Farewell to Venezuela

I have neglected my blog for a long time with no good reason other than laziness. It has been an interesting time here in Venezuela with Chavez shutting down the television station and threatening other stations with being shut down. It was amazing to watch people take to the streets to protest this action by their government. On the night that RCTV was to shut down, people were everywhere honking horns, banging pots, there was a rally down the road from my apartment with people crying, holding candles and singing. Janina's sister witnessed a police attack on college students protesting the government action. The police came onto campus and attacked students who were holding signs and sitting in a court yard. At a soccer game protesters were going to stage a sit in during the game but the police would not let them into the game. While the protesters were sitting outside they were attacked by Chavistas with no intervention from the police. It is a crazy situation and I feel so badly for my friends here who are so upset with the direction of their country. I was speaking with someone last night who is planning on moving out of Venezuela to Canada. He asked me my opinion of the country, I responded with all the positive things about Venezuela and he just looked at me and said you should have been here before Chavez, our country was so much better then. It is hard not to see both sides of this statement. Was it a better country for the poor people before Chavez? Have the poor gained that much from having Chavez in power? Would anyone use the oil revenues to make Venezuela better or to line their pockets? Its hard to blame the poorest of people here for putting hope in Chavez. Obviously, I will always come back to Venezuela to visit my future inlaws. I have enjoyed my time in Venezuela so much and it is bitter sweet to be leaving after only one year. On the one hand I will not miss the heat of Maracaibo and I am really excited about the possible future adventures in Taiwan. But I want to learn so much more about this country and Spanish, I want to learn more about South America. I guess there is a lifetime for these adventures.

I am looking forward to this summer with some possible road trips and spending time with my family which has not really happened in a long time. I am so scared about having our baby in Taiwan but it will be a great experience. I would recommend international teaching to anyone at least for one year because it is a great experience and challenge. This experience will make you pull out your hair and feel like the luckiest person all at the same time. Finally, I feel so lucky that I met and fell in love with Janina. I am so unbelievably excited about starting our lives together and experiencing the world with her and our child.