Progress ...

After speaking with the people from Lufthansa, where Anastasiia had bought the ticket for coming to Venezuela, it seems they might help her with the ticket for going back.

The issue had been that she had her ticket for returning on September which is unchangeable. Since she needs to go back now she would need to purchase another one and loose the first one. But the ticket prices have been very expensive. The cheapest she obtained was  12,000 Bs which is approximately US$ 1200. Teachers and friends have been helping her with the issue. 

But hearing the people of Lufthansa wanting to help has given us much help. They have asked her to bring the death certificate of her father to their offices in Caracas as they might have a window for Tuesday the 31st. But they also mentioned that it might be a reduction in price though they didn't specify how much exactly. So she is going blindly to their offices to hear what they would say. 

But this means that she is leaving for good. It is very sad. There was so much we were supposed to do together. Many unattended businesses. It is very sad. 

Tomorrow she would head back to Alpha for her last goodbye. She has decided to go and teach and give her conversation club. It would be very emotional for her I can imagine. This will be the last time I will see her in the corridors of Alpha. 

Later in the afternoon she would come back and pack her bags. In the evening at around 6:00 pm. we would go to the church for a mass for her deceased father. The other colleagues would be there and so are some of her close friends. 

On Sunday we would have a despedida here at home with Yuki, Ronja (other interns) and the family. It would be something intimate and at midnight she would leave for Caracas with Ejecutivo bus together with a dear friend Juan Carlos who has been an angel sent by God. 

This is indeed a sad time. I don't know how I would feel after her departure. I am already feeling something in my stomach. I am trying to distract myself as much as possible. But I know it is coming. 

Death

Today has been a hard day. When I woke up Anastasiia greeted me with the news that her father had passed away. It was such a shocking moment cause I didn't know what to do. So I sat near her while she sobbed. I put myself in her shoes and I couldn't imagine being in her situation and how this would feel.

By this time she was sitting on the floor, me next to her and she was communicating with her friend who was telling her the story of what happened. On Monday the 23rd she had spoken with her dad on Skype and everything was alright. He was not sick. All of a sudden his heart stopped. The confirmed news that we obtained later was even scarier.

Apparently he was out of town with friends from work and while he was walking on the street his artery broke and he fell on the street and died at the same time. It was a sudden death and there was nothing anyone could have done. According to what the doctor told the family, this was bound to happen anytime.

So the funeral was held on the same day, today back in Ukraine.

I had to leave for work after like one hour. What then Ana did was to go to church. A brother of the mother we are staying with came and picked her up. Ana got the opportunity to speak to the priest which calmed her down. Later one of her student, Angel came and pick her up. She went to make a phone call to her mother and sister. But everyone was telling her that she shouldn't come back. Adding that there was nothing she could do. But deep inside she wants to go back either ways. By the time she had come back she had bought a black bandana, a pañuelo. This is in accordance to the customs of her country.

The problem is that she has her ticket for returning back to Ukraine in September and it is not changeable. The only way is to buy a new ticket. She then has posted on Facebook if there is anyone who can help her to buy the ticket. A couple of colleagues and close friends will chip in and we believe this would be enough to get the ticket. It would cost about 10,000 Bs.

She had plans of going to Peru and she had bought a ticket for that. Tomorrow she would have to go and see if she can reclaim that ticket. It would really help if she can get the money.

But my very dear friend is heartbroken and so am I. I have written four poems already about this. When I was walking to work in the morning and in the afternoon, I was holding back tears. Even when I tried to put on a good, happy tune, it didn't help. I was thinking about our life together here. Our laws of attraction practices and vision board. Now this happens now. Why? I had just come back from losing a passport and now this. But everything works out in the light of some mysterious plan.

It made me think about my own family. So I mailed my brother and spoke to him. Losing someone is devastating. One comment she made this evening is the difficulty she has when it comes to referring to him. In Spanish you would have to use the verb to be in the past because he is not with us anymore. But she says she wouldn't do that. He is present still.

Losing My Passport in Venezuela

On the 4th of July, I lost my Passport in very funny circumstances. In the morning of the day, I together with my friend Anastasiia decided to leave early so we can have our breakfast at a nearby Empanada stand. I carried with me my Passport since I needed to cash my cheque. In Venezuela banks require Passport for this transaction and they would never accept a copy.

We arrived in the first Empanada Stand about 5 minutes from my house selling one Empanada for 4 Bs which is very cheap. But we were not satisfied with the quality of the Empanada and also since queso (cheese) is not my friend and they only had Empanada con queso. So we decided to hop into a Panaderia nearby where we indulged ourselves in what satisfied us - Torta de Pan.

As we left I stack my Passport between the pages of my book to prevent it from bending from my back pocket. Stupid as it sounds, this is how I lost my passport. After like 15 minutes I realized that my Passport was not with me. I  decided to retrace my path to the Panaderia as I was sure I had it when I left. But until I arrived my Passport was nowhere to be found.

I had to go back to work. The first thing I did was google my nearest Embajada which according to the information I had, had to be in Brazil. But my searching results were giving me the Embajada of Tanzania in US as my nearest one. Something wasn't right.

Genesis

I came to Venezuela after being in Tanzania for a year more or less, after graduating from University in Malaysia. As my nature dictates, I can't stay in a place for too long without getting bored out of my mind. And so the journey started. The journey to Venezuela. The journey to the end of the world.

I remember since I was young, Venezuela presented itself as such an intriguing place and I vowed to visit it one day. For me it sounded like one of the best countries, relaxed; totally Caribbean. And so when the opportunity presented itself I never dared to reject it.

It was also due to the fact that Spanish had become one of my little obsession that this journey took flight. Venezuela was the best place to be, especially after learning that the Spanish accent in Venezuela is considered as the most suave in Latin America.