Richard "the Belizean Hearted"

Thought I would share a little about Hurricane Richard that came through Belize last Sunday. The Peace Corps "consolidated" us, as they call it, ion Sunday morning. We weren't evacuated out of the country, but as in the past hurricanes and tropical storms, we come to a hotel in Belmopan that is close to the Peace Corps office. We were put on alert on Friday and called in on Sunday morning because the busses stopped running Sunday afternoon.

It's always great to see our fellow Peace Corps volunteers, but the Garden City Hotel sure isn't the Hyatt, in fact it's not even a Motel 6! So, in addition to the main reason we are there (the impending hurricane) we weren't really excited about spending the next few days in "lock down." Luckly, there's a Chinese Bar around the corner that has good food and beer - and they didn't close until Sunday night! So, I got some carry out and went to my room to watch Sunday Night Football until the electricity went off.

The storm hit land in Belize City, but Belmopan ended up getting more damage because the storm gained strength as it came across the flat land toward Belmopan. We were initially on the top floor of the hotel but the ceiling started moving about 12 inches up and down as the winds came in, so we were moved to the bottom floor where it was much safer. When we emerged the next morning, we found the roof on Jolines, one of our favorite restaurants right next door to the Hotel, was completely ripped off and lots of trees were snapped off from the winds all over the city.

We had to stay in Belmopan on Monday, though it was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and you wouldn't even think that it was so terrible just eight hours earlier. However, there were so many trees and electric poles down on the road to Belize City and we had no electricity, so the busses couldn't get through the road until Tuesday.

When I got home, I had some water in the house that had come in under the door, but a little mopping and fans to dry the feet of the furniture and everything was back to normal, though Maya was a little tramatized. She ran out as I was leaving on Sunday morning and spent the night in the storm outside! She's been staying pretty close to home all week! So now I have "international" hurricane experience to add to my Florida hurricane adventures.

There's Nothing Like Friends and Family!

Gosh, it's been almost a month since my last Blog, but time flies when you're with people you love! In between Independence Day on September 21st and being evacuated for Tropical Storm Matthew, my friends from Florida, Joye and David Swisher, stopped in Belize City for an afternoon while on a cruise. It was great to see them. I showed them my apartment, then we had some delicious local Belizean cuisine for lunch and just caught up on each other's lives!

Last week, I went to Dayton to see my family and celebrate my 40th "Un-reunion"! I say that because from the time I had made reservations to go to Dayton until I finally arrived, my class cancelled their reunion. So, I just grabbed my wheelchair and crashed my Dad's 65th! Though it took me 33 hours, 3 buses, 3 taxis and 2 airplanes, it was worth every minute to see Dad, TR, Lisa, Max and Sam (and eating at all my favorite restaurants!) The leaves were in full fall colors and the weather was perfect, like the whole weekend! I only carried a backpack home, but returned with a huge suitcase, filled to the 50 pound limit with all sorts of goodies from home: a drill, screwdriver, trowel and gardening gloves, vacuum cleaner, Ohio State mugs, Skyline Chili Mix, and banana peppers just to name a few items. The trip back was made a lot easier by taking a shuttle van from the Cancun airport bcak to Belize City.

I dropped off my suitcase, grabbed a bag I had already packed and jumped back in the shuttle to get to the bus station before the last bus left for Caves Branch where I met Sandy & Greg Henry, who had arrived that afternoon. It was so great to see them and explore Belize with friends from Florida. Caves Branch is an absolutely beautiful resort, including our jungle bungalow where we woke up to hummingbirds feeding off the red ginger flowers right outside our screened in room. The next morning we went cave tubing down a seven mile underground river where we saw stalagmites and stalactites, and underground waterfalls. The following morning we were off again, this time to Xunantunich, the Mayan ruins close to San Ignacio. In our spare time, we enjoyed local rum drinks by the pool and relaxed after a great dinner in the sauna. Now this is my kind of Belize!!

It's been a great vacation, but I'm ready to get back to work tomorrow and see my co-workers.

It All Started With Jouvert!

