I took this pic at Cayo Sombrero a couple of weeks ago. My favorite beach!

While I miss the colorful fall leaves that are all over Portland right now, I am really loving my class this year and it makes me never want to leave Venezuela! 19 students, a full time TA, a great budget for resources, no high stakes testing, affordable cost of living, and cool coworkers make me wonder why everyone is not itching to work here!

This month I have been really loving Venezuela!

Around the Web:

I hope this man finds an island to buy to house the refugees in Syria.

The germiest spots on airplanes and why you should carry portable Clorox Wipes!

A very succinct article about how to pack carry-on only for any trip.  Also on the same blog, a guide to tipping around the world!

Here is a cool map of world languages.  It looks like I should have spent more time trying to learn Chinese while I was in China!

If you are looking to move to a major city and want to easily investigate whether you will feel comfortable there, you should check out Teleport.

Books:

The Girl in The Spider’s Web is the fourth book in the Millenium “Trilogy”. The previous books were written by Stieg Larsson who has since passed on.  Don’t let that stop you from reading this newest addition to the series though! Here’s my Goodread’s note, “Lisbeth Salandar is a fascinating character so even though the original author has passed on, Lisbeth can easily keep me hooked on this series even if the writing is a bit different. This book is definitely a lighter read than the other three in the series, but throw in a deep seated family feud, a child prodigy, a star journalist, and a little corporate espionage and you just don’t want to put the book down!”

Music:

It is not a song that I would normally listen to very often, but Lady Gaga’s PSA about sexual violence against women is so very well done that I had to share it. Her voice is just as powerful as the message in the video. Check out “Til it Happens to You”:

I’ve heard this song by Pitbull (ft. Wisin) a couple times on the radio here in Valencia and I think it is really fun to dance to, “Baddest Girl in Town”.

Movies:

I haven’t watched any good movies this month. 😦 Recommendations?

TV:

It is September so Fall TV has started.  There are lots of good shows out, but I am most excited about Quantico.  It is so dramatic and is chock full of action!