One of the great things about living here in Venezuela is seeing some of the amazing wildlife that lives in and around our little school. Aside from my two tortoises, the workers found a rare naked tailed armadillo on the school grounds last week. I've decided to call him Dillo (though the school is having a vote on what they want to call him). I've spent the past couple of nights with my flashlight searching for him, but I can't seem to find him. After showing him to the kids, he was released on the school grounds, but it is possible that he got out or was on a different side of campus from where I was searching.
Aside from Dillo, I've also seen some HUGE iguanas running around the campus. One was easily about two feet long (not counting a majority of his tail). We also have a large number of other little geckos and other types of lizards.
Then there are the large number of birds that reside here. I've seen so many colorful birds that it's really amazing. Little yellow and red birds are flying around and sometimes you can even see a humming bird flying near some of the flowers.
Then there is the large ant and insect population. While I'm sure you've heard and read about my battle with the ants, the true battle is with the leaf-cutter ants. These ants literally climb up into the trees, cut off some leaves (which fall to the ground and are picked up by others) and take them back to their nest, where they use it to grow fungus. According to one website, the path that they take to their nest can be as long as 250 meters (think yards). One of our colonies has an extremely long path that they take nightly and it includes climbing over a nine foot cement wall!
When I get a computer, I'll try to post some pics for you, but until then, you can do an Internet search for the pics!! Until then, you'll just have to picture this amazing place in your mind. Until next time....
God Bless
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
My First Week in Anaco.....
Greetings friends!!!
Yes, despite the rumors circulating on the Internet, I am alive and well here in Venezuela. I have yet to die, although the mosquitoes have banded together and are trying to give me dengue (seriously, there are thousands and they NEVER DIE).
School has begun and we are almost finished with our first week (only 176 days till school is out--yes!!). I have a grand total of 9 students in my two classes and one student is leaving in mid-September, so I will have four 5th graders and four 6th graders. The drawback is that the public schools start in September, so we'll probably pick up a few more students in the next couple weeks.
Life in Anaco is pretty interesting. There is really only one mall type of place, called Unicasa (I swear I've been there almost daily). There is a grocery store, some clothing shops, two Internet cafes and a shwarma place (reminds me of Egypt!). There is also a McDs across the street, which isn't too bad (I know, I broke my boycott after getting sick in Egypt).
I live on campus, which is pretty cool. We have some mango and cashew trees growing around the houses, as well as some banana trees and a coconut palm. You can even find a lime tree, if you look closely.
My class is also the proud caretakers of a tortoise named Jennifer (the boys voted for it). She is a native species that the locals eat as a delicacy around Easter. The director here is looking to save some and start up a little reserve at the school, which would be pretty cool.
Other than that, life isn't too bad. Soccer is on all the time (sweet) and I finally figured out my stove. A brief note though, the president here has said that any foreigner that bad mouths his regime will be expelled from the country. I don't really wish to test that statement, so don't expect too many negative comments coming from here. They own almost every utility and even the Internet provider that we use and I'd prefer to stay out of trouble for a while. Although if you want an interesting read, check out BBC.com and read about his speech to the national assembly yesterday. Awesome.
God Bless
Yes, despite the rumors circulating on the Internet, I am alive and well here in Venezuela. I have yet to die, although the mosquitoes have banded together and are trying to give me dengue (seriously, there are thousands and they NEVER DIE).
School has begun and we are almost finished with our first week (only 176 days till school is out--yes!!). I have a grand total of 9 students in my two classes and one student is leaving in mid-September, so I will have four 5th graders and four 6th graders. The drawback is that the public schools start in September, so we'll probably pick up a few more students in the next couple weeks.
Life in Anaco is pretty interesting. There is really only one mall type of place, called Unicasa (I swear I've been there almost daily). There is a grocery store, some clothing shops, two Internet cafes and a shwarma place (reminds me of Egypt!). There is also a McDs across the street, which isn't too bad (I know, I broke my boycott after getting sick in Egypt).
I live on campus, which is pretty cool. We have some mango and cashew trees growing around the houses, as well as some banana trees and a coconut palm. You can even find a lime tree, if you look closely.
My class is also the proud caretakers of a tortoise named Jennifer (the boys voted for it). She is a native species that the locals eat as a delicacy around Easter. The director here is looking to save some and start up a little reserve at the school, which would be pretty cool.
Other than that, life isn't too bad. Soccer is on all the time (sweet) and I finally figured out my stove. A brief note though, the president here has said that any foreigner that bad mouths his regime will be expelled from the country. I don't really wish to test that statement, so don't expect too many negative comments coming from here. They own almost every utility and even the Internet provider that we use and I'd prefer to stay out of trouble for a while. Although if you want an interesting read, check out BBC.com and read about his speech to the national assembly yesterday. Awesome.
