Wonder.Dream.Belize.

Guatemala

2011-11-12T19:01:00.006-06:00

So I've decided it would be good to try writing a little summary and sharing some pictures of each country on this Central America tour. I've already realized two months is not enough time for the travels, but we'll do all we can. First of all, so you know who I'm referring to when I say we- I'm travelling with my friend Cali, a fellow volunteer and Lauren, who came to visit me in Belize and now is traveling the rest of Central America with me. Woot woot! Our first stop was Livingston, Guatemala, a quick boat ride from Punta Gorda where Cali and I both agreed felt much like Belize, especially when we met a lady who knew people I knew. We only stayed one night, getting a last Garifuna dish and booking our Rio Dulce trip for the next day. All I wanted was to hear some drumming so luckily while eating a few young boys came in to practice, sadly it was only a for a couple minutes... they were that good.

The ride up the river was so beautiful and as soon as we made it to the town we found a bus to take us to Finca de Paraiso, a hot waterfall, and what a treat it was. Not only the waterfall, but the company. I thought Rio Dulce was a Q'eqchi area, and was happy to find out it in fact was. While walking to the waterfall, Cali asked the young boys following us, "Como estas?" I followed with, "Ma sa aachol?" They were so excited to hear us speaking Q'eqchi and told every local we met on the way. You can see from my only picture of the falls that these boys made my day. The only thing
After Rio Dulce we spent a couple nights in Antigua, meeting up again with the ladies we had met during Easter. Since it was around All Saint's Day we were able to see yet another procession, although I did tell Cali it was for her, and how she'll have more for Christmas. We also went to a Halloween party, finding costumes from the ladies, that was hosted by Guatemala Peace Corps volunteers. It was nice to see Antigua again without the crazy amounts of people.
Next up, San Pedro la Laguna. I was ready to have a week in one place after sleeping in a different bed each night for the past few. We made our way to the Coopertiva school we would be taking classes at to find out where we would be staying. Cali and I took advantage of the opportunity to stay with local families. I knew right away my host mommy was a sweetheart when she came to pick me up from the school.
She only spoke Spanish, which was a good thing, I hoped this would help me learn even more. Our conversations were interesting, I´m sure and I realized staight away that Miss Melida was the most patient person in Guatemala. Her husband and daughter were away for the week, so I only met her and her son along with his wife who came for one meal. I was a little bit sad only staying with one person, but like to think it was nice for her that I was there and she didn´t have to be alone. I enjoyed our meals and even had the chance to cook with her a few times, wanting to learn how to flatten tortillas with my hands which is the way they do it there. She even invited me to visit with her which made me extemely happy. I do miss visiting, and this was the best because we went to see a newborn baby.

When I wasn´t in class or studying at my house I would walk the village which was quite enjoyable. My favorite part was seeing all the people resting on the side of the road with nothing better to do than watch others pass, chit-chatting with their neighbors and I could just tell, loving life. It´s a hard thing for me to explain, but at every corner I wanted to snap a picture of what was going on to capture the moment, this never did happen, but I´ll keep the memories with me in my mind and in my heart.
Even though classes kept me pretty occupied, I found time to do a few activites, one being horseback riding with another student since Cali was not going with me. I´m not really sure why I´d been wanting to ride a horse especially since my only memories of horses are not very pleasant, I guess that makes sense, I wanted to have a better memory, I want to like horses. Stephanie and I decided to take the three hour tour in the hills with our guide who ended up riding a bicycle the whole time. We were very perplexed by this, but it did bring some laughs seeing him hold on while going up the hills. Our horses were funny, too, the whole time competing to be up front, mine (Cinnamon) getting a little vicious in the end, kicking up his hind legs to lead the way. At one point we passed by a bull that was stinky and the guide talking to the owner exclaimed "chu" (few words are similar in the Mayan dialects) I then held my nose and said the same thing which made the guide tell me I understood more Tzúthil than Spanish. True, true.
Another adventure was on the weekend, a celebratory hike up Nariz Maya to see a beautiful sunrise over the lake. I had set up a guide through my Spainsh instructor, the only thing, he didn´t show up. Cali and I decided to try to make it on our own, since we already were up at 4am. We took a bus to another village and lucked out meeting an old man who was could tell us how to get there, sort of. He told us to go straight which sounded good until the path split. We then went up and towards the sun that was starting to rise, so afraid we would miss out, but no worries, the path we made ended up getting us where we needed to go and just in time.
Once we were finished in San Pedro we took a shuttle to Guatemala City to meet a friend of a friend we had never seen before so that made for an interesting pick-up. Is that Ronnie? Is that Ronnie? He ended up being such a gentleman, not only giving us a place to stay, but breakfast in the morning, a tour of Central Park, and a ride to the airport. Blessings upon blessings. Next up, Panana!

Saying Goodbye

2011-10-25T08:54:00.003-06:00

How is it that time already? So very hard to believe I left Santa Teresa this morning. No longer will I live there, only go back for visits. A sad sad day indeed. But before I go onto my going away, first some fun last stories. Tasty pickles anyone? Awhile back one lady gave me some cucumbers because she had so many growing in her garden yet noone in her family really liked the taste of them. I was happy to receive the plateful but didn't want her to waste a good thing the next time she had some to give away but noone to give them to, like that would ever happen, but anyways, my first thought was, let's make pickles! She was up for it, willing to try, even had her own jars, having learned to can in high school. We made our pickles and she promised to wait, only thing her husband wasn't informed so he opened the jar the same day, pickles gone, me sad. Luckily another lady was just as interested in making pickles, too, always liking to try new things. We made them exactly two weeks before I left so I told her I would have a very happy last day, trying pickles together. To me, it was a success, even Lilly - my closest neighbor volunteer- got to try them. Yay for pickles! The only thing I wish, I would have started sooner to try more things and that I would have helped my grandmother more when she was always making hers. That's on the list of things to do when I'm stateside again.
World Map! I've had paint for a world map for quite some time, applying through Peace Corps who gets paint donated from a store in Belmopan. In my mind this was to be a fun project I could do along with the new volunteer replacing me. My biggest challenge was finding a projector, which I also thought the school would have by the time we painted, since a group had promised to bring one, but things fall through and this time for the best. I had asked my friend Owen if we could borrow his projector and it ended up as an invitation to come help. I always love having visitors because most of them fall in love with Santa Teresa just like I have and seeing that reminds me how much I love the village and all the people there. We had great turnout, village leaders coming to help trace the outline and now the students are in the process of painting each country.
Paulina loves to go visit her auntie in a neighboring village, partially she loves just taking me as she thinks I should have married her cousin and stayed in Belize forever. My closest proposal was being asked if I could stay forever in Mab'il Ha' then being shown the house I would have if I said yes. Crazy to think had I said the words they wanted to hear I'd be a Mayan bride and Minnonite at that. Before our last visit to Mab'il Ha' while washing at the creek Paulina and I were discussing how I needed to wear a dress. We thought maybe just maybe I could fit in her mother's one and that I did. The whole walk to her aunties house she would look at me and start laughing, this made for an enjoyable hour. I then realized that I do still love playing dress up. Once in Mab'il Ha' we made some donuts and cinnamon rolls and of course they invited us back the following week for a birthday party, sadly we were not able to go, and a good thing, they may not have let me leave.
I've been asked to stay another two years by most everyone, but Mr. Chub actually had a job for me. He wanted me to stay and help his wife run her new restaurant. I must say I highly enjoyed making the few dishes with Gloria we had time to do for example fried chicken, stuffed fry jacks, and pizza. I also like to think our few business chats will help her, like when I asked how much she would sell her bread for. She wanted to sell it for 25 cents, basically giving it away until I asked her how much it cost to make. I hope she keeps that mentality when figuring her prices. Also, I must share that when we made fried chicken I almost cried when tasting the gravy, it tasting like home. Lilly's response to this, "Nebraska would taste like chicken gravy." Mr. Chub commented while eating dinner, "I feel like I'm at Miss Marian's - a nice restaurant in Punta Gorda." I said I felt like I was at the North Loup Cafe'. I'm curious to find out how the business thrives and hope to see it booming when I go visit again.
And now onto my goodbyes. They started with a trip to Maya Mopan, my first host family. Miss Santa was surprised to see my again and almost didn't accept my gift of a tiny kuxtal coin purse I had made for her. She was happy with my language improvement and I was happy to see her wedding pictures and talk with Mark about his second year of teaching. I then went to Valley of Peace to see the Mas family. I was pleasantly surprised that Ionie likes to make silly faces. She was almost clingy which seemed weird, I'm not used to so much affection here. I think I would have a harder time with these goodbyes if I believed it was truly my last time seeing the ones I love in Belize, I can't believe that though. I've already made promises to come back in December as I'm making my way north after traveling Central America. I'll be wishing for a car though at that time so I can go see everyone. So back in Santa Teresa I did my best to visit every house to say my good-bye, only a few were left out due to mud and time and I'm trying not to feel too bad about it. Every house was hard to leave, even those I didn't visit as much my two years because not only was I saying bye, but hi as well. Other reasons it was hard include a little girl singing the whole time I was at her house, "Amy don't go... Amy stay..." and every once in awhile I was surprised by those getting teary-eyed. I've been living two years without seeing much emotion, except laughter, so I was curious how my villagers would express their goodbyes. Of course they all wanted to feed me-gained back that 5 pounds I lost when sick real quick, and I have a box full of baskets, jewelry, and woodcarvings to send home. No way will I ever forget Santa Teresa.
I tried saying all my goodbyes on the weekend so I could go to the school on my last day. I went to assembly then went class to class. One class wrote letters to be opened on Christmas, one had students come to the front and say something to me, and one sand "I love you" while giving me hugs. Couldn't have asked for a better morning. The teachers then invited me for dinner on my last night and my favorite part was the dancing that preceded and then followed our meal. I danced Cumbia with the girls then begged Petrona to dance one Marimba with me. By this time her workers were eating their caldo, so not only were they fed, but entertained. I went home but first visited my neighbors for two more last suppers. Veronica had dreamt of me, us hugging and kissing and laughing while saying goodbye, she then followed me home not ready to give me up. Paulina also came over for a last goodbye and I have to stop writing soon before I get too sad, so happy thoughts again, this morning I flattened my tortillas with Tomasa and ate my pepper, just what I wanted for my last meal. I was surprised by small children at my house to see me off. The school bus was late which made for good jokes, me not supposed to be leaving, plus I got more last goodbyes. Once the bus finally came, I got on and sat down, waved out the window while passing, leaving all my favorite people in Belize.

Updates galore

2011-09-02T13:20:00.013-06:00

I decided to read through my blog a bit and see what all I've forgotten to tell you, it seems I have in my head I've written an update, but obviously that's not the case. Wow, so much has been happening I don't even know where to start. I guess first can be a popcorn update in the spirit of Popcorn Days. It's crazy that a year has passed since I was home last year for the celebration. It was such a whirlwind of a visit, making it still hard to believe I was actually there. You'll all be happy to know that the popcorn is growing in Santa Teresa! A couple weeks ago I was visiting one family who had planted popcorn and after holding their pet gibnut, which I later named jippajopper (a little bit making fun of my friend Grace for calling jippy jappa - a tasty plant -that) we went out to their garden to see their plants. This picture is actually a little old but I thought I'd put it up anyways. The popcorn that day was, well, I thought ready to pick and I was greedy to try popping it even though it wasn't near hard enough. Oh, well, we only tried popping one small kernel and I think it was worth it for them just to see me get so excited hearing it pop, but they all turned out to be duds. I then exclaimed it wasn't Popcorn Days yet, so by the end of August it would be ready. This of course only made the family laugh more, no wonder they like having me around.

I can't believe I haven't posted about the girl's trip to Poite. This was way back in the beginning of June! I'm quite sure I posted about the girls fundraising weekly to go on the trip and I just must say it wouldn't have happened without their hard work and the help of a few individuals - Mr. and Mrs. Teul who provided transportation, lodging, and food preparation,
Ms. Lilly for hosting my helpers Ms. Cali and Ms Manissa. We went on a Friday evening and came back early Monday morning. I'm still surprised the event took place without much hassle and no need to reschedule. At one point I made a comment while talking to the girls about strengths that I was not very organized. Manissa thought this couldn't be true me having planned the weekend, I explained later that I was resourceful, and things seem to just work out for me. The favorite activity was most likely yoga in the mornings, one of the girls still talks to me about it. They loved river time as well, which was the reason they wanted to go to San Benito Poite in the first place. All in all it was a good trip, I learned a little bit about event planning for 11-14 year olds that's for sure. We had sessions on leadership, strengths -which we used to make our own "super girls", HIV/Aids, puberty, and giving compliments/being a good friend - all topics the girls had chosen. I loved, too, that they invited the girls for Poite to join us and didn't even mind Julian taking part either, him being a boy. Another thing I'll never forget either was when it started to pour Saturday afternoon. We were going to go the ruins, but knew it would be too muddy, so what did the girls do instead? Play football in the rain. All I could do was watch them and smile, half wishing I would have went to play. Luckily I had a second chance to try when I went with the Mas family to move them to Valley of Peace. Hillaria and I played a little in the rain, and yes, it is quite fun, even falling on your behind- I don't know if she tripped me or I tripped her, all I know is we couldn't get up we were laughing so hard. But back to the trip to Poite. I feel very fortunate it happened and am proud of the girls for making it happen. Another follow up a couple weeks later, one of the girls told me they made a drop for their teacher's bucket. For the giving compliments/being a good friend
session I tried introducing the bucket theory to them. Hearing they had done this won the biggest smile award for that day.

There were a couple weddings in the village this summer. One being the preschool teacher's. I was so happy to be here for her wedding. Florentina was such a beautiful bride and I'll never forget how much her husband helped with the decorating. He was more about it than she was which surprised me. Gender roles seems to be quite rigid here, but there are always times I'm thrown for a loop. My favorite part about this wedding, besides the people getting married, was that the vows were in Q'eqchi, all the other ones have been in English. I really liked they were able to promise their lives to each other in their language.

The Max family are by far one of my favorites... what am I saying?... I have so many favorite families. I just felt very blessed to be part of such a special occasion. Mrs. Max wanted me there the whole weekend, helping prepare the food and decorate. Florentina and Juan asked if I would take pictures, then offering to pay for my services, which to me only made me feel appreciated, but of course wouldn't take their money. I can't wait to send her the prints though. That's going to be such a fun package to send to Santa Teresa. I so much enjoyed handing out pictures when I came back from my visit home last year and I have some more good ones to share this time. Funny though, what they're also wanting are pictures of Nebraska, so I'll have to take some of those, too, when I'm home.

One morning I woke up to find this chrysalis hanging in my door frame. I watched it everyday, hoping I would be around when it decided to come out. Sadly, that was not the case, but I guess the gold around the tip signified it being a Blue Morpho, one of my favorite butterflies, which takes me back to visiting the Omaha zoo last year with Mom, her loving the butterfly house, but me being used to it, seeing butterflies all the time, especially now, it's butterfly season again. Crazy, too, just this week a man came to Santa Teresa to buy a rooster and a pair of turkeys. He was talking to Alfonso, my new... host father I guess I could call him, but he's the same age, so I guess he can be my brother... or just closest neighbor, anyways this man was talking about butterfly farming and while he was talking about the chrysalis I was in my house searching for a bag he could put his birds on for the ride to town and what did I find on the bag? Another green and gold chrysalis, now talk about good timing. Alfonso has put this little guy on a string. We'll see what happens.
I had a pet for a few weeks! This cute little turtle I liked to call "Onion." He was named that simply because I like the way everyone in the village says onion. And I must say, he was the talk of the village for awhile. I wondered though how he liked living in my house and eating all the bugs, thought about finding him a friend but the next turtle I found on the road had a more beautiful shell, but scary eyes so I had to put him back. I made a water dish out of my water filter drip (resourseful, see?) and would let him outside in the evenings for some grass time. I noticed he was beat up quite a bit, a crack in his shell, plus one of his feet was without claws, but I still set him free, not being quite sure if he was happy or not. I've come to find out that turtles are so unreadable. Plus my first thought of giving it to the preschool was overruled by a second thought he might like to eat their little fingers. I'll need to find them a different pet. But what? Florentina not only managed to kill the tadpoles (which I guess can be easy) but also some winged beetle which may have been a cockroach - I thought those things never die.

With July came four new babies in the village, sorry only have pictures of three, must have forgot to save one. I had a good time walking to each house to hold them all wanting a picture when they were still very small. I actually got to see my friend Sarah's baby when she was on her way back from the hospital. It was so by chance I saw her, one of those, I'm so glad the day went as it did, had anything changed I wouldn't have held that few days old baby. She had to go up to Belmopan to have a c-section and hate to say she looked pretty rough making her way back south. She left a day or before they would have released her because she worried about paying the bill. This breaks my heart to think about still. She's doing well now and for the most part so are all the other mothers and their babies. There is one that is still very pregnant. We laugh about how big her belly is, especially because some of the other girls (I say girls because each of the mom's just having babies are under 20) you couldn't even tell. I told Estella I'd probably be the same way if I ever have my own, knowing both my mom and sister popped right out. She wants me to send a picture if that ever happens, plus we're both hoping she has her baby a little early instead of late so I'm here to see it. A fellow volunteer who's new in the country asked what I do when I go visiting. I told her lately, holding babies.

Another event I was so happy and feel a little fortunate to have been involved with was Maya Day.

A brief rundown would be a two and a half day competition, teams of ten from different villages, coming to Blue Creek to take part. Most of the events were, in my eyes, turning their everyday chores into a game. They had a water backing relay contest - carrying water from the river in buckets on their heads, firewood splitting, corn grinding/tortilla making, shucking and shelling corn, a communication drop- basically hitching from town to Blue Creek, fishing, trapping - the middle picture is of the fish trap the Santa Teresa team made, they put it in the river, the leaves blocking the fish and forcing them to go in the funnel trap, etc. A few of my favorites included dress the farmer, which was creating a list of everything a farmer would need (long shirt, pants, kuxtal, seeds, hat, planting stick, food, dog...) then having five minutes to find all you could. Another was the forest food collection which had the teams go in the bush and collect plants and fruits used for consumption and some medicinal herbs, quite educational. Last but not least was fireball. I'll have to get these pictures from Breezie. Take a second to guess what fireball is, keep in mind it's 15-20 year olds playing... wait, that doesn't matter, give them a ball of fire and let them play field hockey. Ay yi yi! At first the girls were playing in their flip flops and skirts, but after awhile got smart and borrowed some boots. Santa Teresa ended up getting third place overall. I'm undecided if they felt it worth the medal for their prize, but I've heard talk of trying again next year. They were a favored team though, those running the event commenting on their spirit and how well they worked together. I was proud of them even before the event started, putting together a last minute fundraiser of selling tamales and to make sure they had enough and because the boys didn't feel they had worked the same, they chopped my yard, which really needed it. Man, I miss Alejandro, he really did take care of me. While making the tamales I mentioned how ashamed I was walking in my yard it being so high, me thinking I'd get lost. They of course noticed it was horrible, but would never tell me to my face. Oh Belize.

There are a couple places I wanted to go before leaving, one being Monkey Falls and the other the cave.
I was surprised to hear there is a cave just outside of Santa Teresa. I've gone a few times already, always bringing a crew along. I feel I have written about this already and saved it on Cali's computer, so I'll find that to post, I'm about all blogged out.
I guess this waterfall will explain itself. Ha ha!

And to close I'll give a quick synopsis of what I've been keeping myself busy with. Of course visiting is on the top of the list. Wanting to spend time with the people I've come to love these past two years. I've been making soap galore and enjoying birthday parties, maybe a little too much.

This little boy was giving out kisses on his birthday, lucky for me. It's so much fun seeing the few 2 year olds in the village, crazy they were born when I first came. Also, the library was fully functioning this summer, about 20 people a day would come to borrow books. A group came to paint the outside of the school buildings and I loved seeing our PTA step up and help, even started painting without the group when weather kept them from showing up the first day, luckily the paint was delivered early. I've had a couple Peace Corps friends come learn to make shoulder bags from Paulina, both seeing how blessed I am to live in such a place as Santa Teresa, not even meeting half the people who have made life here so wonderful. A couple things I'm excited for is helping Gloria who has just built a new restaurant outside the village. On Sunday we're planning to make fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and coleslaw. I may have even talked her into making bread the night before. Yum! A taste of home for sure, bringing North Loup to Santa Teresa. Mr. Chub, her husband has invited me to stay another two years to bring the business up, he's convinced I'll start my own though when I come back. I've joked about staying though and changing the name to Xan Saq Wa (Ms. White's food) - because I'm white they call me xan saq, so it makes them laugh when I call myself that. I also just bought some pickling jars and lids and am overly excited about those as well, probably because I thought they would be impossible to find here, especially in Punta Gorda. There's a lady who just gave me a handful of cucumbers when I went to visit her, noone in her family liking them. I suggested we make pickles to see if she likes them. Can hardly wait to try. It will be a learning experience for me as well, just like the soap, but I love how they take my craziness. So much more to say, but I guess that's all for now. Loves and hugs!

COS Survey

2011-08-12T09:12:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago we had our Close/Continuation of Service conference. Of the 41 trainees that stepped off the plane only two years ago, 40 swore in as volunteers, 23 made it to the COS conference, and now we're down to 20. I'm back to that roller coaster of emotions being super excited to come home, but very sad to leave. Once while talking to a man from Santa Teresa, him trying to convince me to stay saying all the children are used to me now and will miss me when I'm gone, I explained to him how I knew what they would feel already and turned it back around saying, "They'll all just have one person to miss, but me... I'll have 500." He then nodded his head and said, "Ohhhh" For the conference we all filled out a little survey and I thought I would share it with you, it being something I've already typed up and me not updating my blog near enough. Hope you enjoy!
COS Survey:
Name:Amy JoAnn Waterman

Nick name/house name:Miss A, Auntie Ames

Project Assignment:Primary Teacher Trainer at Santa Teresa R.C. School

Project Reality:Teacher training, reading groups, library, girls’ club

Most Useful thing brought to country:cookbook

Least useful thing brought to country:rain jacket

Best “I know I’m in the Peace Corps” moment:The first night I was in my site we arrived late and I had to use the bathroom. My host family was so excited to meet me and feed me, and I was a little nervous to ask to use the latrine, not sure if I was ready to see what it looked like- especially after all the cockroaches during training. After dinner and a little conversation, I couldn’t hold my bladder any longer, so I finally asked Mr. Mas where to go. He took me to the backside of the house, pointed in the direction of the latrine but said, “It’s dark Miss; you can just piss here.”

