Arrival

Hola todos,

I arrived in Caracas last night, and I am now waiting to meet with Juan Carlos Navarro, my host here at the Universidad Central de Venezuela.  I am typing on a Mac computer that has been set up for Spanish, and it was a very exciting moment when we discovered the @ symbol's location (alt plus g, FYI).

The Univesidad has a very open architecture.  It reminds me a little bit of the schools that I've seen in the southern US, with lots of courtyards and gardens and walkways that are open to the weather.  There is even a small garden in the center courtyard of the Instituto Zoologica, right next to the labs.

I am staying this week with the  brother-in-law of my professor and with his wife, David and Carina.  They are very hospitable, and last night we talked for several hours.  David teaches Spanish literature and studies Greek mythology, and Carina works as a systems engineer and is trying to learn French as well as English.  Their apartment is very close to the Metro, which I can use to get to the university.

That's all for this post -- I will write more on my project and on Caracas later!