Tucked in between St. George's Caye, or National, Day, and Independence Day is a little celebration called Carnival! Carnival actually kicked off several weeks ago with the crowning of the Carnival King and Queen that I talked about in my last blog. But, the official party started at 4am on Saturday morning, when a few thousand people assembled in the street where Central American Blvd and the Northern Highway meet. A truckload of people drove through the group throwing buckets of mud into the crowd. And when we were all covered from head to toe, a flatbed truck with a huge PA system strapped to the back started down the street with all of us following behind dancing to the sounds of soca music. It's called Carnival Jouvert, and the dancing is called "jump up" because that's what we did all the way to the sea, where everyone jumped in and washed off the mud.

Then it was home to shower and get to bed so I could be ready for the Carnival Parade. Fellow Peace Corps volunteers, KC, Gayla and her friend Patti, from San Diego, came to join in the festivities and we all headed out to find a good place to watch the parade. It was festive, fun and fantastic with bands, floats, ornate costumes, music and dancing that kept coming and coming over the bridge for over two hours. I've put a lot of pictures from the parade on the slide show at the top of my Blog. It's been a really fun month, but I think I'm ready to get back to work - until the next holiday!

I Am Belize!

Let me just get this over with right off the bat. This blog has nothing to do with making a difference by some significant work I'm doing here. This is September in Belize City!! For months ,whenever I tried to plan a meeting or an activity, my co-workers would say, "We can't do it then, it's September." Now I understand what they meant - it's 10th Day, it's National Day, it's Independence Day and it's Carnival time in Belize! This year's theme for the September Celebrations is "United and proud. Moving forward. I am Belize!"

I have been trying to acquire a piece of art by a Belizean artist every month, and this piece of folk art was painted on a cardboard box by a young man from Hopkins. The figures are actually painted and cut out of cardboard and adheared to the background. It depicts a "Bruk dong" band, including the tumbas, three turtle shells of different sizes that hang around the musician's neck and are hit with drum sticks, and a "boom and chim" drum. To me, this piece is the perfect addition to my collection this month, with its cut-out statement at the top of the painting, "We Are Belize".
On September 10, 1798 after seven days of fighting, a small force of woodcutters, called Baymen, assisted by slaves, fought together - for their land and their livelihood - to defeat the Spanish on St. George's Caye. Two hundred twelve years later, as a new observer to the events and activities connected with the September Celebrations, I have felt a level of patriotism in Belizeans from every village, town and city, of every diverse culture and every socio-economic level that is inspiring. (And, we haven't even gotten to Independence Day celebrations on September 21, when in 1981, Belize was granted independence as a colony of Britain.) Here, in a country where many people suffer and have numerous reasons to feel as though their government is failing them, they put their grievences aside and celebrate a bigger vision - freedom, independence and pride. It's real dam refreshing coming from a land that has more than any other nation in the world, and yet we think things are so bad in America because we deserve more!!! OK, off the soapbox - let me tell you about the fabulous things I've been enjoying.

The month actually started with my Peace Corps friends, Tracy, Roger and Dickie P, coming here for the monthly Wine Club. We toasted the upcoming celebrations by tasting a few champagnes from France and the US. The next night was the opening of a great art exhibit, 29: Artists, Works, Years. After visiting the Smithsonian, the Met, the Guggenheim and the Chicago Museum of Art, one forgets that at some point a newly independent country must "begin" it's own collection of art. Belize is without a National Gallery of Art, so in 1989 an effort to formally collect, preserve, document and disseminate the visual arts of Belizeans was undertaken. In this, the 29th year of independence, 29 Belizean artists were featured from the National collection of painting, sculpture, photography and mixed media. I was so excited to see a beautiful pencil drawing by my friend Gilvano Swazey, whose wood block, "Out to Sea," I purchased last month for my own little "National collection."

The next night I attended a concert by the country's most renowned pianist/composer/director, Francis Reneau. In every event I've attended, I have noticed how Belize's future - the youth of the country - have been included, starting with this concert where some of Belize's talented upcoming artists played the piano and violin. Reneau played some of his favorite classical pieces, some patriotic songs and returned for an encore playing an amazing piece for left hand only that had the crowd on it's feet.

