Just the Facts

I have been censored again by the embassy, again for probably a pretty good reason.  Lots of aspects of diplomatic life are still new to me, and I was unaware that I had shared something that wasn't common knowledge.

Consider me chastened, and prepared to share information better.

Also willing to take my writing more seriously because of today's headline, Venezuela arrests woman for online posts.  This woman was not me.  But as I neither want to see my husband expelled from the country (and his job), nor myself thrown into one of Venezuela's notoriously dangerous prisons, I'm going to try censoring myself better.  We'll see how that goes.

The facts for today.

Our housekeeper, Blancina, never made it to our house this morning.  She lives in a neighborhood called Petare, which shows up in the news quite a bit.  It has frequently been said that Caracas has become two different cities, with our neighborhood staying quiet and neighborhoods like Petare seeing emotion and activity on the streets.  This morning, the metro was not running in her neighborhood.  Todo es un caos, she said.  I don't know what happened, and I'm making no assertions that it was politically motivated.  But she is certainly living in a different neighborhood than I am, and we may well see more differences over the next few weeks (although I hope we will also see more of Blancina!)

School is canceled for Friday.  According to the school, this is in accordance with the government's declaration of a no labor day.  I don't really know what that means, and I couldn't find anything about it in the news, but I have a hunch we won't be seeing Blancina on Friday.  Interestingly, our school is set up for these frequent class cancellations - remember, we had 3 days of mourning last week, and we are expecting cancellations around the elections next month, as well as this newly announced holiday.  The school is taking a Virtual Learning Day.  Kids will come home with work in their backpacks, teachers will post information on their class wikis, and students will work through online math and reading applications.  I'm curious how it will go.

I began Spanish classes again today, after a 3 month gap.  I felt a little lost, but the teacher was very gracious.

We have a piano being delivered tomorrow.  Dave's buying it tonight.  We should be able to amuse ourselves well on our Virtual Learning Day.

Some awfully exciting headlines around Venezuela today, involving the election, the dead president, and the mutual expulsion of diplomats between the U.S. and Venezuela.

Never a dull moment these days!