Today I had an interesting discussion at work. There is a problem with my working hours. I´m covering for a teacher who is on holidays and so normally I should work tonight until 8. Well, the coordinator at work told me to try and ask someone to give me a ride, cause it is too dangerous to walk home or wait for carritos in the street at that hour and there are no buses after 7.30. So, Cheche suggested that I ask my student for a ride home. I know that it is not uncommon for teachers to get rides home from students, since my teacher friends in Caracas used to get rides with their students. So, today at work I said to the cordinator that I'll ask my student for a ride and if it doesn´t work out I´ll take a taxi. The cordinator was like noooo you can not ask your students for anything. OK, no problem, I´ll take a taxi then.
I am a bit surprised by the fact that it is supposedly dangerous for me to be in the streets after dark (after 8). In Caracas is was no problem if I finished work at 8 to walk 20 min to the bus stop. And sometimes when we´d go out for a beer after work we (we=Kasia and I) would take the last bus at eleven at night and no one said that it would be too dangerous to do that.
Later, when I was leaving work, the coordinators were talking about me. About the fact that I was going to ask a student for a ride. They really think that I don´t know any Spanish at all. It is actually quite funny how people keep asking me how I can survive here without speaking Spanish. I try to tell them that I do actually speak sufficient Spanish to communicate in the shops and with the bus driver etc. but I guess my Spanish is so crap that they really don´t see how anybody could understand me. I´m sure you know the feeling when you start talking to someone in Spanish (or whatever foreign language) and they listen to you and then start speaking English. I know that I've done it to people as well, and I truly I regret it, cause I think it is the most discouraging thing one can possibly do.
About the people. My dear mother expressed some concern and maybe the rest of you are interested to hear about this as well. So first of all, I feel extremely safe because everybody keeps repeating to me the same instructions: don´t go outside after dark, don´t take the pirate carritos or taxis, and even at work they obviously take responsibility and make sure I get home safely. So, I feel like I am surrounded by resposible and caring individuals.
Mostly I associate with people from Aiesec. There are Aiesec meetings every weekend, and sometimes also during the week. I speak with my Padrino, Freddy, and the exchange resposible, Cheche/José almost every day and I don´t feel lonely. I do miss Kasia, my room mate from Caracas, sometimes. After all, she was the closest person I had in Caracas, but she is coming to Maracaibo next weekend so then I won´t have to miss her anymore. What else...nothing much. The Aiesec people are friendly, but oh so young. They keep asking me how old I am. Here an introduction goes pretty much like this: you extend you hand and say hello, then you say your name and the other person shays theirs. Then the other person asks, "so, how old are you". I guess I could start to say: come on I´m a woman, I don´t need to answer that or, like someone suggested, just say that I am 21. But I don´t really see the advantage with lying about my age, only possible trouble when the person finds out how old I really am, so I always just say how old I am and anticipate the look of surprise mixed with pity on their faces. The American (or north american, I should say) girl, Kathryn, paid me a nice compliment when she said that I look "youthful" for a 26 year old. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I have to admit that I still miss some of my friends in Caracas, but I think Maracaibo has potential as well.
I am a bit surprised by the fact that it is supposedly dangerous for me to be in the streets after dark (after 8). In Caracas is was no problem if I finished work at 8 to walk 20 min to the bus stop. And sometimes when we´d go out for a beer after work we (we=Kasia and I) would take the last bus at eleven at night and no one said that it would be too dangerous to do that.
Later, when I was leaving work, the coordinators were talking about me. About the fact that I was going to ask a student for a ride. They really think that I don´t know any Spanish at all. It is actually quite funny how people keep asking me how I can survive here without speaking Spanish. I try to tell them that I do actually speak sufficient Spanish to communicate in the shops and with the bus driver etc. but I guess my Spanish is so crap that they really don´t see how anybody could understand me. I´m sure you know the feeling when you start talking to someone in Spanish (or whatever foreign language) and they listen to you and then start speaking English. I know that I've done it to people as well, and I truly I regret it, cause I think it is the most discouraging thing one can possibly do.
About the people. My dear mother expressed some concern and maybe the rest of you are interested to hear about this as well. So first of all, I feel extremely safe because everybody keeps repeating to me the same instructions: don´t go outside after dark, don´t take the pirate carritos or taxis, and even at work they obviously take responsibility and make sure I get home safely. So, I feel like I am surrounded by resposible and caring individuals.
Mostly I associate with people from Aiesec. There are Aiesec meetings every weekend, and sometimes also during the week. I speak with my Padrino, Freddy, and the exchange resposible, Cheche/José almost every day and I don´t feel lonely. I do miss Kasia, my room mate from Caracas, sometimes. After all, she was the closest person I had in Caracas, but she is coming to Maracaibo next weekend so then I won´t have to miss her anymore. What else...nothing much. The Aiesec people are friendly, but oh so young. They keep asking me how old I am. Here an introduction goes pretty much like this: you extend you hand and say hello, then you say your name and the other person shays theirs. Then the other person asks, "so, how old are you". I guess I could start to say: come on I´m a woman, I don´t need to answer that or, like someone suggested, just say that I am 21. But I don´t really see the advantage with lying about my age, only possible trouble when the person finds out how old I really am, so I always just say how old I am and anticipate the look of surprise mixed with pity on their faces. The American (or north american, I should say) girl, Kathryn, paid me a nice compliment when she said that I look "youthful" for a 26 year old. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I have to admit that I still miss some of my friends in Caracas, but I think Maracaibo has potential as well.
posted by Larubia at 1:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home