Let's talk about Halloween

I love Halloween. Is it my favorite holiday? No, probably not, but is it the one I have the most fun at? and the one I have the most fun getting ready for? Yes, definitely. On Halloween you can be whoever or whatever you want. I think people really don't grasp this concept well, YOU CAN BE WHOEVER OR WHATEVER YOU WANT!!! You get to shed your skin for a day and get out of your head and into someone else's or ... some... things. I start planning halloween costumes very far in advance... how far? 364 days before starts the planning process and over the summer I am usually on the look out. For me it isn't about just buying some store bought, cheap thing. If I am going to be a pirate? I am not going to buy a pirate costume, I am going to buy and search and create different pieces and put them all together to create something unique. This year I had one problem, all my halloween costumes were stuck in the mail until a week AFTER halloween so I had to reuse one from a few years ago that can be brought up in a pinch.  So here is my guide to a solid costume any guy with a beard can do.

Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde Process:

Step 1: Grow a beard.

Step 2: Assemble your shaving kit.

What I am working with here is a safety razor, you pay a little more upfront but it'll give you a great shave and the razors are cents each, it really does pay for itself. That's a badger brush and I use the stainless steel cup as a shaving cup since my first one was porcelain and slipped off a counter, this one is also great for camping. Nothing is that expensive, it's good quality, and lasts a long time. This is part of my ethos for what products need to be to be in my home. Nothing flashy.

Step 3: Wet your badger brush and shaving cup.

Step 4: Prep your badger brush and load your soap.

Shave cup coming in handy, I should have applied more shaving soap for this

Step 4: Shave half of your face, no, you didn't read that wrong, do it, shave HALF OF YOUR FACE. 

Step 5: Trip up, make sure everything's straight. Don't over estimate this step.

Step 6: Scowl, get into character.

Step 7: Use a burnt wine cork to darken half your face. Find some accessories and rip up the left half of your clothing and make the other side look pristine (optional pin one side into place and tuck in one side, now you are styling)

Step 8: Bask in your own duality and think about the nature of man. Enjoy a drink as if it were Dr. Jeckyl's potion and slowly slip into your Mr. Hyde side. Have a phenomenal night.

I got this idea from a guy who dressed up as a woman and a man, in High school, I don't remember who it was, but damn was it impressive. Things like that stick with you. Idea breed other ideas. So while I have never seen someone else do this I am sure it has been done but the idea is just a different iteration.

Halloween here was very different, and like many great nights, there are no photos. Needless to say I got to party it up with all the parents of my students in a club like atmosphere and it was... very... very... weird. It was a lot of fun though. There is no trick or treating here but the spirit is still alive.

I am writing this in a mountain town just at the start of the Andes, it is a beautiful place called Merida. Sorry I haven't been writing since I arrived here, truth be told I haven't had a lot of time to collect my thoughts and reflect on everything that I've seen since being here. There is always some place to rush to or some errand to run or lessons to write, but as I sit here writing this, and Ciudad Ojeda seems so far away, I thought it would be important to jot down some notes.

It's hard to pick the most interesting things to talk about, and even on this short trip I've realized that no two places in Venezuela are the same, so any sweeping statements I make about what I've seen could be completely untrue in another part of the country save for one. No one stops at red lights anywhere, and I am not talking about the Philly Roll, I am not talking about a slow down and then move, no, no no no this is just a blatant ignoring of the traffic light. I am guilty of this also, and it will be weird driving in the states. It is just crazy and the lights that people do stop at they don't stop the full time.  I will try to make my overarching statements as accurate as possible.

I don't have many pictures from around town since it makes me a target. The city I teach in is heavily class divided. There are the super rich and the poor, there is no middle that I've seen. I would probably be middle class but anyone here looking at me would see me and being rich.

The people I've met and work with are great. Expats and locals alike. Everyone is helpful and always trying to help me out with my lessons and with my spanish. I think I am improving as a teacher and a spanish speaker but I definitely make a ton of mistakes. The spanish here is a specific dialect called Maracucho. In Ciudad Ojeda people speak very quickly and drop the endings of a lot of words. Such as Por Favor becomes Porfa, Gracias = Graci, and just forget about S's in words they are right out. It is definitely a challenge and I know some of what I learn here will not be applicable outside of here but whatever, I will encounter that anywhere I go. 

The economy is weird in Venezuela, to me everything is cheap compared to the U.S.  But I can't really talk too much about it.

If you have any questions, things you want to hear about let me know. The food in my city is not that great, before you ask.

Internet decided it would work for me today. So here is a photo dump.

