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.