so if you will recall from my earlier blog posts, i mentioned that driving here is not at all what we think of as driving in the US(for the most part).
here in VZ, the roads are chaotic and ridiculous. traffic lights/rules are, in large part, optional or more like "suggestions" if you will, that few people follow. we do 90% of our traveling by bus here, and every day we take one or two buses to get to the university. now buses here are nothing like the public transportation that we are used to. most of the bus drivers are just ridiculous. they drive fast, cut people off and are weaving in and out of traffic with buses packed as full as they can be.
afew days ago, David and I were heading back form the grocery store and we caught a bus that would drop us off near our house. it was a smaller blue bus and was only about 25% full, which is unusual for a bus at that time of day, but we soon found out why.
this guy turned out to be crazier then most bus drivers. he started and stopped very sharply as he weaved in and out of traffic down Ave. Universidad. it was ridiculous. there were atleast 7 situations(on a 15 minute trip) where i was certain that he was going to sideswipe, rear end, or run over another driver/pedestrian. well above the average for a ride home. whats worse is that i was sitting in a bench seat in the back of the bus where there was not another seat in front of me. so holding afew bags of grociers and with one good leg i had to save myself atleast 3 or 4 times from being throwin to the front of the bus as the driver slammed on his breaks to avoid the encounters mentioned above, as well as afew other times where we were just hanging on as he was swerveing for the same reasons.
finally we make the last turn onto the road home, and after hitting afew speed bumps we thought it would be smooth sailing until our stop. but apparently the busdriver became very impatient at one of the traffic lights and decided to just go for it, which lead to the closest encounter with another vehicle that we had had the whole trip. after the bus was done swerving through the intersection david and i noticed a motorcycle cop pulling along side of the bus then signaling for the bus to pull over. wonderful.
7 months in venezuela and i've never seen the cops pull anyone over, let alone a busdriver. as we pulled to teh side of the road, the bus driver looked back at the passangers(there were 3 of us now) and mentioned that we should probably get off here. i dont knwo what happened once the police talked to him, im sure it wasnt too bad and they just wanted a bribe, but it was a fun ride for sure, minus begin so close to injuring so many people. all i could think of was if they played the "meow" game in venezuela. sadly i probably will never get to find out.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Spring Breaks(the bad kind)
so it seems that spring brings many things in my life. in ohio its always meant the end of winter and the beginning(usually) of warmer weather after 5 months of cold and gray. it means colorful foliage, blue skies, all these good things. but more often than not it also means that i will sustain some kind of ridiculous injury which has been the custom the last...4 or 5 years as far as i can remember. and this year proved to be no different.
since being here in Venezuela Ive successfully managed to avoid any kind of serious injury. even after taking up soccer for the first time in my life, and adjusting to the ridiculously slippery basketball courts. i've been fine. until 2 weeks ago at the National Conference. we were playing soccer in a small field, we had just won our first match and were on our way to winning the second when one of the students boots the ball way over the net into never never land. being the closest one to the ball i decide to take off after it and unfortunately, to my surprise, i found of the holes in the lawn where the sprinkler system is. bam. in a split second i was done. this pretty much sums it up...
my right foot managed to hit half of the hole which caused me with my full weight to roll my ankle all the way into the hole, thankfully avoiding the sprinkler head.
long story short, after a few days of having my foot in a bucket of ice i was walking around for the next week like a gimp, and my foot was about 1 and a half times the size of the other. and after not seeing any improvement in the week i finally came to my senses and decided to go see the doctor. after and X-ray and a quick look, the doctor told me that i had a small distal fracture of my tibia and had partially torn two ligaments in my ankle. awesome. in my 23 years of life ive never broken anything besides my nose. the doc did say that i was lucky and about 1/10 of an inch away from needing surgery to fix everything, which would have meant going back to the US and getting all of that done. i should have listened to Kobe
so yeah. i love spring, minus the large holes in the ground. unfortunately this is hindering me form really doing my job and getting on campus every day since im not supposed to walk, and the boot that i have is just uncomfortable, especially because its so dang hot here. on the brighter side, it has given me a lot of time to read some good stuff, listen to alot of good stuff.
but im counting down the days/weeks(2 weeks and 3 more days!!!) until i dont need the boot anymore and i can resume life as normal. a month is a long time.
since being here in Venezuela Ive successfully managed to avoid any kind of serious injury. even after taking up soccer for the first time in my life, and adjusting to the ridiculously slippery basketball courts. i've been fine. until 2 weeks ago at the National Conference. we were playing soccer in a small field, we had just won our first match and were on our way to winning the second when one of the students boots the ball way over the net into never never land. being the closest one to the ball i decide to take off after it and unfortunately, to my surprise, i found of the holes in the lawn where the sprinkler system is. bam. in a split second i was done. this pretty much sums it up...
