Then Came Monday

November 27, 2007

Monday morning we were awakened by the phone. I jumped out of bed, checking the clock on the way to find that it was 5:50 in the morning! It was someone from the school calling to tell us that school was closed due to demonstrations. I went back to bed.

At 8:30 Derrick showed up at our door yelling, “Come quick, they’re throwing rocks at cars!” We went to his place which overlooks the intersection to find a bunch of people gathered. They were dragging a downed street lamp as well as various bric-a-brac into the middle of the road. When they had effectively blocked all lanes of travel, they added tires and lit the whole mess on fire. As we looked above the trees, we could see plenty of smoke rising up in other neighborhoods as well. We also heard explosions which turned out to be fireworks.

These folks were pretty peaceful; chanting anti-Chavez slogans, redirecting motorists, and stoking the fires. Eventually the police showed up and drove them off. They started to clear the intersection when the students returned with rocks and chased the police off. As they retreated, the cops shot off tear gas in the street. This, of course, mingled with the black tire smoke, reached our windows quickly, driving us back inside. We slammed the windows and doors closed and raced for cool, wet cloths for our eyes. Fortunately, Zachary didn’t get much.

As the students ran from the gas, the cops showed up en masse. They shot shotgun blasts into the air and stood guard while several fellows cleaned up the intersection. When it was all clear, they fired off a few more rounds and took off for another hot spot. It only took about thirty minutes for the intersection to be blocked once again. This little game continued for most of the day.

As evening came on we wandered out to scope the scene. We walked down Pocaterra and encountered road blocks about every twenty feet. When we got to Avenida Michelena we found that the entire street was completely torn up. Protestors had removed the drainage grates from the middle of the road, placed large steel plates at the end of the block, and moved huge concrete barriers into the center of the avenue. They were gathered in a large group at the other end of the street, but we didn’t venture too close. We are, after all, foreigners here.

Needless to say, school was cancelled again today. We got the call at 5:30. It was a much calmer day overall, though. We managed to run some errands and have a better look around. There is evidence of mayhem at just about every corner, but for the most part things have died down. Avenida Michelena is still a mess, but we have been told that school will commence tomorrow. We are not optimistic that there will be a lot of students, but as long as we go to work now, we don’t have to make it up later.

On a more personal note; we received news yesterday that our dear feline friend, Gatito, had wandered off. He has not been heard from in over two weeks. He is sixteen if he’s a day. We are thinking the worst. He was a great hunter and a good friend. We will miss him dearly.

MJR

Time Sure Flies...

November 27, 2007

...when you’re having fun.

We had a short week last week, ending school on Wednesday. Ten of us took off directly after work and headed for the mountains. We drove for eight hours that day, arriving in a town called Santa Domingo late that night. It was beautiful, peaceful, and cold. We leapt out of bed the next morning and headed off for Apartederos, further into the Andes. There we visited a refuge for Andean Condors.

The Condor is the largest flying bird on the planet and it’s almost extinct. In fact, there are no more wild ones in Venezuela. The refuge has three. We learned that they mate for life and lay an egg every two years. If they lose their mate, they will not find another. These birds had all lost their mates through hunting. They are a sport bird as they live high up in the mountains and are difficult to locate. It was a gorgeous spot, even if it was incredibly sad.

From there we continue driving on up the mountain to the highest road in Venezuela. We stopped at Pico Aquila for pictures, but there was a ton of fog and it was impossible to see anything. At over twelve thousand feet, it was really cold so we beat feet back down.

Friday we headed off for Merida, a good sized city high in the mountains. We arrived in time for a bunch of protests. The constitutional reform has brought out many people on either side of the issue. We were blocked on one end of town by the no vote and on the other end by the yes vote. The yes vote has better funding with red banners, flyers, and tee shirts, but they’re both annoying when you just want to get to the hotel.

We finally found a small posada with rooms just before the skies opened up and a torrential downpour happened. The streets became rivers and the roof started leaking. We hunkered down and waited for it to stop.

Saturday we got up early to get tickets for the Teleferico (cable car). It is the longest and highest in the world. It goes in four stages, starting at about four thousand feet and ending at almost sixteen thousand feet. It takes an hour and a half from bottom to top. Each station has a café and a gift shop. At the top is a statue of the Virgin Mary. The air is quite thin. I could not stay for long as I started to feel ill. We had some tea in the world’s highest café and headed back down to Earth. It was quite an experience. That afternoon we wound down through the mountains to Apartederos. Half the group stayed there as they were anxious to tour the local observatory. We decided that a two hour tour in Spanish would not be that much fun. Furthermore, the whole thing starts at eight and ends at eleven so we were pretty sure Zachary probably wouldn’t enjoy it much either. We said goodbye to our friends and returned to Santa Domingo. We had dinner in the Puebla, stayed in a nice little cabin, and took a leisurely eight hour drive back to Valencia, arriving around five pm. It was a fantastic weekend, even if there was a lot of driving. The Venezuelan campo is gorgeous, the people are friendly, and the posadas are cheap.

