Cool Way to Learn Spanish

I've wanted to share this for a while, but kept putting it off until, well, now. Anyways, something I've been doing since I got back to improve my Spanish comprehension is reading Democracy Now! headlines... in Spanish!

The independent news organization, Democracy Now!, already has probably the most compelling collection of summary headlines posted on their site each weekday. They piece through the garbage that normally gets reported as "news" and highlight the most important items of the day. Well, they also happen to have a direct translation of these headlines into Spanish each day. This makes it a superb tool for language learners who want new real-world content each day to study and practice on. Not only that, but Democracy Now! also provides a Spanish podcast so you can hear it and read along.

One last tool I've discovered is this web reader from WordChamp that facilitates the easy translation of words from Spanish to English (and back) with a simple mouse over. It'll even give you nice audio sample with a click of a button on a speaker icon next to most words. Talk about convenient. Best of all, this is all free.

This has all been very useful to me. I hope it might be of help to someone else out there.

Thoughts and Conclusions

So I've been home a few days and it's probably time I started reflecting on my experiences so here it goes...

Up until this point I have been very hesitant to give too much of my opinion on what's going on in Venezuela because frankly, I didn't know what to think and I was waiting until I had a better idea. I had heard and read quite a bit about Venezuela from my life in the states and interactions with friends. I had seen and promoted some of the documentaries that you see posted on this blog. Unfortunately, it is always really hard to gauge what's really happening when all you get are snippets and anecdotal stories from a far away land.

The portrayal of Venezuela in the media we get is obviously tainted with either idealism from progressive outlets or downright vitriol and lies from many mainstream establishment sources. This of course is to be expected given each side is playing to its base of supporters with the establishment media obviously playing to the interests of corporations and Wall Street who would like nothing more than to see the whole place sold off and privatized with the oil controlled by the filthy rich, but I digress.

By moving to Venezuela I was hoping to get a broader view. I was only partially successful. Unfortunately, I underestimated just how long it would take to get a handle on Spanish. I had 5 weeks at a Spanish school in central Caracas, but I still came out struggling to understand most conversations (I'm not giving up though!). The result is that I was still dependent on much the same media I could look at beforehand along with the few people who could speak English in the country. The Global Exchange trip at the end became my last best chance to hear differing opinions.

So what have I come away with? Well, I definitely have a much more nuanced opinion of what's happening down here than before. There are a lot of great things going on. In the country side, I visited a bunch of Missions--social programs set up by the government--and I talked through interpreters with many people. There were programs I observed and heard about that are giving free college education, free education for adults that never finished high school, free healthcare from highly skilled Cuban doctors in poor communities, and government subsidized marketplaces to buy basic foods.

I also heard and was fascinated by the increasing decision making power that is being shifted down to the people through community councils. Apparently it just takes a few neighbors getting together to form one of these councils and the government will give out money to work on community projects. All of these projects are decided democratically after much debate with, I believe, anyone over 15 getting a vote. There is no need for representative middlemen who are so easily corruptible in the United States.

Another thing I really loved about Venezuela is that politics is everywhere. It seems most everyone and everything (for better or worse) is somehow involved. No one is afraid to give their opinion. It is a much deeper form of democracy then I've ever seen here in the U.S.

I also want to mention a few of the problems I saw. While there are a lot of promises being made and projects being constructed there is also a lot of bureaucracy and corruption. As I was living there I could see many buildings all over town that looked 80-90% completed but seemingly weren't being worked on anymore. There were also streets that were torn up as if to repair them, but the rubble sat idle. I was told that often times, especially before an election, perfectly good roads and sidewalks would be torn up only to be redone just so the Mayor could point to something as being accomplished.

Other weird things I heard about were the big hospitals charging people for the materials they needed even while the services might be free. The result is there are still poor in the cities that can't afford medical care because they can't afford the fillings, the bandages, the tools, or whatever is needed by the doctors to treat them.

Support for Chavez varies greatly. In the upper and middle class areas of Caracas I was hard pressed to find even one Chavez supporter. The full first half of the trip everyone I encountered and could partially understand (that was the hard part) was livid in their hatred of Chavez and everything he did. Note that I never got a chance to visit the poor areas there. It wasn't until I got into the country that could find even one Chavista. Then it was hard to find someone who wasn't a Chavista. It's really a very divided country and it makes things very hard to figure out. It did appear, though, that those in the country were more cooperative and quicker at utilizing the social programs than those in the city.

