Stories of a Belizean Volunteer

about time a. . . quick recap

2009-08-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

Two months almost to the date since my last update. It was a short and hectic summer and since work wasn't keeping me "busy" updating my blog was a little difficult. so here was my summer in a short synopsis. like i tell my students if you have any questions feel free to ask at the end of the lesson.
JUNE:
School ended and i attended graduation and a few grad parties fun times. There was a real sense of accomplishment amongst my students and it felt great to be a part of that and support them.
two weeks of chill time then commenced, preparations for my summer "job" began and i hung out with my soon to be departed roommates.
Said goodbye to bobby on an unexpected early departure from PG, life as a second year was quickly approaching.

JULY:
Departed to pick up my family with departing room mate number two. Sad times had by all indeed. Susannah i miss you!
thankfully the sadness was soon overcome by the arrival of my family (well mom dad and will)!! exactly 342ish days since the last time i saw them.
Had an amazing time with said visitors, seeing mayan ruins eating mayan chocolate, traveling to caves, waterfalls, and introducing them to JV life in Belize. I again realized how blessed i am to have such an amazing, accepting, supportive and most importantly laid back family.
After family departed i returned and hung around Belize city for a few days until departing back home to PG where i planned more intensely for the arrival of our new volunteers in 2 weeks time.
Went to Caye Caulker, a tropical island paradise, with John (a volunteer in belize city) and his sister laura and her friend sarah to run a summer camp for the local kids. We had an amazing time, building sand castles, swimming, making tie dye, and paper mache, it was probably one of the best camp experiences i've ever had. Not to mention i ate lobster three times that week for a measly 12.50 USD!! insanity.

AUGUST:
on August 3rd. we welcomed the 7, yes 7!! new JV's to Belize adorned in clothing graciously donated to the St. Martin de Porres donation box from a very fashionable woman of the 80's. I in my neon colored house dress, kristen in her 80's prom/powersuit ensamble, john in his hippy clothes and pat sporting jort cutoffs and a skater boy shirt arrived in style to the airport to greet our newbies. The were surprised and we had the time of our lives freaking out local belizeans with our crazy wears!
Three weeks of orientation followed with highlights such as Iron Chief Belize, a trip to the zoo (which included two boys getting peed on by a Tapir the national animal of Belize) horseback ridding through the muddy rain forest of Belize, jumping off waterfalls, crossing rickety bridges, pickup rides, dinner in mayan villages and drumming sessions with Garifuna grandmas! not to mention summer camp round 2 and work orientation for me.

Work started this past Monday and my new year is starting out just fine!! They are the same students and i can see this year presenting the same issues, only now i have a slight clue how to handle them. I'm super excited for my new community and am completely in love with all 11 of us here serving in Belize.
needless to say in the land of eternal summer, my "summer" flew by with a wink of the eye.

note: I apologize for the sporadic incoherence of this post but i wanted to get it all down as fast as possible. once the internet starts working at work I'll have some more introspective entries. I hope everyone at home is doing well and had a safe happy and beach filled summer MISS you ALL!!!

Illegal for a few days

2009-06-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Who would think that crossing international boarders could be as easy as hopping in a skiff (small boat) or walking through a cow pasture? But that is exactly what two of my weekends in the past month have consisted of. Villagers here cross boarders nearly everyday, all they need are some good boots and a sturdy horse/donkey for packing all of their belongings on. They cross for a myriad of reasons, cheaper goods such as soap and farming materials. We cross for much less essential needs, Beer. Yes folks there is only one real beer in Belize, Belikin. And while you do have your choice between regular and stout, maybe throwing a Lighthouse or Guinness in to the mix every once in a while, Belikin is really your only option. So to taste some of the finer (sarcasm) Guatemalan delights we traverse boarders to get our hands on some tasty Gallo and Tecate. So beer is our reason (sometimes) for crossing but most of the time the beer is the last thing i remember from the trip. Here is an account of my last two boarder crossings and some reflections on them. enjoy and don't tell the Belizean or Guatemalan gov't, please!

Crossing one:
A volunteer passing through on her way across Central America in her recycled veggie oil truck (yes it was sweet!) Invited us on a trip out to the village to visit one of the many waterfalls that scatter the Toledo District. all four of my house mates and few of our friends took her up on her offer (its not common that we get a truck out the villages on a weekend for fun excursions). We suggested crossing over to Guatemala from Jalacte to chill for a little and get some beers to bring back to the falls. Everyone was game and so all 11 of us + one awesome dog got into veggie oil mobile and headed out. the boarder crossing from Jalacte to Santa Cruz Guatemala brings you through a creek, over a cow pasture, through some fences and finally you arrive in Guatemala. I felt like i was in the sound of music, fleeing the Austrian Nazi's on my way to Switzerland, only it was a tropical cow pasture and a muddy river instead of the Swiss alps and a bubbling brook. But you get the idea. There is no real marking of when one arrives in Guatemala, there is kind of a fence some people passing by started talking Spanish but nothing distinctly saying welcome to a new country. However i did know i was in Spanish/Central America when i got a whiff of that central American soap. Now if you have never traveled to Central America (well you're missing out and should get there asap, but that's another story) you will know the soap i;m talking about. it comes in a dish and is green supposedly smells like lime, but i don't really think so, its soft and mushy and sometimes gritty. Well it had a distinct smell and apparently it is only found in Spanish speaking countries in Central America. This was my tell tale sign i was in Guatemala. We got our beers traveled back to Belize hopped in the truck and went on our merry way. It was smooth and easy and one of those experiences where you say to yourself "really?! am i actually doing this right now?"

