Befy Update #3

It seems like a long, long time since Bethany left for Venezuela. We're actually 4 days shy of 2 months. That's not that long. But when it's your daughter, and the only other female in your immediate family, it's a long time.

Yesterday I was missing her female comraderie so much that I slept in her room, in her bed, under the quilt that my Nana, her Nana and I worked on. It's only a simple quilt, but it's girly and was made with lots and lots of love. It felt good being under it and thinking about where I came from, the women who have been (are) ahead of me and the woman who is behind me. That helped. I didn't feel quite so alone.

So, here is her monthly update:

My second month in Venezuela, or no quiero regresar!

Hi guys in the US, I have just completed my second month in Venezuela, and I am very content, and very settled in. My Spanish has grown by leaps and bounds, and people I talk to for the first time say that my Spanish is perfect ( but it´s only because they haven´t gotten to know me well). I CAN say everything I want to say 99 percent of the time without my dictionary, which is a big improvement, and I understand practically everything people say to me, which makes my time in school a lot easier and a lot less frustrating. Now I´m focusing on learning the culture so I can really start to integrate myself in to the life here.
Something I´m really satisfied with are my friends. I´ve come to wholeheartedly love and appretiate the friends I´ve made, they are so great, and in the 1 month I´ve been in school, they have already supported me and helped me through so much. My social life has also picked up, although it´s hard to negotiate around my host family´s plans, mostly because my host mother likes to change them at the last minute.
Speaking of my host family, I finally feel comfortable living here as part of this family, that it took two months to feel that way wasn´t their fault but mine. They welcomed me from the first day, and always included me in family activities and duties, it just took me a little while to shed my ingrained politeness and step out of the guest-shell I had been living in. I can´t imagine the pain I´m going to feel when I have to go back to the states in July, it will probably top the pain I felt at leaving my family in the US, since this time I know that it isn´t garaunteed that I will see them again.
The only thing that throws a shadow over my exchange so far is the political situation here. For those of you who don´t know, the President of Venezuela is Hugo Chavez. Chavez has been slowly gaining power by taking over the public schools, which teach the poor children who can´t afford private school, that Chavez is close to a God and will solve all of Venezuela´s problems. He has also taken over the free television channels, so the poor are constantly fed propaganda. At the same time, he is trying to push through a major reform to the constitution which totally bans access to the internet, restricts free speech, sets a country-wide dress code, and takes over control of what all the schools in Venezuela teach. Chavez will have no trouble passing this reform, since the National Assembly of Venezuela was handpicked by him, after an earlier constitutional reform. While Chavez focuses on gaining power, there is a shortage of wheat, sugar, eggs, milk, and cooking oil, and bread is starting to be rationed ( the other day my sister and I were sent to buy french bread, and they would only let us buy three small loaves per person). There have been marches in protest in Caracas and Maracaibo, which were put down violently by the government-controlled police. Many people were injured in Caracas, and a girl was killed in the march in Maracaibo. I saw all of this on the last non-government controlled station in Venezuela CAN-TV .
Despite the disturbances in the big cities, I am perfectly safe here, for those of you who would worry. As long as I lay low in the streets and don´t participate in any protests I should be fine. Daily life here continues as normal , and I can still go to school, and although the necessary food stuffs are a little harder to find, I have never gone hungry here.
Everyone take care of yourselves in the United State, and now that I am happy here and having a great year. I´ll write again in a month!

Love,
Bethany

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Yes, I'm worried and afraid for her. I've already asked her if she'd consider coming home early and she "No way!" Her dad and Carter are going to visit her the week between Christmas and New Years. That will help us get a sense of how she really is.

It's hard being a mom.