Austin is a Stepping Stone

My name is Daniela Polanco, and I was born in Caracas, Venezuela. I am a married, 25 year old kindergarten teacher currently living in Austin, Texas.

Shocking image of "El Nazareno" 

In order to tell you a little bit about where I come from, I should probably start by saying I was very thrilled to leave Caracas and to come here and begin a new chapter in my life. Yes, I miss my friends and family, but I am very eager to take advantage of this opportunity and make the most out of it.

Sadly – due to various political and economical reasons – my hometown is currently not a nice place to live in, and as much as I love Venezuela and honor my inheritance, I was certain that coming here was the best decision my husband and I ever made. We never thought we would be forced to leave our country in order to start our marriage and our family. Leaving Caracas was hard, but it also helped us begin this new journey as a stronger, healthier couple.

You are probably wondering why living there was so horrible. Let me just start by saying Caracas is LOVELY; it is a beautiful city, full of history and culture, surrounded by an amazing natural wonder (our national treasure “El Ávila”, a mountain that surrounds the whole city and also protects it from natural disasters such as floods, tornados, and others). Some Caraqueños (people from Caracas) adore this mountain and take care of it; others don’t appreciate what the mountain provides (protection, refuge, opportunity to connect with nature every day, oh and of course, spectacular views!). Littering is an issue, as well as fires caused by it. Local policemen don’t do much about it, but every time the mountain burns there is a silence in the city as if a part of it had died, people mourn and share the pain with it. 

Nevertheless, El Ávila was not the reason we had to leave. There were so many issues keeping us from becoming a family. For starters, we had nowhere to live; with both our salaries we couldn’t afford even a room in someone else’s house. Did I mention we are both graduate students with excellent grades and a great curriculum? Oh, and yes, we both had jobs in great companies and earned way more than minimum wage. Even us caraqueños cannot understand the economy; people are suffering to maintain their families under a roof and working hard every day to keep up with the up scaling prices in the national market.

It is bad, very bad. And, it’s getting worse. We are one of the lucky people that got toleave before things got worse. The curious thing is, both my husband and I plan on returning there after a while, and even though we are aware that the situation is not going to improve anytime soon, we want to go back to where we came from, we want our kids to be able to see their grandparents and to grow up in the place we grew up in. Unfortunately, that place doesn’t exist anymore, and we fear it will never exist again. 

I want Austin to give me great memories and incredible experiences; I want it to be a stepping stone that will help me build my family. Caracas is no longer my current address, but it will always be my home. I hereby promise to never forget where I come from, but to always look forward to where I’m going. I hope this blog will help me overcome my fear of becoming a citizen in a strange, unknown city, with people and places who are unfamiliar to me; also, and I hope it will help me connect with Austin in a more personal, special way.