my right foot managed to hit half of the hole which caused me with my full weight to roll my ankle all the way into the hole, thankfully avoiding the sprinkler head.
long story short, after a few days of having my foot in a bucket of ice i was walking around for the next week like a gimp, and my foot was about 1 and a half times the size of the other. and after not seeing any improvement in the week i finally came to my senses and decided to go see the doctor. after and X-ray and a quick look, the doctor told me that i had a small distal fracture of my tibia and had partially torn two ligaments in my ankle. awesome. in my 23 years of life ive never broken anything besides my nose. the doc did say that i was lucky and about 1/10 of an inch away from needing surgery to fix everything, which would have meant going back to the US and getting all of that done. i should have listened to Kobe
so yeah. i love spring, minus the large holes in the ground. unfortunately this is hindering me form really doing my job and getting on campus every day since im not supposed to walk, and the boot that i have is just uncomfortable, especially because its so dang hot here. on the brighter side, it has given me a lot of time to read some good stuff, listen to alot of good stuff.
but im counting down the days/weeks(2 weeks and 3 more days!!!) until i dont need the boot anymore and i can resume life as normal. a month is a long time.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Beware the Mustaches of March!
So march. alot of significant things happened in march. We made decisions about what we are doing next year, Congresso!!!(which gets its own blog post, i grew my first mustache which was totally awesome, LOTS of team birthdays(Lucas, Luke, David). So yeah, it was another eventful month.
So for the first few days we were in Curacao. But shortly after we returned it was time to make our final decisions about what we would be doing next year( like returning[or not] to STINT, applying for full time staff, etc..). I felt the Lord was calling me to go back to the States and continue my education.It was honestly a tough decision. It took up alot of my thoughts, time and prayers. This place has found a very special place. As much as i get frustrated with the on and off water and electricity, you just get used to those kinds of things. Things like that which were once a "big deal" become a part of life, at the most an inconvenience maybe when you cant shower or do dishes when you might want to. But there are alot of things here that make up for the periodic loss of water or other utilities. Actually, when we first got back form Curacao I probably hit my most frustrating point. The day after we came back we did not have water, electricity or gas, which was a bit frustrating not to have all three at once, but like i said, you just get used to it.
But anyway. So yeah, the people here are for sure worth not having water once in awhile. The students and my team are some amazing people who i appreciate and love. That will the hardest part to leave this summer, but luckily i still have a few more months to squeeze as much as i can out of them.
Other than that the rest of March was preparing for Congreso(Vida Estudiantils national conference for Venezuela). I did not have a ton of work to do for the conference before hand other than getting our students there, which at times felt like the most frustrating part. To put it nicely, its hard to get the majority of people here to commit to things, especially a month or weeks in advance. Needless to say when you are trying to plan for a conference where you are expecting nearly 300 people, it can be a tad stressful. But it all worked out in the end(more to come later on Congreso itself).
As i mentioned earlier, there were several birthdays on our team and we had a great time celebrating them! We had a little dance party for Lucas, went out to ice cream for Luke's birthday and just had a fun night as a team for David's which we also ate ice cream at. Getting the ice cream was an interesting experience.
So before we head over to the girls for dinner, Oscar and I went to a small store to pick up some choclate ice cream to suprise David with(it's his favorite). At the store we went to, the chest where the ice cream is held is right in the entrance to the store and is locked and you need a worker to come open it for you. Not a problem. We get there, grab the attention of one of the workers and ask him to open it. While he is there with us we spot a box of chocolate ice cream. We then debated for a moment on whether we should get a another container of ice cream because the one was a little small for 7 people. In the 1 minute that we are talking about it, some lady, who for sure didn't need the ice cream, she was hefty (sorry if that's mean, but she made me mad...and it's the truth...i was also a nutrition major, sorry.) comes over and points at the box that the worker is currently holding. Instead of giving her another one, he hands her that one. Not a problem, right? no. of course that was the last chocolate one there. ridiculous. needless to say i wanted to go find that lady and take back that ice cream for a number of reasons. The foremost being that it was David's favorite.
Thankfully we just took our business next door and happen to find the last chocolate container they had in stock. Crisis averted.
So for the first few days we were in Curacao. But shortly after we returned it was time to make our final decisions about what we would be doing next year( like returning[or not] to STINT, applying for full time staff, etc..). I felt the Lord was calling me to go back to the States and continue my education.It was honestly a tough decision. It took up alot of my thoughts, time and prayers. This place has found a very special place. As much as i get frustrated with the on and off water and electricity, you just get used to those kinds of things. Things like that which were once a "big deal" become a part of life, at the most an inconvenience maybe when you cant shower or do dishes when you might want to. But there are alot of things here that make up for the periodic loss of water or other utilities. Actually, when we first got back form Curacao I probably hit my most frustrating point. The day after we came back we did not have water, electricity or gas, which was a bit frustrating not to have all three at once, but like i said, you just get used to it.