So it's very hard to make any conclusions in all this. I feel like I'd need to be there a lot longer, maybe another year. All I can say is I'm still quite sympathetic with what I think are genuine efforts on Chavez's part to try and lift the poor up out of poverty. I also see a great culture of democracy and cooperation down there which is far richer than I see here in the States. I only hope they can continue to keep up the movement and pressure their leaders to make wider and deeper reforms to further empower the population and take power away from the many tyrannical sectors of the economy (like corporations) that remain.

A busy week at the Missions

It´s been a very busy week for me with not much time available to access the Internet. The week has largely consisted of the group of us going from Bolivarian Mission to Bolivarian Mission, including Missions Robinson, Ribas, Sucre, and Mission Barrio Adentro. These are basically social programs set up by the government to help those most in need. You can read more about them on Wikipedia by clicking here. For each Mission we visit their offices in the community and spend a few hours interviewing and talking with the people running them and even some of the participants being helped by them. It has all been a very enlightening experience and I will be talking more about it in a few days.

My trip here is unfortunately coming to a rapid end. I am scheduled to return back home on Tuesday the 5th. Its been a wonderful experience for me, meeting so many new people, making many new friends, and immersing myself in whole a new culture. I have experience nothing but kindness and generosity from the Venezuelan people and have enjoyed every minute of being here. I will be reflecting more and posting many more new pictures once I´m home.

The Transition to Global Exchange

So I had to say goodbye to my family on Saturday as I joined up with the Global Exchange part of my tour. They were always very nice and patient with me over the last 5 weeks and it was hard saying goodbye.

I have a lot to say, but little time. Unfortunately, from now on it appears I´ll have sporadic Internet access. I´m in an Internet cafe as I type this.

There are a total of 9 of us on this tour which is just about the right number to converse with and move around. All of them are wonderful people and we get along very well. Its so nice to also have a tour guide whose lived here all his life to ask questions of. So far we´re staying at a hotel in Caracas, but tomorrow we´ll be leaving for Barquisimeto.

Please remember to send some comments and emails. I know you have a lot of questions, because I know I haven´t covered a lot of stuff. I´ll try to get to them when I can.

A look back home

I want to share some particularly striking news articles I've read recently on the social and economic state of my home country.

American Inequality Highlighted by 30-Year Gap In Life Expectancy

The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US, according to a report published yesterday.

The American Human Development Index has applied to the US an aid agency approach to measuring well-being - more familiar to observers of the Third World - with shocking results. The US finds itself ranked 42nd in global life expectancy and 34th in survival of infants to age. Suicide and murder are among the top 15 causes of death and although the US is home to just 5 per cent of the global population it accounts for 24 per cent of the world’s prisoners.

U.S. Health Care Still Ill, Survey Finds

The United States also lags behind other countries in health-care results, Schoen said. "Even where the U.S. average improved, other countries have improved much more rapidly," she said. "As a result, we are falling further behind the leaders."

For example, the United States is now last among 19 industrialized nations in premature deaths that might have been prevented by better access to health care. In 2006, the United States was 15th on the list.

The scorecard also contended that 100,000 lives -- and some $100 billion -- could be saved each year if health care were improved in the United States.

Unfortunately, as the economy falls into recession and the housing bubble deflates, things are only going to get worse for many Americans, especially those about to retire. A recent CEPR report gives us a glimpse into this world.

Housing Market Meltdown Will Cause Massive Losses in Household Wealth

The report projects that if house prices stay the same through 2009, the median household headed by a person between the ages of 45 and 54, those in their prime earning years, will have 24.7 percent less wealth than did the median household in this age group in 2004. These households will have accumulated just $113,268 in net worth in 2009, barely $15,000 more than their counterparts in 1989, whose net worth totaled $97,600.

If real house prices fall 10 percent, the median household in the 45 to 54 cohort will see a 34.6 percent loss in wealth compared with the median in 2004 while families in the 18 to 34 cohort will lose of 67.6 percent. If prices fall by 20 percent, the most pessimistic scenario, families in the 55-64 cohort will experience a loss of 49.6 percent of their wealth compared to the same cohort in 2004.

What you've been dying to know...

