Library update

I decided I should give you a little update on the library since it is a good example of a lesson learned. As said best by another volunteer during AVC (All Volunteer Conference) "They have to want it just as bad or more than you do." When I first got to Santa Teresa I noticed a huge need in the library and saw a way to help even though it was tons of busy work on my part. While taking inventory of each book I ignored teh questions of "is this really the best way I can be spending my time?" I even tried opening the library during break, but then I was gone for about a week and when I came back there was a new library schedule, letting each class go once a week. Plus while in Belmopan I heard more about the Belize National Library Service and how we would need a librarian from the community to take advantage of the services. So now I am waiting. Both Mr. Chub and Mr. Max (the PTA Chairman) have mentioned making a trip to Belize City to find out more information. While waiting, I'm sure to bring it up at staff meetings, but will only follow their lead giving support where I can. That's why I am here.

Food

My first food craving came this week, very strange in itself. I don't even like bologna and if I had a choice of what kind of bread to have a sandwhich it would be a whole grain bread and would almost always have my sandwhiches dry. So craving a bologna sandwhich with Miracle Whip on soft white bread doesn't make sense... but it won't go away. Haha!

Whenever I go to visit they always say, "Eat, Miss Amy. Eat." And not just once, but multiple times. They set the bowl down and say, "Eat, Miss Amy. Eat." I stop to take a breath, they say, "Eat, Miss Amy. Eat." I grab another tortilla and they whisper into the toddler's ear to tell me, "Eat, Miss Amy. Eat." What do they think I am doing? :P Luckily I have learned how to politely say I've had enough in Ke'kchi. "Ink'a, xinujak, tojok're." (No, I am full, thank you.) Another fun conversation about food was with the Alcalde. He told me Toledo was a great place to live because here we don't have to buy food, we can simply go find it. There are many animals and edible plants, all delicious. My favorites include: kahun cabbage, jippy jappa (this is also used to make the baskets), custard apples, map, matz (green corn porridge), and of course I always love pulling a coconut to drink the fresh coconut water. Yum! I still haven't tried iguana, but I do enjoy my gibnut.
Alejandro has yet to take me hunting, but here's a picture of my neighbor's pet gibnut they caught quite awhile ago now. I was told they are waiting for it to get big enough to eat, but I want to say they've gotten a little attached and might keep it. How could you not? It's adorable.


Oh, and speaking of Alejandro, he's quite the cook. I showed him how to make spaghetti once and the next time he wanted to do it himself. The other night I tried making a second batch of popcorn and started a fire inside my pot (how does that happen). Luckily Alejandro saved the day and took over stating, "If you ever want popcorn again, just let me know. I'll make it for you." Hillaria's convinced he should be my "wife" especially since he even irons my dresses. Ha ha! I have great people taking good care of me, that's for sure.

Hulling Rice

The women's group in Santa Teresa has their own business! This was started with the help of the volunteer before me. A grant was given to the group for a rice huller. Now farmers don't have to go far to get their rice hulled. The women stay pretty busy and I'm hoping to start spending my Saturday mornings with them, helping with the books when needed. I'm excited for the opportunity to get to know the women better, plus I like to see the rice huller in action. The women have also decided to hulle rice to sell for $1.00/lb, cheaper than at the shop. Woot! Recently, the consortium who gave out the grant has now "handed over' the rice huller to the women's group, giving them full responsibility and ownership. It was quite the ceremony with community leaders present along with the entire school And of course everyone was fed afterwards. Where did all the food come from? I am not sure.

Life without indoor plumbing

I do have running water, a spicket in my front yard. I even have a water bill, which I paid for the first time in December. At the end of every month a few members of the water board sit at the community center and people come to pay their bill. It's $8 per month, but since I am a volunteer here to help the village, I'll only pay half price, and since everyone else only paid $4 for December because of the holiday season, and since I was in Belmopan a couple weeks I only paid $8 for October, November, and December. I think I'll send my mom the bill. Hehe. I really appreciate the discount which I'm pretty sure was suggested by Mr. Mas. He doesn't think I should have to pay at all. I'm happy to pay to support the community and some place else I could have easily been given the American discount-charged double. My water bill is just a little reminder that I am wanted here. I use the pipe to wash my hands, brush my teeth, wash my face, clean my dishes, and occasionally wash my clothes and bathe when the river is too muddy.
My latrine is very nice. Even has a lock making me the lone user. I haven't seen any cockroaches yet, but for some reason the mosquitos like to chill in there. I just use FISH (bug killer) as my air freshener, much like OFF! Can be used as colgne.
Every morning I walk with the girls to the creek. I have yet to go alone. I even have my own little rock for washing. Sine I go every day it takes about a half hour to finish. Sometimes I'm tempted to have it done in town, especially after being gon a few days when I have a bag full of dirty clothes already with me, but for the most part, I enjoy handwashing my clothes. I almost took a picture of the backside of my house as I got the okay from my host dad to “piss” there my first night in Santa Teresa. Often times I'll see Ione pull down her pants, that's if she's wearing any, and squat and go. Maybe that's how the puppies learned as I usually see them bend their back legs instead of lifting them. Yes, even the boy dogs. Even in Punta Gorda it's common to see people go behind buildings or if possible simply turn their back and let it loose. I'm not to that point yet.