This is my front yard, only gated one of the lot. It's nice we've got some plants I've never seen before, birds love our yard and their chirping is the most unique thing I've heard in awhile. I feel like in some weird alternate world when I walk outside.

That is the gate on the other side of our compound. There is a guard there 24/7. Safety is always a concerned in Ciudad Ojeda but we're taken care of in a lot of ways. I rarely feel unsafe. Things do happen though.

Front of our house, I'll put up pictures of the inside later. It is a giant house for two people. I have a closet that would make some people cry, it's absolutely huge and I do not use it like it should be used.

That's the rest of the compound, most of the houses are teachers. There are around three that aren't. I usually run around this in the morning with Godiva. I don't usually go that far, once I get into a routine I'll be able to put in the mileage.

This is Godiva, the sweetest dog I've met in awhile. I know the picture makes it look like her eye is all sorts of messed up, that isn't the case, I am just giving her the deepest scratch behind the ears. She gets a long well with the turtles.

Smalls.

Smalls again.

Biggie. ... actually this might be smalls again, Biggie is hard to find, and is afraid of everything.

Beer is okay, it comes in smaller containers, and is as close to water as I can get without being in a canoe but you can't complain. They have a weird system here where you bring back the empty beer bottles to buy more beer. I don't understand what they do with the bottles... and a part of me just feels like they fill them without cleaning them but its the only recycling that I've found. Til sunday!

I never said I was an animal person, but sometimes a dog needs a home.

As cliche as it is to say, I am a stranger in a strange and different land. I woke up my first night in a panic because I heard some weird sounds and didn't realize until the morning that there are many birds outside my window and their song is different than those back home. 

Sorry this week was supposed to be pictures but again my phone refuses to work. I can't even use wifi, so hopefully I will use the schools internet and be able to send what I have. This is the best I can do.

This big guy is Biggie, and there is a much smaller one named Smalls. We also are taking care of the sweetest dog named Godiva. We are the animal house apparently. The fact of the matter is our house is the only one in our small compound (which I swear I will have pictures of once my phone starts working) that has a fence. These turtles are the land lords, and they are pretty relaxed and the dog was abandoned last year by previous teachers. I don't view myself as responsible enough for a dog, but I couldn't say no to this. Who abandons a dog? So she waits outside the front door every morning and I wake up early to jog her around the compound. It's a good relationship so far.

It rains in flash flood style for 15 minutes at a time here, it does not cool this place down, it just causes more humidity. Everyone says though, rain causes spiders to show up. I have not seen a single spider yet but damn it I am making my rounds everyday. It is my mission to not live in fear, and to rid myself of any and all spiders and scorpions I come across by whatever means necessary. The first one will be an example to the rest.

I haven't really had a lot of time to worry about it though since tomorrow is the start of school and I am definitely anxious, first days always get me. I don't feel nearly as prepared but we'll roll the dice and see how this goes. I have one class of 4 students which is incredible and my largest class is 12. This year is going to be completely different. Sorry to cut this short but I procrastinated on this post because of prepping for classes. Hopefully I can post up pictures tomorrow and tell you a little more about life in Ojeda.

Venezuela where the rules are made up and the points don't matter.

I am here. I have survived. I am unpacked, and working on the settle.

There is a lot that I want to say about Venezuela but it may take many pages and many posts. I will start here with: Venezuela is a beautiful country of beautiful people. I have met many great and extremely kind and humble venezuelans who have gone out of their way to make me feel more at home. On the other hand this place is basically the wild west. There are no rules here. Things are in flux, constantly. When you think something is concrete it changes. I know this sounds vague but it applies to every situation. Like oh, there's a stop light... it's red... does anyone stop? No. Oh wait there are exceptions to this? Yup. Are they arbitrary? Oh dear lord yes. And no turn signals, ever, that just is the same as putting up a sign that says "I am a foreigner."

Another example, go out to eat. Can we have x, y, and z? Waiter: We don't have z. Oh man well we'll just have X and Y. Waiter: We have z. Okaaaaaaaay we'll have z as well.

There are no concrete rules here, everything is just whatever you make of it. Is it illegal to drive drunk? Yes. Does it happen... almost all the time here? Yes, yes indubitably.

Part of this is due to one of Venezuela's most charming characteristics. This country is definitely a community, and they look out for their own. In the town I am in, Ciudad Ojeda, everyone knows everyone. Pull a u-turn on a major road? Don't worry, I'm friends with the police chief, we go back. Oh man, food shortages keep me from getting food I like. Don't worry I know the owner of a super market, he always holds some stuff for me.

