This is an old post
Sunday July 10, 2005 - 5:12PM EDT
Well, it's been about a week since I arrived in Venezuela and things are going well. I'm progressing with the language nicely and I haven't even started classes yet. They will start on Thursday. I think that by the end of my time here I'll be able to speak, read and write pretty good. I understand more than I can speak but eventually I'll be able to speak just as well.
TV here is loaded with american programming. Sure they have their spanish language stuff but there seems to be just as many shows on here that are on in the US. The Simpsons (obviously), CSI, all the reality TV crap (the same shows, not just latin american rehashes). And cable, forget about it. If you think HBO is going to show latin american cinema your wrong. More than half the movies on the movie channels are american movies. Lord of the Rings, Daredevil, you name the movie and it will probably come on. Also of course there are the ubiquotous spanish soaps that seem to be on all the time. Like right now.
The internet phone subscription I got works well. It is like having a landline in the US except you can use it with any internet connection.
After 15 days of intensive spanish one on one tutoring if I can't speak fluently someone kill me.
Thinking that I will do the Japan thing next summer for a year or so. I still have a few months to decide so I'll make a decision in September sometime probably. One year in Japan and for sure I would be able to speak that fluently too. I want to learn French next but before that even I want to nail down Chinese. I have to find a way to get over there and live for a year or so. I think it will be more difficult to find a something like in Japan. And I don't know anybody over there like Venezuela. France will probably be much easier.
There are a lot of similarities between here and the US as expected and a lot of differences. I went to the mall which looked exactly the same as any big american mall and the only way you knew you were in another country was that nobody spoke english. Gas is dirt cheap here, and I mean dirt cheap. It cost about $2 or less to fill up your car. Most people are poor though so no matter where you go you always see crappy looking neighborhoods. Its funny though because Venezuela is one of the richer countries in South America because of its oil. Yet I don't know where that money is going. The government is horribly inefficient and public works projects seem almost nonexistant. So many places look run down. Camden, New Jersey looks like a good place to live compared to some of the places here. A cabby agreed with me.
Tomorrow I will get the wireless router so I can use the laptop wherever in the house.