I known the question you've all been wondering: just how much does gas cost down here in Venezuela?

Well, after a family tour of Caracas and a pit stop at the local gas station I can finally answer that question. There were two grades of gasoline: one at .07 Boliviar Fuertes per liter and other at .097 Biolivar Fuertes per liter. Doing a quick calculation from the numbers in the photo:

(.070 VEF/ 1 L) * (3.785 L / 1 gal) * (1 USD / 2.152 VEF) = $0.12 per gallon

(.097 VEF/ 1 L) * (3.785 L / 1 gal) * (1 USD / 2.152 VEF) = $0.17 per gallon

So there you have it, $0.12 per gallon for the standard grade. Double checking on the Internet confirms this number. I'm sure pompous Hummer owners everywhere must be salivating at the thought. Unfortunately, I've noticed a few of them down here too.

More on U.S. Interference

Here is a very recent interview with Eva Golinger, a human rights lawyer and author, who has done a lot of work investigating the U.S. involvement in the coup in 2002 using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

An interview with Eva Golinger

The most conclusive facts and evidence includes a series of documents classified Top Secret by the CIA, dating from March 5, 2002 to April 17, 2002, which clearly refer to plans for a coup against Chávez—who, how, where and when—everything laid out in detail. One in particular, dated April 6, 2002—five days before the coup—emphasizes how the opposition sectors, the CTV, Fedecámaras (the country's main business federation), dissident soldiers, the private media, and even the Catholic Church were going to march through the streets in those first weeks of April and the coup conspirators would provoke violence with snipers in the street, causing deaths, and then they would arrest President Chávez and other important members of his cabinet.

What's more interesting though is some of her comments on things that are still happening in the country.

The U.S. embassy in Venezuela is very active. These days, its main strategy is subversion. This is manifested by USAID, NED, IRI, Freedom House, CIPE, etc. funding opposition groups, but there is also an attempt to penetrate pro-Chávez sectors and communities. This last tactic is one of the most dangerous and effective.

and a bit more...

The CIA and the State Department maintain various fronts in the country, as they always do. There is Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), a U.S. corporation based in the El Rosal sector in Caracas, which functions as a filter for funding from USAID to opposition NGOs and groups. Then there is the Press and Society Institute, part of the Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) network, which receives funds from the NED, USAID, the CIA, etc., to execute its pro-U.S. policy and to accuse the Venezuelan government of being repressive and of violating the rights of free expression and a free press. Freedom House and USAID are also financing right-wing student leaders and movements, sending them to Belgrade to train with experts in the Orange Revolution (Ukraine) and other so-called processes for "overthrowing dictators." Recently, the neoliberal right-wing Cato Institute, which advises Bush and receives funding from Exxon Mobile and Philip Morris, awarded a "prize" worth $500,000 to an opposition Venezuelan student.

Venezuelan Movies

I've added a few great movies on Venezuela to the sidebar on the right. Many of them deal with the U.S. supported coup attempt to overthrow President Hugo Chavez in 2002. This failed coup is perhaps the defining moment of recent Venezuelan history. It jolted the poor awake with a massive show of people power and it allowed and empowered Chavez to deepen the social revolution. Thus, if you want to understand Venezuela you must understand what happened in 2002. Unfortunately, the mainstream media does a failing job at conveying this, but watching a couple of these movies will go a long way into nullifying that.

Enjoy and please let me know what you think and any other videos you would recommend.

World Bank Report: Biofuel Caused Food Crisis

I've been working on the issues of agrofuels for a long time now giving presentations and workshops on this false solution to climate change. They are not only a bad idea to begin with, being extremely inefficient to produce (corn ethanol using more fossil fuels than it substitutes), but they are also extremely bad for the environment and global warming by, for example, encouraging the destruction of more and more rain forest land for industrial monoculture.

Read more here.

Today we learn the World Bank has a secret report essentially pinning the blame on agrofuels for the current world food crisis:

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at [the] global financial body.

Secret Report: Biofuel Caused Food Crisis

This is huge. Why isn't this on the front page of every newspaper? Millions are starving and dying around the world because they cannot afford to pay for food and there is barely a peep. The insanity needs to stop. DO SOMETHING.

