January 24, 2010

January 24, 2010

 

This weekend has, again, been amazing. I honestly can’t even describe how great it was. Gerry and Dan, our professors, were in town and are in town until Wednesday. They came and observed my teaching on Friday. I was so nervous for them to see my lesson. I did well on my observation though. My class was really good that morning. After they observed me they came over to my house and had lunch with me. They talked about what I did well and how I can improve for my upcoming lessons.

 

Friday afternoon we immediately went to the beach. We do that every day! As soon as school is over, I am completely gone! I just think about how gorgeous it is and how much I want to be outside. We bike everywhere! We swim everyday. It’s gorgeous out here! I feel like a bad teacher sometimes, but it SO hard to be a good teacher when there is so much to do outside. Planning for lessons isn’t my favorite thing to think about. I do love the kids though! They are so much fun!

 

One day we all played football after school in the water. The water at one of the piers is only up to your waist so it’s perfect for playing. We tackled each other and ran like hell. It was tiring but it was the most fun.

 

Friday night we went out here in Punta Gorda. We went to Waluco’s with our professors and we sang karaoke. The boys are pretty talented. The three of them have gotten really close. Too close… J Then we went out to the sports bar and, of course, danced. Mackenzie and I were the only white people dancing and all the black girls were looking at us laughing.

 

Saturday we went on a day trip with our professors. Gerry got UMD to pay for one day of fun for all of us. We all went out to the cacao farm. It’s only 40 miles away but it takes SO long to get anywhere. None of the roads here are paved and usually on those roads it’s so choppy that it’s hard to drive over 20 miles an hour. When we got there it was SO HOT AND SUNNY. It ended up being fine though. It was an organic farm that makes chocolate. Pretty amazing. Juan, our tour guide, took us through and we all harvested our own chocolate plants. Ty broke one in half and there was this wet, nasty, brain in the middle. Not at all what I thought it was going to look like. Juan harvests all the cacao by hand and then they crack the fruit open. They use the beans that are inside the fruit to make the chocolate. The bean is just like a peanut. We had to crack the shell and then put the chocolate down. Then we had to winnow the beans and then we had to grind it down until it turned into a liquid. It was so cool to see how the whole process worked. I feel bad eating chocolate after seeing all that goes into it. Juan was SO smart about farming. They care so much about all the animals and plants that are on the farm. He grows other fruits for animals to eat so they will stay out of the cacao plants.  He also does the farming at the same farm that his dad started. He names the chocolate after his mom and does the tours to teach people about the ancient ways that Mayans would harvest and make chocolate.

 

After that we got to go back to Rio Blanco. It was so fun to go back there with everyone. I’m so glad that we’re all together. We have such a fun group. We all got to jump and swim together. It was a blast.

 

Sunday (today) me and Ty had to get up early. His class had a confirmation acceptance program this morning. Church started at 7:30 this morning so we had to leave his house by 7 to bike down there. I got to meet some of his students and help them get their pins on for the church service. He will be such a good teacher. I’m really proud of him. He makes me wish that I was a better teacher! I think at some point we’re going to try to co-teach for at least one day.  (I also want to go and observe Mackenzie and Jess.)

 

Then we had to get back to our houses to get ready. Elena’s son, Howard, brought Ty, Nate, Mackenzie and I to Blue Creek today. There are waterfalls, hiking trails, and caves there. We have been wanting to go SO bad. We had to drive there through the bumpy, dirt roads. It took a long time but when there is jungle all around you there is a lot to see and the time flies by. The house next to the beginning of the trails is where the tour guide lives. He had other plans for the day so he couldn’t take us through the caves at all, but he let us take his headlamps and go swim through there anyway. Elena packed us lunches and we had all out towels and stuff there so Howard staying with our stuff at the entrance of the cave.

 

It was honestly UNBELIEVEABLE. There were waterfalls leading up to a cave that was in the middle of huge mountains that were covered in a thick rainforest. The water was perfectly clear and you could see the fish swimming around. The cave didn’t even look real.

