Cultural Adjustment

These first few days in Venezuela have really left an impression of the vast differences between our country and culture and Venezuela. Little things that I would take for granted before, like electricity, and orderly traffic are far from consistent here in Venezuela. Rolling black outs in 2 hour blocks per day occur throughout the city. During blackouts generators fill the streets to power stores and houses. Traffic lights are ignored, income inequality is vast and poverty is contrasted with government created jobs. It quickly becomes apparent that “rules” and “laws” are only in effect when they can be enforced, which isn’t often. Despite what many Americans would interpret as deficiencies, after a few days here you realize that life is life. The more different people appear, the more similar you realize they are to you. Venezuelans like us, live, eat , go to school, and go to work.

The bus might not actually have a stop, and no one around you speaks the same language, but you are the same. Life in Venezuela is lively. Sounds fill the streets, and drivers use their horns for any reason. The cars seem to be talking to each other, and if you don’t honk at the person in front of you, you must be doing something wrong. Gasoline is sold at a mere 14 cents a gallon, making cars and taxis affordable, and fumes and pollution omnipresent. You become accustomed to the smell of car exhaust in your new surroundings, the blinding rays of the sun in the mountainous terrain, and the sounds of salsa music blasting at every corner. When you walk to school you are reminded of the time you lost the remote, and the tv was stuck on the Spanish channel! But there’s no TV, and there is definitely no remote. The language is rapid and incomprehensible. The people are beautiful. The heat is unbearable. But you can’t help but be impressed by your new environment. The culture is engaging. And students are intrigued by your unique look, and your curious mastery of their toughest and most important class in school, English. The language starts to slow down. Your two years of studying Spanish are finally paying dividends. The rapid string of foreign sounds is now a distinct rhythm of sentences and words. You can communicate, tu puedes hablar con la gente. You can’t wait to see more. You’ve been in Venezuela for 5 days, yeah… I’m starting to really like it here.

Chris