Three Weeks and Counting
August 25, 2007
It’s been over three weeks since we arrived here. We have met our colleagues, been to the beach, started school, and had a chance to look around.
Our apartment is still depressing; it’s small, falling apart, and surrounded by construction. We don’t have air conditioning, although we have a couple of fans. If we open all the windows we can get a nice cross breeze, unfortunately we also get a lot of mosquitoes. Closing the windows eliminates the bugs but makes it really stuffy.
We awaken each morning around six to prepare for school. I usually make my way out to the living room where I sit and gaze at the construction guys getting ready for work. I have discovered that there are men residing in several of the half finished buildings surrounding us. I see them each morning on the same floor of their building. They walk to the opening in the wall wearing only jeans. They stretch and yawn and stare at the day. Then they produce a sack, it looks like a concrete sack, and they begin to tear it very methodically. Once it has been torn to size, they beat it against the wall or rub it over the corner of a sawhorse. When they are satisfied, they fold it precisely and wrap it around their feet before slipping them inside their boots.
After witnessing this extraordinary act, I no longer wonder why our brand new apartment is falling apart at the seams; the main shower sprays water everywhere, the back shower hardly works at all, there are bare wires sticking out of the bedroom wall and the bathroom wall (Carrie discovered that they are indeed live), the kitchen counter is not even attached to the wall, the main toilet leaks like a sieve, the front door latch is hanging on by a thread, and today a piece of a window broke off and sliced Carrie’s hand. The poor bastards who built this place can’t even afford proper foot covering!
On the bright side, our colleagues are very nice and have welcomed us warmly. We were at first a little overwhelmed by the size of the women’s breasts, but have since come to learn that cosmetic surgery is practically required by law here. While the Foreign Hire Teachers have been lectured on appropriate apparel for school, the locals overwhelm us with cleavage and painted on jeans. This, of course, causes no small degree of consternation among the women folk, while the men just sit back and say, “Ah what are you going to do?” I mention this only because it has spurred many conversations on the topic. We have speculated about why the women here fell so compelled to “enhance” themselves. The reason only became apparent when we were told that there are six women for every man here…that’s some serious competition! It also explains why there are so many hot women with so many ugly men.
Needless to say, the scenery is great! The hills surrounding the city aren’t bad either. They are green and lush for now although we are told that the dry season will come and they will shrivel and burn. We took a trip to the beach just before school started. We got to drive through those rolling hills until we arrived at a marina. There we boarded small boats and headed off at high speed through beautiful, emerald green water. We surprised flocks of pelicans, skirted dozens of islands, and finally arrived at our beach; Morrocoy National Park. We spent the day soaking in the sun, swimming in the warm water, and psyching ourselves out for the start of school.
The first day of school was stressful. First off, I left the keys for my classroom at home on the shelf. It’s really embarrassing when you have to go to your boss first thing and tell her you’re locked out of your own classroom. It leads to one of those condescending speeches that’s supposed to make you feel better, but really just makes you feel like more of a dork. It took awhile to remember how to manage more than four kids, but I think I’m figuring it out.
There are three other teachers that live in our neighborhood out here on the edge. They are three female Foreign Hires; one from Texas (Ayesha), one from Toronto (Sonya), and one from rural Illinois (Nikki). Sonya has traveled extensively through South America and regales us with hair raising stories of hitchhiking through Colombia, or hiking through Bolivia after their bus ran off the road. She speaks fluent Spanish and has helped us get out and explore this place a little more. We went downtown for some cheap, Bronx style shopping and wandered through the city park last weekend. Today we caught a cab and then a bus to a town not far away that is home to a natural hot springs. It was a fun day even if the springs were super crowded and more than a little dirty. Ayesha has never taught internationally but is full of gusto and ready to get out and see the world. Nikki is fresh off the farm, having left her family and her church behind to sample life abroad.
Zachary had a birthday last week. We bought him a bicycle. Everything here is two to three times more expensive than it should be and many of the items are really just pieces of crap. Zman’s bike is a case in point. It cost me $65 and after four days the brakes don’t work, the rear axle is worn, and the crank is pretty much falling apart in my hands. I could spend twice as much, but I would still have a piece of junk. Regardless, he was really excited. We brought cake to his classroom and one of the other teachers threw a party in her room after school.
Next we turn our sights to a car. These too are really expensive. It is next to impossible to find a used car for less than $20,000. In fact, I found a used 2008 Ford Escape for 75,000,000B’s (~$37,000) when a brand new 2008 Ford Escape costs 51,000,000B’s (~$25,000). Explain that one to me. Fortunately, the school will give us a no interest loan and assist us in purchasing a car. Tomorrow I am going to look at a couple of Ford EcoStars and a couple Toyota Terios to see how they feel. I would like to have a car by the middle of September if not sooner.
I guess that’s about it for the land of sunshine and silicone. We have three bedrooms and would love to entertain guests so give us a shout!
