Fairly quickly, life abroad becomes simply life, and it becomes difficult to discern what we do that may not be normal. Today is the last day of school, which means that this has been the last week of school. ECA filled the week with performances and awards ceremonies, such that little Annika and I have been at school nearly every afternoon this week.
On Tuesday afternoon, the 2nd grade teachers presented an awards ceremony. With only about 45 students in 2nd grade, spread through 3 teachers, these awards were meaningful and personal. Every parent I spoke with felt proud of their child for what they achieved. Lilly received the Excellence in Writing award, giving her great encouragement to continue toward her dream of being an author. Although, as a sidenote, frequent questions about how things work have led us to explain what an engineer does. She may have a new dream.
On Wednesday, Lilly's Spanish class put on a play. The second graders go to different classes for Spanish. Over half of the students are native speakers, and so go to a very different Spanish class than Lilly's. She is in a class of non-native speakers, still very challenging for her, because many in the class understand and speak Spanish quite well. She is learning and received very favorable marks in Spanish on her report card, but memorizing her lines for the play was an achievement for her. She played a beautiful cucaracha whom everyone wanted to marry, and was more worried about the embarrassment from Guillermo kissing her hand as Raton Perez than about forgetting any of her lines.
Thursday brought the kindergarten graduation. They gave a lovely presentation with some very sweet songs by some very sweet kindergarteners, and an adorable slideshow with photos that I hope her teacher is willing to share. Such big kids in our family!
Today is a half day, with classroom parties beginning in about half an hour. The entire week has been filled with welcomes and farewells. Lilly's best friend, Marcella, has been a true blessing this year. She welcomed her warmly back in January, and they became fast friends and well matched companions. When she learned Marcella would move back to Guatemala this summer, Lilly fell into a funk for quite some time. But last night, she had the opportunity to welcome a new 8 year old to post. More goodbyes have been spread throughout this week, and more will come next week, but taking on the roll of welcomer helps to provide balance.
After reading an article on the importance of family and strong relationships in children's lives, I've been thinking a lot about how harmful it could be to raise children this way. I'm still not convinced that the constant upheaval of moving or losing your friends regularly is a great way to grow up - it is certainly not stable. But recent reflections remind me that very few of us can offer the perfect childhood to our kids. I would love to raise my kids in Arlington, with a backyard, the same friends and a fabulous church. But were we to live in Arlington, I would need to work full-time to afford the monthly rent.
Our kids meet incredible people and benefit from fabulous teachers and small class sizes. They experience the world and current events in the first person. They are resilient, welcoming and confident. And although many things around them will change over the next ten years, their family will stay the same.
Its been a good week, and we are blessed here in Caracas.
Friday, June 07, 2013
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Monday, June 03, 2013
The Gorgeous and the Ugly - photojournal of the weekend
Valencia had a fabulous pool and some beautiful sunlight, but I only took photos of my children there. Very cute, but not truly gorgeous.
However, the drive from Valencia to Colonia Tovar from gorgeous. Driving through the valley, we never stopped the take photos. We passed so many interesting things that I wanted to get out and walk alongside the car. Fabulous graffiti, lush palm groves, tiny gardens surrounding honest-to-goodness sod houses, the cartoon-like skinny cows. Actually, it seemed disrespectful to photograph much of the scenery.
But once we began climbing out of the valley, we stopped for photography.
And once we reached Colonia Tovar, a little tourist village buried in the hills, everyone had their cameras. The setting was lovely.
The town specialty is fresas con crema, or strawberries and cream. They grow delicious strawberries in the hills surrounding this town, although we didn't find any for us to take home. However, we did each enjoy a big cup of strawberries, piled high with whipped cream and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. Muy rico!
We packed into the car around 3:30, planning to reach home by 5:00. We sat in traffic like this most of the way. We reached home just before 8:00. We spent most of those extra few hours in a 0.5 mile stretch of road, packed in so tightly that we frequently needed to snap in our side view mirrors.
A Rough Roadtrip
We roadtripped this weekend, driving west out of Caracas to the smaller city of Valencia. Dave had to give a short presentation at a conference there, and we thought we would take advantage of the opportunity to get out of town.
The drive was lovely.
We arrived at the hotel at 2:00, an hour before the posted 3:00 check-in. So, they didn't allow us to check-in. So, we sat in the lobby for over an hour with 3 kids itchy from a few hours in the car and ready to jump in the pool. They told us that we could not wait at the pool. It is for registered guests only. They said we would need a key to get in.
So, we waited in the lobby for over an hour. I kept busy by sunblocking everyone, in preparation for the pool. Annika kept busy by peeing on the floor, and making quite a scene.
