Tuesday, May 25th

Time for a new post? I suppose I should. Finally found a pair of sunglasses on Friday, but they broke on Monday. Oh well, at least I know where to find them now.

Sunday afternoon we went out to the country house - beautiful place. Fruit trees everywhere, mangos, avacados. bananas, plantains, 2 different types of coconut, several that I'd never heard of & can't remember right now. The pic above is looking out from the edge of the yard.

Also needed laundry detergent on Friday, maybe not quite as exciting, well, maybe it isn't even a little exciting, but I had to do it anyway. I'm hoping to sneak in a bite to eat before class, so that's it for now. :)

Sat, May 22 (I think)

I haven't had much of a chance to post yet. This first week has been crazy, travelling, figuring out housing, figuring out schedules & transportation. I certainly haven't settled into any kind of a routine yet, but I generally know where I'm at & where I should be next (usually in class). This post will be brief as I'm still working on getting pics online - I'll probably be posting several times this coming week to get caught up on things, but in summary:

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  The trip here was uneventful (a good thing)
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  The housing situation was a little confusing at first. It's still a little confusing, but at least that much has been accepted. Mostly.
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  Classes are long & difficult. Three hours of biology (Tropical Ecology of the Rainforest), followed by a three hour lunch - everything in town, even the trolly system closes for 3 hours. Then six hours of Spanish.
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  Transportation and directions for getting around are simple - whatever it is, it's either uphill or downhill.
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  There is only one post office in town - and it is uphill from everything.
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  Internet connections, cell phones & electricity all seem to work most of the time. Not great, but good enough. They go in and out with no apparent rhyme or reason, but it keeps things interesting.

I'll try to fill in a few blanks later. It's mid afternoon & it sounds like the town is waking up again so I'm going to get moving.

Wednesday, May 12

Looks like it's been a few weeks again since my last post. I don't really have much time now - 2 papers to wrap up, a final in about 4 hours and one more tomorrow. The most hectic part of finals week is over, but this afternoon & tomorrow will be the most difficult.

I finally got the rest of my flight confirmations (at least for the way there - still a gap or two on getting home again). Homestay info hasn't been sent out yet, but it sounds like that should be Thursday or Friday. Had a few more snags in financial aid a couple weeks ago, I'm still not quite sure what's going on there, but everybody I've talked with has been very helpful, I think it'll work out fine.

I should get a few details worked out in one of these papers, so this post is just going to have to be short. I plan to post regularly beginning next week.

Hasta la próxima ...

Sunday, April 18

OK, real post, sort of, though still not a whole lot of content. A few people have asked about where Mérida is, so - here it is! Mérida is in the Northern part of Venezuela (West by NW, I suppose). It is near the top of the Andes, just South of Lake Maracaibo. Even though it is pretty close to the equator, the altitude keeps the climate reasonable - a little on the warm side, but not too bad if you aren't spending your days splitting wood or working in attics. 5,348 ft - as a point of reference, Denver is at 5,280 ft (close) & Minneapolis is at 830 ft (not so close).

I suppose though...
I really should be doing homework now. I've got a few more pages of Hume to get through before I can call it a day (philo major, remember?). Interesting stuff even if some parts seem to be way off the mark (some of what he wrote is great, I'm not arguing against that, but other times, well, wow). I'm just not in the right frame of mind for it right now.
Que lastima - ¡Hasta luego!

Saturday, April 17

I realize it's been a couple weeks since I've posted, but I just don't know anything. Dave had a birthday (he's getting old). Lots of writing to do with the end of the semester coming up. Got a little stumping to do before we can till the garden (small expansion). I haven't seen any aliens or bigfoot - at least not since my last post. Haven't bumped into Elvis recently, although I did talk to a guy who looked like him, just with a lot less rhinestones...

Whatever, I should probably get off the keyboard, well, away from the keyboard & off my bum. It's Saturday, I'm going outside to play. (and stump, and till ...)