It's just kind of chaos though. The weirdest thing is that this is all starting to grow on me. The flux of everything, the always changing landscape that is this society can be charming. When you look into this hectic lifestyle there are some amazing people and amazing things.

Since I haven't gotten my phone activated yet I really haven't taken many pictures but I will this week hopefully and post them up. Sorry for lack of pictures. I am hoping to do a post a week, every sunday, so that it doesn't take up too much time from adventuring and teaching. Pictures of turtles, home, and classroom next week.

I am anxious and excited and nervous and scared. (What up Hemingway?). I have finally said my goodbyes to most friends and family and I leave in two days. Really I am just waiting for this to all start. I know I will miss everyone and everything about home, but that gnawing 'waiting' feeling needed to be dealt with. I think most people at one point or another have the tentative 'waiting' feeling, waiting for something to happen or take shape. I have been feeling this for the past three years and while I filled my weeks with races and events and friends, I always felt like I was waiting for the big things to happen. I'm hoping this is one of those big things because if not then I've made a huge mistake.

There is an old traditional Irish/Scottish song called The Parting Glass that was typically sung at the end of a gathering of friends. Like new years with Auld Lang Syne I've kind of been drawn to this one as the days and hours seem to be slipping away. It goes as follows:

Of all the money that ere I had, I spent it in good company.
And of all the harm that ere I've done, alas was done to none but me.
And all I've done for want of wit, to memory now I cannot recall.
So fill me to the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all.

Of all the comrades that ere I had, they're sorry for my going away,
And of all the sweethearts that ere I had , they wish me one more day to stay,
But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise while you should not,
I will gently rise and I'll softly call, "Goodnight and joy be with you all!"

Oh, if I had money enough to spend and leisure time to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in this town that sorely has my heart beguiled
Her rosey cheeks and ruby lips, she alone has my heart in thrall.
So fill me to the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all.

Thank you.

Recently I had my "thank you" party to my team mates and my sponsors for the Philadelphia Triathlon. We raised close to 3000$ to fight cancer and for that I am eternally grateful to them. After the race I wrote a reflection of the race and then used it as part of a thank you speech so without further ado: 

I have been humbled by many things in my life, beauty, athleticism, intelligence, but I rarely am humbled by, and the one you all showed to me,  humbled by kindness and generosity. Please allow me to be vulnerable with you for a moment and share with you something I wrote hours after the race was over and I had time to reflect on everything.

I sat down in the shower, exhausted beyond belief, relieved and sad.  and I thought back on everything that had happened. I saw the race stretched out from end to end. I remembered the anxiety at the beginning, of being the last group and having no friends to see me off. I remembered the hectic-ness of jumping into the water and taking off. My legs even went numb thinking about it as I watched water swirl down the drain. I was scared at that moment. I don't know of what, I wasn't tired, I wasn't hurt, I was just scared. This was it and I couldn't get my rhythm in the water, I couldn't breathe right. I remembered not being able to walk to my bike after the swim, but slowly steadying myself. I remembered feeling like the hills had gotten longer and steeper. I remembered on the second loop I was one of the only people left. I remembered the run which stretched out in the heat, the sun beating down, without any shade. That run was my entire life. And then I looked further back, I remembered the faces of my team mates, and the practices we had together and I was sad that it was all over. and then I remembered back the further yet. I remembered my mother weakened by cancer when I was in middle school. I saw all this laid out before me and with the water falling on my head, I cried. I cried, and the emotions I felt were so conflicting that they only made it worse. I remembered the news that my mom was diagnosed and I remembered how helpless I felt and how helpless I was and then I thought how the money I raised might just save someone else's mom, somewhere, anywhere. And maybe we were a little less helpless now. I felt exhausted and sad that I didn't do as well as I thought, but deep down I felt pride for what I did. I felt pride for me and I felt pride for my family who stood by and waited at the finish to tell me how proud they were. And I cried because I was so happy, I was so happy that I got to have this experience and got to do all this. and I was so happy that my friends believed in me so fervently and so generously that I was able to raise so much money. I wish I could be as generous as them, and as selfless because in my eyes they are saints. 

When I finally got myself together, I finished rinsing off and I fell asleep. I was awoken by my family hours later with pizza and I cried again because I realized how lucky I was and how incredibly life can be. So thank you for helping me get here, thank you for everything.

One month.

Started packing, the leaving part has not sunk in yet. I've been slowly amassing a small mountain of things that I want to keep with me while I am down in Venezuela.