But anyway. So yeah, the people here are for sure worth not having water once in awhile. The students and my team are some amazing people who i appreciate and love. That will the hardest part to leave this summer, but luckily i still have a few more months to squeeze as much as i can out of them.
Other than that the rest of March was preparing for Congreso(Vida Estudiantils national conference for Venezuela). I did not have a ton of work to do for the conference before hand other than getting our students there, which at times felt like the most frustrating part. To put it nicely, its hard to get the majority of people here to commit to things, especially a month or weeks in advance. Needless to say when you are trying to plan for a conference where you are expecting nearly 300 people, it can be a tad stressful. But it all worked out in the end(more to come later on Congreso itself).
As i mentioned earlier, there were several birthdays on our team and we had a great time celebrating them! We had a little dance party for Lucas, went out to ice cream for Luke's birthday and just had a fun night as a team for David's which we also ate ice cream at. Getting the ice cream was an interesting experience.
So before we head over to the girls for dinner, Oscar and I went to a small store to pick up some choclate ice cream to suprise David with(it's his favorite). At the store we went to, the chest where the ice cream is held is right in the entrance to the store and is locked and you need a worker to come open it for you. Not a problem. We get there, grab the attention of one of the workers and ask him to open it. While he is there with us we spot a box of chocolate ice cream. We then debated for a moment on whether we should get a another container of ice cream because the one was a little small for 7 people. In the 1 minute that we are talking about it, some lady, who for sure didn't need the ice cream, she was hefty (sorry if that's mean, but she made me mad...and it's the truth...i was also a nutrition major, sorry.) comes over and points at the box that the worker is currently holding. Instead of giving her another one, he hands her that one. Not a problem, right? no. of course that was the last chocolate one there. ridiculous. needless to say i wanted to go find that lady and take back that ice cream for a number of reasons. The foremost being that it was David's favorite.
Thankfully we just took our business next door and happen to find the last chocolate container they had in stock. Crisis averted.
Quickly about Curacao.
So at the end of February and the start of March we were blessed to be able to take our visa renewal on the awesome little island of Curacao. Let me tell you, it is unjustly overshadowed by it's neighbor, Aruba. While Aruba was beautiful, Curacao matched that beauty and then some. It was also without nearly as many touristy, run-of-the-mill attractions.
Our trip was a blast. We took a tiny little plane(smallest plane ive evern been on. it had propellers...) form Valencia to Wilemstead, then drove across the island to our fun little house that we were staying at. The couple that owned the place were so help and fun, and their restaurant was delicious as well www.curacaosunshine.com/pages/sol_food.htm check it out.
The island was fun. The language was quite fun to listen to as well. Popiomentu, or something like that. Its a strange mix of Spanish, Dutch, and English...go figure.
One of the first things we found out about the island, we were continually reminded of throughout the week, was that the island is full of goats. lots of them. and they often like to cross the street when it's very busy. Our first meal on the island was Pizza Hut, which didnt have a salad bar, but still provided a little taste of home.
But yeah, it was a blast. we spent a lot of time snorkeling, exploring the island, and watching the sun sets from our apartment. We also got to experience alittle bit of home and cheer on our country watching some of the winter olympics. It was a blessing to be able to relax and enjoy a fun 5 days with my team mates in such a beautiful place. I could probably talk more, but i think i'll just post a few pictures.
Unfortunately i do not have pictures of the awesome fish that we saw. they were really cool.
One of the coolest parts of the week was meeting David and Sunshine, they were such kind and helpful people. They were also from the US, and now living on the island. It was so fun to watch them interact with the local kids too. David had a ton of fun goofing around with them. He also had started a mountain biking club for the kids in the neighborhood which was just really cool. His eventual hope s to find tutors to help the kids with their academics so that they can go on to bigger and better things. Very cool.
While we were in West Punt most of the time, the last night we stayed in Willemstead. It was a great town. Beautiful, clean and colorful. It also had a floating bridge that moved which was neat.
Unfortunately my week ended in frustration. Before turning in the rental car i had to go fill it with gas. With out question i dont ever recall being that frustrated with anything in my entire life. The gas stations were pretty far from the airport, i didnt have cash, and none of the gas stations accepted Visa. So eventually I had to bite the bullet and just turn it in without filling it up and incur the ridiculous cost. but it's all good, i still had a blast that week and was good and ready for the coming month of craziness leading up to Congreso.