Language Tools

Since I'm a geek, I'm always interested in exploring and finding new ways that technology can be applied to solve problems and make life a bit easier. Learning a new language is naturally my current focus so I've been doing a bit of personal research on how technology can help me with that. I wanted to share some of things I've found for any other aspiring language learners out there.

The first thing I want to share is this interesting program called 200 Words-a-Day. Their whole focus is making it easier to learn a language by helping you associate vocabulary words with imagery, thus making the strange words easier to remember. I downloaded the demo and it looks quite good. From my past reading about the mind and how memory works this seems like exactly the right approach. I don't know how well this product does with other rather important factors in language learning like the formation of sentences, but at least they've got vocabulary building down pat. If I had known about it before reaching Venezuela I probably would have ordered myself a copy. Unfortunately, I think if bought it now, it'd take too long for the CD to reach me.

Some other tools that I have been using are more easily accessible and free. They include some of the many language add-ons for the Firefox web browser. In particular, I've taken a liking to the Babel Fish Instant Translation add-on which allows me to instantly translate a word I don't know in Spanish by double clicking it. It displays the English translation in a tooltip next to the Spanish word without disturbing my reading. This is another great way to pick up new vocabulary. I've been reading a lot of online Spanish news articles this way.

More cool tools I've been using include stuff for my iPod touch. There is a free dictionary application called weDict. I've downloaded an English-Spanish and Spanish-English dictionary for it. It certainly makes the process of looking up words a lot quicker than riffling through a book. There is another cool app called iStudy which essentially works just like flashcards, but without the paper. The app could use a bit of polishing, but it's a good start and you can't beat the price.

That's it for now. Let me know if you have any other great tools or ideas.

Musical Prodigies

A few months ago I saw a segment on 60 Minutes describing this wonderful National Youth Orchestra in Venezuela. The orchestra, partially funded by the government, takes young kids—many of them from the barrios—and turns them into highly trained musical prodigies. The orchestra has been in high demand to play at some of the top music halls around the world.

The reason I bring this up is that it turns out the son of my adoptive family is also quite musically inclined. When I asked him about the above orchestra I believe he said he was in it for a while. He now plays at another music school.

I got to visit the school with the family Sunday to see him perform. I rarely listen to classical music and I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a performance, but this one was quite beautiful and soothing to the ears. The son played both the harp and I believe the cuatro, a classic Venezuelan instrument, at different times during the show.

This evening, much to my surprise, I found out he’s going to Canada for 15 days to go on tour with a musical group. That's saying a lot right there.

End of Week 1

So the week is over. I've had three more days of classes and finally had a chance to settle and get used to my new routine. I have my Spanish classes every weekday from 9am to 1pm and then from 2pm to 4pm. The first class—the so-called group class—is just me and one other student from Florida. So we basically take turns at answering questions proposed by our professor whether it is from a workbook or anything else she might have on her mind. The second class is just a one-on-one with a different professor going beyond and/or reinforcing whatever I did earlier in the day.

My Spanish is progressing along quite nicely, I think, and according to my professors. I'm going from comprehending almost nothing to understanding and being able to respond to simple questions. I'm also getting quite good at Spanish pronunciation--being able to read short stories and news articles with only a few corrections. While I'm not in school I spend most of my time studying.

I've made a Venezuelan friend who works in the same office as the school and we speak Spanglish to each other--him knowing more English than I know Spanish, but not near fully proficient. He's been there to help me order stuff on the street for lunch. On Friday I had some very good mini pan de queso (cheese bread) in one of the pastry shops.

At home, my adoptive family has high speed Internet access via a DSL line. This is great and far more than I was expecting, but it's connected to only one computer in the central living room with no wireless. That makes my iPod nearly useless and makes it difficult to get internet access through my laptop. Leave it to a certified nerd like me to think of this situation beforehand and bring a wireless router with me on the trip. I was able to install the router by connecting a few wires and now I have English-Spanish translations on my iPod and laptop all from my room. Talk about convenient!

Late Thursday night I made my first Skype (a free voip application) call with my Dad. I had also been perceptive enough to buy my Dad a webcam before the trip so we would both have one (mine is integrated above the computer screen). It was the first time we'd used it from outside the home and the video worked great. We could both see each other talking with no real noticeable delay and it was all free.

There is plenty more I can cover and I want to post some pictures later when I have more time, but feel free to leave comments and ask me any questions.