Santa Comes a Little Late

What a week of surprises! I guess it was only two days but my goodness what a treat. I was pretty excited bringing the dictionaries and when I walked into the office saw 6 new (to us) desks and chairs. Woot woot! Mr. Chub also snagged a filing cabinet from the Parsh Hall. Of course we're still far from every student having a desk and chair they can sit at tand use and see the chalk board, but every bit helps! Plus, Im looking forward to helping Mr. Chub write a proposal for “furnintures,” and have ideas of applying for the Kids to Kids grant for some sports equipment and PE uniforms.

The next day a few members from the PTA came along with the Alcalde, bringing sacks full of school supplies and a few games/toys. The gifts were from a group of tourists and I thought it was really neat for them to give everything to the alcalde to distribute. Materials good for a classroom were given to the teachers and everything else was divided so each student got a gift. I loved how they even split up the marker/colored pencil sets so instead of a few students getting a pack, each student got one color. The men even opened the magic coloring sets, you know, the ones where the marker isclear and only colors o the paper included. I kindly informed them those sets needed to stay together. There were a couple onezies and of course the joke was that they were for me. The PTA chairman, Mr. Max, has the best laugh. After all the items were separated the men went around giving out the gifts. Each student got 2 pencils, a pen, a marker/colored pencil, and a little girt. These gifts ranged from a jacks set to a pencil bag, to a balloon, just imagine the complaints of unfairness... oh wait, I'm in Belize, everyone was more than happy with everything they got.

Singing in the Rain

So we got tons of rain one night. Enough to flood our bridges and keep me in Santa Teresa for a weekend, unable to get to town. Santa Teresa wasn't hit near as bad as other places, just imagine some of the fields that were ruined, but this is a picture of Hillaria crossing the bridge. It was so crazy. Usually the creek comes up a little past my knees, but after all the rain there were places I couldn't touch. We took advantage of this and went swimming.

On another rainy day I was doing a mini-lesson on the K-W-L chart for my Standard 2 and 3 teacher. I wanted to to a little icebreaker and decided "Singing in the Rain" would be quite appropriate. The kids laughed and laughed while trying to sing with their tongues sticking out, but I almost want to say Mr. Pop liked the song even more than they did. He is such a performer. And so yeah, all the rain made me used to a little cooler weather, but now it has gone away and it is super hot again, only to get hotter or so I hear.

Housing

When someone decides to build a next house, he asks around the village and many men come together to help as the women make the food. I was invited to help in this process for the first time and was super excited to see exactly what went on. I missed the first day of work which consisted of building the skeletal structure and collecting bay leafs. The next morning I was planning on going after my walk before school to help the women bake the tortillas for about an hour. When I walked past the house around 6 am they had not started yet because it was still a little dark. Then, on my way back they were already half-way done. I guess it doesn't take long to thatch a roof when there are so many men helping. What a neat experience! I was happy to help the women prepare for breakfast and they were surprised with my baking skills although I still had trouble putting the tortillas on the comal.

Speaking of houses, I can't help but mention my visit to one little girl in the village. She's one that has been writing me the sweetest letters but I didn't know where she lived so asked another girl to take me there. When we got close enough to look back and see this girl's house (unlike most people in the village, it was back a little more in the bush), I was told, "It's the one without the boards." Now I have seen a kitchen with no walls and only a roof, but never an entire house. My heart cried out for this family as I couldn't imagine sleeping so much in the open. I asked what happened during the crazy rainfall and they told me water took away whatever was on the floor, so the next day they found slippers in the bush. And how did they tell me this? With laughter. During my conversation with the mother I found out the youngest of the three children was adopted from the next village because noone wanted her. It was nice because I got to help make tortillas with her. Usually when I go to visit families I play games with the kids then eat and maybe talk during dinner. And after dinner I had a fun K'ekchi lesson and then the little girl walked me home because it was dark and she was worried I would get lost by myself, what a sweetheart. I learned a few lessons that night, one changing my mental image of "at least having a roof above your head."

