Pretty uneventful week of school, homework, scuba classes, tennis lessons cut short due to calf muscle cramps and work....oh and Chavez visited. He didn't speak, which is unbelievable...just drove around poor neighborhoods and causing traffic jams all over the city and "paid day mandatory" rallies for national company employees. Yup, people who want to keep their jobs, are required to go to rallies. Since there are so many rallies, they go in shifts (whether they are chavistas or not) from, for example, Victor's offices at the national oil company. Whatever your leanings, you go or you get some kind of stink-eye demerit. The girls have Friday and Monday off due to professional day for teachers. Sunday is the parliament elections so they close the school for security reasons in case things get out of hand....or not. Could be rallies, could be protests, could be....everybody just goes to work and thinks about something else.
We of course, had/have an action packed weekend planned out. Well, that was the "plan". The girls had parties and sleepovers for Thursday/Friday plus tennis lessons and homework. Today, we were suppose to go up into the mountains to go to a little artisania village and shop and eat but it was raining up there so the roads are too dangerous to come down. It is fine to go UP but coming down, the roads are so steep and slippery that people won't drive DOWN. So, I decided to take the family around my life. Fish market, fruitstands and we found a gourmet pasta and chocolate shop. AMAZING truffles, fresh made pasta and treats. The rest of the day was in the pool waiting to see if the sun would come out.
ELECTIONS are tomorrow so all Chevron expats are mandated to stay home. Of course, we are not with a company so no lockdown for us. We are HOPEFULLY going out with some friends of Victor's on their boat for the day as we hope to rent the boat from them on weekends. No business has been discussed. We go as guests tomorrow (AGAIN, HOPEFULLY) and then sometime we can find out what the deal will be. We are going after they vote......they say10am..... ahhhhhhhh we shall see........as in countries like this, EVERYBODY votes so lines can be 8 hours long. I really wonder if we will make it on the boat???? Monday is scuba day for Xela, Bella and me. I get to go along but will dive while they do lessons. These are important elections but not like the one coming up in 2 years for El Presidente. The nice thing about elections are the elecricity and the water have not been cut in TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Gotta get the votes.
Our building is raising funds through their HOA for a private power plant (so we can have electricity beyond our extension cord from outside). It will cost 600,000 bolivares. The HOA has collected 183k bs. They put a "list of shame" up in the lobby for owners who have not paid up......really, no one cares. I don't know when we will ever get to 600,000bs.
So, we are healthy and happy. Xela is playing some great bball. The boys are pretty rough but she sticks it to 'em. Isabella has her first Vball tourny this coming weekend. She officially made the traveling A team so that will be fun for her. They take a flight to a host city and play all the international schools in the country. (that's like 6 schools so don't get too excited :)
See pics below......
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Saturday at the fish market, Xela basketball and mom's favorite little fruit store/house
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| Fresh caugth Red Snapper |
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| Fish Market neighbors |
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| For a tip, the guys will cut up your fish anyway you want it |
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| Beggers |
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| Picking out shrimp or octopus or skid or whatever |
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| Dad, this is how I want the fish |
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| Xela showing the boys how to play the game |
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| Just try to get the ball away from the Montana girl. |
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Yoga, car crashes and English classes
Today was a good day...once getting the kids off to school before 7am, I finally had my first English student arrive at 7:15 am. The class went really well (she speaks some English) and she got so excited she doubled her class time per week. That made me feel good. Then off to the gym, I actually like working out and sweating like crazy. I don't know...the climate has not really bothered me at all. I went to yoga.....all in Spanish......I was the only gringa....the only one with a mat besides the instructor. She started off class like Anna and Debbie do...w/ thoughts of wisdom, spirituality et al. Except all I got out of it was something about patience, a car crash she got into, violence and peace and breathing. :) un poco un poco.
It was a decent class but very basic and she didn't do anything with alignment. The good thing about the class is she holds the stretches for a long time so at least I am getting that out of it. It was relaxing and interesting. It seems like this is a new class at the gym so she is starting from the beginning. I learned the words for inhale and exhale in Spanish today as she repeated those words a million times. :)
Thought my yoga friends who like this blurb.