Crossing two: So this past weekend my roommate susannah and I went to Barranco with some friends for a weekend away. it was the first weekend of summer for most teachers and so we decided to make it an exciting one. Barranco is about an hour or so away on bus and is the only Garifuna village, all the rest are Mayan. (look up the names for details on the different cultures). one of our friends house sits a pretty sweet pad so we had a free place to stay and all we had to do was provide some food and get out there. We had not planned on a relaxing weekend by a pool, yes a pool, I don't think I've seen a pool in the last year let alone one right outside my bedroom, it was not what we were expecting and we were totally floored when we showed up! We were thinking of just going to the sea and getting a good summer tan maybe visiting some families we know that live there. But our friends Kevin and Rey decided it would be a great idea to go to Sarstoon, a small town on the Sarstoon river which divides Belize and Guatemala. So again i was preparing for a trip to Guatemala. We set out at 930 on a boat with our rasta tour guide to get some, yes again, Guatemalan beers and check out the scenery. Barranco is a fishing village right on the sea and so the trip to the mouth of the Sarstoon river was only about 20 mins. We pull into the river and our guide talks to the Guatemalan army men sitting in their thatch hut up on stilts over the water. In Spanish we explain we're only going to be here for a couple of mins. we name drop and are given the "ok". we pull up to another thatched dock with three men sitting in hammocks waving us over (apparently they knew our guide/friend). we get off the boat and as i walk off the dock to the little store what do i smell? that soap again, i know I'm in Central America once again!! my heart skips a beat and i feel immediately at home. I speak Spanish, watch football on TV, and just relax on the veranda for a little while. Before we head back to Belize, we take a small cruise up the Sarstoon river to this really sweet swimming hole just off the river. It's a break in the mangroves and covered by tall tall trees the water is deep and actually cold. It is the most refreshing water I've felt in Belize (or actually Guatemala). We swam for a while than again hopped in the boat and it was smooth sailing back to Barranco. again another one of those "Really, am i actually doing this right now?" moments.

Most of my College career was spent studying immigration, my thesis was on Mexican immigration i've heard hundreds of stories about illegal boarder crossings and the lengths people we go to to cross international boarders without detection. My recent experiences have made me think a lot about those past stories I've heard. They remind me of my privilege, one i definitely didn't ask for, but one that grants me experiences like these without much risk or fear or legal repercussion. While Belizeans cross these same boarders everyday. Boarder crossings are not as smooth for those going from Guatemala to Mexico and definitely not Mexico to the US. i however was able to cross freely into a different country with out so much as a question why let alone a passport stamp. I am grateful every day for the opportunities i am given in this experience as a JV. But i am also contently reminded of those who make these journeys and have these experiences out of necessity, and who experience much more turmoil and fear along the way.
So while most of these jouneys begin in pursuit of beer, they result in amazing experiences which give me a space to reflect and mostly to thank God for the amazingness of this life.

quote from this past weekend: "We are all COPE: Citizens Of Planet Earth, I am free!"

Confessions of a small town hater

2009-05-22T12:30:00.001-07:00

This is something i wrote for the JVI news letter "In the Field" I thought i'd share it with you!

In high school I used to complain about living in such a small, boring town. I have no idea what the size of my home town is but as one of the 221 kids to graduate in 2004 from Islip High School, it was small enough for me to know every name, face and probably the location of each of my classmates homes. To me it was stifling. My remedy; move to a city of 8 million people and become anonymous. Little did I know New York City would fit me worse than a wool sweater shrunk to Barbie size in the awful college dryer.
Fast forward 4 years and where do I find myself? Belize, a country with about 300,000 people, that would be about 1/26 the size of New York City and not much larger than my hometown (yes I realize now that my home town really wasn’t that small). Not only am I in one of the least populated countries in the world, or at least in the region, but I am in the least populated/ forgotten district of Toledo.
Punta Gorda or PG, as it is more affectionate known, is the booming metropolis of the Toledo District with 5,000 people, 3 main roads (2 paved) 2 grocery stores, about 20 chiney shops (no i haven't become a racist; chiney is what they call anyone of Asian descent who owns a convenience story in the country of Belize), 3 schools, probably 8 bars, 1 high school and one very centrally located JV house. So, here I am back to small town living, only this time it’s for REAL. I’ve realized in the past 6 months why I love small town living; being able to greet every other person on the street because I personally know them, having the post man, market lady, local drunk, and government official know me by name, riding my daily route to work and seeing the same people day in and day out, comfort, ease, connection, familiarity.
The past 6 months have also reminded me why I hate small town living: every move I make is known by everyone and their mother, RUMORS (Belizean's have this skill down to an impressive art) a general lack of much to do, having the post man, town drunk, government official and market lady know my name without me ever having to actually telling them, seeing students in school on Friday day and then seeing them at a local bar on Friday night, GOSSIP.
Yet as I move into my sixth month living in the small town on the sea, my days of pounding the pavement of 5th Ave or riding the D train in solitude for two hours a day are no more than a distant memory, a past life. I’ve realized that I much prefer my morning ride to work, on my bike, even with its taunts from the men of Hollywood about my dreads, to the solitude of the D train. I prefer my running route along the Caribbean Sea with its greeting from the two ladies who walk at the same time everyday, to the crowded gym of my University where not a soul makes eye contact. I much prefer my breakfast date with the sunrise and passing Maya ladies who try to sell me the same basket everyday, to my previous breakfast ritual of micro waved oats with Matt Lauer and Katie Couric. And while EVERYONE may know my business, daily routine and whereabouts I still prefer that to the anonymity and loneliness New York City.
I feel comfortable with my new home, it suits me and I think comforts me. I feel like I fit its rhythm, even though sometimes I’m tempted to walk in my NY pace, or crave anonymity, or think in NY speed, my little corner or the world here in Belize reminds me no women is an island. It is my community which fuels me, the people who show me love, the connection that drives me and the small town world which I crave. My past six months have taught me a lot, most of which I can’t articulate but this much I know, I am now proud to call myself a recovered small town hater.

