analicia's blog

2011-08-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

2011-03-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Antonyms

2010-01-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

There would be too much to write, too much to say and words seem flawed. Devoid.

living as it comes

2009-11-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

I am wonderful.
I will say that. I am living in a farm house full of character on the westside of Olympia. I've been here for about a month. I feel at home here. I have been doing more domestic tasks lately, building fires, making soups, raking leaves, making things from what may seem to be nothing. There is something about these tasks that are comforting and relaxing for me. My pace is a little slower. A little simpler but working hard feels good and work is good. I now thoroughly know my way around the library. School is very satisfying. I am being challenged, i am learning a lot and i really feel like i am building toward whatever my future studies will be. Next quarter should only get better. I am planning to continue with my Public Thinking Public Health course and hopefully take a Global Health and Ethics class. Annnd maybe i am saying this prematurly but i am going to take a ballet class for 2 credits...i laugh as i type this. I think it would be a good foundation for any dance and since i hope to become a better dancer and do it for the rest of my life, i should probably start here. But we'll see, I am nervous at the idea of it, but this is a fear i need to get over....speaking of which,
I have been thinking lately what it would mean to live freely. that doesn't have to mean anything in specific or it could. But this is for myself. What fears do i let go of and why do they exist? what does lively freely even look like. what forms could it take physically and mentally. I have been challenging myself to rethink the way i think and understand why these ideas or rules or limits even exist. and what sort of rules do i hold onto because they are a comfort, or just are. Anyway i could talk more over this but as a reader i might just loose you or already have.
I am going to learn an instrument. At some point. And i am hoping this process will begin soon. I am playing with ideas of which. Piano will happen one day, but i would like something else as well. I let you know when i know.

These photos are of some of the fun i had on halloween. My costume is incomplete, I was going to be a dia de los muertos skeleton, but i didn't get to finish the make-up. I thought i ended up looking more like Frida so i went with that.. either way, this is one form of what i thoroughly enjoy :) i hope you do to.

The Snow Leopard - Shearwater

2009-11-17T14:59:00.000-08:00

the language of my world

2009-11-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

i had to share this because it fills deeply.
this is rachel, she writes and performs spoken word. we've had the opportunity to travel together and because of this have become close friends over the past 5 years or so. what gets me excited about this is being reminded of the many forms art takes. we've put a box around what an artist is and can be and often forget the value of the words we speak; the art of words. anyway here it is, and don't be surprised if you see more stuff by her in the future.

Nowadays

I am made of boxes confining and cramming myself into prom dresses and stereotypes
I am stuffed away in attics full of “act like a lady” phrases, waiting for the days when I don’t have to be careful not to smash the corners in that keep me on the straight and narrow
Because nowadays I am made of boxes, reusable and practical, stuffed away in attics full of photo albums wanting so badly to develop into something you desire.
you used to skip across blank surfaces of my mind like rocks I used to skip on beds of water and pillows, but I was blinded by the light I thought came from within you.
I couldn’t see the ripples you’d leave in me later on.
Ripples full of skinned knees and me begin please Don’t.
Ripples full of nightmares I used to dream when you were hypnotizing me to sleep with your words spinning like merry go rounds you and I used to kiss on. Spinning my head into thinking I was different.
circles enclosing me cutting me off from the freedom I used to breathe.
Like rings around my neck, like chalk marks on my deck, like ripples.
have you ever looked closely in every woman’s pupils?
there are constant rings of water from skipped rocks. I was skipped over once. it left me bruises of black and blue reminding me of you because nowadays you’re gone. and every time I hear that song I think of us swinging on chains that now hold us in because nowadays
we are women. becoming legs to mans table, spread open even when we are unable
becoming possessions compiled in boxes made of innocence, unlocked at the taste of freedom.
I became that welcome home mat you wiped you’re dirty shoes onto. That welcome home mat you took out to beat clean when it was used too often
because nowadays broken women are forgotten.
taught to think that what they are is not good enough, we are diamonds in the rough
broken down and carved on the fingers we are wrapped around
fingers attached to hands that play us like marionettes. Invisible strings attached to every limb tying our hands behind our crippled backs
by every stepped on crack.
because nowadays women play back bones for crooked men and before you can count to ten they’ve lost themselves. told by the age of twelve to flush their lives down the toilet along with their lunch and watch the spiral of water so as to hypnotize them into telling their daughters to complete the circle.
rings of injustice cutting off the circulation of our fingers until we bleed surrender.
Don’t tell me i’m going to die on my knees.
give me something other than the taste of cheap wine and the morning after you’ve realized you don’t know who you are.
you threw me away last night, like the rocks we skipped across water that was so pure and unshaken. Created ripples in me that extend far beyond what your drunken eyes can see.
I lost my purity and you lost your boyhood but you cant make me bleed surrender.
Because the ripples will be calmed like all things worth salvaging.
Because when you drop womens souls into the oceans of the abandoned they create ripples in your morning after thoughts that enclose your dreams between your pillow and regrets, make you never forget that you cant make them bleed surrender.
Because her pupils reflect oceans, pure and unshaken, because last night she was pieced back together while you tried to remember yourself.
Because when you have dreams of me begging please and falling to my knees know that last night when you lost your boyhood I found myself and this morning when your hangover brings heartache, just know that this morning forgiveness washed over me in the form of a thousand ripples and
I never bled surrender.

I've been listening to kexp a lot lately. Been hearing lots of good music and wanted to share two bands. This is a video by Bomba Estereo they are a Colombian electro tropical band. This is very similar to a lot of the music I heard in Venezuela, the video is pretty cool too.

This is Macklemore. Another amazing artist from Seattle. There is something about his voice i find inspiring and the content of his songs, constructive. I'd like to meet him.

Finally....Mirah. Who i have actually known of for sometime, but after doing some research found that she is an evergreen graduate. cool! i thought to myself.

life is

2009-10-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Hello! to each and every one of you. There probably only is one of you. So this is one big hello to you! I’ve been wanting to write. Really needing to write. And each time i come to i am so overwhelmed by this everchanging thing called life! Its all been so quick lately its been hard to digest and even think about how I am feeling. But here goes, I’ll write.I've been living in Olympia for about a month a month now. It's crazy. I got a job. It was a gift, really. I am working in the Library at Evergreen. Specifically for Inter Library Loans. Where I push a cart around through tall isles of books collecting as i go. I have learned all about the Dewey Decimal system and all about how libraries work. Maybe this sounds silly but i was always intimidated by Libraries and never really took advantage of the knowledge they hold. Books are really so fascinating. What people write about. What they choose its worth an entire book. I have come across some the craziest pieces of literature and even more i wish i could just sit and study. Any way there are also plenty of other things i deal with like Micro Film (so cool!) old records, government documents, maps, CD's, old newspapers and magazines. I am in charge of gathering all the books students or faculty have requested from other schools and sending them out. So i scan and package. Its really more complicated than that but i don't want to bore you. Anyway i came here to live. Speaking of which. Here i am sitting in olympia, south capitol district, living in the attic of a house sharing one bathroom, one kitchen and probably one of everything else with five other people; Shonri, Yael, Sam, Alex, Joel. My room is cold all the time. There is no insulation. my door knob continuously falls off thus locking me out of my room. its been great. I actually really like my roommates. I just don't like the mess 6 people make in one day. I could go on about the layers of thick dirt that have sat for months, layers of stick, layers of leftovers on almost every surface, a cup full of almost 15 toothbrushes (all touching) from people that once lived here.....ahhh but i won't. I will just say, because i have come to find it amusing that i have acquired a different pair of socks for different occasions, depending on what room i have to enter. That way i don't track hair on the bathroom floor up into my haven.
There are so many things i have been wanting to write about. Topics that have been ticking inside me but every time i have come to sit and write i think of all the catching up i should write here instead and it keeps me from writing at all. So i decided that the real catching up part will just come out with time and the current topics are here now so i'll embrace those.

Here is one.. This is a song, by Debussy. Called Clair de lune. I am learning this on piano. I have decided to learn piano. this song weakens me with only the first two chords. and the rest well it does wonders.

Class has started. I don't know where to begin. I've fallen in love. Health is such a magnetizing topic for me. I was concerned that this class wouldn't be what i was looking for or wanted to study in this field. There are so many different aspects of health and health care and ways that people see appropriate to studying these things that it can be hard to find the place you want to take. Some how i did. The first real day of class i was a little late and came to find my class broken into groups. I found one to join and came alive when i realized what our task was. Each group had been given a story and a shoe box. They complimented each other demonstrating aspecting the other could not (visually). It was our job based on the person's story to evaluate whether or not the person was healthy, and to design a health promotion plan to initiate for a group similar to their age and circumstance..ahhh :) My group got Kayla. She was a sixteen teen year old foster kid. She once had two parents, a brother, dog, home. Then it started to disinigrate. Her parents became thin and sickly, strangers were in and out, the dog disappeared and eventualy her parents were arrested and she was put with a foster family. Her brother and her ended up being seperated and since she has been on her own, family to family. One of her foster dads attempted to molest her. Everyone kept telling her she needed to act like a normal teenager, and that she had her whole life ahead of her. Her response was, "what is normal?", and "I've already lived a whole life".
You could hear the strength in her voice of the paper. You could hear her brokenness and her thirst to be loved and feel loved and embraced. And you could hear her guarded heart hesitant to trust. We came up with an initiative as a group that used art and theatre as means to express what maybe most would want to keep private. A book for words and drawings to get them out, process the fear but put in a way that could be shared if it they wanted. Theatre would be used as a way to take on a role/character that could express these things you wanted. But it would be a safe voice to speak because it wouldn't be yours. We talked about how important self expression is not only verbally but also through the way we dress. Especially at the age of 16. Most foster kids get the old leftover clothes others don't want, and they can only have so much becuase they have to be ready to pack up and leave any day. We talked about having the community get involved with giving gift cards for foster kids to shop at the places they would shop if they could and buy the things they want to wear. So in them selves they could feel that sense of belonging.
Man! all these things. All these things, there is so much. I think i was given a huge heart for kids because after this conversation i was so firm with the fact that i would have foster kids one day.
Anyway, i am on fire for health. Later we watched a film called Blue Vinyl. (That would be a link). Its a pretty awesome and informative film. Really there is so much bs in this world, so much human greed and it makes me sick. And it kills others. Which makes me have to do something about it. The thing i've been realizing about health is that its life. Literally, if you don't have health then you don't have life, but it also is literally everything in life. You can't just talk about people's body's, addressing only their wounds. You have to address all the social factors of who they are and why they are in the situation they are. How old are they, what gender, what race, how do these factors play into their history, their future, how can you change it? There is so much psycology involved. Your dealing with segregation, discrimination, poverty, social structures, social norms and not norms(?), education, religion and spirituality, personality. People looking for hope, answers, encouragement, open arms, they want change, and they don't its uncomfortable. But you can see personal growth, challenges, improvement. This is rewarding. Anyway, that was supposed to be a little blurb and now its the post. so i think i'll sign off with a little Norah and this guy with a nasally voice...cool video. ¡Paz!

bird of paradise

2009-10-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

there had been some hesitance to pursuing Andrew Bird. I knew i would love him. Parts of him would fascinate me, the words to his whine, and the will to his music. I enjoy this.

Logic Amen

2009-09-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

Heard this on KBSC Speak on it radio session...

http://bellevuecollege.edu/kbcs/downloads/Logic/LOGIC_20090911.MP3

Here's another about health care

http://bellevuecollege.edu/kbcs/downloads/Logic/LOGIC_20090828.MP3

Can i just say.. Amen!

This is where you can find other archives..... CLICK ME!

taking us out is a little Lightning Dust...then good old Sarah Blasko ;)

Chao for now!

Quasimodo eye/Grandpa's birthday

2009-09-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

That would be mine. It's the strangest thing. Sunday night i just randomly touched my face by my eye and the skin and outer edge was really tender. I looked in a mirror and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary maybe a little redness but the sore part was too deep into the eye. I had my dad look when he got home and he couldn't see anything either. I decided to keep living my life like normal, sometimes tenderness just happens, then you move on....But the pain kept getting worse. It hurt to blink, to move my eye, to have it closed and all the while i started thinking about all the possibilities that...maybe i had a tumor and it was putting pressure on my eye, maybe a bug crawled in there and laid eggs, maybe I'd loose my sight, maybe they'd have to remove my eye?! All these thoughts were much to exhausting and not proving to be worth the effort so i decided to stop and schedule an appointment for the doctor...This is Tuesday. I had to babysit in the morning again for the women's bible study. I made sure to tell Marisa (the "leader" ish person) about my eye and she said she'd experienced something similar as well and that it usually goes away. This made me feel a little better but i still had an appointment scheduled for 2:10 at Seattle Healing Arts :) I got to my appointment (which i hate going to the doctors office) the lady took my blood pressure and pulse, which i fe el like the numbers made sense for her after i told her how i always get nervous as soon as i enter the office. I told the doctor about my eye. He's the sweetest guy and best doctor i think i could have. Very soothing. He looked into my eyes with his light and told me thinks its either just an eye infection or clogged pore (?!!) on the inside of my eyelid. Hmm. So he told me to go buy these homeopathic eye drops and to put a warm tea bag (either green or black tea) on my eye 3 to 4 times daily to help reduce puffiness. I also got to ask him about my lower back and tailbone (that's another story) but now i have a reccomendation by my doctor to go have someone touch my back! So i went back to Kristina's (where i was staying) to put the eye drops in and put the tea bag on my eye. I did, and decided i was going to feel good about it...Now, the next morning i have a quasimodo eye. I actually look kinda scary. So that's basically where the story ends. I have no answers, just more tea bags! and some eye drops but I'm not sure if any of this is really working. In the mean time, i'm not sure i should really drive, i don't really want to go out into public but there's no way i am going to stay cramped up in a studio apartment all day..

The other little mini story is that i was at my grandparents on saturday for my grandpa's birthday. All my cousins were there and we were playing like we usually do. My grandparents have these huge swings that are strung between two trees with thick cable wire. They hang down maybe 25 ft and swing super high. You feel like your going on a roller coaster. They've been there for years and we've enjoyed them for years. Well my brother and i got a chance to swing. There's one that is like a normal swing with two rope side to hold onto and a wooden base to sit on and the other has a circular wooden base and a rope with knots up the middle. Well i was on the normal wooden one and my broter was on the circular one and my cousin Tanner pushed him probably the highest that swing has gone. So high that it got to the point where the tension of the rope started to bend because it was so high.. as soon he started to come back down the rope snapped back into place and the shock of that weight caused the cable to snap up at the trees and each of us to drop to the ground. My brother fell on his bum basically dropping right where he was and then went back and hit his head (nothing to severe). And i was swinging forward and basically when the swing broke just kept flying forward with the swing still under my butt and had a crash landing skidding down pretty hard repeatedly. It was a weird feeling. I remember my eyes had been closed and i had been in this sort of bliss just thinking about how good it felt to swing and have the wind in my hair and how beautiful the day was, blah blah blah.. then i hit the ground. Everyone was immediately concerned with Brennan cause he was holding his head (rightfully so) and had told him not to stand up. He was adamant about getting to me so he crawled on his butt over to where i had landed. The thing that was so strange about this was the last time my brother and i had gotten hurt like this together and experienced that 'shock' feeling was the car accident we got into when i was like 8 or so. It brought back the memory for both of us and it was a look he gave me that made me remember the things i thought my concussion back then had forgotten. But we've both been fine since. I haven't heard any complaints on his end, and mine's just a little sore. I am imagining this is what its like when you get old. Things are sore and tight and ache. So i am vowing to stay nice and limber for as long as i can. I hope its years before i revisit this pain. And like i said above i got a recommendation from my doctor to see a chiropractor and a physical therapist for the next couple months so ana is happy. And as you can see i've added some photos of this lovely day. The first couple are of my grandpa with most his grand kids. And then a some what complete family photo which i thinks looks like we split ourselves into two families, but we'll pretend the gap is where Dalton (my other cousin who was working) should be standing and then Jan can be at my dad's other side. The next few photos are of my newest cousin Abigal. She is so adorable! It was kind of the joke of the day to hear her tell her brothers "back off". I guess that was one of the first real phrases she learned and she knows how to use it! The next few photos... Aunt Ruth, Abigal, Uncle Brian, My dad and Tanner, Noah, My dad and Jan, and lastly an adorable photo of my dad on the swing... This was another thing. The swing could have snapped while i was swinging back over that stack of bricks. It could have been real bad.

Anyway i wanted to share this thought with you as well. This is a tanget. I just feel like i have been reminded lately of all the children out there that don't have homes, that don't have families, and are living in extreme poverty. Instead of a sermon at church this past sunday we had different people come up and give little testimonies from their summer missions. It was so cool to hear about the trips to Portugal, Canada, Seattle (world relief) and Ensenada Mexico. This was the one that really hit me. In Ensenada there is a place called Miracle Ranch (website) A few Bethany families went. Families!!! this got me so excited. I have always imagined doing stuff like this with my kids. They worked at this orphanage for a week doing a VBS sort of thing, cooking, cleaning and playing with the kids. A mother and her daughter got up to tell us about what they experienced there. I got choked up about 5 different times through out the maybe ten minutes she talked. She told us about what it was like to watch her daughter become friends with and play with one of the orphan girls at the ranch. And how one day there were beans spilt every where on the floor and in the grass and how they spent forever meticulusly gathering every bean because otherwise a family wouldn't eat that night. Or how they had to watch a little boy say good bye to his sister, the only family he had because she was being adopted (!!!) ahh. Gosh this got to me. I thought to myself this whole time, how i have to go here. I'm just afraid i would come back a single parent with 4+ kids to take care of! Anyway it just got me thinking about how happy i am to see my cousin Abigal with a wonderful family that will support her and love her and give her all the attention and affection she'll ever need....End tanget.
So i guess i'll keep you posted about the whole eye thing. And maybe be thankful your not around to witness this not so swell swelling.

