One Month in Caracas

Sorry I haven't stayed up with my blog this past week. I feel like I haven't had time to catch my breath! I really enjoyed the extra day off last week for Labor Day, though I'd been feeling a bit sick, so I mostly enjoyed the extra time to sleep and lounge by the pool. The pool is one of the best perks of being in the hotel for this long. Since it gets dark so early here, we can't really enjoy it on weekdays, so the weekends are always used for multiple visits to the pool.

Several good things have happened in the past week. One of the most notable is that I received my accrediation from the Venezuelan government yesterday! I'm not officially recognized as a diplomat here, and was able to initate the shipment of my things from the US. Since it's a notorioiusly slow process, shipping companies will not send anything until that accreditation is received. This being the case, we wait an additional 3 weeks (give or take) after receiving it for the belongings to arrive at the port in Venezuela. They sit there for another 3 weeks or so before they're then allowed to enter the country and arrive at our homes.

I've been notified that I should be tentatively moving out of the hotel by the first or second week of October, so the timing should work out pretty well. I'm getting more and more used to the daily work. We really see a variety of people at the window, and I'm not bored yet! There are generally 10 or 11 officers adjudicating non-immigrant visas on any given day, and we do an average of 1120 appointments per day. Today I adjudicated the most yet that I've done in one day: 110! Most people can average around 130-150 a day once they've been here for a couple months or so.

Yesterday I met some new friends from the Free Methodist church here in Caracas. Acutally, I met the pastor and his wife, who I've been corresponding with by phone and by email, but it was great to finally meet them. I joined them for a small group meeting and dinner, and had a really wonderful time. Almost immediately, I felt at home with them. I really look forward to joining them for church in the future.

Tonight was my first experience with a representational event sponsored by the embassy. There was a newcomers' reception at the ambassador's residence, to which many contacts of the embassy were invited. We had the opportunity to meet high-ranking officers from other nations' embassies here in Caracas as well as other local contacts, such as people from airlines, hotels, etc. that we have reason to interact with throughout the year. It was a nice setting; although we don't currently have an ambassador here, the residence is kept up and used for hosting different events periodically.

Some very happy news is that Wayne got a plane ticket to come down and visit next month, hopefully after I'm moved into my permanent housing and have room to host :) It'll be great to see him and have my first visitor!