Venezuela-Grady style

So I am somewhat familiar with Venezuelan culture, although I have never been there. My mom's best friend, who is like another mother to me, is from Venezuela. Well she was born in Morocco then lived in France for a short time then spent her high school, college, and medical school years in Venezuela, where her family still lives. They are very close family friends, and my brother and I have grown up with her son and daughter, who are very close to us in age. So, as a child, I knew what arrepa was. She would (and still does) make it on the weekends, and it is very tasty. It is somewhat Americanized in their household, however, because her children always eat it with peanut butter, which is apparently unheard of in Venezuela and they have to bring their own peanut butter with them when they go to restaurants that serve it there. Her family goes to stay with her parents and see her whole family every summer, and I have always grown up hearing stories about life there. For example, my family and her family went on vacation last summer to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Buenos Aires in Argentina. While we were traveling, they would talk about how cheap gas was in Venezuela compared to the U.S. but how much more other things cost there than in the U.S. It was so weird to me because I never knew gas could be cheaper than food.

When we were little, we used to watch movies at their house in Spanish too. I remember watching Cinderella in Spanish, having no idea what they were saying, but, knowing the story of Cinderella, I could follow along. They had all of the Spanish speaking channels on their satellite and I definitely saw snippets of the telenovelas at that time.

When I talked to her last week, I told her all about the class I am taking and asked if she had any suggestions for a telenovela I could watch. She went on and on telling me about the storylines and how they are all very similar. But she told me she didn't have time to watch them growing up because she was always working on homework while her entire family, including her grandparents, parents, and everyone, would sit down every night and watch the telenovelas together. Her family had more time to devote to watching than she did.

I find this class so interesting because I am slightly familiar with certain aspects of culture and life in Venezuela and Latin America, yet there is so much that I do not know. I am so excited to learn more and enhance my knowledge of Latin American life and culture. Not only that, I get to combine my major and my minor, Public Relations and Spanish, in one class. I just think that is so awesome.