Surviving and thriving without Trader Joe's- It's a Miracle!

I wish I could chronicle every waking minute of my life here in Caracas.  First of all, everything is just so new, different and interesting that it all deserves a thorough description to do it justice.  Secondly, I am so happy and having such a good time that I will want to read back on all this when I am horribly depressed four months from now to remind myself how much I really do like it here. 

It's been exactly a week since I arrived in Caracas and things just keep getting better and better. I've tackled a grocery store by myself without incident, toured the city via bus, metro and taxi (in groups! don't panic Mom!), survived my first official day of work and managed to make a number of friends both Venezuelan and Expat alike.  Wednesday night I had the distinct pleasure of going with my teacher mentor Gordon to the local expat hang out- Curry Club.  A restaurant hosts local expats and feeds them delicious curry and of course copious adult beverages.  Clearly they were not ready for our caliber of drinking, as they ran out of beer before 11pm.  At Curry Club, I met some really wonderful people that I am already looking forward to seeing again next week, include three older English gentlemen named Graham, Nigel and Paul, a lovely and fashionable Indonesian Santi and Zeke, a Venezuelan reporter who has since taken a very strong liking to Jackie.

I am finding a few oddities worth pointing out, but let it be known that in general, I think there are far more similarities than there are differences between Caracas and my homeland.  One of the first glaring differences was what you can and can't find at the store.  While most things are readily available- kitchen items, foods, clothing, shoes, housewares, there are a few things I can't find.  My search for a fan has already been well documented, but along with a fan, I am also searching for a sink stopper, dryer sheets, and windex. Speaking of spending money, you can't spend it in any store without first providing the cashier with you passport number, name and usually the urbanizacion you live in. I can't find anyone who can tell me why stores engage in this practice, whether it is for demographic purposes, government spying etc, but it's pretty consistent no matter where you go.  Also curious is the fact that while almost every building uses open windows for air and ventilation, almost none of said windows have screens. Gordon told me you can pay people to make a screen for individual windows in your apartment, but there are no screens to purchase that readily fit windows in homes. This is curious, as there are no dearth of mosquitoes, flies and other creepy crawlers that I would not like to have in my house, so I find myself constantly choosing between fresh air and insects visitors.

All in all though, I've found the adjustment to the day to day much easier than I was expecting. The lines may be longer and the language barrier is obviously a stumbling block, but with a little patience and an open mind, I think I am going to continue to do just fine.