Language Exchange

I know I promised a Ke'kchi lesson, but first I want to share my new English/Kriol vocabulary. These are words I hear everyday and soon will find myself saying them, too, without realizing.
dropped as in I almost dropped (fell).
off as in Do you want me to off (turn off) it?
find as in I will find (meet) you there.
vexed as in Don't be vexed (mad).
reach as in When we reach (get there).
next as in We'll build a next (another) house.
mind as in mind (watch our for) the truck or mind (look after) my bag
back way as in My shoes are on back way (the wrong way/backwards)
mek as in Mek I (let me) see. -- This one is Kriol for sure.
They also say I like to see or I can see in your face instead of simply I like your dress or you look sick. Some phrases I have passed to the Mas family include sweet dreams, sad day, and my goodness. Ione says my goodness a lot and I love to hear her say it. I also just randomly blew Hillaria a kiss when I was going to visit another family for the evening. She thought it was the funniest thing but loves to blow kisses now and of course catch them. Ha ha!
Now on to some K'ekchi... To be a good hostess Okan se kabl. (Come in the house.) --they also use se kabl when playing volleyball and the ball lands inside, this made me laugh. Hilan (rest) Cuaiy' li ab' (here is the hammock). Most frequently asked questions Ma sa aachol? (How are you?) Bar xic acue? (Where are you going?) Bar na ka chal? (Where did you come from?) Bar wankat? (Where do you stay?) Jarub hab'at? (How old are you?) Ani ak'abba? (What is your name?) Ani xk'abba li na'? (What is the name of your mother?)
As far as vocab goes I mostly know animals, food items, can count to 40, and have been studying some verbs. Maybe you should ask me a word you want to know and I'll get back to you. Xic we! (I am going.) Tawil Awib (Take care of yourself.) Loves and hugs!
*x is pronounced sh and w is sometimes pronounced cu

I almost had a puppy

While waiting for the rest of our party to get to the Purple Space Monkey in Placencia, we saw a little puppy with her head stuck between two bars. Cali and Christine went to the rescue and freed her. She was the cutest little puppy and was still hanging around the restaurant. A man went to pet her and was saying how it was a shame she had no home. I asked if it was a girl, wanting a little girl puppy, especially since Alena, the puppy Edwardo had brought home from his internship that adopted me died while I was at HIV/AIDS training in Belmopan last month and the Mas's mommy dog was believed to be eaten by the jaguar lingering around Santa Teresa. The man was happy to find me a box so I could carry her on the bus to Belmopan where she would hang out at Heather's house with her puppy after a bath of course. I even had plans of getting help from the Peace Corps staff while in Belmopan, taking her to the vet and such. She was named right away, CC, after her two rescuers. We took her back to our guest house and I tied her to a little pole. Later in the night Sam told me she was crying so we went to check on her and she was gone. Sad day! We thought maybe we could find her again before leaving and Sam was determined to, promising me he would find my dog, which he did later in the night! Bless his heart! I found this out early the next morning while getting ready to take the water taxi back, but when we went downstairs to pick her up she was gone again. This time it looked as though someone had cut the rope and maybe took her for himself. I'm not sure, but I keep telling myself she has found a good home and that there is another puppy needing one, but she was so cute!

TFABB-Teachers For a Better Belize

"I think you might have stepped in poo." ~Kevina
(Just pretend I put this up last month.)
I realize that quoting Kevina at the beginning of this post might give the wrong impression for the TFABB visit, but it makes me laugh just thinking back to the moment and I guess it was pretty much the first impression I had of the TFABB visitors. Oh brother! Haha! I couldn't have asked for better people to work with. It was so nice meeting Mica in person. She helped me a bunch before I left the States as she was a volunteer here in Belize getting ready to go back home. She was an answered prayer then and continues to be so. It's amazing how some people have teh ability to make you feel comfortable as though you've known them longer than the 2 seconds it takes to say "hello." I would guess it was from corresponding online before we met, but sometimes that makes things more awkward. I'll say it was from the welcoming hug. It was great, too, that Mica had lived in PG and could fill me in on what to know and introduce me to important people. Jennifer and Kim were just as great. And the more I learn about TFABB the more amazed I am. One of my favorite things during their visit was when the girls would explain the partnership to other tourists. Of course, the wheels in my mind started turning and I probably exaggerated their interest when I thought I saw their eyes widen and brighten when they heard Teachers for a Better Belize. To me, these people either were or knew teachers in the States and obviously Belize holds a piece of their heart-that's what happens once you spend some time here. Each one was going to go home and investigate further how they could help. Anyways, back to the visit and speaking of inbestigating... I still have yet to find out abou the secret of the river by the light of the full moon. Give me time, give me time. I really enjoyed meeting the Catholic Management and the Ministry of Education-Toledo. Not only did we visit their offices on Monday, but we also had dinner together Friday night. At first I was thinking it wasn't that big of a deal, meeting with these important people, but now I want to say it kinda was, even while eating across from Mr. Reyes listening to Mr. Caytano exclaim his dislike of slimy frogs, I was wondering who their equivalents would be in the States. It's hard to make the comparison since the government and education systems are different here, but I was definitely reminded that people are people. I was havppy to have Mica, Jen, and Kim visit Santa Teresa RC school, even a little proud and honored thinking, "this is my school." Who, how will I feel after one year? It has only been a few months. They enjoyed the visit and got along well with the staff. I was glad the teachers were just as welcoming to them as they have been with me. The girls modeled some read alouds and language arts lessons and gave me great ideas on what to start on. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful support. I'm excited to see all the improvements at Santa Teresa RC School in these next two years and love knowing the work will continue after I am gone. I'm very thankful this partnership also includes access to resources. TFABB and Santa Teresa really are "best friends."

