After getting the girls to sleep, Dave and I still had the energy to accomplish something. We spent most of the day today socializing - the playground and lunch with a neighbor family, the pool in the garden on our own, and exploring the take-out pizza options with another couple. One could say the day was rejuvenating, leaving the evening ready for getting stuff done. We cleaned up the downstairs - living room, dining room, kitchen and various spaces for storage. They're as good as they're going to get, and feel a bit spare right now but perfectly adequate. The upstairs still needs some work - a den, an office, and 4 bedrooms all in various stages of unpacking.
In our conversations and our unpacking, we learned a few interesting things.
- The grocery stores are fully adequate for cooking, but entirely inadequate for baking. Sarah and I searched for flour through one shop and couldn't find it. I missed it in the shop yesterday, possibly because it wasn't there. We did find vanilla and yeast, but no baking powder or baking soda. And white sugar has been absent from the shelves for months, apparently. If we want muffins anytime soon, I'll be putting together an order from the states. Thank goodness for our DPO address.
- The international school in Caracas is top notch. This we already knew, but its nice to have it confirmed by everyone we meet. However, another assumption has proven to be untrue. We had heard that Caracas held one of the few schools in Latin America populated primarily by international students. International schools are very expensive, and apparently when the locals attend, they are the very rich locals. In Asia, the very rich locals are very serious about education and create an intensive academic climate. In Latin America, the very rich locals are more serious about being very rich and create a cliquish and bullying environment. So, we were happy to hear that the school was primarily international. But, the international community in Caracas is changing dramatically with the armed crime increasingly effecting diplomats. Many embassies have sent their families home or even closed their Caracas embassy entirely. Even within the U.S. community, very few older children remain. And so the school has become more local. At this young age, the cliques have yet to form. And we have heard no rumors about bullying yet. But we have heard that Spanish is the language of the playground, and without it many kids feel left out. Sophia feels confident about starting school and making friends, but Lilly becomes more nervous every day. My heart breaks for her beginning a new school midyear, and having to face a language barrier as well. Prayers for a good friend for each of them would be welcome.
- The weird exchange rate situation hurts sometimes and helps sometimes. The "official" exchange rate is what "official" business must be conducted in. For instance, health insurance reimbursements are paid by insurance companies using this rate. The (black) "market" exchange rate is several times higher than this rate, and pretty much everyone can use this rate in one way or another (our method is apparently perfectly legal, thus the parentheses around "black"). Thus, if we go to the doctor, we will convert, say, USD 10 using the market exchange rate. We will then submit the receipt (which is in bolivars) to the insurance company who will divide the total by the official exchange rate and reimburse us, say, USD 40. Pretty sweet deal if you're sick a lot.
Could you tell that Dave wrote that paragraph? The exchange rate nonsense is simply ridiculous to me, and my mental energy is going to other things right now. But we met someone today who made a tidy profit off of delivering a baby in Caracas!
- Apparently Caracas has a Lebanese community large enough to sustain some really tasty foods at the grocery store. We snacked on hummus and pita bread this evening, but I've heard that everything from the Lebanese guy's little stand is tasty.
It may be that this is all we learned today, which could be why the day was not particularly exhausting.
In our conversations and our unpacking, we learned a few interesting things.
- The grocery stores are fully adequate for cooking, but entirely inadequate for baking. Sarah and I searched for flour through one shop and couldn't find it. I missed it in the shop yesterday, possibly because it wasn't there. We did find vanilla and yeast, but no baking powder or baking soda. And white sugar has been absent from the shelves for months, apparently. If we want muffins anytime soon, I'll be putting together an order from the states. Thank goodness for our DPO address.
- The international school in Caracas is top notch. This we already knew, but its nice to have it confirmed by everyone we meet. However, another assumption has proven to be untrue. We had heard that Caracas held one of the few schools in Latin America populated primarily by international students. International schools are very expensive, and apparently when the locals attend, they are the very rich locals. In Asia, the very rich locals are very serious about education and create an intensive academic climate. In Latin America, the very rich locals are more serious about being very rich and create a cliquish and bullying environment. So, we were happy to hear that the school was primarily international. But, the international community in Caracas is changing dramatically with the armed crime increasingly effecting diplomats. Many embassies have sent their families home or even closed their Caracas embassy entirely. Even within the U.S. community, very few older children remain. And so the school has become more local. At this young age, the cliques have yet to form. And we have heard no rumors about bullying yet. But we have heard that Spanish is the language of the playground, and without it many kids feel left out. Sophia feels confident about starting school and making friends, but Lilly becomes more nervous every day. My heart breaks for her beginning a new school midyear, and having to face a language barrier as well. Prayers for a good friend for each of them would be welcome.
- The weird exchange rate situation hurts sometimes and helps sometimes. The "official" exchange rate is what "official" business must be conducted in. For instance, health insurance reimbursements are paid by insurance companies using this rate. The (black) "market" exchange rate is several times higher than this rate, and pretty much everyone can use this rate in one way or another (our method is apparently perfectly legal, thus the parentheses around "black"). Thus, if we go to the doctor, we will convert, say, USD 10 using the market exchange rate. We will then submit the receipt (which is in bolivars) to the insurance company who will divide the total by the official exchange rate and reimburse us, say, USD 40. Pretty sweet deal if you're sick a lot.
Could you tell that Dave wrote that paragraph? The exchange rate nonsense is simply ridiculous to me, and my mental energy is going to other things right now. But we met someone today who made a tidy profit off of delivering a baby in Caracas!
- Apparently Caracas has a Lebanese community large enough to sustain some really tasty foods at the grocery store. We snacked on hummus and pita bread this evening, but I've heard that everything from the Lebanese guy's little stand is tasty.
It may be that this is all we learned today, which could be why the day was not particularly exhausting.
No comments:
Post a Comment