Announcement

I would like to announce that I am the proud new owner of quite the sunburn. 

For those who don't know me well, I have olive-ish skin which generally tans like crazy but never burns and turns red. After living in Venezuela for two years, just two and a half weeks away from my return to the US... I have my very first Venezuelan sunburn! Actually it is my first real sunburn in as long as I can remember! 

I spent most of this last week in Mérida (where I lived last year). I was there to help orient a group of 12 american students and Campus Crusade staff who arrived last Friday for what we call a Summer Project. They will be in Mérida for about 5 weeks sharing their faith and building relationships with Venezuelan students. I spent all day on campus Thursday and as a result have a beautiful burn. It just makes me laugh, as I equally spent time on campus last year and never got burnt!

Hopefully my beautiful tank top stripes will go away before the wedding in which I´ll be a bridesmaid in just 3 weeks!

The Fruitloop phenomenon

Generally I am a pretty natural, healthy food sort of girl. Nothing overly sugary, pumped with chemical coloring or salt. My motto tends to be something of the "Made by nature, I'll take it; Made by man, no thanks" sort. 

I made the horrible mistake however a few weeks back of going to the grocery store while incredibly hungry. Low and behold there was a whole section of Fruitloops. For some reason they called my name, with gusto. It may be that I was so hungry that anything sounded tasty. It may be that I had some sort of sugar or chemical coloring deficiency in my diet at that moment. Or it may simply be that there it was, something familiar and overly American staring me in the face. Perhaps I was homesick that day. Whatever the reason, I proudly took home my box of Fruitloops and proceeded to consume them a little too quickly in the following days. 

I think I have become addicted. Is there a 12-Step Program for Fruitloop addicts? I just bought my 3rd box today, so I guess I'm not going through them that quickly. I still can't decide however whether I really just like them a lot, or if it again is the familiarity to home. Home of course being the US and not my actual home, as Fruitloops would never in a million years have entered my home as a child.

Ode to TP

I am currently meditating on how very thankful I am for toilet paper. It had never crossed my mind before living in Venezuela as something to be thankful for. In the US it is so incredibly easy to find, always present in numerous styles, sizes and scents, and always in abundance. This is not always the case in Venezuela. On numerous occasions in the last two years we have experienced a scarcity of TP. Last year on a visit from the North West our leadership even packed an entire case of TP in their suitcases to bring to us. 

I have a new respect for this simple daily item. I have consciously counted how little I can get away with using each day. I have used napkins, kleenex, paper towels and even notebook paper as replacements. Yes, today I am so very thankful for toilet paper. 

I almost leapt with joy when I saw a few packages on the shelf in the store today. We haven´t seen it in any stores since last week, when of course we had plenty. I thought to myself... I wonder how many packages I can get away with buying? I wonder if like milk when it was hard to find last year, there is a limit to one or two per family? So I bought two packages and I also bought several packages of kleenex, just in case there is again no TP to be found when we begin to run low again. And here I am, happily home with my toilet paper... writing about it for all the world to see.

Preparing to Say Goodbye

As my year in Caracas is nearing its end I find myself thinking both of the Venezuelan things I will miss and of the American things that I have missed and am eager to see/use/eat, etc. I constantly find myself cracking up as some incredibly obscure item pops into my mind. So, for your entertainment, aside from the very obvious things from both place that I will miss/have missed like family, friends, and even the Spanish language... here are some thoughts:

Things I will miss about Venezuela:

1. I'm sure from earlier posts (and I definitely mean post(s) plurally) about platanos, that no one doubted they would be top on my list!

2. The Christian bookstore across the plaza from my apartment that has wonderfully cheap and small pocket versions of many, many great books. For example, this week I bought a copy of More Than A Carpenter (Más que un carpentero) for approximately $3.50. Living so close and the great prices definitely haven't helped the luggage situation though!

3. Warm weather! I have now officially lived outside of the North West and its cold rainy winters long enough that thinking about the onset of winter this year makes me want to cry! I know I'll survive, but I will make it known now, I don't like being cold!

4. Platano! I know I mentioned this earlier, but in order to truly get across how strongly I feel about the subject I feel that I must mentioned it again. Tajadas, patacones, tostones, san cochado, horneado, con canela... Really anyway you can come up with to cook it, I will eat it!

5. Nestea, Cachapas (sweet cornmeal pancakes that are served with cheese), Arepas

6. My church. I really love the church that I have been attending this year, Emmanuel Baptist. I love the worship music and I love the pastor and his teachings. I love that it isn't like being in an American church in Venezuela, but that it truly is Venezuelan while at the same time familiar.

Things I am eager to see/use/eat/experience being back in the US for a bit:

1. Hot water! I am especially excited about hot showers. I hereby apologize to Mother Nature right now, because I know I will very likely over-enjoy my first few hot showers. Thankfully it is warm in Caracas, but the water can still be pretty cold sometimes. I've definitely taken my share of teapot-to-bucket baths!

2. Coffee! I know there must be good coffee in Venezuela. I know they produce it. I think you have to go to expensive specialty stores though. Either that or they export it all. The coffee that you can buy in the grocery store is definitely lacking in taste... So I am dying for good coffee! I also miss the coffee shop atmosphere that is so important in the NW.  I want to take my book somewhere and not get asked every five minutes if I want another juice or if I am ready for the bill.

3. While living close to the equator has its ups in terms of warmer weather all year round (see number 3, things I will miss), it definitely has its down side in that it gets dark every night of the year between 6:00 and 6:30 pm. I am eager to go for evening walks, actually to do anything that can be done outside in the evening!

4. Funny as this sounds, I'm looking forward to being noticed as tan and darker, more mediterranean looking than many in Washington. All of my life people have always commented on that, or asked me where my family is from based on my more olive skin and crazy curly hair. In Venezuela, I am white and gringa, punto. According to one of my roommates, I am the whitest person she's ever seen! Obviously she's not met many gringos before, because I can definitely mention a few that are way whiter than I am! Let's also not mention the fact that unless she's just been to the beach, my skin is actually darker than hers. She just happens to have the dark hair and dark eyes that somehow make her less white than me.

5. Somehow this point still works even though it kind of contradicts the previous one. I'm looking forward to not standing out for a while. While I don't necessarily stand out as much as I supposed I could, my blue eyes are still constantly noticed and constantly commented on. I really am perfectly content to not be reminded that my eyes are blue every time I pass some guy on the street... I am very aware of that fact!

I know I have more to add to this list, but for the time being these are the things that come to my mind. Enjoy!