A Different View and A Quick Rundown

Good evening or morning.

This week, I decided to do something a little different with the blog.  While things here are a weird mix of nothing (changing) and something (the curveballs of living here), I thought what better way to help shape your perspective of this country/experience/situation than having someone guest write part of it. I've asked several friends throughout my time here if they would like to write a bit for one blog, but most concede to my "ownership" or are reluctant to share...except one, Jon Moreno Ramirez.  I both commend Jon for taking the leap (sharing your written words is tough, just ask my students) and am stoked for you to see his view on the environment here.

Without further ado:

Let me introduce you to my good friend Jon.  He's a musical genius. He comes from a family of mariachi players and has the ability to play anything he hears...for multiple instruments.  He got his teaching degree from THE College of Idaho and married his high school sweetheart, Randi (pretty cool story to ask them over a beer- they started dated in 10th grade).  They have one child, Rexin, who plays the role of two year old boy, but also as a coping mechanism/de-stressor for many of us missing the little people in our families. Jon's got a heart of gold. Family/friend orientated, enjoys everything from sports to astrophysics, loves teaching, and is always looking to make sure people are having a good time.  He's a great dude and we are all lucky of have met him and his family through this teaching experience.

Here's Jon's take on things down here:

Jon (L) and Frank approve this blog.

This is what Venezuela is like for me, a 27 year old, married, father of a 2 year old, math and science high school teacher.

To fully understand, I need to start with the reason my family and I are here in the first place. A couple of years ago, I found myself in an Idaho education environment where the job was getting harder, and the pay and benefits were shrinking year after year. With a newborn baby, I decided to change something about my life otherwise we would go broke, and I would go crazy. Since my wife and I both love traveling, we decided to give international teaching a try. Long story short, after about a month I found myself in an interview with an international, private school, with great pay and benefits...in Venezuela.

At first we thought Venezuela would be great. We had experience with various cities in Mexico, so "how much different could it be," we thought. After a year and a half, we realized that the answer is "completely different." One could react to this situation in two ways. One, would be to be in complete despair and hate everything while counting down the days to the end of the contract (which we sometimes do). And two, would be to take the Kellen 2.0* approach and learn to be better humans from this experience. More often than not, it is BOTH at the same exact time. For my family and me, this has given us a deep appreciation for things we did not know we loved (until we lost them). I'll go through a few of them:

Jon, Rexin, and Randi at Halloween. 

Family

Being here, you realize how alone you are sometimes. Being here with my family...and only my family makes it both bearable and, well not bearable. Back in the 'States we could drop off Rexin to a family member for some alone time. Back in the 'States I could go to my parents' place while Randi could go to her dad's, or sister's for some alone time...from each other. Here we have to be with each other, ALL THE TIME. This, again, is both good and bad.

Food and drink

Availability is the key word here. You never know what is going to be available here at any given time, on any given store. This is even more significant because I haven't mentioned the fact that both my wife and son are allergic or intolerant to some of the most available things here: gluten, dairy, eggs. Even when we can find food that they can eat, it is a MASSIVE hassle to go to the store. Hour long wait time in lines, utter disregard to customer service, and rampant lack of store-going-etiquette. How can this have a good side, something of which Kellen 2.0 can be proud? Zombie apocalypse. Or any apocalypse, for that matter. We have learned to "roll with the punches" so well, that my family alone was able to host the entire extended family (Kellen, Maya, Brit) for almost a week during "Blockade Parade." This makes me think that the famous phrase about "making it" in New York, and anywhere thereafter must be revised to include a Venezuela clause.

Health

We have really good health insurance down here. Most everything is covered 100%, after you pay for it upfront, which is mostly okay. Last year my son had to get an ultra sound because due to his allergies he ended up passing kidney stones. I was thinking US prices when I went up to pay, very afraid that I did not have enough money to pay for it. The whole thing ended up to being the equivalent to 50 USDs. The bad side to this is that, although a socialist healthcare system is extremely cheap, so is the service. Doctors make no appointments. You take the entire day off from work to wait to be seen. It honestly makes us want to wait until the summer to get checked up in the 'States. We could get all of our teeth fixed, but I'm not sure it is worth the hassle!

Education

I am honestly teaching the best, most fun subjects I have ever taught, and I am having a blast. I cannot rave enough about the class sizes, the prep time, the resources, the facilities, etc. that being said, it is heart breaking seeing the complete opposite experience from my wife. Unfortunately when we showed up down here the counseling department was basically non-existent. She literally had to build the manual for this school, and mostly without recognition, or compensation since she is a "volunteer" at the school. With regards to my two year old, he is definitely learning a whole lot more Spanish than he would have learned by this time in the 'States. Unfortunately, he goes to a daycare that would be closed upon its first inspection. But hey, no choice means no choice.

I guess it could always be worse, just as it could always be better. It depends on how you decide to take it. It is probably best to always look on the bright side of life a la Monty Python, but it just feels damn right sometimes to spray hate where hate is due. I revert to a paraphrased Kellen 2.0 quote from this week:

"This had to happen in order for me to learn the infinite bounds of patience."

I just keep reminding myself why I'm here: money, traveling, growing.

- Jon Moreno Ramirez

* Kellen 2.0 was a half joking comment I made in regards to how I won't let the many difficult things (cultural differences or otherwise) of this country drag me down in day to day living here.  It's been tough lately, but somehow I've kept it going and now it's been a tongue in cheek joke.  I dig it. 

A Brief Rundown

March by day.

Things have settled down physically here in the areas where most of us live.  The blockades are up, but the spirit remains.  While traffic and the routines are regaining their formal statute, the marches and protests remain.  For instance, this evening several of us went to get some food after work and there were three protests in different areas of Valencia- all peaceful, but still present. 

Gather by night (look close and see the candles)

School is going to get fired back up on Thursday and Friday with half days.  We did the online model for about seven days and you should have seen some of the excuses we got from kids.  Ryan, Jon, and I are thinking about compiling a list of them (they would definitely make the blog- so lame!), but some of them are so frustrating.  We share several students and it's not uncommon for us to not hear from a few students while the other two teachers do.  It seems many students just didn't take it seriously and did not do the work, so we'll how things shake out.  We have several students out of the country still, so the next few days will be a filtering in process I assume.

We were supposed to go get our Brazil visas this week due to our flex schedule and online model, but with the switch back to regular in class teaching we cannot.  It's really throwing us for a loop due to the fact that you can only apply for a Brazil visa no later than 90 days before you enter the country and with no personal days or vacation days- we are really pressed.  Hopefully, we can work something out with the admin or it could get really hair near the end of school.  

Ryan Robinson's Links of Knowledge 

Why is Only Half of Venezuela in the Streets?  This will paint a picture with great analysis and graphs to show you what's up here- tons of oil and now money.  

A first person account of a protest turned to a battle.  

Conciliatory talks but the actions shows otherwise.  

Air Canada is the latest airline to pull out of service here.  

Troops try to clear out ground zero of the Venezuelan protests.  

No flour, milk, or diapers.  

President Maduro urges President Obama to join the "peace commission."

President Maduro: "I am going to give these 'Chuckies' who are taking over..." (yep, a president called some protestors Chucky.  

Does this look like the face of someone who wants to protest?

That concludes this week's blog.  I hope you enjoyed Jon's take.  I didn't give him much direction on what to write, but I'm happy that he showed his experience and provide you with a different lens in which to see this experience.

Until Next Time,

KRS