I know the weather still hasn't broke up North, but I heard it's staying brighter longer (it's the little victories guys, easy for me to say I know) so that's good.
Thing's aren't too bad here lately, just more of the same. The inflation continues to rise, the sun is still warm, the breeze is still beautiful, and the days keep rolling.
Things only get interesting on the way home from work, but more on that later.
Weekend Recap
This weekend was pretty tame. Saturday am/early afternoon, Morris and I gathered up some friends after we finished working out and hit the mall to get Lorena a gift (she's been rather ill). While at the mall you can see the economic impact a little clearer than at other stores. Many stories have limited quantities of limited things, some are practically barren. We searched out a gift, and set out to pick up Morris' shoes he's had on hold, but failed on both parts.We hit up a candy store to tide the hunger over before grabbing a burger and settling on just getting her some flowers. I forgot that as we drove around to get people and the flowers that traveling anywhere here takes about an hour. Store, someone's house, mall, restaurant- all an hour. School is the only quick ride (when traffic is good).
Anyway, we got to spend an hour and change with Lorena and she was (still is) doing better. Always nice to see someone on the mend.
The only problem was that the entire journey to do those things, get to her place, drop everyone off and head to a small gathering at the director's house took about six hours. By the time we got done, Morris and I stopped at the apartment, grabbed some drinks, and hit the road to the gathering. We hangout there for a few hours, enjoyed some good conversation and food before heading to Jon's for more banter.
A fun evening.
Kim's (Language Arts dept. head) had a bunch of us gringos over to watch the Super Bowl. We were even treated to some Chinese New Year Fireworks before the game. They weren't that loud, I mean if a howitzer in tunnel is your definition of loud, it was just under that. We ordered some Papa Johns and enjoyed a little Americana during the contest. The game was great from my end (I'm a Pete Carroll fan, and not a big Peyton guy). While some grew bored, the football coach came out of me and I enjoyed seeing one side executing and more polished than other. Everyone was pretty tired by the late in the third quarter so the crowd thinned quickly.
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| Chinese New Year fireworks. One coworker couldn't see them and though VZ was getting invaded (serious). |
Today, It Finally Happened...
It was just another in Valencia, until we were three blocks from Leo's house. We're sitting at an intersection talking hoops or something and the light goes green. Morris proceeds following all modern rules of traffic. We get about 46% through the intersection and from the right shoots Dancia Patrick's middle-aged ,Venezuelan cousin.
This chick is riding dirty, "NO COPS, NO STOPS!!!"
Leo calls it out like the veteran spotter he is.
Morris locks 'em up and turns hard left.
Danica locks them up and keeps pushing forward.
The Space Wagon gets speared by the French Peugeot of destruction.
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| The Peugeot of Punishment. And the Space Wagon's clippings. |
"CRASH, WHAMMO, BLAMMY, KERBOOM (add any early comic words you want)!"
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| Crazy isn't it? I look super fat as a shadow. |
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| "Ah, it'll buff out." |
I've always thought it was a matter of time until we got in an accident here. Driving here is like the old Nintendo game, "Off Road"
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| This is almost to scale of some roads here. We don't have pot holes, we have craters. |
Don't worry WE (the royal we, as in Morris) were wearing our seat belts (he remembers having to pay that bribe months ago). The three of us piled out of the car and inspected the damage. The van was still drivable even though she was missing a light and the right front quarter panel (I've watched NASCAR once) were smashed. No amount of mascara was going to cover the damage up, reconstructive surgery is needed.
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| Taking bets now on when this gets fixed. August? September? |
We try to encourage her to move her car out of the road and onto a driveway, she refuses and a choir of heavenly horns honk throughout the hour we stood there.
As Morris spoke to the woman, Leo and I got the shrapnel out of the road. I felt like we were picking up the pieces of Optimus Prime while dodging cars. It was kind of like a Frogger knock of game (it would make a good iPhone/Android game).
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| Leo figured we could at least sell this previously owned light. |
We stood around for a while and Morris called the school. They sent over an employee to assist, but not before we saw a police car with two cops drive by the scene and not stop. They were both on cell phones, so I'm sure there were bigger fish to fry.
