Charallave

Venezuela YES team newsletter #2
Kirsten Miller
12/13/07

Hola from Venezuela!
Things are going pretty well here! We are all in the process of adjusting to our new surroundings. Charallave is a city of somewhere close to 130,000 people, located in the mountains. The temperature is usually somewhere in the 80s. In the “pueblo,” (the equivalent of “downtown”) the busy streets are lined with shops, including clothing stores, farmacias (pharmacies), fruit shops, supermercados (grocery stores), carnicerίas (meat shops), panaderίas (bakeries), zapaterίas (shoe stores), peluquerίas (beauty salons), etc. Many of the buildings here are pretty open to the outdoors, with open spaces in the windows, doors, etc. Due to the easy entrance for rodents and insects, we have to watch out for things like cockroaches, lizards and mice. The openness of the houses to the outdoors and the close proximity of the neighboring houses also results in a chorus of noises. As I lay in my bed at night, I can hear dogs barking, the television programs of our neighbors, people talking outside, music from nearby houses, and roosters crowing.
I have really enjoyed the new foods I’ve tried in Venezuela. One popular Venezuelan dish I’ve enjoyed is the arepa. It is a corn pancake that is split and filled with things like vegetables, cheese, or meat.
Since our language study in Caracas doesn’t start until January, we don’t have a lot going on right now. We have been spending time with the people from the church we are working with (Shalom Mennonite) and helping with a few work projects at the church. The plans for our days are usually decided the day before or when the time comes for something to be done. Everything is pretty laidback, including plans, the time that things start, etc.

Some prayer requests & praises:
-Praises: the safety God has provided for us, the warm friendliness of the people at Shalom
-Prayer Requests: relationships with people from the church, safety, perseverance and patience with learning Spanish, sensitivity to what God wants to do here