So, after a lovely three weeks back in the cold, I am back in Venezuela. I've already been back here for about three weeks which is crazy. It definitely does not feel like it's been that long. I can't believe how quickly time as gone. A lot has happened since we've been back. I'll start with the boring political stuff. Mainly, our president seems to have fell off the face of the Earth. Chavez was in Cuba getting cancer treatment, but no ones heard from him in a month or so, so more or less no ones really running the country. One outcome of this is food/supply shortages. This is typical for where I live in Venezuela, but it's been exceptionally bad since we've been back. We are missing really key things like flour, sugar, chicken, and worst of all, toilet paper. I have been lucky enough to stock up on toilet paper since coming back, but I haven't been able to find any of those other things these past three weeks. The other major problem is that the private oil company here isn't getting paid by the government. The result of this is all the workers are being transferred and a lot of our kids are leaving and the school doesn't have the money it used to. It is highly likely that my director leaves next year because of this so I will probably be working under someone new. Even more upsetting is that at least three of my ten kids will be leaving. Unfortunately they are also three of my strongest kids who give me the best stories because they actually speak English fairly well. The other majorly unfortunate part of this is that all us expat teachers will lose our fun benefits like having a beach house and getting sent on cool caribbean vacations every couple of months. We will have to be like every other international teacher and just get a working visa, stay in our country and pay for ourselves to leave. (Granted I still like 45 minutes from the Caribbean and its only about $15 round trip, so I'll still be getting in some great beach weekends.)
Now, speaking of the beach, I get to talk about the fun things. First, I spent my 23rd birthday weekend on the beach. This was awesome since as a January baby I NEVER get to go to the beach for my birthday. I feel like I usually just spend it snowed in, so laying on the beach was awesome. Dereek and I rented a hotel room in Puerto La Cruz and stayed there Saturday night. We got to go to a nice little island for the day on Saturday, come back and go out to dinner, then have breakfast overlooking the beach in the morning which was a particularly great way to spend my birthday.
Now, speaking of the beach, I get to talk about the fun things. First, I spent my 23rd birthday weekend on the beach. This was awesome since as a January baby I NEVER get to go to the beach for my birthday. I feel like I usually just spend it snowed in, so laying on the beach was awesome. Dereek and I rented a hotel room in Puerto La Cruz and stayed there Saturday night. We got to go to a nice little island for the day on Saturday, come back and go out to dinner, then have breakfast overlooking the beach in the morning which was a particularly great way to spend my birthday.
The beach we were at
Spending my birthday laying on the beach
Palm trees
Sometimes Dereek likes to bother me and take pictures while I'm trying to relax.
Leaving the island.
We've also been doing fun things in the classroom. This month we're almost at the end of the alphabet, working really hard on remembering the numbers in the teens and learning about the weather and community helpers. Rather than explaining I'm just going to show cute pictures of my kids because that is way more interesting. There are some from around Christmas time as well that I forgot to ever put up and are super cute.
Before their Christmas show
Thought this was just too cute. Glad I've gotten my kids to enjoy reading.
Sometimes my kids like to hide in the bathroom and try to scare me.
Practicing our teen numbers by painting them on a giant piece of paper
They worked so nicely. Everyone stayed in their own spots for a whole 20 minutes painting.
Even when they finished they were so responsible and went a read a book on the carpet. I feel like they're puppies I've finally trained.
Michelle painting.
Arya gave up on the chair while she was painting, but still stayed at the table.
Marian painting.
We're learning the words "I am" so I had the kids make pictures of themselves and write "I am (there name)" This is Marcel's. He is the best four year old artist I've ever seen.
Hakim looks a little like a monster, but pretty good fine motor skills for a preschooler
Michelle wrote everything all by herself with no help.
Luis was funny. He struggled with a mouth, asked for my hope, said I made him look like a girl and almost cried, then just did it himself because I'm not a good enough artist.
What our wall looks like with all their painted numbers hanging up.
That's about it for now. Nothing too exciting coming up besides parent teacher conferences. Dereek, Erin, EMak and I are going to Margarita Island for the week of Carnival in February though. That'll be a long fun update I'm sure.