There's medicine, and international documents and teaching books and manipulatives and random accessories and doohickies. I know it looks messy but there is method to the madness. Mostly just figuring out what I need to take with me on the plane, what I can keep in luggage, and what I will be sending after the fact. I am taking many journals and my fiddle. I was told that Ciudad Ojeda can get boring at times so I need to entertain myself. It is a city of around 125,000 but due to the heat the streets are pretty vacant. From what I've heard life in western Venezuela is a lot like life in Philadelphia, in the summer, when weather edges towards heatwave status. It is 95* and humid almost every day.

This is my greatest fear. Heat. Not kidnapping, not their Rodents Of Unusual Sizes, not the banana spiders, or anti american sentiment. I fear the heat and I will miss the winter. Albert Camus once wrote:

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. It's a very beautiful and poetic line but I resonate with the opposite. Winter is my season, I like the cold, I like layers, I like snow and the kind of silence that only snowfall brings. To give this up for a year will be torture but there is little growth in comfort. I am hoping that this adventure across the world will live up to my dreamers expectations.

I will most likely bring some TP with me as there has been a recent shortage in the country. You read the right, they have a shortage on toilet paper. More on this later.

I've started spending a few hours a day studying Spanish. I took Spanish classes from 7th grade until my sophomore year of college so I am not going into this completely unprepared but I realized the other day that I kept telling people I was leaving in "Una mesa" which translates to "One table". So I also have my work cut out for me. I have 28 days until I leave and I plan on celebrating and saying goodbyes. Much time and little to do. Wait. Switch that.

I am going on an adventure!

ALL THE CONCRETE DETAILS
As you all probably know by now. I am going on an adventure. I am leaving the country on July 30th to teach at the Escuela Las Morochas in Ciudad Ojeda of Venezuela. Which prompted me to resurrect this tired old blog. I am hoping to keep a record of my journey here not only as a personal keepsake for the memories but also as a way to keep in touch with friends and family. Though if you know me, I tend to ramble so I am sure these posts will be chock full of random theories, weird quotes, daily musings, and the stuff that  makes people in conversations kind of tilt there head slightly look at you with a tiny bit of worry and just go "huh..." For now though I am still in the process of saying good bye to friends and gathering stuff together to bring down there. This contract is for a minimum of one school year but can be extended indefinitely as long as the country stands. 

I hope to talk about:

The experience of it all

How I ended up finding this job

Why james hasselman is the most underrated zombie suvivalist group member I know on the planet.

and so so much more

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But regardless of everything.

I had a weird experience the other day talking to a friend of mine. We just couldn't match up time schedules to see each other. Finally, he shrugged it off and said, "Well, whatever, next time." And we both kind of paused, the feelings sort of lingered, in that moment we both kind of realized a new thing that we took for granted. There might not be a next time. And I'm not trying to scare anyone, I fully intend on coming back to the U.S. specially for some holidays and over the summer but I am not sure how long this is experience to last. The way I see it, there is three options that I'm willing to entertain for the end of next year. 1) I love it, love the school, love the country, stay on for another year. 2) I like it, hate the school, love the country or culture, go find another school around the area or in another country and keep going around. or finally 3) I hate everything, I'm a spoiled pampered brat and I come home after one year and sulk, lick my wounds, and say that was a failed experiment. As long as I'm not bitten by a banana spider (more of those later), kidnapped, or I don't succumb to the heat, I really doubt scenario three will happen. I just want to use the time we have left, I leave one month from tomorrow. I value the friends I've made and wish that life could have us all work together, live together, be together always but sadly it's not the trend. I will miss all of you, but missing is for after the fact and enjoying is for now. So let's see each other. Mark your calendars for the goodbye celebration July 26/27th. Not sure where but we'll make it happen.

FINALLY, a thing many of you don't know is that in my spare time, I work on music with the very talented, very beautiful man Angel Ramos of The Elevated. And many of our friends (Kevin O'toole, Peter Goebel, Keith Wadsworth, Mike Taylor, Meghan Leigh). As a hobby and something that we love to do. I remember we got to a point in working where we asked the question: What is the point of music if people don't hear it? It's kind of a selfish thing. So with that in mind we have decided to release a collaboration mini-album of what we've been doing. Part spoken word, part soft rock. You can give it a listen, all songs are free to download because we want anyone who wants to enjoy them to be able to, there is also a donation link if anyone wants to monetarily support our ventures. Despite that I am going to Venezuela we plan to keep working together. If anyone has some feedback please e-mail me about it, I love making music so I am always looking for constructive criticism.  LINK to music and such.

So if you are interested you can subscribe if not you can drop in. I won't be blasting this on facebook because, quite frankly, I think I did that enough over the past 6 months with fund raising. So cheers, I hope to see people before I leave and I hope you come along virtually for the adventure.