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!

A visit to my "office"

Here are a few shots from around our campus, where I spend a good deal of my time. This central area of campus is a great area to hangout, study or meet new friends. Sometimes this part of campus feels like a big park in the middle of the city. When it is clear you can see the mountains in the distance too.

There are all sorts of interesting sculptures, architecture, and tiled mosaic walls around campus. I am constantly discovering new pieces of interest.

I have a blog...

I´m so out of practice with this whole blog thing... I actually had kind of forgotten that it existed for awhile! Let´s see if I can get back into action here!

Christmas Cookie Party

To celebrate Christmas we invited all of the girl students and volunteers that we know in Caracas. We ended up with a small turnout, with just Claudia and I, our roommate Sol, and my disciples Ruth and Nohemí. We had quite a bit of fun though, despite the turnout.

We decided to make sugar cookies and decorate them. It took a bit of creativity for certain ingredients and utensils, but they turned out quite tasty.

Finding Christmas cookie cutters turned out to be quite a challenge as well. Claudia, Ruth and Nohemí went out for what we thought would be 10 or 15 minutes looking for cookie cutters, and came back more than an hour later! They walked all over the place to all sorts of different stores, trying to explain what they were looking for (cookie cutters are obviously not common in Venezuela!).

The girls did finally make it home successfully with cookie cutters though.

We had a lot of fun decorating! Lots of sugary frosting and sprinkles involved...

Some of the final products.

Our roommate Sol enjoying a sugary Christmas tree.

I made hot apple cider. This was a new taste for the Venezuelan girls. I told them this is what Christmas smells like to me... they told me Christmas smells like hallacas to them. Hallacas are a traditional Venezuelan food fairly similar to a Tamale. They take a banana leaf and spread a cornmeal dough on it, fill it with a cooked meat or veggie sauce, and fold them up. Then when they are ready to eat them, they just boil them to heat them up, and open up the banana leaf for a delicious Christmasy meal. I am definitely a fan!

Merry Christmas from the Vida Estudiantil girls in Caracas!

White Christmas?!

Being snowed in at my house was last on my list of expectations for the holidays this year, seeing how I was planning to spend it in sunny Venezuela! 

Yes, I'm in Auburn for the time being! I hurt my wrist a couple months ago and I'm home to get some treatment, with the added bonus of being able to spend Christmas with my family. It has been quite the whirlwind. The decision to come home happened on Sunday evening, as of Monday evening I had a plane ticket, and by Wednesday morning I was on an airplane!

So here I am, looking out the window at the snow, still a little in shock. God willing I will be back in Venezuela by mid-January to start of the new semester. Your prayers are appreciated for the doctors' wisdom and the healing of my wrist, and the timing to get back to my job and passion in Venezuela.

Perro Caliente

Venezuelan hot dogs (perros calientes) are quite an experience...They start with a bun and an incredibly tiny hot dog. Then you add onion, french fries, sometimes things like tomato, cheese, ham, corn... there are so many possibilities! What really makes the hot dog though is the approximate gallon of mayonnaise and ketchup required!

Mmmmm..... QUE RICO!!!!!

Cultural blunders 101: (from last year in Mérida)

One of the funniest moments of our Stint year in Mérida, Venezuela happened shortly after our arrival in country. The adventure came about when we decided to change things up a bit and throw some fish into our diet, which mostly consisted of chicken and ground beef. So two of our team members who didn’t speak all that much Spanish headed to the supermarket to buy some fish filets.

When the fish began putting off an odd smell from the oven we started questioning what type of fish we were about to experience. The arrival of a student supposedly schooled in cooking fish calmed our worries and we once again happily awaited our fishy supper. Upon approval by the student we sat down for what we hoped would be a tasty and different meal. It was different all right. The student and our team leader were the first to bravely try the fish. They seemed to like it and kept eating. After a moment however the student piped up that his tongue was numb, and our team leader that his throat was feeling funny as well.

Finally, after examining his serving of fish more thoroughly the student came to a brilliant conclusion. We weren’t eating fish, we were eating Sting Ray! Not only were we attempting to eat Sting Ray, we were attempting to eat undercooked Sting Ray (which by the way, is not a recommended recipe). Thankfully we had enough other parts of the meal and leftovers to leave the whole team more or less satisfied. However, the horribly odd smell did not leave our apartment for several weeks!