The Little Things Really Do Matter

So, The3Hermanos decided to go to a beautiful vacation spot in Venezuela called Choroni. Choroni is a beautiful cit right off the Caribbean Sea coast. Arriving to Choroni was THE WORST! From Merida (the city where we study) to Maracaibo was a 12-hour bus ride, then we had to take a 2-hour taxi ride up and around mountains to finally reach our destination.


After we dropped our bags in HELL, I mean our hotel room, we decided to walk around this city that is not larger than East Lansing. The majority of the local residents of Choroni where darker than the people we were accustomed to in Merida, Venezuela. So we, The3Hermanos, fit right in! Even though our hues were similar it is still evident that we were not from Choroni. The people in Choroni, well some, walked around the streets without shoes on. I mean almost EVERYONE walked around this city without shoes as if it were a fashion statement. Even when Chris and I decided to play basketball with some of the locals they were playing without shoes either and playing really well I might add. You can forget about proper ankle support. It was bad, real bad, Micheal Jackson. Chris and I felt that we had an advantage because we kept our shoes on while we played.

Aside from protecting ourselves from possible foot diseases in the restrooms we were not allowed to place toilet tissue in the toilet because the city of Choroni cannot afford large sewage pipes to handle tissue, sanitary napkins, and the like. Yeah think about it...it's gross but it is how they live.

Even in Merida, the little things we take for granted in the United States like fluoride that we have in water. The country of Venezuela does not have fluoride in their water so the water does not help your teeth at all. Also, the water is not purified so the water is "hard" and causes the human skin to become dry and irritated.

In hindsight, the little things that we are accustomed to in America really do matter. Before stepping on Venezuelan soil I thought everyone had simple things like fluoride and purified water but I was wrong. We should not assume because we American that everyone in the world has what we have.

So think about the little things that you have in life and cherish it,

Paris

El Presidente Chavez has a twitter! WTH!

Hey world! Did you know that Hugo Chavez (The VA Presidente') has a twitter page? I mean if ya'll thought that this man is a crazy politician who corrupts the poor Venezuelan people...I mean you are right but he is still cool! Which President do you know that has a twitter page AND he assigns 200 people to reply to all the of his at replys? Chavez wrote on his twitter account, "...I’ve decided to create Mission Chavez Candanga to attend to and provide responses to everyone.” This was referring to the large number of requests he was receiving. C'mon son! Hugo Chavez is the junk! Add to President Chavez's followers (267,028) at @Chavezcandanga.

"Big Girls You Are Beautiful"

One thing that I have noticed in Venezuela is the beauty in this country is not skin deep. Everywhere I look there are always beautiful women with tons upon tons of makeup on for no apparent reason. Venezuelan women are gorgeous and yet, some are still worried about their outer appearance as if skin never ages and makeup is their only hope. After living in Venezuela for three weeks, I see that this problem is evident throughout the world and not just the United States. With one of God’s greatest creation I am sad to think that some women think that makeup and plastic surgery can cure the insecurities they have within. Honestly, I want to hug and tell every woman in Merida, Venezuela that they are beautiful, but I have not learned how to formulate that sentence in my Spanish class yet. LOL However, I just would like to say that people come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors for a reason and if women continue to primp themselves and try to look like the supermodels, the Miss Americas, and the Miss Universes of the world then they will lose one of their most precious items that they obtain since birth: their self-identity. I was influenced to label my title of this blog “Big Girls You are Beautiful” because of a song created by the group called Mika. This song instills a very positive message and stating that women (mainly plus-sized women) that they are beautiful and no one should tell them anything different. Women of all shapes, sizes, and colors, I just want to let you know that you are beautiful and makeup or plastic surgery should enhance your natural beauty and not become the controller of your beauty.

Just a little something I was thinking about at 11:55 pm,

Paris

Slappin

Slappin

A few days ago Janel and I heard Paris use the word “slappin” in a sentence. Paris informed us that “slappin” was a word that some Detroit people use to mean very good, or excellent. As I’m sure you would agree, like many of the words people from Detroit use, this is clearly one of the most ridiculous things you have ever heard in your entire life. Paris would occasionally say “this food is slappin” or “that party was slappin” and Janel and myself would look at each other in disgust of this terrible word with such a peculiar definition. When one hears “slappin” they might think of sloppy joes, or Bozo the clown at the circus. For example, at the circus “we had a slappin good time”. Doesn’t that sound much better?? Because this word has such an incorrect definition JaNel and I decided to use the word slappin to mean something that is very bad, of poor quality, and especially of extremely poor taste. For example, “That restaurant was slappin, I will never go there again” or “You are being very rude, if you don’t stop acting so slappin I am going to slap you”. We feel that this is a much more appropriate use for the word slappin, and have now incorporated it into our vocabularies. We also have taught our Venezuelan sister the word slappin and its new definition as well so that she can use it as Spanish slang. We would also like to encourage all of our readers to use the word and its new improved definition.

From the most non-slappin place on earth, Venezuela

Chris

The Preview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOG5LwNFeyI

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