2009-08-26T00:45:00.000-07:00

Re Fresh

2009-08-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

Take a deep breath, release stress, please rest and be blessed...

I've been having a hard time trying to figure out what classes i want to take, if i want to take classes, if i want to live in Olympia, if i want to go traveling again, blah blah blah. So i finally decided that i want to take two courses. One focusing in Public Health, another focusing on Mexican Art. YAY! So through this stressful time of decision making i came to find out the class Art of Mexico was closed and i couldn't even get waitlisted. I was pretty bummed and through this realized that i wasn't very excited to take the Public Health class but really just want art. Anyway i didn't even get to spend much time stressing over this because the next day i tried again and ta da! I've been waitlisted. I've been feeling the little things, feeling blessed for the little things. Although this is a little thing, its a hopeful thing.
I wanted to share the two class descriptions with you..

Public Thinking, Public Health (8 credits)

The idea of health is not as simple as it appears. It is clearly more than the absence of disease. The idea is applicable to the mental and physical state of individuals and to entire societies, the oceans, wildlife, the planet, as well as to communication, governance, and public discourse. What is this transcendent quality called health?

In this program we explore the concept of health, how that concept varies over time and place, and the factors that affect health including economic and other social circumstances. If human-built resources, relationships, and social capital are important to the attainment of health and well-being, can we allow access to these resources to depend on social class? Since humans can participate in and direct the governance of society, why are societal resources, both material and otherwise, increasingly scarce for lower-income people? What are people, organizations, and governments doing to address this?

Answers to these questions involve civic intelligence — loosely defined as how "smart" societies are in their collective approach to shared challenges. In this program, we will examine the characteristics of civic intelligence and the opportunities for developing it, especially through new information and communication technologies. These investigations are particularly important as we face the complex, unpredictable, and potentially catastrophic challenges of the 21st century. Through writing, discussion, films, guest speakers, and workshops we will explore the hypotheses that improving civic intelligence can lead to better public health and that improving public health can lead to better civic intelligence.

During fall quarter, students will read texts on health equity, social capital and civic intelligence. We will also focus on the Liberating Voices pattern language as an expression of civic intelligence. Students will work in groups to analyze the nature, success, and failure of past civic responses to historical instances of grave health and social crises, including the London Broad Street Cholera Epidemic, industrialism and social exclusion in the early 20th Century, and the 1917 Flu Pandemic.

In winter quarter, students will work in groups to carry out in-depth examination of a current health crisis and its social context. Each group will develop and present a comprehensive initiative that addresses the crisis, demonstrates the contribution of civic intelligence, and works to maximize the equity of health and well-being.

Art of Mexico (8 credits)

This rigorous two-quarter program will explore the visual culture and ceremonial traditions of Mexico. In fall quarter we will study the Mexican pre-Columbian and colonial eras. We will take a thematic approach to this challenging topic, studying native Mesoamerican art and spirituality, Aztec poetry, colonial artistic traditions, the Day of the Dead, masking traditions, and the Virgin of Guadalupe. During winter quarter we will learn about the post-revolutionary mural movement, women painters like Frida Kahlo, social protest art of the People's Graphic Art Workshop, vibrant folk traditions that accompany the fiestas, and contemporary Mexican and Chicano art. We will also focus on the position of women during these eras. Relevant art projects will be incorporated so that students can learn about Mexican art history in an experiential way. Credit will be awarded in Mexican art history. Other credit options include multicultural studies and/or women's studies.

Since i haven't really decided what direction i want to go, i decided i'd focus on both for now and take things as they come. If i end up not liking a course, i can always drop it :)

Discovering discovery

2009-08-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

I spent most the day at discovery park Sunday. It felt like a new discovery. I packed a little lunch, my journal, camera and a blanket and hiked down to the beach. I had never been there with the tide so far in. There was hardly any beach so the place felt pretty crowded. I ended up plopping down toward the end near the light house. In front of me was a woman and her baby. I spent a lot of time watching them. The mother would lay with her face so closely looking eye to eye and her baby would stare right back. It was really cool to see them interact so intimately it was really beautiful. They were both so peaceful and stress free and it just seems like whenever i see kids and their mothers these days there's some level of stress and annoyance. Anyway it was refreshing. I probably sat there for 4 or 5 hours. It was the perfect way to spend the day. I've been feeling too connected to my computer lately and needing to get stuff done so i figured i'd leave it behind for a day and get outside. At one point while i sat there i heard a pretty big splash. I looked up and could only see the remains of something that had obviously plunged into the water. I looked around me to see if anyone had thrown a rock or something, but there was no one. Moments later i saw a huge falcon (looking bird) come out of the water with a fish in its talons. It was soooo cool! If only i had had my camera ready and waiting, it would have been a national geographic shot! I finally decided to pick up and leave and was hiking back up the trail. I came to an opening pretty far up and through the trees could see a bunch of these falcon birds diving into the water to catch fish. I just stopped and stood there for probably ten minutes watching these birds. Then i saw a bird that looked about three times the size of any the others. As it flew closer i saw it was a bald eagle! It landed in a tree relatively close to where i was. I was able to snap a shot but it landed with its back to me. It was so majestic in a way, impressive and noble. I was there a little longer and headed back to my car. I was so fascinated by all the beauty and just that feeling that your some place special. And that its so available in the city. There was an overall peaceful movement through out the whole park that felt like such an escape...
Anyway just a couple more things that have been working themselves out... Got my food handlers permit! Kristina and i just decided they'd be a good thing to have and went the other day down to the seattle center sat through an hour and half lecture/movie, took the test, scored a hundred and can now get jobs in restaurants. So if you ever need to know how long to wash your hands, what temperature to cook your meat at or what cross contamination means, just ask :) Other exciting things would be this time i jumped off a dock into lake union with Daron and Maggie one of those really hot 90 degree weather days but at night. I would say i overcame a nice fear of mine. Jumping into black water, over my head, and there were probably fish and other living things in there somewhere :/ i'll get used to it, and i did. It was actually really fun. But finally after we all ended up getting a little freaked out we sat at the end of the dock for almost an hour and just talked. It was pretty awesome being out there at night, soaking wet, not even cold, with two amazing friends. It was a pretty busy dock too. There was a small group of guys, a woman with her two dogs, some other girls that came and a couple, quite the happening place.
I've also decided that i want to start making short films and have been playing around with filming things when i travel places, see cool things, ect. Anyway it a new art form and i've been feeling bored with my photos lately. Music is what inspires me half the time anyway, so i might as well incorporate it into my work right? I have a ton of footage from venezuela, and my trips to california. As i travel more i'd like to take short clips of footage and eventually put together a little film of the road i've traveled and the way i experienced it. Maybe that sounds corny. We'll see if i can come up with anything worth watching.
These last photos are the sunset from sunday night. We've been having a lot of really beautiful pink and orange skies this summer, i am sad to know they'll be going. After the drastic change of the 90's to the 60's it started to hit me that summer has an end. I started to remember last fall and the fall before that, and before that and how i always think i'm fine, i think i'm happy but as soon as the sun starts to peak through in spring my whole attitude shifts. By the time summer is here i think back to the winter and realize how depressed i was. Maybe i've just had some pretty rough septembers, octobers, novembers all the way through march, or I've been thinking i'm just one of those seasonally affected people. Its gotten to a place for me that i would do anything not to have to go through what i have in the past. Its like you forget the sun exists, that its actually shining some place, just not by you. I am especially not looking forward to being away from Seattle, where there are bright faces of friends, lots of warm coffee shops, shiny city lights and plenty of stores with vitamin D supplements (each which would make up for the fact that the sun is hibernating)... ahhh well i have a lot of ideas of how i can make my experience in olympia a better one and push throught the winter months. I guess i let you know next spring if they've worked out for me or not!
Still planning on telling ya'll a bit about my trip to the beautiful wine country soon, stay tuned ;)

ENFJ

2009-08-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

So i took one of those silly tests on facebook, but this is a little more legit. Its called the Myers Briggs personality type. They have books written all about this stuff, and i actually did one of these a long time ago. Baiscally you answer some multiple choice question and depending on how you answer they categorize you. So whether you are an Extravert or intravert, or are a feeling or fact kind of person. It even goes on further to comparing how these different types of people interact together within relationships. So it can be fun to take the test with a friend or loved one and read about how your personality's function together. I don't know i like this kind of stuff, its not too deep or anything just interesting and cool to knowing for your self and understanding how you work. Anyway these were my results.

ENFJ (Extraversion, iNtuition, Feeling, Judgment)

You are warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. You are highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. You find potential in everyone, and want to help others fulfill their potential. You may act as a catalyst for individual and group growth. You are loyal, and are responsive to praise and criticism. You are sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership. Famous people with your same ENFJ personality include: Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Dick Van Dyke, Diane Sawyer, Peyton Manning, Pete Sampras, Johnny Depp, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Also check out this website. Its more about ENFJ's but its interesting. Its so weird to feel like your reading exactly about yourself. I just googled "ENFJ" and this was a site that came up. There was a lot to read about, people really get into this stuff. At the bottom of the page there are links to read more on Careers and Relationships for ENFJ's. hahahah ahh i just spent some time reading the relationship part and ENFJ's were described as having the tendency to "smother" their loved ones. I think i've done this a time or so in the past :) Anyway its fun, you should try it.
http://www.personalitypage.com/ENFJ.html
http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/enfj.htm

To build a home...

2009-08-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a mini trip to wine country this last Sunday night. I left with my mom thursday for a wedding in a beautiful little town called Geyserville California. I plan to show some photos and video i took maybe i'll upload some stuff tonight but for now just want to share this song. This song has been a lot of different things for me at different times with different situations.

This guys name is Patrick Watson, the Cinematic Orcestra and him worked together to produce this song.

The times they are a changin'

2009-08-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

(i wrote this yesterday but didn't have time to finish it all, so here it is...)There are your usual days. Where you have some sort of a routine, things to count on and expect, things to get done or maybe they are just usual because to some to degree there is a knowing of how your brain thinks and the process it takes. Then there are the days that you feel like so much progress has been made even if at the end of the day all your 'To Do' check boxes were left unchecked. What changed was an emotional progression, and intellectual gain. And i guess its only once your routine of ordinary days is broken, you realize the progress. I haven't quite decided where i'm going with this. Just that today, even though nothing quite spectacular has happened was an emotional progressive day. I had a last minute baby sitting job this morning at nine. It was for my old youth pastors wife, Marisa and the women in her bible study. It was only going to be for a couple hours and the money was great and i was excited cause my job for this week had been canceled. It's been a while since i've babysat. And its just funny to all of the sudden be surrounded by 3 and 4 year olds. Having to adjust to the way they think and percieve and change your language and your expectations. Jack is 5 and 2/12, Avery is 3 and 2/12 (this is what jack told me), Hannah is 3. Benjamin is 4. Seth is 9 months and I was alone. I was pretty proud of myself by the end of our time together. There were a few spills a few cries but everyone made it out and given the dynamics of trying to put kids together in hopes they'll get along to play and all their age similarities, personalities i'd say it was a great success. They had me busy the entire time. I don't know how many times i told each kid to "use their words" instead of pushing and getting frustrated and angry, whining, or picking a fight. So and so's feelings are hurt, can you please apologize. Sometimes i felt like i was just there to be the "turn facilitator" Because as soon as one kid found a toy the others hadn't discovered it became the only thing that mattered for everyone else. It was also interesting to see the role each kid played within the group. Jack is the older brother, tends to be bossy and defiant and sweet given the circumstance. He's a smart kid ( i learned a lot about Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus today!) but knows how to use that to be a little manipulative at times. Avery is the little sister but very vocal. Hannah was the sweetest little girl. She listened so well at one point started to cry because the other kids were fighting and it was upsetting her. Benjamin was a little of a mystery to me. He backed down from confrontation pretty quickly. He seemed like a really smart kid and also really sensitive. Now Seth. Seth was this little bundle. He was pretty fussy this morning but that just meant i got to hold him more. At one point he layed his head on my chest and just rested there for a moment. I couldn't move, i just stood there feeling the warmth coming from his little body, it was such a moment. I finally needed my hands free and discovered this nifty bouncing thing that hung from the cieling that he could sit in and rotated and had springs so he could bounce. I could leave him in hear and he was happy, but i usually tried to sit in front of him. I had fun doing simple things with my mouth, like sticking my tongue out, and watching how he'd react. I would slowing see him getting a grin on his face and watching his tongue move out through his lips. Ahhhhh, so as i just went on and one about these kids, which was probably a little ridiculous, this morning really made me want to know more about developmental pyschology. Anyway. Second part to the day.
I've been trying to sell some furniture on craigslist that neither my mom and i want anymore. So i sold this butcher block kitchen island today to this woman (the first to respond to my ad). She came by and i showed her in detail the faults of the piece, and she was afraid it wouldn't fit in her car. We ended up trying disassembling the whole thing and loading it into her car which altogether totaled to about 2 hours of my afternoon. But the cool thing is that we were talking that whole time. I got to learn a little about her, but mostly she asked me questions about what i was studying and stuff like that. I told her i was interested in Art and Public Health/Medical Alternatives. She told me about this Non-profit organization here in Seattle called Art with Heart. She had volunteered with them for a while cause a friend of her's is really involoved. Anyway basically what they do is work with kids who have been through some type of traumatic event (school shooting, abuse, terminal illness, ect.) by helping them to express themselves creatively through writing and drawing and other forms of art. Anyway after we had the table all loaded up, she gave me the money and we hugged. I could tell she genuinely wanted me to go check out Art with Heart and hear how things went. I was just so happy i got to meet some random stranger through craigslist, make a connection and get a hug! hah, that kind of stuff just doesn't happen any more. So then i headed back up, went straight to the computer and went to their website. They had a video talking all about what they do, I'd watch it so you can get a good idea, even though if i ever did end up working for them i woul personally give them a video upgrade! But then I started clicking on other related videos of kids who had been terminally ill. "Tribute to Gloria Strauss" was one of them, and "One Last goodbye". These were the two that hit me really hard. I just sat there and cried and cried for these kids and these families. Its crazy to think that these things are going on all the time. And this is only the stuff we can't control. At this same time there are kids dying of hunger and malnutrition pollution infections lack of sanitation. This is so wrong. We all need a kick in the butt. For where we are today, for what we are capable of as a people, a country a world, this should not exist. Ahh I just want to do something about it. Watching those videos has just reminded me of how much God shows himself through children and how strong and powerful, hopeful and right kids are. Man, i could go on and on and on on. But my day didn't end here. By this time i was feeling pretty worn down so i took a quick nap. I was up at 5:45 to walk and meet my lovely friend Dawn for some food. She was giving some sort of talk at a quilting shop (she works for the Union Gospel Mision?) so i met her there and indulged myself in all the design books while i waited. We decided on Mexican, which i will let you know Ballard has the best Mexican and there are about 5 or 6 in a five block radius to choose from. For all of you who have not been to Senor Moose, please go. This place is pretty awesome. Their chips and guacamole is awesome and their everything is so good. Nice and simple, and good. I could close my eyes and just randomly point to something on the menu and be thoroughly satisfied. Anyway, Dawn and i sat and had a great life talk. Finally what i needed!! i got some good answers. It felt like i had had my head was screwed on wrong and she snapped it into place. We got to talk about the window i am going to design for her. I want this piece to come collectibely from us both. I can create it, but i want her initial guidance and input, even if its just descriptive words of how she imagines it. Last time i made art i had an audience and a purpose, so this time i need to make it personal to Dawn to give its significance. I'm pretty excited for how its going to turn out even though i got nothing to show for it right now. So to conclude. This day i am so thankful for. It was a gift. It was an exhale.

¡Buenas días, tardes, noches y todas entre éstos!