 

It wasn’t scary at the entrance but once we got into the first area we were already scared. If you have seen the movie, “The Descent”, you know what being in a dark cave is like. It’s terrifying. Between the four of us we had two headlamps and one regular flashlight that Nate was just carrying and swimming with. The water there wasn’t deep but we had to swim if we weren’t climbing for the most part. The water was unbelievably clear and clean. I can’t believe how gorgeous it was in that cave. We got to the point after the first 20 minutes that if we turned off our lights there was no light in sight of us. Anywhere. There were waterfalls in the cave too. We could hear them and we wanted to get to them so bad. It was absolutely amazing! I have never in my life been so scared and had so much adrenaline. At one point I was so scared that I literally started crying a little bit. I just went under water and didn’t say anything to anyone. Haha.

 

When we got back to the entrance and we could see the light we had SO much energy and adrenaline rushing through us. We were pretty excited that we made it. I just wish there would have been a way that we could’ve gotten pictures inside that cave. It’s something that I will never be able to explain to anyone. I am for sure taking my family on vacations like this someday. I don’t know why anyone would bring their kids to Disneyland over a vacation where you do insane things. This country is so gorgeous and there is SO MUCH TO DO. It only costs $10 to go to these parks and you could easily spend an entire day there without trying. We were in that cave for about 2 hours swimming and when we got back we climbed up the side for a couple victory pictures. We mooned the camera for one picture. It reminded me of being back at home and mooning everyone. J

 

When we got out we ate our lunches and fed the fish that were swimming all over. There were well over twenty fish in the little area right in front of us. I was glad we fed them once we were out of the water.

 

I was already freaked out when we were swimming through the caves and climbing up the waterfalls in the pitch black but when we started hiking back Nate noticed a rope swing. The rope swing went out over water that was deep enough but you’d have to make sure you swung out far enough and landed in the right spot. Nate went first. Even he was really nervous. He of course jumped though. Then Ty went up. I honestly thought he was going to die. He went out and came back twice. He almost fell off the ledge. He was shaking and flipping out. I wasn’t even sure he’d do it at one point. We all died laughing watching the video of him once we got home, but he did end up jumping and it was pretty sweet. Mackenzie wanted to go too and she was of course shaking but it didn’t take her long to jump in. I had zero intention of jumping. Watching them scared me out of it. There was no way. But once they all said I should do it or I’d regret it I thought I’d better at least get up there and see how scary it was. Honestly, WAY less scary when it was me. I was still nervous though. I went in though and it did feel good! It’s fun to challenge yourself and have your adrenaline going out of control. Plus, how often do you get a chance to rope swing into a waterfall in front of a cave in the middle of a jungle… So sweet!

 

I could honestly NOT be happier with the way we’ve been spending our time here. We have already seen so much. It’s insane! Next weekend us girls are planning to go to Hopkins. We have no idea what we’re going to do there, but it has white sand beaches and it’s supposed to be amazing there so we’re going. Nate’s parents are coming to visit so the boys are going to Guatemala. We’ll all go there soon though!

 

By this Friday we’ll all be half done with our teaching here. It’s so insane. I am going to be taking over all the subjects after that and I can’t wait! I want to really have fun with the kids. The hard thing is trying to have fun with them but still get through everything I need to teach. I can’t even believe that I’m in charge of thirty-one seven year olds. Scary!

January 18, 2010

We are officially out of place in this town. (Kidding). Mackenzie and I were biking around town and some random guy who lives in PG was walking by us. He was sharpening a knife that was over two feet long. This is normal behavior here. Even small children are allowed to use large knives like this. They use them to cut down the thick plants in their yards. Anyway, this guy is walking by us, sharpening his knife and yells out, “Rednecks!” It was so hilarious! It’s interesting that the man casually sharpening a sword while walking around town found two white girls biking as more redneck than his own behavior.

