Venezuela continued...

The is the next email that I sent out about Venezuela...titled: SWINGING BATS!


Wow...I just had the scariest experience of my life...Firstly...I was outdoors...all alone. Not smart. Secondly...it had just gotten dark...not smart. No one else knew where I was....NOT SMART. Just as the sun went down...I could see the trees around me growing taller...as if trying to intimidate me. I could hear sounds nearby...should I dare look? I could hear people...close...too close. by the time i turned around....i saw a BAT SWINGING AT MY FACE...BUT IT JUST BARELY MISSED!!!! I could have been decapitated! Oh...sorry...when I said "bat" i meant those cute little fury flying things. Oh...and when i say outdoors...I meant in the Baha'is residences backyard...which is barracaded with high walls and fences for security. And...the trees bare the most DELICIOUS of fruit in Venezuela...MANGOOOOOO.

Ok, I'm sorry, that was cojo (lame), but I cant say that I've had any terrifying or death threatening experiences just yet...but I'm looking forward to them, and I will be sure to report them as soon as they occur!

I have done soo much in the past three days...I went to my first Ruhi circle, ate my first chivo (goat), attended an interinstitutional meeting, and have a son named Carlos Mantana. The people here are sooooooo kind! They are all trying to help me learn spanish. Los Ninos (the kids) are soo cute. They tell me to tell them a significant word in spanish that i want to learn the meaning to. And I will point to things...say "que es el contrario de..." (what is the opposite of), and they are constantly sooo helpful! At the interinstitutional meeting...they were soo encouraging, and helped me read passages from letters written by the Universal House of Justice. They were correcting my pronounciation, my grammer...etc. and THEN they REALLY challenged me by getting me to read the spanish version.

We have gone to the craziest markets in the middle of NOWHERE! We went up this mountain about 30 minutes away...where they have their "Michaelanjelo" who paints all these ceramic things. A local family took us around allllllll yesturday! They took us to this BEAUTIFUL mountain about 1 hour from here...and on the very top was a market. The family we went with was constantly saying "Es FRIO!!" (Its cold), whereas the temperature was actually PERFECT for us! On top of the mountain, I got to go horse back riding...my work there was done! They wanted to take us somewhere to eat LIZARDS!! I was very pumped and excited about the idea...but Bahiyyih didn't seem too pleased.

I'm loving the attention I get here. I mean...They ALL stare at me. I've come to the conclusion that its probably because im soo damn good looking.....OR.....MAYBE because im tall. But either way, im still damn good looking. Some people try to make it less obvious that they are staring at me...while others just BLURT out LAUGHING in amasement! hahaha. But unfortunately...I don't know how to say all my tall jokes in spanish yet...give it time.

In one of the markets, they were selling BABY PARROTS! We got to hold them...My LORD they were soo cute!! I've heard that you can even find baby SLOTH's here! (Like monkeys...but ten times slower).

Im supposed to be going to Maracaibo this thursday...which is said to be VERY hot...that they say even the local people there complain of the heat. At least its next to the beach...which means good seafood. After Maracaibo...im suppose to go to BONAIRES! Its a tourist island...WOOP WOOP.. I will be sure to take lots of photos!

Anyways, I send my love out to all of you, since none of you wanted me to remove you from the email list.

Erfan

(P.S., For some reason, i cant send my pictures from msn, and so im going to send the email from my gmail account. Please do not send emails to my gmail account, only because i do not check it nearly as often! Gracias!)