It's Getting Better All the Time

Hi.

Hope your Labor Day Weekend was an enjoyable close to the real "summer".  I hope you didn't enjoy College Football weekend too much, or not as much as this young lady.  She registered a .341 and subsequently increased her twitter followers by 6K that day.  "Vodka Sam"had a little too much fun at the Hawk game.  I just wish she would have been wearing the infamous "I Drink for My City" or "Iowa F'n City" shirt.

Tough loss for the Hawks and Clones, but a nice win for the Panthers.  Long season everyone, settle in and enjoy it. We get 14 more weeks and now that I found a good stream, I really mean "we".

Moving on.

The Week of Provocation 

As you know last weekend, was a bit of a challenge, but I think it was more the word to the left.  

Anyway, good always wins or evil (at least in the Disney movies, obviously not in Disney shows- look at Miley Cyrus) and come Saturday things got better. 

I have been waking up literally 3 to 5 minutes before every alarm I set lately and Saturday was no different.  6:55 am and I shot up.  Morris called me literally two minutes later to see if I wanted to go to the Farmers Market.  Fresh fruit?  Yes, please.  Throw on the same clothes as yesterday and we rolled.  

The Farmer's Market is like any other market, but just with at Venezuelan twist.  Crazy traffic feet away, the colorful umbrellas, and cheesy, schmoozing banter.  

As soon as we got down Morris suggested I try some fresh coconut juice.  I thought it was going to be just pre-made and poured into a cup.  Nope we asked for it cold and the guy literally walked to a refrigerator, brought it to his tree stump turned cutting board, and just started hacking away.  

If you look close you'll notice he doesn't have a thumb...kidding he does.  But I saw him get nervous once when he had a near miss.  

Thumbs up for coconuts, thumbs up for Iowa, thumbs up for Venezuela. 

After consuming this green ball of deliciousness we hit the streets in search of good food.  We found a cool fruit stand where the owner would let you sample what you were looking to buy.  We had some watermelon and pineapple before dropping some coin.  

I went straight for the pineapple, while Morris went farther down the stand to look at some apples.  Well talking to one of the workers I managed to look around and take in the scene.  I was the only fair skinned (gringo) as far as I could see.  I ordered two pineapples to be cut up, found some kiwi, mango, bananas, and apples to add to the bag.  Just as I was becoming mesmerized with the cutting of the pineapple our friend and colleague Todd appeared like a white specter in the night.  There he was all 6' 150 pounds of him dressed in Adidas shorts, running top, carrying two huge packs, sunglasses, ear buds, and a running visor.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Todd looks like Jesus.  Long, mid-back length brown hair, slender face, and speaks with a wisdom accumulated from years of being an ex-pat.

You can't see it in the picture, but the worker is using a standard army issued knife to cut up my pineapples.  

"Hey dude."

"Jesus!" I exclaimed.  Not as in the person, but in shock.

"I recommend the mangos," he countered with a smile.

I recommend me getting my heart rate down.

Morris came over, we shared a brief conversation and Todd disappeared into the crowd like Batman to Gordon.  

We finished up, and I bought some eggs on the way out.  Total cost 295 Bs.  (An unbelievable deal)

Morris then invited me to his aunt's house for arepas, knowing that is my current kryptonite I agreed.

We had to run to Farmatodo (think Walgreens) to get some juice to bring.  While in there they actually had toliet paper!  We both stocked up and then I noticed this little product.  May be a good thing to have handy...

No witty caption needed.

We got his aunt's apartment, a nice, homey place not terribly far from us.  It had a cool breakfast bar type area, and some traditional religious decor.  Her arepas were great.  We had a great conversation (she speaks no English, I speak little Spanish, but it worked) and we demolished the food.  She asked me why did I come to Venezuela (not the first person here to ask) and I replied, "Why not?"  It was a crazy thing to do, to challenge myself, and to see some of the world.  Worth a shot.  

She laughed and we began to help her clean up.  

Morris and her were going to Caracas for his grandmother's birthday. They were going to drop me off on the way, but had to go to the market first.  This was a market I had never been to.  Clean, well-stocked, and containing some items hard to find elsewhere like tuna in water, and an entire pigs leg (everyone needs one of those to grill). 

100% organic.

I caught him playing Candy Crush on the job.  Level 32, what a beginner. 

She got what she needed, while Morris and I found Red Bulls and promptly drank them.

They dropped me off and I proceeded to have fantasy drafts for the next two days (four drafts).  The first one was later that day at my friend Jon's house. They had people in the league over, including our headmaster.  We had some food and drinks, drafted, and spent the rest of the day discussing the Olympics cutting wrestling and watching football.  Good day.

Not much else going on down here in the South America (yes I know I put "the" in front).  Thing's are slowing down, so that is positive.  

I forgot to mention that we had Open House on Thursday, it was rather insignificant in terms of humor or action, but I did meet some of the parents.  They are very well off, with a strong interest in their student.  Many asked for additional materials to be done at home on top of the homework.  Crazy.

This weekend a group of us are going to rent a posado (think cabin) on a beach for Saturday, should be a relaxing time.  Hopefully, I can get some good pictures to share.

Hope everyone had a safe and entertaining weekend and are looking forward to fall (we don't have fall, it only gets warmer from here on out).

Best of luck to your college and pro teams this weekend, I look forward to seeing lots of pro-(enter team here) posts and the use of "we" within them.  I have a coaching friend who used to argue about the use of "we" with another friend.  He said you can't say "we" because the other wasn't on the team. It made me laugh, and still does.  Hilarious conversation, guess you had to be there.

Enjoy yourselves, but not too much.  "Moderation in all things."

KRS