2009-08-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a link with you all...venezuelanalysis, this is a site I mentioned a few months back while i was in Venezuela. Because of all the controversy surrounding Venezuela and the US i think its important to have good sources to get information. Most main stream media sites tend to bend the truth or leave out significant proportions. Most the writers on Venezuela Analysis have either been to Venezuela or are writing from there now. The link i gave you is an article done by two girls in my class, Caitlyn and Liz, hope you enjoy :)

Farenheit one o one

2009-07-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

Been working pretty hard the last couple weeks. I started working for my dad as well as my friend Kristina's dad. Its been nice spending time at my dads. I've been hanging with Champ, and have done some cool things with the space there, getting rid of a lot of crap and working in the yard. I've decided that i like to garden and i think i'm pretty good at it. I feel like i know what plants want and what makes them happy. Yesterday i worked 9 hours (!) in a hundred degree weather, painting the deck at Kristina's dads house. crazy. I spent most the day standing on a ladder, reaching, bending, contorting my body to paint every crack and crevise. Now i've got bruised legs, a sunburn on my back and discovered places on my body i didn't even know could produce sweat. Its pretty rewarding though. I like jobs where you can visually see the progress your making. Before the deck we spent a day or two staining old deck furniture. Which i will say look pretty dang good now.
I've had a butt load of things to think about it seems. I can't turn off my brain and feel anxious in an unexciting way. Just like I'm stuck in this gray area, waiting for things to start for me. And i have a plan, but its the kind of plan that i am just waiting for it to be over. Like, hopefully i can just make it through to be prepared for what ever comes next. This is a weird feeling for me. I think i have spent the majority of my "adult"ish life being pretty driven and focused on knowing what i want. So to be here, i don't know. it feels pretty frustrating. I also see that i have set this up for myself. I left highschool early, did the community college running start thing, have about a year and a half left before i graduate from Evergreen, decided not to be a part of dorm living, the list goes on. Basically, i've chosen a style of life that sets me up for this feeling. I know i will continue to travel. part of leaving though is coming back. And when you come back there's this distance thats created between you and whoever. I went away and experienced these things, was challenged grew in these ways. During all this life went on with out me, and the people i know changed and little parts of us grew apart. Its weird because i feel old. I don't really like feeling old.I forget i'm 19, i feel thirty. Ugh. I hope when i am actually thirty it feels better than this.
Hay muchas preguntas y pocas respuestas!
Anyway some other stuff. I've recently made a new friend. This is cool. My friend Alex had a friend named Aviva, he thought we'd get along. So we met up. We're both Chocoholics so we checked out Theo Chocolate in Fremont, which for you information is Air conditioned and has unlimited free samples of chocolate from everywhere (even venezuela! which was in my opinion a little to chalky for me). But good to know for future reference when i need a fix and want to try some exotic flavors. They had one chocolate bar that was flavored Bread and Chocolate (?) interesting idea, but will say i wasn't a fan, too salty.
No recent photos, but i've been thinking about wanting to take some photos soon, so check back. As for now, i think i'm headed to Recycled Cycles to check out some bikes and maybe exchange mine. Wish me luck :)

Been getting some fond memories of Venezuela, looking up videos on youtube, check em out. This is one of my favorite Venezuelan bands called Calle 13.
No hay nadie como tu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38-cNUyOXqw
For those of you who aren't spanish speakers, the phrase "no hay nadie como tu" means there is no one like you, which is the chorus of the song. The rest of the lyrics talk about all the things that exist in the world.
La Jirafa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn04AqnvuCM
Here's a video of one a friend just told me about...

Summer Plans, Black Cab session, SF

2009-07-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

Everyone keeps asking me what my plans are for the summer... Luckily this question has landed me a few little jobs here and there including this past week. I just got home from house sitting the whole past week. My mom and I went to visit some friends that were in town last weekend at their friends house. Turned out their friends were headed out of town and needed a house/dog sitter for all of this week. It was great for me, cause I really haven't had much going on lately and i was getting paid to basically sit around and work on art projects. It did get lonely though and i am the kind of person to let myself get freaked out, being alone in a big house on the edge of Mercer Island. And having a seventeen year old, deaf dog doesn't make you feel any safer. So i did get a lot of alone time and was able to finish some projects that had been sitting a while, i kept myself company by talking to myself in Spanish and found myself talking to the deaf dog (which really doesn't work). I watched a lot of movies, so heres a suggestion: P.S. I love you. This movie was suggested to me a while ago by my mom. But since i knew i would cry throughout the whole movie i kept putting it off. I thought it was going to be a depressing and hopeless film about love.. I finally got to it this weekend and was happily surprised by the mood of the movie, which is pretty upbeat and realistic considering the circumstances. So please if you haven't already, watch it!.... Anyway, one morning I had my friend Kristina and her family over for brunch. This was really nice. We sat on their big porch, laughed, talked. And for days now I've been drinking water like there's no tomorrow. I can't explain it. I'll have 15 (big) glasses of water and three water bottles through out the day, ugh. It was exhausting but i couldn't stop. I've never craved water like that before.
So other than house sitting, I plan to help my dad out with his completely overgrown back yard this whole next week. We literally have three huge birch trees that just came out of nowhere and unfortunately we don't have space for them. As well as an entire back yard that hasn't recieved any attention for i don't know how long. This should be fun for me i think. I'll get to hang out with Champ, Harriett and Honey :) and the sun, hopefully. I'm hoping that when i finish with the yard i'll be able to move inside and help finish some projects he's had. I am finding this lack of design in my life right now, i think it has to do with the fact that i don't feel like i have my own space to work with. So this is exciting for me because it is my dad's house and i like to see the improvements and changes and love to draw out ideas and be a part of making them happen.
Other than that i have some plans to work on Kristinas, Dad's boat. And maybe some yard work at Dawn's parents house (which is out on Whidbey or something). Speaking of Dawn, she is going down in the books as my first real customer. She is going to commission me to do another window project for her. I'm really excited. I have a few ideas, but I still need to find direction. I'm just excited because this is the first real step to getting my name out there more.
I said i would tell you about my trip to San Francisco, so here goes in a nutshell. My mom and i arrived in the San Francisco airport after a long and frustrating flight and delay. It took an supposed three hour trip, eight hours. It was basically line after line. We drove our rental car to Redwood City to see Mary. This was the first time I met Mary and it was years since my mom and her had last seen each other. We celebrated being done with the airport mess for a while with Margaritas and fish tacos. I got to see some old photos, hear stories and hang out with my mom and her girlfriend. The next day my mom and i headed to Los Gatos. We ate Crepes at this really yummy hole in the wall place, found where my mom used to work, saw the church my parents got married in and the house my grandpa and dad built(photo below) Los Gatos was really beautiful, really lush and full of flowers and green. I want to go back with my dad sometime and see more of his old stomping ground. Later that same day we headed over the pass and over to Santa Cruz. We watched some surfers (sigh) for a while, headed downtown and did a little window shopping. I could move to Santa Cruz in a heart beat, i decided. I made a goal to myself that i would live there at some point in my life, (or some other sleepy surf town) and learn to surf! We then headed back to Mary (and Steve's) for some dinner and conversation. The next day we were off for a long drive over to Mariposa, where Wendy and her family lives. Mariposa is a pretty tiny town right by the entrance to Yosemite. My mom and i had a lot of good talks in the car, we ate at In & Out (Mmmm) and arrived safely. We got a grand tour by Wendy, Bella and Dante. Through the house, their yard and beautiful, extensive garden. I was overwhelmed. I got a glimpse of the garden i would like to have one day. There were so many different types of fruit and vegetables, they had chickens, a green house, used to have cows and it was all grown so beautifully and well thought out. It was a pretty lazy night of casual conversation. The next day we headed into town, which was mostly a single strip of little store fronts. Wendy drove around and gave us a more official tour (it probably took 5-10 minutes) then we headed to the river, where we ate some lunch and made sand castles. By the time we headed back to the house it was close to dinner. I was pretty exhausted from the sun and playing in the sand, but there was a four and seven(?) year old that weren't going to let me rest. We jumped on their trampoline, played on their swing set (for a long time). I saw a long line of ants and got them interested in that. We followed their road through the entire backyard until it went past the fence in one direction and to the house in the other. By that time it was time to eat and a break. The next day, I'm pretty sure we were off for San Francisco. Our flight left around eight and we'd have the whole day in the city. San Francisco felt so much bigger than Seattle. I heard there is a population difference of like 300,000, with SF having 800,000 and Seattle with 500,000. I really noticed the difference. We tackled the city by starting at some view points. I got to understand the city pretty well from these, drove through China town, then we headed to the golden gate bridge, explored some parks, ate some gyros, paid some crazy bridge crosssing fees, and headed to Haight Ashbury. Walked through some shops and were off to the airport. Later in August Mary will be getting married (to steve) out in the beautiful californian wine country. My mom and i have plans to go back down for just a few days, i can't wait!
This next stuff is all pretty random. Videos i've enjoyed and some sites i've been looking at. Enjoy.

Check out blackcabsessions.com
There's a lot of other good bands on there, some i've heard of some i haven't. Here's one of lykke li. really enjoy this performance

I could probably keep posting and posting, but its probably better you just check it out instead ;)

Red Hot Post/Artefacto

2009-06-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

(an official blog post)
So i am sitting here, in Grace's (mom's) apartment. Listening to a new compilation, a Red Hot Compliation called Dark Was the Night. I'm feeling pretty peacful at the moment, amongst the chaos. I'm helping my mom move, helping Kristina (my beautiful best friend) move and trying to find a place for myself. And saying goodbye to my 0ther (beautiful best friend) Grace as she heads to Germany then Spain for the next seven weeks. Its crazy, i was remembering the times that i wanted to have a busy life and feel important, the times that i wanted to get a piece of mail with my name on or get lots of phone calls. And how now that my life is busy, the mail comes with my debit balance, or that phone call comes reminding me something i have to do... that sense of importance has yet to arrive. Or maybe its just that lack of relief that... ahhhh i finally got through it, because there's always something more.
I have a lot to put in this post, so it may take a while. There's a lot thats been up, and a lot of photos! Sooooo, here i go.
First i will just remind you that i put on an Art show a few weeks back, we decided to call it Artefacto. It ran officially for three days, one on campus, and two in an old bagel cafe in downtown Olympia called Otto's. We had a gallery opening party the saturday that was really really awesome. There were probably almost 50 people that were there at one time. We had wine and treats and music and crowds of people looking at art, asking questions and just hanging out. Another girl in the Art Committee group (that helped put this on), named Sara and i got interviewed by a Latin American Solidarity Group from Portland that had come up for the Conference (another event by our class) and the Art Show. They asked us questions about why this was important and how we were seeing connections being made and how art was connected to the revolution. Their plan is to go down to Venezuela this fall where they will visit many of the same people and groups as we did, and will show the footage from the interview. I was very satisfied this happened. Eventhough i am camera shy and was running on 3 hours of sleep that day, it made all the hard work worth it to know that Venezuela could see what this group of students was doing, how we were organizing and what we were trying to show. We got great feedback from the community and other students that weren't a part of the art committee, saying that it was one of the best things our class produced (!) So next I'll try and upload some photos of the art show, and of my art, I barely finished the night before! So these first few photos are of the entrance into the gallery. There's one of Sunday when we had some slam poetry, dramatic readings and songs performed. The wall reading Revolucion! is a photo display by Katie, she had some really great photos of people who had voted, (there everyone knows if you've voted because your pinky will be bright purple from being dipped in ink and printed) holding their hands up proudly. There's a photo of hanging objects with writing on a piece of paper behind it. This was a mobile thing i ended up making. Originally i had a mobile with photos hanging there but they kept swinging around and it wasn't doing justice to the photos, so i stuck the wire mobile on the wall (last photo) and decided to fill the space by hanging memorabilia i had saved from Venezuela. I hung things like Coral from Chichirivichi, paper stubs from my favorite club there, a bus pass from a friend, a calling card, beads, a leaf i found, and Solera beer labels (i found artisticly pleasing). The paper on the wall is actually a copy of the journal entry i decided to write on my window (in the bottom three panels with the purple background). It was brought to my attention by my friend Basil that although i had meant this to be read horizontally, that it made beautiful poetry when read vertically. We read through it together, i think i write them both on here for your enjoyment ;) Lets see the next couple photos are of other people's art. The first is some stuff done by Malia; she made a sculpture from paper mache of a pregnant womans body, in the bottom of the stomache you can see the imprint of a small face. Then there are some portrait drawings of Venezuelan women. The next photo the design of a mural that will be painted on a wall in downtown Olympia. It was drawn and designed by Sara and Anna, they asked the Olympia community to submit the names of who their heroes are and why, they took the most popular and best submissions (a collection of fifty i think) drew them and organized them into a mural. Next is a selection of graffiti art, drawn and stenciled by Amirah and Alison. I think it says in the middle "Women of War and Revolution". After that comes my little corner of art. First I'll explain a few things. There's a tri-foldy thing i decided to use to display photos to take up less wall space and make the exhibit a little more interactive. I sewed the images to the screen using the colors of the Venezuelan flag (i had to write that here because i'm really not sure if anyone noticed, thats okay) Behind that are my window projects and to the right is the other half of my photo display. Okay, next photo. I made these two pieces to compliment eachother but wanted them to be and feel very different. Instead of trying to rewrite everything i did, i am going to copy and paste some sections of a project reflection paper i wrote. Brace yourself, there's a lot, so now would be the time to skip ahead, i don't expect you to read it all.. Here goes: Overall I decided that I wanted to create art that appealed to anyone and everyone. I wanted to reach the hearts of people, their own creativity and challenge them to think critically. I wanted to try and escape whatever preconceived ideas they had about Venezuela, not to see it as a socialist country, or to only see Chavez, but to have a fresh pair of eyes and a new chance to just see a country, a people, a place that had its own mix of beauty, struggle, expression, community, and everything in between. My goal was to create a piece of art that would bring the viewer to see the Venezuela I remember. Within that I wanted to draw on complex issues and a way of life that is very different than ours. I decided to work using a window because I felt it was a challenge for me, being a completely new medium and because I felt I could create a lot of meaning looking through the glass. I wanted to make my viewer feel they were looking through a bus window. So that if all they had was a glimpse of Venezuela, what would I decide to show them? What would I want them to see? I felt I could relate to this seat, because I remembered the many bus rides I took through out my travels there, seeing things and places I may never again. But at the same time, I did get to experience a lot of the country and got to witness a lot of beauty while trying to wrap my head around a lot of the complex issues. The window was going to be my main project for the quarter, and then I found a screen I could use to make it a complimenting pair. I wanted the screen to stand a part yet balance the busyness of the window. I knew that with the screen I wanted to incorporate some of those ideas of beauty, struggle, and expression. I wanted to take something I saw in Venezuela that was representative of that sense of voice and communication that was a people’s expression. I thought what better way to do this than use a graffiti piece I saw. I reviewed a lot of the photos I took while I was there, and finally decided to use the little girl picking the revolution star (flower). I felt this piece wasn’t over bearing politically, it wasn’t too obvious, but once told what the star represents might spark a lot of thought to my audience. I decided to incorporate an entire field of flowers around her. My hope was to create depth while creating an obvious difference between the revolution star and the rest of the flowers. I wanted it to show directly, that the little girl was drawn to the star and had chosen it. I also wanted to create the sense that she was still graffiti and not stitched on like everything else. Through this I wanted to show the difference between what was mine that I created and what was Venezuelan graffiti. I also knew that I wanted to include the words that were written under the piece itself, which is Siembre Socialismo (Harvesting Socialism) so I made sure to create a title card for it with the translation and a brief description.
With the window I created a street scene. I spent a lot of time drawing out different streets, struggling with how I could represent the country I saw with one glimpse, one view. I chose to show things like a fruteria, a plaza with a statue of bolivar, hanging laundry, dogs everywhere; lying in the shade, standing around, on roof tops. I used bright colors to make the buildings, including one building made from part of an old bag of flour I decided to save because it said “Venezuela, Socialista, Harina de maiz”. I wanted to show the many different types of landscapes as well, using cut out of jungle, and rainforest, and the Andes of course. I also used things like the pink birds flying; because that was something we actually did see at the lagoon. And I wanted barrio like houses to be invading the city, to show this as a huge problem. I lined the top of the window with concrete and broken glass. I wanted this to be seen in a couple different ways. One just as a colorful, resourceful, and beautiful thing, and the other as a way to keep burglars and other bad things out and away. I wanted this to portray the issue of crime. I decided that I wanted to bring real things from Venezuela into this piece as well and decided to make a wall-like structure on the outside of the glass. I made this using pieces of tile I collected from all over the country, and decided to put this on the outside of the glass to again create perspective and to make it stand out to the viewer. I also decided to include a journal entry; reflective on the life I was seeing around me and those differences from here. I felt this was important for multiple reasons. With an artistic perspective, words were needed to balance any confusion the top collage part might have brought. Another artistic perspective was that I needed to tell my viewer a story; I needed to give them something to look into and read into. I wanted to take this chance to get more personal and an inside look to my mind and heart and something I wrote while surrounded by a place that looked something like my collage. I felt that this particular piece of writing of one more reflective of my surroundings and angst toward not having a working camera, and words not being enough and how would I show people what I saw. So I kept writing and described what I was seeing and then there it was incorporated into the art I was creating to share. It showed my troubled self, and the action I took toward solving this problem. This is what i wrote.
I am sitting here at a cafe, sometimes i forget to notice the colors here, and i will miss them when i leave. Salsa music plays in the back ground, the dark wood tables are dressed with bright blue table cloths. I am sitting here at the beginning of the lunch hours, sitting in the corner, watching crowds drift through. I wish my camera would work now. I keep trying to take mental photos but there is no way to share what my eyes see, words are not enough. There is nothing very glamorous about life here. Beside maybe American cultures ever dominant existence, the fashion, the make-up, the perfume. But the knitty gritty life still exists. Its a contrast that feels confusing from an outside perspective a clash that seems normal to everyone here, This is life, beauty here must be sought. It hides behind, masks and costumes, beauty here is simple. It lines the streets with brightly colored houses painted high with graffiti, political expression; a people's voice, beauty is seen through the eyes of strangers eager to greet you with the welcoming words "We are all American". Beauty is in the connections made through language barriers and the body language you rely on, the optimistic smile that reassures you there is a greater freedom, a freedom that seems to be written on the hearts of an entire country a freedom that exists and has taken course. Beauty is in the action, a voice that is given, a voice that is used, however this may be.
This next section was what Basil originally read vertically, it can be a little choppy and sounds funny but here it is. The title became... I Am a Cafe, Sometimes To Notice. -analicia pedersen.
(part one) I am sitting here, colors here- and i will miss ground. The dark wood, here at the beginning, crowds drift through. I to take mental photos. Words are not enough, beside maybe American. The make-up, the pen. Its a contrast that seems normal to be sought. It hides be. It lines the streets with graffiti, political express. The eyes of strangers are all american. Beauty and the body language, you there is a greater free. Hearts of an entire country. Beauty is in the action, however this may be.
(part two) At a cafe sometimes, them when i leave. Salsa. Tables are dressed with bright of the lunch hours. Sit, wish my camera would. But there is no way to. There is nothing very, cultures ever dominant fume. But the knitty feels confussing. From an everyone here. This is hind masks and costumes, brightly colored houses. A people's voice eager to greet you with, is in the connections made, you rely on. The optimistic. A freedom that exists a voice that is given.
(part three) I forget to notice the music plays in the back. Blue table cloths. I am sitting in the corner watching work now. I keep trying. Share what my eyes see. Glamorous about life here. Existence. The fashion gritty life still exists here. Outside perspective, a clash life. Beauty here must. Beauty here is simple. Painted high with. Beauty is seen through the welcoming words, "we". Through language barriers, smile that reassures. To be written on the and has taken course. A voice that is used.
Over all this show was so much fun for me. I learned a lot about myself and how i handle a leadership role. I am definitely looking forward to putting on more art shows in the future. So I just remembered that i wrote a whole journal entry the night of my art show. I was really pumped and excited from the night, but i thought i'd just add in some parts, given this entry seems to be about the show, and i have a lot more photos that need text to them, enjoy!
can i just say...that tonight was truly amazing. hands down one of the best nights i think i'll have this year! tonight was the opening night of the art show, artefacto. I have been pumped all day full of adrenaline, running on three hours of sleep, on my feet all day and coordinating the event i'd been waiting to happen for three months now that is a build up of an entire school years study. It started this morning at eight thirty when i met adrianne at otto's to start set up. Most people drifted in between eight and nine. It was crazy to watch our space transform through out the day and into the night. We started with nothing on the walls, then individually put our stuff up and helped each other, with suggestions and ways to add to the space. When things didn't work out you had to improvise and utilize the situation to the best of your ability. After getting most the art set up we made arrows leading to the space, advertised using sandwich boards balloons and an isle with my window photo by the door. Sara translated and posted el Pueblo's wish facing the street to help draw people in and help change the dynamic, she added an awesome sign reading: revolucion! (with double exclamations) on the red wall at the end; it was the perfect touch. Katie's art hung throughout the space mainly sharing the wall with the sign. Through out most the day there was someone using her typewriter, writing an artist statement, photo description or just thoughts in general (i think this added to the appeal of the place). We set it up so that when you walked through the front doors, you'd be greeted with a sign that explained a little about who we were and what this was. There was one counter lined with map and information on the fireplace screen and a whole other counter with poster, newspapers, pamphlets and such all from venezuela. My art took up the front corner. My photo mobile didn't work again so i hung it to use some empty space on the wall. In the corner where the mobile had been i decided that i'd better create another, so i gathered the coral, feathers, little ticket stubs and other paper like things i'd collected and created another mobile. Next to that i hung the graffiti highway scene. Along the yellow wall i put my window and screen and i set up the tri-fold screen thing with photos sewn into it using red, blue and yellow, which are the venezuelan flag colors. I mixed it up a bit with these two little traditional masks ("diablitos" little devils) that i bought along with my single flower photo.... okay. i'm going to stop there, as much as i'm sure you are dying to read more i just went to the beginning of this ever so long post and saw that i meant to include an update that consisted of more than just the art show. Alas its now getting late and i'm finding i have run low on words, hah. But hopefully in the next post i can include details from my mini trip to SF and just general life stuff, thoughts... Maybe some music? and of course i will include more photos :) Until then!

