Monday, August 31, 2009

Good Morning Caracas

OK.


I am here. I am settled. I am unpacked.


I can go to school and the grocery store without having a panic attack. I like my driver, and my housekeeper. I am making friends. I am safe. I can do this for the next three years and survive unscathed. I am in my happy bubble and can stay here for the next few years. I will be unscathed, unharmed, and unchanged.



Chris and I got invited to dinner last weekend. It was a birthday dinner for Chris' boss. Four couples were invited to a restaurant in the Las Mercedes area. One of the couples we know very well, as they live below us and our kids are good friends. The two other couples were golf buddies of the birthday boy and were in their 60's. Chris and I had never met the older couples before.


Our table was outside and the setting was beautiful. We mingled in the courtyard with Procecco and appetizers, making small talk and waiting for the birthday couple to arrive. When the time came for us to be seated, we all slowly walked to the table. We did, as people do, who are being polite but don't know each other very well. We slowly approached the table, trying figure out where we were going to sit. Chris and I gave each other the silent communication of permission to sit apart and as so to keep the other couples together. I sat between Chris' boss and a wonderful lady named S, and across from our other friends. Chris sat next to a woman named M, a real Venezlano grand dame who had married an American years ago and across from E my fabulous new friend (and wife of Chris' boss).


S and I fell into instant friendship and conversation. S grew up in England, and at the age of 17 started University. While there, she met a young Venezuelan man named Carlos and fell head over heels in love. They eloped and moved to Caracas and she has been here for 40 years. She was 60 years old, gorgeous, flamboyant, bilingual and the mother of three engineers, all successful and living in South America. For three hours I sat transfixed and listened to her tell her life's story.


Her parents did not approve of her match with a young South American man, so she did the sensible thing. Run away to Venezuela and get married anyway. She and Carlos came here with very little. They both worked, and were saving for a small apartment. A huge earthquake hit Caracas shortly thereafter and certain parts of town had drops in value - they bought an apartment that was right next to a couple of collapsed buildings - as the price was right. They started having children. Carlos was working for an international company and had put together a deal to open a biscuit (cookie) factory in Venezuela - but the board of directors disapproved of his idea. They decided to open the factory themselves - and the rest is history. She is still making chocolate biscuits for Bimbo here in Caracas. At the age of 40 she was successful, happily married, and raising children. Her husband developed a slowly progressive disease that destroyed his muscle function and took him from active husband and father to vegetable over the next 11 years. She nursed him during that time and continued to help out at the company and raise her children. At the time of his death nine years ago, most of their friends had slowly drifted away and she found herself alone. She took up golf and stayed in Venezuela as it had been her home for 30 years. A few months ago she befriended a widower who she is not dating and very happy with. They are going to England to meet her 87 year old mother in a few months.


As I listened to her, I kept thinking, Wow. She has had quite a life. She is a fighter. She knows how to live.



I am in my little ex-pat bubble and can easily stay here for the next three years - I can comfortably not learn Spanish, make no friends outside of my culture, not travel, yearn for home, work out, play on the internet, and wait out the next three years.


The more I listened to her, the more I kept thinking. Hell No. I am going to live here. Live Big.


Whenever I have made big life changing decisions before I was always "stepping up" in my life. Geology for Medicine, a surgical speciality, private practice for academics, and now what for Venezuela?


I left behind a career - sure I can go back but it will never be the same - for WHAT?? I thought the answer would find me. I thought I would be instantly enriched. I though my path would be clear. Sure, it would be easy to live in the bubble. The bubble was mostly created for our safety and I get that, but the bubble can isolate you from life if you let it. I see it happening around me.


Not me. I am here to LIVE. For safety's sake I have to stay in the bubble, but I can push it, mold it, and let it take me to places I have never been before, or would never have been if I did not make myself. It seems like I have to find life here - outside of my husband, his career, and the kids needs.


Get ready Caracas. Here I come.


Saturday, August 22, 2009

Juego Pollo

Driving in Caracas.

I am determined to get a video of this as it is almost impossible to describe. Driving in Caracas is a true adventure. Caracas is in a valley that runs directly East-West. On the North and South sides of the city are hills and mountains. It seems that the roads that are located on those hills follow the natural drainage patterns that nature established years ago. The developers of these hillside neighborhoods also forgot to put in any artificial drainage systems to handle the torrential downpours that drench this metropolis on a weekly basis during the 5 month rainy season.