Memories from Feburary...
so its been three months and i have in fact only gotten worse at updating this, but for good reason. we are busy man. seriously. and at the end of the day im tired. it's much easier to want to read blogs then sit and think about what i want to write. but over the next few im going to recount some of the events of the past few months as best as i can.
so in this one ill start way back in Feb...lets see what my noggin can recall....
February...
So February was a fun month overall.
It started with the arrival of our final roommate, Oscar, and a visit form the badenhops(see picture above).
There are afew of my favorite memories from first few weeks of the month
The first happened after Aaron and Elizabeth had treated our team to dinner. We were standing outside of the restaurant. The name of the restaurant was The Pumpkin...i don't remember the word in spanish. but anyway, after dinner, we headed outside to get taxi's back to the girls apartment to hang out. after everyone else had left, David, Sarah, Lisa, and I were the last ones left waiting on a taxi. As we are standing out side a taxi pulls up and the security guard approaches the car before any of do. He talks to the taxi driver for a moment, then the taxi drives away. after a second of being perplexed David finally speaks with the security guard. i didn't understand what he was saying, but whatever it was it made Sarah laugh and David's eyes get a little bigger. As David came back, we asked him what happened, he and Sarah happily recanted what had happened. their translation: "He was a pirate. He was going to rob you". that's what the guard had told david. EEV..
The week after the Badenhops had gone back to the States, it was the guys turn to make dinner for the rest of our team. We get the brilliant idea to make french toast. tasty, simple, everyone can eat it. perfect.
so around 7 everyone gets to our apartment and we begin to make dinner. about 5 minutes into the venture, the lights go out. there's no turning back at this point, we were committed. hungry people at our house, food in different stages of preparation, we had to forge ahead. if my memory serves me correctly, i believe that was the first time i had ever made french toast by flashlight. it was quite a fun experience as we bounced the light back and forth between the bacon and the french toast, hoping to catch either before they had been burned to a crisp. eventually dinner was ready to be served and surely enough the lights came back just in time for us to enjoy our dinner together.
after that, everything gets a little fuzzy. we had an awesome outreach on campus about love, we saw the movie Valentines Day(which i recommend. it also reminded me that i have a huge crush on jessica beil...), and making complete fools out of ourselves in a Chinese restaurant( we had napkin races, and chopstick races and made a scene, it was fantastic!)
February concluded with our visa renewal trip to beautiful Curacao. but seriously, it was b-e-a-utiful. ive never seen water so blue, or sand so white, or fishes so colorful. Awesome. It was also a great chance to sit back and think about what i would be doing with the next year of my life, which was a decision i had been wrestling with quite a bit.but that decision wouldn't come until March. For now, more about Curacao...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
recent happenings and some thoughts about them
so im going to try to be more consistent in updating the blog. i honestly dont know why i dont do it more often....
the past few weeks have been fun and full. we have had a lot of time with the students which has been great. parties, bible studies, english club and such.
we welcomed a new teammate on wednesday. his name is luke and he's a fun guy. he's gunna be checkin out Valencia for the next 2 months or so, we are looking forward to having him here. the night he got in(around 1130 Wednesday night) david and i went to pick him up in Caracas(about 2-2.5 hours away depending on how you drive). all went well. on the way back at about 330 in the morning and 15 minutes form our apartment our taxi broke down. T.I.V....
haha we called christian at about 430 and he thankfully answered his phone and came to pick us up.
it was one of the more interesting car rides ive had in a long time, not quite the way we were hoping to welcome luke either, but its all good. he didnt seem to mind too much. it's jsut one of those things that we will remember for a long time to come....
**on a side note about 3 minutes into the taxi ride to go pick up luke form the airport, i texted david who was sitting in the front seat something to the effect of "this car is going to blow up". if you know me, you know i know diddly squat about cars. so if i could tell that this car was in trouble, you know it was bad...just sayin**
this past weekend we went and played soccer with one of the students in a neighboring town. the field was dirt, rocks and glass. the goals were lean-to pipes. so it was quite different form the turfgrass/rubber field at ohio state, but it was awesome. i got to see some pot-bellied venezuelan men and came about 3 inches from netting my first goal in venezuela(it was a header that missed high, so disappointing) and i came away with a pretty rad scrape on my knee/leg(which i m kinda hoping turns into a rad scar). for the next 2.5 hours we played i tried to pick off the numerous pieces of glass/large rocks to make sure that the didnt become lodged in me somehwere....