had to share..

2009-05-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Salsa Street dancing in Vietnam

siembre.....

2009-05-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

so i guess its about time i updated here a little. School has really just been insane. i don't even know what to say about it. This is my first year at Evergreen so i feel like i don't really know what normal is or what to expect... everyone says this is the quarter from hell, and the worst quarter they've ever had, and for some it will be their last :( I have been working on my art projects like crazy, mainly just this one that has been taking way too much time. I decided to work using windows as my main project. I would love to do more but i am already just stressing with the one window and one screen that i have already. I have been trying to take work in progress pictures, and can show you just the beginning of the frames. They started as just plain white frames, i knew i wanted them blue ish so i scraped and sanded and repainted using some blue i found in my house then went over with a thin layer of acrylic making the color a little more tourquoisy (not actually a word)... also i've been into flowers lately.. not that i am ever not into flowers but they've become a part of my project so i have been appreciating them a little more, closely. and using different mediums.

So the other project i am working that isn't directly related to physically creating art, is being a part of the Public Art Committee in my class. We've all organized our

selves into committees based on our goals for the quarter and the personal projects we're working on. For example there is a committee for Community Dialogue, Film Festival, and Publications. Its really exciting to see what other people are creating from their experience and how we've been able to get the community involved and a part of this process. I am especially excited for open Gallery the Public Art Committee is putting on soon! Its been a lot of work and will be to make this happen but i think it will be really great!!! Basically what we're doing is having an open gallery on campus

for one to two days thursday/friday the 28th and 29th, then we'll be renting out otto's an old bagel cafe in downtown olympia for saturday and sunday. Saturday will be just another open gallery time, then Sunday the events start to happen. We will have Venezuelan food, music, dramatic readings, personal reflections, poetry slams, and art of course! We're also organizing a stencil station where people will be able to spray paint spanish words (like Solidaridad) and some venezuelan graffiti onto clothes, shoes, bags or what ever surface they choose. Our hope is to have some jewelry to sell and some pre-painted shirts and maybe even sell some art. I guess im just realizing how important an event like this is.. I was realizing how everyone else seemed to be focused on writing a bunch of articles and publications and giving presentations and well first thats not how i learn, and second i feel like that can only communicate one part of the story or perspective. And the things i appreciate and affect me when i travel are the colors and faces, sounds and smells, tastes and the movement. So if there's a way to communicate that, to bring the culture here and give people a taste, thats what i want. To speak to their curiosity and get them intrigued to learn more and become more informed and to hear from the hearts instead of the mouths. i hope to do justice to the beauty i see.

So here are the "frames" i am working on... just imagine all the possibilities.....

the going..

2009-04-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this photo link with ya'll. Its a friend of a friend of a friend, or something like that. I really don't know much about him except he has captured venezuela in a way that is so captivating and to me has taken the shots i dreamt of taking...ah man check it out.

http://lovebryan.com/bryanblog.php?start_from=4&ucat=&archive=&subaction=&id=&

ya, so other than that i am getting really excited about the art we will all be creating and getting inspired by stuff like this. Hopefully in the next couple weeks i'll have some stuff to show and maybe some of you will be able to make it out to some of our events ?! maybe not. but i will take photos and tell you all about it.

tryin to make a dollar out of what makes sense

2009-04-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

so i posted that photo. I don't know quite what to think about this whole Obama man. I want to think he will follow through with some of his more "revolutionary" and radical ideas he threw at us during election. But so far i feel a little disappointed with the progress or lack of. It makes me think though, about all the crap thats thrown at you during elections, just to give hope. But with hope also comes disappointment at least with U.S.'s reputation. Hmm I am cynical...Change. Maybe someday change will occur within our governmental system. Ojala! (i hope so). y solidaridad!! what a dream!

Anyway on a lighter and more upbeat note (literally) bought some music today. I was probably in Easy Street for an hour. People kept asking me if i was finding everything okay, hah. Truth is i was just completely overwhelmed. Its been a while since my last music store visit, and i really just wanted to buy everything. But i settled for three new albums: Beirut - March of Zapotec and Real People Holland (2 cds), Indigo Girls- Posiedon and the Bitter bug, and last but not least Common - Be. I will say the new Beirut is good. I am enjoying it a lot. Its really different than his other albums in a same way. almost like a mixture between the old Beirut, Ratatat and some of those clever beats sabzi makes for blue scholars. THe other cd i think was inspired from Oaxaca. Lots of Tuba! I haven't had a lot of time to listen to the others yet, but ill let you know if they're any good. They will be im sure. :)

Okay okay whats new. I am starting the art projects i was (maybe) telling you about. I bought some old windows. Thats as far as ive gotten. But hopefully later this week i will have some paint and collage work done. Actually one is a window and the other is a framed screen for a window about the same size. I am hoping to make something complimenting from both. These weren't exactly what i wanted so part of my inspiration is lack. But i am trying to get my creative juices flowing and think of something i haven't.. that would be a lot.

Other than that i was able to facebook chat with my lovely friend Hugo today. It was so so good to talk with him, plus i got to practice my spanish. He told me he might be going to Germany this august..... I didn't think much of it when he told me. But i mentioned it to Kristina today when i saw her and she was like, "oh thats the same time im going" and i thought, hmm how strange that the two people ive only ever planned on going to germany with have plans to be there at the same time.. Maybe i should go? so now i have more reasons to save up my pennies! no more cds for a while.

Speaking of pennies, i was up walking on California Ave this weekend with my mom and walked by a cafe with a now hiring sign. I was needing to look for a job and here one was. I went in and talked to a lady, then dropped off my resume today. Its a cute little place, looks like it would be fun to work at and really convenient for me. I wanted to meet the guy who was hiring but looks like my resume will be added to a stack with others and if he likes what he sees i'll get a call later this week. woopty doo. I have a chance!

Man there is really a lot i'd like to write here but i need to draw a line between public diaries and private. I don't really know how many people read this or who..so thats why i am hesitant. I think i have like three journals to satisfy the one need. Oh and one other thing i am realizing is that maybe i do want to study food. This is something i wrote about a lot during my trip in venezuela. Its a huge part of culture and a huge part of health, two things i love! Anyway so i am trying to explore different ways i could approach this. Maybe i should work on a farm? Oh and here is my beautiful city. I have been using the same view point and its getting boring so here a shot of the fence too..

SOLIDARIDAD

2009-04-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

A glimpse of Caracas...

2009-04-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

2009-04-11T19:15:00.001-07:00

Yo Llegué...

2009-04-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

I am here, in Seattle now. Arriving was hard. I feel like i have changed so much since i left. Its interesting to see how people are handling me returning and hearing about Venezuela. Some people look at me with these huge surprised eyes when i tell them i had an amazing trip and want to return (!) Seattle is so grey too. There is such a lack of life here that is really depressing to me. No color, no music, no kisses on the cheek or hugging there is an over all distance between everyone, a lack of community and communication. I miss the inconveniences of life too. Getting wet, walking everywhere, having multiple grocery stores to go to, cold showers, small coffees, noise, noise more noise, "venezuelan time", ect. American life just feels so structured and scheduled and cold. When i first stepped off the plane it felt like ice was coating my bones. The last couple days have been sooo gorgeous though. I find it challenging to drive because the views all around me are breath taking. Its easy to forget the mountain exist all around you here when most days they are covered by a thick fog..Mmmmm this amazing weather isn't supposed to last for much longer but what a sweet taste of summer!

So my last few days in Venezuela were okay. Leaving Merida was really hard. My goodbyes were quick so i didn't have time to get very sad. We arrived at the bus station at around 8:10 i bought my bus ticket for the 8:30 bus. I ran around making sure i had enough food and water for the ride and all my things. We walked to the bus and everyone was there crowding me. Hugo's grandma, mom, uncle, sister, Yolanda and him. It was great, those moments being together and knowing how much we all loved and appreciated each other. People were getting on the bus and i wanted to make sure i had pictures so we took some shots.. Then someone noticed the front door was closed, so there was a mad rush to give hugs and get me on the bus. That part was all a blur. I got on, they had opened the door to let more people on. So i stood in the doorway letting people pass, blowing kisses and waving. Helena came up to me and wanted to confirm our trip through south american (! this made me really happy, and somehow was solidifying to my somewhat distant dream!) i finally headed up to my seat, they all clustered by my window and posed for pictures and did funny little things to make me laugh. The bus started to back up and around..They followed it around stopping by my window again, sending me text messages, calling me to say goodbye.. as the bus pulled away we were all waving and blowing kisses, as we got farther and farther away we started to wave our cell phones in the air so we could see the lights moving in the dark!!!! i didn't want to go. I would say the bus ride was one of the best yet. There were hardly any people on it, so i grabbed the seat in the back, to have a dark corner. I was able to listen to music, dance a little sitting down to keep warm and finally rest. When i decided to wake up it was somewhere around 6:30 in the morning. I thought i would be arriving in Caracas at about 7 or 7:30 but it ended up being like 11. I got off at the stop, little did i know there was more than one in Caracas and i was getting off at the wrong stop... it ended up being one of the most dangerous stations in the city! i found a place to sit, i had no cell phone minutes or any way of contacting Kata who was planning on picking me up at another station. I bought a card for my cell phone (to get minutes) the service was really finicky so i decided i'd ask the woman sitting across from me for help. She didn't know exactly how to do it either so we tracked down different people for help. A taxi driver ended up helping us and he told me i had the bought the wrong card! I was really short on cash so i couldn't buy another. He ended up offering to buy the card from me because he had the service the card offered and i used the cash to buy the right card. Ahhhh i was so lucky. I called Kata and told her where i was, she told me to stay put and would be there to get me as soon as she could. I started talking to the woman across from me a little more. Her name was Raquel, she was older and was visiting from Colombia. I watched her stuff as she went to make phone calls, she bought me a coffee and i realized that she was waiting there for me. I told her she didn't have to and preferred she went to where ever she was headed. But she refused telling me she wouldn't leave me until my friends came and she knew i would be safe. They finally arrived almost three hours later. Fabio came up and found me in the station and we went and got into our cab. I was hoping to give Raquel a ride to where ever she needed but our cab was completely full. We said goodbye and invited each other to our houses. Later in the car Fabio was telling me that the bus terminal i had been at was really dangerous and that i was really lucky nothing had happened to me and that i had even found people that were friendly and trust worthy. That this bus station is happily avoided by most people that know better. From this i just began to realize all the times i had been protected and all the horrible life threatening situations that have been so close to me this whole time. But i have come out safe, or better yet come out making good connections with good people. The rest of the trip for me i was either ready to go home or back to Merida. I had no real desire to hang out in Caracas more.

I went with Fabio, Kata and Fabio's friend John to stay by the beach in a town called La Guaira (20 minutes from the airport). We hung out at the beach, ate our last Venezuelan Arepa's and hung out in the hotel room. Here is a picture from the beach we were at. Friday morning we were up around five, rushed to the airport, said our goodbyes and were off! The plane ride was good. But the culture shock in the Houston airport was painful! I kept trying to speak spanish to people to and was ingracefully stumbling my way back to english. I still haven't found my way back into this language...ahhh We had a lay over in houston for a few hours and waited for some monsoon like rains to pass and boarded our plane. I was able to sit next to Kata finally! and the woman next to us offered us her DVD player and some movies to watch during the 5 or so hour flight. I arrived in seattle that night around 10:30. My Mom, brother, dad, and his girlfriend Jan were there to meet me. It was really weird to see them. I had spent so much time talking about them to people down there and here they were in the flesh. I was also overly exhausted being up around 5 am venezuela time, traveling through 2 other time zones while experiencing radical culture shock in the Houston airport.

I started class tuesday. The whole last week has gone by really fast. I've been commuting between Olympia and Seattle. But will be living in Seattle this quarter at home :) this is good with me if it means i get to save about 500 dollars a month. And my class will only officially meet on Tuesdays and some wednesdays so for those nights i will just stay with Kata in her apartment. We made a plan to try and make Venezuelan food monday nights and speak spanish to each other. Tonight will be our first night so we'll see how that goes.

I am actually really excited for this quarter. For those of you who don't know too much about my class, its a year long course. So fall quarter we studied Venezuelan politics and economics, winter quarter we were in Venezuela experiencing what we could, learning what we could and this spring quarter we will be reflecting and sharing our experience. This will look different for each student. I did a lot of research before the trip about healthcare in Venezuela and the presence and role of Cuban Doctors and Barrio Adentro. While i was there i looked into this more and did some interviews, i also did a lot of "Visual Research" which basically just means photography. So this quarter i will hopefully write some articles, but my main focus is just to be an artist. I really want to learn Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, maybe work on a short film, get my photography out there, and make some reflective art pieces of my trip. This will work out pretty good with what a lot of other people are going to do in my class. Some people are going to organize presentations to give to highschoolers, one girl is going to write a play, i will be helping out with a film festival and maybe painting a mural, there are plans to design a website, make a magazine, a book.......the list goes on. Basically a lot is coming out of this trip and it is really exciting to see where people take what they have learned and how everything will come together. In the meantime we also have books to read, i have an 8 page personal reflection paper due tomorrow and some proposals to write. I will also inform you that i am in the beginning process of trying to design my own class to take next year. Hopefully to leave the country again and study at a language school for a few months then maybe return to Venezuela. Nothing has been decided at all yet but these are my ideas. Hopefully i will be able to talk to a school counselor this week and figure out what this could look like!!! But here are some photos of my trip. I have more on facebook so check them out there (if you have facebook) and i will probably be adding random photos as time goes on. Enjoy!