My hilltop apartment complex has a serpentine road that leads us down to the valley - and as the road winds it way down the hill, it is joined by other roads to create a main artery that ends up at the Autopista in the valley. It seems that signage is missing at most of the intersections of merging traffic and each juncture becomes a game of chicken. When in Rome, I guess. I seem to grab my chair, squeeze my eyes shut and hold my breath each time we do this - and I am quite sure that Eric, my driver, finds this quite amusing. Thankfully, my kids are oblivious in the back seat with their IPODS, just singing away.

We brought the kids home last week during one of the downpours. Seriously, Galveston has nothing on a Caracas rainstorm. It is as if God vomits water onto the city. So here we are, winding our way back up the hill as sheets of water are running DOWN the hills along the roads. There were actually WAVES running down the roads. The visual dynamic was incredible. It felt as if our minivan would get swept away at any minute. Quite thrilling actually. Of course we made it home no problem - I certainly would have wrote sooner with a much better story if we had not. Will try to capture the experience soon.

Monday, August 17, 2009

New School, New House, Birthdays


I have learned alot in the last week.

My kids are resiliant, easy to please, and pretty much only need a pool and someone roughly their age to ensure their happiness. They are fortunatley too young to care about race, socieoeconomic status, or nationality.

School stared this week, unfortunately, the first Venezuelan virus hit our home this week as well. Katherine had to miss the first day of school today due to fever, nausea, and stomach pain. Madeline made it to orientation and is doing pretty well so far. I have a touch of it but not nearly as bad as Katherine.

Katherine totally rallied this morning and dragged herself out of bed for her first day of school on the second day of school. To make it more confusing, it was Madeline's first day of school as well. Both girls did great! No tears, just kicked me out of the room as soon as they could.

Our party last weekend was great. We had several Chevron families over - most of whom had recently flown in over the past day or so, and one new American Embassy family. It was fun and the kids had a great time. I did not think to grab the camera! The kids swam and ran around the apartment in little age divided groups.

Our apartment is nearly unpacked and decorated. I love it and am very happy here. I might have a contact at the US Embassy for a very part time position as a OBGYN consultant. We shall see how it works out. I also volunteered to help out in the school infirmary from time to time when they are short.

We are settling into our new routines now and I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Happy Birthday to Katherine tomorrow!!!!


Saturday, August 8, 2009

Good Bye Galveston, Hello Caracas


In true Haver style, we spent our last night out with our friends and my parents at Dibella's
Restaurant in Galveston. It was wonderful, we had the back room and God bless our ONE waitress. She had her hands full with about 25 people including children. The wine flowed f
reely, the food was delicious, but being surrounded by some of the people we love most in the world was priceless. After dinner, we headed to the Gaido's for more company and wine. Some time around midnight, we decided to head home for some much needed sleep.

We were leaving at midnight the next day, so we slept in as much as possible. I spent the morning unpacking, repacking and trying to make each bag as close to 50# as possible. I called Continental to clarify their baggage policies. OK, so you can't take more bags than is allowed (2 per Economy Class ticket), but you pay a hefty fee if they are between 50 and 70 pounds. However, if you have a first class ticket (Chris gets to fly first class), and we did, you can take 3 bags on that ticket up to 70# free of charge. I began to work every possible algorhythm in my mind on how to get all of our luggage within the required weight, and pay as little out of pocket as possible.
We showered, dressed, loaded up the car, hugged my parents, and headed out. We had plenty of time as our flight did not leave until midnight, so we stopped at Pappasito's in Clear Lake for one last meal of good Mexican food, which Chris assures me is sorely lacking in Caracas. Dinner was wonderful and I happened to see two of my former patients who worked there. As an
other fluke, Todd and Laura Flores were there with their girls having dinner on the way home from Camp Mystic.

We arrived at the airport and parked our rental cars. Luckily, there were empty baggage carts right next to our cars so we were able to load them up. Chris had 4 bags and I had 3 plus the carry-on. When we were checking in they weighed our luggage. 5 of the 7 checked bags were over 50#. I was offered a first class upgrade for $199. In a stroke of genius, I talked Chris into upgrading one of the three coach tickets to allow us to not pay the $100 charge. He he. I have yet to fly coach to Caracas. Madeline and I snuggled in first class, while Chris and Katherine had a whole row in coach.

Once the bags were on their way, we headed to the rental car center to drop off the cars and take the bus back to the terminal. We had a couple of hours to kill, so we made good use of the President's Club before our flight left. Madeline thought we were walking into a hotel it was so nice. We boarded the plane at 11:30 and at midnight, took off for Caracas.

