Another weekend at the beach in Tucacas at Playa Mero

I’m always excited for February, and this month hasn’t let me down! In my classroom, we take a break from the basal reader and delve into fabulous picture books about black history. In fact, I love it so much (and so do my students) that I will have to create a post about my favorite books to share with you all.

Also, this month we get to celebrate Carnival which means a four day weekend at Isla Margarita for my friends and I.  I will have to write another post about that because, unlike last year when I visited Margarita, we went to the other side of the island this time around.

Around the Web:

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to take a few days to explore gorgeous beaches.  Here is a link to 35 beaches with the clearest water to swim in. I’ve only been to five of them, but I’m definitely thinking about a few of them.  Maybe since my friend is starting a job in Athens next year I will have to meet up with her in Corfu? hmm?

While I didn’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day other than at snack time in my classroom, I did look at this list of romantic movies and the nice infographic someone made documenting the number of movies made in cities around the world.  It appealed to my sense of wanderlust, but I realized that I have a lot of watching to do since I haven’t really seen movies made before 1980!

This article is basically a push to go check out a book written for American expats living abroad who might be a little confused about their taxes (many of my international teacher friends fall into this category!).  I’m definitely moving this book onto my “must read” list for expats!

Venezuelan vice president is accused of being a narcotrafficker by the US government.

CNN has been taken offline after report about passport abuse here in Venezuela.  This might explain why legitimate requests for passports taken 6 months to a year.

Something even more shocking was reading that the White House has blocked CNN from attending press briefings too!

For the first time, I got bed bugs after a weekend trip to the beach at the beginning of the month. Here is a post about how to stop bed bugs from coming home with you.

I’ve been away from the TV/internet for the past four days while at Isla Margarita so I enjoyed browsing through the Oscar winner’s list.

Music:

My students are singing this song into the ground, but when I am away from them for a few hours I start liking “Despacito” again. I especially love to dance to the Kizomba version that I shared with my dance class this month.

Books:

This month I came across a Man Booker Prize award winner titled “The Sellout“.  It is about a black man who is trying his best to save his town and to get it back on the map.  To do so he reflects on his upbringing as a human lab rat for racially charged social experimentation done by his father.  He will stop at nothing to bring his town back to life including slavery, segregation, and a case before the Supreme Court.  A word of warning: “The Sellout” is full of racial slurs and witty narration that pokes fun at many stereotypes and modern day “post-racial” life.

TV

This is a good month for tv because many of my favorite shows are airing: Scandal, Homeland, The Blacklist, Elementary, Quantico, and now The Magicians. I am behind in my TV watching thanks to a couple of weekends away- no complaints here!

Movies

I know all the talk is about Moonlight and La La Land right now thanks to the Academy Awards (and you know- great acting), I’m a little afraid to admit it, but the only movie I’ve had a chance to watch this month was Fifty Shades Darker. No judgments!

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