Ok, so I have been in Venezuela for about a month and a half. The negative vibe this place gives me is still there, but at least Ive gotten used to it and have accepted it. My new apartment is great, because i live with a family and students, which give me ample opportunities to practice my Spanish. Es mejor, pero I still have a ways to go B4 i am fluent, but my vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds...grammer still needs work as does my verb conjugations...still have to think about this stuff when im speaking. I speak very good when I´ve been drinking. Liquid confidence! Listening is good, but folks still need to slow it down a bit sometimes and have to repeate themselves often when talking to me.

I becoming quite the chief too, as the complete absence of TV dinners (or the completely ridicilious prices of them) has forced me to make all my meals from scratch. In addition to that the Senora at mi casa teaches me how to cook local dishes, make good deserts, soups, and all verities of wholesome entrees. Boardem has played a big role in my new intrest in cooking too, as i am still board out of my skull in this shithole of a city, Barquisimeto. Its like a "Pueblo" (small city), but with 900,000 people. The small town aspect of this city is good for me to learn spanish, but the complete lack of things to do here is driving me fuckin nuts. This place simply doesnt have the infrastructure for fun.

English teaching is going good, but i really dont like the scheduel (is typically 8-9:30am then i go back from 3:30 until 9:30pm) thus i only have the middle of the day to do things, which sucks cuz everybody is at work or at school during this time...and after 9:30 there isnt much happening because people dont feel like going out because they have work or go to school the next morning, or they dont have money, or its to dangerious to walk and they dont want to take a cab(see ¨no money¨ above). So work is a big part of the reason i am board....and I can trace most of my unhappiness back to my boardem.

Been on some dates with a few nice girls here, and even met one im rather fond of. Problem is i cant see her that often because neither of us has cars and she cant hang out during the day during the week or at night (execpt Thursday and Friday nights) because of her work and my work. So the only time we can really hang out is weekends, but that sucks too because everyweekend I want to get the hell out of town and visit another city or chill at the beach.

Sometimes i feel like im putting myself through to much bullshit to learn spanish. I guess the main reason i wanted to learn it was that since i had a foundation in spanish from my college classes that i should go ahead and just learn the dam language. But it seems that everybody here (even people on the street) tells me that they want to learn English. And then they wonder why i want to learn Spanish and why in Venezuela. That is a good question that ive been thinking about recently. Other then more $$$ and the pride that comes with knowing another language and communicating in it, why in the hell should i learn spanish? I mean i dont plan on living in any spanish speaking countries, and meeting only spanish speakers isnt high on my agenda....well, Ill keep sticking it out anyways...i mean fuck it, im already here, i took the plunge. As i quoted in my parting email from my job at 360Training. Buy the ticket...take the ride. But, so far the Venezuelan ride has been educational yes, but enjoyable no. I chose Venezuela because it was easy to line up my english teaching job here using the internet (google: AIESEC for more info how to line up work in Venezuela or any other country you want), and they have nice beaches too.

Oh well, going to Caracas this weekend....and that should be fun and interesting as i will have the chance to talk to other international workers (with AIESEC)about their experiences here and their impression of Venezuela. Plus Im going to Rumba (party) alot and see some of the sights in Caracas.
Check yall later.