?como se dice..?


how do you say... shit, will we ever not be such bumbling bozos? We come up against this brick wall and comprehension is on the other side. scaling that wall for every interaction is exhausting. every simple activity of daily life becomes a rich language/cultural lesson. clearly immersion is the best way to learn a language. we are forced at every turn to interact. To speak with our hosts, shopping for our basic needs, to navigate around the city...usually we can communicate our needs its often the response we can not decipher. I do think i have a few advantages in this struggle over Andy. Although he has a stronger background in Spanish and a broader vocabulary I am more forthcoming with interactions and more willing to humiliate myself. An outgoing, confident personality may gain an advantage in the short term. Also as a sign language interpreter I have spent many years becoming fluent in another language and remember the struggle and similar road blocks. Working between two languages and cultures everyday continually dechiphering meaning as I do in my sign interpreting work has helped in this new process. And it is true that Latin American culture is more expressive using more gestures and visual cues. many times I ask for directions and I understand almost nothing of the response but I can follow all the hand gestures. That is very comfortable to me so I can feign understanding better. but overall andy probably does understand more than I do. we are a good team filling in each others gaps. Zarha is as quiet here with others as she is with all adults at home so she doesn't say much. however she is absorbing it all.

Last night was dramatic. we had arrived home from a day of exploring Caracas and shortly before 9pm the whole city exploded into booms and bangs and car honking and whistles and clapping and noise and what the heck was happening. It couldn't be a war yet the elections are over a week away. I was on the phone with a coordinator of the media delegation we will be working with when this began. He said it was the the opposition’s party campaigns last march and party before the election. Fireworks went off all over the city but concentrated in wealthier areas. Tomorrow, Sunday (Nov 26th,2206) is Chavez's campaign party last demonstration. hundreds of thousands our expected out on the street for a last rally and campaign celebration. We will be filming as we have international press access to stages and speakers for this next week.

Today we took Zarha on the Teleferico it is a incredible cable car ride that takes you up the mountain side where once on top of the mountain you can see the ocean below. It was a spectacular clear and sunny day, as most seem to be here, and I recalled it was on that ride last January, while marveling at the view I committed to coming back for longer and uncovering the many wonders of this country.
after we left the mountain we encountered more Chavez opposition folks driving and walking in this specific area. Andy will describe more but I did upset a car load who wanted me to give the sign for the opposition and when I made the sign for the Chavez campaign she gave me the "no no no shame shame" sign.

I do want to say that our awesome host family reminds us of Andy's parents. The Latin American version that is. Very open and politically progressive. They have been very helpful showing us around and very patient with our terrible spanish.
However they are very organized there home is immaculate and not one book or paper is out of place. That has been a little intimidating for this hippy family. matter of fact all of Venezuelan culture is a little intimidating that way. Cleanliness here is a big value. Dirty hippies are not regarded highly. sigh. So some days we take 2 showers a day to combat the sweat and dirt. Another false promise to my child in order to entice her to come here that she wouldn't need to shower as much. that along with getting her hopes up on bringing one of the many stray dogs home. It is difficult to adopt a dog from another country and bring it into the US. It is ironic about the cleanliness thing because the garbage overflows in most parts of the city and the traffic pollutes horribly. Worse traffic than NYC by far. Although the metro is is more like DC or Montreal both in its cleanliness and simplicity.
Bikers are an extinct breed here. All have probably been killed already.

ZARHA STIKES, I mean writes again....


HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII........hi.


Well I had kinda interesting experiences....

...