            Nate and I biked by a house with little kids playing in the yard and a little girl yelled out, “Hello white people”. It’s so cute. Most of the time there are guys yelling, “Hey baby. Hey pretty girl.” They are just friendly. Usually not creepy. Almost everyone here is very nice to us and very welcoming. I can’t get over how at home we feel.

            Last night us girls were exhausted from a long day of laying around in our suits so we ended up just staying in. I can’t believe how much we laugh when we are just sitting in the living room. I can never remember what we were talking about. I think the boys had a little bit more fun last night than us. I don’t think they missed us. Haha.

            Today Mackenzie, Jess, and I went with our family and two bodyguards to the falls. Our host mom always has a lot of guys come with us everywhere just to be safe. We have never been scared. Also, to protect our things in the house she has a guy stay at the house and sit on the porch while we are gone. PG is the safest town in Belize but she is very protective of us girls!

            Elena made us all a lunch and packed it up into a bag. We headed up to the national park for cliff jumping. The majority of the way there we were on a gravel road so we couldn’t drive quickly at all. The roads were even worse than in Duluth! It took about an hour and twenty minutes to drive the thirty-five miles to the park. As soon as we got there we ate the dinner that Elena packed for us. She doesn’t usually cook on the weekends and we usually wouldn’t be here, so she said she was going to pack us some sandwiches. Instead, we opened out lunch boxes to see eight servings of rice and beans with chicken legs (me and Mackenzie’s favorite) and our favorite egg, potato, carrot, pea, and other random items salad! So good!

            Mackenzie and I were very anxious to jump in, but Elena said we had to let our food settle for an hour before we could jump off. It was hard to sit on the cliff and eat knowing that we had to wait. We decided to go hiking to kill some time. One of the bodyguards took us on the hike. He took us to this crazy bridge. We had to climb up a ladder on a tree to get to it. We were HIGH up above the water and started to walk across this bridge made out of cables and random pieces of wood. It was shaky and scary but we knew it was safe and we got a HUGE rush out of that.

            When we first got to the cliff again there was a huge family there. There were little kids, probably five years old, jumping off the cliff. So, Jess, Mackenzie, and I lined up on the edge. We were all shaking like crazy. We were scared out of our minds. Elena counted to three and we jumped. None of us ever touched the bottom, but we shot back up screaming. My heart was beating so hard I could hardly breathe. I was breathing like I had just run ten miles. I have never had so much adrenaline. How often do you go cliff jumping surrounded by a jungle?!!??! It was amazing! We jumped probably ten times each. It was the most fun to jump next to the waterfall by myself! We have videos and TONS of pictures. I am really working to find a way to get the pictures up because it is seriously AMAZING HERE!

            The boys wanted their boys weekend this weekend and I’m glad that we got our girl time. It was the perfect girls weekend. Lots of girl-talk yesterday, just laying on the pier and swimming. Getting my first real tan! Haha. Then today we went balls to the walls and tried to beat them at our self-made competition of who could have the coolest weekend. I would say we won. When Ty came over after they got home he was pretty tired though. I think they had fun too! I still hold on to us girls as the winners though!

            The ride back was SILENT. All of us were so worn out from all the adrenaline! Now I am just relaxing on the hammock, of course. We’ll probably eat soon and then we have church at 7. Two hours of church.

            The two hours of church went much quicker this time than last time. It probably was easier knowing that we had two hours instead of one. This time Mr. Mackenzie (known as “sex machine” in PG) said “Amen” exactly 75 times in church. Counting that probably made time go quicker as well. Ty actually showed up which shocked me! I was really happy about it though. He was probably the one that earned the most points with Elena for going to church this week. Elena LOVES when we go to church with her! She asked Tyler to get up in front of the church and read or sing or share something. Elena is such a sweetheart and everyone always wants to please her, so he actually did he. Now he is so excited because the church service will be on TV tonight. He thinks he’s a movie star! J There were so many people that got up at church but we were all proud of Ty for getting up there! He made us girls look bad though. After church we all got ice cream and burritos. We’ve been eating SO many meals here. I thought I would come back skinny and starving, but it will be the polar opposite!

