Impressions from Venezuela – Postlude

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

On Saturday, we returned to Canada, after seventy-seven days in Venezuela. We even got diplomas from the Instituto Universitario Jesús Obrero for our language study.

In lieu of describing our final days in the country, I thought I might compile some of my experiences of studying a foreign language in the form of advice: not advice on how to study another language, but rather advice if you find yourself on the other end, as a host to a foreign student. We were very hospitably received in Venezuela by the Society―and the society―and so much of this comes out of positive experience. So, although I’ve put these tips more in the form of negative prohibitions, much of the content was gleaned from what my Venezuelan friends were doing right, and then inferring the opposite. But, of course, some wisdom comes from the more frequent of the frustrations of being a child in a new language.

Impressions from Venezuela IV

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

Early two Saturdays ago, Eric and I boarded the bus for Maracaibo. (Daniel left later in the day for Guasdualito). It was a fourteen hour ride and ten o’clock when we arrived and were picked up by our hosts.

The length of our journey underscores the historic isolation of Maracaibo from the rest of the country, as it is on the west coast of the huge Lake Maracaibo. Indeed, with its sprawling geography, slower pace, heavy sun and dry, dusty terrain, the city does feel far from Caracas. As advertised, Maracaibo is hot: daytime temperatures are consistently in the mid-thirties with a fair amount of humidity. Contrary to my expectations, however, pretty much everything is air conditioned. But this does not stop all the locals from asking us, somewhat eagerly, with the same kind of idiosyncratic pride that some Canadians display at their cold winters, how we are handling the heat: a standard refrain to which we have learned simply to smile and nod politely.

Impressions from Venezuela III

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

We are now past our half-way mark here in Venezuela, and I feel, to some degree, ‘settled in’. So instead of chronicling our doings over the past fortnight, I shall begin with a theme that I hinted at before but did not elaborate: Venezuelan politics.

‘They Will be Divided’

Most of us could probably only name a handful of the heads-of-state around the world, but Hugo Chavéz would almost certainly be among them. Naturally, before coming to Venezuela, I was curious to visit the country he leads (or rules?). And, as fate would have it, he landed in Caracas at almost the same time we did back in May, returning from medical treatment in Cuba. As we drove through the night streets of the city, we could hear the live reports of his arrival on the radio.

Impressions from Venezuela II

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

It seems like longer than two weeks since I posted my first Impressions from Venezuela, and indeed the time has been full. But there has been one theme which has predominated, at least in my mind: astronomy.

Impressions from Venezuela

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

Two weeks ago, I arrived, together with two companions from my community in Toronto ― Daniel and Eric ― in Caracas, Venezuela. We are here to study Spanish and to be immersed in a different culture. There is an informal twinning between the Jesuits of Venezuela and English Canada by which we send each other men for language studies. Fittingly, we are staying in the Philosophate, i.e., the house of our Venezuelan counterparts who are studying philosophy. Apart from the superior and a theologian, there are about ten young Jesuits scholastics here. This provides for a lively environment and plenty of opportunity to converse in the local language. Meanwhile, our hosts have hired a tutor for formal language lessons; we are at it for a total of four to six hours a day during the week, not including homework, making for a truly intensive experience.

I have had the privilege of spending time in several different countries over my life and in recent years got into the habit of writing down my impressions and experiences to share with others. I kept a daily, online journal during my visits to the Atacama Desert of Chile, and last year, when I was in Nairobi, sent around a bi-weekly newsletter by electronic mail. This time around, I have decided to use the new-fangled ‘blog’ (viz., ‘web-log’) technology. I plan to make posts here at Ibo roughly fortnightly.