umm....err..ehh... well I learned peligrosso..... I think I spelled it wrong but It's dangerous, I also learned other stuff but I don't remember what it was....maybe I can blame it on hitting my head....... So as I was saying, I hit my head really bad and now it's hard to remember the words I learned. :). We moved places we're staying, now we're staying IN Caracas, not by it, I recently decided that Caracas sounded like carcass.....Then we....we....I can't remember, I bumped my head so hard.....umm......it's coming slowly.................OHH...YEAH!!!! So we got dropped off in a taxi to the other place we're staying, then we carried our bags up. We all agree that we over packed. Then Andy and Dawn talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and I don't feel like typing (or copy/pasting it) anymore, so imagine that talking, but three hours worth.
So then after all that talking and talking and talking.....yeah....we went out, and I reached that point were you hate something before you get used to it. It could of been since I was hungry, it was like a feeling of self pity, but I decided that the feeling would go away soon, so that cheered me up, plus I saw pineapple, that helped. Then we went shopping and that's were the fun began. We went to a food place, we were all hungry and cranky, and we went there in the hope that food would cheer us up, so we were going to get a bit of food and get out of there.
I don't think that's what dawn had in mind.
We came in and split up, dawn took a cart and andy and I went to get a salad or something, then after a while, we met back up with dawn, she had a cart full of stuff, Dawn wanted to stock up for the next few days. None of us really cared. So andy suggested a few more things and we went on our way. When we got to the register Dawn wasn't sure that we had enough Bolivares (the currency there) to get it, Andy said it was OK, but to be sure Dawn took back the almonds. We still didn't have enough. The lady there was nice, if she was mean she probably would of gotten impatient, it took andy a few minutes to count up the money and he didn't understand anything the person was saying, likewise, the lady didn't understand anything he was saying. Dawn was going to just say to take the papayas back (I think that's what they were) but Andy said "No we might have enough" It continued, and andy said when we finally left that we showed our true Gringo face, and not only did he feel like a Gringo, but he felt slow and stupid. I liked the experience it made me realize that....well...I don't remember because of that head bang, but we DID get pineapple witch made me happy.
Then we got back and nothing interesting happened since, and now we're going to play a spanish game soon to help learn spanish, I don't know what it is, but it sounds interesting.



Sincerely: Zarha, IceDragon, Macaroni, Person That Doesn't Feel Like Typing Any More Names Because the Bump on The Head Made Them Not Want to. :)


....Oh...AND I just read Dawn's post and I would like to say, I love my pearint's but I wish Dawn would stop mentoining me so much, and the dog idea was mine, I'd like credid where there's some dew. :) and I'm NOT worried about her staying, because I know there's nothing I can do about it and when I don't really care I shouldn't try, so don't beleave ANYTHING Dawn say's about people because she puts words in other peoples mouths :) hehe, this is fun. I'd say stuff about what Andy said but I didn't read his blog posts, until I'm bored again sincerely(for the second time witch means it isn't REALLY sincere *coughbecauseofmyheadbumpcough*):
Person With Really Long names.

...
Oh AND I finaly am allowed to post pictures so here are some on another post.

Gringos on the loose.....


Blogging is hard to get used to. I cant focus on one family member or friend that I think may appreciate a specific story. words can go to anyone and I cannot predicate who you are. thanks for taking time to read our stories, I like being with you at this late hour after our first full day in Venezuela. I can hear the waves crashing along the shore and cicada bugs chirping as the cooler night air streams in. Andy and I just came down from the roof top of our coastal abode were we oohhhed and ahhhed over many shooting stars. We shared feelings and thoughts of our first day. Our host Charlie is an angel disguised as radical ex-priest, independent Journalist, storyteller, jokster and revolutionary cowboy. thats the best kind of angel.
He is making our entry and transition between cultures and languages almost seamless. There are the very humbling moments when I smack full on with my inablility to communicate beyond preschool needs. Charlie is a bit of recluse writer. he lives along the coast in one of these many mosty abandoned penthouse buildings. you could imagine Florida, palms trees and a gated community but you wouldn't get the full picture. In 1999 a mudslide from the looming mountains beyond washed over miles of this area burying anything along the way under mud. 50,000 people died! and these beautiful tiled and brick penthouses were partially buried and looted. The damage is apparent throught all the building and the area in general. I said I would escape the fences of US territory while here yet I find many metal bars on doors and windows. In this area you can never be too careful. Few people seem to occupy these buildings that I have yet to determine if they are on the economic upswing or decline. we did not explore the actual beach. charlie warned against it. the last time he went jogging there he was robbed of wedding ring and watch by someone with a broken bottle top. We actually took the advice and never walked this section of beach. we have seen it from the distance as we walked up the hillside.
I wondered how much safer we were talking english and carrying our digital video and photo equipment where often nesteled into the hillside poverty is greater. However I do not feel threatened or targeted with any negative attention. maybe a slight curiousity or indiffernce. The same reaction we would give folks walking around our nieghborhood.