           

January 18, 2010

It’s another sunny day today. It makes it hard to be at school all day. I am rushing off today to get to the pier and lay out! Today was fun at school. Tomorrow I get observed and I am so nervous.

One of the boys in my class today, a six year old, tried taking his bag home during lunch. I asked him why he was bringing home his bag and he said he was taking the afternoon off because he had, “very important business”. I told him to drop the bag and I’d see him at one, but I could hardly help laughing at him. He’s so cute. He struggles to get his work done and one day I told him not to do anything until his work was done. He got it done and when he gave me his notebook he looked exhausted, let out a huge sigh, and said, “I didn’t even breathe. I just wrote.” Keep in mind he was staying after the 20 minutes they had to write the problems, but it was really cute. These kids have me laughing all day!

I love it here! The librarian is a girl from New York who just lives here now and we both were talking about how we didn’t plan on coming here but now we don’t want to leave. She even has a boyfriend from Belize!

January 16, 2010

I never would have thought that I would spend the entire day of January 16th on a beach. The boys went today and tonight to do a fishing trip so us girls relaxed all day and laid outside. I used some of Mackenzie's tanning lotion and I got tan. Big day for a ginger! haha.

It felt so good to just relax all day, but tomorrow we are ready to get out and do some more fun things! We are getting up to make sandwiches and then heading to the falls. Elena (our host mom) and her son are driving us up there. We are going to hike there and probably do some cliff jumping. I can't wait! 

This week was so exciting. I can't believe that I ever have to leave. Life here is so laid back, relaxed and comfortable. And the sun and jungle are amazing! I just wish I had some way to put up pictures, although coming here is much better. If anyone wants to visit, please DO! I miss everyone.

Ty and I had our first official date in PG last night. I was nervous for it. The girls and Elena sat outside and waited for him. I kept trying on different clothes and showing them. I am a loser. Then Jess made us get together and take a picture just as the rest of the group was pulling into the driveway on their bikes. It was fun though! The food here is delicious.

We all went out together last night. Most bars in Belize have to close at midnight because very few places are inclosed, so the city requires them to close early because of noise complaints. Literally bars are more like tents than buildings here. But we met a really cool guy, Felix, and he owns an inclosed sports bar that was open until 3 AM. So we all decided to go there and sing karaoke and dance. It was packed. The DJ here is a parole officer during the day... Haha. It was really fun! We didn't make it til 3 though. Haha.

End of 1st Week and Weekend, first days in the classroom

The trip started out pretty shaky on Friday. I had to go to a meeting at Peter Claver in the morning before we left. It was really fun to see all the teachers and to hear about what they are doing at that school. We had to move the classroom of my cooperating teacher because there is espestice in the room. They are doing a huge re-model in the school. They are looking to rebuild, but for now we’re moving to another classroom with a new roof.

I can’t wait to get to the school tomorrow morning and meet the kids. I hope that I’m a good teacher. I can’t believe I’ve never met them and never seen my teacher teach and I am teaching tomorrow. It’s insane. I don’t even feel like I’m old enough to student teach… It’s nuts! I am so nervous.

Our plan was to leave at noon. Since we don’t have phones it’s a challenge to make plans. So half of us left at noon. Mackenzie, Jess, Chris and I left later on in the day. We didn’t even know that anyone got onto the first bus. We assumed that they didn’t. So, I walked over the girls house before the bus was leaving. They were gone. I biked in the rain to the boys house and they were gone. I pulled up at quarter to two (when the bus was leaving) and I was covered with mud. It was all over my shirt and my pants and I had a line of mud from my tire up my back. The girls and Chris were waiting and ready to go so I had to run into my room, change, grab  my bags, and run like hell to catch the bus after we already missed the one we were supposed to take. We ran and it drove past us. We all stopped and were sad. Then someone yelled that the bus comes back around to the next block and it’ll be coming soon so we started running again! It was nuts.

