I got lost on public transportation for the first time in my life yesterday. I got on the 20 azul, which is the only bus that goes directly to my house from the University. Because the street I have to cross gives me such anxiety, I decided to stay on the bus because I thought it would turn around at the big circle behind my house and return quickly so I could avoid crossing the street. I was also really tired and sleeping as I went through this decision making process. When I opened my eyes, I realized we were leaving Maturin and we ended up in a place called San Luis, which is east of the city. I got lucky. The colector and the driver were really nice people and when I told them what happened they offered to take me to my house. After everyone got off, the picked up some friends to bring them into town and brought me to the entrance of my neighborhood. This situation could have been a disaster, especially because they realized I was a foreigner. But they were really nice and helpful to me, restoring some of my faith in the goodness of Venezuelan people. The colector was also the best I have seen, giving exact change, working hard enough so no one had to yell la parada and playing some of the best reggaeton mixes I have heard. While I do not want that to happen ever again, I do hope I get to ride with my 20 azul friends sometine in the near future and I now know that it is worth it to cross the street of death, rather than take a 30 minute detour to the pueblo of San Luis.
I have a bank account. After going through tons of crap for everything, it was super easy. I can finally ask for money from the US and do what I need to do.
I am giving classed to doctors at the hospital. It was my very first class in Venezuela. The room was super hot and I had no marker to write on the board. My face was read and I was sweating. I had also done minimal planning because I had no idea what level they were. Nonetheless, they were thankful for me being there and gave me some materials to use for next week. Doctors are also really good students, so that makes me happy.
I get to talk about my indigenous community project Friday, finally. And I am starting with Barrio Adentro next week to learn about one of the social programs that Chavez set up so that people have equal access to medical care. It is controversial among Venezuelans and I am happy I get to experience it first hand.
I went to Margarita 2 weeks ago for a week with a professor, Reina, and her family. Margarita is super Venezuelan and luckily for me, her family had never been so we did everything there is to do on the island. We went to a water park, a theme park based on a famous Venezuelan comedian, shopped a lot and took many, many photos. They made me do Latina poses in some and wear big earrings. Definetly not my calling, but fun nonetheless...
I went to Caripe this past weekend. It is a town in the mountains about 2 hours from Maturin. It was amazing. The climate is much colder and the scenery is absolutely beautful. It is also a much smaller city, so it is safer and more laid back. They are famous for their strawberries and cream and La Cueva del Guachero, the largest cave in Venezuela. I am happy to say that I ate starwberries and cream two times and got to go in the cave. That is the second time I have been in a cave and I must say that caves a really, really sweet. (Profound, I know). We also did a short hike to a waterfall and if we had brought our bathing suits, we could have swam. We also met up with two of her friends who are teaching an intensive English course there. We went to a dive bar and danced merengue (I think I get that one more or less). I attempted to dance salsa and then showed them how we dance to techno... though I am not sure that I am the best example of we dance in the US. ;)
The goal this weekend is Caracas. Reina's friend is getting married, so we were thinking of going. If not, we will head back to Caripe.
Life might finally be getting started for me! But we shall see...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The adventure continues...
So my life in Maturin is going. It is slow... very, very slow and may continue to be slow for awhile.
Classes were suspended for an extra month so I will not begin teaching until November 16th (Happy Birthday, Kevin!!!). This means I have 1.5 months with no sort of direct work. WOW. I have been here 2 weeks and already feel like a bum, partially because I have not been able to open a bank account and have no money to do something like join a gym or enroll in a class. This means my activities are super limited and I am not around students and profes so it is slightly more difficult to make friends. This also means I am going to have to push myself to do things on my own. Crap... that is not always my strength (Thank you, Vanderbilt for babying me for the entirety of my college education.)
That being said, I am SO HAPPY to be here and feel this city is perfect for me. Big enough with enough to do but not too crazy.
Some parts of my Maturin life:
The interstate of doom:
Everyday I get to cross the street to my house anywhere from one to four times.This street is very special because it is more or less an interstate. People go quickly and there are no stop lights, so the traffic is pretty steady and fast. When I take the bus or get dropped off I generally get lucky and cross the street at times when other people cross with me. (This also means that it is generally during rush hour.) I feel we have an instant connection as anywhere from 2 to 10 of us huddle together and try to make it safely across. Sometimes we get honked at and sometimes we almost get hit, but so far, we have all made it across alive. ;) It is quite the experience.
FOOD:
My time here has revolved around food. Anytime I have gone out with people it has generally involved eating one time or many times and Señora Carmen is an amazing, amazing cook. Some things I have tried that are particularly delicious:
Arepas-- I eat these twice a day, at least. They are delicious corn cakes that you stuff with cheese, butter, beans, ham and anything or everything else you want. (My current arepa count is 30 in total.)
Cachapa--Deliocious sweet corn pancake. I usually eat it with ham and cheese.
FRUIT JUICE: There are currrently two types of fresh squeezed fruit juice in the fridge. Piña (Pineapple) and Parchita (Passion Fruit). I have also had Melón (Canteloupe), Lechoza (Papaya), Mango and Guayaba (Guava) on a pretty consistent basis. I am a huge fan of juice, so you can imagine how I feel about this.