I saw for myself today the difference charlie describes between the Chavez and Rosales Campaigns. The youth are out in greater numbers for Chavez exhibiting high energy,slowing cars handing out "ballots", stickers and soaping cars with slogans of support for Chavez. The Roasles campaing across the street has a few old ladies trying to sign people up to vote. However, the one Venezuelen most interested in me today who wanted to practice his english was not a Chavez supporter. The reasons and "facts" for his viral distate for chavez seem hard to confirm. He claims Chavez allows for violence and came up with a number of 90,000 deaths a year due to violence. Charlie our host has lived here 20 years and says this may be the best government venezuela has known in 200 years. he says the violence under Perez was so great students would demonstrate with signs reading "if we are your future why are you killing us?" He says even oppositional newspàpers of Chavez claim only 30 to 40 deaths a day.
it is always the war of words and information. I want to find out more about the software and voting machines. There is some controversy as to wheter the elections are rigged. This anti- Chavistia man percieves the election as being as close as 50-50 split between Chavez and Rosales. Charlie says he views it more as 60-40 split between chavez and rosales. Which is what the national polls are predicting now as well. I am surprised both figures are that high for Rosales. I was not aware that Chavez's competition was getting that much support. It does make the situation more unpredicable. I have heard twice now that there is a call for violence by the oppostion against chavez supporters the day after the election. who exactly is calling this and what that means is not clear. our media delegation has security as I was told. we will make sure we keep a low profile with zarha. I saw Caracas explode when I was here for the World Social Forum after Lions (the Caracas baseball team) beat the rural rivals. It was electric and edgy and I do not doubt that emotions could soar over this. we are here to witness but we will be safe.

zarha and I had our few rough moments when she whole heartedly rejected my idea to video her narrative of Venezuela through her eyes as a 12 yr old US citizen. A friend of mine suggested that as a good angle for our film. oh well. I guess the angle is going to be about stray dogs on this tropical South American country instead. Zarha is a funny, creative writer and I am glad she was motivated to write today. I realize we have to be careful because zarha now has the power to broadcast to any or all of the world how she views her parents. This my not be good for finding jobs later.
she is already worried I want to stay longer. I do. smile. I am already wondering why I have a flight back to Rochester NY in Feburary.

tomorrow we leave our coastal layover and head into Caracas, after a brief detour back to the airport where we will be reunited with our tent. that is no minor piece of property as that will be our home later in the trip.
I was given a Spanish name by a family member of the family we will be residing with for three weeks while in Caracas. She told me my name was cute in Spanish and good for the Process (process meaning the Chavista revolution)
so I will sign now and use my gifted name,
love to all who have gotten this far,
Alba
ps. no yoga classes yet but I did do the happy baby pose on the roof top looking up at a sky full of stars.

ZARHAS POST;


Before I say anything, I am home schooled and I choose what I learn, and I hate spelling and grammar, thats why my spelling and grammar's so bad (it's nice to blame it on something.)


I learned a bunch of stuff so far (in the 23 hours.) First thing was that we are actually going, it's been so surreal for the months we were planing to go, I couldn't imagine it. I decided it's kinda like Florida but without understanding what anyone's saying. I don't remember what the other three things I learned was, but when I got off the plane and the person picked us up, the fourth thing I learned was there really ARE a lot of dogs here. There was a dog at the parking lot of the airport, it was one of the first things I saw, then today when we went walking around exploring, I saw a bunch of stray dogs every where, they were very friendly and some let us pet them. But they speak spanish so they were weary of us since they can't understand us, or maybe they just don't like gringos. There was also a bunch of pet dogs though, and even a pet monkey, there was also a chicken but the monkey was cooler. So I guess the people that say no Venezwalins have pets was wrong. And the dogs weren't only for guarding ether, there was a dog that looked like Sample when she was a puppy, If you don't know Sample, you should. She's going to take over the world some day.


There was some stuff I learned between learning about the dogs, but I forgot about them.

The next things I learned wasn't that interesting but I'll say them anyways, cacharro/a Is a the word for puppy, it's hard to tell if they're male or female though so I call them all cacharro, the males would be more insulated to be called females than females male probably, but there puppies, they probably don't care either way.I also learned that nice is simpatico, it's a long word just for the word nice. I also relearned little pacania I think I spelled that wrong though. I also learned watermelon, but I forgot it.


Dawn said that it was interesting going from to high annoying security in USA to not enough in Venezuela.
Thinking on that I prefer Venezuela, just because it's not TO low on security, just low enough to not be annoying.

Dawn also say's that we might stay an extra month, and that we will probably go through the Amazon, that'll be fun, we can also go to see the huge water fall if we do that.

I took some pictures, apparently I'm the official camera man........person.....thingamajig.....yeah. well If I can figure out how I'll put the pictures on this page, well on a diffrent page, since i want to post them and Dawn wont let me unload the pictures, or whatever you call it...

And, me and Dawn might work on a documentary or something when we get back home witch might be in FOUR months not three....but I already say that.


Well now just because I'm bored, I will say my experiences.

...

...


Well... when I woke up there was this loud speaker thing that was talking in spanish, it sounded like the police telling up to get out of the house with out hands up and to drop our weapons, but Andy said he thought it was a campaign, and Dawn thought it was bulldozers telling us there going to demolish the place, but the person we are staying with for now said it was probably a fruit advertisement or something.


