I´m no longer the "new" trainee, or the only new trainee, in Maracaibo. Kathryn, from the US, arrived on Friday. We were ca 10 people who went to meet her at the airport and from there we went out to party. Kathryn is from Chicago, and she´ll be teaching English here like me, but in another school. She is living in the same house with another trainee, Neka (we are three trainees alltogether) from Nigeria, who also teaches English.
So, from the airport we went to a place to dance. Peoeple were teaching me to dance again, or to move my ass I should say. I know it is all in good intention, but I can´t help feeling extremely selfconscious when people look at me and start saying, you have to do this and move this part and don´t move that part etc. I guess it is inevitable, but I wonder when they´ll stop commenting. The funny thing was that after playing latin American music, Reggaeton etc. for some hours they played some house, and then I got to shine. Then I was the expert on how to dance and people said to me that they want me to teach them. I felt even more conufused. But I had a really good time. And when the disco/dancing place closed at 3 we went to a really posh area (there was a security guard with a gun) and danced around and in the pool until 6 a clock in the morning. Drinking cuba libres, rum, and what not.
Now I need to figure out what is happening today. I know that there is some Aiesec meeting, but I don´t know if I´m supposed to be going there or not. Some people said to me yesterday (we had an Aiesec meeting yesterday, I had my presentation about Finland (which went well, with a routine)) "see you tomorrow" but since the meeting was in Spanish, apart from my presentation which was in English, I was left in the dark concerning today. So I think I´ll have to call some people and try to find out whether I´m supposed to go and if so, how to get there.
Yesterday I took a carrito with my room/flat mate for the first time. Carritos are a Maracaibo thing, a specialty found nowhere else. I heard about them already in Caracas and I thought they were some kind of buses. Well they are but not quite. Carritos are normal cars that function like buses that is they have fixed routes. You get in and say where you are going and depending on how far it is you are going you pay either a corto (short) or a long (don´t know the word). Then you tell the driver when you want to get off. I never appreciated metros before, but now I know that if there would be a metro in Maracaibo life would be a million times easier for me. I would not have to keep asking people how to get to places (at least not as much) and I would not have to be able to tell the driver where I need to get off. I´m not even sure if I´d recognize the house I live in.
So, from the airport we went to a place to dance. Peoeple were teaching me to dance again, or to move my ass I should say. I know it is all in good intention, but I can´t help feeling extremely selfconscious when people look at me and start saying, you have to do this and move this part and don´t move that part etc. I guess it is inevitable, but I wonder when they´ll stop commenting. The funny thing was that after playing latin American music, Reggaeton etc. for some hours they played some house, and then I got to shine. Then I was the expert on how to dance and people said to me that they want me to teach them. I felt even more conufused. But I had a really good time. And when the disco/dancing place closed at 3 we went to a really posh area (there was a security guard with a gun) and danced around and in the pool until 6 a clock in the morning. Drinking cuba libres, rum, and what not.
Now I need to figure out what is happening today. I know that there is some Aiesec meeting, but I don´t know if I´m supposed to be going there or not. Some people said to me yesterday (we had an Aiesec meeting yesterday, I had my presentation about Finland (which went well, with a routine)) "see you tomorrow" but since the meeting was in Spanish, apart from my presentation which was in English, I was left in the dark concerning today. So I think I´ll have to call some people and try to find out whether I´m supposed to go and if so, how to get there.
Yesterday I took a carrito with my room/flat mate for the first time. Carritos are a Maracaibo thing, a specialty found nowhere else. I heard about them already in Caracas and I thought they were some kind of buses. Well they are but not quite. Carritos are normal cars that function like buses that is they have fixed routes. You get in and say where you are going and depending on how far it is you are going you pay either a corto (short) or a long (don´t know the word). Then you tell the driver when you want to get off. I never appreciated metros before, but now I know that if there would be a metro in Maracaibo life would be a million times easier for me. I would not have to keep asking people how to get to places (at least not as much) and I would not have to be able to tell the driver where I need to get off. I´m not even sure if I´d recognize the house I live in.
posted by Larubia at 9:17 AM
1 Comments:
Just wait 'til you get home to Finland- then everyone will want you to teach them latin dance! It gets SO annoying- you're just like "just shake your booty and stop acting like a white person- it's SO easy!" :) I'd give it two more months. :)
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