it's been a blast, but tiring at the same time. it's been a struggle sleeping well the past few weeks for whatever reason. i dont really know why(jsut kidding, i think i knwo some of the reasons), this seems to happen once in awhile to me. i feel as though i need alot more sleep here than i do back in the states. it might be tha ti just wake up 2 hours earlier than i used to as well because of the sun.
the country has also undergone some interesting times in the past few weeks.
our electricity and water is begin rationed here. this means that about 2 or 3 times a week for afew hours we may not have one or the other. it honestly isnt that big of a deal. it's something i feel like we have adjusted too pretty quickly. i had a close call with beign stuck in the elevator(not a fun thought). i happened to avoid it by about a minute(i was on the way to the bathroom too. lucky me) i suppose if this was my home country it might be more frustrating.
recently the national exchange rate for the US dollar also went up which seemed like it was going to cause a ruckus, but has not really effected thing tooooo much, less than i originally thought so far.
it's interesting talking to people(mostly students) about the state of their country. there are so many different ways it effects them.
it effects their schooling and when the students try to do something about it and make a difference there are often strikes and protests which either cancel classes or postpone them.
in afew other cities students have even died as a result of some of these demonstrations which is ridiculous. as one student described it "it's a cycle that sucks". the students try to exercise their rights and one of them ends up getting hurt or worse. as a a student im sure its not a fun thought to have to worry about your safety when you head to class every day.
many of them do not trust the future to hold much promise either. they talk about their concerns working and raising families in a country where these things happen and how it' so easy to lose hope.
so i take their situation here and compare it to mine while i am here. as an outsider, as a temporary resident here. yes i see and feel the effects of so may of the same things as they do. my apartment sometimes doesnt have water or electricity, my day gets rearranged when there are not classes. but for me it is so easy to think about how temporary this situation is for me. i have a different home to look forward to where these kinds of things dont really happen. i have more "security" waiting for me back in the u.s., but when i honestly think about it, do i? are these kinds of things worthy of my hope? for some people, it may be all they have to hope in.
but even in so many of the Venezuelan people i know here, while they are concerned for the state of their home country, and for their family and fellow class mates across the country, they also take comfort in the knowledge that these things are not what give them hope. not all of them, but many of the students in know.
and in much the same way, as i have a knowledge of a home that has so much more to offer me, there is a Home that has infinitely more to offer. and it's there where their and my Hope really reside.
it's been an interesting series of events to see unfold and witness how different people have handled it. to think about where my hope comes from and what it is in.
just one of many many things ive been learning and growing in this year and im sure this reality will continue to change me as the year goes on. and im looking forward to see how Hope will continue to change the students of UC and how they, as the future of the country, will bring that same Hope wherever they go.
the past few weeks have been fun and full. we have had a lot of time with the students which has been great. parties, bible studies, english club and such.
we welcomed a new teammate on wednesday. his name is luke and he's a fun guy. he's gunna be checkin out Valencia for the next 2 months or so, we are looking forward to having him here. the night he got in(around 1130 Wednesday night) david and i went to pick him up in Caracas(about 2-2.5 hours away depending on how you drive). all went well. on the way back at about 330 in the morning and 15 minutes form our apartment our taxi broke down. T.I.V....
haha we called christian at about 430 and he thankfully answered his phone and came to pick us up.
it was one of the more interesting car rides ive had in a long time, not quite the way we were hoping to welcome luke either, but its all good. he didnt seem to mind too much. it's jsut one of those things that we will remember for a long time to come....
**on a side note about 3 minutes into the taxi ride to go pick up luke form the airport, i texted david who was sitting in the front seat something to the effect of "this car is going to blow up". if you know me, you know i know diddly squat about cars. so if i could tell that this car was in trouble, you know it was bad...just sayin**
this past weekend we went and played soccer with one of the students in a neighboring town. the field was dirt, rocks and glass. the goals were lean-to pipes. so it was quite different form the turfgrass/rubber field at ohio state, but it was awesome. i got to see some pot-bellied venezuelan men and came about 3 inches from netting my first goal in venezuela(it was a header that missed high, so disappointing) and i came away with a pretty rad scrape on my knee/leg(which i m kinda hoping turns into a rad scar). for the next 2.5 hours we played i tried to pick off the numerous pieces of glass/large rocks to make sure that the didnt become lodged in me somehwere....
it's been a blast, but tiring at the same time. it's been a struggle sleeping well the past few weeks for whatever reason. i dont really know why(jsut kidding, i think i knwo some of the reasons), this seems to happen once in awhile to me. i feel as though i need alot more sleep here than i do back in the states. it might be tha ti just wake up 2 hours earlier than i used to as well because of the sun.
the country has also undergone some interesting times in the past few weeks.
