Beach Paradise in Venezuela

Los Roques archipelago is a group of islands and cays in the Lesser Antilles belonging to Venezuela and holding an estimated area of 40.61 km². Los Roques is a National Park located from 176 km north of Caracas city. These groups of islands represent one of the main tourist attractions of the country because it has an area of ​​approximately 221,120 hectares between sea and land areas and is considered the largest marine park in Latin America. It is a destination to relax and also have fun at the beach. Tourists can lie under the sun and drink some tropical beverages. It is a pretty sunny place and has beautiful white sand beaches. The most common tourist activities are sailing in different types of recreational boats as kayaking, sailboat and rowing boat. Also, tourists can practice windsurfing, snorkeling, sport fishing, bird watching and hiking. In Venezuela is always summer time, so any month of the year is the best time to visit this archipelago.

Three Cups of Tea Review

I really enjoyed this lecture because it is a book full of life lessons for any reader. The protagonist’s (Greg Mortenson) commitment and humility is admirable. Moreover, Haji Ali is also a character that teaches to readers the importance of being patient and calm in times of distress. The whole story is pretty interesting; for every goal that Greg achieved with the support of all the main characters, I felt more and more hooked on the lecture. The more interesting parts were the construction of Korphe School, the establishment of Korphe Women’s Vocational Center and the foundation of Central Asia Institute. This book made me reflect upon many of the things that I complain and also made ​​me realize that I am very fortunate to have had an education and have received financial support from my family in my childhood phase and in my professional career.

Canine or Feline?

Cats and dogs are the most popular and common pets in several countries. There are some remarkable differences between owning cats and dogs. Let’s begin with some of them; first of all, cats are very independent pets and they do not need to walk out of the house once or twice a day as dogs. Also, they can stay alone at home for a while without feeling sad and abandoned. Another independent difference between cats and dogs is that cats can clean their bodies by their selves and dogs cannot do this without their owners. Second, cats are less hair falls than some dog’s breeds and this is a big issue with some dogs, especially when they are in apartments because is an awkward thing to have dog hair all around the place that you live. Finally, another important difference is that cats are neater than dogs, but this is a thing that depends on how you train your pet of course. Is the same as we speak of the noise that these pets can make, on one part, the dogs bark too much and cats also meow, but that's when the owner should train them well and avoid possible inconveniences.

I really like both pets, but I’m kind of a dog person, I do not care about the mess or how dependent are dogs from their owners. I think when you train pretty well your dog they can be your perfect partners. 

Talking about Women and Men Jobs

In my country differences between men and women roles is remarkable. Venezuela is a country where the male chauvinism culture is predominant, but is a thing that depends on specific areas and states in the country. For example, in the areas where fieldwork and animal husbandry is the economic livelihood, tend to be places where the division of labor is observed between men and women, where men work on the farm and crops and woman are dedicated only to housework and childcare. However, in the most developed cities, representing the minority, these difference isn’t remarkable. In the five years that I have on work experience, I’ve worked with bosses and colleagues of both sexes and I think that professionally, both (women and men), are preparing and developing careers in an equitable manner. Some examples of these roles’ little differences are medicine, management, nursing, teaching, engineering, economics, psychology, architecture, business and administration, politics, bus drivers and police officers. On the other hand, there are some jobs where men are still priority for their elaboration, which is a generally thing in the whole country, such as the presidency and vice-presidency, construction, mechanical, plumbing, aircraft pilots and carpentry.

Indeed this difference in roles between men and women has changed over the years and can be seen in several countries around the world; though, in my country it will take many years to fully equalize all jobs opportunities.

I Can't Live Without my Cellphone

At the present time, I think I can’t live without my cellphone because it’s such a useful device for a lot of things in my daily life. First of all, it’s a way to have the feeling that I’m closer to my family and friends that I have all around the world; my older brother and most of my friends live in Venezuela, my older sister lives in Toronto and my father lives in Saudi Arabia so with my cellphone and a good cellphone data plan or Wi-Fi of course, I can e-mail, text and call them. I can also make video calls and that’s pretty amazing because it’s kind of face to face conversation. Secondly, there’re a lot of social, economic and political problems happening in my country and with the Twitter app I can know and catch up the daily news about that. Another good thing about my cellphone is that allow me to stay in contact with my stuffs anytime of the day, for example, when I was in Venezuela I used to receive e-mails from work and if I was out of my office, I could replied and answered without problems. Also, my cellphone allow me to buy tickets and other on-line stuff, search about addresses, and certain information that I need. Finally, it’s a source of recreation and entertainment if I am waiting for the bus or waiting for someone in some place it’s a good choice to kill the time. 