Throughout the month, carnival events have been blended into the mix of patriotic events, and Saturday night kicked off Carnival with the crowning of the King and Queen of the Carnival. This is NOT a "sit on a throne and wave" king and queen, but the best Carnival costume King and Queen! The costumes are actually constructed of rebar covered with fabric, trim, feathers and beads, and the heavy costumes are supported on wheels. Each entrant takes their turn dancing and rolling around the stage, and the more their costume bounces to the beat of the soca music, the more the crowd roars. The fish is the junior king winner and the bee is the junior queen winner.

Sunday was the Lionman Triathalon, (which of course I did not participate in) but several Peace Corps volunteers joined teams with US Embassy staff, and one of the teams came in fourth. After the triathalon, two Peace Corps volunteers here in Belize City, Pat and Keri Robinson, hosted all the participants, and us observers, for a fabulous brunch at their home - complete with mimosas, salmon mouse, caviar and eggs benedict! (Are you sure we're still in Belize?) It was great to see so many volunteers in town and celebrate their hard work and accomplishment.

On Monday the celebrations kicked up a notch with a Patriotic Concert at a historic church, featuring two choirs, soloists, and the National Band and a steel band booming from the balcony of the Wesley Church. The Governor General, the highest ranking official in the country, played the piano and lead everyone in a sing-along to culminate the concert. On Tuesday, I attended a wonderful play called, "Belize: A Play From Settlement to Nation", which depicted in acting, music, dance and video, the events from the battle of St. George's Caye to winning independence from the British. Florence Goldson, my co-worker at WIN Belize, took me to the play; and I think I felt almost as much pride as she must have felt when her father was depicted in the play as a leader in Belize's fight for independence. A newspaper editor, politician and activist, Phillip Stanley Wilberforce Goldson, was a founder of the four political parties in Belize and was even imprisoned for a year for his activism. Relentless in his efforts to improve Belize, he taught prisoners how to read and write while he was in prison. The Belize International Airport is named after him and in 2008, he was post-humously honored with the country's highest honor, the Order of National Hero.

The children were again the focal point on Wednesday in the Literacy Parade. Almost every school in Belize City decorated a float, and students who have made the greatest improvement in reading, dressed like characters from their books and paraded down the streets with their school's band following.

On Thursday, Florence again took me out - this time to the Soca Bashment. Soca music emerged about 30 years ago in Trinidad and Tobago as a soulful calipso. Today, soca has a heavy percussion presence and lots of dancing and jumping up and down, or "jump-up" as it's called.

Unforunately, we couldn't stay and party all night because we had to be up bright and early for the National Day festivities starting with the Opening Ceremonies, attended by the US Ambassador, the Governor General, Prime Minister of Belize, and the many Ministers and dignitaries of the country. The Queen of the Bay, who oversees all the "10th Day" festivities, was crowned. The Queen of the Bay works all year to advocate for equality for women, encouraging them to further their education and take leadership roles in the country, and has been chaired for over 20 years by Florence's mother, Emma Boiton.

Then it was off to another parade down the streets of Belize City with citizens joining in the parade, dancing and reveling to "I am Belize", the song that won the music competition in the campaign to encourage citizens to adopt social values that will restore Belize to a safe, peaceful and productive home for Belizeans and visitors.

I know you must be tired of reading, but indulge me one more story. I think the multi-cultural fair that followed the parade, really took the word "multi-cultural" to a new level this year, when yours truly won the punta dancing contest. If you know me well, you know I avoid attention in public and I NEVER dance! So, when the master of ceremonies pointed in my direction, I looked around me to see who he was signaling to come to the stage. When I realized he was pointing to me, I said, "What the heck. I don't know anyone in this country," and up on the stage I went. It wasn't until he asked me if I knew what punta was that I began to worry. Anyone who has lived in this country for more than a day knows what punta dancing is, and if they also know me, they know I don't have the hips, the wiggle, or the rhythm to do the punta. But dance I did, ace bandage on my sprained ankle and all! The crowd cheered and laughed, and to paraphrase Andy Worhol, I enjoyed my 15 "seconds" of fame!