Tequeños-- Small fried cheese things. Like Mozzeralla sticks but different and equally delicious.
Frapachino: Ok, this is not venezuelan but I had the best one I have ever had here, so I just wanted to throw that out there.
Tizana- A delicious frozen fruit juice thing that tastes especially good when you are hot.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:
As people may or may not already know, I am very passionate about public transportation. I love it and aspire to master it in any place I go. I have begun using public transport on a very regular basis and it is great here. The buses are the size of a short school bus, come in various colrs and levels of wear and have a colector who hangs out the side of the bus and takes your dinero. Some are really agressive, shouting the places the bus is going and beckoning you to get on while others are more quiet. I usually pick the first type to ensure that I do not get lost. The buses are 30 cents, so quite a bargain. They blast great music and tend to just miss get into several accidents in the course of one ride. To stop, you either have to hope your colector asks if anyone wants to stop (I did not understand the questions at first, so I missed my stop... oops....) or yell out LA PARADA. I have only yelled it once and it made me nervous. They will pretty much stop anywhere and drop you off anywhere. There are also TONS of people who get on the bus to sell things. One day I counted 8 on the same bus within about 10 minutes of eachother, probably not the most effective way to get money. They juice sellers and the christians are the most prominent, though there are all people of all sorts. I have only mastered a few routes, but I am excited about learning more:)
I am pumped for the adventure to continue! I travel to Margarita next week for a week, get to go to an electronic music festival and then am going to see Maribel, another ETA in Cumaná the following weekend.
I will keep the updates coming on my vida venezolana....
Classes were suspended for an extra month so I will not begin teaching until November 16th (Happy Birthday, Kevin!!!). This means I have 1.5 months with no sort of direct work. WOW. I have been here 2 weeks and already feel like a bum, partially because I have not been able to open a bank account and have no money to do something like join a gym or enroll in a class. This means my activities are super limited and I am not around students and profes so it is slightly more difficult to make friends. This also means I am going to have to push myself to do things on my own. Crap... that is not always my strength (Thank you, Vanderbilt for babying me for the entirety of my college education.)
That being said, I am SO HAPPY to be here and feel this city is perfect for me. Big enough with enough to do but not too crazy.
Some parts of my Maturin life:
The interstate of doom:
Everyday I get to cross the street to my house anywhere from one to four times.This street is very special because it is more or less an interstate. People go quickly and there are no stop lights, so the traffic is pretty steady and fast. When I take the bus or get dropped off I generally get lucky and cross the street at times when other people cross with me. (This also means that it is generally during rush hour.) I feel we have an instant connection as anywhere from 2 to 10 of us huddle together and try to make it safely across. Sometimes we get honked at and sometimes we almost get hit, but so far, we have all made it across alive. ;) It is quite the experience.
FOOD:
My time here has revolved around food. Anytime I have gone out with people it has generally involved eating one time or many times and Señora Carmen is an amazing, amazing cook. Some things I have tried that are particularly delicious:
Arepas-- I eat these twice a day, at least. They are delicious corn cakes that you stuff with cheese, butter, beans, ham and anything or everything else you want. (My current arepa count is 30 in total.)
Cachapa--Deliocious sweet corn pancake. I usually eat it with ham and cheese.
FRUIT JUICE: There are currrently two types of fresh squeezed fruit juice in the fridge. Piña (Pineapple) and Parchita (Passion Fruit). I have also had Melón (Canteloupe), Lechoza (Papaya), Mango and Guayaba (Guava) on a pretty consistent basis. I am a huge fan of juice, so you can imagine how I feel about this.
Tequeños-- Small fried cheese things. Like Mozzeralla sticks but different and equally delicious.
Frapachino: Ok, this is not venezuelan but I had the best one I have ever had here, so I just wanted to throw that out there.
Tizana- A delicious frozen fruit juice thing that tastes especially good when you are hot.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:
As people may or may not already know, I am very passionate about public transportation. I love it and aspire to master it in any place I go. I have begun using public transport on a very regular basis and it is great here. The buses are the size of a short school bus, come in various colrs and levels of wear and have a colector who hangs out the side of the bus and takes your dinero. Some are really agressive, shouting the places the bus is going and beckoning you to get on while others are more quiet. I usually pick the first type to ensure that I do not get lost. The buses are 30 cents, so quite a bargain. They blast great music and tend to just miss get into several accidents in the course of one ride. To stop, you either have to hope your colector asks if anyone wants to stop (I did not understand the questions at first, so I missed my stop... oops....) or yell out LA PARADA. I have only yelled it once and it made me nervous. They will pretty much stop anywhere and drop you off anywhere. There are also TONS of people who get on the bus to sell things. One day I counted 8 on the same bus within about 10 minutes of eachother, probably not the most effective way to get money. They juice sellers and the christians are the most prominent, though there are all people of all sorts. I have only mastered a few routes, but I am excited about learning more:)
I am pumped for the adventure to continue! I travel to Margarita next week for a week, get to go to an electronic music festival and then am going to see Maribel, another ETA in Cumaná the following weekend.
I will keep the updates coming on my vida venezolana....
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