TCC Graduation

2009-05-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

The culmination of High School at TCC works something like this. On one day at the end of May, after all their final exams and most of their Caribbean Examinations, all of the Seniors, or Fourth Formers, anxiously await the posting of "the List." The list includes all the names of those students who will be graduating. I have never experienced soo much anticipation and so much worry regarding a list. Since the beginning of the week students have been questioning and wondering if i know of the list, if i can find out how to see it, if i can look for their name, if i know how many failed, if i know how many passed. Soo many questions, so many worries. And of course i was not allowed to tell them anything at all about the contents of wan said list. (wow the kriole is really coming out on this entry). I heard so many sob stories, so many pleas, at one point i thought a girl was going to cry she wanted to know so badly. This is to topper. This morning as i groggily walked down my front stairs to get some bananas and oranges at the market, mind you this was at 6:45 in the morning, some of my students were passing my house and asked if i knew about the list. WHAT!!! i had literally woken up 10 minuets before, i hadn't even changed out of my pajamas and they were asking about "the list"!!

We'll today at aprox. 11:30 the list went up, and let me tell you it was amazing!! Only 8 out of the 200ish students didn't graduate and so there was a lot to celebrate and a lot of people to celebrate with. Forth Form students were hovering all morning and as the principal came out of his office they all bum rushed the bulletin board to see if their names was on the coveted list. If it was there were screams and tears of joy, if not it was mostly just some tears. After the initial celebratory cheers everyone begins to sign their name upon their fellow graduates, some mark up each others uniform while others come prepared with a white tee shirt. After weeks of worry and anticipation they finally know they have the answers they've been looking for.

So many experiences I've had this year have brought me back to High School. But none as strong as this one. While I'm not too sure how i feel about publicly posting the graduation list for all to see, because those students who do not make it are publicly embarrassed. Seeing the faces of those who did was amazing. The sheer joy, happiness, relief, and in some cases surprise was actually heart warming. It's something i often times wished i had in High School; a culmination of all the work i had done, one defining moment, where i could scream and say YES! the last full day of school wasn't really anything because you still have review, the last class wasn't really the end because you still had exams, even the last final exam was anti climactic because you were usually alone as you left the test. I guess the one thing i could relate it to is the tossing of the hats at graduation, that last fleeting moment as the Class of "whatever" with the people you grew up with.

Well enough with reminiscing. For me i think this also signifies a moment of importance, as students asked me to sign their shirts and told me thanks and gave me hugs i realized that i was a part of their final year at TCC. Students who i hadn't really had that much face time with came up to me with huge smiles and markers asking me to sign their shirts. It was one of the first moment at TCC that i actually felt like i belonged, connected, like i maybe had some impact or affect on their lives. It was a good feeling. one I wasn't expecting. One i can hopefully carry with me to next year.

Congrats to all graduates all over the world!

just a glimps (more to come soon)

2009-03-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

so this morning on my way to work (i was a lee bit late so around 7:40am) i passed a man on his bike with two 3 feet long iguanas hanging over his handle bars. I wish i had a camera to depict this image more clearly, but use your imagination. I couldn't help but stair at this abnormal (for me) and strange sight passed me by seeming completely normal. He proceeded to hail me (call out) "igua, rasta gyal."

Just another morning bike to work...

"If it's not raining you are not in PG"