Funniest experience in country:It’s always the little things that make me laugh and there have been quite a few, especially when talking to the children. I will share just a few.
One favorite was everyday I would ask this little boy, “How are you?” And he would respond, “Five years old!” Every time, well, now he’s seven, but I wondered if he ever thought when I would stop asking how old he was. I don’t think so.
Even though some people are annoyed with the pointing out of the obvious, I find it more funny everyday, remembering back to instances from even over a year ago, like a little boy stopping me in the middle of the road while the rain was pouring down just to say, “It’s raining Miss,” like it was the most important news of the day and I didn’t know already.
Another time Kevina was visiting me in Santa Teresa. Always villagers ask me the name of my friends and always I wish they would just talk directly to the person they want to know about, so when a boy did, I responded, “Ask her.” He nodded his head, “Ohhh…. Oscar”

Most memorable illness/injury:The first weekend in country I jumped off a cliff and ruptured my eardrum.

Most Belizean habit to take home with you:never using silverware
Most creative way to kill time in site:knitting pot scrubbers out of onion sacks

How have you changed?I always thought I would be able to live a lifetime of travel, but I’ve realized I’m quite a homebody.

What will you miss 6 months from now?Six months from now I know I’ll still be singing, “Where have all the brown eyes gone” in the style of Paula Cole.

Favorite Belizean clothing:po’ot/uuq

New skill? Besides weaving shoulder bags, whistling with my bottom lip.
What’s next?Two month tour of Central America. Family time.

Number of trips to the US: 1
Number of guests who visited you: 8
Belizean phrase I will most likely still be using in 6 months:Chaab’il. Us.

Most interesting creatures found in your house:a beheaded lizard under my bed, a butterfly chrysalis on my doorframe, quite possibly a Blue Morpho, and the biggest beetle (?) I’ve ever seen, as long as my hand, with wings
Favorite Belizean food:lancha – fresh fish covered in pepper then wrapped in wala leaf, cooked over the fire
First thing I will eat in the states:ice cream
Favorite book read in PC? Donald Miller –A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Experience that changed my attitude or perspective:During Christmas after midnight mass, I went to the house that was servingcaldo. Everyone was sitting around waiting to eat, each mother bringing her bowls to the kitchen. I didn’t know I was supposed to bring my own bowl and realized I had no family to take care of me. I never really felt homesick before this and it may have been the first time almost crying. There are quite a few families I’m close with in the village, but nothing can compare to my real family.
I am most proud of:Anytime I seesomeone I’ve worked with doing something on their own whether it be reading aloud to their class, dramatic play in the preschool, making soap, baking cinnamon rolls, coming to the library, setting up softball games, raising money for a trip, and more I’m sure.
I will most likely be remembered for:visiting villagers
Most important lesson learned:importance of family
Countries visited:Mexico, USA, Guatemala
After two years of service what I know for sure:I’ve been given far more than I ever could have given.
Haiku:
To be more, meet more.
I am part of those I’ve met.
To meet more, go more.

Link to Lauren's blog

2011-07-16T09:55:00.001-06:00

http://ichliebereisen.blogspot.com/2011/06/donde-esta-el-banco.html

Yay, Easter trip!

Baker's Elbow and more

2011-06-06T17:15:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago I had baker's elbow. Explanation, if needed. First of all, baking is what they call flattening tortillas by patting them out on pieces of plastic. Secondly, it was planting season all of May which made me realize I know many people in the village. A couple of times I was asked to help at a few houses, which I tried my best to do. This means waking up at 2a to help kill the chickens, well actually I couldn't get myself to break their necks, so close, the chicken's head was under my foot even. All I needed to do was pull up on the feet, but no. Have you ever held a live chicken before its death? Between that and watching pig after pig being pieced, I just may become a vegetarian when I'm back in the States. Back to the pain in my elbow, I go from one house to another, flattening tortillas, the ladies laughing at me when I shake my arm because it started to hurt. I've fully recovered by now, from that and eating too much caldo.

How have I not been to the farm before? I went on my first trip and of course what do I do... pick peppers! After helping Elicia with her wash two days in a row - I really like going to the creek with her and not being in a rush to go anywhere, this will be more often come July. Anyways, while finishing, Elicia asked when I was going to the farm with her. I replied whenever you ask, which happened to be that evening. Yippee! I had no prior commitments and would be ready as soon as it was a little cooler. By five o'clock we were ready, biked about 15 minutes then walked a little, spotted a family of monkeys, crossed on a fallen down tree, then there we were, at the farm, pulling peppers. To me it was more like picking wild peppers, the plants being scattered between banana and papaya trees, but the girls told me they had planted them. I'd say it was a success, too, filling half of a 50# flour bag, at least I think that's the kind of bag it was. It looked like a lot to me, probably enough to last an entire year had it been only for me, but them, they'll be needing my help again to go back by next week, if not before.

The rain has finally come! I was talking to Jerry a couple weeks ago, asking how things were going and he mentioned all the rain. My comment, "That's where it is! Send it south!" I was happy it wasn't lost and even more so it listened and came to Belize. We've had some lovely rainy days and my favorite, rainy nights, when I sleep so well being lulled by the sound of it coming down on my thatch. Mr. Mas even fixed my roof, so I no longer need to worry about it coming in my house. Yay! Also, how fitting to do an activity with the preschoolers on the clothing worn to protect yourself from the rain. I brought in my jacket and umbrella, then had Florentina bring in her boots to make them all try putting it on and walking across the room. Maybe more for my entertainment than their learning, but I'll share the pictures as soon as I can (forgot to bring my cord to hook up my camera). They were so cute though, my jacket a floor-length dress. Those little ones know how to make me laugh, and smile. I can no longer walk past their room without stopping for my group hug. So happy Florentina taught them that, maybe it will spread throughout the whole village.

Let's go!

2011-05-27T13:40:00.004-06:00

Whoever would think planning field trips is easy needs to think again. I was one of these misinformed souls until I tried. From losing forms to losing money we easily could have thrown our hands up in defeat, but whoever would think the trouble is not worth it is also mistaken. To begin, the educational trips were possible through Kids to Kids http://www.kidstokids.org/ an organization that connects classrooms that raise money for projects in developing countries. Initially the upper division would go on three trips to see two Maya sites, two institutions of higher learning, and I thought we'd see a few other things in Punta Gorda as well. Plans changes, imagine that. Since the school year was getting away from us, we decided two trips would be better, one for the upper division and one for the lower, this way every student would benefit. Our first trip was postponed because the form wouldn't be handed in on time so we did better the second time around, getting it to the manager only to be misplaced. I'm not sure why those planning the trip have to personally wait for the signature, then take it to the education office to be signed by the district officer. I then learned when planning the lower division trip this second signature is just as important to be waited for as well. What makes this hard is catching those you need while they are in their office-hardly ever, and even when they are ask, "Do you need this right away?" Ay yi yi! I think for each trip the form was filled out 2-3 times and that's besides it needing to be done in triplicate. Enough about the form, let's move on to money. I almost forgot the trouble of getting the MoneyGram itself. It had to be resent becasue Mr. Chub was unable to pick it up the first time, him being a teaching principal and all and not having the chance to just go to town during the week. As with the forms, the only thing I can think is give us village people a break! Which is exactly what happened. Luckily, the man in charge of sending the money for K2K is a kind soul, understanding the situation. Sadly, this wasn't the end of the money troubles. A few days before the trip Mr. Chub brought the money to the school to pass on to me to pay for the bus in advance and refund the money spent on snacks. When he checked the drawer to then hand me the $550 it was gone. A sad sad day in Santa Teresa. The standard VI boys were the only ones suspected so we had a meeting that evening with the alcalde and their parents. Testimonies were in Q'eqchi, but after the meeting Mr. Chub claimed the clues were there, the stories not lining up, some boys blaming each other, but no further investigation was had. Honestly, that night was my lowest of low of my Peace Corps experience, crying "living tears" with Mr. Chub, not for the money, but the idea of someone stealing from the school then Mr. Chub going on to state the lack of support from the village, claiming they didn't deserve a volunteer, basically telling me to go home, "cancel the trip, cancel TFABB, cancel Peace Corps." Heart. Broken. (I almost didn't want to share this because it still makes me a little sad and honestly don't want you to think badly of anyone here because maybe some parents don't support the school but no villager has ever made me feel they don't want me here.) Luckily, Joanna and Beth were here at that time. They gave me the support I needed, which translates into a long group hug and the strength to get the weekend as planned. I wanted them to see Blue Creek cave and Machacon Falls. The following day Mr. Chub had great news for me. A woman in town, Ms. Dorla Bowman from Socio-Economic Outreach heard the story and donated an amazing $200. Also, there happened to be a check from a tourist group led by Mr. Mas, my host father, for $200. He wanted the money to be used for the trip and told Mr. Chub if the village leaders had anything to say to take it up with him. That was enough to pay for the bus, so... the trip was back on! And I was all smiles! Our first stop was ITVET a technical high school for students interested in learning different trades. We saw the automotive, electrical, and woodworking departments, also took a look at their chickens and goats. Every time they were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, blank stares, but I keep telling myself that maybe now it's something they will think about. We then went to Lubaantun followed by Nim Li Punit, with a free lunch in between. A school group canceled their trip, so the residence who had prepared lunch for them invited us. Mr. Chub and I couldn't believe the blessings kept coming, we were supposed to go on that trip. The last stop was a lodge that housed two jaguars, a highlight for us all. The trip was such a success we did basically the same thing for the lower division, but instead only saw one Maya site and two lodges. This time when we saw the jaguars we got to climb the ramp and see from above. The mothers were so cute, being more afraid then their children. Some of the little boys saw the ruins as an adventure, so I was a little overwhelmed, but boys will be boys. Our last stop was the Lodge at Big Falls, but before going there we stopped for lunch. I really enjoyed our picnic-like feast outside the bus. With the grant I was able to buy some food for snacks, knowing not all the children would bring their own. The highlight of the Lodge tour was their swimming pool - raxi ha - all of them being surprised to see such blue water. My favorite part was the girl out sunbathing. I wanted to act as their guide saying, "And this is what you call a tourist..." I was surprised noone fell in the water. We made it back to Santa Teresa by 3pm, so our half-day turned into a whole day which had some students tuckered out. A fun-filled day for sure! Loves and hugs!

Gardens Galore

2011-05-27T13:26:00.003-06:00

Fences are going up everywhere in Santa Teresa. This makes me so very happy as it is great to see families in the village starting gardens close to their houses. Some are high school students wanting to apply what they have been learning, the others, I think, are funded by an organization in town. Of course this means I've been asked for seeds, so if you have some, send them my way. I'm curious to find out what will grow here. How exciting to try popcorn! Thanks to my mom for asking, Popcorn County USA for providing, and Joanna for bringing, I've been distributing popcorn seeds to anyone who asks. I even got to help the Ack family while they were planting. Another family ready to plant as soon as I brought the seeds to their house was the Bo family. Olivia, the mom, is one of my new favorite people. I wasn't sure why exactly until her husband pointed out she loved to laugh, yep, that would be it. I've only recently started visiting them. She is actually from Poite, her youngest brother being one of my favorite people there. Olivia and Pedro have the cutest little boy, too, Arnoldo. He repeats almost everything you say, or at least tries, and with me this is an English lesson. The best part was when he walked away saying, "tzakal"-enough. So he likes to talk and is being started young learning to garden. I was surprised though when Pedro told me the organization giving the supplies to start the gardens had yet to give much training. That seems backward. I was asking, too, if he had any solutions of keeping ants out of his garden. He didn't know that either. Time to do some research of my own, unless you reading this have any suggestions. That would be great! I'll soon put up a picture of the plants growing, don't you worry. Yippee! Now it's just keeping the bugs away. Loves and hugs!

FRIEND

2011-05-27T13:12:00.002-06:00

Focusing Resources in Education and Nutrition Development is an initiative through the Ministry of Health along with the Ministry of Education doing just as the project’s name states. Only a few schools in Toledo were selected to take part, Santa Teresa being one. There was an opening ceremony in town to start the program and other activities have included creating a health corner in the classroom, BMI testing, a walk-a-thon, and mini-sports day. The walk-a-thon was simply a parade through the village, parade meaning the students marched themselves down the road and back again. They created a banner “Love That Body. Move That Body” and signs to promote healthy living. A few of the village leaders came along and it was perfect timing as Megan was in Santa Teresa to visit. We joked that the parade was for her then topped it off with making a cake the following day. See how well my visitors are treated?
The mini-sports day was in San Antonio where five schools came to compete in such contests as marble/spoon, three-legged race, egg toss, etc. The best part was being surprised by Dan, another Peace Corps Volunteer. I didn’t know his school was part of the FRIEND program. I hadn’t talked to him for quite some time and it was nice to be with a fellow photographer, as we decided that’s why we were brought along. Fine by me. I always like traveling with the students especially since they always are wanting me to go.
Another event encouraged by FRIEND was the Food Fair. All or at least most of the schools in Toledo come to town and create a booth, displaying health information and selling healthy foods. This was during Lauren’s visit and she had brought along some little prizes, not knowing exactly what to do with them, but they were absolutely perfect for a punch board. I’m pretty sure I’ve expressed the greatness of these games before… see the garden graduation post… and my opinion still stands strong. Yes, the sun was hot, but we had a line of children at our booth until the prizes ran out and made about $150 for the school, that’s a lot of shillings.

Through the eyes of another...

2011-05-26T09:50:00.005-06:00

I asked my friend Lauren who visited in April to write her own blog post. Here it is:
"Lauren, do you know what you’re getting yourself into? You know you are going to have to bathe in a river." my friend Amy said as she was explaining the living situation in Belize. Amy has been volunteering with the Peace Corps for about a year and a half now and lives in a village with no electricity. While telling fellow family members and friends of my travel plans to visit her and to teach in the school she volunteers at as well as travel, many responded to me not only with puzzling faces but also with many questions. "People actually choose to live like that?" they said. "What do they do with their lives?" "No television?" "Are you going to have to drink out of the water you bathe in?" All valid questions that I was eager to find the answers to.
I left Colorado as it was snowing early in the morning on April 4th. The plane ride was fairly quick compared to traveling to Europe. A couple hours to Houston, then a couple more hours and I arrived at the Belize International Airport in Belize City. Once I stepped off the plane, warmth and humidity instantly welcomed me to the city. I quickly passed through customs, picked up my luggage and made my way to the waiting area for my connecting flight to Punta Gorda. The airport was pretty tiny and cute so I took a couple pictures, bought some water and sat on a bench until it was time to board. As I was drinking my water, I noticed a lady with a really cute hat sitting across from me. When the lady started to speak, I quickly realized by her southern accent it was none other than Resse Witherspoon with her new husband and her children. So crazy! I really couldn’t believe it! What a fun way to start my Belize adventure!

After about an hour and a half domestic flight, I arrived at my final destination for the day, Punta Gorda. Punta Gorda(PG) is often described in travel books as a sleepy town in which the people are soooooo tired that they cannot even pronounce the entirety of the name hence its initial nickname PG. I liked the quiet town and enjoyed meeting up with my friend Amy there and catching up on life! We stayed the night at a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) house and got to see more of the town the next day. My favorite thing about PG was the Jonny Cakes (these delicious biscuits filled with cheese) and Fry Jacks (similar to sopapillas) that are served with beans and eggs for breakfast.

Later that afternoon, we took the high school bus for a two hour ride into the village where I would be living for the next two weeks, Santa Teresa! I absolutely loved everything about the village from the kindness of the people, to the culture, to the food, to the simplistic way of life and even the language. Santa Teresa is a relatively small Mayan Indian village where the people speak a language called K’ekchi (Q’eqchi). English is spoken as well). It was actually really fun to learn some basic K'ekchi. Here are some of my favorite words and phases:
Yo’os- Hello
Ma sa aachol? How are you? (literal translation- Do you have good in your heart)
Sa inchol- I’m fine (I have good in my heart)
Chaabil -beautiful
Laa’in X…-My name is……
Tojokre -Thank you
Tawil Awib -Take Care
Naka thin ra- I love you
Mas chick sak’e – The sun is hot.
Heehe- Yes
In’ka- No

..
The way of life would be considered old fashioned compared to the States. Most women stay in the home during the day taking care of the children, cooking, doing laundry (in the river) and household chores while the men are out working various jobs from farming to bus driving. Women are almost always seen in knee length skirts and shirts that have short sleeves. A lot of the women and girls also wear the Mayan traditional clothing (uks and po’ots). Amy was so sweet and had some traditional wear made for me to wear in the village. I absolutely loved wearing it!

Since there is no electricity, food is made fresh daily. Most families live on caldo (soup), beans and corn tortillas. Silverware is not needed because everything is eaten with a tortilla. I had the opportunity to enjoy many of the foods when I met and visited with the families. Everyone always offers you food if you come to visit. The food is amazing! They really like to make their food peppery (spicy) which was great. I had everything from fresh fish, to caldo with a wild rodent, to chicken tamales, to tons and tons and tons of corn tortillas, sometimes flour (my favorite), the most amazing beans as well as porridge and a cacao(chocolate) drink. They also had the most beautifully tasting zestful oranges! One night Amy and I visited 3 families and were so extremely full but it’s considered rude to not take or eat the food that is given to you. Amy told me once that she went to visit a family that had only 3 eggs to feed 4 kids and the family gave her an entire egg to eat for herself. She felt so bad about it but ate it out of politeness.
My days spent in the village were always fun! A typical daily schedule looked like this:
5:30- Wake up (Usually by dogs barking, rosters crowing, howler monkeys making a creepy howl sound or the neighbor family playing Mexican music which was fun because it reminded me of my family and covered up all the animal noises)
6:00- Go for a walk or run
6:45- Go
to the creek to do laundry and bathe
7:45- Get ready for school and eat breakfast
8:30-School
11:00- Lunch break (1½ hours! )! Make lunch and rest in the hammock!
1:30- Walk back to school.
3:30- Schools out!
4:00- Rest
4:30- Play futbol(soccer) with GLOW girls (they play with bare feet..wow)
5:00- Visit various families to make tortillas and play with the children.7:30- Back to the thatch house to relax, read, write, talk with Amy, get things ready for the next day, etc.
8:30- Bed time! :) :) :)

Getting to teach at Santa Teresa R.C. School was a very great experience. It was really neat because the school in the village happened to be Catholic although there are 3 different religions in the village (Baptist, Protestant and Catholic). They start the day in prayer, have religion class in the morning and transition breaks/lunch as well as ended the day in prayer. A priest comes into the village once a month for a school mass and the children spend a week preparing the songs to sing at it. It was neat to see how a Catholic School works and is operated in Central America.

In Belize, most of the teachers start teaching right out of high school and don’t receive any training to teach. I had the opportunity to teach math to all of the grades showing the teachers different strategies to use when teaching as well as ways to get the children to participate and make learning math fun. I am really a big advocate on positive reinforcement and will never forget the first day I taught math in Belize. I was teaching Standard 3-4 students how to reduce fractions in which I did whole group instruction, board practice for the students, a fun game and then seatwork review practice. When the students were finished, I checked the problems and if they were all correct I gave them a star with a pen. I have never seen kids so excited to receive a star on their paper. Once other kids heard about it, I started hearing many voices say “Can I have a star, Miss?” “I want a star, Miss.” I don’t think I will ever get over how excited these kids were to receive a star on their paper!

Something else that I got to experience in Santa Teresa R.C. School was a field trip to the Food Fair. If you have ever been on a field in the States you might remember your teacher always counting and taking attendance multiple times to make sure no kids are missing and everyone has showed up. Belizean culture by nature is just very relaxed. We arrived on the bus by the school a little before 7:30 and at 7:30 the principal, Mr. Pop stepped onto the bus, and announced, “Well, looks like everyone is here.” And we were off for the two hour ride to the nearest city Punta Gorda. There were literally 6+ children in some seats and tons of children were standing in the aisle. When we arrive at the fairgrounds the kids were free to do what they wanted. No real supervision. There were many booths set up that sold various types of foods and some were learning booths. There was also a MC that had music and games.
I was really excited for our booth! We not only had great food and drinks to sell, but the kids, Amy and I made a punchboard for this event. I brought a ton of prizes from my mom’s classroom to Belize and we used them for the punchboard. We had the kids write the prizes on white slips of paper and also messages about healthy eating on others. We folded them and punched them into the board. At the food fair, kids came up to our booth and paid a shilling (25 cents) to pick a slip from the board. Some would win the prizes I brought and others just got the message. The kids loved it! With the prizes, we ended up raising $164.25 for the school!! So cool!

Highlights of life in Belize:
*Amy and I have birthdays that are 4 days apart so we spent one weekend on the beach in Placencia for a little relaxing birthday bash. We had a blast snorkeling, swimming in the salt water, and Karl-okie-ing!
*Also for my birthday, killing a chicken to make tamales, learning how to weave a kuxtal (purse) and then having homemade doughnuts made by the neighbors.
*Going to Blue Creek to swim in the caves. I felt like I was in The Goonies movie…it was awesome.
*Biking 2 miles up and down the steepest hills, then hiking a mile to see and swim in these beautiful waterfalls.
This is definitely an adventure I will never forget. I loved living in the village, napping in a hammock as well as playing with and teaching the children. I always wanted to be in the Peace Corps so it was really cool that I got to have a mini-experience. Amy does so much good in her village daily. Peace Corps is known as, “the hardest job, you’ll ever love.” She is pretty much always “on-call” to any of the villagers at all times and spends the days working with reading groups in the schools, putting together field trips and leading an after school music club. The kids are currently learning to play the recorder and one afternoon I taught them, Hot Cross Buns. Amy has also taught many of the women in the village new things to bake as well as showed them how to make soap. In addition she has taken over a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) group for Standard 6. I had the privilege of leading a GLOW group session about inner beauty and self-esteem. The village is extremely lucky that they have Miss Amy and everyone loves her very much. It will be so hard for her to say goodbye in October.
Looking outside at all the Colorado snow falling in May as I finish writing this makes me miss the humid heat of Belize (even the days I needed a sweat rag). I hope to go back someday. I was telling my mom I want to adopt a Belizean child…lol

I have so many other fun stories and things to share about the culture in Belize that I could probably write a book. If you are still reading and want to know more, feel free to ask! Also if you are thinking about going, don’t think…DO IT!

A BIG THANK YOU (tojokre) to Amy for inviting me to her village, sharing her Belizean life with me and being a superb hostess! I am very thankful and blessed to have such a wonderful friend! I have been extremely fortunate to have so many amazing experiences in travel but this has been hands down my favorite!

Guatemala travels are up next!

All my love,
L

"They can't take our fun away."