Saludos mojados

2009-03-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

So i have about 2 minutes to give a brief update. I am finally leaving Mérida tonight. I am really sad, especially because towards the end all the feelings come out and you really love everyone more and more!! it will be good though. Last night i got eaten to death by fleas because one of the dogs was in my bed earlier that day. So this morning i woke and my legs were all pink and swollen. I got caught in the rain. I was probably the only one stupid enough to be out there but i didn´t really have a choice. I got all my photos from my old host family´s house, but only with the help of their nephews who were much more tech saavy with that kind of stuff. And i got to see their nephew Gregorio again which was really nice! At first only Ursula was there but as i was leaving the whole family showed up so i got to say good bye. That is when i ventured into the rain. With my second step out both shoes were filled with water. I had eight more blocks to go! This wouldn´t have been a problem other than the fact that i have to ride 12 hours in a literally freezing bus soon. So when i got to Hugo´s grandmas house i changed my clothes and went on a search to find a laundry mat. Now it is time to pick up my clothes and head to the bus station. Hugo´s family will take me and probably wait there for a while. Then tomorrow morning at like 7 i arrive in Caracas where i will meet with Kata, Caitlin and Fabio to hopefully head to the beach for a day. My flight is 8:30 friday morning and i should be there around five so i think we will probably just sleep in the airport thursday night. From there i go to Houston and then arrive in Seattle the same night. So thats it. I can´t believe i have been here for almost three months and my trip is almost over, its crazy to think about!
Hopefully i will be able to use a computer and update again but if not Chao and see or talk to you soon!!!

Lunes Lunes Lunes

2009-03-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

Monday monday monday. I plan to leave tonight. I haven´t bought my ticket yet, but have everything packed and am running around trying to do last minute things here. I am a little disappointed because it looks as though i am headed to Caracas solo. All my plans to meet up with people fell through and Hugo and Sofia probably wont be able to come with me because there are insufficient funds. I would help them if i could but i am a little on the low side as well. This pictuere to the right is the view from Hugo´s yard. I didn´t even know it existed until a few days ago when i took this picture. The clouds usually cover it so you really dont get a good look at the beauty around you or the world your living and existing within. We walked out of his house to head downtown and my breath was taken away. I can´t imagine having this view around me, outside my front door! Everytime we leave his house we have about a twenty minute walk down this windy road that leads to the main road of El Valle. We try and catch a bus but also try and bum rides. People are generally really nice about this here and will just stop in the road if they have space and you just run and jump in. These other photos we took in the back of a truck we bummed a ride from. (We came up with the solution to always wear sunglasses when we took photos at night that would need a flash. That way it is harder to tell my eyes are closed, but you can still see them! hah). Hmm lets see, yesterday we headed to El Paramo and visited this beautiful Lagoon. It was about a two hour car ride there. I thought we were going to hike around, but everyone had low energy and it was freezing!! It was fun though. We stopped on the way and bought mini baguettes, chicken ham (ironic it still had to be ham because thats all they eat here!), cheese and this other cream stuff that they eat all the time, that is a mixture of cream cheese and sour cream. Here is a photo of the Lagoon. Later that night i decided to make soup. I was inspired by a soup Hugo had made for me a few nights ago. It was my first soup and i only pretended to know what i was doing. I boiled basically anything edible i could find in their house. Potatoes, Onions, Cauliflower, garlic, pepper, capers, green onion. I added some picante and some salt but the soup was just physically unapealing. I thought i could hide the way it looked so i put the vegies in the blender, added the broth and some powdered milk. Blend blend blend, and VwaLA! It was amazing. and really really easy. I sat and helped Sofia with her graphic design project. We made a good team! Later when Hugo came back we decided to start designing my future house. This was something i asked him to help me with before i left, so last night we were determined to start something. We talked all about what the essentials were for me and what style i liked. It was a lot of fun and also really challenging. He ended up heading to bed early because he wasn´t feeling too good and i stayed up till like 2 am just working on it. I would have stayed up longer because i was frustrated and hate to leave an unfinished art project but i decided to be smart and sleep instead. I ended up only laying in bed thinking about the part of the house i didn´t like and the dilemas (haha!!) i felt really stupid for loosing sleep over a house that doesn´t exist, may never exist and could easily be erased and recreated another day. And this morning it is still on my mind when i really should be focusing and putting my energy toward other things. Either way on this trip i have been told i should study Architecture, and graphic design multiple times! hah. what happened to health!!

Anyway this is a photo of Hugo´s house. Where i have been living for the past 2 weeks. There is a whole story to this house. Its surrounded by big and fancy houses in a nice part of El Valle. The reason his house isn´t so big and fancy is because when his grandma had this land to build on, there was a law that you couldn´t build a new house, only add onto preexisting houses. So on this land there was a little four roomed shack like house that she had to build from. Its obviously not a shack any more. but for multiple reasons is a little inconveinient. Its located on a big piece of land in the far back corner so there is a little hike to get out onto the main street and through their big locked gate at the front. When anybody comes to visit or when anyone is coming or going you have to hike out and up and open the gate. Ugh. But anyway. Right now Hugo´s grandma lives downtown and is planning on building another house on this land in the next 6 months! I love this idea and hope my family can have something like this too one day!!

This is a clip from the other day when we visited Hugo´s other grandma in her really nice house. Hugo started teaching me piano! So i know the beginning of some classical song i cant remember the name to. But this is a little clip of him playing. I wish i could get one better quality and more planned but this is what i got. Its short and you´ll have to turn your head, sorry :)

And by the way. I have no official plans anymore. I´m about to call Kata and see where shes at. I would like to go to the beach one more time before i go if possible! If i have to stay here a little longer i can, it might be better if its going to be to hard to find my way in Caracas.

¡ Ojalá !

2009-03-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

my plan was to leave tonight, but i just can´t make myself. Part of my deciding to stay was when Hugo´s mom offered to go hiking, and up into the mountains this weekend. I´m not sure exactly where we go for sure. La Culata, Aguas Thermales (natural hot springs), or El Paramo. I am hoping we can some how do all three but that is hopeful. I really haven´t been doing much the last few days. Just hanging around the house, cooking, listening to music.. I spent some time working in Yolanda´s veterenary clinic, petting a dog with a broken tibia, helping fix broken lights and buying coffee. Yesterday Hugo and i headed to an area called Chorros de Milla which is where the Zoo is i went to a while ago. Here we looked for gift type things, which i am horrible about. I refuse to get that touristy junk, something has to strike me for that particular person. So far i haven´t had too much luck, but im creative like that and have some stuff figured out ;) Later that night Hugo´s mom (Helena) and Yolanda picked us up. Its so crazy because here no one gets in trouble for drinking beer in cars (!) it took me a while to get used to this.. We were heading back to their house when we found out Harry (their golden retreiver) was loose from their grandmas house downtown. We headed back for a crazy but short search for the dog. We asked all around.. we were in the heart of all the night club enterances running around asking big body gaurded men if they had seen our dog harry (haha!!) when they said yes and pointed in the direction we quickly ran and found harry happily chilling with some other guys kitty corner by another club enterance. Once harry was safely inside the gated doors of Helgas home we were off the El Valle, for some more beer and garlic pasta. At Hugo´s we decided to turn the place into a discoteca, so lights were off, music was up and everyone watched as Yolanda stole the dance floor showing off her drunken moves. It was quite a sight and will forever be remembered on our cameras. The night was fun and ended pretty early.

This morning i made arepas all by myself and they turned out very good i must say. Hugo approved as well and said he couldn´t tell they were gringa made! I spent some time talking with his mom about interior design, design, design design. I really love being around them. Hugo who studies architecture, Sofia who studies graphic design, and Helena (hugo´s mom) who is an official architecture as well. So i feel like in a way we can all speak a similar language and have an appreciation for the same things. Their house is so beautiful to me. There is this cluttered homey feel, lots of dirt and bugs, and is something i dont think i could make exist for me. Yet at the same time I see so much i want to touch and change and bring out because nothing has really been touched in that way. Helena was saying how much she appreciates what people can do with space and how it can make you feel, but can´t seem to care about doing that for herself or hasn´t yet. This conversation just made me more and more confused about what it is i want to study. I feel so conflicted between two very general areas, and i feel like every one tells me art art art, ana study art. and i say health health health ana you should study health. JAJAJa! hmm, thats all for another day. Anyway i had some good times today listening to the indigo girls, thinking of my family, thinking of my childhood : ) and remembering that my dad is in Honduras right now!!

I can´t believe i come home in a week! this is crazy. I am planning now to leave Sunday night for Maracuy (sp?) from there take a bus to Choroní to meet up with friends. Hang out in the beach for a few days and head to Caracas..then head to Houston, and onto Seattle. I am so excited to see my family and friends but also so sad to leave my family and friends here.. My last week, but hugo says it will be the best! ¡Ojalá!

strummin my pain

2009-03-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Basically today i am so exhausted because i haven´t slept at all.......ugh. I was up all night, all morning working with Hugo and his mom on his architecture final (a beach house). Two miniture models, drawings, posters, pictures, sketches, exacto knifes, glue, fake moss, the whole shabang. (i´ll take a picture) Its was crazy. We were drinking Pepsi, coffee, tea, eating at the weirdest hours, listening to music, listening to the crickets, then listening to the birds start to chirp as the sun rised. Hugo and his mom kept telling me i should study architecture, but after seeing what he has gone through for this, i will continue to have a deep appreciation for it with a little distance. The last couple nights i have been helping him out and it was due today and i am glad that its over with. But yeah, the last couple nights we´ve been eating dinner at like 10 pm, and staying up till at least 3 am. and its killing me, plus im sick. I gargled some tea that his mom made which helped but its still gross. I have a deep cough that doesn´t want to go away. Right now i am sitting in a computer lab at his faculty. I was there while he presented his work. I will say that his project looked by far the best and his house too. The others were way over the top with designs that looked really impractical and buisness(y). I think we are both just concerned about getting some rest today. Im not sure what else there is planned. Sofia and i have been planning on making a banana torta (which is just cake) and brownies, for like 4 or 5 days. I wouldn´t mind if that happened today ;). I really like her and feel like we could be really good friends. We had this joke that if i washed the dishes three times i became a part of the family. I had already done that and cooked way more than that too! it was silly but now we are officially sisters, and this is brought up every time we talk. Its official!!
I am so happy staying here at Hugo´s house. I am so glad i found his family. Especially after living with two others that i just didn´t get. Its so crazy the things you realize about people and where you feel comfortable and where you dont. Hugo´s family plays music! Their house is a mess with cobwebs, bugs, dog hair, ect. But its a cozy home with a cozy mess. I feel really comfortable with them. They let me help out, but aren´t expecting it out of me, they are warm and also just treat me like they would treat eachother. Food has been such a huge part of this trip too. Sharing food with people, making food for people, seeing the way families interact around a table together, learning how to make new things.. everything. Although i could have some complaints about the diet here consisting of mainly bread, cheese, ham, sugar and caffiene...living where i am now is basically my regular diet, even more vegeterian though. Which i feel is pretty unusual for Venezuela. I have just been so excited because i have been able to cook, which i am realizing how important that is to me. I really love cooking. The other night i decided to make everyone salad for dinner because lettuce salads literally dont exist here. Anyway they had a papaya which ironically i know how to make papaya seed salad dressing (!) it turned out really good with tomatoes, avacado, the papaya. It could have been a little more fancy but it was sunday so everything was closed. Other than that i usually make meals for whoe ever is in the house at least once a day. One thing i will really miss is the time here for lunch. Its a necessary part of my day now. To just sit and enjoy a good meal. I feel like my body has been adjusting to this new eating cycle...
Kata is leaving tomorrow night for Caracas. I haven´t decided if i am going to go with her yet. I need to see if hugo is still planning on going later this week to visit friends, then i will just go with him and meet up with her there. From caracas the plan is to head to Choroní and chuao (sp?) which are supposed to be some of the nicest playas in venezuela supposedly. THis should be chill, i am looking forward to it. I know i want to spend my last couple days doing this kind of thing, i just cant get myself to see these are my last days, my last moments, and none of this will be the same again..ahhhh. no me gusta este!! Last night i had this moment. Yolanda was making dinner and i was completely exhausted (it was about 10:30 and i knew id be up all night helping Hugo) so i decided to lay down. I went to lay in Hugos bed, which now i love. Its basically on a wooden platform like a loft over the ¨office¨. So you are still engaged with people if you want, but up by the ceiling, cozy in a corner. From there you can see into the kitchen and watch people pass. I layed there for a while, listening to Yolandas crazy laugh. There was a fire in the firepit, i could smell so delicious! and the rain was pouring down so hard and beating against a mini skylight by the bed. I began to get really sad, realizing there were so many little moments like this that i would forget and wouldn´t be able to capture again. I have been realizing that i have spent the last two months here building a new life. Learning a new language, making new friends, discovering new things about myself and really learning how to have fun... This is all great, and i wouldn´t take it back for anything. But now what, i will leave my friends i will leave the language, i will leave this life, i will leave and this is what i don´t like. I miss seattle, i miss my family, i miss my beautiful friends. But now there is this conflict with choosing which life i want. I know this may sound dramatic and there is a medium somewhere in there, but either way coming back is expensive, coming back wont be the same as now, and already deciding to stay here in Mérida longer i am seeing what i could have missed out on and so glad that i am a part of it. I just dont want to go with out it. I keep having to remind myself of the distance of our lives, the distance of our countries, oh the distance!

la adventura

2009-03-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

I would definitely say that the adventure has officially begun. First i want to apologize to those that have been worried because i haven´t blogged in a long time! the past week i haven´t been able to rely on having internet access or phone access and not even time to reflect on what has been going on. So i apologize!