2009-02-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

Yes that is a direct quote from a presenter we had in our classes today. And by golly that man could not have been any more correct. At this point in time I have given up on defining any type of seasonal weather here in Punta Gorda. No spring, no fall, no winter, no summer, not even a wet or dry. It just rains. I remember in elementary school, first grade I believe, I watched the movie about a girl who lived in a town where the sun only appeared for about half an hour per day, or something ridiculous like that. The rest of the time it was monsoon season, torrential down pour time. The movie was quite depressing for a group of 7 year olds, but anyone familiar with my first grade teacher Ms. Nielsen won’t be surprised by this selection. The little girl had a dream, she wanted too badly to plant a seed and watch its flower bloom in the sunshine. But unfortunately her evil classmates locked her in their classroom during the one hour of sunshine during which the flower bloomed and they ran happily outside in the sunshine. Now I don’t recall if this was the ending of the story or not, but in my 6 or 7 year old brain this was the memory which stuck. While my experience with the rain isn’t as depressing I do find myself CRAVING the sunshine and soaking up as much of it as I can when it does decide to grace PG with its presence. The rain has not really become something I loath, nor has it become a real hindrance (although biking to work this morning was difficult through the rain, I did not expect because when I left my house it was sunny, it takes me 6 mins to bike to work, did I mention I was wearing a white shirt and khaki?) But the rain has become one of those elements of life I have taken as normal, much like the woodlice, cockroaches, and at one point mice. Here in Punta Gorda it rains that is what it does. Its amazing how often I am reminded that going with the flow of life and accepting things for their positive gifts. The positive aspects of rain; EVERYTHING is green green green, my skin never dries out (nothing ever dries out), I can get a lot, and I mean a lot, of reading done.
During times of great rain I'm learning you don't really need the sun to bring you hope or happiness. Those things can come from any surprising sources.

ps it started raining/torrential down pouring today at 720 and is still going now at 1121 lets see how long it lasts.

Myth Busters

2009-02-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

Inspired by a recent blog entry by my room mate Pat i have decided to write a blog entry about common myths or beliefs i had prior to my experience in JVI that have now become completely busted by my life and experiences in Belize.

1. myth: All dread heads are Rastafarian
lesson:you DONT have to be rasta to be dread
2. Myth: i cant live in a small town
Lesson: i can actually enjoy a town smaller than Islip (pg has less han 5,000 inhabitants)
3. Myth: i cant possible ever get cold in a tropical climate
Lesson: a girl from new york (me) who used to keep her windows open all winter can feel cold in 72 degree weather.
4. Myth: you become accustom to your surroundings
Lesson: I can never cease to be amazed by the natural beauty of this country
5. myth: showering everyday is necessary
Lesson: its really only necessary to shower every week
6. myth: shaving your legs is necessary
Lesson: shaving your legs is only necessary about once every 2-3 months if at all
7. Myth: you will loose weight if you move to a developing nation and only have 5$ per day for food
Lesson: any girl in a developing nation where rice beans tortillas and corn are the staples of a diet will most definitely gain weight. (despite pretty regular excercise)
8. Myth: driving six hours is way too far to only stay for a weekend.
Lesson: Traveling 6 hours on a bus is totally worth it even if just for 2 days of time spent with friends.
9. Myth: a person can't live on 60$ per month.
Lesson: a person CAN live on 120 belize per month and actually SAVE!
10. Myth: rats and cockroaches are gross.
lesson: Rats and cockroaches are only part of life and they can actually keep us company (jk)
11. Myth: Itching mosquito bites actually helps (i know this isnt true but i refused to believe i couldnt stratch)
Lesson: Mosquito bites actually GO AWAY if you leave them alone, especiall if gotten at night, and on your face.
12. Myth: your body is your body no matter where you are in the world.
Lesson: Sometimes your body can attack you from the inside out, things take longer to heal, and random bumps rashes and bruises come from myserious places or causes.
13. Myth: not having my cellphone for a few hours was difficult.
lesson: (which i sort of already knew) Not haveing a cell phone is PHENOMINAL and LIBERATING
14. Myth: the rainy season ends in December
Lesson: (never believe anything you hear about the weather) last weekend (in february) it rained for 3 days straight.
15. Myth: 2 years is a long time.
Lesson: two years is a long time, but totally necessary to really fully attempt to understand this job, these people, and my reason for beign here.

Well i hope you liked my 15 busted myths. there are many more lessons i have learned since being here but these were the easiest to articulte. haha enjoy!

happy valentines day everyone!

2009-01-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

Wow its been a long long long time since i've updated, (in Belize they like to repeat things for emphasis, my repetition for long should probably be about 10x longer, but I'll save space and my fingers). But i did preface this blog with the warning that i probably wouldn't update all that often. It's not that life hasn't been interesting, or eventful or blog worthy, its really that a I'm having a hard time putting my experiences into words. How to discern what i am seeing feeling and doing is difficult and then putting it into blog terms is hard for me. However i did make some attempts, well one attempt really, i had a whole reflection about an experience in the small villages of Belize. complete with beautiful descriptions of sun rises, small hill side villages and maya traditions. And then my flash drive went missing and my entry went with it. So is life in Belize, going with the flow is my new mantra, even more than it was before. So while this really doesn't do much justice to my experience or to those of you who actually read and want to know about what I'm doing, seeing learning and experiencing, right now its all i can offer.
so here are the major events
Gurafina Settlement day: Celebrations commemorating the settlement of the Carib people in Belize a day/night of partying and celebrating culminating in a reenactment of the settlement right outside our house at 6am.
Thanksgiving: we went on retreat with the Belize city volunteers to Trinidad Farms a jesuit retreat house up north. We cooked more food than 8 people could possibly consume in two meals let alone one. the boys made a kite and i had some really great conversations and reflective moments. We also played soccer in the sunset with the local kids!
End of the School year: i gave a final exam (eek) its weird being on the other side of the classroom and assigning exams. thankfully most of my students passed and i felt ok about how the semester went! 1/4 of the way done thats INSANE
Christmas: it was weird being away from home and having warm weather, but i was able to appreciate what Christmas is really about. friendship family and a deepening of faith. So while i didn't actually receive any materialistic gifts i was given the gift of love and appreciation. Which is pretty awesome if you ask me!
new years; slightly uneventful i was in Belize city for the week, which was awesome!! got a sense of the city. the people and what life is like up there for the volunteers and visited with some good friends.
Now; i'm back home and starting school all over again. i'm being a little stricter (its hard) and planning Career day/expo/week. So i'm running around like a little crazy person trying to get local businesses to come and speak. its good because i'm getting a better sense of town, of who/what is out there and i feel as thought i'm being productive.

