By virtue of being in a foreign country and not speaking the language, I expected to have embarrassing moments here. I thought it would be *fun* to keep track of these wonderful moments so I can look back one day and laugh . However, one incident that happened a few weeks back still makes me cringe every time I think about it – up until now, I still consider it to be my worst moment in Caracas.

On my way to pick up the kids from school, I usually try and stop at the store nearby to see if they have items that my usual joint doesn’t. This is is a smaller store and the closely spaced aisles make line forming difficult. On this particular day, the lines were especially long and I only had a couple items.

So, there I am standing in line for about 20 minutes about to reach the cashier when this older lady cuts right in front of me and starts putting her items down. Now, I’ve become pretty relaxed about such petty things, but I thought it was rude for the 5 other people behind me who have been waiting, too.

Thinking she may have been confused because of the strange layout of the store, I move a little closer to her and say “Senora, yo pienso que la cola esta alli”. That’s when my own personal Armageddon broke out.

The woman began screaming at me. Not only that, she was shaking her hips and making funny gestures with her fingers – which I think was an attempt to imitate my behavior. The only words that I was able to make out was trains, banks and always like that.

The worst part was that all the employees were just giving me a funny look. I couldn’t tell whether they were sympathizing with me or condoning the woman’s behavior. I know that people probably don’t assume I’m a foreigner by looking at me, but I thought the fact that I said NOTHING in response could have tipped them off. Still confused by the rant, I put my items down (in front of the crazy lady), paid and quickly left.

Here’s where it gets good. I left that store thinking that the woman was upset about waiting in line everywhere; hence the trains, banks, etc. comment. But, as I started telling my husband the story, his first question was “Was she an older woman?”. I said “Yeah, I guess.” Then he explained that senior citizens do not stand in line here – it’s the LAW. So, what I thought was her complaining about the lines in Caracas, was her saying that she does not have to wait in line and it’s like that everywhere – trains, banks, etc.

At that point, my embarrassing moment turned into a bunch of other negative emotions. I felt that even though she was right, the yelling, finger pointing and gyrating were unnecessary. I also felt let down by the way the employees were looking at me. I still have yet to go back to that store because of this…

Do you think I’m overreacting or justified?

Since the move delayed my monthly check-up post, I decided to combine two into one.

As the months are starting meld together, I am reminded why I wanted to document these little milestones. I don’t want to take for granted all the effort my family and I made to get settled here. This will be good information to have if and when we decide to do this again, as well as help us appreciate what we have been able to accomplish.

So, for the past two months, I’ve noticed the following:

- The cost of living has increased a bit since we arrived. It’s happened faster than we are accustomed to, but the prices of staples have stayed the same. I have now begun negotiating my taxi rides because I figure it can’t hurt. The one time the driver wasn’t willing to budge, I moved on to the next cab.

- Having had to take my 2 year-old to a Spanish-speaking pediatrician and understanding most, I think I have made a lot of progress with the help of my course. What I find has also happened is I am more confident. If I don’t understand someone, I am embarrassed to ask them to slow down or repeat what they say; especially since Caraquenos are notorious for talking really fast.

- The kids are learning Spanish must faster than I anticipated. My daughter tends to blurt things out in Spanish randomly and I think she gets to hear a lot of it even though she is not in a Venezuelan school. My son of course, goes between the four at any given time. We’ll see how he continues in the next year.

- It has sunk in that I live in Caracas, Venezuela. As my days have become more routine and I know more what to expect, it has become a reality. I think I am feeling about ambivalent about it right now, but isn’t that always what happens when the honeymoon phase is over?

By the way, contrary to popular belief, Venezuelans do not hate Americans; or at least I have yet to meet one. I think there are lot of misconceptions about Americans anywhere you go, but living here is far from what I suspect it’s like for an American in Baghdad.

Overall, we’re still going strong