It was a decent class but very basic and she didn't do anything with alignment. The good thing about the class is she holds the stretches for a long time so at least I am getting that out of it. It was relaxing and interesting. It seems like this is a new class at the gym so she is starting from the beginning. I learned the words for inhale and exhale in Spanish today as she repeated those words a million times. :)
Thought my yoga friends who like this blurb.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Iguanas, geikos, crabs
Xela became sad today at school as they were looking at pictures of other places in Geography class. The pictures were of places in the Rocky Mountains. She told stories of moose, elk, coyote, et al. She told of moose at the bus stop. She started to get very sad at dinner, but I told her when she returns to Big Sky, she can tell stories of 2 foot long iguanas, geikos and crab crossings at her bus stop when living here.
un poco un poco
Every week we get a little more settled in and adjusted to life here.
Banking: Since dollars cannot be spent here and the banking system does not allow transfers, we have to go through different loop holes everytime we get money. Poor Marla has to deal with us about twice a month. I should not get into it on a blog, but suffice to say there are many hoops to jump before we get our b's (short for bolivares). We do not use credit cards (Vens are the KINGS of cloning), we don't use our US atm's (seriously, cc cloning is the highest in the world in Ven) so we use cash for everything. hmmmm, there are very interesting and frustrating ways in which to do this as EVERYBODY here wants dollars. Lastly, the banks are so controlled here, poor victor is forced to deal with tons of calls to the bank just to purchase airline tickets. Banks who hold YOUR money control how much you can spend and when you spend it.
Extension cords again: our outlet outside broke......it took a week of repeating ourselves that there was no electricity on our outside outlet...they would simply put the plastic cover back on and say it was fixed. Important because la revolucion happened again on Sunday, so we were without power for quite some time. We need that stolen source from the generator for the frig and things. Well, maybe la revolucion wasn't at fault, maybe the "opposition" or US spies did it as that is HC's excuse now.
HC EGO joke: ( i should use initials) H decides that tomorrow we are going to war with the US. Ven has 5000 tanks, 10,000 soldiers and 25 war ships. Then, Obama says okay we have 25,000 tanks, 25 million soldiers and 500 warships,,,so lets go to war. HC says "okay, no war because we don't have enough room for 25 million POWs." ego ego ego.
My life: I got my recertification for scuba the other day and went out with a couple of really nice women. I was a total spaz but managed to pass all the tests. It was a good dive with eels, and crabs, and lots of fish. Not as colorful as other areas of the carribean but nice anyway. I am playing tennis in lessons twice a week and now have a foursome to play once a week doubles. I start with my first English student tomorrow morning so I am excited about that. I continue to spend a great deal of time with the kids doing homework every night and running errands. The girls locked us out of the apartment the other day. The locksmith got us into the apt but broke the handle. It took over 3 hours driving around some of the worse neighborhoods trying to find this rare type of handle. Fercryinoutloud, don't these people have doors and locks???? Where the heck does someone buy a doorknob? I go to the gym a lot and tomorrow I start yoga classes. Vamos a ver. lets see how i do with yoga in Spanish with Latinas with their implants (boobs, butts - that's right....butts, and lips).
Okay, to answer some of you, yes.....i do have a maid. It is a nice thing. She does the cleaning everyday, laundry and some easy cooking. She loves alexa which is hard to find due to most people in 3rd world countries are terribly afraid of dogs especially BIG dogs like alexa. BIG?.... what? Already heard a complaint from a neighbor that Alexa is too big and is scary. those of you who know alexa know how strange that is. Common question when people walk wide and far from the grinning Alexa on a leash is "is she a biter? is she a killer?'
Isabella: She is doubling up on studying for 3 weeks because she is doing her PADI scuba training plus volleyball. She will be certified in about 2 more weeks and then we can go out together. The school has a scuba club and organizes dives at least 2 -3 times a month. She continues to have quite a social life, which can be difficult to manage without a car and the last minute invites. not like "get on your bike and ride to someone's house in SF". Her spanish is coming along really well and she is determined to learn the language. She is on the A team for volleyball but she has a lot to learn. The good thing is, her coaches don't speak English so all of her coaching, she needs to translate on her own. They can't dive or slide for shots though, they play on cement. Different volleyball.....for sure.
Xela: She is doing just fine. She has some great friends and one who, sounds, acts, kind looks like and has the exact personality as Emily Udstuen. Unbelievable. they are insperable. her mom is really nice and my first friend here. Xela is the star of her co-ed basketball team (ahhhh, she is the only one who knows how to NOT double dribble). The boys really keep the girls in their place. Machismo starts early, so she pretty much got pushed out of pickup soccer games in the first week of school. That has been hard for her especially after having the relationship she has had for years with her guy-buds in BS.
The school continues to be exceedingly academically rigourous and definately a different tone and philosophy of education. The good news is, Ophir has done a great job as they are doing well in math and reading. kuddos to you teachers who read this.