The bus wasn’t too packed and the ride was actually really nice. It’s amazing to see all the huts that are just randomly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle. Then we went and waited for the Hockey Pockey water taxi. It’s a little boat that takes you over to Placencia. That was a short ride. Taking the bus for two hours and then the water taxi only costs $15 BZE, or $7.50 US. It’s nuts. We got to Placencia and when we got to the hotel we were SO excited and amazed! It was literally right on the beach. They had a little hut with six hammocks that we all spent plenty of time under, and the ocean right out back. The ocean down here is so warm and amazing! I couldn’t even believe it! We had three rooms at the hotel and each of us only had to pay $35 US for the entire weekend staying there. We spent so much time just sitting in the hammocks, swimming, laying in the sand.

We also went out to eat at the Cozy Corner. It’s an outdoor restaurant and bar. It’s amazing! We had deep fried fry bread. Stuffed! So it’s a deep-fried tortilla (delicious!) that is stuffed with eggs, cheese, ham, bacon…. Who knows what else!!! Ty and I got up both mornings at 7 just to get over there! We were the only ones that made it out. As soon as I got home tonight I asked Elena to teach me to make those, so later this week I’m going to learn to make homemade tortillas and then made stuffed fry jacks! YUM! I am literally obese from this trip already and it has been one week. Not normal!

We all had the best time in Placencia! It was gorgeous there and we didn’t even have to go out and do anything. We couldn’t snorkel because it was rainy, but Ty and I walked around early in the day and we met tons of local people and just talked to them about the schools there. We are basically moving there! Just kidding, but it’s so easy to make friends around here. Everyone is so laid back and friendly. All the shops there are full of amazing, unique things! It’s great! Otherwise we spent our time outside at the hotel. Ty and I made a sandcastle this morning. It turned out amazing! Absolutely LOVED it! A little boy from London was staying at the same hotel with his family and he helped us make it too! Everyone else was at breakfast/lunch. The same boy was out skinny dipping that day. He’s only 5 but it was hilarious. Since he’s from Europe he thought it was normal but all of us were having heart attacks. He was completely naked with an inflated tube around his waist and he did a cartwheel. How do you not laugh at that?

We all had the greatest time today. It was hard for us to leave. We all got onto the water taxi together. I doubt that we’ll have trouble from now on. Lesson learned. And when we got to Independence we had a couple hours to wait for the bus. We decided to go out to this random field and play catch. We threw around the football and Frisbee. Then we decided to have a little punt, pass and kick competition. So, the boys set up that competition for us girls to do. I won. No big deal. J Then us girls decided to make the boys do a competition. They had to walk down the dirt path that this field had, doing their best catwalk. They had to then do their best dance move. For the finish they had to tell us their best pick up line. I have never laughed so hard in my life. The boys are hilarious. We have the greatest group of people and we all get along so well.

When we went out this weekend everyone was wondering what we were doing. We were one of the biggest groups and I can’t imagine a better group of people. Everyone is on the same page and wants to just do whatever and have a great time while we’re on weekends.

The ride back today was PACKED on the bus. I had to share a seat with a random buy and a little girl. The boys had to stand for most of the ride. I fell asleep somehow on the ride back and I woke up with my hand on the random guys leg. It was so hilarious but obviously awkward.

Now I’m just getting ready for a big day tomorrow and I am SO nervous. I hope I am a good teacher. 

January 11, 2010

 

The first day was amazing! I was so nervous to go into the classroom but the kids were great! The beginning of the day was pretty stressful though. Because the rooms are so open to the outdoors it was hard for me to concentrate. There was a man outside weed whacking (they weed whack entire yards) and it was really difficult for me to hear who was talking and to hear the students. I  have some trouble understanding the students because of their accents but I think I’ll get used to it quickly.