Biking on Top of The World

Talking about extreme sports I would like to try mountain biking because I love riding a bike on my free time, it makes me feel relaxed, but I’ve never tried in the mountain and I think that’s very exciting and challenging. It should feel like you're driving a bicycle on top of the world and the views must be spectacularly beautiful with amazing landscapes. However, extreme sports, as it name says, are pretty dangerous and risky. Some advantages of this kind of sports are the specifics exciting moments and adrenaline rush that becomes an amazing, new and unique experience in your life. Also, getting involved with an extreme sport is a great way to have fun while maintaining a healthy body weight. On the other hand, there’re some disadvantages like the physical damage, or in the worst cases, face the death. Also, your life might change because a badly hit and the damage may be irreversible. 

Two years ago, I was in surfing classes and had such an awesome time on that. Was very hard to stand up on the board while I was raising on the water, I have to say that I made it only in a few times, but it was new and super relaxing because the beach is a paradise; although it is a water extreme sport, the hits are hard and I spent days with body aches. It's a fun thing once you become good at it, then you begins to enjoy it even more.

Common Crimes in Caracas

Calgary is definitively a safe city, since I came here I’ve enjoyed to have my cellphone on my hands while I’m sitting on the public transport, although you may think it’s not a big deal, that’s a very important thing for me because in my home city I can´t do that. The insecurity of people and their belongings is a common thing in Venezuela, and go out in the streets is totally a challenge for all citizens; for the smallest things like buy bread in a bakery or taking cash on the bank. In Caracas the most common crimes are kidnappings, vehicle robbery, robbery of jewelry stores and food stores and purses robbery while the people are walking on the street. A really common crime is the complicity whit a bank issuer and some person outside the bank, a simple person (thief) on the street. First, the bank client goes to the bank and decides to make a withdrawal of a big amount of cash; during all of this, the bank issuer text the thief about the bank transaction that the person is doing. Second, the bank issuer gives an accurate description of how the client is dressed, how the client looks like, and warns of the exactly cash amount withdrawn and the time that client leaves the bank, so by the time that the client is on the street again the thief immediately stalk her/his and asks about the exact amount that she/he just removed from the bank, and threatens her/him with a knife or gun; obviously, the victim to save his life, prefers to give money and keep an easy situation.

On the other hand, I don’t know in a deep way about the Calgary’s crimes, but based on what I read on the newspaper, I’ve noticed several murders with knives. Finally, I believe that there are many ways to avoid crime in generally speaking, like don’t walking through dark streets, avoid being late at night on the streets, and be aware of our belongings and the people around us.  

One Day like Carolina Herrera

I was thinking if I could change my identity for a day, I would like to be a famous designer like Carolina Herrera, she’s venezuelan like me and she’s an example for all the women in the world because of her leadership, business development and human quality. She became famous because she worked so hard for her dreams and never gave up to adversity. If I could be Carolina for one day, I would like to create a flowers fragrance and name it as my mom Sumnia; I would like to design a collection of dresses for plump women and promote a different way to see the beauty. I also would like to design a collection of purses representing colors that identify women around the world, taking into consideration their customs and ideals. Although it’s just for one day, I would like to write a book with all my experiences and tips for success in the design world to help all those who want to become designers. Another thing that I would like to do and this is a very important thing to me if a could be Carolina, I would like to use my fame to project myself on current social, economic and political problems that exist in my home country and let the world knows about it, and finally I would like to create a fund to help sick and poor children in Venezuela because the current government doesn’t do it now.  

Popular Fast Food in Caracas

Chipi’s burger  is a successful fast food restaurant in Caracas; it’s quite popular because the burger’s meat is cooked on the grill, and the customers prepare their own burgers. First, you order the kind of meat that you want (beef, pork, lamb and chicken) and let the Chipi’s burger employee know the meat size. Second, the Chipi’s burger employee gives you the bread burger with the meat that you choose, and then you are free to prepare your own burger with the stuffing you want. I like eating there because the food has very good taste, and it’s an excellent place to have lunch or dinner while I’m having a great time with my friends or my family. There are so many options to fill your burger: lettuce, tomato, cabbage mixed with carrots, pickles, bacon, various types of cheese, ham and traditional sauces you want like mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard). The Chipi’s burger advertising is only on the radio, but it has excellent ads with humorous phrases and catchy short songs. Their messages always want to remind us that you can taste the burger you like because you can prepare on your own with the ingredients that you want.

Hi there!

Hello!, welcome to my blog. My name is Jacqueline and I'm from Caracas, Venezuela. This is my first time in Canada and also at the University of Calgary, I'm enjoying my classes here; I think it's a great opportunity to know people from another countries and learn English. I hope you enjoy reading my blog.