2011-05-11T07:38:00.004-06:00

Mother's Day was so much fun in Santa Teresa! Although I did miss my own mother, I was surrounded by all my favorite mothers in Belize. The celebrations started Saturday afternoon when my GLOW girls made Mother's Day cards for their own mothers and grandmothers. I made a few to then deliver the next day. I woke up early Sunday morning to see the Lords of the Rainforest bicycle race pass through the village. I was invited to go along in a truck which was a good idea. I had fun, but was surprised to see how many men dropped out after not going too far. Good thing they had a truck and trailer following behind to carry all of them. A boy from the village came in fifth.
We rode along beside him for awhile about 3/4 of the way through, telling him at the moment he was in the spot to win a sheep, but he should go get fourth place, a cash prize. We then decided he wanted that sheep and was happy to stay where he was, thinking it was worth more than the money. I talked to him a bit after he finished and couldn't believe he was still riding his bike. I wouldn't have been able to walk. He even offered to carry me back to Santa Teresa later since I was stuck in Blue Creek now without a ride. I wanted to stay for the football games, but knew I needed to be back at 3:00 for a softball game. I was waiting for the boys from Santa Teresa to play, thinking that maybe, just maybe if they lost (I know a bad thought) I would have a ride home, them being ready to go home. Good for the team, but bad for me, they won, and it was quickly approaching 2:30. It takes about 30 minutes to drive from where I was to where I needed to be, and I had only my feet to take me, barely any trucks were passing. I went anyway, a few Santa Teresa villagers passed me on their bikes, thinking I was crazy to be walking, "Mas chik sak'e" - the sun is hot, but you do what you have to do. I didn't want Petrona, the chairlady of the women's group and organizer of the fun day, to be disappointed in me for not trying at least to get back. I walked awhile then, what was that? A truck passing? Yes! This made me think of Lauren and her commenting on how things always work out for me, but I think that's the way it goes when you are living for others. I easily could have stayed in Blue Creek, telling Petrona sorry once I did reach late, she would have understood, plus I didn't really think it was necessary for me to be there. I guess I was wrong and needed to be there. Thanks to the kind souls who gave me a ride, I've decided they were angels since I had no idea who they were or why they were going to Santa Teresa (later I found out they were buying lumber, who goes to a back village on a Sunday afternoon to buy lumber?), I made it just in time to stop at my house to grab some water and hustle to the church. We had enough to play a mothers v. youth game when I came, but just wait, here they all come... we ended up having a full on mothers v. mothers competition.

We had to first explain to them that there would be no prizes for the winners. At first, Petrona had the idea of having a Mother's Day fun day at the field, little games and contests and music. We didn't have support from the village leaders though,so almost canceled the whole thing altogether. Luckily, when I went to help Petrona kill her chickens to prepare for the meal for the men helping Mr. Max plant, we decided to just have a softball game for fun. Mr. Max didn't understand this, neither did another husband who came to find his wife, wondering where his dinner was... little tension there, but all in all the day was so much fun! Some of these ladies had never played before and the rest not for a very long time. We all enjoyed ourselves, and I wonder how many were sore the next day. I think though it's something we will continue, every Sunday evening, this being their idea. Like I said before, they didn't need me there, I actually didn't even play, but I guess they all wanted me there. Petrona told me when she was inviting the mothers they all asked if I would be there, not sure if that's really why they all ended up coming, but maybe that's where their children get it from. Oh, and notice, too, the crowd that formed. Not only did we have full game, but also a cheering section.

And not to forget, my cheeks were so sore from smiling and laughing so much. That's how much fun we had. And another thing, I went to deliver my few cards and the last stop even got a hug, which doesn't happen much. That made me so happy I almost cried. Hope your Mother's Day was just a wonderful.

Sorry no pictures

2011-04-11T09:05:00.001-06:00

My neighbor is so sneaky. She’s known I’ve wanted another skirt for quite some time, but doesn’t want me to be over charged because I’m white. So the other day, she had one of the students find me at the school to go talk to her. She had me come in the house and look at the skirt, whispering her plan of buying it if I liked the colors and having me pay her back in the evening. “They said $85, but I got it for $50, don’t say anything to them though.” She’s so funny, and such a sweetheart. Bacilia is the same girl who when she made my first skirt, along with one for Cora, instead of payment asked me to pray for her. And a few weeks ago she made my day by inviting me to go along with her to try buying a chicken. I’m not sure why she asked me, maybe she just didn’t want to go alone. I’m so happy she did though. Life is better when done together.

My new favorite Q’eqchi question… Ma chaab’il li k’utank? Is the day beautiful.

I wanted my visitors (Mom and Jerry, then Nick, Joanna and Beth, and now Lauren…also Mikah and Larka from last year...) to write their own adventures about their trip for me to post on my blog, but I’m not sure that will ever happen. Mom loved the food and I was happy she had the chance to try all my favorites, from kahune cabbage and gibnut to sesame seed candy and plantain chips. Jerry couldn’t get enough of the beach and Garifuna drumming. I was a little more nervous for Nick to come, first of all because all the villagers would think he was my husband, not understanding boys and girls can be just friends, but I stopped that rumor by saying, “Maybe he’s looking for a Q’eqchi girl.” This really made everyone laugh especially since we also went to another village close by for a couple nights. I got to do a few new things while Nick was visiting, snorkel in Placencia, see the unexcavated Maya site in Poite – Pusil Ha’, hike in Silk Grass, explore Caracol and ATM caves, all of which were AMAZING! We planned a little before he came, but of course, things just seemed to fall into place how they were supposed to, or so I thought, so I was relieved to hear him say after that, “everything was better than expected.” When Beth and Joanna came I kept saying, “Welcome to my life.” The week was a whirlwind of emotions for sure, but overall wonderful. They got to see the waterfalls of Santa Teresa and the cave in Blue Creek. Crazy I’ve been here a year and a half and this was the first time going to the cave there. We chartered a ride from a man in the village and took whoever would fit in the back. I was sitting in the cab, but the whole time hoping Joanna was enjoying herself as much as I know I would have been, sitting in the back with everyone, all part of the experience, and I guess that’s why I wish I knew my visitors favorite memories. We also went with the school children on their field trip to ITVET, Lubaantun, Nim Li Punit, and the Belize Lodge. Look for that post in a month or so. Ha ha!

Reading groups are still going well! One of the most rewarding projects I’ve done here. Retesting second term showed improvement at every level, the number of students in standard II reading below grade level cut in half from 14 to only 7. Woot!

I’ve tried making soap with a couple ladies in the village. Key word – tried. Petrona and Elena were both such good sports though, laughing along with me, even wanting to try again. The second time with Petrona was a little more successful, only our idea of soaking the pinz leaves in oil did not go well, so we added in ginger after smelling the two together before mixing. And with Elena the spoon I was using caused a crazy chemical reaction with the lye and water, then the pan, too. Eek! The soap was boiling with no heat underneath!

Confirmation!

2011-03-23T16:51:00.002-06:00

Confirmation was in Santa Teresa this year. We had 15 confirmants so I knew it would be worse than Christmas, me having too much food to eat that is. I wasn't invited to all the houses even though I most likely could have gone. I won't tell you how many bowls of caldo I was served or how much meat I brought home, but I do remember each time I left one house I thought to myself while walking to the next, 'I'll just tell them I already ate, they won't be offended, for sure they'll understand..." Didn't happen, instead one time I must have been actually forming the words with my lips for a practice because as my mouth was open, a bug flew in. That shut me up, not because it grossed me out to swallow a bug, but I coughed it up to spit it out as there was absolutely no room for him in my stomach. My favorite part was witnessing the godmother/godfather treatment and the exchange of thank yous when they left. I was a little nervous to go to the first house since I didn't want to intrude. My only reason for choosing what house to be first was location, wanting to go from one side of the village to the other. Luckily, I knew the godfather a little bit and he welcomed me inside, "Ok'an comad" (short for comadre, what the parents call their child's godmother) was what he said, asking me to join him, so I guess I was a step-in godmother for a day. If anything, it made me feel more comfortable. Even after being here a year and a half, there are still times I'm reminded I don't belong completely. It's at these times I really miss my family. Anyways, back to "comad...compad..." I love how they add that to every sentence when speaking with each other and how godparents are treated with high respect here. The relationship is beautiful.

Keep GLOWing

2011-03-12T09:22:00.002-06:00

Wow! Time is really getting away from me. Only seven months left in Belize! Ay yi yi! So much has been happening, I don't know where to begin catching you up on life in Santa Teresa. One thing I'm most excited about is the GLOW Club. I had four girls go to camp last year so I was a little discouraged when we weren't meeting regularly once the school year started again. We had a hard time organizing ourselves for the first meeting, but once together, found a focus. The girls were interested in visiting a neighboring village so I told them in order to go they must raise money. I knew I would not be in the village the following weekend but told the girls I knew they could sell cakes by themselves. Which they did!! I was so proud of them. Every Saturday of February we sold cakes and let me tell you, there girls are entrepreneurs, coming up with ideas of other things to sell since the people might get tired of cake. They even had the idea of asking for donations from the tourists that come on Wednesdays (sadly,this was vetoed by the Chairman of the Village Council) and brought up to me wanting to fund raise at the football marathon that happened this past Tuesday. Go girls! We have decided though that every Saturday is quite much, so instead we'll fund raise every other week, but will still meet the other Saturdays for activities such as playing at the field, picking up trash, and assisting elders. Oh, and thy are pretty much planning their own trip to San Benito Poite, things they want to do, what they want to learn, transportation, food, lodging, etc. The expense won't be too great so we might be able to send a couple girls to Camp GLOW again in Cayo (this year each girl needs to raise $100) and or course in my mind we'll make enough money to start a scholarship fund for girls going to high school. Talk about empowerment! But of course, our first purchase, other than ingredients to make the cakes we well, will be a football for the club to have as their own. I hope the girls know how proud I am of them.

Garden Graduation

2011-01-11T09:34:00.005-06:00

It may be true that Belizeans make reasons to party, but does this cause me to love them any less? Quite the opposite my friend, quite the opposite indeed. A perfect example of this happened mid December when PLENTY came to graduate our garden. How does a garden graduate? Or maybe a better question is why? I'm not sure. You tell me. Anyways, back to PLENTY, it's an organization that has been assisting rural Toledo schools with creating gardens the past few years. They helped get it started, providing fencing, tools, and seeds, and to officially hand over the responsibility a celebration must be had, of course. (Did I ever mention our health clinic was inaugurated not once, but twice?) These ceremonies look quite similar... National Anthem... Invocation... Welcome Addresses by all the village leaders... item from the school children... then we hear from the sponsoring organization. After all is said and done, traditional marimba music is played and a select few people start to dance in their cultural wear. The ladies even made me get up and dance with them this time.

Finally, not to forget the most essential part, we all eat lunch together. This event was a little different than most as a variety of food was prepared. Usually it's lone caldo and poch (see pictures) but part of PLENTY's goal with the gardening project is to get students to start eating more balanced meals by simply adding vegetable to their diet, you know, the vegetables they grow in their gardens. :P

I didn't get to help with the cooking as much as I would have liked because I was busy with the punch board as a fundraiser for the school. Students pay 25 cents a chance to pick a paper stuck in a board. The paper will either have a message i.e. "Better luck next time," or the name of the prize on it. Thanks to Bernard, a tourist who stopped in Santa Teresa last season and brought a bunch of cool toys with hime, and Larka and Mikah, who brought a few fun things with them, too, we had all the prizes without expense. Yes, I've been holding onto all these things for a long time but was waiting for a fair way to disperse them and must say it was a success. We made $100 for the school and the children got some pretty neat things for a shilling, plus punch boards are tons of fun. (I apologize mostly to Bernard who has been witing a long time for this photo.)

Who knew it would be the men that were the only ones to wear the animal visors. I guess age is just a number and still can't keep from laughing.
Well, that's all for now and if you ever need any help planning your own graduation, you know who to come to. Loves and hugs!
Note: I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I like writing it, or only half as much, that would be good, too. Sorry I've been slacking a little, more to come... more to come. :)

I've come to find out

2010-11-13T10:14:00.002-06:00

Somethings I've learned this past week...
How jade is formed - When you see a falling star, a special falling star you watch it watch it watch it as it falls to the ground, never taking your eyes off the glow. If you can keep your gaze without blinking until the star is within reach you then grab it and it will become jade. Don't look away for one second or it will disappear. (The story is told much better by Florentina.)

Why my villagers want my parents to visit - to inform them I will never be leaving.

Why it's fun knowing even basic K'ekchi - a stranger in town passed me on the road smiling big and saying "xic cue" I think as a joke, but when I responded, "tawil awib" he laughed and said, "us"

How Santa Teresa came to be - I updated our community profile and Mr. Chub suggested I add a little history and since I know you're all curious as well I thought I would share it with you, too. In 1933, three men from Delores settled in a place known as Hinchosonnes, others followed. Ten years later, in 1943, the last hurricane of the season hit southern Belize and destroyed many trees and houses in the village. The Catholic church had a statue of Santa Teresa that was destroyed. They decided to reestablish the village and name it Santa Teresa after the statue. The local name of the village is Se Pan, which means bread. The reason behind this name comes from when villagers would take a dory down the creek to the Moho River then paddling three days to reach town to sell. A man by the name of Mr. Wilikim was taking pigs to town and along with him was a woman and her child selling bread. While crossing Trayal fall the dory overturned, killing the woman and her child, since all the bread was lost, too, the village was then known as Se Pan. Other interesting facts: The road came to the village in 1983. Santa Teresa didn't have water pumps until 1996, then just four years later installed a water system. Communication was an issue, and they didn't have a community phone until 2005. Then just two years ago there were only a handful of individuals with cell phones or house phones - at this time the community phone was not working because it was struck by lightning and six houses had solar panels. Now ten houses have power through solar panels or generators, three families have house phones, the health clinic has a phone, and at least 20 individuals have cell phones with Digicell service. Business initiatives include a rice huller and logging company that provide services to surrounding villages. And not to forget our health clinic. Wow! I wonder what will happen in the next five years.

School Happenings

2010-11-13T09:15:00.007-06:00

This year the Santa Teresa RC boys did well in the Primary School volleyball competition. The zone elimination took place in Santa Teresa and our boys won! They then went on to district finals in Punta Gorda Town where they played the winners of the other seven zones in Toledo. They won the first game against San Vicente and pulled through for a second win against Indian Creek which meant we made it to the final match in the district. We played our best against Toledo Christian, but were unable to take the title. Maybe next year we'll make it to Nationals.

I gave my first professional development workshop of the year on alternative assessment in reading and writing. I think it went okay. Of course I started it with an icebreaker, bringing Word Jumbles to the staff at Santa Teresa. We had good discussions about surveys, checklists, response journals, scoring writing with the 6 traits, and portfolios. And speaking of workshops, I've been able to attend a couple as well. The first was an expressive arts workshop put on by the Ministry of Education. It was a two day workshop, but I found out about it on the first day so I could only make the second. I figured it would be talking about ways to implement expressive arts in the classroom, but no, it was more like dance camp. When I realized we would be learning a routine I couldn't keep from laughing. I had the biggest smile on my face during the entire warm-up and I'm sure the other 30 teachers were wondering what was wrong with me. And to make things better, the routine was to a Christmas song. Oh, how I love Belize. The second workshop was one on classroom management. Mr. Chub had asked me to go along with him so we could present the information to the rest of the staff together.

The garden is coming along, too. Not only are the students tending to it during their scheduled time in the garden but also they have took it upon themselves to do extra watering and care throughout the week.

Our library now has a librarian! Mr. Teul has attended the training in Belize City and now comes to work in the library 8 hours a week. Right now his focus is on organizing the books so I try to get in there as much as I can to help out. It's so exciting to me that there's interest to use and take care of all the books we already have and of course to expand the library as much as we can, making it accessible to our community and eventually surrounding ones. Santa Teresa will be the place to come visit!

Note: For some reason I can't get the computer to read my other memory card to share more pictures. Next time. Loves and Hugs!

Happy Washing of Hands

2010-10-23T10:50:00.002-06:00

October 15th was Global Hand Washing Day and to celebrate, Santa Teresa R.C. School dedicated a whole week to the cause and even had a parade! Throughout the week the teachers added hand-washing activities to their instruction and let their students get creative by making posters and singing songs. My favorite was the Infants, to the tune of Happy Birthday, "Happy washing of hands, happy washing of hands, cleaning all my little fingers, happy washing of hands."

PSE Writing Class

2010-10-23T10:36:00.002-06:00

This year instead of helping Florentina with the math evening classes I will be leading my own session on writing. I wasn't sure how much I liked doing a class on my own because I really liked the set-up last year of co-teaching with Florentina, but I decided just to go with it and I've really enjoyed it so far. I was reminded that if I ever was to teach it would be the middle grades and I realized that I like teaching writing more than math because there really are no wrong answers. We talked about class expectations right away and they came up with their own, "communication and cooperation." I was really impressed with this and have found those two words to be quite inclusive when I refer back to them. The first week I had them write a letter to themselves and this really threw them off. "You want me to do what?" They thought I was crazy, but still did it anyway. My favorite was one who introduced himself, "My name is.... I am .... I live in....." But really, that's how they start their friendly letters so I understood where he was coming from. The second week I gave them a quote to journal about which was also a foreign concept but they gave it their best shot and my favorite from that was the following.
"This quote means to me that may be this "let the beauty we love be what we do" is telling us to love the beauty in what we do and the beauty will love us in what we do too. I find beutifull is by loving one another. and it would be one loving each other."
What we could all learn from 12 year old boys! I'm finding myself excited to plan the lessons and looking forward to class. What a pleasant surprise. If you have any fun writing games, send them my way. They really liked paper trail.
Loves and hugs!

Happy One Year as Volunteers!

2010-10-23T09:55:00.002-06:00

I can't believe I've been in Belize over a year now, and this got me thinking...

You might have been in Belize too long
~when it's 75 and you're wanting a blanket for your afternoon nap.
~when you go to visit a neighbor and as soon as you walk in the house, start dancing to the marimba music playing on the radio without thinking twice.
~when you get excited about the Apple for Amy facebook group because you think you'll be sent real apples to TASTE test.
~when you can whistle by squeezing your bottom lip together and call that an accomplishment.
~when you state the obvious as a question.
~when you wonder what it feels like to not be itchy all the time.
~when you can drink a cup of powdered milk.
~when the latest news you have to share is the huge snake you saw while walking down the road and you feel the need to tell everyone in your village.
~when you fi.nally know the bus schedule. (well, I'm still working on this one :P)
~when you're wanting to learn how to make more and more so you can buy less and less.
~when you have a suitcase full of letters from home.
~when someone asks you to sing the national anthem and you start with, "O Land of the Free..."
~when you automatically look for a shilling bag hanging to throw your trash away. Agh! When you call a plastic bag a shilling bag.
~when you're making a list of favorite Belizean songs and have to take one off the list because you realize it's by Akon.

Whatever will I do when I come back to the States?

Loves and hugs!

More of Life

2010-10-12T11:06:00.003-06:00

~While walking down the road I saw my neighbor walking from the corn mill with a container full of masa and since the thing to do here is ask obvious questions, I've picked up on it quickly, (so please excuse me if I bring this back with me to the States) I asked, "Are you going to bake?" She replied, "Are you willing?" We'll just say I've baked on a many banquet. And to clarify, baking is what they call flattening tortillas and a banquet is a low round table we sit around. I really like my neighbors to the west. The three girls are in their late 20s, only one is married with a baby and they all take care of him, what a lucky little boy. I always love to go visit them and see all their interactions with each other. The baby was born when I first arrived in Santa Teresa, now a year old. He's getting so big!
~Of the books I've read this past year, here are a few of my favorites: A Million Miles in A Thousand Years by Donald Miller, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, LAMB by Christopher Moore, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, Belize, A Novel by Carlos Ledson Miller, and My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Currently I'm reading: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins, Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, and The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott. Plus I found a book of 365 prayers, blessings, and meditations from around the world so of course I'm enjoying that. My favorite so far, "Let the beauty we love be what we do."
~Along with the TFABB visits in October, January, and March, my mom and Jerry are also visiting in January, then Joanna and Beth in March, and maybe Justine in May. When are you coming to visit? :P I'm quite excited!
~While out visiting and tasting a golden plum for the first time a little boy told me, "You can try everything in Belize, not like in the States." A couple days later, Carlos, the same boy came to my house at lunch time, inviting me over, "We have something nice for you, Miss Amy." And indeed they did. Carlos and his father had went hunting the night before, getting a large gibnut. I think he thought I hadn't tried that yet either because he really wanted me to come. I guess while he was eating his own he remembered he wanted to invite me so left his bowl of caldo to come by my house and get me. And I'm so glad he did, how I love halau.
~Louisa knows everything like a good mother should. For example, I couldn't find my flashlight which made me sad because I was just without it for a week or so after taking it to town and having a mix up. She asked if I had taken it visiting but all I could think was no, because I hadn't been able to find it. In the middle of the night though I woke up thinking, "maybe I forgot to take it out of the bag I had been taking to visit" and Tada! There it was! So even though you didn't know I was without a flashlight yo can worry no longer. And if you're wondering how I got by, just know I'm well taken care of in my village. If ever I was visiting too late I was always escorted home, usually by nine year-olds.

More Little Bits

2010-10-08T09:35:00.002-06:00

~If anyone wonders where I get my positive outlook on life, they need to meet my mother.
~I finished testing each student's reading level in record time, and not only do I already have pull-out reading groups set up but there are two teachers interested in learning how to administer the test! All I did was share the results and they were curious so I promised to show them the day I am in each one's class. Woot woot! Goal number one: Transfer of Skills! I had planned to do a tutorial workshop last year but it never happened. To me this is way better because the interest is there. I thought that would be the hardest part, even chatted with Kevina a bit on how we could get the teachers to see the results of the test were important enough to motivate them to learn how to then use the MICO DRA. I figured I had a year to work on this so when Mr. Pop asked aoubt the test I saw my in and thought, "yeah." Then when Mr. Ical wondered too, I thought, "oh yeah!" And back to reading groups. I'm downsizing the number of students to work with, and after Kevina's workshop have a better idea of what I'm doing. The reading will take place during gardening, allowing me to then help there when we finish. "Nab'al nab'al lix q'atz'ol." (we read a lot) from the song Mr. Chub wrote.
~I'm helping with the Peace Corps 2010 Annual Report we will distribute to stakeholders, counterparts, potential counterparts, Washington, current volunteers, etc. Peace Corps Belize used to make a year book which was more for the volunteers but that was a few years back so this is a first and I'm pretty excited about it. Our theme for the booklet is, "Because we work together," so we're collecting success stories plus trying to get volunteers to inform the committee of upcoming events to come take pictures, videos, and interviews. Our goal is to show the importance of building relationships in country and not only are we making a difference in the lives of Belizeans, but being here has a huge impact on our own lives, which is what I'm experiencing and am remided of everyday.
~Anne Marshall, a TFABB Volunteer working with the preschool came back to Belize a month before the workshop to spend July sharing the beautiful country with her family. I didn't think I would get to see her when they first came in, but because of Tropical Storm Alex, we were not able to stay in Placencia for Lobsterfest so instead I was in town and got to spend a whole Sunday with Anne and her two children. I just have to say I enjoyed it so much, maybe because it was unexpected, but it was so nice. What great kids she has! I feel very lucky to be working with TFABB, not only because it's great for the school, but also the wonderful TFABBers I've been able to get to know.
~I have a problem leaving umbrellas. If I would buy one everytime I lose one and carry it with me in case it would rain, who knows how much money I would waste. Instead I'll wait until it is raining, if there's noone around to share nor a shop to buy one quick, I'll either get wet or stay where it's dry. So I guess umbrellas aren't as important as I thought they would be here.

