a whole new world

I feel like I've been adjusting to an entirely new life this week! Not only am I back at work, departing from my new apartment (which means I don't take the motorpool shuttle to work anymore, but instead walk), but I also started in a new section this week. I'll be doing a 6 month rotation in ACS (American Citizen Services), which I just started on Tuesday.

I have a temporary fix for internet at home while I keep waiting for the government-run company to respond to my requests for technical support...

It was so nice to have Wayne visit. We did some of the typical tourist (which is not very big here) activities that exist here. One is el Teleférico, a cable car that goes all the way up the mountain called el Ávila, which separates Caracas from the coast. It is about a 20 minute ride to get to the top, and the view is amazing. There are a few restaurants and places to walk around at the top. That was a fun trip.

We also went to the tiny area of the city that could be considered colonial, called el Hatillo. There is a great chocolate shop there as well as a large craft store where typical Venezuelan things can be bought. We visited a couple of the many malls of Caracas, in search of the modem I needed in order to contract internet service. We sampled a few different restaurants, making sure that Wayne got to sample the most typical Venezuelan foods: arepas, cachapas, and pabellon.

Arepas are corn cakes, about the size of an english muffin. They're cut in half, but not all the way through, and the filling of your choice is put inside the arepa. They're usually filled with different kinds of beef, chicken, pork, or even eggs. Cachapas are like a large sweet corn pancake. They are filled with anything from cheese to meat to just plain butter. Pabellon is a plate full of shredded seasoned beef, fried sweet plantains, black beans, rice, and fried Venezuelan cheese. This is one of my favorites, though the plate always has about twice as much food on it as I can finish in one sitting.

I ended up with a bad cold, and by today I had no voice at all. I couldn't do any interviews, but mostly did observing, since I'm still training in ACS. Tomorrow there is a Marine Ball, which is sponsored by the Marine Guard that works at the embassy. It is a formal event which some people refer to as the event of the year. I asked my sponsor to get me a ticket before I got to post since they went on sale back in July. I'm hoping to be able to go and to be able to talk!