A our friends came by to grab Morris and take him to his house to get one paper he did not have in his car. Leo and I stood there discussing school, administrative strategies, and standardized test (I love to pick his brain as he's been a teacher/coach/Asst. Principal/Principal/Superintendent). While we were standing there talking another squad car passed the scene and didn't stop. Only one cop was on her phone this time.
Finally, Morris returned and Leo and I got rides back to our respective apartments. Morris hung around for another hour and change waiting to see if the woman wanted to call the transits workers and go through their process or settle it within the two parties. Danica wanted to call the transits until her daughter told her it was her fault.
You see, the school employee drove Danica to her house where her daughter was. The daughter screamed at the mom and had no idea that she had left with the car. The daughter talked to the insurance company on the phone and then returned to the scene with her mom and the CIC employee. Upon arriving at the scene the daughter tried to have Morris allow her to say it was her that was driving and not her mom. She knew her mom was at fault.
The mom wanted to call transit because she believed that it was Morris' fault and that his car magically defied physics and used super thrusters to fly right into her car (that was running a red light). The daughter again yelled at the mom.
She screamed, "MOM, YOU ARE DRUNK!"
Literally, she was. 4:30pm on a Tuesday, drunk as a skunk and behind the wheel. Booyah.
A little after 6:45pm Morris called me and told me he was home and to come listen to his story. It was hilarious.
"Only in Venezuela" he said.
Five Things I Think
1. I think the inflation is beyond crazy. When I first got here the parallel rate (black market) was about Bs30 for $1. As of today, it was Bs81 for $1. I don't know how local hires and other citizens do it. I bought a loaf of bread, four rolls, and a 16.5oz jar of Skippy peanut butter for Bs524.00. Take that at the official rate (Bs6.3 for $1) and it cost $83.17. At the parallel rate, it cost $6.47. Think about that next time you're getting groceries.
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| What do you even say to this? |
2. The flight situation is wild. A month ago, a colleague of mine got tickets to Miami for him and his family for around BSs15,000. That same ticket is about Bs48,000. The ticket tripled in roughly a month.
3. A group of CIC teachers (including myself) played a local club basketball team. After being down nearly 10 points early in the game we clawed our way back to win by 6. The game got really physical down the stretch. One player in a Dirk Nowitizki was making some tough shots off a "Euro-step" (see the video below for a demonstration) and would yell out for a foul after every drive.
He and I got tangled a few times and he fouled me hard. I pulled a punk move and handed him the ball. He swatted it away. Later with the game winding down I held the ball and took repeated shots from him, but no foul was called. It was OK. I passed the ball off, hammered him the next time down, and then shut him down the last two minutes. Game two is tomorrow and I'm giddy like a school girl to D him up.
4) I think it is amazing that I lost my wallet five months ago...and found this past Thursday. Actually, an obrero found it while washing my friend's car. We both had extensively tore the vehicle up and thought it was lost outside the pizza place instead of the car. Turns out it was actually buried in the ride somewhere and was dug out by the obrero who washed it. Five and a half months after losing it, it turns up and has every card, ID, and BsF in it. Weird.
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| Last seen in early August, reappeared late January. |
That's all I've got from this week. Nothing really going on in the next few days besides seeing a blues show with some co-workers. Hopefully some dudes just shred it.
A couple of shout outs:
Congrats to Joe and Robin Witt on their daughter, Helen. Couldn't be happier for you guys (she's going to love that Facebook picture in 16 years)!Another MAC Coach of the Year Award to my Uncle JD Lueders (head coach of Clinton Wrestling), well done. Now get some hardware at State.
Nice job Facebook. Creating yet another application to force other's lives in peoples faces! I'm crass, but just watch your timeline and see all the "movies" you'll see in the next three days. I remember just watching home movies or looking at pictures, the good old days are gone!
Have a great rest of the week. Here's a little positivity from my favorite group Pearl Jam:
Until next time,
KRS
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