Remember how I said I don't know anyone in this country? Well, the next day at Carnival, three strangers stopped me on the streets and told me I did a good job dancing the punta. I guess...I AM BELIZE!

Dots on my Map!

In my mission to visit every volunteer in their village or town, last weekend I hit the road again, traveling to the northern most town in Belize - Corozol. I went to the bus station here in Belize City and met KC, who came in from Independence, which is about 3 hours south of here. We jumped on the next bus to Orange Walk Town, where Colleen met our bus and joined KC and me for the last leg of the trip to Corozol. Corozol is a beautiful town on the water, and Gayla, who lives about an hour west of Corozol, met us so we could celebrate her birthday. We had written a song to the melody of Hello Dolly and she was delighted with it, even though the three of us sang it together in three different keys! Matt Andrews, another volunteer invited us to his house and Molly, also a volunteer from Orange Walk, was there. They were fabulous hosts! Molly had made deviled eggs, and Matt cut up vegetables and dip for us to snack on. He even made fresh brewed Starbucks coffee! Another volunteer in Corozol was in the states visiting her family and she had offered her house to Gayla for us to stay in, so we went back there and had a great evening just catching up.

The next morning we caught an early bus to Chetumal, the first town over the Mexican border. It was amazing - like stepping into Miami Florida (ie. like America, only everyone spoke Spanish!) We went to a real mall with department stores that had Estee Lauder make up, a Target and Walmart, ate soft serve ice cream, saw the new Angelina Jolie movie, Salt, and I devoured the best Big Mac I've ever eaten in my life! Then, after smuggling through customs more than our one bottle allotment of wine, we were off to Cristo Rey on Saturday, to see Gayla's village of 300 people - what a culture shock after our day in the mall. We took a bus to the junction and, loaded down with all our great finds in Mexico, we had to walk the two miles to get to her village. We were exhausted when we got there., but felt a bit better after lightening our load by drinking some of the wine. Gayla is helping the ladies in her village start up a tortilla factory, and they had waited until we arrived to show us around their one room business. She also recruited some of the kids in the village and painted a world map on the side of the school, which you can see from the road as you walk through town.
After a short visit there, we decided to go back to Orange Walk so it would be easier for KC and I to catch the bus on Sunday morning. We also wanted to see Colleen's house and visit with other Peace Corps volunteers in Orange Walk, so back out to the highway we trudged. As we were waiting for the bus, I started flagging down trucks that were waiting at a police checkpoint, asking if we could get a ride to Orange Walk. A man with his wife and 2 children finally said yes, so the four of us piled into the back of their truck and off we went down the highway, reaching Orange Walk before the bus even arrived at the location where we were waiting at the highway. It was the first time KC had ever hitchhiked and we all had a good laugh as she crawled into the back of the pick up truck in her dress and white sandles!
When we got to Orange Walk, we went straight to Colleen's house, where we were going to stay on Saturday night, to get cleaned up from our truck ride. The house has just been remodeled, and is as modern as stepping into a beautiful home in America. In fact, we all agreed that her bathroom is nicer than any of us have at home!

After settling in and having a glass of wine, we went to see Zach's house. He moved into a former pre-school, and we were greeted by Zach and Ernie when we arrived. This is the first place many of the volunteers have ever had and it's fun to see how excited they are about fixing up their own places. Zach had to build a shower in his house and paint all the walls, and he's even added some inspirational phrases to the walls.

Then it was on to a party hosted by Jake, a volunteer who is leaving next month after his two years in Orange Walk. He will be going to New Hampshire to graduate school, and is getting very excited to get on with the next phase of his life. We also saw Jim and Janine, a married couple from our group, who we hadn't seen since swearing in in May. They are living in a village just a few miles away and just moved into their house last week.

The next morning, KC and I were back on the bus for the trip home. It was a great weekend and so wonderful to see all the volunteers who live in the Corozol District. And the culmination of the weekend was adding four more dots to my map of Belize of volunteers I have visited!