Victor is running every morning with Alexa and doing well. he definately gets stressed out with work and then dealing with the everyday stuff here that I can't do. Like translating a stupid door knob to a sales person....vision me standing there, punching my cell phone, rolling my eyes and saying in Spanish "speak to my husband..."
Que mas....we still have not rented a car nor have we made arrangements for a boat rental. The licensing, reg's and corruption are to much to purchase. There are opportunities though, so we are checking them out.
We have a couple of services that get us around PLC so it really isn't difficult to drive around, it just is not the same without a car waiting outside with your own set of keys.
2nd and 3rd generation Italians and Lebonese and other Arab countries are quite represented here as they were in Caracas and Colombia. So, the pic's are of one of our favorite Arab restaurants. We actually have several nice restaurants here: Arab, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Venezuelan and "american".
More later, saludos the sarms
Banking: Since dollars cannot be spent here and the banking system does not allow transfers, we have to go through different loop holes everytime we get money. Poor Marla has to deal with us about twice a month. I should not get into it on a blog, but suffice to say there are many hoops to jump before we get our b's (short for bolivares). We do not use credit cards (Vens are the KINGS of cloning), we don't use our US atm's (seriously, cc cloning is the highest in the world in Ven) so we use cash for everything. hmmmm, there are very interesting and frustrating ways in which to do this as EVERYBODY here wants dollars. Lastly, the banks are so controlled here, poor victor is forced to deal with tons of calls to the bank just to purchase airline tickets. Banks who hold YOUR money control how much you can spend and when you spend it.
Extension cords again: our outlet outside broke......it took a week of repeating ourselves that there was no electricity on our outside outlet...they would simply put the plastic cover back on and say it was fixed. Important because la revolucion happened again on Sunday, so we were without power for quite some time. We need that stolen source from the generator for the frig and things. Well, maybe la revolucion wasn't at fault, maybe the "opposition" or US spies did it as that is HC's excuse now.
HC EGO joke: ( i should use initials) H decides that tomorrow we are going to war with the US. Ven has 5000 tanks, 10,000 soldiers and 25 war ships. Then, Obama says okay we have 25,000 tanks, 25 million soldiers and 500 warships,,,so lets go to war. HC says "okay, no war because we don't have enough room for 25 million POWs." ego ego ego.
My life: I got my recertification for scuba the other day and went out with a couple of really nice women. I was a total spaz but managed to pass all the tests. It was a good dive with eels, and crabs, and lots of fish. Not as colorful as other areas of the carribean but nice anyway. I am playing tennis in lessons twice a week and now have a foursome to play once a week doubles. I start with my first English student tomorrow morning so I am excited about that. I continue to spend a great deal of time with the kids doing homework every night and running errands. The girls locked us out of the apartment the other day. The locksmith got us into the apt but broke the handle. It took over 3 hours driving around some of the worse neighborhoods trying to find this rare type of handle. Fercryinoutloud, don't these people have doors and locks???? Where the heck does someone buy a doorknob? I go to the gym a lot and tomorrow I start yoga classes. Vamos a ver. lets see how i do with yoga in Spanish with Latinas with their implants (boobs, butts - that's right....butts, and lips).
Okay, to answer some of you, yes.....i do have a maid. It is a nice thing. She does the cleaning everyday, laundry and some easy cooking. She loves alexa which is hard to find due to most people in 3rd world countries are terribly afraid of dogs especially BIG dogs like alexa. BIG?.... what? Already heard a complaint from a neighbor that Alexa is too big and is scary. those of you who know alexa know how strange that is. Common question when people walk wide and far from the grinning Alexa on a leash is "is she a biter? is she a killer?'
Isabella: She is doubling up on studying for 3 weeks because she is doing her PADI scuba training plus volleyball. She will be certified in about 2 more weeks and then we can go out together. The school has a scuba club and organizes dives at least 2 -3 times a month. She continues to have quite a social life, which can be difficult to manage without a car and the last minute invites. not like "get on your bike and ride to someone's house in SF". Her spanish is coming along really well and she is determined to learn the language. She is on the A team for volleyball but she has a lot to learn. The good thing is, her coaches don't speak English so all of her coaching, she needs to translate on her own. They can't dive or slide for shots though, they play on cement. Different volleyball.....for sure.
