More Mèrida

The apartment I´m staying in is very small, and very overdecorated, with Jesus and Popes and nativity scenes EVERYWHERE. There´s a 3D picture of the last pope over my bed that waves at you if you move back and forth. It´s a busride away from my language school, only ten minutes, but sometimes the bus takes over an hour, so we have to get up early and look at the traffic everyday in case we have to walk all the way. I tried to buy a bike, but aparently only small children ride bikes here (how silly they thought i was asking for one my size). Our school looks like everything else from the outside, it´s downtown and just has big high walls, with big wooden doors. But inside there´s a small plaza with tables and plants, and classrooms aroudn the outside. The school teaches english (to little kids) and spanish (to gringos form all over the world). Classes are no more than 6 people.

There´s a vegetarian cafe across form the school, with awesome cafe con leche and empañadas. All the wierd foreign kids from europe hang out there and talk about philosphy.... it´s an interesting place. They have meditation, painting, yoga, poerty, fiction writing, music, singing, and like ten other kinds of lessons offered in the back of the cafe on different days of the week.

We have been to see a speaker everyday in Merida. The first day we met with MUSEC, a socialist group of science students from Las Andes University. They sopke with us about all the free educaiton programs available, and how students are required to do community service, and answered many questions we had about the school, socialism here, and the city of Mèrida. Those same student set up a concert for us with the Mèrida Symphony which plays traditional music of the Andes (mandolins, violins, cellos, and the cuatro, a small four stringed guitar), it was a really great treat.

Another group we spoke with was ECOS, a student group from the same university, which focuses on environment issues in their area. they recently got a law passed to save a type of moss which had become comercericalized as a main component in nativity scenes....? They also are trying very hard to create a recyling system, but it´s worse than failing. No one hear understands that concept at all, yet.

We had a really wonderful opportunity to meet with two reporters from the online paper venezuelanalysis.com who talked to us about some current polotics, and answered many questions. I am going to be doing an indepentdant project with them for a week, very soon. Possibly on propaganda, and the similarities between US and Venezuelan media. They were both very helpful, and when I apporoached them about working with them, they were like well of course, and gave me their contact info. Everyone here is just really nice.

My Spanish classes are going really well. We are doing a lot of review of basic grammar, which is good becasue it ment nothing the first time i learned it, as grammar isn´t nessacary if you can´t put together sentances anyway. But it does get a little boring. My spanish has however improved dramatically, and I am able to have conversations with people I meet, and buys things without embarassing myself too badly.

Last night one of our instructors took us out dancing, at a bar near our school, it was a really great time. The bars all play half traditional or salsa and half reggaton or rock, depending on the bar, but it is always half and half. We danced for hours, and talked to a lot of locals.