Befy update #1

Bethany's been in Venezuela for almost 3 weeks. You may be wondering why I haven't written about her before now. Honestly? I don't think I could have completed the task without crying, and the tears would have been so copious the computer would have shorted out.

Because her departure is so thorough (none of that "in and out" with the first few years of college) I went through a process that I'm sure is akin to losing a loved one through death. At times I felt ridiculously silly for finding some of her hair and crying over it. Hair, that when she was here, would activate that "irritated mom" tone of voice and facial expression. You know the one....the one that activates the adolescent whining about how much their parents "yell" at them.

I started the long, arduous process of cleaning up her room a fews days after she left. Bethany herself looks sweet, clean and put together, but trust me....it ends with her personal grooming. Each time I went in there, I could stay as long as it took to find one of her poems or something and then the water works would start. It's taken a long time to finish her room.

My missing her was bad enough but then I got an e-mail from her the first Sunday morning stating she was so homesick and unhappy that she was thinking about coming home. She sent this e-mail to both her parents and after we had a parental conference, we agreed that her dad would call her that night, and I would call her the next day, on her 18th birthday. She was happy to hear from us but when I called, she wasn't able to talk for a bit because she was crying. It took everything I had to keep myself from encouraging her to come home. I didn't, of course, because if she DID come home, she would come to regret her decision and resent me for influencing her.

She's doing MUCH better now. During our last phone call she asked me to not call more than once a month. Those are the rules for communicating that Rotary established. We can write as much as we want. It only takes a letter 2 weeks and $.90 to reach her.

She started school yesterday. National law requires that all school children wear uniforms. This is what they look like:
She has to wear the tan polo and navy blue pants. She was disappointed that it wasn't the type of uniform that Japanese girls wear to school:

You have NO idea how relieved I am!!
I got a message from Bethany today that at school everyone was nice, helpful and that the hideous uniform didn't hide her from the boys. She had lots of invitations to parties, the movies and to play pool. She also told me she'd gotten a mani/pedi and had gone to a salsa dance class. I think she's going to be just fine.

Some general info about her whereabouts: Her host family is made up of a mom, dad, and 12 year old sister. They also have a 17 year old son who is an exchange student to France this year. Bethany says her host family is "great." They speak VERY little English and I speak VERY little Spanish, so my phone calls to her have been interesting, to say the least! The family lives in a town called Carrizal which is in the state of Miranda. It's about 30 miles southwest of Caracas. Maybe you knew this but I didn't -- the island of Aruba is right off the coast of Venezuela.

Here are some pictures of Caracas. I couldn't find any of Carrizal, but hopefully Bethany will send some soon.
She's created a blog to post pictures and weekly updates of her experiences. She hasn't updated the blog since she left the States but then her host family doesn't have Internet connection. She's been writing to me, her dad and her boyfriend Michael whenever she can get to an Internet cafe. Here's the address to her blog in case you want to keep up with her when she starts posting:

http://befyinvenezuela.blogspot.com/

BTW, "Befy" is what Brennan calls her. We think it's cute and it's a lot easier and quicker to say than "Bethany."