Xela: She is doing just fine. She has some great friends and one who, sounds, acts, kind looks like and has the exact personality as Emily Udstuen. Unbelievable. they are insperable. her mom is really nice and my first friend here. Xela is the star of her co-ed basketball team (ahhhh, she is the only one who knows how to NOT double dribble). The boys really keep the girls in their place. Machismo starts early, so she pretty much got pushed out of pickup soccer games in the first week of school. That has been hard for her especially after having the relationship she has had for years with her guy-buds in BS.
The school continues to be exceedingly academically rigourous and definately a different tone and philosophy of education. The good news is, Ophir has done a great job as they are doing well in math and reading. kuddos to you teachers who read this.
Victor is running every morning with Alexa and doing well. he definately gets stressed out with work and then dealing with the everyday stuff here that I can't do. Like translating a stupid door knob to a sales person....vision me standing there, punching my cell phone, rolling my eyes and saying in Spanish "speak to my husband..."
Que mas....we still have not rented a car nor have we made arrangements for a boat rental. The licensing, reg's and corruption are to much to purchase. There are opportunities though, so we are checking them out.
We have a couple of services that get us around PLC so it really isn't difficult to drive around, it just is not the same without a car waiting outside with your own set of keys.
2nd and 3rd generation Italians and Lebonese and other Arab countries are quite represented here as they were in Caracas and Colombia. So, the pic's are of one of our favorite Arab restaurants. We actually have several nice restaurants here: Arab, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Venezuelan and "american".
More later, saludos the sarms
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
We have a holiday today as it is the celebration of the patron saint (Virgin Mary) of this state. Of course, it is not an official holiday until the governor decrees it one, so Victor did not know if his office would be open today until 3pm yesterday. "A gift....to the people". So, the orthodontist appt for today was rescheduled yesterday afternoon for tomorrow. The school is a bit more proactive, and just plans on it being a holiday.
Yesterday, Isabella had her first "friendly" volleyball game. so no team uniforms in the pictures. The pictures show their "gym" and some of the school grounds, those vans are their "school buses". The big green door is the security door for the school usually manned by at least 8 guards but I didn't want to freak them out by taking pictures...security ya know. The school (Chevron) want to build a new school with bigger grounds etc but buying land here is difficult since the government can take it away and give back to "the people" so it is rather slow moving and tangled web to negociate. geez, just think about simply trying to rent an apt!!
I have myself a membership to the nearest gym, plan on getting my refresher in scuba on friday and we finally got our tickets for christmas for guatemala and cuba. it was a bit of a nightmare as copa airlines office in caracas doesn't answer their phone, so victor called the US office which got him hooked up here. We wanted to use local currency because the exchange rate is such in our favor. That process of booking tickets here only took FIVE days and 100 calls.
Today, the girls are off to friend's houses again. I am gathering information from different sources for renting a boat. Really need one here for weekends. We may be looking at one this weekend. They changed all the regulations and licensing rules for operating and owning a boat so it would be just another nightmare of logistics to buy one and getting licenses. Besides, we already left this country once with 2 cars left behind so the less we buy the better! Hopefully we will be renting a car soon too. We have someone working on our driver's licenses right now. I am sure i will pass the written and driving tests with flying colors without even being at the test, just like i did last time.
we are fine!
stephanie and gang
Yesterday, Isabella had her first "friendly" volleyball game. so no team uniforms in the pictures. The pictures show their "gym" and some of the school grounds, those vans are their "school buses". The big green door is the security door for the school usually manned by at least 8 guards but I didn't want to freak them out by taking pictures...security ya know. The school (Chevron) want to build a new school with bigger grounds etc but buying land here is difficult since the government can take it away and give back to "the people" so it is rather slow moving and tangled web to negociate. geez, just think about simply trying to rent an apt!!
I have myself a membership to the nearest gym, plan on getting my refresher in scuba on friday and we finally got our tickets for christmas for guatemala and cuba. it was a bit of a nightmare as copa airlines office in caracas doesn't answer their phone, so victor called the US office which got him hooked up here. We wanted to use local currency because the exchange rate is such in our favor. That process of booking tickets here only took FIVE days and 100 calls.
Today, the girls are off to friend's houses again. I am gathering information from different sources for renting a boat. Really need one here for weekends. We may be looking at one this weekend. They changed all the regulations and licensing rules for operating and owning a boat so it would be just another nightmare of logistics to buy one and getting licenses. Besides, we already left this country once with 2 cars left behind so the less we buy the better! Hopefully we will be renting a car soon too. We have someone working on our driver's licenses right now. I am sure i will pass the written and driving tests with flying colors without even being at the test, just like i did last time.
we are fine!
stephanie and gang
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
It's been over a month........
