This week has been very eventful. On Thursday night I found out that we weren’t having school on Friday at my school because all the teachers in Belize were doing a demonstration in Belmopan. If they don’t get raises after that they will go on strike for a full week and go from there. I was pretty excited not to have school!
On Friday morning I still went to the school just to make sure that I didn’t have school and to see what was going to happen when people showed up with their kids and the teachers weren’t there for work. The principals tried to avoid the families and almost every door was locked up when I got to the school. There were students there but not many. Most of the parents had already heard that there would be a demonstration. I told parents to bring their kids home since I don’t have a key to my classroom and then some students started to cry because their families aren’t home during the day. That’s when I became a babysitter. I just made desert with my students, colored with them, and then Ty and his class showed up at my house and we all walked down to the market. Sadly, there were no hog heads on display but we had fun walking around with all the kids.
At lunchtime I was able to bring the students home since everyone goes home for lunch. Then I had the afternoon off. Of course, it was a gorgeous day! I had the greatest time! I biked over to Dari’s house and we headed to the pier. There were some little boys down there swimming that were SO happy to have no school. They caught crabs, starfish, and a couple jelly fish. Luckily, nothing bothered me when I was swimming. The water there is so calm and perfect. You jump right off into the most amazing, warm water. I will definitely miss jumping in after school everyday.
On Friday night Elena, Jess and I went to watch Ty and Howard play basketball. We made Ty a big spaghetti dinner so he had a nice carb load like back in high school. I even made striped delight, which everyone here is in love with. The game was at the complex, which is a big building right across from our house by the airport. The building is basically just random steal and leaves as a roof and siding. Almost nothing in PG is soundproof. Walking up to the complex we could hear a man yelling into a microphone, tons of cheering and shouting, and music like it was a huge party. We walked in and I was shocked. People can buy beer there. People were dancing. They have a guy commentating throughout the game. I was the only one cheering against a dozen huge black guys. It was fun! The guys played really well but they lost to “Hollywood”. That team was crazy. They were all over the place cheering and making a scene. When the game ended, “Hollywood” – the entire team – run into a huddle, ripped off their shirts, and started jumping up and down singing. I felt like I was in a movie.
The game was definitely the place to be. We were there the entire night. We didn’t get home until after 11 and Ty was super tired so we just sat up with Jess talking and laughing until after 2. I really miss sports. I love going to games and cheering and analyzing what the team should do. I can’t wait until Carter starts skating!
Saturday morning Ty and I had to get up early to meet King. King is a man who lives right by St. Peter Claver. He literally lives in a shack with nothing in it other than random garbage and nuts that he uses to make rings and other art. He does have a huge library and he could have money but he literally doesn’t care at all about money or things. It seems that no one here really does.
King took us out to the middle of the jungle. He used to live out there on a farm. When we were out there we saw a monkey and a tarantula. King literally climbed to the top of a coconut tree and got us some coconuts to drink. It’s amazing how clean the water is inside the coconuts. At one point I thought that King was lost and we were dead. We spent the entire morning from 8:30 to 12:30 either biking or hiking through the jungle. It was so intense. I was literally afraid that we were lost but we ended up being perfect! It was so gorgeous out there and we could Cerro Hill, which is the hill that we climbed in the first week.
In the afternoon we went and found some sea glass. It’s just washed up bottles by the salt water and it’s made to use jewelry down here. We made some pretty sweet jewelry sitting right outside that afternoon. The water was great and swimming couldn’t be better! Then we had stuffed fry jacks and had a few beers here at Elena’s. We are trying to spend as much time together as possible! That night we went and Ty and Howard had another game. It wasn’t nearly as crazy as the first night but it was still fun! I honestly think I had more fun watching them than they had playing.
When we came home we played cards – which we’ve done every Wednesday night – and Jess was the worst. I literally don’t think she won a single game of pitty pat. I love that game!
Sunday we just went to the beach again. I will never be sick of that. Then we went with Elena to see her son and husbands graves. I have talked to her so much about all of that and she is so amazing. I can’t even believe how many times I have cried when she isn’t even crying telling me about the death of her son and husband. I was so happy that she asked us to go with her. Church was rough that night. It was so long but Elena was happy that we were there and it was the last time that Ty, Jess and I will be with her at church.
It’s still unreal to me that this is our last week. I am so sad. I have a feeling that going home is going to be more of a culture shock than coming here. It’s so hard to imagine having a phone and a car and the internet and a million other things. Shopping… It’s crazy!
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