Looks like i need to start from last friday. It was such a great day! I went to Hotel Escuela to meet with Hercy and say my goodbyes to César. He had been telling me all week that he was going to have a mini photo session with me that day... it happened. Which im not sure how many of ya´ll know i am a little awkward in front of cameras when i am the sole focus. So that wasn´t my ideal goodbye. But i got a photo with Hercy (see left) and some others with César. Later Hercy and i headed to Mercado Principal for some breakfast. As soon as we walked into the eating area (which was a part of a room filled with tables) we were overwhelmed with a representative from every restaurant holding a menu by their table shouting ¨a la orden¨. I found it pretty funny, because there was really no seen difference between the restaurants except a change in table cloth. We both ordered a more traditional breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, cheese and arepas. Breakfast was fun, we sat and talked for a while, well into our shopping time. This place is huge too and overly cluttered and we were under a time limit because she had an english class to teach at 12. We went to a few stores asking around for some more specific items and gifts then headed in a taxi to her english class. I got to be their subject to practice on. Most of the students seemed uninterested in speaking english to me and most of the time i felt like i was either being laughed at or made fun of, but i knew Hercy would have my back if they were saying anything they shouldn´t. We actually all ended up getting along really well and when class was over headed downtown to get some beers. It ended up being a lot of fun and i thought it was really cool how they wanted to hang out with their teacher outside of class. I sat for a while talking and hanging out, until i had to leave for a meeting at the IOWA. After my meeting i headed to the Architecture faculty to meet Hugo. We ate some (free) food at his school cafeteria then headed back downtown to go to this free symphony concert which ended up being really cool. We left early to get a ride with his mom and her friend back to his house in el Valle (which is about 30 minutes outside of downtown Mérida in the mountains..the photo below is a shot taken from a street near his house) I was planning on staying at their house that night and was really excited to have more time to hang out with his family. It turned out that his sisters were already asleep when we arrived. We started playing pictionary in spanish with his mom and her friend Yolanda. We had teams of two and surprisingly Hugo and i won! even with the language barrier hah! it was a lot of fun, there was a lot of laughing all around, coffee drinking, cookie eatng, more coffee drinking...ect. The next day was pretty lazy, we had been up really late so we slept really late. I headed home to pack and get ready for the beach! Sunday morning i said goodbye to my family, which disappointingly wasn´t that hard, and the rest of the day was spent traveling in vans with my class to Chichirivichi. We stayed in little condos about 30 minutes away from the boat landing we´d take to the islands. Monday morning we got and headed there. I was on one of the last boats heading out and actually waited at the docks for over an hour. The boat ride ended up being almost 40 mins out. On little motor boats. I was terrified for the majority of it, getting drenched in salt water sitting in the back. Squeezing the arms next to me, as the boat violently slapped the water. Ugh. The entire time i was thinking, ¨Oh god, please keep this boat safe¨, and was completely scared of hitting a wave the wrong way, flying out of the boat and being stranded in the water. But i told myself, ¨come on Ana, stuff like that really doesn´t happen often, and these guys drive boats as their job, back and forth all day¨. We made it to the island fine, soaked but fine. Upon arriving we were met with a bunch of worried faces. We came to find out that one of the boats actually did hit a wave wrong, sending people over, backpacks over. Two people were stuck under the boat at one time, another three swam to another island because the driver couldn´t let everyone back on. The boat waited out in the ocean for 45 minutes to get another rescue boat to come and get everyone. It was lucky that all the people knew how to swim and were able to be focus and work together to get the water out of the boat and gather all the belonginngs. Everyone that had a camera or an ipod or any electronic was ruined as well as journals and photos. We also came to find out that one of the girls in our class got stuck out in a current for almost an hour. She came back scraped up by coral but just happy to be safe on the beach !!! ahhhh. crazy. The whole time i couldn´t help but be so thankful that everyone was okay, and couldn´t help but think of what would have happened if i had been in either of those situtations. I´m not sure i´d be alive right now. This definitely gave me the desire to learn how to swim and get a lot more comfortable in water. So i started that day. I think i have improved a lot! or maybe it was just the beautiful turquiose water that was extra salty and warm..hmmm. It was great to be reunited with my roommate Kata! here is a picture of us together in this paradise! Either way i ended up having fun, trying to relax and just soak it in. I collected pieces of this white coral that was everywhere, layed in the sun and managed to leave the beach without an inch of my body burnt (!). Ate fresh coconut someone in my class cut open, wrote in my journal a bit, gave some back rubs..hehe, explored the island, watched people, layed there and layed there..Mmmmm. Just as i was getting used to this lovely relaxing feeling i decided to get in the water one last time before we headed out. There was a group of us just talking and playing around..I felt this kind of slimy rubbery thing by my arm and thought, hmm thats weird my hair doesn´t usually feel that way..Then i felt this deep stinging feeling. I didn´t think much of it right away. I looked around me in the water and saw nothing, saw nothing on my arm.. then i realized my hair wasn´t even that long to reach the place on my arm that was stinging. The pain was getting more and more intense with a hot pulsing throughout my entire arm. The only thing that made sense was that i had been stung by a very sly jellyfish. Once that was figured out i knew what i needed! I never thought i would be publicly asking if anyone would pee on my arm! I was surprised how many people jumped to the occasion. First it was a girl named grace (literally my saving grace!) She went and peed in a little jar and my arm was relieved soon after. It was a temporary relief but i had some other volunteers and then Kata found some vinegar. Anyway, there is a picture of the aftermath, i think there are some of the pee being poured on somewhere but i´ll have to ask around. Luckily i brought my headwrap head band and we were able to soak that in the vinegar and tie it around my arm. :) I was okay. It was hard to leave the island and get on one of those boats again but there was really no other option. That night there was a group of us that made dinner. It was really great to hang out with everyone, eating good food, listening to good music, hanging out by the pool, ect. The next day we were headed to the same island, the same way. There was a group of people that didn´t go, I could understand why, but i decided that it was important for me to go because i really didn´t want to, but i needed to face that fear. I took only what i really needed and packed it all in a ziplock bag (!). The boat rides were fine there and back and once i was at the beach i was really glad i decided to go. And spent more time practicing swimming!! The next day we all went our own ways. Kata and i decided to head back to Mérida. I still had some goodbyes to say and a multiple free places to stay, so we thought that would be a good base to plan our adventures for the next two weeks. We got on a bus headed to Barquisimeto with some other people in our group. That was about a two hour bus ride. There we headed to her host family´s house there. We chilled for a little while then headed back to the bus station around 7 to wait for our 10 pm bus leaving for Mérida! We waited there with her host brother and his friend that whole time. Anytime i went anywhere to the bathroom (which was literally right around the corner from where we had been sitting) or to the counter to buy some food, her brother followed me everywhere, waiting outside the door, or standing next to me. I found out later on the bus that the bus station we had been at was the most dangerous place in Barquisimeto, especially at the time we were there and was again so thankful to have someone there that had been looking out for me and being a necessary male presence. We boarded the bus, i was so excited to be with Kata, and be headed back to Mérida. We were all set up all the way in the back, with a little sangria left over, some chocolate, and some fruit for the morning. We talked some but were both tired so decided to sleep. The bus had some extra seats with nobody in them so i took advantage of this and got comfy laying down. It was probably 3:30 in the morning when i felt a harsh tapping on my head. I had a hat over my head and eyes and when i lifted it saw a pair of big black boots. My eyes continued up, to see a gun and the police officer that was standing in the isle. I looked to Kata, who seemed startled. She told me they wanted to see my passport. I found wallet and my photocopy version of my passport and handed it to the guy, the whole time just seeing his gun. He looked it over, but something wasn´t good enough because he motioned for us to follow him off the bus. I was completely terrified and could hardly move until Kata looked at me like, ana what are you doing? come on! i slowly followed, shaking. Off the bus, around the back and under this covered area. The whole time i was thinking, they are going to shoot us, or torture us or something (keep in mind that i had just woken up and was completely disoriented). The bus driver was close the whole time, standing near the back keeping an eye on us. This made me feel better. The one police guy called over his friend and started talking. I realized that the problem was they thought i didn´t have a hard copy of my passport like Katelyn. I told them i had it (which i was told never to hand a police officer here your passport, but at this moment i was willing to do just about anything to get out of this situation and leave them satisfied). I went back on the bus, still shaking walking past all the faces of the people sitting and waiting. I was ready to cry and was worried about leaving Kata there by herself. I fished through my backpack and found nothing. I got off and and had the driver open the storage compartment to get my luggage. I found it there finally (!) and handed it to the guy. He looked them over, handed them back to me and sent us on our way...........!!! i couldn´t believe it. I grabbed Katelyn and squeezed her sun burnt body like crazy. Ahhhhh. We arrived in Mérida the next morning around 7 am, took a cab to our host family´s apartment and crashed there, sleeping till about 12. We met up with Hugo for a little bit so they could meet. Friday we had plans to go to La Culatta. We got up early met with Hugo and his friend Jesus and headed to el Valle. We ended up not going for multiple reasons but had a good day anyway. I brought all my stuff to his house, we cleaned up a little bit from a mess the dogs made, walked to see the house where his dad lives, made lunch. Walked Kata to the bus so she could head back to her house and then the rest of the night i hung out with his sisters, talking, being weird, taking pictures while Hugo worked on his architecture models. Today was very pleasant. I woke around 10:30- Hugo and i tried to figure out what to make for breakfast with no food in the house. This was another adventure that turned out delicious! We made rice, califlower, an onion sauce with garlicy tomatoes! Mmm, then coffee and tea. I cleaned up and experienced his amazing ability to play the piano. It was really nice just to relax, eat good food, listen to good music. We had some good conversations as well! we have a really good balance of helping eachother out with language and decided that i needed to get better at having more indepth long conversations so we started one :) now we are here in downtown, i am about to head back to his house to make some pizzas. I will keep you posted when i figure out my plans for the rest of my time here. As of now i am planning on staying in Mé rida until Monday or Tuesday, from there a small group of us have been thinking of either exploring the Gran Sabana or going to Trinidad. We´ll see. I´m down with just hanging out here maybe going to caracas early and exploring areas around there. I just don´t have it in me to plan an extravagent trip, or the money to do so! Either way i am having a great time here and making some really good friends i will be sad to leave.

Cabeza, hombros, rodillas pies, rodillas pies....

2009-03-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

hello. So today i have been feeling pretty bad. My stomach is hurting like it did before, basically what ever that was is back for this morning. Hopefully not longer. I have been really concious about drinking plenty of water and am going to try and eat really simple foods. On top of stomach stuff i was already sick with a runny nose, sore throat and head ache so this is a nice topper.
I went to class today. The rain was pouring buckets again so i took a cab because the one thing i intentionally didn´t prepare for was rain. A girl that used to live here talked to our class about how no one here had rain jackets like in Seattle, and that she would rather be wet with everyone else if it rained than the only one with a rain coat. So i thought i´d follow her lead...Turns out instead of rain jackets everyone has umbrellas! fancy that. The thing about rain here that is similar in the states is traffic or as they say here ¨cola¨.
Class with Hercy was pretty chill. I´m not sure if i mentioned this before but there is this little group of guys that are a part of the class across the hall... I have become an exhibit for them, i often catch them looking through the small window in the door with eager grins on their face, watching as i sit and write or learn from Hercy.. Its pretty funny, i don´t really mind anymore, i might just laugh a little or wave because they are more playful than anything.
I got my camera back yesterday. Hercy and i walked around and did a little site seeing (of the street). We got little coffees that tasted burnt and i tried this pastry (typical of Venezuela that i am blanking on the name) stuffed with these amazing mushrooms and monzarella. My camera ended up costing 40 Bs. to fix which would translate to about 8 american dollars. I am pretty happy with this seeing that it would have cost, i would guess 80-100 dollars if i were home.
After that we went to this little cafe near Plaza Bolivar. It was place that would go easily unkown because it was a second floor cafe only accessable through the side of another shop. There was a little bar balcony we sat at. We ordered more coffee, hoping it would be better quality. We both ordered an espresso (which in my mind is always a small little shot) which ended up being a very good sized mug filled with espresso. We each had enough to go four ways! I think we were both taken off guard. Usually when you order coffee here there are two options, pequeño y grande. Their grandes are usually half the size of a tall in the states. So this was unusual. After this i headed to the IOWA and met with some people from my class, we walked around a bit looking at the Artisans jewelry and hanging out. Matthew and i decided to get some lunch, i was in search for an Areparia i had heard of but instead we found this chicken place. We hung out there for a while attemtping to only talk in español and then i left to have my interview with Christian. Christian is a teacher from the IOWA, (so he speaks good english) who has had some experiences with health care here that i wanted to more officially document. We talked for a long time, and i learned that i didn´t expect to learn about. Its so crazy the lies, the lies the lies and the opposing views. My night from there one was pretty uneventful. I took the bus home, made some dinner, watched some movie, talked with my host brother, went to bed... The one thing i keep running into is everyone i meet, knowing everyone i know. This keeps happening all these crazy connections. So everyone is telling me to say hi to this other person i am about to see because everyone knows everyone!
I want to write more about my research, but i can´t give anything concrete, there is so much information and so many misconceptions about health, politics, ahhh. I am becoming more satisfied with the work that i have done and am continuing to do ;). It looks like i am going to be headed out now to meet up with hugo and go to one of his classes with him. Tomorrow is thursday, right ? well if it is there is a dinner party tomorrow at Franks house for our group, so i am going to try and make something sweet to bring and will also tag along in the morning with Hercy to the english class she teaches to be a subject to question for her students. Then Friday morning Hercy and i are meeting for breakfast and going to head out to do some shopping for small gifts and site seeing. I am going to try and get up into the mountains sometime during all this and before i leave. I´ll keep yall posted (literally!) and also i promise i will finish the other posting i have started (maybe tonight?).
I have posted this video I took while hiking to some hot springs in Tabay. Just a little panoramic shot of the Andes for you...

fototos

2009-03-02T15:09:00.001-08:00

hey ya´ll here are some fotos from Mucuchies that are a little old, but a Leslie just uploaded them. This is from when we visited a trout farm and did a little photo shoot in the mountain side, im pretty awkward but enjoy!
The last few days have been pretty interesting and have made me more motivated to embrace the time that i am here in Mérida and the people here that i have connected with and miss. I spent Saturday night with Hugo and his friends again, i am hoping to do more of this before i leave but it may not work out with schedules. We went out dancing at Hoyo de Queque (the usual) but they ended up not playing any salsa and only this hard rock head banger stuff and then some reggae about smoking weed that was hard to dance to. The time was fun though. Its hard to insert yourself into a group of friends that are pretty tight knit let alone not being able to understand most of what they talk about unless they slow way down for you all the time, which sadly doesn´t always happen. Then Sunday i met with this guy thats from the U.S. and is studying under Cuban Doctors to become a physician here in Mérida. He talked all about he process of schooling and the predjudices between Venezuelan and Cuban doctors. Its crazy the drastic differences you hear from different sides. I was talking with my host dad the other night about health care here. He told me that students studying to become doctors who are being taught by Cubans go to school for two years only..then when i was talking with Joshua who is apart of the program now and in his second year, tells me theres six and that hes got four more to go! its just stuff like that, where everyone is claiming to know information, calls any information that contradicts their opinion a lie and both sides are doing this. In this case I would have to support what Joshua tells me, having him be a student under the Cuban´s, but you can just see how hard it is to find a truth here because everything is twisted and every one else is a liar, except the person talking. Anyway i´ll get into that more later. This last foto is some of our group...lets see we have Dana, Me, Ryne, Leslie, Kata, Vivian, Chance and Sam. We spent some time exploring the city of Mucuchies which only took about 20 minutes because it was that small.. I´m not exactly sure what I´m doing, i think it was supposed to be a funny foto but its not funny.. Today i spent most of my day waiting it seems like, for various things. I am famished right now so im going to head out, theres a group getting together for some pìzza and beer tonight! Also i have a draft saved of the next blog i am going to post that will update you more, on some ideas and thoughts but now dont have time to polish it so later yes. and now. chao.

Mierecoles y Jueves

2009-02-26T10:14:00.000-08:00

Buenos todos! soooo, yesterday i had my second class with Hercy. We basically just spend time talking in spanish about our lives and work through the areas of spanish i am struggling with. After class i stopped by the IOWA where the rest of my class is studying spanish. I met with my teacher for a bit and found out one of the girls in my class had Dengue (Mom you remember Katelyn who we gave a ride to the airport..) she is also one of the girls that took my place with my old host family. A small group of us headed over to my old host family´s apartment. I spent some time there after the rest of the group left, hanging out with the family. The other girl that is staying here is going to be gone for the entire weekend, but katelyn will stay, so while they invited me over for dinner they also threw in that i stay for the weekend. I headed out to make some phone calls and pursue some of my research, sat in a park for a while and wrote, and on my way back to their house for dinner bought some strawberries at the fruteria (that had been calling to me earlier) as well as this massive avacado (like your christmas present grace!) and went on a small quest to find some dark chocolate. When i got back Ursula taught me how to make Patacones which is a traditional meal here. Patacones are basically smashed (green) plantain cakes that you top off with home made pico de gallo sauce, lots of cheese and fried ham, i would highly reccommend this meal it was amazing! and we drank melon juice, which i also reccommend. After one of the guys in our class came over for the dessert of chocolate and strawberries and some wine of course. We sat around and talked for a while, sharing our stories from the trip so far and reflecting. It was the first time in a while that i had hung out with anyone in my class. I ended up staying the night here because i got a text from my house sister telling me they were going to bed, wondering where i was. It was probably only ten o´clock and since i don´t have a copy of the keys and it would take a while to get home i just stayed there...
This morning the rain was insane, you could hear as it got progressively stronger and stronger until finally buckets were pouring down from the sky. I stood by the window for a minute just to listen and closed my eyes pretending i was in seattle, Mmmm it was nice. Katelyn and i reminsced for a while, i imagined i was on capital hill running to class with a warm cup of coffee, ahhh man... anyway we were getting ready to hit the road and Ursula came to me and questioned me like your actually going someplace in this rain? and told me i should call my teacher to see if my class was canceled or delayed. hah! Things ended up working out perfectly though. The rain stopped, i walked her to the IOWA then headed to Hotel Escuela for some one on one spanish time! After class i headed back here to help Ursula with Almuerzo (lunch that is) making guava juice and arepas. Lunch was sooo good, i was so happy to have another great meal! it was a chicken, vegetable, plantain soup. I´m not sure if i said this earlier but i don´t really eat much of anything good where i am living now. I am not always invited to meals and mostly what i eat there is white bread sand wiches or i make myself an egg. I have been hungry so often lately and highly vegetable deprived these last few meals have been heaven sent! On the subject of food let me just tell you some of the things i have been enjoying here.. liquid yogurt drink (this stuff is soo good, its like instant smoothie and exactly what i want most mornings), jugo de fresa (strawberry juice! which i didn´t know could taste soo good), also this morning Ursula made pancakes and coffee (yum), but the yummiest part was the homemade marmelades, guava and banana we ate them with. It was again a little piece of heaven. So the picture with the wine and oranges is a photo taken (from home) of mom, marty and i making sangria. Sangria here is just as popular as beer and can be found at every fair or event. I have to say though my experience with sangria here is marginal to our homemade stuff... This other photo to the right is of El Hoyo del Queque which is my favorite place so far to go dancing! The photo with all the people is from the night i spent with Hugo and his friends from Caracas. It was one of the girls birthday and was a pretty fun night. I had to leave prematurely because again myfamily was going to bed, but t´was fun! and of course mis ojos están ¡cerrados! ... As for the rest of my day, i will probably hang around here a little longer then head home and study study study!