Hi all:
Welcome to our blog and life. Jackie R finally convinced me to start a blog of our lives here in Venezuela. This way you can check in anytime you feel like it and not get HUGE emails about what is up with us.
So, I will start from the beginning. Moving on your own without a huge company supporting you in every aspect of adjustment in a new country is definately not for everyone. It can be extremely frustrating but we finally got settled in. I think our previous experiences living experiences and even getting married in Latin America helped us tremendously. It has been very stressful for Victor, as he goes to work everyday, yet had to deal with all the translations, contracts, negociations etc. One of our biggest obstacles was getting an apartment that would accept "independents" (people who are not here with a major company who will sign off the rental contract). We managed to get a friend of Victor's to have his company sign a contract for us. The real estate business here is very corrupt and is called "the mafia" so that was our second obstacle. We were asked at one point to put up nearly 40k upfront to get an apartment. We ended up losing about $1300 on that deal which eventually fell through due to the lies and misrepresentation on the part of the real estate agent and the owner. We are hoping the company that represents Victor, their lawyer, will be able to get that back for us. It took over 3 weeks to finally get out of the hotel, which is actually a pretty good time frame.
We are on the 6th floor of a nice building over looking the sea, Mochima National Park and PLC. There is another family that are temporarily living in our building, in a Chevron provided apt, while their house is getting ready for their move in. They have kids Xela's age, who, have become very very good friends. . They are really nice and the mom has become a social savior for me, introducing me around, helping out and very friendly. They move soon into another neighborhood with large/mansion homes where most of the kids from school live. The reason we did not choose that neighborhood is because we need a furnished and already secure place. The companies that move their employees in those places create incredible security systems for them and allow them to ship all of their personal effects. But, there are many expats in our building and some kids and we really like the views and sea breeze which you don't get in that gated neighborhood. There are several teachers and the superintendent also live in this or nearby buildings which is nice. We like our apt and the amenities of tennis, bball courts, pools, iguanas, bunnies, gardens and quiet nice atmosphere.
School: Isabella is the only non- native Spanish speaker in her class but she is thriving. It was a difficult transistion not only with the culture shock, looking for a place to live, the heat, etc but to fit in socially where the first language is Spanish. She did great her first month, and has managed to have sleepovers every weekend, trips on friend's boats/yachts, made the "A" volleyball team and starts scuba classes this week. whew. She went to see Venezuela vs Colombia with Victor and a bunch of their Colombian friends Friday night and had a blast. They had assigned seat tickets, but when they arrived to their seats, there were a bunch of drinking guys who laughed and said "that's not how it works here, we got here first". It was fine, they managed to do the same thing near all their Colombian friends and enjoy the game (not the drinking part). Colombia won, so there. :)
Isabella had only 2 choices for Spanish class. Her teacher decided on the native speaker class as he felt the other class would be too easy for her. He is grading her on a curve since it would be like taking 8th grade LA at Ophir in Spanish. Her most difficult class is English. The teacher is the MOST loved teacher here, but the one with the highest expectations. Kids jump with joy when they get a 74 on their progress report. Isabella is hanging in there with a 87 (second highest grade). He is from Ireland and is also their social studies teacher. "Isabella says it is funny when he says "write the bloody hell sentence correctly."
Xela has more native English speakers in her class of 19. They have a nice young teacher from Mass. Xela is playing coed basketball and doing art classes. we just had her first orthodontist appt. which was about as hard to get to as getting to bozeman. we can't do any appts during school hours because the make up work is simply just too much. She has sleepovers and good friends and seems to go to a party every weekend. The latins send out invitations to parties the day before so it is always a scramble. Xela and her good friend are going to split their party in October here at our place: a pool and bbq party. We laugh about the idea of sending out invitations a week before, because we imagine the latin families looking at it and wondering "what are we suppose to do with this?" or maybe they will show up the next day instead of the party day.
School is very demanding for both of the girls. They were shocked their first two weeks with the amount of homework and expectations. They both recovered from the shock and have managed to recover their grades. Whew. Although Chevron is represented strongly at the school, their classmates are Venezuelan, Colombian, Brazilian, Australian, British, Trinidadian, etc. A hue of colors, accents and cultures. Finally, they are both taking tennis lessons as well and loving that too. We are trying to take advantage of living in the tropics as much as possible.
They miss Big Sky and their friends tremendously. Xela took about 12 hours to recover from talking to Howie via skype about 2 weeks ago. But, they are having a great time, ask so many questions about politics, poverty, cultural differences etc. They are really observant.