It’s been over three weeks since we arrived here. We have met our colleagues, been to the beach, started school, and had a chance to look around.
Our apartment is still depressing; it’s small, falling apart, and surrounded by construction. We don’t have air conditioning, although we have a couple of fans. If we open all the windows we can get a nice cross breeze, unfortunately we also get a lot of mosquitoes. Closing the windows eliminates the bugs but makes it really stuffy.
We awaken each morning around six to prepare for school. I usually make my way out to the living room where I sit and gaze at the construction guys getting ready for work. I have discovered that there are men residing in several of the half finished buildings surrounding us. I see them each morning on the same floor of their building. They walk to the opening in the wall wearing only jeans. They stretch and yawn and stare at the day. Then they produce a sack, it looks like a concrete sack, and they begin to tear it very methodically. Once it has been torn to size, they beat it against the wall or rub it over the corner of a sawhorse. When they are satisfied, they fold it precisely and wrap it around their feet before slipping them inside their boots.
After witnessing this extraordinary act, I no longer wonder why our brand new apartment is falling apart at the seams; the main shower sprays water everywhere, the back shower hardly works at all, there are bare wires sticking out of the bedroom wall and the bathroom wall (Carrie discovered that they are indeed live), the kitchen counter is not even attached to the wall, the main toilet leaks like a sieve, the front door latch is hanging on by a thread, and today a piece of a window broke off and sliced Carrie’s hand. The poor bastards who built this place can’t even afford proper foot covering!
On the bright side, our colleagues are very nice and have welcomed us warmly. We were at first a little overwhelmed by the size of the women’s breasts, but have since come to learn that cosmetic surgery is practically required by law here. While the Foreign Hire Teachers have been lectured on appropriate apparel for school, the locals overwhelm us with cleavage and painted on jeans. This, of course, causes no small degree of consternation among the women folk, while the men just sit back and say, “Ah what are you going to do?” I mention this only because it has spurred many conversations on the topic. We have speculated about why the women here fell so compelled to “enhance” themselves. The reason only became apparent when we were told that there are six women for every man here…that’s some serious competition! It also explains why there are so many hot women with so many ugly men.
Needless to say, the scenery is great! The hills surrounding the city aren’t bad either. They are green and lush for now although we are told that the dry season will come and they will shrivel and burn. We took a trip to the beach just before school started. We got to drive through those rolling hills until we arrived at a marina. There we boarded small boats and headed off at high speed through beautiful, emerald green water. We surprised flocks of pelicans, skirted dozens of islands, and finally arrived at our beach; Morrocoy National Park. We spent the day soaking in the sun, swimming in the warm water, and psyching ourselves out for the start of school.
The first day of school was stressful. First off, I left the keys for my classroom at home on the shelf. It’s really embarrassing when you have to go to your boss first thing and tell her you’re locked out of your own classroom. It leads to one of those condescending speeches that’s supposed to make you feel better, but really just makes you feel like more of a dork. It took awhile to remember how to manage more than four kids, but I think I’m figuring it out.There are three other teachers that live in our neighborhood out here on the edge. They are three female Foreign Hires; one from Texas (Ayesha), one from Toronto (Sonya), and one from rural Illinois (Nikki). Sonya has traveled extensively through South America and regales us with hair raising stories of hitchhiking through Colombia, or hiking through Bolivia after their bus ran off the road. She speaks fluent Spanish and has helped us get out and explore this place a little more. We went downtown for some cheap, Bronx style shopping and wandered through the city park last weekend. Today we caught a cab and then a bus to a town not far away that is home to a natural hot springs. It was a fun day even if the springs were super crowded and more than a little dirty. Ayesha has never taught internationally but is full of gusto and ready to get out and see the world. Nikki is fresh off the farm, having left her family and her church behind to sample life abroad.
Zachary had a birthday last week. We bought him a bicycle. Everything here is two to three times more expensive than it should be and many of the items are really just pieces of crap. Zman’s bike is a case in point. It cost me $65 and after four days the brakes don’t work, the rear axle is worn, and the crank is pretty much falling apart in my hands. I could spend twice as much, but I would still have a piece of junk. Regardless, he was really excited. We brought cake to his classroom and one of the other teachers threw a party in her room after school.
Next we turn our sights to a car. These too are really expensive. It is next to impossible to find a used car for less than $20,000. In fact, I found a used 2008 Ford Escape for 75,000,000B’s (~$37,000) when a brand new 2008 Ford Escape costs 51,000,000B’s (~$25,000). Explain that one to me. Fortunately, the school will give us a no interest loan and assist us in purchasing a car. Tomorrow I am going to look at a couple of Ford EcoStars and a couple Toyota Terios to see how they feel. I would like to have a car by the middle of September if not sooner.
I guess that’s about it for the land of sunshine and silicone. We have three bedrooms and would love to entertain guests so give us a shout!
MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 1:37 AM
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