San Lucas Visit

2010-10-08T09:08:00.002-06:00

One night I asked Petrona, my host mom's sister if she would like to walk with me in the morning since it was her week off - she works at the Health clinic every other week. She was happy to walk with me then remembered she wanted to visit her aunt in San Lucas so invited me to go along. Of course! We planned to leave at 9:00 am which ended up being... 9:10, very good. It seems to me that people in Santa Teresa usually show up when they say they will. We decided to take our bikes which I was very happy we did because our travel time was cut in half at least. It ended up taking about an hour to bike the 4 miles or so to San Lucas. When we reached Petrona's aunt's house we rested and had our coffee. We then walked down to the creek to see the raxiru ha' (clear blue water). It was so beautiful and peaceful to put our feet in to cool off. While sitting beside the creek Petrona mentioned wanting to imporve her English and asked if I would help her. She wanted to be able to understand "big words" and felt even just talking with me would be beneficial as it has been a long time since she was in school and she doesn't have the chance to practice while at home because they always speak Ke'kchi. I told her I would want to learn more Ke'kchi. We both like to hear the other speak their home language and hope spending time together we'll improve our secondary ones by exchanging what we know and simply having conversation. Petrona thought we should start son and she would come over every evening she can around 7:00. I'll teach her English one night and she'll teach me Ke'kchi the next. What a great idea! I hope it works out as well as I think it should. Yippee! After our rest by the creek we went back to her aunt's house where I got to see someone using the grinding stone for the first time. The masa was so easy to flatten after being passed through the stone and I was happy to bake in San Lucas. We ate our chya (like kalaloo)(like spinach) with corn tortilla, rested again in the hammocks this time, then were on our way back to Santa Teresa. I wasn't sure how long the visit would be when I agreed to go along, but the timing was perfect, a total of four hours, including the two hours to get there and back. Petrona told me she would ask me again when she goes to visit. We both agree it's better to ride alongside someone else. Loves and Hugs!

Little Bits of Life

2010-10-07T08:55:00.002-06:00

~I absolutely love, love, love that I still have at least one letter waiting for me when I go to the post office. Thank you all so much for your support, encouragement, and prayers. I could not be doing what I'm doing if I felt I was doing it alone. I have a few very loyal penpals and enjoy random notes like from my new friend from the Philippines and even Nebraska's very own US Senator, Mike Johanns.
~I tried out my new pumice stone I picked up in Barranco awhile ago. I did an experiment, only scrubbing one foot and wow, there was quite a difference. After I did my own I asked Hillaria if I could wash her feet. I couldn't believe all the scars and roughness and she's only eleven. I actually was surprised she let me was her feet and how much I enjoyed doing it. I hope some of the ladies will let me, too. I'll just have to take along my stone when I go to visit. After I finished Hillaria's scrub, I put some lotion on her feet. "sununk" - smells nice. While leaving my house she was cute saying, "Thanks Amy" and " I won't dirty my feet now, I will wear my slippers." Which was what she did after carefully walking to find them. That girl makes me smile more than anything.
~Both Alejandro and Martha will be attending high school. I was a little nervous at first because comments were made that there might not be enough money to send them both but Martha will try her best at Corazon Creek Technical High School and Alejandro will finish his last year at Julian Cho. He finished first in the construction department last year. Way to go! So happy I'll be here to see him graduate.
~I always say "Bless you," when someone sneezes although in Belize it is believed that someone is asking for you. I forgot how to say this correctly in K'ekchi so I asked the young girl I was with what to say when someone sneezes. Her response, "Tyok'at chi atisimak." Which confused me more as I must have been way off. I asked her to translate since it sounded different than the little I remembered. She said, "You are sneezing." Of course that is what you would say!
~I've been visiting families I hadn't had a chance to yet and it's been so great! I'm always reminded Santa Teresa is full of sweet people and I'm lucky to live here. It helped me get over my year slump that's for sure.

LIBRARY!!!

2010-10-01T08:52:00.001-06:00

That was quick! After the consolidation I was excited to get back and ask Mr. Chub if he heard from the Library Service. Better than that - they came to Santa Teresa for a meeting and luckily the community members were already assembled by the Alcalde. Everyone is on board and they have high hopes of a large library and someday computer lab that would even serve surrounding communities as Santa Teresa is a very central location. I couldn't keep from smiling while Mr. Chub was telling me this, with chills up and down my spine and goosebumps covering my arms and legs. I was just SO happy! Woot woot! All of these are future plans, of course, but the steps to be taken now are underway. A few men from the village were interested in being librarians and after looking at qualifications and stability one was chosen. Mr. Teul was a teacher in Jordan but is no longer. The Library Service liked how he had the educational experience and is established in the community. He's already taking part in librarian training in Belize City. Wow! Wow! Wow! Next, we will box up our books and send them to be labeled and cataloged. Mr. Chub has asked me if I could be in charge of email connections with the Library Service and a group who is wanting to build a library. I guess they had told him before but at the time he had his focus elsewhere. I'll find this group from Tennessee, if not, look for another interested party. Yay! I think the best part of all this was that I had a very small role. 1) Believing it would happen,, 2) Connecting people, and now 3) Encouraging the follow through. Three Things I LOVE to do! And again, here I am, things falling in my lap, leaving me to just celebrate all the good that's happening in Santa Teresa. Loves and Hugs!

I never travel alone...

2010-10-01T07:32:00.002-06:00

...I always meet a friend.

One thing I love about traveling by bus throughout Belize is all the people I have met, and it seems like I meet more people when I'm making a trip by myself for one reason or another. I'm not sure you'll enjoy reading this entry as much as I'll enjoy writing it, but if anything you'll realize, if you didn't know already, how much I enjoy meeting new people and finding connections. Once while waiting for the bus in Independence I met a couple volunteering in Antigua. Within minutes not only were we chatting about our nice stay in Placencia but were already sharing for sure, snacks we had just bought at the shop. One was from London and the other Argentina. I loved hearing about their organization which focused on training Guatemalans in business development. Awhile later a man from Montana joined us answering questions about his own life story and was curious to hear each of ours. He was a researcher, spending much time out in the wild. One thing we all had in common was our daily breakfast of oatmeal which brought a few laughs and suggestions one what to add to spice it up a little. The best part, none of us knew what time the bus would reach, nor were we too stressed about it. We ended up waiting quite a while. I feel like this wouldn't happen in the States, first of all, you wouldn't wait at a "bus stop" (the sidewalk in front of a store) for an hour and a half and maybe that's the biggest difference. I did enjoy, too, seeing another volunteer through a different organization I had met once in Punta Gorda on her way north to Belize City while waiting for the bus south. She opened her window to talk to me and I was reminded of Belize's smallness and how much I love being here for that reason. Then once I finally got on the bus I ended up sitting next to another white girl. I was curious to ask about her stay in Belize, feeling talkative after such a fun wait and found out she lived with her family outside PG. They run an outreach center, putting on a camp each summer. They also own a coffee house next to the University, which I have yet to go to. I guess they put Bible verses on their take-out boxes as they use the place for their ministry. The Antigua couple were wondering about the water taxi and I did all I could to help and make sure to point them in the right direction once we got to town, which reminds me of another time being on the bus with some volunteers from Germany traveling a bit during their stay in Guatemala. We talked about the wonderfulness of home-stay families and I just loved how before we made it to Punta Gorda, they knew all they needed to know about the Toledo District, luckily a PCV who lived in town was there to give them the whole scoop. I do have to say Peace Corps appeals to a certain group of individuals that are more willing to go out of their way to help others, but being in Belize encourages this even more. Everyone here is amazingly helpful. Helpful and inviting.
I'll never forget sitting next to a girl on the last bus from Belmopan to PG. I always seem to start the conversation with, "You coming from Belize (City)? / Going all the way to PG?" And from there the responses are limitless, usually finding out more information than I would have asked for. This girl was heading home for her sister's wedding after a week of work at the hospital in Belize City. She told me about her about her year studying nursing in the States, how nice the family was that she stayed with and how it would be great to visit again, but there was no place like home. I was curious which hospital she worked at, feeling I knew Belize Heath Care Partners facility quite well having been there my fair share of times and that's exactly where she worked! Before I knew it I was invited to her sister's wedding. Ha ha! Now that's Belize!
Another waiting for the bus conversation was with a guy from Guatemala now living in Red Bank. He talked up the beauty of the village and all the scarlet macaws and went on to share his education hardships. I must have a sign on me that says, "Talk to me. I'm listening." And I hope that never goes away because I love it! Like another time riding the express from Belmopan to PG I sat next to Calvin Choco from San Miguel and couldn't believe how talkative he was, then saw him in town a few days later. I won't see him much because he works at a resort in Cayo which I heard all about. I was able to throw in some K'ekchi and he was surprised to find out I knew how to make kuxtals.
And now for a couple marked bus experiences. One morning a young girl from Blue Creek sat next to me, telling me all about her visit to Silver Creek, her family, her friends, school, anything and everything. I think she tested my K'ekchi vocabulary and if only I always traveled with cards, we would have played cards, too. It's amazing all you can do during a bus ride. She was the sweetest little girl that Vivianna Ack and before getting off at Dump she said, "I will always remember you," which she actually might. I was getting off the bus another time and while walking past her window she opened it to say hello and once while in Blue Creek I went to the shop and found out it is her family that owns it. She again asked if I knew her, of course I did. The other was on the way back to Santa Teresa on the Poite bus. One of the high school girls from Poite was in the seat across from me and asked if I was the Peace Corps in Santa Teresa. We talked about the Mas boys, my host brothers she went to high school with and Miss Lilly, her best friend. And apparently this five minute conversation made us best friends as well because the next time I saw Lilly she had a message for me from her. "May God bless all your friends as you are traveling to Belmopan for your meeting and especially may God bless Miss Amy in Santa Teresa." Are you feeling the love that I am? I need to write a whole post about how wonderful it is to visit other villages and know the people there, namely Poite and Silver Creek and soon Barranco, I'm sure.
With all these fun experiences one can only expect I was looking for conversations when traveling for my visit home. I was sure to talk to those sitting next to me on each plane ride, the first flight sat next to Belizeans living in New York with high thoughts of Peace Corps. Once in Houston on my way back to Belize not only was I wishing for conversation, scoping out the passengers wondering who I would sit next to, I was also looking for people I knew which seemed crazy, but I did end up seeing a preschool teacher from Toledo. I never got the chance to talk to her but did enjoy seeing a familiar face. I did however guess who I would be sitting by. I noticed a 20 something guy with long curly hair and a guitar and thought to myself, "that's who I want to sit by," and sure enough! Ha ha! Miguel was from California and doing a work exchange somewhere in Cayo. I got a little nervous for him while he was explaining the situation and latest contact with the place, but felt much better before getting off the bus in Belmopan, leaving him to keep going on to San Ignacio. So anyways... there are more stories for sure, but I think you've had enough for now.
Loves and Hugs!

How I love a parade.

2010-09-26T12:24:00.003-06:00

Happy 29th Birthday BELIZE!!! Belize's Independence Day is September 21st. My favorite question someone asked me was, "Do people in the states parade for the 21st?" I explained to them that our Independence Day is in July, and yes, some do parade, but mostly we watch fireworks and have barbecue.
To celebrate the school voted for a queen then had a parade where we started with an assembly then marched through the village.

Time for School!

2010-09-26T11:37:00.003-06:00

School has started and one of my first tasks was setting up the classroom libraries with each teacher and ended up doing a little activity with the kids to help with keeping the books nice and library organized. I absolutely love walking by the classrooms and always seeing students getting new books to read. In one classroom the teacher has set up a nice area with the marley and other homemade resources making his very own "integrated learning center." I have yet to take a picture of this, but soon, soon.
After the libraries I started testing reading levels, again using the MICO Diagnostic Reading Assessment. Compared to last year I must say the comprehension levels have improved. I have some Standard I students I'll be working with for sure but other than that, maybe only a few other students. My goal is to show the teachers the importance of the results of testing so they will be interested in learning how to give the tests themselves by the end of the year, then they can help when we need to retest, even though it didn't take me near as long this time.
Other library news, the National Library Service is still interested in helping to convert our school library into a community library, just communication is an issue but that problem may have been solved by giving out Mr. Chub's number. Another issue is trying to set up meetings during rainy season which can be difficult. I just keep telling myself, "It will happen."
Yes, that will happen, and electricity coming to the village!! Crazy, I know! There's a high school further down the road and the government has just approved sending current out that way starting the work in November. The first village to get electricity would be Santa Teresa and the last place that has it is only 2 miles away, so who knows if/when it will come about, but crazy to think it's a possibility.
Back to school, after the reading tests I will start spending time in the classrooms. I hope to set up a schedule and just plan to be with each teacher once every two weeks. I have six teachers so I could alternate weeks using Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. This way I could help with Language Arts and Mathematics. I feel like this would allow me to really co-teach at times and hopefully get in on some of the lesson planning. And speaking of co-teaching, the Education Project through Peace Corps has been advised and the first of the three goals is co-teaching. The second is youth activities as in school clubs, and the third is formal teacher training through university, sending those volunteers with more experience to work with studying teachers. It was nice meeting with the Ministry of Education and seeing how we can work smarter if we work together. Mr. Reyes never made it up to the meeting in Belmopan, but we did have a meeting with him last week and his quote this time was, "Peace Corps Volunteers tend to give and contribute selflessly." What a great thing to hear!
Other future school project ideas include a gardening club with help from a community volunteer, Paulina, a music club, using those music recorders from Bernard, and a math club which would just be extra math help after school one day. Oh! And I'm wanting to start a book buddy reading club, matching upper division students with the younger ones. We'll see how it all comes together. Wish me luck! Loves and hugs!

Oh.... water fountains.

2010-09-15T10:34:00.003-06:00

So, I've known for awhile that it's been way too long since I've posted anything but once I get too far behind I always have a hard time knowing where to start. And if I wasn't still stuck in town I would have let it go even longer, but since I have internet and time there's no excuse, but the question remains. Where do I start? (I also want to let you know I have a notebook full of updates I promise myself I'll still post, but now those are getting way too outdated as well.) A good place as any is my trip home! Yay! I made it to Nebraska (or what will now be called Nebra thanks to my friend Erica - she would absolutely love if all us Nebraskans started saying that because she was almost certain we already did.) Two weeks before my visit I talked to my mom and it was so weird saying, "I'll see you in two weeks" that I couldn't call her again until the day I was leaving. That was strange, too, to still be in Belize at 3pm and make it home before the following day, yes it was almost midnight, but still. My welcoming party was fabulous - Mom, Jerry, JaNette, Cora, Conner, and even Uncle Denny and my cousin Kelli. Cora wouldn't let me put her down and Conner was scared of me but that's nothing new, I'm used scaring small children. I was surprised to hear that the secret of me coming was kept from Cora because eariler my sister had said she was sleeping with a picture of the two of us. I figured it was because she knew I was coming home, but no. That little girl tugs on my heart more than she'll ever know. We celebrated her birthday the next day by going to the Omaha Zoo even though it was raining all day. Actually the rain was a blessing because there were still too many people, I couldn't imagine how packed it would have been on a nice day. My friend Joanna met us there to make the day even better.
Once I made it to North Loup, I was off again out visiting everyone I could. I had many babies to meet (luckily Halle loved me right away and Lettie was too young to know what was going on.) Seeing everyone was so great! And I have to say I was reminded again how much Belize and Nebraska are alike, especially in August when it's hot and there's so much corn. I even about made dukunu. I would go visit, people would come visit, and one of the best visits was while at Kelli's new apartment. One of the mothers of two of her swim students wanted to make lunch for her as a house warming gift. I loved how she brought all the ingredients and made it there. What a beautiful show of community, why I love Nebraska and why I love Belize. Everywhere I visited people took care of me and like here I was always fed. Once while in North Loup I went to my neighbor's house, sat on her porch to chat, soon her sister brought out pizza and before I left Jessie had to get me some tea. My goodness! I'll smile about that forever.
I was able to visit Cora's school and she looked adorable in her little po'ot uuq. I also visited the class that was penpals with the kids here and one boy sent down a book with me to give to his one.
I had a slight obsession with ice cream and must say my two favorite kinds were Edy's s'mores and Kemp's black raspberry. And a slight obsession means I had ice cream at least twice a day. One day it was past noon and when I realized I hadn't eaten my delicious treat I freaked. I must say, too, I wasn't picky about this obsession, any ice cream would do (I would even share when my nephew looked at me with his big blue eyes), but of course my friend Emily would not have any of that, buying me two kinds when we went to the store, like I said, everyone took care of me very well.
Popcorn Days was wonderful. Between popcorn and ice cream, I didn't eat much else. I ran my 2 mile race with JaNette, only being 10 seconds behind her finishing in less than 20 minutes which was an accomplishment for me. We were the only participants in our age division so I got 2nd place meaning my prize was... a bag of popcorn! (unpopped of course, the popped popcorn is free all weekend. If you haven't been, when are you coming?) We played in the sand-volleyball tournament, watched the team penning, tractor pull, turtle races, talent show, enjoyed the carnival, etc. We even did the vehicle scavenger hunt this year as a family which was a first, driving around North Loup, riding in the back of a pick-up (another point for Belize), scouting out each block looking for answers to questions. What fun! I marched in the parade, and what else? It was a full weekend for sure.
Halfway through my visit I must have dreamt of being in Belize, wanting to see a friend and as I was waking up thought to myself, "Oh, they can come meet me here... Where am I?... in Belmopan?... Belize City?... WAIT! I'M IN LINCOLN, NEBRASKA!" Then closer to the end I started getting used to being home so I knew it was soon time to go. Of course the day before I left I had the hardest time, just wanting to sleep all day and avoid the good-byes, but then the next morning I woke up ready to be back in Belize.
Of course there were people I didn't get to see that I thought I would, but I now just look forward to seeing them next time. I also loved how I got to see some people I wasn't expecting to, running into them while living life, you know at the grocery store or realizing I could meet up with someone I was chatting with on Facebook- Emily Todhunter. Plus I found out my friend Sammi is engaged in person which really meant a lot to me, it's always the little things. I got SO many hugs and now wish I would have took a tally. Someone once told me it's good to get 11 hugs a day and I'm not reaching my quota here in Belize. I'm pretty sure I caught up quite a bit while I was home. So... thanks for all the hugs!!!
I know I'm forgetting a lot, but it's time for me to catch my bus. I would cry cry cry if I didn't make it back to my village today. Lucky for me I was able to stay in Silver Creek last night otherwise I would be in much worse shape than I am. Thanks Greg and Kevina!
Wait! My title about the water fountains! I forgot these things existed, but everytime I saw one, especially at the airport, I had to take a drink of the nice and refreshing, cool water, even if I wasn't thirsty. I would walk by and it would call out to me, almost at every corner, is that a water fountain I see?
Loves and hugs!

TFABB: Once Again! :)

2010-08-10T19:49:00.002-06:00

Last week I spent the entire week in town. I think this was the longest time I spent in Punta Gorda straight and I have to say it went a lot better than I had expected, thanks to Laura and the TFABB crew, plus there were Canadian Rotary folk giving a workshop to teaching coaches that would go on to lead the workshop for all the Toledo teachers this week. They are all always much fun to hang out with and everytime they come I learn a little bit more about them. Mica and Anne led a workshop with the preschool teachers and from Day One I realized those girls do more work than I ever could. Luckily, they only needed my help one of their long planning nights otherwise I wouldn't have lasted. The workshop covered development and classroom management for the most part and each day the teachers were able to make and take some kind of project from file folder games to a calendar. One of the days Mica and Anne even set up a preschool classroom and went through a morning to give the teachers ideas of things they could use in their own classrooms. I loved seeing the teachers walk through the classroom, taking notes, and also how they played their part and acted like four-year olds. The preschool teacher in Silver Creek is my favorite. At one point I suggested she talk only in K'ekchi for the rest of the morning and she made me laugh so much, telling Mica she was afraid of the other girl. It's fun understanding the little bit of K'ekchi I do. I've come to find out those Mayans can be quite funny when they want to be. I've always known they like to laugh, but now I can see why.
Another highlight was having dinner with the Ministry. This is always a favorite when TFABB comes to town. I remembered back to our first dinner, I think in January. This time we ate out at the farm of one of the ladies that works in the office. It was a really nice place and she made delicious East Indian food. One of the Canadians had a friend visiting from Dangriga. This was his first time in Punta Gorda and was amazed Laura and I knew what was being served and he didn't. Kahune cabbage? Kalalu? Dal Roti? After dinner there was dancing and visiting and Mr. Reyes the District Manager was talking about their new focus of zoning schools and teacher coaches. He then turned to me, placed his hand on my shoulder and thanked me for what Peace Corps is doing in the school, knowing we are making a difference. I still get goosebumps remembering it, and will never ever forget it.
So yes, now I am back in the village for another week before my visit home, well I guess right right now I am in San Benito Poite visiting Lilly. I rode my bike this morning the 10 or so miles and it's crazy to be all the way out here in the jungle and updating my blog. Loves and Hugs!