Living in PLC: This once resort town is now simply another place that went downhill the last 10 years. We live in El Morro/Lecheria. So, if you googleearth PLC look to the west of the bay, we live on the end of the pennisula U shape. We are at the base of a cliff, so our cell phones don't always work. We say on the phone, " ahhhh, I'm in the canyon, losing you" . Those of you from Big Sky will get the joke. I use to walk alexa up to the top of the pennisula. There is actually a huge group of people who cycle, mt bike, walk and run up there as the local gov't ACTUALLY created a bike path on the road. But, for me AND Alexa, there are two feral dog packs (perritos del calle) we have to get by. Victor seems to have no problem with throwing rocks at them, but they really smell my fear (they want Alexa not me, they are afraid of humans). People don't walk outside their compounds with their dogs, so those things get pretty close to us and it freaks me out as they would kill Alexa. They are protecting their turf and see her as an intruder. Victor now runs w/ Alexa the same route about 5am. He avoids one pack and the other pack...well, he has pretty good aim, so they are learning to stay clear. We all get up around 5:45 as the bus comes at 6:50. Alexa's other walks are on our grounds and does she LOVE the iguanas. If I could let her off the leash, she would be climbing up trees in order to get one. They are all over the tennis courts as well, pooping everywhere.
I have managed to go with friends to the local fish mercado, where the freshest of fresh fish are brought to. Basically, a shack next to the water. For a tip, they fillet the fish (after you pick out the one you want, still breathing, yes, your fingers in the gills and bring to the wooden table surrounded by begging pelicans. Also found a couple of great little fruit stands. There is poverty and falling down infrastructure everywhere, in the midst of incredible beauty. One of the good things about PLC is we are closer to getting to some of the best parts of Venezuela. We will do the jungle and Angel Falls, Orinoco River Basin (one of the most important river basins in the world with incredible wildlife and indiginous tribes) and climb a tepui mountain (7 day climb) over the course of the coming year. Just think of the movie UP and that is where most of these trips/mountains-called Tepuies) will look like just without the animation and talking dogs.
Our first big trip though, is the Galapogos Islands in October. (we have a week off). Then for Christmas, we changed from Patagonia (as it was going to be too crowded and expensive) for seeing victor's family in Guatemala and do some traveling there, and then CUBA for 10 days. I told the girls they will have been to one and a half communist countries. I think they will wear their Venezuelan soccer jerseys...we will be well received. Actually, thousands of Americans go to Cuba each year and it really is not such a big deal anymore.
My life has quieted down a bit. Everything takes a lot of time to do things. I have finally found everything we need to live here, the places to find some import food, fans, extension cords, groceries, how to order meat at the meat market. etc. Victor has a bunch of friends who want English lessons but i am still waitng for them to organize themselves. I take tennis lessons twice a week and learning how to improve my nonexistent top- spin. I an attempting to go to the gym and get myself a membership by myself tomorrow...should be interesting. Not many people speak English in this town. i make a fool out of myself when ordering in stores, etc. Have met a few other mothers. I am getting my refresher course for scuba this week as I have not dived in 8 years. So, Isabella and I can start diving together as the school has a diving club. Otherwise, my life is kinda quiet. But, we are together as a family. Dinner together every night. Two parents helping with homework and doing things together. It is exciting and very, very interesting to now see/experience this all through the eyes of inquisitive 13 and 11 year old. The questions can go on forever. :)
Extension Cords: We have electrical shortages and occasionally water outages as well. Our building has a generator for security lights, hallway lights and elevators. So, we snake the electrical cords out the front door to the outlet near the elevator (there are only 2 apts per level) and plug in the frig, fans and or computers. When apt owners have paid up the HOA dues we are getting an electrical plant for the whole building and won't have to deal with outages anymore. Yup, owners just don't pay their HOA because they don't feel like it even though most of them are extremely wealthy. So, the latest is, the plant is ordered and hopefully installed within the next 3 months. There are so many political things i would like to say right now, but can't or shouldn't. haha. Lets just say gracias to the presidente because things are soooooooooooooo much better than 10 years ago.
I will start posting pictures and will be shorter in my writng. we miss everybody in Big Sky. We would love visitors and would plan some cool side trips during your stay. There is diving, incredible caves 3 hours away, beaches minutes away, and seeing a world very different from the States. This week the Patron Saint of this area is the Virgin Mary, so of course.....how is that celebrated???? With a day or two off, huge crowdes, traffic, fireworks galore and huge Salsa concerts. A little different from the sedate Catholic services of my youth.