me: i am healthy again (no knee problems) and i've started retraining for the Belize city half marathon in August.
Well thats all for now Sorry this is so quick and unedited. I'll try to be better in the upcoming months maybe a good new years resolution will be to update at least once per month. Well hold me accountable, and insist upon it, if i start to slack!

i miss home and snow and everyone who reads this!!
la paz a todos!

2008-11-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Part of an Email from my mom which i thought was pretty inspiring. I promise i will update with my actual reflections soon enough. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the chilliness of fall and the Obama victory. I know beliseans sure are, well maybe with the exception of the fall chill.

The ABCs of Life

Accept differences

Be kind

Count your blessings

Dream

Express thanks

Forgive

Give freely

Harm no one

Imagine more

Jettison anger

Keep confidences

Love truly

Master something

Nurture hope

Open your mind

Pack lightly

quell rumors

reciprocate

Seek wisdom

Touch hearts

Understand

Value truth

Win graciously

Xeriscape

Yearn for peace

Zealously support a worthy cause

How to Build Global Community

2008-10-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is something i stole from Kristen a fellow volunteer in Belize City

From the Syracuse Cultural Workers (SCW)

**This was sent to our community from one of the former JVs who left Belize earlier this summer.

Think of no one as “them”
Don’t confuse your comfort with your safety
Talk to strangers
Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels
Listen to music you don’t understand
Dance to it
Act locally
Notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture
Question consumption
Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation
Look for fair trade and union labels
Help build economies from the bottom up
Acquire few needs
Learn a second (or third) language
Visit people, places, and cultures—not tourist attractions
Learn people’s history
Re-define progress
Know physical and political geography
Play games from other cultures
Watch films with subtitles
Know your heritage
Honor everyone’s holidays
Look at the moon and imagine someone else, somewhere else, looking at it too
Read the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Understand the global economy in terms of people, land, and water
Know where your bank banks
Never believe you have a right to anyone else’s resources
Defy corporate domination
Question military/corporate connections
Don’t confuse money with wealth, or time with money
Have a pen/email pal
Honor indigenous cultures
Judge governance by how well it meets all people’s needs
Be skeptical about what you read
Eat adventurously
Enjoy vegetables, beans, and grains in your diet
Choose curiosity over certainty
Know where your water comes from and where your wastes go
Pledge allegiance to the earth: question nationalism
Think South, Central, and North—there are many Americans
Assume that many others share your dreams
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard—WORK TO CHANGE THIS"

Solidarity, building global community no matter how you say it recognizing the struggles of those around me is key to recognizing my place in the world and my purpose within that place. I have always known this was important but it is things like this which remind me how much of an impact my simple decisions or actions can affect an entire group of people.

Keep thinking, loving and living globally!
Em

Independence Day!

2008-09-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

So in Belize the entire month of September is basically one big party month. There are holidays placed strategically throughout the month giving me various days off from work, and many cultural events to attend. The first was St. Georges Caye (pronounced Key) day, September 10. It marks one of the biggest battles ever won in Belize. But the mother of all celebrations is September 21st, Independence day. Belize gained its independence in 1981, so it is still a baby as far as countries go, being only 27 years old. It was actually a really cool experience sharing the day with people who had actually been around for the first independence day in 81. During mass on Sunday Fr. Dick asked those parishioners who were around during the first independence day to raise their hand and nearly half the congregation had remembered the day. I unfortunately didn't get to talk to many people about the events of that day. But hopefully with time those stories will come.
The celebrations started on Thursday for Zu, Pat and I, bobby was still in Honduras so we were only three for the weekend. We decided it would be fun to attend the big karaoke contest, held in the local sports complex. The event was scheduled to begin at 7, so we showed up at 8 knowing that true to belizean form most things never start on time. We were in fact an hour early and things didn't get underway until 9pm. It was raining pretty badly outside so the turnout was pretty low, only ten contestants actually participated. Now if you thought karaoke in the states was funny, maybe a little embarrassing, sometimes a little silly, you would be correct but in Belize it is HYSTERICAL. My room mates and i couldn't help but crack up at each NSYNC, Celine or old time country song that came on, (Sad Movies anyone?). There was country, pop, Spanish love songs, even some Musical theater in the form of Grease, made an appearance. We left before the competition was over but the grand prize was 500 bucks so many of the contestants, and audience, took the competition pretty seriously. We heard that there was some dispute about the final grand prize winner and most of the audience was upset by the results. Regardless of who won it gave us a good two hours of sheer entertainment and many laughs.