God Bless
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
My First Venezuelan Night.....
Well....I´ve made it! I´m currently sitting in a tight little Internet cafe in Anaco. I don´t have a computer yet, so postings will be infrequent until my Mac gets here (sorry about that) and I don´t have a cell phone yet either, so you´ll have to wait to contact me.
The first impressions are interesting. I was greeted by a beautiful storm last night and the lightning was quite impressive. I arrived at my house and the door was left open for waaaay to long, which meant I had to sleep with my sheet over my head to protect myself from all the mosquitos. Then this morning I had a battle with a bunch of ants trying to come in through the opening near one of my ACs. It was a lot of fun.
The people here seem pretty friendly and all the teachers at school are great. I´d love to post more, but we are here to get some supplies before heading back to school.
God Bless!
The first impressions are interesting. I was greeted by a beautiful storm last night and the lightning was quite impressive. I arrived at my house and the door was left open for waaaay to long, which meant I had to sleep with my sheet over my head to protect myself from all the mosquitos. Then this morning I had a battle with a bunch of ants trying to come in through the opening near one of my ACs. It was a lot of fun.
The people here seem pretty friendly and all the teachers at school are great. I´d love to post more, but we are here to get some supplies before heading back to school.
God Bless!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
My Upcoming Departure......
As I'm sitting in Agnes' computer room and trying to make sure all of my bags are within the current weight requirements (so far, so good)....I was trying to think about all the amazing things that have happened over the past month. I went on an amazing road trip. I was able to spend a week with my dad, seeing movies, going out to eat and taking some fun walks around DM (I also got to pick on mom a bit here and there too!). I made brief 23 hour trip to Minneapolis and back with my friend Jennifer to visit our mutual friend Laura (and to get some textbooks that someone is letting me borrow....I owe you big time!!!). I even went out and baled some hay for the first time, in an attempt to get back into my aunt Lola's good graces (although I still have a lot of work to go). And finally, I made some new friends at Ephemra, an awesome little store at the intersection of Grand & 4th St. in the East Village (GO VISIT THEM NOW!!!).
The one thing that I loved the most though is just being here.....home. I had the opportunity to see so many friends and family members (thanks for the bbqs Burgins!), that it truly made one both humble and grateful. I was able to see my grandpa Flinn for the first time in years and I saw Aunt Lola and Uncle Butch too. Lola had mentioned that she followed the blog and it made me recall how many people actually said that they kept up with this thing (I'm still in a state of shock really) and for that I would like to thank all of you. I really had fun hanging out and visiting everyone that I was able to and for those of you that I didn't get to see, I'm sorry and I hope to see you at Christmas.
This all reminds me of when my buddy Dustin used to live in England. I remember that he would come home for around 2 weeks and he would be booked solid for the entire time he was home. I never understood why he had to see everyone, or even how he knew so many people! Now I understand though buddy, and I'm sorry if I was ever a jerk about any of it.
And now I'm about to begin the next adventure. Tomorrow morning I leave for Miami and then on Tuesday afternoon I fly down to Venezuela. I don't know how long it will be before I have Internet access again, but I will try to get online and update you with my contact info as soon as I can. In the meantime, I want to leave you with some lines from a song that has really been hitting me over the past few months. It's from the new Linkin Park album:
The one thing that I loved the most though is just being here.....home. I had the opportunity to see so many friends and family members (thanks for the bbqs Burgins!), that it truly made one both humble and grateful. I was able to see my grandpa Flinn for the first time in years and I saw Aunt Lola and Uncle Butch too. Lola had mentioned that she followed the blog and it made me recall how many people actually said that they kept up with this thing (I'm still in a state of shock really) and for that I would like to thank all of you. I really had fun hanging out and visiting everyone that I was able to and for those of you that I didn't get to see, I'm sorry and I hope to see you at Christmas.
This all reminds me of when my buddy Dustin used to live in England. I remember that he would come home for around 2 weeks and he would be booked solid for the entire time he was home. I never understood why he had to see everyone, or even how he knew so many people! Now I understand though buddy, and I'm sorry if I was ever a jerk about any of it.
And now I'm about to begin the next adventure. Tomorrow morning I leave for Miami and then on Tuesday afternoon I fly down to Venezuela. I don't know how long it will be before I have Internet access again, but I will try to get online and update you with my contact info as soon as I can. In the meantime, I want to leave you with some lines from a song that has really been hitting me over the past few months. It's from the new Linkin Park album:
When my time comes,
forget the wrong that I've done
help me leave behind some,
reasons to be missed.
And don't resent me,
and when you're feeling empty,
keep me in your memories,
leave out all the rest.
You've all left me with some great memories from this summer, so thanks a ton and I'll see you on the other side!!
God Bless
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