 

Since I was with fifth graders last semester I forgot how much direction the students need. I also wasn’t aware that the students had never dealt with numbers 100-119 before. It was my first day and I haven’t even seen her teach them, so jumping in there was scary. I had to really be aware of whether or not the students were understanding me. They were able to do one set of problems that I gave them but when I asked them to simply write the numbers 100-119 in order they struggled.

 

During the break time all the students were hugging me. That was fun to have the students act that way. Fifth graders don’t do that! I went outside with them and played duck, duck, goose and tag. They were having so much fun and so was I. They are absolutely adorable!

 

In the morning they do prayer and religion. Then they have mathematics and language arts. They also have a fifteen-minute break period during the mornings. They all get to go home from 11:30-1:00. That is their lunch and most students go home to eat. I walked with Daisia (our host mom’s granddaughter) to Elena’s for lunch. I will do that everyday! Elena has the best food. Then in the afternoon they do prayer again and then story time. They have Spanish, social studies and penmanship. Then they write out their homework and go home at 2:30.

 

However, teachers stay MUCH later! They are responsible for everything at the school. They clean bathrooms, sweep, wash… They have to do all that on top of all their planning. My teacher has so many fun games and posters up in her room too that she has made by hand. They are such dedicated and creative teachers. I am sure that I’m going to learn a lot. More importantly, I am going to have so much fun playing with these kids!

 

It’s so fun to get home and have everything clean. Elena is always working. She cleans our laundry so nice and it hang dries in the backyard. I just love it here! I feel so at home. Elena even organizes all out things in our room for us! She’s a sweetheart. Us girls have really gotten close with her and her entire family. Her grandkids and sons and brothers and sisters. It’s great! And she talks to me about Ty and makes him come do work for her.

 

I can’t even remember what my life is like at our real house some days. I miss everyone though. I can’t believe that I can’t talk to anyone, but emails are nice so send them whenever you have time. This life is so laid back and comfortable. No one is ever rushed. Everyone is friendly. I think there are too many people in the US.

 

I honestly can’t imagine a better experience than this! The weekend was amazing! We are learning so much about how to get around in different places and we can talk to anyone and learn so much! I think this coming weekend we are going to Antigua Guatemala. We will all travel together but I think the boys are going to do their own thing and us girls will do our own thing. It’ll probably become a competition to see who can find the coolest stuff to do and have the most fun!

 

I don’t know what could be more fun than us playing in that field the other day. I will try to put up the videos but it was much funnier in person. Honestly, if anyone can come and visit me-do it! It is amazing here and there is so much to see and do! Hopefully I can make you stuffed fry jacks!

 

Today was my second day and I feel so much more at home already. It went much better with the students although I’m still not used to the teacher smacking a yard stick around the room. She is allowed to hit the kids and she does. I hopefully won’t be doing that. Haha. I don’t think I could! Playing outside with the kids is by far my favorite part of the day. I can’t wait to teach them Phy Ed tomorrow! They are all adorable! I don’t have the pictures up yet, but I will put them up asap! 

I don't have the pictures but when I get them from the boys I will put them UP!!!! So excited!

Yesterday was a very eventful day! I learned to drive the Pate’s truck – manual! Owen took me out to the back road where his dad, who passed away, taught him to drive the same truck. He was really good about teaching me and I started out doing well right away. He kept making me stop and then start the truck again. I remember my grandpa telling my sisters to keep their heels on the floor and I was doing that too! It was really fun!

And last night we started our Wednesday night card night. However, we had trouble concentrating on doing that because we were all talking through the entire thing! It was still fun though! Everyone came to our house this time.

After I went to the school and ate lunch Ty told me that the boys were going hiking. I wanted to go so he said it was ok. I didn’t know that we would be hiking straight up a mountain! We went to Cerro Hill and literally we had to climb straight up the mountain through the jungle. I have never seen anything so amazing in my life. The plants and trees didn’t even look real. They were so beautiful!  We had to repell down the hill because it was so steep at one point. It was tough but we all agreed that it was well worth it when we got to the top!