our electricity and water is begin rationed here. this means that about 2 or 3 times a week for afew hours we may not have one or the other. it honestly isnt that big of a deal. it's something i feel like we have adjusted too pretty quickly. i had a close call with beign stuck in the elevator(not a fun thought). i happened to avoid it by about a minute(i was on the way to the bathroom too. lucky me) i suppose if this was my home country it might be more frustrating.
recently the national exchange rate for the US dollar also went up which seemed like it was going to cause a ruckus, but has not really effected thing tooooo much, less than i originally thought so far.
it's interesting talking to people(mostly students) about the state of their country. there are so many different ways it effects them.
it effects their schooling and when the students try to do something about it and make a difference there are often strikes and protests which either cancel classes or postpone them.
in afew other cities students have even died as a result of some of these demonstrations which is ridiculous. as one student described it "it's a cycle that sucks". the students try to exercise their rights and one of them ends up getting hurt or worse. as a a student im sure its not a fun thought to have to worry about your safety when you head to class every day.
many of them do not trust the future to hold much promise either. they talk about their concerns working and raising families in a country where these things happen and how it' so easy to lose hope.
so i take their situation here and compare it to mine while i am here. as an outsider, as a temporary resident here. yes i see and feel the effects of so may of the same things as they do. my apartment sometimes doesnt have water or electricity, my day gets rearranged when there are not classes. but for me it is so easy to think about how temporary this situation is for me. i have a different home to look forward to where these kinds of things dont really happen. i have more "security" waiting for me back in the u.s., but when i honestly think about it, do i? are these kinds of things worthy of my hope? for some people, it may be all they have to hope in.
but even in so many of the Venezuelan people i know here, while they are concerned for the state of their home country, and for their family and fellow class mates across the country, they also take comfort in the knowledge that these things are not what give them hope. not all of them, but many of the students in know.
and in much the same way, as i have a knowledge of a home that has so much more to offer me, there is a Home that has infinitely more to offer. and it's there where their and my Hope really reside.
it's been an interesting series of events to see unfold and witness how different people have handled it. to think about where my hope comes from and what it is in.
just one of many many things ive been learning and growing in this year and im sure this reality will continue to change me as the year goes on. and im looking forward to see how Hope will continue to change the students of UC and how they, as the future of the country, will bring that same Hope wherever they go.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
really? it's january? (part 2 of 2)
so as i was saying...
we only had about a week on campus during December between our visa renewal and the university holiday.
not too much to really speak of during that week, things went as normal from what i could remember.
part way through that week david left to head back to the States for medical school interviews. this 2 week stretch was the long period of time i think i have ever lived on my own before. really though. i dont think i've ever lived in a house/apartment alone for 2 solid weeks. fortunately everything turned out just fine. the girls here invited me over quite a bit and i had some students hang out here afew nights and i managed not to burn down our concrete apartment building.
the first Sunday of the break we had a Christmas party with the students which was a blast. we played "pin the nose on rudolph" and the girls baked some amazing christmas cookies. good times were had by all.
and for the next 3 weeks leading up to christmas we watched alot of our favorite christmas cookies and decorated the apartments which was also alot of fun and provided some good bonding time for the 5 of us(at least during the times when we were all together).
the week of christmas 2 of our teammates returned from the US and the christmas festivities continued.
on christmas eve we hung out and watched christmas episodes of the Office and ate christmas cookies. and on christmas day we celebrated together with huge breakfast and opened presents together.
afew interesting notes abotu Venezuelan Christmases--
-Venezuelan boys and girls receive presents from santa AND baby jesus(he puts them under the nativity).
-they decorate with alot of the same decorations as we do in the US. i.e. snowmen, snowflakes, ice sickle lights, yet it does not snow here.
-christmas eve is the bigger day then christmas as far as family gatherings and such are concerned.
-everything shuts down for atleast the week until after new years(which is also a huge day/night here in VZ)
- it was 95 degrees F here on christmas day if i have not already mentioned that.
for christmas david and i finally got a couch for our apartment which rocks! its no longer just a dull, empty space. i also started myself an itunes account which may be the end of me...
all in all it was a fun christmas and one that i will never forget, but very different.
after christmas activities died, venezuelas attention is focused towards new years eve.
there are fireworks ever night going off throughout the city(mostly the loud, annoying kind which in turn set off carm alarms which aare also loud and annoying). our new years eve here was particularly special because we were invited to spend it with a student and her family.
the family was so kind and welcoming to us. they fed us traditional venezuelan new years foods like hallacas, pan de jamon, and chicken salad( i cant remember what they call it) and we got to partake in some fun venezuelan traditions(eating 12 grapes at the stokes of the clock on midnight, more fireworks, seeing people run around with thier suitcases.)