Introduction

For all who don't know me I'll just say that I'm a recent college grad from California who has decided to take a trip to Venezuela.

The country has attracted me both because it is Spanish speaking and it is also currently the site of an extraordinary social revolution in progress. The majority of my time here will be spent trying to learn Spanish, but I also want to better understand the current political situation.

If we are to fight collectively for a better world (and I think we must if we care about justice and improving the human condition), I firmly believe it is important to try to learn and understand the steps others are taking whatever their successes or failings.

I will try to be honest about my observations, but of course it will be a while until can better evaluate what I see--not knowing the language and being able to converse with people yet.

The main purpose of this blog is that friends and family who are interested can more easily track my travels in Venezuela. However, since I have other interests it will include my thoughts and meanderings whether they be about Venezuela or not.

Getting into Caracas and First Days

Hey everyone, so I bet you’re wondering how things are going. I can say with enthusiasm that everything is going great. I arrived in Caracas on Sunday in late morning and someone was there to meet me at the gate with my name on a sign as promised. Before that though, I managed to change some of my American money with Bolivar Fuertes while waiting for my bags at the carousel. I’m not sure if the bank was run by the government or not, but I got the standard rate $1 = 2.15 Bs. F.

The guy I met took me into the city which was about a half hour away. Apparently there was some miscommunication though so he did a rendezvous with my adoptive father who then proceeded to drive right back to the airport. We waited there for an hour as his wife and son (age 16) landed allowing us all to greet one another for the first time.

We then went to their apartment which is on the 4th floor of a tall residential complex--there are tons of them here. This one was a better looking and had little if any graffiti in contrast to some of the others. The apartment itself has 3 small bedrooms, a kitchen, and living room. It’s very cozy. They gave me my very own room and, surprisingly, my very own full bathroom. The accommodations are more than adequate making me comfortable, but feeling a bit undeserving and overly privileged.

This is still a developing country. There are perhaps four immediately identifiable classes I’ve observed so far: Families who have their own homes and live comfortably, families who live in these many tall residential apartment complexes (often not too nice itself with graffiti all over and urban decay), families who in the small (maybe 1 room?) barrios that carpet the outskirts of the city, and families who have no home at all. Here I’m in the 2nd tier with my own room. I must say that I haven’t explored much yet in the 3 days I’ve been here though.

My adoptive family could not be more kind. Not only do I get housing, but they feed me delicious vegetarian food when I’m at home. The father doesn’t speak any English as far as I can tell. The mother is (or was?) a Chemistry and Biology teacher, but I she could not carry on a conversation in English although she understands some words. The son can speak a good deal of English but is not perfect. No matter though because I came here to learn Spanish. I do most of my interaction with the Mom. She is wonderful and just like a good teacher, repeats things a few times and in different ways so I can generally understand with my (very) limited Spanish vocabulary.

The first day of school she guided me step by step from the bus to the metro to the school. It takes about an hour (I think). We bought tickets together and went through the whole process like a Mom taking her kid to his first day of school—except in this case the kid can barely understand his mom and nobody else around in a completely foreign environment. Yeah, it’s a little scary.

The school is on the 15th floor of a building and is pretty small as far as I could tell. There seemed to be more staff than students, but maybe that will change. After a quick test in which I (expectingly) sucked at, I was given one-on-one basic Spanish instruction the rest of the day. I can’t say it’s the best instruction because the teacher barely spoke any English which understandably made it very difficult to explain a Spanish word I didn’t know. It was more than a little frustrating at first, but I think I’m starting to get used to it.

During lunch I went down to the local Subway and ordered myself the vegetariano sandwich with todos options. Even while keeping my Spanish to the very minimum I got a few funny looks while as I butchering the words. No one could tell I was a foreigner until I open my mouth. Even then, I think the attendant thought I was speaking French.

After school I went home alone on the metro and then the bus. This was probably the scariest part of my trip as I could barely remember where to get off the bus. I picked a corner and luckily it was the right one. As I opened the door to the apartment, a sigh of relief visibility came from both my adoptive mom and I. It was apparently getting late and she was about to come out to try and find me.

The next day I had off because of a national Venezuelan holiday. It is this holiday that I sit here to type this. I’ve been studying my Spanish all day. Tomorrow (Wednesday), I look forward to yet another adventure.