Come to Silver Creek As Soon As Possible

2010-07-16T10:33:00.002-06:00

I went to visit Kevina in Silver Creek to meet her mom a couple weeks ago. I thought it was perfect especially since I wanted to go to town for the 4th of July Celebration, but didn't want to spend 2 days in town and can only get out of my village on market days. Luckily, I saw Greg the Wednesday before just showing up at their house to ask if they had anything planned and if I could come for a visit. "Yeah, sure," is what I went off of, so while walking the mile from the junction to Silver Creek I was hoping plans hadn't changed and me visiting was okay. I had joked that the person I really wanted to see was Brendan, the little boy who gave me the nickname, "crying vampire." I feel like only in Belize would I travel 2 hours without real confirmation and the whole time being totally fine with the possibility they weren't home. Of course they were there though and as soon as the Coh family saw me walking up the road they called Kevina and she came out of her house jumping and clapping. I love that girl! The first thing she asked was, "Did you get my text? I sent it when Greg told me you were coming. I wanted you to come to Silver Creek as soon as possible, thinking you might be able to come on Friday. Fermin sent you one, too. We were worried you wouldn't make it. Yay! You're here! Come meet my mommy!" (possibly all in one breath :)) And here I was worried about intruding on their limited time together. Oh! And as a side note, my Infant I and II teacher last year was from Silver Creek, Mr. Fermin Coh. What a fun connection! He won't be returning to Santa Teresa RC which makes me sad but I understand him wanting to work closer to his family in Silver Creek. Greg and Kevina rent from his parents, living in their family compound.
It was so neat to meet Kevina's mom, Kathie, she's very sweet and I loved hearing how the village embraced her, treating her to tasty meals and giving her gifts. I even got in on some of that as Mr. Fermin decided to make BBQ for lunch Saturday for his brother-in-law visiting, Ms Kathie, and even me. He wanted to invite me to his house since I had never seen it and Kevina informed me he spent 3 days chopping the yard and mentioned how much he appreciated all I did at the school and never had the chance to thank me, so he would take this opportunity to do just that. Wow!
I enjoyed washing at the creek, visiting a few families, watching a football game, and drinking COLD soft drinks. Oh, and Kathie gave me her shoes, people must like giving me things, which I'm never opposed to. And my goodness! I can't believe how much their shops sell. I would never have to go to town! I loved how little Sheldon would climb up in the hammock with me and how he didn't oppose to me taking him back to Santa Teresa with me. So the only thing about visiting Silver Creek is I never stay long enough! I love how welcoming everyone is and how some remember me from times before. I want to say that's not a typical Peace Corps experience, being able to visit a friend's village every once in awhile and getting to know their community a little, too. It's great! Loves and Hugs!

Building Bookshelves

2010-07-13T14:47:00.003-06:00

When TFABB was here in June, they purchased materials to make 10 bookshelves for the school and asked the PTA Chairman during our lunch with the village leaders if men from the community would volunteer to make the shelves. I was just as excited as Anne was when they went to the school to measure straight away after the lunch meeting, but honestly hoping the enthusiasm would last long enough to finish the project. This may or may not come from my own inability to follow through and finish things or it could have been from hearing stories of other volunteers not feeling supported by their community. Anyways, I was happy when the lumber made it on the market bus and to the school and surprised Mr. Chub by picking up a board to move it to the library to store. He even started the conversation, "You know what I think, Miss Amy?" "What do you think, Mr. Chub?" "I've come to find our that Americans are hard workers." I laughed a little and went on to tell him that's how we're raised in Nebraska, which made him laugh. So all the boards, nails, paint, etc. was ready to use, just waiting to be put together and I started to wonder if I would have to remind Mr. Max how nice it would be to get those shelves made while they were still not as busy at the farm, because that would be typical and I've heard it before. People in other places have a hard time finding parental support and community involvement with the school. But I was forgetting where I am and shouldn't have worried at all because before I knew it I was waking up to the noise of a power saw coming from the school. I then noticed a few men checking out the preschool windows so I figured this was the day they would fix the windows because taht was on the agenda, too. I decided to walk over and find out what was going on for sure and since Lilly (the volunteer in the next village, missed her bus but could catch one to Santa Teresa so she stayed a night with me. How fun!) was here so she went with. I found Mr. Chub right away and saw the beautiful shelves being made. Yay! Yay! Yay!

I took a few pictures which the men had fun hiding from and posing for and asked if I could help paint. "Yes, Miss Amy." I went back to my house with Lilly to help her figure out the phone situation, calling her community phone to make sure the bridge was passable because of the rain the night before and saw her off, borrowing my bike, then told Elisha (my planned PC visitor) I was going to paint and she was more than welcome to help, but if she wanted some time to rest and read that was fine, too. She was such a great sport, coming along! That girl better get a vacation day back because I worked her hard! We painted four shelves by noon then went to Mr. Chub's for lunch. Elisha was able to catch a ride with the doctors to San Antonio to visit more of us Toledo folk and I headed back to the school. I started painting again and told one of the guys watching that there was another paint brush... hint hint. He seemed nervous to help and said, "I'll give it a try, Miss Amy." I was surprised to find out he had never painted before. I didn't even think of that. Of course they would like me to help with the painting. I mean, some of them had painted before and it's not a hard thing to figur out, but still I was trying to think back to the first time I painted. Geez. It made me smile to hear "chabil" (pretty) when I helped finish a shelf, but I didn't like when they said "tybiru" (ugly) to describe their own painting because it wasn't true so I would try to correct them saying "chabil" myself which only made them laugh more. My Ke'kchi pronounciation hasn't improved much. Another thing that made everyone laugh was when the village chairman found a standard VI girl's exercise book with love poems inside. Here I was painting with most of the men in my community all listening to, "When you go fishing take your line, when you go kissing take your time," of course it was a hoot. So yes, not only was I surprised that they started making the shelves already but even more so that they finished in one day! AND they fixed all the windows, too! It probably helped that 20 or so men came to help. Elisha even made the comment while talking to the PTA Chairman of being impressed by all those willing to work. Oh! And it gets better, if you can believe that! We ran out of nails so luckily some were found and used, but we also ran out of lumber. A few of the boards were bad and Mr. Chub had taken them back to the lumber yard but wasn't given replacement boards yet. So instead of calling it a day, the men were able to use boards that had been donated to the school by the Santa Teresa logging group. Ta da! The group had donated lumber to the school to fix the windows and there was still enough to make two shelves, so two of our classroom library shelves are made with very local materials-beautiful mahogany. Now I'm so excited to get the books! Loves and Hugs!

Graduation!

2010-06-23T09:26:00.003-06:00

The Preschool and Standard VI had graduation yesterday! I was so happy I had my camera to take pictures. We started with the preschool in the morning. Wait! The day started with all the kids blowing up balloons in the community center, helping to decorate. It was so fun and I loved how all the kids were working together! Those four year-olds were so cute marching down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance, then sitting in those big plastic chairs while the program went on. They did a couple skits and sang "I love you." This was the first year for a preschool in Santa Teresa so it was our first ever graduation. I was a little sad Miss Florentina had to miss it as she is in Belize City still finishing up her Early Childhood Education Certificate. She'll be more than ready to take on the preschool next year and Miss Regina did a great job in her place the whole month of June. We then took a break for lunch and everyone came back at 1:00 for the next round.
First of all I would like to take some time to note how wonderful the villagers of Santa Teresa are. I already knew this, but it seems they always outdo themselves and make me happier still to be a part of their community. The Village Council decided this year that they would like to have graduation gowns for the commencement exercise this year but instead of renting, they wanted the school to have their own set, so they purchased the fabric to donate to the school. Then they asked a few women to sew the gowns, some offered to sew the gowns for free and a few only charged $10. So now Santa Teresa RC School will have beautiful gowns for graduation the next 10 years or so. How wonderful! The students looked so sharp as you can see in the pictures (Yay! I can take pictures! Thanks again John and Mica!) The valedictorian and salutatorian are in the dark blue, each giving speeches during the ceremony. Steven, the valedictorian had the highest ever PSE (Primary School Exam) score from the village with a 70.75. Woot woot! Our guest speaker read "The Giving Tree," and I have to admit I had goosebumps more than once. I feel like I appreciate higher education more since being here. I know some of the students won't go onto high school, but most of them will at least try one year, which makes me happy.

After the ceremony everyone was invited to the PTA Chairman's house for caldo poch. The PTA purchased chickens and each family was responsible for bringing a bowl of poch (corn masa wrapped in a leaf then put in a pot and steamed pretty much) and some fire wood. Another example of the strong sense of community in Santa Teresa. We all support and take care of each other. As soon as I had finished my lunch I had a visitor. Taylor had come to tell me we were having our practice consolidation, she wanted to let me know before going down the road to Poite so I would be ready when they came back through. I asked if she wanted some caldo (spicy soup) knowing there would be plenty and of course after she left Mr. Max, the PTA Chairman, came up to me to ask if my friend wanted to eat. How sweet!
So yes, now I'll just be hanging out in Belmopan for a couple days, then Placencia Lobsterfest, then Ke'kchi language training! This summer is going to go by so fast! Loves and hugs!

TFABB: Take Three

2010-06-16T07:54:00.003-06:00

TFABB now has three focus schools. Welcome to the family Barranco! Not only a new school, but a new Peace Corps Volunteer. Yay Laura! This visit was two weeks long, visiting each school so I’ll start where they started…
@ Santa Teresa
Marie, Kathie, Mica, and Kevina all came to my school on Tuesday. Half the school was on its way to Punta Gorda for the District Finals Football Competition. I was sad to miss the game, but we had a very successful day of touching base and planning for the week. Mica stayed with me Tuesday night and we were able to visit both Jenny and Xena (two girls she knew from the school she worked at during her Peace Corps service. Funny how they both are now in Santa Teresa.) This was after taking the girls to where they would be staying- the adventurous Blue Creek Lodge. We’ll just say everything does not go as planned and just around the corner is not always just around the corner and sometimes there’s a reason the doors are shut at 4pm and the kids are outside and not willing to go get their father. Ha ha! I’m still curious as to whether or not the couple Kathie was telling us about is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. Oh brother!
Wednesday-Friday Kathie and Marie did some model lessons for each teacher and Marie also led a Professional Development Workshop on where writers get their ideas Thursday evening. I once again was reminded how awesome the staff is here at Santa Teresa and tried not to think about the possibility of half of them leaving. Friday afternoon we had lunch with the teachers and village leaders. Anne explained again the TFABB focus for the next few years and asked for help with our most recent project, getting shelves for each classroom to set up a small library. The books will soon come, but once they do, they’ll need a home. The PTA Chairman along with another PTA member, the village chairman, and the alcalde all went to the school after lunch to measure for an idea of what lumber would need to be purchased. How exciting! I love how on top of it they were, even saying now is a good time for them to build since they’ve just finished planting. I’ll be happy to give you an update. When they start building, maybe I’ll get to help and put my handy skills to work. Oh how proud Rick and Dan from Sack Lumber would be. I spent the weekend home, resting up for the week to come.
@ Barranco
Since Barranco is a new pilot school and Laura is especially new to her site, the visit there was only one day and very informal. I was happy to tag along. Kathie and Marie ended up doing some model lessons after our wonderful meal with the teachers and village leaders. We ate a traditional Garifuna meal, hudut which included mashed plantains, snapper, and a white sauce made with coconut milk. Very delicious. While the girls were modeling their lessons I went to the classroom that needed watching over and listened to Anne’s amazing bilingual read aloud. The Barranco school is quite small with an enrollment of 41, 9 of those students just came in January after their parents decided they wanted them to learn English. Although from Belize, they had been going to school in Guatemala, now they take a boat to Barranco for their education. Could you imagine? I always love to see the children on the water taxi when leaving Placencia early in the morning on a weekday, dressed in uniform. How fun. So yes, if you haven’t figured it out, Barranco is a Garifuna community right on the coast with an abundance of pumice stones. I brought back one the size of a cantelope and since I don’t have a comal I can use it for my feet. Pedicure anyone?
@ Silver Creek
We spent Tuesday –Thursday at Silver Creek and I have to say I really enjoyed going back to Kevina’s school especially since I had already met the teachers there. One even greeted me by name when we first arrived. Even some of the kids remembered me. Kathie and Marie left on the morning plane and Miss Kim was here ready to train. Kim had also already been to Silver Creek during the January visit. I loved how she was able to check back on some things, then say she would come again to follow-up. She encouraged the students to write during the summer and I wouldn't be surprised if they actually did. A couple promised to write their stories and send them to me through Kevina. I agreed to write back some of my own, and if I listen to their requests I'll be writing some scary stories which might be a challenge. I don't write a lot other than journaling which is sad. How can we expect students to be creative and think up stories when we ourselves never do? I know I used to write pretend stories in elementary school, my favorite being about the Gold Rush and my journey West. You'd think with more life experience I'd be able to make up better stories. I'll give it a try.
I was able to observe Kim's lessons in a few classrooms and also some teachers doing their traditional read alouds and a language arts lesson. I must say, Kevina has some great teachers at her school and I'm sure they're all the better after having her work with them this past year.
My favorite part of the visit by far was the Standard III and IV students coming up to me after I had observed a lesson in their class, commenting on my po'ot uuq and asking if I could dance. I told them I would like to learn wondering if they had their own blouse and skirt and if they would teach me. (The traditional wear is important when dancing the marimba.) Their response, "Yes, Miss! Yes, Miss!" They even asked their teacher to bring his CD player and CD after lunch. I was surprised to see how many girls showed up after lunch with a po'ot uuq of their own, well, some had borrowed from their mothers I'm sure. They wanted to dance right away but we waited until afternoon break. It was so beautiful! Kevina had been telling me most of the women have the traditional Ke'kchi attire but are ashamed to wear it for some reason, then to see all these girls excited to share their culture, teaching a white girl to dance... this is something I'll never forget as it overfills my heart with joy every time I think about it.
Laura and I stayed one night in Silver Creek. We had a fun time at the creek washing and bathing after school for two hours. I loved how everyone goes to the same spot whereas in Santa Teresa we all have our own, except me, I spot hop. After we got back from the creek we had a mango party outside the back door. I couldn't believe all the mangoes. And since I told Kevina's host family there were no mango trees in Santa Teresa I was sent home with a bag of 20! Yum Yum! I also went home with a beautiful drawing a a princess (me) on the beach from the cutest Infant II student. She even gave me a blank piece of paper so I could draw one for her. My nickname from my overnight stay a few weeks before had stuck and was shared by the giver to his classmates, but that's okay because he also said, "I love the vampire." Oh how I look forward to my next visit to Silver Creek. My goal is to ride my bike there someday which would be quite the trek, but I think I could do it and it would be well worth the effort, but I can always take the bus, too. Loves and Hugs!

GLOW

2010-06-16T07:52:00.000-06:00

Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) is a Peace Corps initiative and Peace Corps Belize picked this up by doing a summer camp for girls ages 10-12. This year will be our 3rd Camp GLOW and I’m super excited to be a part. One goal of the camp is to then train the girls to start their own club, something Santa Teresa has recently shown interest in. Florentina and I made a trip to Poite for a quick presentation by Lilly, explaining GLOW through power point. Our next step was to get the girls together to see what they were interested in. I had mentioned an Earth Day Trash Clean-up during a staff meeting, which wasn’t received well, but Florentina thought it was a great idea for a first GLOW activity. The girls at the introductory meeting were on board and excited, even made beautiful signs inviting the Standard IV – VI girls. “Come and keep our village beautiful. It’s interesting.” I also asked a few girls who had went to camp to share a little about their experience and we brainstormed ideas for future meetings… play games, bake cakes, help elderly people in the village. What sweethearts, already knowing the importance of giving back. So, we did our trash clean-up, filling six or so buckets before covering half the village. We hope to finish the rest and continue to pick up on a regular basis. Of course I was telling them they could pick up trash everyday if they would like, but we should try as a group once a month.
Our next activity was baking cakes, which we did over the fire hearth at Florentina’s house. The girls collected fire wood and mixed the batter creating three different cakes, coconut, chocolate, and a cinnamon one. All three were delicious. They then took the slices to sell, telling their customers about GLOW and asking between a shilling and a dollar for each piece depending on the size. It was so much fun and we even made a little money. I’m excited for our next bake sale.
I was out of town the following Saturday but some girls did go to elderly people’s houses in the village, asking what they could do to help. This will be a repeated activity as well and I can’t wait to be part of it. Since then I’ve been either gone, or a few girls have just come by my house Saturday afternoons to play games or paint their nails. We’re waiting for Florentina to get back from her month long training in Belize City (I miss that girl!) to do another fundraiser. Soon though, I’ll have to hand out the applications for Camp GLOW which will be in Belmopan the middle of July. Wow! Time is really flying by. Loves and Hugs!

Cacao Fest!

2010-06-05T08:32:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago I was able to help at an annual even here in Toledo- Cacao Fest! (http://www.toledochocolate.com/) There are many cacao growers in the area, so each year they celebrate the bean for an entire weekend. The first night was a cocktail-like party serving wine and, you guessed it, chocolate. The night was spent on the rooftop of one of the University of Belize buildings. There were brownies, fudge, truffles, candies, covered nuts and coffee beans, even a chocolate fountain with fresh mango and mango and pineapple. Delicious. I felt pretty spoiled volunteering at such an even as I, too, was enjoying the chocolate and wine, but I did "work" too. There was an area for food, so naturally I was drawn to help there. Help was needed setting up and keeping full the salads, chips and dips, and shrimp with chocolate sauces. I was in my element and felt so much at home being reminded of serving at the cafe' and all my other food service jobs. I was so happy and couldn't keep from smiling. Maybe Mr. Chub is right by predicting I'll open up a restaurant when I move back home, of course specializing in Belizean dishes. If was also fun because a girl from another village who works in PG was helping, too, and we became fast friends. Oh! And a major highlight, the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful firework display at the end of the night. Quite impressive.
The next morning was the fair by the sea front where vendors had set up tents, selling their goods while music played on the loud speakers. I helped with the Cacao for Kids, which was different art activities including rock painting, puppet shows, and sidewalk chalk on the pier. I spent a few hours trading a box of chalk for cacao beans. As the children signed up for the event, they were given a bag of beans that they used as currency to participate in each activity. Someone had painted a mural on the pier of trees and flowers and animals for the kids to color in with chalk. Most of the kids just wanted to get their box of chalk and leave so it was my job to encourage them to stay and color. Some beautiful creations were made, including a huge, multi-colored whale in a tree. I recognized some of the little boys from the Earth Day trash clean-up back in Indianville, but could only place them after they left. I think it was even a couple days after when I finally realized why they looked familiar. Plus, I met a next new friend. This girl was from London but volunteering in Dangriga, her year of service about to be done. We chatted quite a bit and she even brought me water a little later knowing I would be thristy, what a sweetheart. I love how kind people have been to me here.
The last day of the festival was celebrated at an archeological site, Lubaantun. I had a short tour given by the those excavating the site and spent the day enjoying the cultural Monkey dance and the performance of the Three Kings. I loved how I kept running into some of the same people all weekend reminding me what a small place I live in. Loves and Hugs!

Quick Shout Out to Larka and Mikah!

2010-05-26T09:33:00.002-06:00

Two close friends from college came to visit me for a week. My first visitors from Nebraska! I had such a great time seeing faces from home, and everyone was excited to meet my friends. Yes, they are still asking about them. I absolutely love that we were able to stay in my village most of the visit and that the girls were able to get a taste of my everyday life. We made tortillas, washed in the creek, spent some time with the kids at school (it was so great, Thursday morning the students had all prepared skits for education week and since there was no school on Friday, we did an art lesson with them), and rested much in the hammocks. Of course we ended with a trip to the beach, and even saw Nim Li Punit on the way. What a wonderful, wonderful week. And instead of me telling about it, I would love to hear how Larka and Mikah would explain the visit, so I'm hoping they'll both find time to comment on this post with a few words (or more) describing their experience, especially since I know they've already written about it in their journals. Loves and Hugs!

Baking with Sarah Ack

2010-05-26T08:59:00.002-06:00

Just about every Sunday, I take myself over to my friend Sarah's house. I met Sarah when I first came to Santa Teresa while on a morning walk. She called me over, asking if I knew how to bake cakes because she wanted to learn. I told her I had a recipe book and if she was willing to try new things, I would love to experiment with her. For those of you who don't already know, I like to use recipes as mere guidelines and since there are no measuring cups or spoons to be found, I enjoy baking with Sarah all the more. And another factor to throw in the "mix," neither of us have an oven so all creations are made over the fire. Our first attempt was to make no-bake cookies. Tricky, I know, but honestly I was a little nervous to make anything too crazy and wanted our first treats to turn out. I wanted her to invite me back, you know. I had just discovered I could make these delicious snacks in no time on my table stove so knew it would work out fine.
Next, we found a recipe for honey wheat bread. Sarah already knew how to bake bread, but wanted to try a variation. It turned out tasty, only honey is a little pricey when you could just use sugar, but I did like the wheat flour. After that was brownies- good, then two tries at biscuits. I must add, too, sometimes we don't have all the ingredients needed but that doesn't stop us. I like being able to buy from the shops in the village that way whatever we make could be easily made again later, or in the case of the brownies, right away. (I learned quickly that we should at least double every recipe.) Back to the biscuits, the recipe called for cream, so I thought the closest substitute would be sweetened condensed milk. We'll just say we intended to make rock hard, dense, but sweet biscuits. I was all about trying again, using the recipe on the back of the baking powder tin, which turned out a little fluffier, but as soon as we finished, Sarah was giving her brother money to go buy a can of sweetened condensed milk and asking what else we put in those last biscuits. Ha ha! Who knew?
Just in time for my birthday, we made a yummy chocolate cake, which has been made now in a few other houses. We even made cakes for GLOW Club, which is another post I need to write... next time. Anyways, I'm getting pretty good at throwing things together to make a cake and love not having to buy a box of cake mix. Woot woot! I really like using fresh coconut water in place of milk. After the cake was cinnamon rolls which I mentioned in the PCT visit post. Then, we decided to take a shot at sugar cookies. We knew the sugar might cause some problems, but didn't anticipate how hard it would be to get the cookies out of the pan/pot. Hold up! I think I forgot to explain our cooking situation in more detail. We put a large pot over the fire, then make one on a piece of zinc to place on top, using firewood and corncobs as a heat source. When baking bread, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and in this last case, sugar cookies, we place the dough on a banana leaf and cut out around each individual one, leaving us to grab the hot baked goods with our bare hands once they are done or need to be turned. The bread and biscuits weren't too bad, but maybe it's the sugar that made the cinnamon rolls hard to grab and the sugar cookies the worst. The sugar cookies liked to fall apart as well, and only after we were done did I remember usually you keep cookies in the pan awhile to let them finish cooking. Since I know there is a less painful way to make cookies I'm not sure I want to try over the fire hearth again, but Sarah may think it's worth it to make such a sweet treat.
Our most recent attempt, stress on attempt was to make fudge. Now, I'm not sure why I let Sarah mark pineapple fudge when looking for recipes to try, as I am well aware fudge can be tricky to make. She asked about it more than once though and when Mikah and Larka were here to visit, we had bought a pineapple to make pineapple salsa, so I thought we would give it a try. We made one batch with and one without cocoa, and oh brother, how different they came out, from each other, and from what fudge should be. The white fudge was too soft and the chocolate was too hard, rock hard. Here's a better explanation of how hard it was. First of all the nuts we sprinkled on top moved around even though we put them on right away. I was excited about the nuts, too. Magdalena had pulled some kahune nuts- can I break a second and tell you the wonders of the kahune? This tree is beautiful to look at, you can roof your house with its leaves, feed your family with the center of the trunk (kahune cabbage, one of my favorite meals), plus it produces nuts galore which are a favorite as well. I'm sure there are more uses I have yet to find out about- busting them even, a skill I have yet to master, and we chopped them up to put on top. They sunk right in the liquidy blond fudge. I'm curious as to why there was such a difference. You needed a spoon to eat one and the other I was scared the little kids were going to break their teeth as they stuck their heads in the pot to lick, I mean scrape with their teeth the bottom and sides. And then, I'll never forget Mikah's reaction when opening the container we had brought back to try, one on top othe the other, making a bigger mess. I felt a little better when trying some fudge at the Cacao Festival that was a little hard and grainy, too, plus Sarah said the boys liked what we had made, they're teenagers and will eat anything. I told her though, next time, we'll just make pancakes. Loves and Hugs!