Then we walked and that was when I saw the dogs, I also got a picture of the pet monkey we saw, I don't think it liked the camera though.


I also got a picture of a chicken, I don't know what it was doing, but it looked busy.

Dawn says we might bring a dog back from Venezuela, but I know it's not gonna happen, the laws are so tough that they wouldn't let her take a dead turkey, instead she brought a rubber chicken, I like that better.

But it's nice to wish about getting a brown dog and naming it Flamingo.

We never see stray cats here. Not that there aren't any, there just not as social as the stray dogs.

I haven't seen any pineapples yet, but if I do I'll take a picture of it and put it on here, though I will not get any pictures of paper clips. I don't think they even have any here....hopefully.

Yeah well now I can't think of anything else to say to satisfy my boredom, so I'll have to find another way.





Sincerely: Zarha, Lord Stinky Shoe, IceDragon, Pineapple Lover, Paperclip Hater, Macaroni, .......Person That Can't Think of Any Other Cool Names.

Tips for Travelers...


Always double, triple check departing and arriving days and times. Luckily we erred on the side of an hour earlier than we planned. That is far better then being late. We were rushing around this morning cramming in last minute packing and organizing and then found out that we leave at 1:15 not 11:59. This once and for all affirms my dyslexia. In the email confirmation all it said was "depart at 115P. So in my small brain with few wrinkles I interpreted that to mean 11:59. Isn't it reassuring that I make my living off interpreting meaning between cultures and languages. And up until last week we were planning on leaving Nov 22 and then realized it was Nov 21st. However that was Andy's error and I cannot explain it. Just glad we are catching these glithces before it really throws off all travel plans.

Unless we miss our flight (knocking on wood) this will be our last post from the States. Of course I did think "hmmm, with the extra time I could go and do a yoga class" Andy's look alone brought me back to reality.

More Indymedia journalist friends of ours are in Oaxaca, Mexico reporting on the brutal repression and murder by the Mexican Government of innocent people. Please, Jeff and Sharpie be careful as you try to bring more awareness to this situation. If you can enlighten us about the investigation into Brads execution by the Mexican government that would be helpful. There is so much misinformation and blatant lies as they try to blame his murder on the people he was there to protect with his camera.

last post from our cozy home. Off to the great unknown.

LOVIN' YA!

Thanks to all our wonderful supportive friends and family our send off has been so smooth and happy! Zarha's friends threw her a surprise Ben Viaje party! It was amazing! I filmed and cried.Zarha has the most creative, thoughtful and funny friends. Of course their parents are pretty smashing too. Thank to Antoine and Larry for hosting all the kids and goodies. The Samples (a family we honor so much our dog Sample was named after them) bought Zarha dragon prayer flags that we will travel with and make a nest of dragons for her wherever she goes. Does everyone know that one of Zarhas favorite things are dragons? Hence her nickname Ice Dragon. She also goes by the name "Pineapple" too. I'm going to get to know the side of Pineapple I don’t get to see much with my busy schedule.
Lynn made the most delicious Vegan chocolate cake for the party. I was going to smuggle some into Venezuela but it was devoured before I could squirrel some away. Hey Lynn if reading this PLEASE post the recipe! Zarha is so lucky to have friends that really know and love her enough to accommodate all her weird quirks! Antoine made her two t-shirts. One with a big red button that says, "Do not press" and one with the must gigantic paper clip and many small paper clips on the back. I am still trying to figure out what all this means. I will have 3 months of bonding time to discover all the nuances of my very eccentric child. To her best friends ever Dorian, Nat, Audrey, Rhyadh, Emma, Taylor, Jordan, Joel, Zach thanks for the surprise!

Our parents have made the transition for this experience so much easier! I wont list all the ways they have supported us from birth up until now but suffice it to say that we wouldn’t be going at all if it wasn’t for them! We love you all so much! We will take great care of the one thing of value we have ever been able to repay you with, the sweet girl that made you all Grandparents! No worries. However first we need to teach her SHE is not the one taking care of us!

Thanks to my yoga studio teachers and friends for inspiring me and guiding me into positions this year I would never even have thought of! Look for yoga photos here because I have found studios in Caracas. Thanks Suzanne for that terrific travel yoga guide!

Thanks to our great friends, especially our housemates who have committed to paying the bills and keeping the plants and great black panther vibrant and happy! Thanks for those willing friends that are keeping our eye sore cars. Especially my graffiti art car, that is not to everyone’s taste.

And thanks to all the freaky people that make the beauty of the world.

Lastly, to the corporate sponsors of whom we have none......stop destroying the earth and exploiting the human beings that work for you.