MJR

Bull Fights and Preparations

November 18, 2007

We’ve had some eventful times.

There’s a fair in Valencia right now. Actually it ends today, but we have been twice. The first time we got there at 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon and they were just getting set up. We wandered a bit, bought some cotton candy, let Zachary ride the carousel, and then we headed home.

Neither of us were feeling that well. We have both been sick for the first time since arriving here. Carrie decided to waste most of her week at the doctor and the lab which sounded like an experience in itself. I weathered it out, counting on the info that Carrie gathered and using the drugs the doctor gave her. Thankfully, it was just a virus that came and went.

Now we are better. Last Thursday, a friend invited us to a concert at a local restaurant. Apparently it was a fairly famous Venezuelan band although we had never heard of them. We lined up a babysitter at the last minute and connected with our friends around 9 pm (on a school night!). We headed off for this club where we waited outside for a seat. When we finally sat down we were told that we couldn’t order anything until we had ordered a bottle of whiskey. We got the cheapest one we could find ($110) and nothing else. We danced to the opening act and had fun with the recorded music, but when the main act hadn’t taken the stage at 12:45 we decided to skip out and head home.

Saturday morning was a holiday bazaar at the school. Afterwards we gathered some folks together and headed over to the feria once again. This time we paid for the bull fight. We asked Zachary straight up if he wanted to go in. He said, “I don’t want to watch a bull die.” Neither did Sonya so we left him with her and headed for the nose bleed seats. There was cold beer, but not enough to get through that ordeal. We only watched two; the first one left Carrie in tears, in the second one they “mercifully” let the bull go. What an excruciating event. I did not see the entertainment. I like steak as much as the next guy, but I see no reason to make any animal go through that. We blazed a trail for the fair.
There was good music, great food and lots of things for Zman. We strolled around the grounds for several hours until the crowd was so thick we could barely move. Then we climbed in the car and headed home. Overall, it was fantastic. At least I can say I have seen a bullfight and rendered my own opinion.

Oh wait, I almost forgot! We got a great email this week regarding the upcoming vote. First, let me give you some background. It seems that in prior elections, many of the ballot boxes have been rigged to produce only yes votes. This created a general air of mistrust and caused many people to become more defiant of the government. In subsequent elections, folks were required to state their choice. Those that chose someone other than Hugo mysteriously lost their jobs and many were blackballed from their profession altogether. This has led to a general dislike for elections in general. The upcoming one is particularly sticky as it deals with constitutional reform, including abolishing term limits. There is a lot of speculation about what the people’s reaction will be when the reforms are overwhelmingly approved.

Our school is a polling place for the December 2 ballot. That happens to be a Sunday. We have been told that the school will most probably be closed the two week days prior to and the two week days immediately after the election giving us a six day weekend. After reading the following email however, you may note that it will not really be a vacation.

We would like to inform you that on December 2, 2007, the Referendum will take place to approve/disapprove some of the changes in the Venezuelan Constitution. As you know there have already been some protests around the country for/against the Referendum. Therefore, we came out with some strategies and logistics as a precaution:

1. We may not have class the Thursday and Friday before and Monday and Tuesday after the Referendum; this means that the school might be closed from November 29th and return on the 5th of December. These dates are tentative depending on the situation (formal information will be provided soon).
   
2. During the referendum you will not be able to come to school, so make sure if you need anything at home, to take the items on November 28th.
   
3. At any time from now on, if necessary, we will activate our phone tree to keep you informed. We will post any urgent information on our school’s web site.
   
4. Extra Cash: Should it be necessary for you to buy emergency food items, checks can be cashed if you give them to (name withheld) prior to 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 13th or Monday, November 19th.
   
5. In your apartment, you should keep extra candles and matches, extra food including canned items, pastas, and other staples, including paper products. Also, have extra bottled drinking water on hand.
   
6. If any protests or marches occur in Venezuela , avoid being in those areas.
   
7. If you haven’t already registered with the US Embassy, do so through the following website: https://travelregistration.state.gov

It is not recommended to travel outside the city or around the city during the day of the Referendum. Please keep close to home so that it will be easy for us to contact you if necessary. Monitor the news on the radio or TV.

