Exhale

As quoted from "Tales of a Female Nomad" by Rita Golden Gelman...." ' I tell my brother I AM in a real world, it's just not HIS world, and he smiles knowingly. "I give you another six months. You'll get it out of your system."

They do not understand, the more I live it, the more I want it. 

...I'm not running away. I'm running toward....toward adventure, toward discovery, toward diversity."

My world is not perfect...the picture here shows what rainy season in Venezuela looks like out the windshield of my car on my drive home. The streets are flooded and often impassable. Last week, in addition to days of flooded streets, the one day that streets were somewhat dry, we had a protest. That day, citizens burned tires in one of the two main roads in town to protest the constant power outages. The regularly 20 minute drive home from school became an 80 minute epic maze. See....it's not perfect.

Yet....I am happy. My job is fulfilling and fun. Teaching students from around the world who come from families of influence is inspiring. I truly hope that one day I will see the name of one of my students in world headlines as a leader who is making a difference.

I am meeting new people. This week, those new people included men...DATES.....and that was interesting. Both men turned out to be no-so-available....but it was fun to see my new culture from that point of view. Men here chase after MUCH younger women. Thus, women in their 40's are often doomed to a life of single-parenthood as their husbands move on to start new families (often TWICE, even,....as it is not rare to see 60+ year old men with 20 something year old women and toddler children).

Where am I headed?....onward...for sure. I am addicted to this adventure and the experience of pushing my limits. In some ways that does include things like kiteboarding and SCUBA-yet, in other ways, that merely includes an insatiable thirst for experiencing new things beyond mere physical challenges. I yearn to know women across the globe-their trials and their joys. I want to taste the sounds of new languages. Finding the key to new cultures is better than being a spy and uncovering a devious, subversive plot. My energy is derived from these drives.

I hope to continue to give you a glimpse into my soul...and not just record the world that I see. This adventure is about so much more than teaching. It is about more than a salary or a foreign language. This is a lifetime dream realized. When I went to Africa as a young mom of two toddlers, I knew I could survive....yet, I missed the part about truly living. Now, I have been handed a second chance to truly live life in the fullest way possible. I am not going to miss a single minute...I am going to meet people, and learn languages, and taste foods, and make friends, and try to understand the hearts of people all over this globe.....and my quest has begun in Venezuela!!!

Thanks for traveling along.

This is the week that never ends.....

My first open water dive.

The waterfall at the end of the 1 hour jungle hike on ED-ventures.

The hammocks at the Eco-lodge in Paria where we stayed for ED-ventures.

THE STORY OF MY WEEK....

Take 50 middle schoolers plus 90 degree heat with 90% humidity, mix in a constant cloud of mosquitoes at a rustic camp of cabins, tents, and hammocks, add a fair amount of stomach flu and fevers, and, just for good measure, throw in treacherous trails along ravines with boiling hot springs below, careening truckloads of students sitting on benches in the bed of the truck, along with a downpour to flood the tents….and you have what my school week looked like last week. This grand adventure is an annual trip called ED-ventures sponsored by my school. This year, I was one of 8 chaperones and leaders for the trip.

 

I took notes about the trip instead of keeping a journal. It’s not that I was too busy to write, I was merely too hot or too tired or…..well, once, I even cried. It was tough. I was the only chaperone who had actually ever raised kids and, thus, by nature, I was the only one looking at it from both the parent and the teacher point of view. To be fair, I am not one of those parents who sheltered my kids-I mean, I let my 13 year old daughter climb UP a rock (El Capitan) for four days. My perspective on safe and reasonable is pretty broad, I thought…..until this trip.

 

Monday, after 6 hours on a bus-winding through the backwoods of Venezuela on two lane roads with 95 speed bumps (literally, we counted), coaxing kids through their carsickness the whole way, we arrived in Paria. It’s a peninsula on the eastern side of Venezuela that contains a large amount of biodiversity as well as the eco-lodge that would be our home for the week.

