Venezuela Retrospective

Courtesy of Angel Ramos @ http://angeldramos.tumblr.com/

Alright this has been a long time coming. It’s been about a month since I left Venezuela and it’s time for my retrospective. Normally in reviews I’d throw a lot of hyperbole at you but that wouldn’t be fair to the people I met and the friends I made there so I’ll try to keep my story to the facts of what happened and how it happened.

All the male teachers at the beginning

When I got there in August I came a day early and I spent the day with my new director and her sister, they took me around and showed me the sights, at the time, I was way too excited, over joyed at having found a new job and feeling as if there was a lot of adventure to be had. Now adventure is a funny thing, you never know what type you are going to get and a lot of times the adventure you get is way different than the adventure you expect. In retrospect, naive? Yes, no doubt about that but it was no ones fault but my own. My director had warned me before showing up of the things I should expect and looking back on the year, she was the most truthful and straightforward person I met. It’s funny because at the end of the first night I should have immediately become wise to what to expect when the last thing my director said to me was, “Make sure you check your shoes in the morning for spiders and scorpions.” Door shut, and I was left in shock and silence.

Theres no pictures related to this because, I don't take time to take pictures of spiders and scorpions.

To give a quick overview, the year started off great, meeting coworkers, going out together, sharing times together but as the year went on something shifted in the group, where as before we had one group that loved passing the time together this quickly changed into 4-5 smaller groups that could only intermingle on special occasions. Anyone who knows me knows this is not how I get down in social situations, frankly, it was frustrating and I tried my hardest to hang out with everyone but even at the end I stopped hanging out with a few people because they had begun to embody what I have always worked against. If it sounds like I’m angry or bitter don’t worry I left that in Venezuela but what was, was and I learned very quickly that living in such a small community can bring out the worst in people, and that includes me. I don’t want to go into specifics of who said what, how this happened, all that nonsense that seems so small now but looking back most of the problems I encountered, and especially the problems that caused us all, as teachers, to move away from each other, were caused by one or two individuals who for whatever reason always caused drama among teachers, this was coupled with the lack of things to do and places to be. I mean when you can’t find toilet paper or leave your compound due to safety, you know you’re all in this together, right?

Not positive where this is from, it is not mine. (Silver Sprocket Store?)

As far as teaching went this year was a huge struggle for me. I was only teaching one class I had taught before, Algebra 2, that class went great, sure it had it’s moments towards the end where my all senior class was like “Dude, we’re graduating in a week, give it up.” but besides that everything was great. I had middle school math, which to be completely honest I was scared about, that age group is not my ideal but they turned out to be awesome. I had that same class for Life Science. And then I had another Biology class mostly of sophomores and juniors. I can confidently say I loved all my students, they were hilarious, they had character, none of them were boring and they were all incredible in a lot of ways. Teaching science classes was a real struggle for me because it’s not my specialty and questions would come up and I’d just have to say “I don’t know.” and the questions get so obscure. Very real example: “Do hemophiliac woman die when they have their first period?” the answer is “No” but that came after some research on my part and working with this particular student. I struggled with the flow and style of the class because we didn’t have many resources so the second half of the year went to a very project based curriculum with students study topics within the unit and presenting to the class, this was new for me but seemed to keep kids motivated and working up until the end.

My media class

It’s my hope that they got a lot out of the classes and I’m always one to change my class around to better suit the situation, I was lucky that my schedule worked with the lab being open and my students knew what they wanted to do. Plus they needed help with public speaking and I think as a class we got a lot better in the end. I think I’m a better teacher for this year but I would never want to teach those classes again, way too much prep  time for those.

No comment

The school overall was very chaotic, things were thrown at us at the last moment, things didn’t work half the time ( I can’t count the number of failed science experiments ), and there was just a general feeling of hectic-ness. Despite everything though, I think most of my favorite moments in Venezuela were in the school. I liked my boss, she liked how I taught, I got to be close with my students due to small class sizes and I got to share life with people and I felt appreciated even with the craziness. Our big problem throughout the year was a discipline system that didn’t work too well but I was hard pressed to come up with something better due to the political unrest in the country and the need to keep our students safe. Towards the end of the year there were problems with qualities of lessons taught, as with any school, some teachers pack it up a little early but that just makes everyone else’s job a little harder. Regardless though, I will miss the school and the students that, I have no doubt.

I never felt unsafe in Ojeda but thats because I had a very scripted life, I would go to work, come home, go to sleep. Everyday, we had a few weeks of protests and while I had heard many stories of violence and carjackings I was never affected probably because I spent so little time outside the compound. I would go running at a local run down stadium/track but besides that I was in my room, practicing spanish on my own and randomly stopping by other teacher’s houses. I even took up free tutoring to pass the time and meet people.

Some Random Notes:

Internet was terrible all year round. 

There was nothing to do, ever. 

We heard of a paintball course and karaoke but we never found it despite people swearing we just turned down the one wrong road. 

Everything was so so so cheap, I’m not saying I used the black market but filling up a tank of gas was 4-7 cents. CENTS!
Best Memories: Carnival in Trinidad, the mountain city of Merida
We had a dog for a week, it died of heartworm
We had a turtle and a tortoise named biggie and smalls
Aruba didn't really have any culture, just a resort spot

Carnival

As far as woman went, they were beautiful and the ones I met were incredibly kind. Initially I had gone on a few dates with local woman and I must of had bad luck because, while they were both beautiful and nice, it seemed one was only concerned with money and the other would go on multiple dates in a night and while I am fine with other peoples styles of life but if you are on a date for me, don’t lie to me about where I’m dropping you off just to be picked up by a coworker for a second dinner. Weird, right? The second half of the year I started dating a coworker and she made the rest of the year great. She helped me with my spanish and her family basically adopted me. The second half of the year would have been very depressing if we had not gotten together. 

Arlen and I

Food, was rough for me, people loved Arepas there which is basically a cornmeal pancake, I tried to like them I tried really hard and I think I did, once, but it was not my thing. In Ojeda they love fried food, friend something stuffed with something, a ton of meals are just derivatives of this. Tequenos, fried breading stuffed with cheese, empanada, fried breading stuff with meat and cheese, patacones, fried plantains, postelito, fried breading with potatoes in it, patacones with stuff, fried plantains with tons of meat layered son top. And I’m sure, 100% that you are reading this and being like, umm yah that sounds incredible, it’s not it’s just not, after a week your sick of it, and the quality of the meats never really feel good to eat, the street food was really cheap but it wasn’t something I really liked eating. This could just be personal taste, and hindered by my culture but I was just happy to get some cheesesteaks when I got home.

That was a 'normal' burger

What I’m trying to say in all this is that the year, for the most part, got harder the second half of the year but in the second half some great things happened. This year was hard for me, a lot of time was spent a lone and bored. To my expat co-workers I wish you all the best, I hope the versions of ourselves that existed in Ojeda never meet again. To my boss, thanks for giving me a shot and I appreciated your guidance through out the year. In retrospective, the people of Venezuela were nothing but incredibly nice and kind, passionate and welcoming and for that I will always be grateful.

If anyone wants to know my thoughts on the whole political aspects of living in Venezuela, and the cultural problems I had you can e-mail me or ask me in person but those kind of views I don’t really want to broadcast on the internet because I only lived in a small portion of Venezuela which I was told is not nearly a summary of the whole. For now though, I'm off to Bogota, Colombia for a new adventure.

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.