TFABB: take two

Another late post (this all happened the end of February) but it's important to share....
I remember thinking when the group in January told us there would be a few TFABBers coming the end of February I was thinking, so soon? Now that they have come and gome I'm thinking June won't come soon enough. The focus this time was on pre-schools and administration. Peggy and Wes came to chat with Mr. Chub and Anne came to spend some time with Florentina in the preschool. Before they came I was sent an email of the plan for the week and noticed Anne would be staying in Santa Teresa for the night. My first thought was, "Yippee! My first guest." Then I realized maybe that shouldn't be the first reaction to a stranger staying in your house. She definitely wasn't a stranger for long. Since they missed their flight to PG the night before I was able to meet them at the airport in town and it makes me so happy these TFABBers like to hug. Peggy even gave Mr. Chub a hug when leaving Santa Teresa which made him laugh more than I have ever seen. I think part of the reason was we had just talked about Mayans and hug giving when he came to Belmopan during In-Service Training. I admitted to how much I missed hugs because people in Santa Teresa don't hug, but don't worry, I'm working on that. Anyways, Mr. Chub has a great laugh and we'll back up to Anne's first day in the village. We spend the afternoon with Florentina, mostly observing and ended up staying at the school until 5:30p making sorting boxes for the library and unix cubes plus going over new ideas to improve Florentina's already great teaching strategies. By the time we got home, Luisa had already finished baking tortillas and didn't have any corn left to grind even, so Hilllaria took us to grandma and grandpa's house. We ended up just staying there to make our supper- corn tortillas with scrambled eggs and salsa. I'm so glad Anne was up for everything I made her do, from purchasing items from our little shop in K'ekchi, "Cuaj oxib li mulb ut pixb," (I want three eggs and tomato) to putting tortillas on the comal. I even made her wash my pants when we went to the creek to bathe. Just a warning to any of you thinking about visiting... I was happy to hear she enjoyed the experience and it's one I won't forget either. Again, having a visitor made me proud to show off Santa Teresa and everyone wanted to meet my friend. It bothered me a little that they kept asking me questions about Anne like she wasn't there. "Who is her name? Where is she from? What does she do in the States? What village does she work in?"- at first they thought she was a next Peace Corps. I felt awkward not knowing whether I should answer or let her, instead I just gave her funny looks all the time or responded with, "Why don't you ask her?" And just the whole unplanned meal that came together still makes me happy just thinking about it. I had never asked to borrow corn from Concepciona nor made my own meal at her house. It was unexpected yet felt normal and comfortable. After dinner we came back to my house and played cards with the girls and Ernesto. Even Luisa came in to chat for awhile. That night we both felt a little tremor and then confirmed it the next day, an earthquake in Mexico was felt throughout Belize. And another side note. The night before, part of the space shuttle that just landed in Florida(?) broke off and crashed into Belize. This was seen and heard by many people and I'm still wondering how I missed it since I was even awake, oh well. Crazy about the space shuttle though, makes me wonder how often that happens and how much damage a piece falling off could do depending on where it landed. The next day we spent in the preschool as well. This time Kevina came to join us. I was so happy she was able to come. I enjoyed a little relaxation time at my house after lunch and I think we had a little too much fun playing with the playdough- man! I should have taken a picture of my snot rockets and crazy long tongue. Kevina may have to rethink ever letting her kids spend time with Auntie Ames. After school we rode back to PG with Wes and Peggy then went to Silver Creek the next day. I was happy to visit Kevina's school again and a couple students came up to me saying they remembered me from last time. We spent the day with Miss Consuela and her adorable preschoolers. I'll definitely be teaching Florentina, "Sugar in the plum," it's the cutest song ever. Oh man, I feel this post is getting quite lengthly so to wrap up I just want to mention how much I enjoyed my last week in February. I met most of the preschool teachers during their monthly meeting which is always the last Thursday of the every month. I saw a few preschools in town, getting even more ideas and again spent some time with people who work at the Ministry of Education. Everyday I feel a little more like a resident of Belize rather than someone who is just visiting for an extended amount of time, and that's a good thing, a very good thing. Loves and Hugs!!