Friday, April 02

This Warden Message informs U.S. citizens traveling to and residing in Venezuela of the ongoing security concerns on the Caracas-La Guaira highway, en route to the Caracas Maiquetia International Airport. This highway is known to be particularly dangerous, and highway robberies occur at any time of the day and at any place along the highway. The general modus operandi of the criminals is to cause a roadblock with either trash and debris or vehicles, particularly at chokepoints at the tunnels on the highway. Once traffic has stopped, travelers are robbed and/or carjacked, often at gunpoint. There are also credible reports of arriving travelers being targeted in the airport, to be later robbed along the highway en route to Caracass.

Well, at least it shouldn't be a dull trip!

Friday, March 26

MEFLOQUINE:

This medication may cause stomach upset, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, hair loss, ringing in the ears, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, insomnia, strange dreams, or lightheadedness. If these symptoms persist or become severe, contact your doctor or pharmacist promptly. Tell your doctor immediately if any of these side effects occur: fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat, seizures, muscle pain, loss of coordination, numbness and tingling of hands or feet, vision changes. If any of the following occur; call your doctor immediately; you may need to stop using mefloquine and start another medication for malaria prevention: unexplained anxiety, mood changes, depression (sometimes severe, including rare thoughts of suicide), hallucinations, restlessness, confusion. A serious allergic reaction to this drug is unlikely, but seek immediate medical attention if it occurs. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include: rash, itching, swelling, severe dizziness, trouble breathing. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.

Y'know, I might just take my chances with malaria...

Friday, Mar 19

Spring break is about over, so much for cleaning the garage. I've been looking for a map of Mérida - it doesn't look like something that has been widely published . So far this is all I've found, & it's been out of print for quite awhile. I guess I can keep looking. I did find this, though. Click on the calle link, the school is about 3 blocks South of the airport.

I think all the paperwork is complete now. Well, current anyway - there'll probably be more as things get closer. I also finished my entrance essay for Luther Seminary, but I'll have to wait a couple weeks before sending it. If everything falls perfectly into place I'll wrap things up at UMM Fall '10 semester - but only if everything lines up perfectly & that's with the maximum credit load the university allows. Otherwise it'll be a little over a year from now (but with a much more manageable load). The entrance essay is sent with the candidacy application, but without knowing when I would be starting, I can't quite complete it. Details...

Thursday, Feb 25

No big updates at this point, still shuffling through paperwork (if it hasn't become obvious by this time, I'll just point out that paperwork really really isn't my thing).

I did find the newspaper from Mérida, the Frontera. Well, duh - of course it's in Spanish. If you'd like to take a peek in English, try here (Google comes in handy for things like that). Interesting, not quite ready to commit to ordering a subscription though...

Friday, Feb 12

OK, finished the next batch of paperwork & got it sent off. I've been out of the country a few times before, but the amount of paperwork for a school trip is ridiculous!

½ a pound of paperwork to the Twin Cities campus, another ¼ pound to somewhere in Florida, & another smaller pile to somewhere else in Florida.

It was supposed to be at all of those places by the fifteenth - cutting it close, but I didn't even know about it until a few days ago, so the USPS got a few extra bucks since things had to go priority.

And no, that isn't my own picture, just something I found through Google (the actual pile was much bigger).

Saturday, Feb 6

About a week ago my trip to Mérida, Venezuela (last Monday, actually) was approved, and since I'm not too bad about taking pictures, but not too good about sharing them or writing letters, I thought I'd give this a shot.

This is a study abroad trip for school. I am currently a Philosophy major at the U of M, Morris campus. You don't have to click on every link - I just put them in in case any explanations are wanted - & not everybody will want them.

Last year I tried to get into three different trips, the first two were canceled & the third was full by the time I had applied. I'd had enough pointless paperwork & wasn't about to try for #4. I was looking into a few this year (school year), but when I started looking at what was offered at other U of M campuses, this opportunity really stood out. It runs about 3 months, & in that time I can get in an entire year of college level Spanish (in addition to the immersion of living there) as well as finishing off my science requirements.

How is it possible to have an AAS in CVN with 80+ science credits & still have more needed? I don't know - still scratching my head on that one, but as it turns out I'll be taking Tropical Ecology (in a rain-forest) and Field Botany in the Andes (do I need to point out that this is in The Andes?). I'm really not too upset about getting in a little more science, especially considering the circumstances.

Anyway, since it looks like things will work out, I've got quite a bit more paperwork to fill out & most of it needs to be completed this weekend so I better get to it...