 

For the next five days we hiked through rainforests, around lakes, up hot springs, down mountain ridges, as well as visited a cocoa plantation/factory/museum and planted trees. The nights were hot and the days were scorching. All the guides spoke in Spanish so I made up my own story about everything in my head, and so did the 10 or so students in my same boat.  At least I have cool photos, even if I cannot tell you anything about what is in them=). During our downtime in camp, we played games like capture the flag and various forms of tag-all organized and led by 8^th graders. Many of these activities took place at 7 AM…yeah, you can imagine how those went….at least it was not scorching yet at that time of day.

 

The high points…???....swimming in the cool springs at the base of the water falls, carving the totuma pods,  and seeing the villages on the mountain hike.

 

Now that I am home, I have spent my first two days (my whole weekend) finishing my SCUBA Open Water certification.  The first day we dove and had to return to the dive shop in a rainstorm with pelting rain, strong winds, and lightening….it was exciting….and cold. In spite of that, we did see fish of so many colors that I thought I was in the Disney movie with Nemo…..and we saw octopi-which apparently are rare to see. Day two was sunny, thankfully. Our day started with a pod of dolphins cavorting near our boat on the way to the dive site. On the dives we saw a shipwreck and eels among other beautiful sights. I did end up with an annoying jellyfish sting, but it was worth it. SCUBA is an exhilarating, fascinating, and nervewrecking activity. I am glad I am doing it.

 

So, tune in next week, you never know what will happen next….(like the 6.3 earthquake that shook the country’s  capital yesterday and sent mild shock waves all the way to us-never a dull moment).

 

 

The day I said..."I'm sick of this CRAP"

Forget Pollyanna and her glad game. I am just plain not glad! Forget thinking happy thoughts. I am out of them! Forget looking at the bright side. I am sick of the heat on that side!...this week, I am plain old "sick of this crap!"

Before you panic and think I am jumping off my balcony or quitting my job and running away, I am not. In fact, I really am exaggerating (mostly)-but I really have had one of THOSE weeks. Here is the rundown on my week...

PARENTS-love 'em when they help kids get tutors, make sure homework is done, and oversee adequate sleep and eating patterns. This week, though, parents were asking for group changes, questioning project requirements, and demanding extra security for our camping trip next week. Thus, I have lost most of my planning periods to parent meetings.

POWER-pretty much can't count on it these days at school or home. My room temp hovers around 90 degrees with humidity so high we merely drip through the day.

COMPUTERS-curse them....I have lost so many documents this week when power has gone out that I could wallpaper my bathroom with them (that is, if I still had them-wah!). Plus, those handy-dandy classroom websites and interschool messaging systems and internet based grade keepers are useless without internet connections (which, require power-ahhhh-eeeemm).

WATER-with all the sweating (see POWER), one form of relief would be a nice cold shower, right? PSYCHE!! Nope, because as soon as the power comes back on, the water turns off-it's a rotten cycle (and I smell pretty rotten too!)

CULTURE SHOCK-yep, that nasty little rat is rearing it's ugly head all across the campus. People are tired, and hot, and irritable, and sick, and impatient, and homesick, and, well....just plain not very nice. This is normal (so don't worry...this is just FYI, that's all)....but it still doesn't make it fun.

TRAFFIC-The police stops were bad...the lawless traffic patterns were worse....now throw in ad hoc construction projects with illogical detours and roads closed for random demonstrations and assorted street parties...and, well, couldn't they have saved those for NEXT week?

ED-VENTURES-this is the bane of my existence at the moment. We are preparing to take 50 middle schoolers on a camping trip for a whole week next week. To further complicate it, I am a leader and I am clueless. Everyone knows how I hate to be clueless....so camping in the heat+middle schoolers+no apparent plan (at least one that I am able to decipher)+language challenges=UGH!!

On the horizon is a silver lining, though...
I am learning to salsa dance at classes twice a week
I get to finish my scuba open water certification next weekend
I am planning a trip to Quito, Ecuador with friends
A few other teachers and I are working on getting a boat-wait 'til you see it! (it's not what you think)
My students are motivated and refreshing
The views and opportunities continue to be AMAZING...so,
....I am done complaining=)
...I will just be glad to be alive and lovin' life in VENEZUELA afterall!