Just being there.

I love my visits. I'm such a kid.It makes me laugh to think of Peggy's comment, "some people don't know they're grown up. I'm that way, you, too, Amy." I love how she picked up on that barely knowing me. I didn't realize it was that apparent. I have so much fun just playing games, I only wish I had more time. I'm doing my best to keep it fair, making a list and keeping track when I am visiting each family. After my last visit with the Max family, well one of the Max families, I was reminded why just being there is important. The time before I had helped shell corn, knowing chores should be done before playing games. This time Paulina was sitting on her little tem, holding a knife, cleaning a large pile of fish. It must have been a good day for a fishing trip. I stood and watched for awhile until I was asked if I wanted to help. I'm not sure I've ever touched a dead fish, well except the very few times I actually caught a fish and tried taking it off the hook and even that made me squirm. What am I saying, just thinking back to that makes me squirm. But I guess when you're in Belize things are different so I sad down next to her, knife in hand. I descaled maybe one fish to her two or three, but each time I finished she would say, "us, us (good, good), you are getting it Miss Amy." I left the cutting to her until the last fish, but still couldn't grab the guts inside, maybe next time. While cleaning the fish, Paulina grabbed a live one that flopped out of her hand. Luckily, that didn't happen to me. I was a little more weary after that and started moving the fish in my hand a little wondering if it could still be alive. This made Paulina laugh because the fish was very much so dead indeed. After joking a bit I realized if cleaning fish can be made fun, anything can. While cleaning up, Paulina mentioned wanting to make banana cake and after asked about starting a garden. Yep! She was hoping I could help which was just what I've been wanting to do. I even have some seeds already! (Thanks Nick!) I had thought about asking Mr. Chub if I could plant in part of the school's garden so I wouldn't have to build my own fence, those pigs will dig up everything unless kept out, but I think having a garden with Paulina would be way better. There are a couple organizations in town that help with personal gardens and even provided training. I'll soon go find out what needs to be done and hopefully get things moving right away. I'm very excited! So yeah, playing games with the kids is great and as you can see they are all adorable, but the opportunity to help with little projects like gardening makes me think to myself, "this is Peace Corps, this is why I am here." Who knows what elso will come from my evening visits and just being there.

Spelling Bee

Every year Coca-Cola sponsors a national spelling bee here in Belize. Schools send representatives to zone eliminations, the winners from each zone go to districts, then the winners of districts go to nationals. There is a list of 300 words that is given out to the students, so they're able to study the general list. Anyone with a good memory could make it past the first couple rounds and after that a reserve list is used. While preparing for the school competition to see who would represent Santa Teresa, Mr. Ical asked if I would help by pronouncing the words. This was a mistake, with my accent the students had the hardest time understanding what I was saying. The next time I helped I was a judge and timer instead. Our school elimination was help at the church across the road from the school and all the students watched. There were four students competing, the top two from Standard 5 and 6 and the top two from Standard 4. I wasn't surprised the whole afternoon was scheduled for the competition. The bee ended up taking a shorter amount of time and the winners were Leticia and Roberto. They then went on to represent Santa Teresa in Mabil Ha at the zone elimination. This was Leticia's third time going and did her best ever, coming in third place. She won a t-shirt and some Coke school supplies, but only the top two places will go onto districts. I was pretty happy for her. Well done Leticia!

Assembly

Every Monday morning we start our week with assembly. We pray, sing the National Anthem, then listen to important announcements. At our January staff meeting, one of the teachers brought up the difficulty of getting students to speak out and speak up and the lack of opportunities to perform. It was then suggested each class prpare for assembly, doing a skit/song the week they are in charge. What a super idea! It's been going well so far. Here are a few of the Standard 5 and 6 students presenting a skit of staying in school. I hope this is something that continues on at Santa Teresa RC School!

Sample Pen Pal Letter

I absolutely love that I have pen pals for two of my classes here. I don't know who enjoys it more, me or the kids.