Later on today Owen is driving us up to the rainforest and he said we will see a lot of wildlife there. We have seen parrots and toucans and heard monkeys. Of course we’ve also seen geckos and lizards but he said we will see baboons this afternoon. We are going right after our meeting with Nunez who is our supervisor that lives here in Punta Gorda and works through UMD.

This morning was a beautiful morning and my teacher didn’t come to school so I spent the morning biking around. I just bought a bike yesterday from our neighbor who puts bikes together. I can’t believe how resourceful people are here. They just make their own jobs and work everyday!

I hope it stay sunny and us girls are probably doing to head to the pier and go swimming. We also have to go down to the chocolate shop because we asked them to make cake for us and she is making homemade carrot cake. I’m sure it’ll be delicious with the fresh carrots from the market.

Honestly I think only pictures can explain the trip! I will try to get more pictures up. Of course, I forgot my camera when we hiked because I wasn’t expecting that at all, but I will get pictures from the boys and put them up!

I wish that everyone could be here experiencing this with me because it is so amazing here! Unbelizeable!

Yesterday we drove up to the top of this jungle hill and it was gorgeous. There was this sweet, $600 US/night, resort and they just let us hangout there. We sat in this nice furniture and just took pictures. Walked down and then up 390 stairs to get to the bottom where this creek was. It was amazing! We all want to stay there now. There is a massage room with a big window overlooking just JUNGLE! There are baboons. It's amazing.

Our host mom's grandkids are so cute! They lay with me in the hammocks and they just dance and play. They made me draw about 100 pictures for them to color yesterday. I wish they came over to color when I had just drawn all the name tags I made for my students. Took me forever! 

Our school has a new plan to really fix up the place! The roof is full of aspestice (not sure how to spell that) and they are getting new rooms. I have worked hard and have all my lesson plans ready for the next month so I can relax now for a little bit.

Unfortunately... I have fallen in love with the snack shack. I think I will be getting a chocolate banana shake everyday. Not to mention all the other food we're eating. Send me some big pants!!! :) haha.

I will put up pictures soon. We are heading out to Placencia tonight! I am so excited.

January 6 , 2010

We're getting really acquainted now! Our host family is really close to us now. Our host mom's sister-in-law is in the hospital and we went with her. Her entire family was there to see the sister and everyone was so welcoming to us! We spend the entire day just sitting outside laughing. I was in a hammock for about 4 hours yesterday writing my units. Her grandchildren are super adorable! I love them! The two little girls gave us a little concert and they laid with me in the hammock. I think they like me. 

We're getting bikes today so that we can get around more. We've been walking everywhere and the town is great. People are so friendly to us! People are always working. I'm not sure what they are always doing but they find work. Our host mom is a cook and she hires people to work in her beautiful yard! Our house is really clean and refreshing. (There was a little gecko in the house though).

We had all the boys over to watch movies with us the other night! It was really fun! This weekend we are going down to Placencia where they have white sand beaches! 

My school is very strict. It's the largest school in Toledo! I have to get all my lesson plans checked by my principal. I am nervous! I hope I'm a good teacher!!! I can't wait to meet the students! I'll be teaching Social Studies, PE, Art, Math and some Language Arts but because of my accent I won't do all the Language Arts. We also have a Spanish time and I might start teaching some of that too! It's not too hard thanks to SRA Bishop. :)

So far I love it here! I feel very at home. Us girls and our host mom just lay around in one bed at night and talk and laugh! 

We also went to church with our host mom. It was 2 hours long... but it was really cool to see how different things are here! There is a time where anyone who wants to speak gets up, tells a story, reads a passage and sings a song. Alone. One guy made me cry and then I had to meet him after church. Haha. I am pretty embarrassing!