Saturday night at midnight (so really Sunday morning) marked the first moment of independence day which is celebrated every year by a flag raising at the Central Park, a 21 Gun salute and fireworks. We didn't make it to the park this year, but it will be a must for next year. We instead waited for the fireworks at our house, which over looks the Caribbean sea and the pier where the fireworks were to be shot off. So we secured our seats on our veranda and waited for the fireworks. They were amazing. Not the best I'd ever seen, but definitely the closest. They went on for about half an hour, and afterwards we stayed up on the veranda talking till about 2 in the morning.

This was a bad decision because i had to be up for mass and ready to march in the parade with TCC at 730 the next morning. i rolled out of bed at 7 and began my day in somewhat of a tired daze. I was quickly awoken as soon as i got to school and had to help finish the float and march with my students during the 3 hour long parade. Not only was the parade and ceremonies three hours long but it was out in the blazing heat at the worst time of day 9am to about 12pm (the hottest time of day in Belize). Despite the heat and early hour, it was pretty cool to be marching in a parade again, i think the last time i was part of any type of parade was during homecoming in high school, so it was really a blast from the past for me. A lot of my life here in Belize thus far as reminded me a lot of high school. This is most likely attributed to my job placement and spending a majority of my time with high schoolers in a high school. It has really given me an opportunity to reflect back on high school and has helped me to realize how much fun i actually had. The parade was Hot but Fun, i got my first Belisean sun burn, and had some good bonding time with my students and some of the staff.

Sunday afternoon we went out to central park to check out the activities. We met up with some of the Peace Corps, one of whom was doing a tumbling show, during the celebrations (he started a Punta Gorda tumbling team and they are really amazing!!). We watched them compete then stuck around to see the egg toss, marble on the spoon, and beer chugging competition. But the best part of the day was the punta competition and the grease poll competition. Punta rock is the local music and punta is the local dance, involving insane gyration of the hips and butt. some of these kids could move their bodies in way i could have never imagined. the best part of this dance however is that your hips are the only part of your body which moves. its like a mix between pop and lock hiphop and crazy hula or belly dancing. Everyone gets really into it and some of the dancers were really good! Finally there was the greasy poll competition. This was something i had never heard of before, but Pat informed me that sometimes at Italian festivals it makes an appearance. its basically a telephone poll lubed up with grease or oil and a bag at the top. the object is to knock down the bag by climbing up the poll. Now one could never do this alone so you need to have a team, there were two teams who competed and only one was successful. The teams, all male, would stand on each others shoulder and attempt to hold onto the poll but as they climbed higher and higher and got greasier and greasier it was virtually impossible to climb up even their team mates bodies. People were loosing their pants, shirts and at one point three grown men, all one on top of the other, just slipped (whoop) straight down the poll crashing to the floor. It looked a little dangerous, and it probably was, but it was also one of the funniest things i have ever seen. Their faces covered with black grease and their sheer determination to make it to the top proved to be a pretty entertaining event.

independence day was a great example of what i have come to realize Punta Gorda is all about, having a good time and celebrating your pride in your country. PG knows how to throw a party and i had a lot of fun getting out into the community and participating in life here. While at some points i felt a little out of place because i am not actually belisean, most of the people don't care as long as they know you are having a good time, and i definitely had a great weekend.