all in all it was one of the most memorable holiday seasons that i have had thus far in my 23 years of life. though it was difficult to be away from family and friends who i am so used to seeing around this time, it was a great experience to see and learn how other people celebrate these same days in the world. new years was especially cool, being invited into a home and welcomed to celebrate with a family was a great pleasure and so much fun, and the food was really good too.
with that said i should be going. im exhausted form just having returned from a leaders retreat in the city of Merida(which i will write about soon). Those 12 hour bus rides through the night leave much to be desired...
matt
we only had about a week on campus during December between our visa renewal and the university holiday.
not too much to really speak of during that week, things went as normal from what i could remember.
part way through that week david left to head back to the States for medical school interviews. this 2 week stretch was the long period of time i think i have ever lived on my own before. really though. i dont think i've ever lived in a house/apartment alone for 2 solid weeks. fortunately everything turned out just fine. the girls here invited me over quite a bit and i had some students hang out here afew nights and i managed not to burn down our concrete apartment building.
the first Sunday of the break we had a Christmas party with the students which was a blast. we played "pin the nose on rudolph" and the girls baked some amazing christmas cookies. good times were had by all.
and for the next 3 weeks leading up to christmas we watched alot of our favorite christmas cookies and decorated the apartments which was also alot of fun and provided some good bonding time for the 5 of us(at least during the times when we were all together).
the week of christmas 2 of our teammates returned from the US and the christmas festivities continued.
on christmas eve we hung out and watched christmas episodes of the Office and ate christmas cookies. and on christmas day we celebrated together with huge breakfast and opened presents together.
afew interesting notes abotu Venezuelan Christmases--
-Venezuelan boys and girls receive presents from santa AND baby jesus(he puts them under the nativity).
-they decorate with alot of the same decorations as we do in the US. i.e. snowmen, snowflakes, ice sickle lights, yet it does not snow here.
-christmas eve is the bigger day then christmas as far as family gatherings and such are concerned.
-everything shuts down for atleast the week until after new years(which is also a huge day/night here in VZ)
- it was 95 degrees F here on christmas day if i have not already mentioned that.
for christmas david and i finally got a couch for our apartment which rocks! its no longer just a dull, empty space. i also started myself an itunes account which may be the end of me...
all in all it was a fun christmas and one that i will never forget, but very different.
after christmas activities died, venezuelas attention is focused towards new years eve.
there are fireworks ever night going off throughout the city(mostly the loud, annoying kind which in turn set off carm alarms which aare also loud and annoying). our new years eve here was particularly special because we were invited to spend it with a student and her family.
the family was so kind and welcoming to us. they fed us traditional venezuelan new years foods like hallacas, pan de jamon, and chicken salad( i cant remember what they call it) and we got to partake in some fun venezuelan traditions(eating 12 grapes at the stokes of the clock on midnight, more fireworks, seeing people run around with thier suitcases.)
all in all it was one of the most memorable holiday seasons that i have had thus far in my 23 years of life. though it was difficult to be away from family and friends who i am so used to seeing around this time, it was a great experience to see and learn how other people celebrate these same days in the world. new years was especially cool, being invited into a home and welcomed to celebrate with a family was a great pleasure and so much fun, and the food was really good too.
with that said i should be going. im exhausted form just having returned from a leaders retreat in the city of Merida(which i will write about soon). Those 12 hour bus rides through the night leave much to be desired...
matt
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
really? it's january? (part 1 of 2)
it really has been awhile. more than 2 months in fact, and they have been a packed 2 months.
where to begin...
well in November(if my old man memory doesn't let me down) we get to go to Maracaibo, which may be the hottest city in the entire world, seriously. it felt like 105 on thanksgiving day there, we had a staff conference where we got to connect with all of the Vida staff in Venezuela, it was incredible.
we got to hear some great talks and learn alot of great things. but even cooler than all of the stuff that i got to learn were the people that i got to meet and spend time with. the staff here in Venezuela are incredible and a testament to the AMAZING work God has been doing in the past few years here.
in one of our meetings we lined up by the length of time we have been involved in Vida Estudiantil here in VZ. it was so cool to see the living time line laid out before my eyes... not to mention i was the last one in the line. so to think of all that God has done before i arrived here and all that he would continue to do looong after i am gone and forgotten in this place. and the impact that it will have on this country and on so many other places in the world....
i also got to spend alot of great, intentional time with some of the guys that are on staff here, many of these conversations coming over the local fair of Venezuela(arepas and the Maracuchan special, patacones[spelling?] which is kind of a sandwich made with two fried plantains{green and savory or yellow and sweet} that are smashed into "buns" and then there is some kind of meat, tomato, onion, lettuce, and sauce between them. they are some of my favorite eats in the world now. but you have to get the ones on the street, in my opinion those were the best ones we had)
it was so cool to talk to these young men and their passion to see their country and their desire to see it changed from the inside out by the Gospel and how this could be such an important country when it comes to seeing the Gospel go to places like the middle east or other countries where Americans can not go easily. it was a great reminder encouragement and reminder of why i am here. so cool.