Amanecer

2009-02-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

buenas tardes. So as i might have mentioned before the last five days there has been a constant party here in Mérida, for Feria de Sol. So i haven´t had class and much to do because every thing and one is in party mode. But lets start from where i left off. Thursday night i moved into a new room with a new family. I am living in a big gated house with my host parents and sister (who is eighteen) and three really nice dogs. The family is friends with César (from hotel escuela), they are really nice people but just different from me. I try and spend time with my host sister Gaby watching mtv (its her school break) and would like to spend more time with my host parents but they work together at their hardware store and our schedules end up conflicting most of the time. I guess there seems to be a lack of interest to getting to know me or inviting me into their time together.. I got to spend some time with them on Sunday participating in some Feria activities. I will admit they weren´t exactly what i was expecting. We went to an orchid exhibit which was a long narrow room with little booth exhibits of orchids everywhere set up according to color or type. You had to pay to get in and everyone was was taking photos of dying flowers and getting really excited. After that we went to another exhibit of cows. It was crazy. Cows cows and more cows which i actually enjoyed looking at- They were huge creatures that looked incredibly uncomfortable in their bodies. I was not envious. Then when you came out of the barn there were hotdog and hamburger stands. ha! Later we went to a mall for sushi where we got to talk for the first time. It was really nice to finally feel there was a connection with the people i am living with to allow some sort of future comfort.
Saturday i decided to venture out. I headed to el Valle where there was supposed to be some great scenery and only a 30 minute bus ride from Mérida. I found the bus and headed up, i wasn´t exactly where i was headed or where i wanted to get off but wasn´t worried about getting lost because there was only one main road and turists easily found. What i was more worried about was the guy sitting next to me on the bus, he was a little sketchy and kept talking to me, though i was clearly trying to ignore him. A guy on the bus that spoke some english was telling him to leave me alone and offered to beat the guy up if i wanted, then invited me to head up the hill with him and his friends. My adventure was getting more and more unenjoyable and uncomfortable and since i didn´t know where i was going i decided just to head back. I was a little bummed but also relieved and have plans to head back there soon. When i got back downtown my plan was lunch. I decided to try this vegetarian restaurant i had been curious about for some time. An older woman (Helga) ended up sitting next to me and i came to find out she spoke english. We ended up having a long conversation about politics, it was mostly me listening to her opposition to Chavéz and the corruption in the government here. It was really interesting and i learned a lot but also was aware of her very one sided view and expectations. Never the less we had a good time and she invited me to meet some of her family here. She called over her two grandsons, Sebastian who is 11 and Hugo Alejandro who is 18. I was extremely grateful to all of the sudden be surrounded by another family and welcomed in. Hugo had four girl friends here visiting from Caracas and invited me to join him that night to hang out with all of them and go to another. Feria event. I accepted of course! But first we stopped by his grandmas house (helga) which it turns out i had walked by almost every day to school. Its crazy because there are all these houses you would never guess existed, but through an old beat up door off the street there is a hallway with a locked gate, another wood door that opens up into a courtyard which also serves as one of the living rooms of the house. It was amazing and slowly falling apart and in the process of trying to be sold. But has been in Helgas family for generations. Anyway i´d like to take some photos when my camera gets fixed and maybe show you a piece of this heaven. So we finished there and Hugo, Sebastian and hugo´s friend Gabriel headed for some ice cream and then to meet up with the girls. The night was fun, but what i was even more excited about was being invited back to hang out with them another time and into Helgas home anytime. Which i was! yesterday for lunch. It was even better this time because we were all a little more comfortable with eachother and got to share a meal together. Helgas son was there and daughter too (hugo and sebastians mom). Helgas son goes everywhere in the mountains here with a group and invited me to tag along on one of their adventures too! After, one of the girls came over (who i think is Hugos girlfriend, not sure) so we could all go buy a cake for one of the other girls birthdays which is today. There was a party last night for someone else and a celebration at 12 for her. But tonight is the official celebration that i get to tag along for as well. Last night was really fun with some reggaton, cuba libres, sangria, great personalities and conversations. I had to leave early last night because my family was going to bed and i don´t have my own set of keys, but i am excited to continue all this fun tonight! Im sure there will be picture taking so i will share when i get them, (i can´t promise my eyes will be open though!).

As far as my research goes i have been trying to figure out what it is i want to focus on and figure out while im here and have only become continually frustrated. I started to pay more attention to the topics i came to when i talked with venezuelans and questions i had later when i´d reflect. Its been starting to form more about what it means to be Venezuelan with a more specific focus on health perspectives here, what people use, don´t and what people see as effective. I´m realizing if i want to learn here, its got to be from the people, talking to a variety of perspectives and staying neutral..As i look and observe the culture here there is this continual contrast of a new Venezuela that is all about materialism, with incredibly demeaning advertisments and the old rustic raw venezuela...ahhh more on that later.

also for those of you who are interested in knowing all the names of the cities i´ve visited here they are....
Caracas, Mérida, Barlovento, Tucaní, Mucuchies, Ejido, Sanaré, Tabay.
Possible cities for the future....
La Culata (El Valle), Puerto La Cruz, Puetro Ordaz, Chychyribychy (crazy i know, im not 100% positive on the spelling) and more!!

I´m missing my lovely seattle :)
and all the beautiful people there that restore my sanity and keep me smiling, I love you.
Chaito!

¡somos gitanos!

2009-02-18T17:32:00.001-08:00

oh oh man, i just keep having amazing days here! today I woke up around seven, left franks apartment at about seven twenty and headed up to my new school, Hotel Escuela. I arrived there at eight to meet my new spanish teacher and César who was supposed to tell me where i am going to live, ahhh. He didn´t have any answers for me and has post-poned his response to be for tomorrow morning at eight, so i am spending one more night here at franks. My spanish teacher, Hercy and i spent about two hours conversing and getting to know eachother. I really like her and i am really excited to learn spanish! i can´t wait to keep studying and be fluent. She was telling me today that one of her students lived there in Mérida for two years and left completely fluent with an authentic Méridan accent. Vwal la. Also i have a new nick name i wanted to share with you. After spending some quality time with frank i have now adopted a new nickname.. ana gitana which means gypsy ana. I like it, im sure you can imagine. Soooo i wanted to share some (translated) lyrics with you of a beautiful gypsy kings songs that i now completely understand! i think this is how ive been feeling lately, enjoy! Oh and this horrible photo of me and my beautiful kata!!

Somos Gitanos

We are gypsies

I feel very happy

And thinking of what the life gives to me

It is my eternal happiness

It is what reaches my sadness

It is my eternal happiness

It is what reaches my sadness

In life it is given to me

We are gypsies

I have my family

I love it

They first

For them i sing

I have the life they give me

Because i have a family

We are gypsies

It may sound a little funny from the translation, the spanish version is definitely better but you get the jist. So continuing through my day, after class i walked around a bit, bought some stuff at la farmacia (drug store) and was on the look out for a nice cafe for some breakfast or lunch. I happened to stumble upon a cafe i realized i had walked by almost every day and hadn´t noticed before. I always get nervous whenever i have to order or talk to a complete stranger, feeling all eyes on me and people seemingly waiting to laugh. I walked by a bunch of other cafes just because the people inside looked unfriendly and wouldn´t smile back at me.. this one was okay. I ordered an arepa con atun, yummy so so good. I dont think i have explained this yet, arepas are everywhere here, its venezuela´s staple meal. Its basically corn flour, water, oil and maybe a little salt (it all depends on who teaches you). Mix that together, section it into balls that flattened, fit to your palm. Once they look pretty and round and are even all around you fry it and then stick it in this oven contraption.. I´ll make them for you sometime, at least try. What ends up happening is they are either cut in half and opened up, stuffed with crema, meat, veggies, whatever or cut all the way down the middle and made into like a sandwich. so today i had probably the best arepa ive had so far with tuna, onions, tomato and probably mayonaise (which is venezuelas staple condiment) complimented nicely with un café maron, which is just espresso with a little bit of steamed milk. I ended up sitting at the same cafe in the same chair from about 10:30 to about 4 o´clock. I wrote for a long time, worked on my spanish homework, drew some, watched people, got talked to by some random guy that gave me a stick of rose incense, brainstormed interview questions related to my research, swatted away a constant stream of wasps, got talked to by the same random guy and introduced to his friend, was finally left alone, ordered more food (an empanada, basically an arepa stuffed with meat or beans they fried) mapped out my next two weeks here, and finally`packed up to leave. A couple things are really interesting here. Just today, having more time to reflect on my time here i was thinking of all the things that have been said to me on the street by different men..today i was walking past a stopped car and a man said, ¨porque te quiero¨ which means, because i love you. It reminded me of another time i was being waited on and i said thanked the guy, he responded with ¨todo mi vida¨ or all my life. I am sure i have had other more vulger things said to me but these two i can´t help but smile to. It is the same with women here as well. I have had many different women ïn stores ask me ¨how can i help you my love¨, or ¨how can i help you my heart¨. My host mom would say these things to her children too...anyway that was a tanget. It is because i am having all this time on my hands this week that i am writing so much ahhh! so sorry. So i finally left and went to find a store to fix my camera. I had an address but still ended up walking around every block in search for this darn store. I was feeling pretty hopeless because the directions basically said: its close to hotel el dorado. Which ended up being only a small sign on the side of a building! I didn´t even realize i was by it and was standing there lost when i heard some excited gasps and looked up to see my entire host family standing there in front of me. I was so happy to see them! i had been having a really hard time knowing i was going to have to share them with other students and feeling pretty lonely with out my brothers and sisters here and my venezuelan mama calling kata and i ¨¡chicas!¨ every time she wanted us. We were all so excited to see eachother, and Ursula kept telling me to come and visit and have lunch and have dinner and i can sleep in a bunk beds in the kids room. We all shared lots of hugs and kisses and they helped me find my way, which was exactly where we had been standing, hah. I dropped my camera off for ten days and hopefully then it will be all better :) so now i am here at franks house, like i said earlier i am very grateful to have this place to stay and great company. I made dinner tonight to thank him for everything. In the past he has paid for my dinner, my bus fare, ect even though i am uncomfortable with it, i asked to pay and he said it would be an insult! ahh so i found a way out of his control to pay him back! I made breakfast for dinner tonight, french toast with fresh strawberries and pears. Oh butter flavor is popular here too, butter ice cream, and butter bread! right now frank has some friends over, so i should get going, maybe socailize a bit, then hit the hay. Tomorrow should be a good day too, tomorrow is the beginning of a week long festival called Feria de Sol which is a sun festival. It is popular for the bull fighting that takes place, other than that there will be lots of drunk people, probably dancing, and music and tents selling cheap stuff :) There is actually a march tomorrow morning at 9 am to protest the bull fights, i wish i could go but its the same hour my class starts. alright!

(let me just give a little shout out to Mi mejor amigas Kristina y Grace! i got to talk about you guys with my teacher today hah! i miss you both so so much. Grace i am using that journal you got me and am filling it full of words and illustration. I love it and I love you soooo much! and i am sorry i was too late to your facebook message. I think about you all the time and i can´t wait to beat you at spanish! Kristina!!! hi hi! i have been looking at your bloggy lately. I missss you. I wish you could be this little thumb sized princess in my ear and tell me what you think of everything i see, giving me advice and just being your silly little self. I will continue to think about you both all the time and hopefully try and call you sometime soon. Kristina! don´t you have a photo of us somewhere?? that isn´t centuries old? i think so, and i want por favor) ¡¡chao chicas las quiero a ambas!!)

y chao todos te quiero tambien ;)

Sin un titulo

2009-02-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

I am back here in Mérida after spending sunday in Sanaré and all of saturday and monday on a bus getting there and back! The bus rides have been crazy. I arrived at the bus station saturday morning thinking it was a 4 hour drive to Sanaré to find it was really 8 but that we would be spending 12 hours total getting there. We´ve been traveling these long distances in double decor buses with leg rests (!) but freezing conditions inside. I never understand why they do this. It is really hot outside but the AC should have personal controls or something. To top the constant surge of goosebumps the driver chooses movies to play for the duration of the drive...Honestly every bus movie so far has been the worst movie i´ve seen, with the volume fully blasted so you can hear it well with earplugs and maybe muffled a bit with headphones. Pleasant huh? This picture here of the roosters is from our weekend in Tucaní a couple weeks ago when we visited this huge coopertive farm. I didn´t actually take this one but i would have if i had had my camera. I thanked Leslie after she took it, we have the same artistic eye, the only difference is she brought her big fancy camera, and i didn´t. So i might be showing you some more of her photos every now and then. Lets see... ahhh oh man. so many things have happened the last couple days, i am going to start back to last thursday. Last thursday i took the day off from school, (1) because Kata wasn´t going because she had an interview set up and (2) because i wanted to hang out with my family (they didn´t have school) and help Urusla out around the house as much as possible to thank her for everything shes helped me with! It was really great. I hung out laundry in the morning. I got to watch and learn how to make Venezuelan style Lasagna (which really doesn´t have much cheese at all by the way) and became a master at frying plantains (Mmmmm). I also got to wash the kitchen floor! Later after lunch i went to El Mercado Principal with Ursula, Estefanía, César Andres, and Katalina to find Estefanías birthday gift. The Mercado was a huge indoor market place with tons of little shops selling all kinds of things. It reminded me a little of Pikes Place marked, except way crazier and packed packed full. I definitely am going back before i leave again. We bought Estefanía a blue wallet she picked out and some instruments for the other kids as going away gifts. We had a gift exchange later that night with all the kids. First there was pizza and beer, card making and watching José (my host dad´s nephew that was visiting from college) draw. There was also a little dancing, and finally the kids had to close their eyes and we placed the gifts in their hands. César got some of those pipe flutes (I can´t remember the technical name), Estefan got some Maracas (i have the funniest video of this i will try and upload soon) and Estefanía got a beautifully handcrafted extremely late birthday card (and wallet). César had been upset earlier that day because he hadn´t known we had boughten anything for him and had asked José to get him the flutes from the Mercado. So when he saw the flutes he was really excited. Then Estefan started crying because he wanted everything, and Estefanía sat there and was completely happy. It was fun. That night i had a second round of baked apples to make for our three guides and my spanish teacher so i was a little busy in the kitchen too. Later Kata and i went out to this little hole in the wall bar that ended up having a cool funky vibe and met up with some more friends. After leaving the bar we went and hung out in plaza bolivar where Leslie and i danced, clapping our hands, spinning in circles and tried to catch crickets, ha! And then, i went home. Friday was also really great! I woke up still a little happy. Went to spanish class and gave Jesus (my spanish teacher) his apple. When class was over we all exchanged contact info and he taught Kata and i how to make crazy trumpet sound noises with our mouths. It was really cool, he´s a part of this band where the only instruments are their mouths. I´ll try and remember to post a video about it. After that we had lunch with our family and then left to go to Plaza Bolivar where there was this huge Sí parade. We saw a bunch of our class there and chatted for a while, then i went to meet a friend. I had an amazing day visiting El Parque Zoológico Los Churros de Milla. It was a beautiful park with beautiful animals and birds, but depressing cages and habitats. I was so close i could have pet this lion, while two feet behind another huge exotic cat paced his cage. It was a little too close for comfort. Here is a photo i found online, its probably the same lion i saw.

That night there was another Rumba (party) at Franks house, as a going away party for my class. Kata and i showed up for a little bit, but we were both pretty tired and still had to pack! Saturday was a long day of traveling. Sunday we spent the whole day in Senaré. I´m not too sure how many of you have been paying attention to Venezuelan politics, but there was a huge amendment that was just passed Sunday night. Basically this enmienda allows there to be no limit to those in office, but a vote of the people as to when they will leave or how long they will stay. We spent a lot of time down with this group of people debating with this one opposition guy about the amendment, it was really interesting and confusing!