We eventually made it to our rooms and the pool around 4:00. We swam until 6:00. The pool was fabulous and the weather was perfect. My kids displayed some of their worst behavior ever. In a fit of parental Whatever you don't have in your hands, you're just going to have to leave behind!, I stormed away from the pool with my nasty children and left my phone on the chair.
It was not there in the morning.
We explored an areperia across the street, and everyone enjoyed their different types of arepas. In this family, we're big fans of the national sandwich. Dinner was fun.
The hotel hosted a free buffet brunch in the morning, which was delicious. More arepas, with more fillings plus a chocolate fountain and plenty of pastries. We departed feeling well fed.
We decided to stop off at Colonia Tovar, an isolated German settlement from the middle 1800s which has kept its old European charm and specializes in delicious strawberries.
The views along the drive were jaw-dropping.
The village was cute, although overrun by tourists. And they had very few strawberries for sale, although we did all get to enjoy a big bowl of strawberries and cream. We piled back into the car, with full bellies but without our bags full of strawberries. Feeling a little disappointed.
The drive back held dramatic views as well, for the first 30 minutes or so. We spent the next 2.5 hours sitting in traffic. Colonia Tovar is an isolated little village in the Andes mountains. One road leaves to the south, and one road leaves to the east. We followed the one road to the east, down a long ridge toward Caracas. And when an accident occurred somewhere down the hill, no one moved for hours.
We were hungry by the time we pulled into our neighborhood, and so drove straight to a pizza place to grab a quick dinner. Sunday night is always movie night with pizza for dinner. We enjoyed the movie in the car, and now we needed our pizza. The food came out quick, hot and delicious and we were all happy to be out of the car. We ate fast and ran back to the car, never looking behind us to see my backpack sitting in the corner of the restaurant.
Casualties from the weekend:
Good that came from the trip:
The drive was lovely.
We arrived at the hotel at 2:00, an hour before the posted 3:00 check-in. So, they didn't allow us to check-in. So, we sat in the lobby for over an hour with 3 kids itchy from a few hours in the car and ready to jump in the pool. They told us that we could not wait at the pool. It is for registered guests only. They said we would need a key to get in.
So, we waited in the lobby for over an hour. I kept busy by sunblocking everyone, in preparation for the pool. Annika kept busy by peeing on the floor, and making quite a scene.
We eventually made it to our rooms and the pool around 4:00. We swam until 6:00. The pool was fabulous and the weather was perfect. My kids displayed some of their worst behavior ever. In a fit of parental Whatever you don't have in your hands, you're just going to have to leave behind!, I stormed away from the pool with my nasty children and left my phone on the chair.
It was not there in the morning.
We explored an areperia across the street, and everyone enjoyed their different types of arepas. In this family, we're big fans of the national sandwich. Dinner was fun.
The hotel hosted a free buffet brunch in the morning, which was delicious. More arepas, with more fillings plus a chocolate fountain and plenty of pastries. We departed feeling well fed.
We decided to stop off at Colonia Tovar, an isolated German settlement from the middle 1800s which has kept its old European charm and specializes in delicious strawberries.
The views along the drive were jaw-dropping.
The village was cute, although overrun by tourists. And they had very few strawberries for sale, although we did all get to enjoy a big bowl of strawberries and cream. We piled back into the car, with full bellies but without our bags full of strawberries. Feeling a little disappointed.
The drive back held dramatic views as well, for the first 30 minutes or so. We spent the next 2.5 hours sitting in traffic. Colonia Tovar is an isolated little village in the Andes mountains. One road leaves to the south, and one road leaves to the east. We followed the one road to the east, down a long ridge toward Caracas. And when an accident occurred somewhere down the hill, no one moved for hours.
We were hungry by the time we pulled into our neighborhood, and so drove straight to a pizza place to grab a quick dinner. Sunday night is always movie night with pizza for dinner. We enjoyed the movie in the car, and now we needed our pizza. The food came out quick, hot and delicious and we were all happy to be out of the car. We ate fast and ran back to the car, never looking behind us to see my backpack sitting in the corner of the restaurant.
Casualties from the weekend:
- My backpack
- My wallet, with some cash and my drivers license
- My car keys
- My house keys (leaving me currently locked in our apartment)
- My phone
- Many of Annika's shorts and panties (potty training - no accidents in the car!)
- A small camera
- A first-aid kit
- Any sense of rest or store of patience for either Dave or myself.
Good that came from the trip:
- Delicious strawberries and cream in a cute little German garden
- A fabulous pool in Valencia
- Amazing views on the drives - I'll post them later.
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