Paulina, Paulina where does your garden grow?

2010-05-07T10:19:00.002-06:00

It took awhile, but Paulina can now say she has her own garden. And this is without the assistance from organizations in town. When Paulina first told me she wanted help with a personal garden we went straight to town in search of a small grant to get started, needing help with materials such as fencing and tools, even a scale so she could possibly sell the vegetables. This girl's a thinker, let me tell you. Neither organization was able to help which was a bummer, but the hardest part was having to tell Paulina the bad news. The men we talked to spoke too much and too fast for her to get the message so I was the one who had to say, "No," when she asked, "Are they going to help us?" There was a training offered which we decided to wait for but neither of us ended up going so I instead got a Peace Corps gardening manual to look through and we already had some seeds, just needed time to start. So one Saturday morning we decided to go for it. We planted some seeds in plastic bottles at first thinking that would give us time to dig up a spot since her father's fenced in garden was now full of cabbage. But while collecting soil for our seedlings we decided the spot we got it from was a perfect place for a garden. It's back in the bush a ways but Paulina walks past there everyday when going to bathe. Maybe it's too shady as well but she was willing to try it out and I'm no gardening expert. I'm learning right along with her and I feel like she asked me to help, not because she needed it, but because she wanted me there. Notice all the we's and us's which make me so very happy. Helping with a personal garden can be seen as a Peace Corps secondary project and I feel like all I'm doing is spending time with a friend. I couldn't think of a better "job" to have. How I love my life! Another example of this is baking with Sarah Ack, which I'll write about next time... Loves and Hugs!

DRA Retesting

2010-05-07T07:36:00.000-06:00

Since it's already the end of the school year I decided I should retest those students who were in reading groups to mark any improvements and get a better idea who I should try working with during the summer. I also tested the Infant I students to get a heads up for next year. I started with the young ones and honestly was a little discouraged. Of eleven, two could actually read, a few knew their letters and sounds but couldn't yet for words and some barely even knew their letters. I'm hoping to work with the three that are the furthest behind in the afternoons, taking them out of class. Oh! And I have to mention how advanced one student was. What a difference pre-school makes; he transferred here from town and really had a head start. Makes me hopeful for years to come at Santa Teresa.
Now, the Standard I students, that was a different story. All 15 identified as struggling readers showed improvement!! One boy went from a pre-primer level to Grade 2b! Woot! He, along with three other girls will no longer read with me in the afternoons. I'm so impressed with Mr. Perez, knowing he's doing such a great job with them in the classroom. I even made little comparison graphs to hang in the office. When I told him the results he talked about how he's letting the students read to each other at the front of the class and how he's now trying to get them to work on expressions. What a boost! How I love to celebrate success! And it's motivation to retest the rest. Loves and hugs!

Trainee Visit

2010-04-22T12:45:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite things during training was visiting a current volunteer so I was more than willing to host a trainee from the new group and I'm so glad that I did. I wasn't sure what to really plan for, just thought my visitor would enjoy a taste of village life, so I didn't change my weekend routine much. I met my house guest Friday night in town and right away we realized why we were matched together. Besides KC being the sweetest lady, she was able to explain my stomach issues a little more. (By the way, my stomach lining is no longer peeling, but healing. Woot woot!) We did the usual Saturday morning routine, breakfast at Snack Shack, market time, and grocery shopping. KC even bought me a new shirt. What's with these newbies buying me gifts? First my penpal and then my visitor- I luck out with the matching. Once we made it to Santa Teresa we went to the school for a GLOW meeting. The girls group is just starting and we wanted to hear from those who had gone to camp and plan our first service project, a village trash clean-up in honor of Earth Day. After the meeting we had a late lunch and much needed hammock time, which we were sure to fit in our busy schedule whenever we could. We then went to visit Paulina, taking some thread so she could show us how to make kuxtals. What a neat process. I even got to help! One thing I love about Paulina, she always knows when I want to try- plus she's a good teacher. So yes, I'm making my very own shoulder bag, it's a small one, but maybe next time, there will definitely be a next time, I'll attempt a larger one. After our craft lesson we borrowed a bike and took a ride to kawaiy ha' (horse's drink) I love how different water spots have different names. This one is a nice fresh spring bathing hole I had yet to use and it couldn't have been more perfect after a long, hot day. When we made it back home, the Mas family invited us in for tasty chicken caldo with corn tortillas even though neither of us were very hungry. I'm finding it too hot to eat, the other day it was 6pm and still 90 degrees in my house, luckily there was a nice breeze.
On Sunday I told KC of our church options and she was excited to go to mass even though it was in Ke'kchi. On our way back from church we stopped at the community center to check out the village chairman and council nominations. I'm so happy we went inside to experience the once every three years event. I was surprised to see one man decline running for chairman and the multiple men refusing to be on the village council. After Luisa's younger brother declined a nomination I caught his eye and he almost made a nomination of his own... Miss Amy for village council... hahaha. After the floor was closed, only a chairman election was needed. Since we couldn't vote we went back to my house and KC made delicious potato salad. I never really thought to make potato salad at home, because there's no refrigerator, but I need to remember leftovers are easy to get rid of. The officer that watching the election stopped by to visit and I was glad to have food to offer, not only potato salad but kalalu with eggs, another favorite and tortillas, both corn and wheat flour. Wheat flour tortillas are a treat for me and I guess they taste like adding ground green banana to the corn masa before making tortillas. Interesting. Having someone, "just stop by," reminded me how much I love Belize. The officer was from Punta Gorda and knew the volunteers in town, but even if we wouldn't have had mutual friends the visit still would have been nice. We had more hammock time then went to bake cinnamon rolls with Sarah, which turned out beautifully. Again, it was so hot I was sweating twice as much as Sarah just standing there holding the piece of plastic as she was kneading away. I love my Sunday afternoons with Sarah and that I was able to share the experience with a next Peace Corps. I didn't plan much for the visit, just wanted her to see the joys of typical village life, and believe it was a success. Honestly, we didn't do as much as I would have liked, there were other people I wished she had time to meet, but you can only do so much in a day and a half. Having KC was such an encouragement to me. She kept voicing how great I have it here, which I can't disagree with, and how great of a job I'm doing, which is always nice to hear. This makes me even more excited for my next visitors! Loves and Hugs!

Easter Holiday

2010-04-16T17:27:00.002-06:00

Even though Easter came and went without JELLO eggs, I'd have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit... a mean, a lot! I started my break on Thursday, March 25th with a trip to Belmopan to meet the new trainees. I missed the early bus, unable to make it to the airport, so instead I finished my bi-annual report and saw them at dinner but really didn't meet them until later that night. Honestly, I was super happy just to see current volunteers I hadn't seen in awhile (ahem.. Kevina). It was so fun to meet my pen pal, Jenna and she made me feel super special bringing me a gift, wrapped and all! I now have sparkly pens, new hairties, (I'm not sure why this is something I had forgotten to pack or how the three I did bring lasted so long) and two beautiful pairs of earrings. The pink ones perfectly matching my Ke'kechi dress. Thanks again, Jenna!
I made it back to PG Friday night, ready to be home on Saturday, but instead decided to spend Palm Sunday in Poite. Since neither Grace nor I had clean clothes and were feeling ambitious, we decided to get off the bus at my house, grab my dresses, leave bags we didn't need, and try our luck a next vehicle would be heading that way. I'm pretty sure I had a few concerned villagers worrying about two crazy white girls thinking they could walk the however many miles to the only village down that road. I have yet to figure out how far it really is, I think Mr. Chub said 13.5 miles... but we did end up walking the whole way for a total of four hours. Although it would have been nice to have caught a ride I'm glad we walked just to say we did and I would even do it again, or course trying to cut back the time it takes. The highlights of the visit included fresh chips with salsa and swimming in the beautiful river, there was a little water fall and everything. All the kids were adorable and it was nice to meet some of the people in Poite especially since I see them on the bus. Some already knew my name so I was glad to learn theirs. yeah, even when Grace and I first reached Poite while walking through the village some called out, "Miss Lilly," which is understandable, they would most likely think a white girl walking through their village was their own PCV, but a few girls greeted me with, "Hello, Miss Amy!" How neat!
As much as I enjoyed my walk to Poite, I was happy for a bus ride back to Santa Teresa early Monday morning. I had two days at home to prepare for my visitors coming to see the Deer Dance. Cali, Grace, and Megan all came to Santa Teresa for the cultural even and were stuck until Saturday morning because the buses didn't run on Good Friday. Belizeans are quite superstitious about Good Friday, some of them refuse to do anything that day, even bathe afraid they would turn into a mermaid. They believe you must by extra careful during Easter time as that is when many accidents happen. Not too long ago a young girl chopped her finger while cutting open a coconut with a machete. (I have yet to find out if she actually cut the whole thing off or only made a large gash, the story changes each time I ask and she keeps it wrapped up.) This was blamed on it being close to Easter. Anyways, back to the girls' visit. We came in on Wednesday, rested a little, then went to play games with Paulina's family. We had so much fun! I had wanted us all to bake there, but had trouble arranging the chicken situation so we just went back to my house to make kalalu with eggs and flour tortillas for dinner. While preparing meals during their stay I was reminded how different it was cooking for more than one person. I also have to say my guests were the best! They helped out so much cooking meals, washing dishes, cleaning up to leave, they even helped with making popcorn for the school's fundraising during the dance. And about the dance, we watched practice for a bit Wednesday night and made our way to the church a few times during the next couple days. The costumes were beautiful, but I'm still not exactly sure why they do the dance. The most common answer was simply to teach the younger men the culture, but I want to say there was more meaning. There were men dressed as dear, night walkers (monkeys), tigers (jaguars), and Spanish men, plus there was one old man, an old woman, and a dog and the dance seemed to tell a story. I want to say they'll do it a couple more rounds, so maybe I'll hear more later. I was surprised that they danced all day and quit before dark. I was so used to them practicing all night long. We stayed pretty busy in the evenings though. Thursday night the Max boys came to find us. Mariano (he's nine) wanted his new friends to come over for dinner so he killed his chicken. Maybe I'm over thinking the gesture, but to me that's incredibly sweet. Chickens are usually saved for special occasions, like birthdays, but to him, having those three girls come back over was reason enough. Then we were asked to eat with the Mas family on Friday night. I was surprised by Mr. Mas's dinner invitation and Hillaria was so cute reminding us of our meal at the "Mas residence." I'm trying to think what else was important about having friends visit Santa Teresa except how everyone was super kind and wanted to meet them. They also loved to see us in cultural wear and I think my new favorite outfit is the po'ot uuq (blouse and skirt). While wearing it a lady from my village took off the beaded necklace she was wearing to give to me since I didn't have one of my own and needed one to make me a true Ke'kchi. How incredibly sweet!
Alright, I've already written a lot and haven't even mentioned our trip to Sarteneja and lovely stop in Orange Walk Town on the way back. Sarteneja is beautiful! I can't believe Manissa lives so close to the water in basically a touristy spot. She's doing good work there, helping a tourist agency, hoping for an animal clinic, and just finished her World Map Project. My favorite part was wading in the water then kayaking for the first time in the sea, soaking up the Caribbean sun... glorious. I can still easily close my eyes and take myself back there. I randomly met a guy from Denver who had grown up in Hastings. What a small world! I probably could have stayed longer, but we decided to spend a day in Orange Walk Town with a next volunteer. My time in OWT would best be described as relaxing which was much needed. We were given a nice tour on Monday although everything was closed as it was still holiday. I was glad we stayed until noon the next day to experience the delicious bakery and fabulous thrift stores. I had a wonderful break that's for sure, and just wanted to share it with you all. Sadly, my camera decided to quit working- luckily this was after Picture Day at the school and I traveled with friends. Feel free to check out their pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/cali.zimmerman/SantaTheresa# Loves and Hugs!

Falling into place.

2010-04-07T10:22:00.003-06:00

"Have you heard the latest?" This was my morning greeting from Mr. Chub while on my way to wash at the creek. He then went on to tell me he was informed by his brother that a tourist group would be bringing two computers along with a printer and a generator later in the day!! My response, things just keep getting better! This was just after a group donated enough practice jerseys and competition uniforms for our girls and boys football teams. A man from that group has also recently emailed me asking about a light construction project and I have high hopes dreaming of a playground or even fixing up the old library, making it a computer room. Also, if you take note of the comment on a previous blog, Bernard will be bringing some school supplies for us, too. Yippee!! I can't help but think I'm just in the right place at the right time. I feel I haven't brought much to Santa Teresa, but I'm sure enjoying being part of the excitement when things come along. What's next? Loves and Hugs!

I could never be Maya.

2010-04-07T09:52:00.002-06:00

As far as integration goes, I've been doing my best but I've known for quite some time now that I could never be Maya. One of the first times I realized this was while washing clothes in the creek. I don't mind scrubbing my wardrobe bent over a rock, actually find it quite enjoyable. The problem lies in only being able to do my own. No way could I wash for an entire family, not to mention Luisa still washes my sheets. So I can wash for myself just fine, or so I thought until given a lesson by a six year old. "Miss Amy, your socks are dirtied again." She grabbed them out of my bucket and placed them back on my rock. I scrubbed them a little longer placing them, okay, I admit, I even tried hiding them knowing they weren't as white as they should be. My critic was right on top of it though. "Miss Amy, your socks are dirtied again." I explained to her maybe I didn't know how to wash socks... obviously. She then cleaned my socks white white and must have worried about me not being able to wash my person because she asked who would wash my hair and after I shampooed it once myself she had me sit down so she could do a better job. The soaping didn't stop there and I have to say this was the first time I've been given a bath since, well, you'd have to ask my mom when she thought I was able to do it on my own, I guess I'm still not. But now I"m getting off topic because having someone shampoo my hair is definitely something I could get used to. I felt so refreshed plus my companion spoke to me as if I understood Ke'kchi and that would help with the next reason full integration will never take place.
You want me to make what sound? The glottal stop is where? Ever since training I've struggled with pronounciation. The throaty j's and silent b's give me trouble and after several times trying to say "jun" correctly I realized this will never happen. I'm also convinced I'll never have the extra layer of tough skin that allows for walking barefoot and grabbing hot panhandles. My attention span isn't as long either since I'm unable to stay awake until midnight for church service, mostly singing and clapping, then wake up to do it again the next morning for another six hours. I can't hear the bus until it's coming up the hill let alone distinguish one from another and if the corn mill is running there's no hope for me. I feel like if I would try searching the bush for edible plants I would end up poisoning myself and anyone unlucky enough to have dined with me. Maya women also have the ability to make a meal out of nothing it seems and they can knead like mad. I'm at it for what seems like forever only to find out the dough is still just as hard. I can't figure out how to wash my hands while holding the bowl that's pouring the water and I don't know what to do with chicken feet. I just realized how negative this post may seem, but it's all good; I'm having fun trying. Maybe in time some of these things will come along. I mean I was told by a woman in my village, "you can do what we do," after helping prepare a meal to feel most of the village. And being told you're a hardworker by a Mayan woman is quite the compliment, but all the time in the world could make me able to breast feed a toddler while standing on a moving bus, and keep in mind how bumpy those rides can be.

TFABB: take two

2010-03-31T08:57:00.002-06:00

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.

2010-03-02T16:23:00.003-06:00

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

2010-03-02T16:13:00.002-06:00

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

2010-03-02T16:07:00.004-06:00

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

2010-03-01T17:54:00.000-06:00

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.

Library update

2010-02-19T11:39:00.002-06:00

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

2010-02-19T11:25:00.005-06:00

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

2010-02-19T11:21:00.005-06:00

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

2010-02-13T08:51:00.002-06:00

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

2010-02-13T08:38:00.003-06:00

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

2010-02-11T20:06:00.003-06:00

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

2010-02-11T19:48:00.004-06:00

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

2010-02-07T16:53:00.002-06:00

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

2010-02-07T16:37:00.002-06:00

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

2010-02-07T16:29:00.005-06:00

"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

2010-02-07T16:17:00.002-06:00

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

2010-02-07T15:55:00.004-06:00

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

2010-02-07T15:07:00.002-06:00

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!

Making Fun

2010-01-10T12:04:00.004-06:00

"The only day that has been wasted is one in which you have not laughed."
This is my host father, Mr. Camilio Mas. When I first met him I was surprised that some Maya men like to keep their hair long, something about the longer their hair the more prosperous they will be..... I'm totally kidding. This wig was a gift from some tourists and we've had a lot of fun with it, but I wouldn't let Alejandro leave it in my house because I knew seeing it in the middle of the dark night would scare me. I love how we make our own fun. A >plate can be a frisbee, a clothes line a volleyball net, a board and a block a see-saw , and blow up a balloon and you can play for hours until it pops. I've always been easily entertained and that's a good quality to have while living in a rural village. Another thing I love is that laughter breaks all language barriers. I haven't wasted a day here yet. Loves and hugs!

Birthdays

2010-01-10T11:56:00.005-06:00

We had two Mas birthdays in December. Martha turned 13 on the 10th and Alejandro had his 16th birthday on the 18th. We celebrated with cake and balloons. I was able to ask what kind of cake they each wanted to make the treat more special and even found frosting and sprinkles. (I don't know if you can tell, but there is an "A" on Alejandro's cake." According to the writings on the wall the next birthday to celebrate will be Ione's, the end of March. After that, the newest addition, mine! Loves and hugs!

Math Morning Class

2010-01-10T10:30:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks before break, Mr. Chub asked if I would be willing to teach a few math classes for PSE extra practice. Right away I started thinking what time would work the best and came up with Tuesday mornings from 9 to 10. I asked Mr. Ical to announce it during class and mae a little note to put on the bulletin board. Florentina and I put together some problems we were going to give as homework but since we didn't have evening classes the week before break, I now had the preparation done. Of course I still made up some proportional parts problems for fun, just in case. I decided since the class was optional I should reward those for coming with treats-rice "krispi" treats. They would have been better had I used margarine, regular mini marshmallows, and fresh cereal instead of 123 vegetable oil, hard jumbo maple vanilla flavored marshmallows, and stale krispis. Hey! You use what you have. I guess they weren't too bad because I brought back an empty bag and there were only five students. We stayed past ten and really they just wanted a short break and then come back, but I said we could just continue next week. We passed around the volleyball for about a half hour and thought about putting up the next week, which didn't happen, but more about the class. The second week there were seven students. We started with a review of percent profit and discount. I'm not sure how many times they've been over this, but some are still not getting it at all. I've realized I've become one of those people who can understand math, but has a hard time explaining. I need to look for some games or other teaching strategies to help these students learn. I even thought of asking Patricio, one of the students who does understand to try explaining in Ke'kchi, maybe it's the language barrier? The last week I made no-bake cookies for the treat and oh my, I shouldn't have found out how easy they are to make and delicious they are so soon. Ha ha! There were eight students. I was happy to see more faces each week. We went onto ratios and spent most of the time on finding the ratio between two amounts of money, one being in dollars and the other in cents. I was surprised how much trouble the conversion was. I asked, "How many cents are in one dollar?" and got blank stares in response. When they guessed "20?" I rephrased the question and wondered if I had 20 cents and they had one dollar if they would trade me. Of course not, so we went found the answer together using what they knew, 4 shillings in a dollar, each shilling worth 25 cents, 4 times 25 equal what? This is not something I thought I would be teaching to standard 6, but it makes me wondered what other little things they were never taught. Most "learning" is rote memory, for example times tables. I don't remember repeating my times table over and over, so I wonder how I learned to multiply, and if I can think of it, I'll pass this on. My only hope is that I was able to help a little and those few students that came to morning class over break learned something.

There is no place...

2010-01-06T12:35:00.002-06:00

One of the t-shirts I brought with me has NU's school song on the back and whenever I wear it or it is hanging on the line, Hillaria always sings it. At first to the tune of, "The more we get together." Then one day I went for a walk with Rebecca wearing the shirt and she wanted to learn the song, picking up on the tune as well. When the two girls get together it is their favorite song to sing. Sometimes Hillaria will substitute "Santa Teresa" for "Nebraska," maybe we'll have to change more of the lyrics to make it her own. I also taught the girls " I am a C." They'll have to practice that one a little more before I record it though since I don't have a shirt I could wear backwards with the words on it while recording. Loves and Hugs!