By the way i just found this awesome map of Mérida that is really clear and easy to use. I drew a copy for myself! but this is just if you want to see how the city is laid out and find some of the places i´ve been going :) http://www.merida360.com/mapa-zoom2/mapa-calles01.html

I need to get going because there is a festival happening tonight and everyones meeting at nine. But a quick update of my Mérida situtation would be.... As of now i am staying in Frank´s apartment, he is one of our classes guides. He has been so nice in letting me stay in his apartment for the nights before i figure out where my more permanent living sitution will be. I have spanish language classes starting tomorrow morning at 8 am! yikes at Hotel Escuela (find it on the map!!). My classes will be one-on-one with a woman named Hearci (sp?). I´m really excited for that. César the head guy for Hotel Escuela is talking to some friends about a room for me and is supposed to let me know tomorrow morning sometime. Thats bout it for now. I was feeling pretty lonely today, with out my roommate and anticipating living with out a family or roommate sounds really hard. I miss everyone. BIG BESOS.

p.s. (mom) I started pressing flowers and leaves, hmmm..reminds me of someone. its easy to imagine the old lady i´ll be haha.

hola hola hola

2009-02-11T13:22:00.000-08:00

hola todos. So let me give you a little update. I went back to the clinic yesterday to get my test result and they came back as Nada. so no parasite and no virus although this may sound like good news im still not 100% as one thing gets better another gets worse, so im going to try and get a second opinion and figure this thing out. Other than that this whole week has been a lot more chill with less afternoon activities to give us time to work on our research projects. I met with a health activist this afternoon for a quick meet up. I{m going to try and work with him some more, maybe write and article, maybe attend some of his yoga classes! In about a half hour theres a salsa lesson for our class which should be pretty fun, maybe that will inspire us to go dancing again after ward. This photo is a view from a park really close to my house. This is where we met with some writers for venezuela analysis (one of the sites i recommended you check out). This next photo is of Estefan the little drama king i get to be with every day. The family i am with is really great. I know i have only written about them once, but i continue to hear complaints from other people in my class about their famliy´s not feeding them enough, or not caring to talk with them at all and i have none of those complaints. I am so grateful to have been placed here the past three weeks and am going to miss them greatly!! On top of getting to know the five people of this family we have been able to meet neighbors, friends and be apart of celebrations and their daily lives. This next photo is from last weekend when we went to Mucuchies. On our way we visited this church that was built by a guy named Feliz (something) with only a strategic placing of rocks no mortor no nada. Mucuchies was so beautiful and freezing. I got a real taste of the Andes the day we spent there. Later we went and visited a trout farm which was beautiful and really awesome even though i have a few issues with fish farming, i just couldn´t get over the beauty. I think some other students from my class might go back and volunteer there, maybe a camping trip too! I have some other really beautiful photos i will try and post of our time there but the time has come for me to go to my dance class.

interjection

2009-02-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

¡good greif!
okay. so i went to the hospital today with my host mom and Estefan (the three and a half year old drama king!), i tried not to think about it the whole time. We went to a public hospital which they call ambulatorio (Belen). We probably waited for about an hour and then were called into one of the back rooms. One of the doctors took my name age and passport number asked me a few questions and felt around my stomach asking me if it hurt. I was hoping to just get some medicine and leave but we were lead farther back and Ursula told me they were going to give me an injection (!). That just sounds horrible. I freaked out a little. They made me lay down on this bed, the woman wrapped my arm with this stretchy piece of plastic told me to clench my fist and worked the needle into my vein ow! There was a syringe and she slowly pushed the fluid in. It took about a half hour because she would leave and then come back and push it some more. I was so relived when the fluid was gone and she put a cotton swab on my arm. I started to get up but Ursula motioned no. I could see movement behind the nurses curtain. "¿Un otra?" i asked and was met with another this time it came with a whole bag of fluid. They said it would take less than an hour. As i waited, watching the fluid slowly drain and feeling sorry for myself multiple people came in to get shots on their bums. One was a little boy who cried like crazy at the anticipation of the shot while being forced down with an exposed bum. He was completely fine once it was over only needing a hug from his mom. It was sweet but only made me feel lame that he could express his discontent with the matter and i was stuck with a language barrier. The second IV needle pumped cold fluid through my veins that made my whole arm freezing cold.
Ultimately the experience was good. Everyone was warm and friendly and did their best to make me feel comfortable. It was everything you would expect and want from your experience at a hospital. I was just generally upset about having no control or say in the matter (which was actually a good thing) and being injected with no hand to hold :( I found out later what it was they were putting into my body, the first was basically a stomach liner for protection and the second was a rehydration fluid (i made that up but i thats what i got from the translation). I´m supposed to go back tomorrow for some tests so they can determine if its a virus or parasite!yeah! Also for the next 5 days i was prescribed a diet to eat basically nothing. Which i think is horrible timing because tonight I´m making baked apples stuffed with yummy cinnamin, pecans and brown sugar wrapped in dough. Oh man. I will let yall know how tomorrow goes and what the verdict is.

Salud

2009-02-08T07:53:00.001-08:00

Alright. So today is my chill day. I learned how to make arepas this morning so ya´ll can count on some authentic venezuelan cooking when i return....
(Mas tarde) Katalina and i were supposed to make dinner for our family but it ended up being mostly just her. I made green beans and started peeling apples for dessert but had to lay down because i´ve was feeling miserable. I´m not sure whats going on with my body, its been freaking out for the past week now. It hasn´t kept me from class or many activities but I´m not getting any better, only getting used to feeling bad. I´ve taken 2 different medicines, neither showed any difference.. I just talked with my host family and it looks like im headed to the hospital tomorrow morning. They want to sample some of my stuff and find out whats wrong. I hate stuff like this and tend to be really optimistic about getting better so it doesn´t lead to doctors and hospitals. But my optimism is running low as well as my energy to keep livin like this. The one thing i have to keep reminding myself is that health care here is free! ¡gratis!
I feel like my english writing is sounding weirder as my spanish improves. When i write i do so in the way i translate spanish in my head. So its a bit more choppy and the verbs are funky. Anyway thats about all i have energy for.
¡Saludos!

ahhhh

2009-02-06T10:04:00.001-08:00

okay so this is going to be short and sweet because i have to run out of the house in about 3 minutes. I am doing well. Heres a run down, My class and i are about to leave for Mucuchies for the next day. We´re going to do some horseback riding in the andes (!) and also some acedemic stuff. Sunday i am going on a hike with a group of students from University de los Andes, The last week has been really crazy. Monday everything was closed down because sunday night chavez declared that monday was going to be a holiday because he has been in office for the past ten years. We also visited barrio adentro which was really cool, but i have been feeling pretty sick so i wasn´t on top of my game. I´m pretty sure i have a parasite in my stomach which i would rather not think about instead i bought some medicine today to flush it out (because i haven´t already been doing enough flushing! hah) so i have been feeling dehydrated and hungry all the time. I have a lot of notes and presentations i would love to share with you all, and i hope to get some time maybe sunday to update you with all that. I really love you all and miss you a ton. I am physically deprived down here so mental hugs would be awesome (Grace!!)
Until then!

¡Fotos!

2009-01-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

Merida

2009-01-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

so i have arrived in merida, a smaller town in the andes. Last night we left on a 12 hour bus and arrived here sometime around 9 o´clock. I have been so tired today because it was freezing on the bus and i couldn´t relax enough to sleep, but that didn´t hinder our schedule. We went straight to the IOWA institute (where our spanish classes will take place every day) and went over our itinerary for the next three weeks (which has soo many amazing activities!!). Then we werev all introduced to our host families who met us there and taken away to our new homes! My roommate and I really lucked out. We live in dowtown Merida with one of the spanish teachers (Cesar) and his family. So we´re about six blocks away from our school and don´t have to worry about commuting back and forth every day multiple times. My family is so great too. I was really hoping i would get a family with kids and they have three. Estefania who is going to be ten tomorrow (!), Cesar Andres who is eight, and Esteban Alejandro who is 3 and a half who recently declared he is in love with me and calls me Analinda. Ursula is the mom and she is so so amazing and speaks extra slow for us. Oh and by the way Venezuelan spanish is one of the hardest to understand..so this is greatly appreciated on our part. Other than being really tired and a little overwhelmed with espanol today has been pretty chill. I am having some jump drive difficulties and i feel like i keep saying this but i am going to figure out this photo thing and get them to you pronto!

¡No se va!

2009-01-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! things here are so amazing. I am already sad that i have to leave and dreading it. I really have so much to say but i´m not sure if i´ll have time. We have had activites jam packed for the last week, with constant presentations and traveling and everything has been wonderful and so informative. On Monday we visited Banmujer which is basically an all womans bank that provides support to the lowest and poorest women in Venezuela by providing loans. Banmujer is a safety net for many women that have been widowed or need a jump start to making money. A lot of projects Banmujer funds are coffee, sewing, crafts and other small buisness proposals. They have recently expanded their services to women in prisons, handicap women and are dealing with issues such as reproductive rights and domestic violence. I feel like i could write an entire article just about them and maybe i will when i get some more time. But let me get back to telling you about all the forms socailism has taken here. I took some notes directly out of this magazine here that called ¨The War comes to London¨ Socialist Outlook. It´s just a Q&A about Chavez and Socialism that i think will give you a nice background on the current state of venezuela.
I forgot to write the question down for this one, but heres an answer...
The Chavez government is implementing land reform which has benefited thousands of peasants, a literacy program which has already helped 1.5 million people, free education from primary to university level for the poor, an urban housing program, free healthcare (delivered bu 20,000 cuban doctors) and subsidies on basic foods. Over 70% of Venezuelans have benefited from these reforms.
Again no question sorry..
To say that Chavez will sell out, or conversley to say that we simply need to have faith in him is to fall in to the old trap of seeing the individual as unchanging and self-contained. Chavez exists in a dyalectical-dynamic and interactive-relation with the mass movement. He has been pushed to the left by the mass movement, but this in turn has been given leadership by him and those around him.
How has he been able to do this?
Oil. Plus mass support. The US relies heavily on Venezuelan oil. This would have only benefited the rich elite but the Venezuelan government has sacked the old corrupt mangament of PDVSA, the state oil company, allowing its revenues to be used for social and economic development. The rich and their US backers staged a coup attempt against Chavez in 2002, but after mass demostrations Chavez was returned to power within hours. The bourgeoisie then tried shutting down the economy, but this was again defeated through mass mobilizations and through the action of workers in key industries. They then tried to remove him from office through a referendum in 2004, but chavez won with 59% of the vote. His support has now reached 70%, but the right and their US allies continue to seek ways to overthrow him.
Can Chavez rely on existing state structures to carry through his reform?
Up to now Chavez has partially circumvented this institution by using PDVSA to fund his program and the army to implement them. But in order to root out obstruction and corruption the government bureaucracy, including in PDVSA will need to be replaced by democratically elected local and regional committees in the neighborhoods and workplaces. There are already the beginnings of mass self-organization in the shape of local committees which have been organizing the delivery of healthcare, education and land reform, as well as committees that organized the referendum victory and trade unionists of the national workers union campainging for workers´ control in industry.
So there have been major reforms, but is the economy being organized differently?
Chavez´s team is trying to construct an economic model based on solidarity, social need, endogenous development as an alternative to the exploitive model favoured by the domestic elite, who have kept the country dependent on imperialism.

ahh, that was a lot to type, Also if you want to do some investigations of your own please check out these websites:
www.venezuelanaysis.com
www.internationalviewpoint.org
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/

Lets see tuesday was another great day. We loaded onto buses to Barlovento (a coastal town) to see this guy Javier´s Cocao co-op that he runs inside his house. It was really cool. We were fed really great rice and beans and steak with a yummy sauce. There were dogs everywhere and this crazy parrot. We went through the entire process of how to make chocolate and i got to eat the seeds of the fruit cocao beans grow in, which tasted like a mixture between slimy mango and pumpkin Mmm. They take the seeds out and dry them in the sun for at least four days strip them of their shell and grind them by hand to make a paste. They regrind the paste until it becomes more liquid like and depending on what kind of chocolate their making add sugar, caramel, rum or peppermint. We were able to support their coop and buy some chocolate products that i hope to bring home but im guessing may not make it, i like chocolate :) Later we went to a national park called Laguna de Tacarigua. We took these long narrow boats out through the lagoon (which i will admit i was a litttle scared) and got to see the gathering of hundreds of birds in this one bunch of trees. The birds were magnificant, brink neon pink, black and white all agains a lavender pink sky. it was pretty unfortunate my camera ran out of battery power. The next day we were able to see Javier´s Cocao factory that he has started in Barlovento. This was a legit factory, not just a crafty thing from his house but is providing jobs to people in Barlovento and provides chocolate products to places all over Venezuela. We got a tour and had to wear funny hats face masks and footies. Later we went to the beach for about an hour, so i finally got to do some swimming!
Thursday we were at a presentation at Centro Miranda for the entire day. We had presentation from a woman about Workers control and the organization of labor unions, PDVSA, and a few minutes on community radio stations and Barrio adentro. This was a really long day but was so so interesting.
(i will finish the rest of the week later)
This trip is pretty historic. Many Venezuelans assume that we are European, because our group is like one of four that has ventured here. They all comment on how important it is that we are here and that together we are all americans, that Venezuela is our home too. Everyone is immediately so friendly and curious about why we are here. It feels so good to come here and represent the US in a new way. That we are striving to create solidarity and come aware with the current change that is manifesting and support it!
So a personal update for me would say..
I haven´t gotten sick at all so far, no sun burns just some nice browning but the weather has actually been super pleasant. I am a little sick of being a gringa and being hissed at and smoochy noises made at me. The colors here are so amazing, just how they paint their houses, its so happy. I have a lot of thoughts about the culture here and why i love it so much but that might need to be for another day.
My internet cafe group is ready to vamanos so i have to finish this later! I am heading on a 12 hour bus ride to merida tonight and will get there sometime tomorrow, so once i am settled i will find another internet cafe and write more and upload some fotos! Chao y muchos besos a todos

La Primera

2009-01-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

Ah, where to begin. I had a little set back friday morning at the airport. I went to check in and the guy at the counter said he couldn´t let me in the plane because my passport was going to expire in may..! I was a little frustrated mostly because i had finally felt set to go and excited and instead had to spend the day running around seattle and paying a bunch of money to get a new passport, which i was able to get the same day. I rescheduled my flight to head out saturday morning.
My first day was so long. I can never sleep restfully on red eye flights so one day seemed more like two which ended up feeling like a week. My plane ride to Caracas was good. I sat next to a guy named Manuel and after using the little spanish i know found out he´s pretty good at english. We ended up having some really good spanglish talks, he told me all about Venezuela and the towns i´ll be staying in and helped me out with my paperwork for customs. It was great to meet somebody on the flight and feel imediately connected. After a long wait through customs and luggage i was met by Kaitlin, and Charlie (author of Coboy´s in Caracas). We headed out through the city to the western side of Caracas (which is also the poorer side) to the AVEC retereat center. I came just as people were finishing breakfast and got to try my first arepa (mom you can tell roman i think they´re delicious! we also had them stuffed with chicken today, Mmm so good!) and catch up with my class mates. We headed out pretty soon after that to get a quick tour of the city. We took a bus to what was once a private retreat center for the elite and is now a beautifully landscaped public park and museum. We were there for an outdoor concert that was so good. The place was so packed and everybody was so into the music. Looking around me i saw everyone´s lips singing along with the words, their hips swaying and their feet tapping. Under this huge tent sat mostly elderly people and families and couples danced on the side. We explored the park a litttle, and got to talking with this woman (named ana) about her thoughts on the Bolivar revolution and whether she has seen change in her community since Chavez had been in office. She basically said that Chavez has a lot of good intentions, but that sometimes they are a little too hopeful. But that she has seen change in her community and the social programs that exist and are at her use. The conversation was really good but eventually had to end, so we went to check out the Venezuelan art in the museum. Most of the art were dark landscapes with big fields and trees, a repeted pattern using different colors. And there was one section that was dedicated to basically christmas art of nativity scenes showing baby jesus being born inthe barrios like many of them.
From there we explored more of downtown and went to the national assembly building (where all the big decisions are made) and got to see the birth place of Bolivar. Outside from his house was this beautiful park where kids were rollerblading and chasing pigeons and black squirrels! Here there was also live music and dancing. More old people dancing it was the coolest thing to just see people moving their bodies with huge smiles on their faces. We watched for a while and a few of us danced but mostly hung around talking to people and enjoying cool ice cream. We walked back to the AVEC center after that where i was really too exhausted to do anything but sleep. I tried to sit through a presentation by Eva Gollinger (author of Bush vs. Chavez) but had to excuse myself. I went upstairs and fell asleep and woke up right after dinner. Luckily i had some blueberry muffin from the flight i ate to hold me over! I also had an encounter with a cockroach last night in my shower. I really don´t want to sound like a big girl, but i was even though i know it couldn´t hurt me it was way too close for comfort and took me by total surprise. hah, well this morning we got up around seven thirty, by the way Caracas time is four hours later than seattle, just a side note
actually its dinner so im off cause i don´t want to miss another meal! but i will try and finish soon and upload some photos i have a ton!

number 2 posting

2009-01-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

So i am trying to get used to this whole "talking about yourself" publicly thing, and in writing. Its a challenge but i am taking it on..

I guess i should tell you some useful information. I'm leaving friday for the very controversial country of Venezuela. I'm not completely sure of my exact schedule yet but i arrive in Caracas at 6:20 am and head to Merida a few days later. I'll stay with a host family while in Merida for about three weeks where i will go to one-on-one language school in the mornings and do community visits in the afternoon. Merida will have a lot more structure than the last three weeks that i spend in Barquisimeto. There is a pretty loose schedule for Barquisimeto as of now. I know that it will be this time that i can explore a research topic of my choosing and volunteer with a variety of co-ops. On the weekends we will go on some field trips, and our class will meet up as a whole in the middle and near the end. I posted a map of Venezuela that way you can see the cities i'll be living in!

bienvenidos

2009-01-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

Hello hello everyone! As my first blog posting i would like to just like to welcome you so ¡bienvenidos! I have an excerpt from our class blog that explains a little more about our class for those of you who may be unfamiliar or need a little reminding..
For Friends & Family:

Our class, Venezuela: Building Economic & Social Justice, has worked to learn about Venezuela and its politics, in our fall quarter at Evergreen. We have read, study watched and listen to prepare our selves to go to Venezuela, so we may have a first hand account of what is happening there. For those of you who are not aware of the current situation in Venezuela I encourage you to read up! The country is undergoing huge change, lead by president Hugo Chavez. They are working with a system termed Twenty First Century Socialism, which is trying to merge social aspects into a capitalist system. A lot has been accomplished in the country, however the United States government and media would like us to think otherwise. We are very excited to go on this trip, and find out for our selves what is happening.

Yeah! so enjoy and please email me or comment (if you can?) if you have any questions or comments.
chao for now