As i mentioned briefly before we were also there for Thanksgiving and got to celebrate as a Vida Estudiantil family. it was great, there was alot of traditional and tasty Thanksgiving food prepared by by extraordinarily gifted hands.
There were quite a few Americans there between my team, the Maracaibo STINT team and a national staff family, but it was also many of the Venezuelans first time celebrating Thanksgivng(for obvious reasons). so it was special in many ways. and also hot. like 95 degrees feels like 105 degrees hot. very different than Ohio.
after this we got to relax on our first visa renewal trip in Aruba. i dont have much to say other than it was absolutely beautiful. the water was so blue and so clear. it was a great chance to chill and have fun with the team and some of the other stinters from Venezuela. we also got to enjoy some of our missed American comforts (peanut butter and real milk, as well as some other things)which was fun.
Venezuelan airports are alot of fun as well. on the way to Aruba we got to spend 7 hours in the Maracaibo airport waiting for a 25 minute flight. there was alot of finger wagging and shouting by the other Venezuelans waiting for the same flight...things just work very differently here...
after returning from Aruba we only had one week on campus before they went on their holiday break....
and ill leave you on a bit of a cliff hanger here. i just gave you November in a nutshell and i still have the rest of the month of December and i want to try to sleep since it's 12:45 in the morning here in Venezuela.( i haven't been sleeping well lately, i dont know why)
part two coming soon...
where to begin...
well in November(if my old man memory doesn't let me down) we get to go to Maracaibo, which may be the hottest city in the entire world, seriously. it felt like 105 on thanksgiving day there, we had a staff conference where we got to connect with all of the Vida staff in Venezuela, it was incredible.
we got to hear some great talks and learn alot of great things. but even cooler than all of the stuff that i got to learn were the people that i got to meet and spend time with. the staff here in Venezuela are incredible and a testament to the AMAZING work God has been doing in the past few years here.
in one of our meetings we lined up by the length of time we have been involved in Vida Estudiantil here in VZ. it was so cool to see the living time line laid out before my eyes... not to mention i was the last one in the line. so to think of all that God has done before i arrived here and all that he would continue to do looong after i am gone and forgotten in this place. and the impact that it will have on this country and on so many other places in the world....
i also got to spend alot of great, intentional time with some of the guys that are on staff here, many of these conversations coming over the local fair of Venezuela(arepas and the Maracuchan special, patacones[spelling?] which is kind of a sandwich made with two fried plantains{green and savory or yellow and sweet} that are smashed into "buns" and then there is some kind of meat, tomato, onion, lettuce, and sauce between them. they are some of my favorite eats in the world now. but you have to get the ones on the street, in my opinion those were the best ones we had)
it was so cool to talk to these young men and their passion to see their country and their desire to see it changed from the inside out by the Gospel and how this could be such an important country when it comes to seeing the Gospel go to places like the middle east or other countries where Americans can not go easily. it was a great reminder encouragement and reminder of why i am here. so cool.
As i mentioned briefly before we were also there for Thanksgiving and got to celebrate as a Vida Estudiantil family. it was great, there was alot of traditional and tasty Thanksgiving food prepared by by extraordinarily gifted hands.
There were quite a few Americans there between my team, the Maracaibo STINT team and a national staff family, but it was also many of the Venezuelans first time celebrating Thanksgivng(for obvious reasons). so it was special in many ways. and also hot. like 95 degrees feels like 105 degrees hot. very different than Ohio.
after this we got to relax on our first visa renewal trip in Aruba. i dont have much to say other than it was absolutely beautiful. the water was so blue and so clear. it was a great chance to chill and have fun with the team and some of the other stinters from Venezuela. we also got to enjoy some of our missed American comforts (peanut butter and real milk, as well as some other things)which was fun.
Venezuelan airports are alot of fun as well. on the way to Aruba we got to spend 7 hours in the Maracaibo airport waiting for a 25 minute flight. there was alot of finger wagging and shouting by the other Venezuelans waiting for the same flight...things just work very differently here...
after returning from Aruba we only had one week on campus before they went on their holiday break....
and ill leave you on a bit of a cliff hanger here. i just gave you November in a nutshell and i still have the rest of the month of December and i want to try to sleep since it's 12:45 in the morning here in Venezuela.( i haven't been sleeping well lately, i dont know why)
part two coming soon...
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