Merry Christmas

2010-01-06T12:33:00.001-06:00

As you know from my earlier post my Christmas started with a package from the Graffius family in November and I'm happy to say I held off opening the gifts until Christmas day, bet we'll get to that later. The last day of school before Christmas break we celebrated by playing games in the morning then around 11am, women in the village who offered to cook brought the rice and beans and stew chicken into each class. The students all donated either food or money, which sadly kept a few families from coming. I joined Mr. Chub and the Standard 4's party. Before eating a few students exchanged gifts. It was the sweetest thing as they got in front of the class and said, "This gift is from my heart as a sign of my love for you." Of course there was also music and a little dancing. When I went to town on the Monday before Christmas I was surprised to find four packages at the post office!! The post man wanted me to open up the largest box to check the contents, but I asked if he could just look because I wanted to wait until Christmas. I was going to wait to open all four until Friday, but noticed some popcorn falling out of the box from the American Legion Auxiliary. This package was such a wonderful surprise and its contents were time sensitive-baked goods. I enjoyed digging through the popcorn finding cookies, brownies, lip balm, playing cards, soup base, etc. It was like a little treasure hunt. I was happy to share all the sweets (compete in Ke'kchi) with the Mas family and was shocked how fast they disappeared. Martha explained, "We've never tasted sweets like this before, that's why." One thing Hillaria had tried before was Smarties except she told me they were on a necklace. She was trying to refresh Alejandro's memory, so I asked how long ago that was. Maybe a year. What?! Will someone please send this girl a candy necklace? Haha! For Christmas Eve we lit my stove for the first time and roasted marshmallows making pseudo s'mores. The marshmallows were vanilla maple flavored and we put them between some of those thin waffle wafers. One good thing about being here is there are no expectations and everything sweet is delicious. The roasted marshmallows were good enough to bring Florentino and Ernesto back for a visit Christmas Day. Dad surprised me with a phone call. It was nice to talk to him. I took a couple naps hoping it would be enough to keep me awake for a long-lasting church service. I was prewarned that church would be until midnight, and I want to say we went around 7pm. I don't know what I'll do when I go to church back in the States and am only there an hour and a half tops, it will also be crazy to worship in English again. After four hours of singing and one hour of sermon the night was not over yet. We then went to Miss Louisa's parent's house for caldo and poch. I never really know what to do in large group gatherings around candlelight where everyone is quiet, but like always was taken care of and well fed. When I got my bowl of soup I noticed a white hunk of something about the size of my fist and from past experiences I knew better that to take a bite without further investigation, especially since I had a hard time breaking it with my fingers (no silverware, remember) Luckily, Alejandro was sitting next to me so I quietly asked him what it was. "It's a yam, Miss Amy." This made me chuckle thinking to myself instead of a Christmas ham I would be enjoying a Christmas yam. Okay, maybe it's not that funny, but it made me laugh at least. After we were done eating I got to carry Ione home, escorted by Martha and Alejandro. Side note: This was the first time I was advised to carry my money and lock my doors and windows when leaving the house. I thought, "On Christmas, really?" I guess they have a problem with some of the men drinking too much, gives meaning the song I kept hearing on the radio, "Please, Daddy don't get drunk this Christmas..." It's a pretty ridiculous song especially in that country twange. Anyways, since not one Christmas carol was sung during the 5 hour service I sang myself to sleep with a medley of everyone I could think of. Even though I didn't fall asleep until after 1am, the spirit of Christmas work me up early as usual. Santa had come via the post office and I was excited to open my gifts, or course waiting until the Mas family made their way to my house, the whole 10ft. I let the girls open the wrapped gifts and my goodness, couldn't believe all that was there. How did all that love fit in those boxes? I had a little area for my games before, but now I need a whole shelf! And stickers galore with more on the way. It's amazing to me the ways I'm supported. (Dawn that's is so neat! I can't wait to take them to the school and let the teachers use them as rewards for good work. I'm hoping to encourage more use of positive reinforcement and stickers are perfect!) Aunt Diana sent some baby clothes which got a few laughs. I knew why she sent them, thinking I would find a baby, not make a baby, but everyone else had other ideas. I'm glad some fit Ione and have found a couple other little girls for the rest. I have a new favorite t-shirt that matches my new red slippers, although I'll probably pack the flip-flops away until the ones I wear everyday now break. I was surprised how fast the first pair went. All the candy was tasty, my favorites, Peanut M&M's and Hairbo gummy bears. I added some to the North Loup popcorn I took to a few families. I thought I would share a little of Nebraska with the alcalde, my neighbors who had me over for tamales earlier in the day, the principal Mr. Chub, and the preschool teacher Miss Florentina- she really liked the gummy bears. So I have to say my Christmas was very pleasant. We even spent some time putting togeter a puzzle thanks to Emily and started watching a movie. Yes, we have a TV and DVD player! Another tradition I experienced but wasn't expecting was opening sweet cereal on Christmas. I don't know if Larka knew of my family's sillyness or if it was just a coincidence. Either way it causes some happy tears. This was my first non-white Christmas, but it was still merry and bright. Hope you all enjoyed your own. Loves and Hugs!

Letters and Invites

2010-01-06T12:31:00.001-06:00

One afternoon I walked into the Standard 2 and 3 classroom and saw a few girls writing, I jokingly asked, "Are you writing me a letter?" Thier answer, "No... I mean, Yes, Miss Amy," and during break I had three friendly letters in beautifully decorated envelopes. They wrote things from, "You are the only person in Santa Teresa" (I'm not sure what's meant by this) to "Please come to my house..." Soon I was getting more letters and invites just in time for Christmas break. I'm still at the point where I feel I need to be invited over to someone's house and even feel funny when the invitation comes from a 7 year old, but more and more I'm realizing unexpected visitors are welcome. I love it when people show up at my door, even at 6:30 in the morning, why wouldn't anyone else? It's not like there's much else to do in a rural village. I've visited a few homes taking along my cards and Pass the Pigs (and now Barrel of Monkeys). I'll have to leave the games for the next volunteer. Another good thing about visiting are my Ke'kchi lessons that always seems to happen. These usually bring about much laughter as I have trouble pronouncing most words, but I was happy to hear one the little girls saying "ninnau" which means "to know." I guess she was impressed with my vocabulary- mostly animals, food, and kitchen items, but it still made me smile. One of my letters even included an anklet, and another a picture, which almost made me cry as only some families have a few pictures, but Rebecca wanted to give me one so I would remember her and asked, "When you go home I just want one picture so I can remember your face." How sweet. I feel like if I never wanted to spend and afternoon/evening alone in my house I wouldn't have to especially since when I leave I'm asked when I am coming back. "Come back yesterday." (I think little Marvin meant tomorrow. Hehe. Oh, how I love that language barrier.) Loves and Hugs!

Baby It's Cold Outside

2010-01-06T12:30:00.003-06:00

Brrr... I never thought I would have the problem of not wanting to get out of bed in the morning because it's so cold. I even find myself wishing there was such a thing as nose warmers and am glad I went a little sock crazy when packing. Cold days are for socks with slippers (flip-flops) and hot cocoa. It must be the rain that makes me want to curl up in my blanket because my thermometer has never shown a temperature lower than 62. I have seem my breath though during my morning walks and when Rebecca and Hillaria came with me to town I was glad I had brought my jacket so I didn't have to see them freeze. Of course, they wanted ice cream. Finally it feels like December, kinda. Wait! It's January already!

My Own Place

2010-01-06T12:24:00.005-06:00

I now have my own place! I love it and I didn't have to move far. Actually, I didn't have to move at all. Notice the water tower in the background, one of those little things that brings me joy as it reminds me of home-still living next to the water tower. I had a hard time believing Camilio when he said he could take everything out of the house with my room, letting me stay and rent from them, but the day after I said, "Let's try it," the house was emptied and mine. I'm not sure where they are keeping everything, but they even managed to transfer the phone, which required moving the antenna pole and solar panel. I seemed to make a bigger deal out of the decision, continually going back and forth, each time being set for the last time. Now that I'm no longer in between I feel much more at ease. I've been decorating my place with the pictures and cards you have sent me, practicing my tape lamenating skills so they aren't ruined by the humidity.
Perks of staying close to my host family: The house was pretty much furnished. I got to keep my bed, there are lots of shelves, a counter, table, two chairs, Louisa is letting me borrow dishes and kitchen supplies plus she washes my sheets, Martha was sweeping my floor until Louisa made me a broom, and I can have all the corn tortillas I want and ocassionally they feed me a meal. Did I mention this is all for $100BZ/month ($50US). Sounds like a pretty good landlord to me. One thing I did need to buy was a stove so I could cook in my house. This ended up being not as expensive as I thought it would be as I decided to simply get a table stove. If I want to do any baking I'll have to find a friend with an oven, which may have already happened, but I'll get to that later. Then, not only would I have company, which makes baking more fun, I would also have someone to share the goodies with. I think it will work our pretty well. I was a little too excited when I got the stove, hose, clamps, regulator, and tank home (all brought on the bus). I asked Mr. Mas to hook it up for me, already picturing myself making some hot tea, which is funny because I don't even have a tea kettle. Sadly, the hook-ups didn't match and right away I knew I would have to wait. Surprisingly I wasn't bothered at all thinking to myself, "that's the way it is," although Mr. Mas kept thinking of ways he could make it work, none of which did. I was fine with waiting until my next trip to town, a whole week and a half away. I guess Peace Corps really does make you more patient, but by the night before the next market bus, Alejandro was outside my house saying "Yo'os," (knocking is unheard of). I said, "Okan" (come in) and he went on to tell me he was going to town in the morning. "Maybe there is something that you need?" Add personal shopper to my list of perks. I sent my hose and the hook-ups with him and he came back to then put it together for me. So yes, living on my own and renting from the Mas family is better than I expected it to be. Plus, the money I saved can go towards a ticket home, most likely for Christmas 2010. One holiday season away from family is one too many. Loves and Hugs!!

First things first

2010-01-06T12:14:00.002-06:00

I have a slue of updates to post, but first thought I would share with you my latest idea. I think the Caribbean sun has sparked my imagination and love how ideas are formed. Mine usually come as answers to the question, "Why not?" Like why not take individual pictures of every student at the school. Instead of being discouraged by my lack of resources to make this happen, I asked myself why not get some help, inviting others to be part of the story. Then I though why not find a photographer that would be willing to come here, take the pictures, and send back some prints. I mean, I know photographers go to developing countries taking pictures, we've all seen them, usually stirring up some feelings inside. Just think though how a child would feel to have that picture for his own. I then thought I should be the one traveling the world taking school portraits. Now wouldn't that be the life! I can see it happening sometime somehow, but back to Santa Teresa RC School. The kids here just want me to take their picture and of course see it in my camera, "Take my picture, Miss," but really isn't the point of taking pictures to have the print? I think we take advantage of this memory making luxurary. I guess what I'm asking for is help in this little endeavor. I like thinking of ideas but seem to have trouble deciding the best way to make them happen. Maybe you know a photographer looking for charity work, maybe you know a photo processing center willing to make a deal, maybe you'll keep this idea in your prayers and together we'll see where God takes it. Yeah, it's simple and definitely a little thing, I mean nobody's life depends on whether or not they get a picture of themselves, but it just might lift a heart, and to me it's those things that make the difference and give life meaning. Loves and Hugs!

Riddles

2009-12-07T18:59:00.002-06:00

When in Belize, it's good to know riddles. Everybody loves them. Here are some I've heard so far.
What has one eye but cannot see?
What has teeth but cannot bite?
What has ears but cannot hear?
What can run but cannot walk?
Why can't shoes talk?
What goes up but does not come down?
What goes up as the rain come down?
What gets wet as it dries?
What do you buy for eating but do not eat?
What kind of key lives in the jungle?
What kind of key kicks hard?
You can see yourself inside but can never be inside. What is it?
What has four legs but cannot walk?
So there you go, I hope some of them stump you for awhile, but if you ever come to Belize you will be prepared and if you have any to share, please do! Loves and Hugs!

First week of December

2009-12-07T18:07:00.003-06:00

Despite the hole in my ear and the three in my stomach, I believe I'm on a Peace Corps high. Last week was so great. I was constantly reminding myself, "this is Peace Corps, this is why I'm here." Of course every example is a small everyday happening, but I wouldn't want it any other way. When I first got home to Santa Teresa, I was greeted by nine baby turkeys. I guess it is baby bird season here in Belize as we also have ten baby chicks about to hatch and I see the cutust ducklings on my walk to the creek every morning. I also had a K'ekchi lesson the afternoon I came back from Sonia, Yona, and Sylvanna. Their mother was over visiting Miss Louisa and they came in my room to look at all my belongings. They started asking me the K'ekchi words for various items and went on to just point to and say what it was. My favorite part was when Sylvanna would point to something they used the English word for and say to me, "This is a BAG, say it Miss Amy, BAG." How adorable!
Other than observing classes I was able to help Ms. Max (Florentina) prepare and then teach PSE evening classes, and over my favorit subject: math, ratios and proportional parts even. I'm a nerd, I know. And while preparing the lesson, Florentina's cousin was telling us about the lodge where he worked, saying there were no guests for Christmas and how if we would get ourselves to Placencia, he would sponsor our Christmas vacation on a Caye. I'm doubting it will work out that perfectly, one of those too good to be true offers, but maybe someday I'll be able to get a deal from him. Back to teaching, my first opportunity besides subbing that one time. I think I need to work on my explaining skills, but a few of the students did understand, so that's good. Also, later in the week Martha told me they had ratio homework and she got a 100%. I asked if Mr. Ical had explained it better, but she said he just gave the assignment. Maybe I did better than I thought. Woot woot!
Then right after school on Thursday, Florentina asked if I would come over around 5:30 because her father wanted to talk to me. On the short walk home, two neighbor girls asked when I was going running again. To me, there's no time like the present so I put on my shoes and shorts and said, "Let's go now." We mostly walked, but those girls walk fast! They told me about their pet gibnut that was too small when their father captured it while hunting, so they're keeping it until it gets bigger. I told them to tell me before they make it into caldo so I can get a picture. We talked about the tourists that will soon be coming, a man who had recently killed himself. I want to say the older girl actually saw him in the house because she mentioned closing her eyes and still seeing him, maybe I should be more careful when asking who lives where. They also told me some village drama, oh my, and of course gave me a K'ekchi lesson. They asked what I liked to eat and kept talking about having flour (tortillas) and beans for supper. Then Rebecca told me that Celma was trying to ask if I would come eat with them. Sadly, I had to tell them, "next time," as I already had evening plans. When we made it back to their house, they showed me all their pictures and promised to bring me coconuts and ripe bananas to make some cookies. When I got home I changed quick to go over to the Max household. Mr. Mas thought I should eat before I went, but I knew better. Once I got there Florentina and her sister were baking tortillas. She said, "Hilan se ab (Rest in the hammock)." Instead I grabbed a stool and started to help bake. She was surprised I already knew how. We waited for Mr. and Mrs. Max to come home and ate one of my favorite meals- kahun cabbage. It's very delicious. Mrs. Max was just at a wormen's group meeting and I let her know I was interested in being involved and asked if she could let me know when the next meeting took place. Mr. Max was wanting to know from me if I was still interested in renting his house. As much as I like the house, I don't like that it's next to a bar, so my housing is still up in the air. I forgot my flash, so the three youngest walked my home. How sweet. When I got home there were people trying to use the phone. Usually I would just go to my room, but I knew the girls so I thought I would at least sit outside my curtained door, because here, that's not creepy at all. The girls wanted to play Pass the Pigs, which we did, and I absolutely love how their father wanted to join us so he could show us how to win. After a few games we played cards, and once Hillaria made it back from church we played Speed. I taught her how just recently because I have a hard time playing the same game over and over and over and over, which is what happens. She's already beating me. I need to get some more decks so I can teach them Jerry's game and Nertz.
The next day was Friday and durning break Mr. Chub was telling me about his evening plans of going to visit his wife's mother because it was her birthday. How I was talking to him durning break, I'm not sure, because all week during break I've been dragged here and there to play this or that. First baseball, which by the way is played with a huge stick for a bat, a tennis ball, and whatever can be found for bases. Then, duck duck goose. Then, volleyball. And mostly, football (soccer). First of all, it's way too hot to be running around and I get disgustingly sweaty, but it's so much fun, and really how can I say no? Plus, I want to learn to be a skilled football player, but it might be easier not wearing traditional K'ekchi attire. (yeah, I got a new dress made, sadly forgot to take a picture) Anyways, back to Mr. Chub's plans of going out of town for the evening. He surprised me by asking if I wanted to go along! Of course! We left after eatin rice and chicken and lemon cake. Yum! Happy Birthday Gloria! Her mother lived about and hour and a half away and I knew when I agreed to go I would be riding beneath the stars. This was my first Belizean ride in the back of a truck, but I'm not sure it counts because I had a cushion to sit on, but we did pick up a man on his way to San Lucas. I have to admit this made me nervous at first, but once he mentioned Lilly's name my guard went down and we had a nice conversation. We dropped him at his home and kept driving. I was glad I brought my jacket because little Ronda was chilly. I had another K'ekchi lesson from Nigel and Karen, and Karen was great about spelling out the words after saying them. When we reached the farm I was able to eat an orange and rest in the hammock while listening to the conversations around me. I don't know what I'll do when I'm back in the States and those conversations will be in English, it won't be as okay for me to just sit and listen. About 8:30 (past my bedtime by the way) we decided to head back bringing a chicken with us and some plants. I wasn't sure how a chicken would ride, but it stayed still, just like Karen after she passed out in the most uncomfortably looking position. I couldn't sleep though, I was too happy breathing in the Belizean evening air and admiring the beauty of the dark landscape and overwhelmed by the amount of stars.

Christmas Already

2009-11-26T16:36:00.003-06:00

I have to say, it seems so strange to see Christmas trees for sale in the front of most of the shops and then decorations inside. It makes me laugh as I walk by in my skirt and polo. There are already lights on the palm trees in town and Christmas music blaring from the radios. All these reminders of the holiday to come and I wasn't sure how I would take having Christmas without snow, but one night while walking to church I realized I may have a comparable substitute. The field was absolutely full of lightning bugs!! I have never seen so many. Miss Louisa noticed me admiring the beauty and commented with, "You see all the Christmas lights?" I smiled and said, "There are so many!" She responded, "It's because it's almost Christmas, Miss Amy, that's why." So this year I may not wake up to glistening snow, but if I wait until dark I will see a glittering field.
I've also received my first Christmas package. Emily you are really on top of things. And don't worry, I'll keep the wrapped gifts for the 25th.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T16:12:00.008-06:00

I spent Thanksgiving this year with my new Peace Corps Belize Family at the lovely George Price Center in Belmopan! Since there were 80+ people attending, we split up the food responsibilities by district. Those of us in Toledo were responsible for potatoes, bread, and appetizers. This took some preparation the night before and a day of cooking. I was on the last shift before the meal so got to help with finishing the products. I put my deviled egg filling and sliced bread arranging skills to work. I also learned how to make corn fritters. It was nice to have time in the kitchen and I enjoyed working with the other PCV's on a project, no matter how small it was, together. Wait! This was not a small project. My goodness, it was quite the production. Feeding 80+ people! Plus the tables were beautifully decorated and we all had a chance to express our gratitude on a poster. I wish I would have remembered to bring my turkey hands from Cora and Conner. They would have been a beautiful addition. Megan and I decided to write "Ma sa li wa!" Which in K'ekchi means, "this food is nice." The floor was also open for anyone who would like to verbally give thanks. I couldn't keep from smiling as I continued to look around the conference room as we all enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal together. This is a new tradition in Belize, only the second annual, but I'm sure it's one that will stay for years to come. Hope you all had a very blessed Thanksgiving!! Gobble Gobble!

Children's Day

2009-11-26T15:56:00.004-06:00

November 20th marked Children's Day, which is a day to celebrate the rights of child, so instead of sitting in classes we had a day of fun and games!! Oh how I love Belize! We met at the school for a quick assembly, which I enjoyed because I always like singing the Belizean National Anthem, "Land of the free by the Carib Sea our manhood we pledge to thy liberty..." Wow! I could almost keep going and write the whole thing, but it's pretty long, maybe I'll wait for a time I can post a video of the kids singing it. Anyways, after the assembly, we went to the field and started the races. First was the sack race, followed by the marble and spoon, then onto the three-legged race and needle and thread. All the supplies for the games were brought by the students. Some were assigned to bring the sacks, others the spoons. We also had an egg toss and football game before lunch. After lunch it was time for volleyball. The students were split into three houses "Toucan" "Jaguar" and "The Mighty Scorpion." The winners of each race added points to the score, but when I asked later how the winning team was awarded, this was indeed a silly question. "We're just the winners Miss Amy." During the day we had music playing and Kool-Aid to drink, it was so great and I can't wait until next year. It made think a day at the field would be a good summer, or even Christmas break activity, though. I'm sure I would just have to tell a few kids and the word would get around the village.

Who needs an oven

2009-11-18T08:54:00.003-06:00

One day I came home from school to Miss Louisa kneading bread, yes bread. For all of you who know me well, you know how much I love bread and if you think of how many tortillas I've been eating lately and how long it has been since I've had fresh baked bread you can almost understand how excited I was. One thing that had me confused though was knowing we had no gas for our oven, so how on earth were we going to bake bread. As usual, I kept the question to myself and instead offered to help. We went through a few rounds of taking turns kneading, Miss Louisa, Martha, and I and the bread was then soft enough. I decided to give in and asked, "Did you get gas for the oven," thinking she must have without me realizing. The response was no, I'll cook it in the fire hearth. What? You can do that? I was intrigued, but sadly had a meeting to go to and missed out on the baking process. I came home to beautifully baked rolls, still warm, and very delicious.
Luckily, I was home the next time baking was on the daily agenda. It was Edwardo's 18th birthday and I had bought a cake mix in town so we could bake him a birthday cake. I wasn't sure what kind to get, but for some reason I am always craving chocolate so went for Devil's food. This became a joke in the Mas household, them making fun of me for bringing home the devil's cake (I did find out it was Miss Louisa's favorite though, so we'll be having it again in March). Over my lunch break we mixed up the batter and I was still trying to wrap my mind around baking in the fire hearth. I thought rolls were probably a little easier, but a cake?!? I put all trust in Louisa as she told me to put the batter in a large pot which she then put in an even larger one. Since I'm not very good at describing things, I'm glad I took pictures.
Now I know how to bake on a fire hearth and that anything is possible!

All I Want for Christmas...

2009-11-18T08:42:00.002-06:00

So, we have a library, with many books, but one thing we are lacking are some magazines. Newsweek was suggested by my Standard 5 and 6 teacher and I think Highlights, or some other children's magazine would be great, not only for content, but also pictures. Even old magazines would be appreciated. We also could use some educational games, like Brainquest (oh, how I remember playing Brainquest) for learning centers and early finishers. And some letter tiles, you know, from old Scrabble games. -- This is for you Mom, I know we have an old game of Upwords that hasn't been played for maybe ten years. Throw those tiles in an envelope and send them my way!-- I love you all! Thanks for all the support. Hugs, Kisses, and Noseys!

