Dec 8, 2011 ..... Day 5 in Venezuela

Hello on Thursday!
This has passed extremely fast! in most ways. In some ways I feel like how could I have done so much in only 5 days. They say the weeks just start flying by faster, so I{m just trying to enjoy every minute. I{d say today was the first day I was a little bit homesick. Not really just missing a few people and things back home, but mostly still just enjoying the time and the group.  I mostly hung out with 2 Swedes for the first few days, but seem to be spending more time with the Switzerland and Holland girls lately. All super nice people. I think our trips will be fun. We{re in town getting snacks for our Kayak trip that we leave for on Saturday.  Today is day 3 of Spanish classes! We{re moving along very quickly! into grammar etc already... yikes! All very good tho. Putting quite a bit of time outside of class trying to study it.  Our group studies well together too.  
It{s pretty cozy in my little mosquite netted space. Sorta feels like you have your own room I suppose cause mY net, is mY space. It{s the only my I have, so in the afternoons is a nice place to read. Particularly before supper... because the kitchen is directly open below us and the spices waft up to me..!! glorious I tell you. glorious.  =) Perhaps one of my favorite things so far =) Weird I can almost smell the smells here as I think about it!

We{ve been practicing kayaks, and started out with the climbing wall that is in our yard. We didn{t hike the hill this morning tho, cause they said there was people lingering up there, so just to be safe we stayed home. They always go check out places we{re going before they take us. For one to make sure it{s safe. And for 2 to make sure the roads are clear, things are open etc, as apparently those things can be a problem.  
We will tour our town on friday morning, cause the teachers didn{t show up to work on Wed when we had planned.  

It{s cool, they eat [Casava[ here just like in Zambia. Interesting
The lady who cooks our suppers is a Venzuelan lady from the town, so always local dishes. Lots of pasta and rice, with different spices and meats. 
There{s about 20 or so people kicking around our complex-camp, because some of the last group hasn{t left yet, due to road blocks.

Well, I suppose that{s all for this week. It{s been pretty low key. Nothing terrible to report. Simple pleasure like Spanish class, afternoon naps, and spicy foods are my highlights! =)

As always I enjoy getting your messages so please feel free to write. I won{t be back here until next week sometime. 
I must have some mosquito repellant in my blood. Cause for some reason I don{t have any bites yet, while one girl is like eaten alive, infected reacted bites....  Apparently Malaria is not really around here so that{s good to hear as the information was mixed before we left. 

My group.

33 = Jerome = France

33 =Stephanie = Switzerland

32= Anders = Sweden

30 = Maria = Sweden

26 = Erwin = Austria. 

24 = Laura = Sweden.

22 = Frank = Sweden.

22 = Philip = Sweden.

I wish I could forward some pics of the place but not really sure just how yet, so... hopefully another time. You may have to wait for the digital album when I get home =)

Having fun with my camera tho. Did I say before that 2 of the other guys have DSLRs too.. so I{m super glad I brought mine. They{re teaching me here and there and have lots of time to just play around with it. Plus a locked cupboard to store our valueables. Apparently it{s taking some beautiful shots so I{m quite excited to learn better.  They{re jealous of my 6400 ISO. =) for those of you who care.

Sorry for the punctuation in the letter.. I can{t see the actual marks, probably with time I could, but because that{s limited I thought I{d leave the quirkiness and just write instead!

OK my familia!
I{ll let you know how the Kayak trip goes. All I know is I{m bringing the beach volleyball!

And my Spanish notes of course... =)

Ta for now,

La Amber.