We landed at 5:30 am and made it through customs with minimal trouble. A "pacheco" driver greeted us with Chevron Security and brought us to our car. A second car was there to carry our luggage. The drive took over an hour due to traffic and the girls slept most of the way home. Madeline commented on the barrios she saw near the airport - "Mommy, where is all the pretty stuff, why do people live there??" When they woke up, we were home.

They loved the apartment. We showed them around. It is pretty empty as our stuff from home has not arrived yet. It is fun to imagine what it will look like when it is full of our beautiful furniture. At 10 am our regular driver arrived to take us to the grocery store. His name is Eric and he speaks NO English. He is so nice, likes the kids, and smiles a lot. The kids started practicing their Spanish with him. We started with the basics, Hola and Gracias. Madeline said she was too shy to talk Spanish - but by the time we left the grocery store loaded down with staples for a week, she was talking Spanish to any one that would listen. She was saying gracias over and over again, just with variations like gassy-ass, goss-see-oss, and grathias. People in the store were giggling..... Katherine (the pro) in style was flawless in her pronunciation of "Hola Senor Eric". It is so cute. After groceries we went to the neighborhood sushi (pronounced sue-chee here) for food. YUMMY. So glad to find something so good and so close.

Today we awoke to two large birds staring at us outside of our window. Kind of like a cross between a buzzard and a raven. They enjoyed posing for photos, then flew away. We then got out the guide book and decided to take the kids on an adventure. Chris picked El Hatillo - an old colonial settlement in the southern suburbs of Caracas. The guidebook and my parents who went there 27 years ago described it as quaint, full of beautiful old buildings, little shops, and lots of Curacan's out for lunch and shopping. Caracas French Quarter here we come. There was a slight miscommunication with Eric who took us to the wrong side of town, but we got that straightend out and 1.5 hours later ended up in El Hatillo. So now I'm thinking more 5th ward than French Quarter..... I was hesitant to get out of the van. We braved it and started walking around. We found an out of the way Spanish restaurant that served Tapas and we decided to give it a go. Not a thing healthy on the menu, but the food was pretty good. We walked around the square and found that, much like the French Quarter, the inside of the buildings may not reflect what is on the inside. We did find some beautiful furniture stores with hand made carved wooden furniture, as well as antique and art shops.

We got home and I learned how to work the iMovie function on my new Apple computer and Wow is all I have to say. Posted in this edit is my first stab at a movie. Welcome to Caracas.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Latest Security Update

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Security Situation Updates
Venezuela
Protests likely after attack by pro-government activists on television station headquarters in Caracas
Created: August 04, 2009 06:22 GMTUpdated: August 04, 2009 08:12 GMT More than 30 armed activists of the Union Patriotica Venezolana (UPV) – a political party supportive of President Hugo Chávez – on 3 August attacked the headquarters of Globovision, the country's largest private television station, in the capital Caracas. The assailants threatened employees with firearms and threw tear gas canisters; a police officer and a number of security guards were injured in the attack.Comment and Analysis Political rallies are common in Venezuela, and the latest incident could potentially trigger anti-government demonstrations by opposition groups in the capital and other cities. Such gatherings can result in unrest between rival activists and the security forces, and personnel risk incidental exposure to violence in the event of such disturbances. Localised traffic disruption should also be anticipated in the vicinity of these events. While overall travel risks for Venezuela are rated as MEDIUM, the risks associated with travel to Caracas are rated as HIGH.The incident is indicative of the government's hostile attitude to private media organisations, after many of the latter backed the 2002 coup that temporarily removed Chávez from office. A decision by the authorities in 2007 to deny the RCTV television channel a licence to broadcast triggered widespread demonstrations, though the protest campaign failed to reverse the government's decision and eventually ran out of momentum, highlighting significant levels of support for the president's political agenda.The attack on Globovision's headquarters follows government statements accusing the channel of dishonest reporting, and a crackdown by the authorities on the media. The National Assembly on 30 July began discussions on proposed new legislation that would impose a sentence of up to two years in prison for any article or report considered to threaten ‘the social peace' and national security, a sanction applicable to the authors of such reports and executives of the media outlet publishing them. The government on the following day closed 32 radio and two television stations, describing their operations as illegal. The opposition regards the measures as unconstitutional and a blatant attempt by Chávez to consolidate his power.Travel AdviceAvoid demonstrations, rallies and picket lines due to a credible risk of clashes between demonstrators and the security forces. Do not attempt to cross picket lines or roadblocks as this may prompt a hostile reaction.