Welcome to our blog and life. Jackie R finally convinced me to start a blog of our lives here in Venezuela. This way you can check in anytime you feel like it and not get HUGE emails about what is up with us.
So, I will start from the beginning. Moving on your own without a huge company supporting you in every aspect of adjustment in a new country is definately not for everyone. It can be extremely frustrating but we finally got settled in. I think our previous experiences living experiences and even getting married in Latin America helped us tremendously. It has been very stressful for Victor, as he goes to work everyday, yet had to deal with all the translations, contracts, negociations etc. One of our biggest obstacles was getting an apartment that would accept "independents" (people who are not here with a major company who will sign off the rental contract). We managed to get a friend of Victor's to have his company sign a contract for us. The real estate business here is very corrupt and is called "the mafia" so that was our second obstacle. We were asked at one point to put up nearly 40k upfront to get an apartment. We ended up losing about $1300 on that deal which eventually fell through due to the lies and misrepresentation on the part of the real estate agent and the owner. We are hoping the company that represents Victor, their lawyer, will be able to get that back for us. It took over 3 weeks to finally get out of the hotel, which is actually a pretty good time frame.
We are on the 6th floor of a nice building over looking the sea, Mochima National Park and PLC. There is another family that are temporarily living in our building, in a Chevron provided apt, while their house is getting ready for their move in. They have kids Xela's age, who, have become very very good friends. . They are really nice and the mom has become a social savior for me, introducing me around, helping out and very friendly. They move soon into another neighborhood with large/mansion homes where most of the kids from school live. The reason we did not choose that neighborhood is because we need a furnished and already secure place. The companies that move their employees in those places create incredible security systems for them and allow them to ship all of their personal effects. But, there are many expats in our building and some kids and we really like the views and sea breeze which you don't get in that gated neighborhood. There are several teachers and the superintendent also live in this or nearby buildings which is nice. We like our apt and the amenities of tennis, bball courts, pools, iguanas, bunnies, gardens and quiet nice atmosphere.
School: Isabella is the only non- native Spanish speaker in her class but she is thriving. It was a difficult transistion not only with the culture shock, looking for a place to live, the heat, etc but to fit in socially where the first language is Spanish. She did great her first month, and has managed to have sleepovers every weekend, trips on friend's boats/yachts, made the "A" volleyball team and starts scuba classes this week. whew. She went to see Venezuela vs Colombia with Victor and a bunch of their Colombian friends Friday night and had a blast. They had assigned seat tickets, but when they arrived to their seats, there were a bunch of drinking guys who laughed and said "that's not how it works here, we got here first". It was fine, they managed to do the same thing near all their Colombian friends and enjoy the game (not the drinking part). Colombia won, so there. :)
Isabella had only 2 choices for Spanish class. Her teacher decided on the native speaker class as he felt the other class would be too easy for her. He is grading her on a curve since it would be like taking 8th grade LA at Ophir in Spanish. Her most difficult class is English. The teacher is the MOST loved teacher here, but the one with the highest expectations. Kids jump with joy when they get a 74 on their progress report. Isabella is hanging in there with a 87 (second highest grade). He is from Ireland and is also their social studies teacher. "Isabella says it is funny when he says "write the bloody hell sentence correctly."
Xela has more native English speakers in her class of 19. They have a nice young teacher from Mass. Xela is playing coed basketball and doing art classes. we just had her first orthodontist appt. which was about as hard to get to as getting to bozeman. we can't do any appts during school hours because the make up work is simply just too much. She has sleepovers and good friends and seems to go to a party every weekend. The latins send out invitations to parties the day before so it is always a scramble. Xela and her good friend are going to split their party in October here at our place: a pool and bbq party. We laugh about the idea of sending out invitations a week before, because we imagine the latin families looking at it and wondering "what are we suppose to do with this?" or maybe they will show up the next day instead of the party day.
School is very demanding for both of the girls. They were shocked their first two weeks with the amount of homework and expectations. They both recovered from the shock and have managed to recover their grades. Whew. Although Chevron is represented strongly at the school, their classmates are Venezuelan, Colombian, Brazilian, Australian, British, Trinidadian, etc. A hue of colors, accents and cultures. Finally, they are both taking tennis lessons as well and loving that too. We are trying to take advantage of living in the tropics as much as possible.
They miss Big Sky and their friends tremendously. Xela took about 12 hours to recover from talking to Howie via skype about 2 weeks ago. But, they are having a great time, ask so many questions about politics, poverty, cultural differences etc. They are really observant.