It's nice to not have a phone but at times we get a little annoyed. It's weird to not talk and text people whenever you want but it's really fun to have people just pop in and out casually! Most of the time I am out on the hammock anyone. Literally for hours each day!!! I am bringing one home for sure!

I miss and love everyone so much!

Funny Things that have happened:

1. At the airport Ty's bag was lost, we had to have the plane wait for us, they paged our names, "Tyler Johnson, Alyssa Jerlow, Mackenzie Will,.....", then Ty had a hundred dollars of change in his pocket, a belt and watch. Stressful! But hilarious!

2. On the first night at dinner Jess called Placencia "Placenta" in front of our host mom and she burst out laughing. Asking how far away placenta was....

3. A gecko was in the living room and Jess and I woke up Mackenzie freaking out and thinking we should catch it and Mackenzie just said, "What do you want me to do?" Haha. We left him there. He was pretty harmless.

4. So far Jess' nickname is "Number 2" and Mackenzie's is "Larie" pronounced Larry! 

5. After biking around the town at 100 mph Chris walks up and sits on the porch with me. He smells awful... He's like, "yeah I've showered 5 times a day here" and I said, "No you haven't". All he said was, "I should." Haha.

6. All of Chris' stories

7. Our host mom's granddaughter was singing to us and she said to us, "Farty one, Farty two, Farty tree!" So cute! And she had to sing some songs to us! She stood up straight and did a great performance.

8. The boys made us "mac and cheese with hot dogs" butter and milk were replaced by oil and the hot dogs were replaced with sausage that we think was dog food. Mackenzie was a trooper and ate the sausage without realizing that the rest of us fed it to the dogs.

9. (There are lots of random dogs around town). A dog is barking uncontrollably at night and Jess goes, "What's going on out there?" and Mackenzie said, "He wants his leg back." Haha.

10. "Would you like to become my lover?"

11. On the first night we went to a bar out in the sticks that was apparently the nicest one to go to. Our teacher's daughter was with us and said we should all get a round of shots. There are 8 of us and we each ordered one shot... The bartender left to God knows where to get more Tequila and had to come back to serve it to us... Haha. Pretty small town living here! None of us have ordered a shot since!

We're Here!!!

We're in Belize! It's amazing here! The country is full of lush, green jungles! There are just little cities that are HOURS apart! It's so different from the U.S. The people here are so friendly. 

Our host family is amazing! Elena was waiting for us outside! It was great! She's so cute and friendly. She's a little chef! Even I ate and loved the food last night. This morning I had homemade tortillas and eggs with tomato and ham! 

Last night we just hung out at the house, talked, laughed and layed in the hammock. Our house is the nicest in town! Cute yard. All fenced in! I absolutely feel at home. All my things arrived, but I was one of the only ones with all my luggage. Ty's luggage was lost in Dallas and the girls had one bag left in Belize City. They should all get everything today though. 

Our traveling was really fun! We played cards in the morning and did games on the plane too! I think we have a really good group out here! We're all going out the the Reef which is a bar on the shore. It's gorgeous. We're going to swim before that! I went running at 6 AM this morning with Owen, my host mom's son and he showed me a lot of the town. Then her other son Howard brought me down to the market with Jess. Mackenzie was just getting up when we got home! 

We have orientation with Celia, who picked us up at the airport, at 2 this afternoon. We're going to start planning all our trips! We have SO many things we can and want to do down here! I'll hopefully put up pictures. (If I am smart enough).

Our schools are so cute! I can't wait to meet all the kids. It looks like we'll be busy working on school stuff Monday through Thursday (probably doing most of my work in the hammock) and then take Friday after school through Sunday to myself! Travel. Get tan... Do whatever I can while I am down here!

Thanks again for sending me down here and encouraging me to go! I miss everyone!!!! I had a great holiday and it's hard to be gone now but I know the time will fly by!

Oh and as you can see from the picture I decided to post.... I am still pastey white!