Meet (some of) the Mas Family

2009-11-16T15:10:00.006-06:00

Louisa Mas (37yrs old, maiden name Ishim ~corn in K'ekchi) Not only does she look young for her age, she acts that way, too. She's always wanting to play Pass the Pigs or cards as we're sitting on the floor under the solar light. She was even trying to make fish faces after I showed the girls how ridiculous I looked while biting my cheeks and puckering my lips. Miss Louisa has taught me how to bake tortillas and laughs as I try to pull them off the comal. She always separates my food before adding the pepper, making me feel quite special and a little like a young child. She claims she doesn't know English very well, but I love our after dinner conversations, ocassionally about God. She also has a beautiful voice. I had seen a Bichlebal Sa' Ke'kchi (Songs in Ke'kchi) book held by people at church and I asked if she had one. Yep! She was surprised to hear me sing in Ke'kchi, but really I was just doing my best to pronounce the words if I knew the tune. Really, I just wanted to listen to her though. (Side note: knowing the tune does not help as singing in Belize you follow the person with the loudest voice, not the music)

Hillaria Mas (10yrs old, aka Darlene) At first I thought they were calling her "darling," and I liked that so much I still pretend they do. I constantly find her in the pata (guava) tree and she makes me laugh more than anything, which is good because she likes when I laugh. Lately she's been obsessed with wanting to fight me, of course I play along. She kept telling me she was going to give me a black eye to take to Belmopan as she raised her fist and squinted her eyes. She also tells me all the time she'll only speak to me in K'ekchi, from now on. Then she talk talk talks only to stop with a "don't you understand me?" look.

Ionie Mas (3yrs old) Now this girl knows how to stretch. Every morning after my stroll I take some time to stretch my limbs and every morning Ionie is right their beside me, mimicking my every move. She's the sweetest sweetheart and most of the time only talks to me to repeat what someone has told her to tell me. "Amy, go eat. Amy, pass the pigs. Amy, etc."

Little ones

2009-11-16T14:18:00.006-06:00

Here are the 4 year olds that have pre-school in the mornings. (Three year olds come in the afternoon). Miss Max, is their teacher and she is just out of high school, not even 18 yet. This is the first year for a preschool at Santa Teresa and about 40% of the children ages three and four come. Ms Max is impressed with how much her four year olds have learned already this year. After my first visit in the classroom, I thought I would be helping with creating learning centers, but to my surprise the room was transformed already. One thing we can work on is story time. I hope we can get some big books or maybe even make some!

Here are the Infant 1 and 2 children. Mr. Coh is their teacher and has been teaching for six years. I loved how they started their day when I was in their classroom, with a song, of course. "Hello _____, Hello ______. It's so nice to see you again. With a 1 and a 2 and a how do you do? It's so nice to see you again." What a great way to feel you belong. I think we need to remind each other more often how it really is nice to see them. I was surprised by how they all wanted me to check their work and was glad they weren't as scared of me as the preschoolers were. We'll just say I have a few new best friends that like to draw me pictures and walk me home.
And here are the Standard 1 students. Mr. Perez is my most experienced teacher besides the principal, I believe and I can tell. He uses many great strategies and wasn't about to have me simply observe. He kept asking what I was going to do while in his classroom and wondered if I knew any phonics games we could play. The only thing I could think of off the top of my head was to sing the I like to eat apples and bananas song. This was a hit! Before we sang it though, I asked the class for the vowels and vowel sounds. When I asked what word made the long a sound, they all said, "Miss Amy!" I also started some diagnostic reading assesments with this group and will continue with the rest when I get back from Belmopan. Most of the students were reading at a pre-primer level and even the ones who read better could only comprehend the primer passage. I look forward to seeing improvements as I spend more time here.

Little Bits of Life

2009-11-16T13:34:00.009-06:00

I love these delicious tuts (K'ekchi word for nuts). They fall of the tree and you crush them between two rocks. Hillaria loves to crack them for me. Probably because she saw how much trouble I was having on my own.

I have come to love shilling bags of water. 12 oz for 25 cents. Quite economical! (You can also get two bananas for a shilling.)

Funny how I live in Belize and still bank at Scotia.

Nephtali: "Miss Amy Miss Amy" as he comes and grabs my hands
Me: "Good morning, Nephtali! How are you?"
Nephtali: "Five years old!" everytime
Oh! My heart has been captured.

This is the puppy I have unofficially claimed as my own. His name you ask? Marshall. Given to him by Martha and Hillaria. I'm not sure why since the other puppies were named Steven Seagal, Rambo, Jackie Chan, and Van Damme. I guess that's appropriate, especially since raising dogs in a village is a survival of the fittest. I'm glad Jerry has outlasted the weaklings and is still in good company. Marshall and Steven sure do like to fight though. Oh! And the dogs don't really lift their legs to pee. Strange I would notice this, more strange I would post it, but it's so odd. They just squat down a little and go.

How do you wash your car in Belize? You drive down into the river a bit so you don't have to carry your bucket so far. I had to look twice out the window of the bus when I saw this.

I absolutely love that they make their own brooms here in Santa Teresa. It's the coolest thing ever.

One afternoon during break I was reading in the office when a swarm of girls came in. After they awkwardly looked at me for awhile I got out my pen and drew up a game of Hangman. They loved to play and I threw in a K'ekchi word (chabil, which means pretty, beautiful) to catch them off guard. That was quite some time ago now, but they still bring it up. They also like to hear me sing "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly..." And sometimes when I'm walking around the village they'll start singing as they pass me, "she swallowed a spider..."

My first Maya dress, made in school uniform colors so I can wear it to work and everyone loves when I do. "You are K'ekchi!" The PCV in another village has even been asked when she's going to get a dress like mine. I'm so excited my aunt is a seamstress. I may ask to watch her next time so I can learn and make my own.

One of the morning songs the students sing at school is "Thank you God for giving us..." Every once in awhile I'll here a student break out into song and insert "Peace Corps" when I'm around.

All these things make me smile, and then that smile bursts and I start laughing.

Loves and Hugs!

Library... before

2009-11-16T13:31:00.001-06:00

Here are some before pictures of the library. Of course our after dreams may not reflect the actual accomplishments, but I thought it would be a good idea to show where we started.

School Fair Marathon

2009-11-07T10:56:00.003-06:00

Of course with any major event, the first step is preparation. We had a follow-up meeting just days before the fair to finalize some important details. Most of the conversation was about rice and ice. Everyone was to bring 5lbs of rice and counting 10 people, that's 50lbs of rice which seemed like a lot to me. Another concern was keeping the drinks chilled. This is something I normally wouldn't think twice about, but here in Santa Teresa, it's quite the ordeal. Buying blocks of ice from another village about an hour away, washing bins to use as coolers and using a generator to power a refridgerator for the day. Mind you, THE other generator was being used for the sound system. After all the logistice were straightened out, the meeting was over. Fast forward a couple days and that brings you to another step, advertisement, only this was unplanned and on the spot. While Mr. Chub and I were driving back from Punta Gorda, we saw the radio manager of the closest kLove station. We stopped to talk and before I knew it were sitting in the studio broadcasting to kLove listeners in the area that indeed there was a school fair marathon in Santa Teresa on the 1st of November. And now to the day of the main event. First, to describe a school fair marathon. A marathon is a day long soccer tournament where teams from neighboring villages come early to register and stay and play until they lose. There was a $20 entrance fee and the top prize was $300 plus a trophy. The reason "school fair" was added you ask? So we could have Monday as a holiday. Oh Belize! And the best part, that wasn't confirmed until not even a week before. But since it was a fundraiser for the school and probably the biggest one (we ended up raising $2000) and all the teachers were working and it was a "school fair", Monday equaled a holiday. Now, how the marathon went. I was surprized to see truck full after truck full of teams show up and even a bus! I kept thinking I should have told the PC Gibnuts about the day, I wonder if they would have come. There were about 16 teams and things got a little heated when one of the Santa Teresa teams was disqualified for having a player who was registered on another team. (This is still an issue and there's some trophy drama along with it, but I hope it gets cleared up soon.) I'm not sure a marathon would be a marathon without a dispute in the rain. Did I mention it rained most of the day? Oh yes, and the games went on. The other Santa Teresa team ended up getting 2nd so one trophy and some prize money stayed in the village. I know I wish I could have helped more than I did, but they already had everything under control, maybe next time.

Visitors Visitors All Over the Place

2009-11-07T10:45:00.002-06:00

It was so great to meet Wes and Peggy from TFABB!! I'm happy I'll be seeing more of them and was surprised how interested they were in my adjustment. Plus, they brought me candy! How great to be in a place where people are FOR me. I was way off thinking this Peace Corps experience was going to be done on my own. They were supportive of my project plan ideas and commented on my relational skills. Again, positiveness filled the air. I'm excited to finish up what I can in the library this week and move on to outcome indexes, checklists, and baseline data next week. Then onto reflecting with Mr. Chub, making sure he's the one giving me direction-it is his school- and after that... word walls, diagnostic reading assessments, learning centers, and the 6+1 traits of writing. Woot woot!
I was so excited about that I almost forgot to mention the other visitors of the day. The Roman Catholic Manager came to the school for a community meeting mostly addressing the importance of pre-school. Before the meeting we were having a conversation in the office, well, he was talking to Mr. Chub and I was listening, about some needs of the school. The National Library Service was brought up and the fact they helped with furnitures made Mr. Chub take note. There's also a possibility of librarian training if it is open to the public which I am all for. The larger meeting was in K'ekchi, but I did my best to pay attention and even wrote down a few words to ask for translation later. I need to do that more often, just carry an exercise book with me at all times and continually ask people to teach me a new word. Hey! After two years, I should have quite the vocabulary. Soon I'll be giving you a lesson.

It's Official!

2009-11-07T10:34:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I've been a volunteer now for awhile since swearing in was on October 22, but this was my first opportunity to update my blog. And as a forewarning, from now on, posts will be sporadic and timing will be off. I'll do my best though. Okay, back to swearing in. My last week of training was in Belmopan and honestly, I did not want to leave Santa Teresa. I like my village and feel so much at home here, but I knew it was pretty important to go, so I thought I better. (Actually, I don't think I had a choice.) We did some final paperwork and of course had to practice for the ceremony so it all went well. And I must confess, even during the rehearsal I got goosebumps realizing the significance of being where I am. And of course, got a little teary eyed at the actual ceremony. Roger German gave our vote of thanks and mentioned fulfilling one of his life-long dreams and how he was sharing the moment with his new family. I would say our group is pretty close, plus it's pretty amazing there are still 40 of us here, we hope to stay just as solid. But back to living your dreams. I'm not sure I'll ever get over how neat this experience has been and I'm just getting started. I can't imagine what's to come. After the ceremony we had lunch, creating a little Maya Mopan circle. It was nice to see Miss Carmelina, Mr. Fransico, and the Cus family. We had an afternoon break when the 1st years took on the 2nd years in a game of football. We lost, but it was fun. The evening was spent at the US Embassy. Ambassador Thummalapally was very friendly and hospitable, informing us that his next job would be working for Peace Corps. It's nice to have such great support from important people.

Maya Mopan Visit

2009-10-21T08:16:00.002-06:00

The other night I wne to go visit my Maya Mopan family. I was a little nervous as the visit was without warning. I wondered how awkward it would be, but at least I had a picture to give Miss Santa of the both of us in Belize City. While walking towards the house, one of the neighbor boys that always played cards with us said, "Chepe is waiting for you." (Chepe is what they call Jose', Jr.) How funny! Then, he turned around on his bike to go tell everyone I was coming. I went into the house, gave a round of hugs, and handed Miss Santa the pictures. I told the kids I came to play cards so we did. While playing, Shirley ran across the street to give me a hug, so great to see her, too. She kept going back into the house, coming out to ask me questions for Miss Santa. "How long are you staying?" "Are you staying the night?" "Why aren't you staying the night?" "When are you coming back?" After playing cards for awhile I was fed some eggs, cheese, and of course, corn tortillas. Plus, I had a coke! I got a K'ekchi lesson, being quized with vocabulary by little Jose' and Carolina was telling Miss Santa I lived in Santa Teresa, which has no electricity and that I bathed in the river. I was asked what I had been eating and tried my hardest to use my K'ekchi. "Cua, arin, aros, kenk, chilan, cuiy, wech, tul, papai, ramen, calaloo, mulb..." (corn tortilla, flour tortilla, rice, beans, chicken, pork, armadillo, plantain, papaya, Ramen noodles, calaloo, eggs..." They also asked about my phone number because they had tried calling. Awww. How sweet. I told them I didn't have cell phone service and wrote down the community phone number. I guess this really surprised me. I almost didn't go becasue I thought it would be uncomfortable, thinking I would wait for more time to pass. But they were already wanting to see how I was doing. The connections was deeper than I realized. When I had to leave I gave another round of hugs, stating I would be back in a month. Carolina even walked me back to the resource center where I was meeting Greg and Kevina to catch a cab back to Belmopan. What a beautiful night!

Why I love Santa Teresa

2009-10-17T15:42:00.002-06:00

I've realized I can have this as all my titles, so from now on, it's a given.

I would tell you this precious little boy's name, but when I went to visit he was only three days old and didn't have one yet. I was so happy to go meet him and even got to hold him, but absolutely loved the reason we went. Miss Louisa told me about our neighbor who had just had a baby so she was planning on making some tortillas to give to their family, "that is what we do here." I'm lucky to live in a village where people take care of each other.

Standard 6

2009-10-17T15:23:00.002-06:00

These are the Standard 6 students along with their teacher, Mr. Ical. Standard 6 is equivalent to grade 8 and the final class of primary school. At the end of the school year, these students will take their PSE (Primary School Exam) to see if they can go on to secondary school. Different schools require different scores. So this test is very important. Most of the students must write support letters as there is a fee to take the exam. So much pressure at such a young age. The teachers are offering extra classes (I might help with the math!) after school each day to help the students prepare. You may wonder what happens to those who cannot afford continuing their education or to those who fail the PSE, but keep in mind, children are only required to be in school up to age 14, so some are finished on the day of their 15th birthday. This contributes to the fact that about 40% of students finish primary school here in Belize. I hope to see all these Standard 6 students at Santa Teresa Roman Catholic School taking the PSE in June and going on to secondary school!

The 12 reasons my placement is the best for me*

2009-10-17T12:11:00.003-06:00

*to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas

The first reason my placement is the best for me
Santa Teresa is a great place to be.

The second reason my placement is the best for me
Ma sa aachol
Santa Teresa is a great place to be.

The third reason my placement is the best for me
Miss Liz paved the way
Ma sa aachol
Santa Teresa is a great place to be.

4. Working with TFABB
5. PIGS ON THE LOOSE
6. Safe roads to run on
7. Library in progress
8. Living with the chairman
9. Welcoming churches
10. School staff is willing
11. Health center's open
12. Bathing in the river

Now some descriptions
1. In general, just being in Santa Teresa makes me happy.
2. It's a Ke'kchi community, so my chances of continued learning are high.
3. The volunteer before me was well respected.
4. Teachers For A Better Belize is a start up program with the goal of helping schools in the Toledo district. This is the first year, so Santa Teresa will be a model program. I'm excited to work with TFABB.
5. There are pigs everywhere! And you all know how much I like pigs.
6. I have motivation to wake up and put on my running shoes. Not only are the roads free of vehicles, I love seeing the sun rise through the palm trees.
7. The library is full of books already. Now we're working on a check-out system. Some of the students made the pocket cards and I started gluing them in the books and recording the books in a registery. During break, all my volleyball girls came looking for me and I gave them glue sticks to help- 15 minutes of "Can I have a book please, Miss?"
8. The Mas family is a very wonderful. I will soon dedicate a whole post to them with pictures!
9. I've been to the Baptist church twice and the pastor gives quite a good message in K'ekchi then translates in English.
10. The staff at the school actually likes when I visit their classes and have given me some ideas of where to start.
11. There's a new clinic staffed by a doctor from Cuba every Monday through Friday.
12. No explanation needed. :)

Two Truths and a Lie

2009-10-17T11:54:00.002-06:00

I live in the jungle.
I live in a thatch house.
I live in a village of 200.

I go to bed at 8pm.
I sleep in a hammock.
I wake up at 5am.

I have tasted gibut.
I have tasted armadillo.
I have tasted iguana.

I finished reading "Searching for God Knows What."
I finished reading "Lovely Bones."
I finished reading "I Was Told There'd Be Cake."

Oh how I love Santa Teresa. Funny how it was the village I easily was wishing for someone else, but now that I'm here I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. I know my site is the best! The first person I met from my village at the counterpart workshop was my host father, the village chairman. He told me about his family and how he will teach me to catch a green iguana and take me fishing in his handmade canoe. (He is a licensed tour guide, so if you come visit me...) Next walked in the principal of the school and I couldn't help but notice he had a smile on his face at all times. He told me about his family, the village, and the school which made me excited to leave the workshop and get home. Yes, Santa Teresa became my home away from home in no time. Already am I greeted with, "Hello Miss Amy," by everyone who passes. My host family speaks in K'ekchi, translating only when I'm not understanding something important. I'm far from the conversation level, but there is hope. After giving me a Bible in Ke'kchi, my host father said, "in a month's time you will be Ke'kchi." Since I was already planning on reading from Genesis to Revelation. I can now do it in two languages!
Now, back to my little game. I'm pretty sure you've guessed correctly. I tried not to make it too hard. Yes, I live in the jungle of Belize. The scenery is beautiful. Yes, I live in a thatch house. No, Santa Teresa has a population of about 520, but I'm pretty sure there are only 10 last names. Yes, I go to bed at 8pm. No, I do not sleep in a hammock, but I do take afternoon naps in one. Yes, I wake up at 5am. Yes, I have tasted gibnut. I like it better in stew than smoked. Yes, I have tasted armadillo. It is very tasty, but beware of the scales. No, I have not tasted iguana, but I'm sure I will. Yes, I have finished "Searching for God Knows What." No, I have not finishe "Lovely Bones," but I'm on my way. Yes, I have finished "I Was Told There'd Be Cake." I really enjoy reading and have the time, so if you have any suggestions send them my way... literally. Hehe! :D Or just let me know and I can look for them. Loves and Hugs!

"You are a good Ke'kchi."

2009-10-04T10:48:00.001-06:00

This was inside a card given to me by little Jose'. He also wanted to make cards for Grace, Greg, and Kevina telling each of them, "You are my best friend," and drawing the best pictures. I also got a nice note from my cousin, which I thought was worth sharing, so I'm glad I got the chance this morning before heading down to PG. Here it is, word for word.
"Hi AMY
I hope u enjoy being here in Maya Mopan and in our family.
I never new that if a person can appear in our family for five weeks like you. You were a great person, hard working and was very intrested to no our culture and language. I was so glad that u were here so we can have some fun together and u even teach us things. It was a great pleasure for u to be with us as part of our family. I hope u enjoy being with us and that u will always remember us, wish good luck for us and also pray for us as just how we are going to do.
I wish u the best where ever u go and that the good Lord be with u always.
So thank u once more for being a nice person, and I am proud of u that u are learning some k'echi words and I expect more at 2 years time or maybe even the best. I'll miss you a lot!
From Supper Mario"

Pictures!

2009-10-03T18:52:00.003-06:00

So yeah, there's a picture of me and my host brother and sister on our porch. One of me and Shirley. A couple from the zoo. One from the parade. And my host dad peeling an orange the Belizean way.

Site Assignment!

2009-10-03T14:49:00.000-06:00

I never know how to start my entries, so I guess this is as good as any. I love reading all your comments; it's so encouraging. A big thanks, too, to all of you who have sent me letters. I absolutely love checking my slot at the office on Fridays and seeing letters from home. I've been pretty busy I guess. Last night while eating dinner at Friendship restaurant I saw a calendar and thought to myself, “That's funny, they already have their October calendar up.” Then I realized it actually IS October! Crazy to think I've been here since August. I called my sister to wish her a happy early birthday since I won't have the chance next Saturday and Cora answered. She asked me if I was still in that place. I told her, yes, I'm still in Belize and she responded with, “Awww... Bummer.” What a cutie. She was happy I called though and I was happy to talk to her. And speaking of nieces, I now have one in Maya Mopan. I was wondering why I felt connected to my little neighbor girl right away. The first time I met little Shirley, her smile went straight to my heart. Then one night I went to church with her and her mother I was given more family information. I'm still not entirely sure how everyone fit together, but I've fully accepted I will never completely understand what's happening around me for the next two years. Wait... when have I? Anyways, the aunt-niece connection stands true even here in Belize with host families. And about going to church, that's a story in itself. I decided to go even though I wasn't sure my host mom really wanted me to go and my little brother kept telling me they would be mean and kick me out, which was very confusing since I was going with family. Once I got there my eldest host brother welcomed me as his “friend” wishing me the best, which was the first time I ever heard him talk since he's never around the house and when he is, stays in his room. It was a nice gesture and he also was translating the sermon which was about being happy in your heart because of the Lord. I was very happy and absolutely loved singing the worship songs. It was one of those moments I couldn't even sing because I was overwhelmed with joy, reminding me once again how much I love being in Belize. Also during the service I was asked to come up and share my testimony, how's that for on the spot? I asked if I could just share a favorite verse, so I recited 1 John 4:12 “For no one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made complete within us.” Even though most of the congregation couldn't understand what I said, they clapped anyways. I wish I would have been able to share a verse in Ke'kchi, which I may be able to do sometime because I was given a pamphlet with a few verses in Ke'kchi. Woot woot! Language training has been going pretty well. Most of mine is outside of class with my host family and I sometimes I can pick up on a few words, like after getting a sunburn they were making fun of me and I knew it. I also have fun playing “Ani xk'aba...” with little Jose, asking each other the name for different things. One time this even drew in a crowd. Of course we were sitting on the veranda while people were coming for tortillas, but while waiting most of them were listening and word even got around to Grace's host mom that I knew my Ke'kchi. Ha ha! I wish, but someday, especially since I'm moving to Santa Teresa. Yes! I got my final placement site! I'll be living in Santa Teresa which is a Ke'kchi village of about 400 with no electricity, but access to running water. When we went to visit the site they were thatching a house and we also took a look at the brand new corn mill. The community seemed very nice and the school was super excited to have their volunteer. I have boxes waiting for me. Plus, I'll be working with a women's group for my secondary project who just received a $30,000 ($15,000 US) grant to be used for a solar powered computer lab. There are endless possibilities and I'm getting more excited by the minute.

Cornflakes

2009-09-17T15:24:00.002-06:00

Some like them hot.

The other morning I was greeted by my host brother with a question of whether or not I liked cornflakes. Yes, indeed! Not much beats a bowl of cereal and milk especially when you haven't had it for a month. I was pretty excited when I walked into the kitchen and saw the box sitting on the table. My host mom got the biggest bowl out of the cupboard of course and opened the box --side note-- the bag had a huge slit in the side even though it was new, I'm wondering how common that is. Anyways, back to my breakfast. I didn't see any milk around except the can of evaporated milk which scared me a little, not only because I was curious as to how cornflakes would taste with evaporated milk, but she was opening the can with a knife the size of her forearm. The can was safely opened and yes, she did pour the syrup like substance over my cereal. But before I could decide exactly how I would choke it down she blew my mind again, pouring boiling water from the stove in the bowl as well. Ha ha! I guess there's a first for everything. And so you know, I had hot cornflakes again today, and I think I like it.