Go with the flow. . . order new running shoes

2008-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

ohhh frustration. I am normally a pretty cool, go with the flow kind of person. Well the past two weeks have really put to test that part of my personality. I began my work at Toledo Community College on the 25th of September. The first week was only orientation and had been pushed back from the previous week due to changes in the administration of the school. I figured oh great an extra week of summer vacation and an extra week to spend with the Belize city volunteers who were visiting. little did i know that this was the only joy i would find in the administration changes at TCC.
The story begins last march when the political party which had been in control for about 10 to 12 years changed. so we went from the PUP (peoples united party) to the udp (united democratic party). I am still unaware of the specific political views of these parties but from what i have heard there isnt much difference between the two. With the change in government came a change in all of the ministers of government, including that of education. The past principle of TCC had been an outspoken supporter of the PUP and decided/was basically forced to resign upon the victory of the UDP. So about 2 weeks before school he resigned and the vice principle was appointed temporary principle for the week of orientation. Orientation went rather smoothly and we were promised a new principle by Wednesday. only when Wednesday rolled around we were again with out a principle. We were told the board couldnt make up their mind between the current temporary principle and the other candidate who was a science teacher. Finally by friday morning the day the new principle and board were supposed to introduce themselves and give us a welcome speech we were told that the science teacher would be given the job of principle.
now this came to a shock to me, because the temporary principle seemed to be overly qualified he had been at TCC for nearly 15 years was very energetic had a great report with the faculty and seemed to be loved by all. While the other staff member were slightly put off by the decision they weren't as surprised. The newly elected principle was a supporter of the current political party, the UDP, and was basically told by the members of the board to apply. ONly later did i learn that the board had overturned a majority vote to allow him to become the new principle. So i was shocked but relieved that things were getting settled and hopefully on track for the school year to begin on Monday, mind you this was again Friday. I was again surprised when the newly appointed principle said there would be changes to the Admin team (which includes two vice principles and about 8 heads of departments) At first i thought oh hes only going to fill the position he left as head of the science department. Alas i was wrong with in the next 20 mins he had managed to replace the entire Administration with the exception of two heads of department. He also handed out new courses to teachers who had already been working on course outlines all week.
This blew me out of the water! Here most of these people who have been working all summer for this school were instantaneously replaced by people with fewer years of experience and suffered a pay cut all because of their affiliation with a certain political party, or a rumored friendship with the former principle (who still teaches at the school as an English teacher). The lack of job security astounded me. It would be like my mom loosing her job because she didn't vote for Bush, or we had an Obama sign out side of our house. It was crazy! For one of the first times in a long while i felt proud of the American "democracy" we have. For all the times i have criticized it in the past at least most US Americans don't have to fear their jobs when they speak about who they support politically.
What astounded me more was the lack of response from the other faculty members. no one said a word, i would suspect because they were too scared or feared their own jobs, but still no union reps were there it was just mind boggling to me. So i went home a little put off, but never the less hoping to make the best of what Monday had to bring. So when i got home that night i heard from one of my room mates who works with someone on the school board that that new principle acted too quickly in the mind of the board and was not supposed to fire, promote, or demote anyone. The board was in meetings supposedly all weekend deciding what was to be done, and by Monday morning they decided that the old vice principles were to return to their regular posts as VP's. But when they showed up the locks were changed on their doors and they could not enter their offices to take their jobs back. It was crazy, like something out of a movie, one of the VP's called the police and media even showed up to document the entire thing. Now this was the first full day of school students and all had arrived and were expecting classes. it was pretty confusing to say the least. I was mostly concerned for the students i felt like none of these decisions were being made with their best interest in mind, but rather the political interests of the teachers and current government.
Again on Tuesday morning the two newly appointed Vice Principles resigned and the old VP's who were told to return to their jobs could do so on Friday September 5th. For that entire first month however teacher students and administrators were confused and i was dumbfounded. Yesterday the second Monday of school a week after all the craziness i was given a new schedule of when to teach my courses and i am hoping this is the last and final change i will have to make, and we as a school will have to make.
I look at this experience with my first two weeks at TCC as a window into the political world of Belize and most newly independent countries, Belize only gained its independence in 1981. So it is still a very new country. But what was the most frustrating and astounding was the sheer disregard for the status of the students. I sat one day in the cafeteria with an entire class of second years who had been left off the class lists. they sat for about 2 hours while the administration tried to place them in a class room. The principle mind you was no where to be found, and when i finally did see him he was on his cell phone or walking around talking. Whats worse is that the students knew about it, they were saying things like oh this is all because of the politics, and I'm not coming back to school tomorrow this is ridiculous. i wouldn't blame them, they pay way more than their parents can afford to go to this school and to just sit in the cafeteria on the second day of school for 3 hours is just not fair. I am hoping this was a momentary blip on the record of an other wise pretty good school and that neglecting the students isn't a normal practice. From the teachers I've spoken to it doesn't seem like it, but you can never tell with things changing so quickly.

Frustration 2
As some of you know i was planning on training for a marathon while down here in Belize. So i packed my shoes and was determined to start running as soon as possible. But the first day of orientation i hurt my knee while beginning my quest for 26.2 miles. and it hasn't been right since. one of the Belize City volunteers Kristen is a marathon runner, and has done 4 at home in the states, so we were going to be each other motivation (well shes really my and her motivation all in one) We also roped in my room mate Pat to join along in the fun. pat has been amazing at getting me up at 530 every morning to run, but i just cant seem to push myself far enough or through the pain of my knee. It is so ironic that i can sit around all summer with out any real motivation to work out and then the second i put some effort in boom I'm turned around. I've taken to being patient with myself on our runs and not pushing things too much because i don't know what is wrong and don't want to do any real damage to my body (my health insurance is existent but now wonderful). So this again has been a test to my flexibility and my patience with myself.

the past two weeks have definitely been a test of my patience, both with myself and with the structures and systems that surround me in Belize. I am hoping to only get positive things from these experiences and maybe gaining more a perspective for my own limits as well as gaining some respect for the American ways of life/government I was so quickly to judge and bash in the past.
As for now I'm doing my best going with the flow, laughing off frustration and ordering some new running shoes.

a long over due blog entry.

2008-08-31T16:10:00.001-07:00

Well as i suspected, i would be pretty horrible at updating this thing. So i will try my darndest to remember to update, but I'm better at responding to emails.

Ne ways here is a recap of the last month. . .

We arrived in Belize and after two weeks of JVI orientation in Cleveland Ohio began Phase 2 orientation in Belize. Which consisted of one week in Belize City, and two weeks in Punta Gorda Town Belize. Phase two (Belize City) was pretty chill, we hung out got to know our new community mates went to the beach, went on a short retreat to Banana Bank, rode horses, shared our life stories had some good laughs and some deep conversations. All the makings of real bonding lol. Then the four of us (pat, me, bobby, and Susannah) traveled down to Punta Gorda on a freezing cold air conditioned bus. After freezing our way down the Belisean coast we arrived in PG and where pat and i were introduced to our house. Our house, as i have told some of you already is amazing and shitty all at the same time. But its shitty aspects become endearing after about a night or two. We have a veranda which over looks the Caribbean sea, on which we have about two hammocks and four or five chairs. We have a bamboo bar in our kitchen, and instead of a garbage disposal we just throw all our compost out the window right in front of our porch. Its pretty sweet. Unfortunately our house is also a bagillion years old and made of wood, so the paint is completely worn off and our roof is completely rusted. This leads to most of our walls having direct pathways to the outside world via rotted sections of the wall. Nothing major but at night i can see how the millions of mosquitoes make their way into my bed. (I'm covered, by the way, in bites from foreign insects and such) We have a cockroach problem, but thankfully all the rats decided to leave while bobby and Susannah were getting us in Belize City, so there is no need for the traps we have strategically placed around the house. All in all our house is amazing and despite its poor condition i believe it will be an amazing place to reside for the next two years!