Please note that this is only a precaution and a security measure and is not intended to scare or to worry you. However, we simply have no way of knowing exactly what is going to occur during these days, and we therefore feel that this is prudent and necessary to take the suggestions with seriousness.
Thank you,

Makes it easy to not be concerned, huh? The bright side is that we will only have one more full week of school between now and Christmas. The bummer is that we’ll have to make up the missed days somehow. Last year they did this on two different Saturdays. If the past is any indication of the future, everything should be pretty peaceful. Part of me hopes not. These reforms don’t seem like a good idea. I don’t like the direction the country is moving. If the people don’t stand up now, things could get really ugly later. We’ll stock up what we can. We live on the seventh floor so that should keep us out of range of bullets. We also live on the same block as the governor so there should be heavy security here. We’ll see how it goes.

This week we are going to the mountains. I’ll try to remember to take pictures.
MJR

Past Lives

November 10, 2007

I’ve been thinking about reincarnation.

It all started with a rafting trip. I went to a place outside the town of Barinas. Carrie and Zman stayed home as they didn’t want anything to do with a six hour car ride. It was just me and seven other staff members plus the family of one of them. It was awesome! The rafting was a blast, the water was warm, and the scenery was spectacular.
The fellow in charge was a Kiwi. It was funny to listen to him speak Spanish with that accent. I engaged him quite a bit. There was an adolescent boy who hung out a lot. He was very quiet, but nice enough, and really polite. I finally asked Don if it was his son. He said, “Yes, that’s my son from a different life.” It got me thinking; How many lives do we live in one lifetime?

I can’t even count the different lives I’ve had. It’s hard to believe that I once worked as a cook or sailed on ships or drove busses. Today I live in Venezuela. That is about as different as it comes it turns out.

The elections are coming up: December 2nd. Chavez is proposing reforms to the constitution. A lot of folks are opposed. As it turns out, the opposition’s strategy is to boycott the elections. When Hugo was elected, he ran unopposed. This was supposed to be a means of protesting. I am still unclear about how this works. It doesn’t really make sense to me. There are marches in Caracas and road blocks in Valencia and people just seem to take it in stride. I finally got a notice from the American Embassy yesterday about protests that have been happening for at least a week. There are no gunshots…yet.

We used to live in Mali; land of peace and poverty. Civil insurrection was not in the cards. That was a whole different life, though. I don’t regret the move here at all. Professionally it was a great move. The lifestyle is different, but that doesn’t equal bad. Different is just different: One more life to add to my many others. I don’t know where the future will take me; what life I will live after this one. It’s better to live here and now. Take it in, work it through, and add it to the library of my mind.
MJR

Trick or Treat

October 28, 2007

Man what a week.

We had Parent Teacher conferences on Wednesday. That was a challenge as there is a lot of work that goes into those things. We had to have report cards ready and then we had to prepare for the conferences themselves. They took up the entire day. I started at 8 and finished at 4:30. I was wiped out.

Friday was the last day for one of my students. He and his three brothers have been at the school for several years, but now their family is moving to Detroit. He’ll have to get used to the snow. Friday evening was the annual Halloween party at the school. It was quite the event. It is a mandatory event for staff. They told us when we were hired that there would be certain expectations for after school activities. There would be certain events we would be expected to attend. Unfortunately, they don’t come right out and tell us which events these are. Instead they include a list of all events throughout the school year inside our Faculty Binder. There is a small star next to many of these things and further investigation reveals that those are, indeed, expected of us if we hope to receive our full bonus at the end of the year.

Anyway, the party was fun; there was lots of food and candy. There were performers and also a haunted house. At the end of the evening, kids got to go to the Early Childhood building and receive treats. The costumes were crazy! Our clientele is very well off and they spare no expense at outdoing others.

We got home around 9:30, stumbling off to bed by eleven so that we could get up and be back at school by 6:30 Saturday morning for another mandatory event called the Charity Road Race. Carrie walked the 5k (~3 miles) course while I stood at the finish line and marked down finishers. The guy who came in first completed the course in a little over sixteen minutes! After the race there was the awards presentation which was done entirely in Spanish and as such was really boring for me. Once that was over, we loaded up the car and headed for the beach with some of the other staff.

It was fun at the beach even if it did rain on and off most of the day. We climbed back in the car around 6 or 7 for the hour long ride home. We stopped by a little town on the way for empanadas and fresh fish and then we proceeded to get really lost. We made it most of the way back to Valencia before we made the wrong turn, but once we veered, it took us forever to find our way back. We finally made it home around nine, exhausted and a little stressed, but safe.

Today we hung out and did very little. Carrie had planned on doing some baking and I was excited to cook up my fish, but there is no gas when we turn on the stove so cooking isn’t going to happen today. Now the power is out too so we sit and find things to occupy our time while Zman naps.

There you go, another week in the life of the marauding teachers. Not much different from life at home, although we can’t understand most of what people say around us, but then I couldn’t really understand much of what those New Yorkers said either.

MJR