until I had successfully lured him into the car that I had realized that to him, we had just been kidnapped.

I didn't even bother with spanish. I told him straight out, we had in fact, been kidnapped.

Just kidding. I told him she was my teacher. Less funny, though - right?

Right.

Anyway, we got to school just fine, and the rest of the day seemed to pass without event. That is, until that evening before dinner. I had just bought a little pre-dinner-dessert appetizer in the plaza. No sooner than one minute ago I had sat down and commenced eating my "bomba" when somebody once again reminded me that I look like Harry Potter. What a country.

rule number one

My roommate and I went out to buy soap and laundry detergent today. It comes in bags here. They have a few different scents than we're used to in the US, so after a few minutes of debate, we both agreed that we would prefer our clothes not to smell like limes.

Yesterday we went on a big ol' excursion and saw some more of Merida that I had yet to visit. It wasn't too bad at all. We topped it off with a visit to an ice cream parlor which has the "Record Guinness" for having the most flavors. We all got some weird flavors, but I thought that they had a pretty tasty rum and raisin - With REAL RAISINS!

These are my notebooks for school. Cool, huh? I thought so. In case you can't tell, they've got big honkin' jeeps on them. On the windshield, each jeep says "Big Fun Race 4 x 4." Isn't that great?! The background is my bedspread, just in case you're keeping track at home.

All kick ass notebooks aside, we went to a grand cathedral the other day, near the big plaza here, Plaza Bolivar. Since I didn't remember to bring my camera, I promised myself I'd take pictures of it before I return home. Outside of the church, there were two mimes. Sort of living statue kind of guys, one was a ninja, the other a saint dressed in white.

Anyhow, a kid slips the ninja a few Bolivares, and the mime goes in for a handshake and a fist pound. The kid takes the handshake, but turns around and runs back to his mom before the ninja gets to the fist pound. Meanwhile, Emily (a chica from U of M) aturns to me and says... "You never leave a mime hangin'; that's rule number one."

Los bailadores y la cascada

Apparently I look like Harry Potter in other countries, too. The other night we went out to a discoteca. Everybody was having a good time. I could tell that nobody in Venezuela dance quite like myself or the other US Americans I was dancing with. Later, a salsa song came on, and a Venezuelan dude gave me his wife's hand and she backlead me through the whole dance. I thought that I at least knew the salsa basic, but nobody here dances it like I learned it. They count it simply 1, 2, 3, but nobody actually dances it with only three steps.

After her repeating "Mas Suave" at me several times, I sort of got the hint that despite constant reassurance from her husband, I am not a good dancer. I spoke with the couple later that night. As it turns out, the man's name was Elianse (I think) and his wife was Laura. They were vacationing in Merida for a few days, and he was practicing his english with me and teaching me a few spanish words all the while.

That was two nights ago. Yesterday was a huge day. We went on an all day excursion to a coffee farm, some weird green lake, and a place called los bailadores (which means dancers) that had a beautiful and wonderfully cold waterfall. Here in Merida the climate is awesome. It rains a little bit every day, but for the most part, it's around 75-ish all the time.

Of course from that last paragraph, my day doesn't sound so huge, but in conjunction with the crazy bus ride and the salsa dancing on the constantly swerving bus, it was a lot ot take in.
I started classes today. I was supposed to have 2 classes today, but one was cancelled, because the teachers had a meeting in Caracas to go to. No one had a class schedule before they got to school today. It's a little strange, but since it's not as uptight as the US, it's all gravy, baby.

On the plus side, I did finally get my cell phone this afternoon, but I need to charge it up and buy a phone card. I'll have to do that tomorrow. It's pretty cheap to use the big telecommunications stores here, so I don't know if I'll end up making international calls with it or just sending texts to my buds here.

I'm hurting for some Venezuelan friends right now. I just don't have the knack for makin' friends and I get all flustered when I try to talk to new people in another language. We had our first Nuevos Encuentros today, where the US Americans chat it up with the Venezuelans. It was okay, but like all the forced discussions in another language, it was boring just as often as it was exciting.

The buses here are great. At least the ones by my apartment are. Always speedy, I never have had to wait for more than 4 minutes or so. Everyone here drives crazy. I don't know why though, because it's not like anyone really cares if someone else is late. It's not unusual to have to wait a while to meet someone.

La vida es dulce. Tranquila.

So much to describe, so little time.

Where do I start? When do I start?

Yesterday was a very strange day. I met my host family, I have a sister, a mother, and a father (whose names are Daniela, Esperanza, y Alonzo, respectively). It was not the same family that I thought I would have, however- despite all the confusion of the switch, everything is going very well.

I'm tired. It's very late now. Almost four in the morning. I have an all day excursion around los pueblos (small towns) nearby Merida tomorrow.

I signed up for classes today, took a bus to and from school (twice- both ways) managed to find my way home in a taxi with some of my new student friends after a night of dancing and drinking. A few people here want to practice english, but these conversations are usually very slow, because they speak to me in broken english, and I reply in broken spanish. My host mother seems to think that I will do well, and for the most part people are very supportive.

Apparently they eat pancakes here. They're a bit more like crepes, but pancakes none the less. The biggest difference is here, one needs to put butter, syrup, and cheese on your pancake, and then roll it up like a fajita and eat it with your hands.

The worst thing for me is remembering not to drink the water. It's really hard not to be able to trust that what you're drinking won't harm you. I brushed my teeth tonight, and forgot to rinse with bottled water instead of the tap. I cursed myself for not remembering, and then proceeded to brush them again, this time a bit more forcefully (and thoroughly) and rinsed with bottled water.

I've been writing just about everything in spanglish lately, so you'll just have to bear with me and bust out a dictionary if you need it.

I like almost all of the people that I'm spending my time with, although there is an occasional exception for some of the students I'm traveling with. All is well, and I'm really happy to be here. Let's all cross our fingers that I don't get any parasites from that mouthful of tap water I had.

Thanks for all of your support, and for bearing with me while I figure out how to keep everyone updated.

Departure

Tomorrow I will be leaving Minneapolis and should find myself (if all goes well) in Miami, Florida. Now, I know what you're thinking - "Florida, that's in the United States, and not in Venezuela- right?" And if you are thinking that, you are indeed correct. Sunday and Monday I'll be wrangling more aircraft around the Caribbean Sea than Scott Bakula in the pilot episode of Quantum Leap.

Don't worry though - unlike Scott Bakula, I won't be breaking any sound barriers or manning planes with boiling fuel. No sir, I've made sure that all my liquids and assorted slimy things tucked securely away in my 1 quart zip-top baggie.

I guess not much has changed since my last update. There have been various going away dinners and parties and such, but the only permanent change that has occurred has been the large numbers of crossed out lists now plaguing my travel notebook.

Thanks to you all for your kindness, and my next update should mean I've finally arrived.

About

Welcome to my web-log. This blog will contain snapshots and anecdotes of what I'm up to during my semester abroad in Venezuela. I'll be living in a city called Mérida. My stay will be with a host family, which consists of a mother and her two children, ages 17 and 19.

Currently I am preparing to leave the country for my 4 month long trip. I've made to-do lists like there is no tomorrow, but it's difficult to work up the chutzpah to buckle down and get some of those things crossed off.

I've done a little bit of research on the country, and I invite you to do a little bit of it for yourself. Wikipedia has a great little entry on Mérida, as well as some helpful maps to see where I'm at.

Also, I've made up a email list for some friends and family. If you'd like to be on the email list, go ahead and send me a little note at fauxfoxpas@gmail.com. Thanks for reading and you'll be hearing from me soon!