Living in PLC: This once resort town is now simply another place that went downhill the last 10 years. We live in El Morro/Lecheria. So, if you googleearth PLC look to the west of the bay, we live on the end of the pennisula U shape. We are at the base of a cliff, so our cell phones don't always work. We say on the phone, " ahhhh, I'm in the canyon, losing you" . Those of you from Big Sky will get the joke. I use to walk alexa up to the top of the pennisula. There is actually a huge group of people who cycle, mt bike, walk and run up there as the local gov't ACTUALLY created a bike path on the road. But, for me AND Alexa, there are two feral dog packs (perritos del calle) we have to get by. Victor seems to have no problem with throwing rocks at them, but they really smell my fear (they want Alexa not me, they are afraid of humans). People don't walk outside their compounds with their dogs, so those things get pretty close to us and it freaks me out as they would kill Alexa. They are protecting their turf and see her as an intruder. Victor now runs w/ Alexa the same route about 5am. He avoids one pack and the other pack...well, he has pretty good aim, so they are learning to stay clear. We all get up around 5:45 as the bus comes at 6:50. Alexa's other walks are on our grounds and does she LOVE the iguanas. If I could let her off the leash, she would be climbing up trees in order to get one. They are all over the tennis courts as well, pooping everywhere.
I have managed to go with friends to the local fish mercado, where the freshest of fresh fish are brought to. Basically, a shack next to the water. For a tip, they fillet the fish (after you pick out the one you want, still breathing, yes, your fingers in the gills and bring to the wooden table surrounded by begging pelicans. Also found a couple of great little fruit stands. There is poverty and falling down infrastructure everywhere, in the midst of incredible beauty. One of the good things about PLC is we are closer to getting to some of the best parts of Venezuela. We will do the jungle and Angel Falls, Orinoco River Basin (one of the most important river basins in the world with incredible wildlife and indiginous tribes) and climb a tepui mountain (7 day climb) over the course of the coming year. Just think of the movie UP and that is where most of these trips/mountains-called Tepuies) will look like just without the animation and talking dogs.
Our first big trip though, is the Galapogos Islands in October. (we have a week off). Then for Christmas, we changed from Patagonia (as it was going to be too crowded and expensive) for seeing victor's family in Guatemala and do some traveling there, and then CUBA for 10 days. I told the girls they will have been to one and a half communist countries. I think they will wear their Venezuelan soccer jerseys...we will be well received. Actually, thousands of Americans go to Cuba each year and it really is not such a big deal anymore.
My life has quieted down a bit. Everything takes a lot of time to do things. I have finally found everything we need to live here, the places to find some import food, fans, extension cords, groceries, how to order meat at the meat market. etc. Victor has a bunch of friends who want English lessons but i am still waitng for them to organize themselves. I take tennis lessons twice a week and learning how to improve my nonexistent top- spin. I an attempting to go to the gym and get myself a membership by myself tomorrow...should be interesting. Not many people speak English in this town. i make a fool out of myself when ordering in stores, etc. Have met a few other mothers. I am getting my refresher course for scuba this week as I have not dived in 8 years. So, Isabella and I can start diving together as the school has a diving club. Otherwise, my life is kinda quiet. But, we are together as a family. Dinner together every night. Two parents helping with homework and doing things together. It is exciting and very, very interesting to now see/experience this all through the eyes of inquisitive 13 and 11 year old. The questions can go on forever. :)
Extension Cords: We have electrical shortages and occasionally water outages as well. Our building has a generator for security lights, hallway lights and elevators. So, we snake the electrical cords out the front door to the outlet near the elevator (there are only 2 apts per level) and plug in the frig, fans and or computers. When apt owners have paid up the HOA dues we are getting an electrical plant for the whole building and won't have to deal with outages anymore. Yup, owners just don't pay their HOA because they don't feel like it even though most of them are extremely wealthy. So, the latest is, the plant is ordered and hopefully installed within the next 3 months. There are so many political things i would like to say right now, but can't or shouldn't. haha. Lets just say gracias to the presidente because things are soooooooooooooo much better than 10 years ago.
I will start posting pictures and will be shorter in my writng. we miss everybody in Big Sky. We would love visitors and would plan some cool side trips during your stay. There is diving, incredible caves 3 hours away, beaches minutes away, and seeing a world very different from the States. This week the Patron Saint of this area is the Virgin Mary, so of course.....how is that celebrated???? With a day or two off, huge crowdes, traffic, fireworks galore and huge Salsa concerts. A little different from the sedate Catholic services of my youth.
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