Phase 2 PG
I spent my first few nights in PG at a home stay with a Mayan/Creole family. The mom Mrs. Chaverria is a teacher at the school i will be teaching at and she was most hospitable, fixing me larger than life meals and making me feel more than comfortable and at home. She and her family took me to nim li punit (i def spelt that wrong), a Mayan ruin, where i saw an ancient ball court and some of the biggest stilas recovered in Belize. IT was pretty amazing, especially because i could recall a lot of the information i had learned in my Pre Colombian Art class and apply it to all i was seeing. On the way home from nim li punit, which means big hat in K'equchi ( the local Mayan language), we stopped at Mrs. Chav's aunts house. She lives in the village of Indian Village and was all prepared to cook us a meal, but the bus arrived to quickly and we had to make a quick exit in order to make it back to PG before dark. It was a great day!

After returning home from my home stay the Belize City volunteers arrived to PG for the beginning of Phase 2 week three. We ran a summer camp at the local parish, St. Peter Claver, and had a blast doing arts and crafts, sports, and games with the local primary school kids. At the end of the week we had an Olympics which they kids enjoyed a lot! It was a lot of fun for me especially because i will mainly be working with high school kids and this was a chance for me to meet the younger kids in the community, who come over our house a lot. I was also able to bring back some of my arts and crafts skills from the After School work I did Junior year of college.

At the end of the week we went to Baranco, a Garifina village, about an hour away. We were supposed to sleep in the Garifina temple, where supposidly spirits had been brought back from the dead. But thankfully our guide Kevin gave us his aunts house who was spending the summer in Belize City. I don't think i would have been able to sleep one wink in a Garifina temple. I should back track and explain Garifina. The Garifina people were slaves who escaped from one of the many slave ships traveling between the Caribbean and Africa in the 1800's. This specific group of people are spread out among the pacific coast of Central America and populate most of Belize as well as the Bay Islands of Honduras, the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua and most of the Caribbean parts of Guatemala, including Livingston. They have their own language and culture and traditions. We got the whole history from Kevin a teacher at the local school who has lived in Baranco his whole life. There are currently only about 100 people living in Baranco, which is down from the older counts of about 600. Most people move out to find jobs and live in the larger cities (or as i call them towns) like PG. It was a great way to spend our last weekend together as a community of 8 before the Belize City volunteers moved back to their home.

Last week was my first experience at my new job. It was orientation at Toledo Community College, which is a high school covering grades 9-12. I will the be the new Guidance Counselor at TCC this year. I will be teaching a course on Career Ed. as well as a Counseling course which covers every thing from self esteem to time management to sexual education. In all i will be teaching 13 separate classes per week and doing one on one counseling to students in need. I will also have to be responsible for one extra curricular activity, last years volunteer was the softball coach. (eek idk if that's really my thing) but i don't really have a choice on what i get to do, so we'll see how it goes! There was alot of drama at TCC last week but that's a different story for another day. So tomorrow if my first real day of work with students and the whole nine yards i'm a little nervous but am pretty hopeful i'll be able to handle everything.

Well that was the past 3ish weeks in a nut shell. A lot more happened, such as jumping into pools of clean water and hiking cerro hill and 530 am runs, but those are also other stories for other days. I'll try to keep this thing updated a little better over the next two years but i cant promise anything. While i keep spilling my guts on this blog, i would love to hear about everyone's lives so send me an email emweiss1@gmail.com or snail mail letters are always fun my address is
St. Peter Claver Parish
c/o Emily Weiss
PO Box 25
Punta Gorda, Belize Central America

That's all for now Keep smiling and keep loving

Em

On my way

2008-07-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! in my preparation to leave for Belize I've decided a blog would be a good way to keep everyone updated on my whereabouts and experiences. I leave tomorrow a.m. for my two year experience as a JV (Jesuit Volunteer), in Punta Gorda, Belize. But before heading back to Central America I will spend two weeks in orientation preparing, and meeting the entire 2008 class of JV's. But first a quick introduction, PG is in the southern most district of Belize, Toledo. While in Belize I will be living with three other JV's, and working as a guidance counselor in the local public high school, Toledo Community College (in Belize college is the name for our high school). The details of my daily life are as much a mystery to me as they are to you, so i really don't have that much more information to share. But hopefully my two week orientation, which begins on Sunday at John Carroll University, will shed some light on the next two years. Hopefully through this blog and emails, I'll be able to explain my life as a volunteer and hear about everyone's adventures both at home and abroad!