40 Day Fast

When I told Larka I was going to fast for 40 days she was concerned for my health and well-being and told me to "be safe." I quickly informed her it was not a food fast but instead an asking fast. A theme before Christmas seemed to be, "Praise God for who He is and what He has done without asking for anything in return." And it must have been while reading a part LAMB by Christopher Moore where it mentioned Jesus fasting in the desert that I thought I should go for 40 days without asking God for anything. Counter thoughts included, "What about the idea that God likes being asked...ask and you will receive...etc. I overruled these with reminding myself 40 days is not that long, I'm sure I've done more harmful things to this relationship, and there's probably something I need to learn. Before the fast was over I realized the importance of the length. At about day 28 I realized what was missing in my life. This fast was different than anything I've ever "given up," usually by the end you realize you don't need whatever it was. But I felt that by strictly only praising God (I caught myself about to ask many times) the relationship was limited. Yes, I realized I tend to ask for the silliest of things, so hopefully I'll continue to leave those out, but I guess I see prayer as a conversation and sometimes it's the talking through things that helps me feel better about all situations. I think being away from close friends back home intensified my need of having a friend in Jesus. Oh how church-like that sounds I know, but the truth is simple. Every relationship should include some kind of praise and encouragement, but if that's all it is the giver is left feeling empty. The act of asking is important, showing dependence, and I always seem to be learning lessons in this area. I want to mention, too, that I believe God could listen to us praise Him all day everyday, that is what we were created for, but this broken being is needy person and is happy for freedom in Christ.
Side note: The topic of the church service after my fast was over was "Crying to God." How fitting!
Loves and Hugs!

A Caye Caulker New Year

I know this post is pretty late coming, but I could not not share these pictures with you. Caye Caulker is absolutely beautiful and spending the last day of 2009 snorkeling was pretty much the most amazing thing ever. I do have to say I had a hard time keeping water out of my snorkel and mask. Every so often I would be in such awe I would let out a laugh which is a hard thing to do underwater. I couldn't help it though, I was so happy to be swimming among the sea life next to the 2nd largest coral reef in the world. Quite amazing indeed! Hope you enjoy the pictures! Loves and Hugs!

Diagnostic Reading Assessments and Reading Groups

One thing Miss Liz did at the school was pull out reading groups. This is much needed and to for groups I decided to test each student's reading level using the MICO diagnostic reading assessment. I knew nothing of it before Peace Corps, but learned how during Pre-Service Training. While giving the test it broke my heart to see the low reading levels. More than half of the students are at least two grade levels behind and when you look at comprehension scores, almost all. Some of the questions test vocabulary and when I asked one girl the meaning of the word flooded, after repeating the question a few times she wondered, "In K'ekchi, Miss?"
I then put a list together of some suggested groups for every class by reading level with 3-4 students in each. I double checked with the teachers to make sure my results line up with what they see in class. I was surprised how hard it was for me to set up the time for the groups. At first I thought it would be okay to just take them out of class in the afternoons, but no. Well, I was hoping to meet with each group twice a week, but I guess we'll start with once and go from there. I've made individual sheets for each student to record their attendance and books read at home--I'm hoping for some family support by making little cards they'll sign when their child has read them a book. I think the next log will just be a time log, writing in the date when they have read for 20 minutes at home. I'll also keep track of their progress as I plan to retest them every term. I'll then reassess every student at the beginning of the school year. My goal is to have 60% of the students at Santa Teresa RC School at or above where they should be in reading. This is possible!! Especially if I continue working with the students in the summer which I imagine would go over well. Any suggestions or strategies to help, let me know! Loves and Hugs!