Anybody Got a Spare Ark?

Last week, out of the clear blue sky, or maybe it was actually a dark gray sky, we had a terrific thunderstorm to match the thunder, lightning and rains of Tampa Bay Florida (which happens to be the lightning capital of the world.)
In 2 short hours it rained enough to completely flood Belize City. Florence, my counterpart at WIN Belize, was at a meeting away from the office. She borrowed an SUV and drove to the closest street to our office that wasn't completely flooded. Minerva and I walked to the car and Florence drove us home, except that when we got close to my road, the water was too deep to drive through. So I had to walk the last two blocks in water sometimes up to my knees. The water was so deep in the back yard that I thought the boat might float, but no water got into my house - except through the window that I had left open! Luckly, the rain stopped that evening and by morning the water had receeded, leaving only a few puddles.

I've Got Mail (and a Mailbox)!

You might have noticed on the right side of my Blog, that I got a mailbox and can now receive mail at my home. Between the dog, the cat and now the mailbox, I think it's an official home! And it all happened almost like Disney magic. I attached my new mailbox to the fence on Monday, and when I went outside an hour later to meet a friend who was coming to visit, there was a letter in the box! My first letter - and of course, it was from Kadi!! Now let me tell you WHY it took so long to get my own address. When I moved in, I asked the landlord what the address was and he told me he had no idea. When he bought the house, I think the legal documents read, "the road behind the casino." So, I bought a map of the city and took it to the post office. I showed them where I live and found out the name of the street and my street number. I thought that would be the hard part, but alas after visiting every hardware store in town, I couldn't find a mailbox until I got to the last one! And it cost as much as a month's worth of bus rides to work! So feel free to send small cards and letters (a #10 envelope fits perfectly) because as you can see it's a small mailbox, but I want to get my money's worth.

It's been a very busy week outside of work. Last weekend I took the bus to the other side of the country to a town called San Ignacio to visit my friend, Linda. It was so incredibally different from Belmopan and Belize City, the only two places where I have been. The countryside was mountaionous and covered in very lush jungle! There are several Mayan ruins close to the town, so it attrracts many tourists and the town was very quaint, safe and there were flowers everywhere. It was really beautiful! On Saturday we got on the bus and went to the last town before the Guatemalan border, Benque Veijo Del Carmen to the "Benque Fiesta." My Peace Corp friends, Roger and Tracy, were there. Roger lives in Benque, and works with the Mayor. Several other volunteers were there, and one volunteer's parents were visiting. So we all had a great time eating lots of good food, watching the exibition football (that's soccer, in this country) game, and just being around friends!

This week, the National Institute of Culture and History is sponsoring an International Film Festival that is being held all week at the Princess Casino, where the only movie theater in the country is located. The casino is right around the corner from my house, so I've gone every evening and have seen some very informative documentaries about Belize: one about their music, another about the Mayan folklore, and one on the resurgence of the Mayan method of making clay sculpture that is being done in San Antonio village, where several volunteers lived during the first 2 months we were in country. I also saw some great avant guard films, some interesting animated shorts and a few really bad films! The sad thing is that the locals don't take advantage of this opportunity and I'm one of only about 10 people in the theater every night.

In the meantime, I am managing to find some time to do a little work! Currently a volunteer and I are developing a Mentorship Policies and Procedures Manual that we plan to pilot this fall when school starts with high school girls. When I first arrived at WIN Belize, I attended the first training for volunteer Mentors. We have now completed those trainings, and over the summer, several teachers and volunteers will be helping us develop an afterschool program for primary and high school girls, as well as the mentorship program. Several staff members here at WIN Belize wrote an incredible grant proposal to the U.S. Embassy to help support this program. We hope to hear about it in the next six weeks. If we get the grant, we have built a cultural component into the program where we would take the girls to some of the beautiful natural spots throughout the country that few have ever seen. We also added a section for sports and recreation and I am trying to work with my goddaughter Arrie's, dance studio to help bring dance to some of the girls. Only a few girls have ever seen ballet and tap, and even fewer have ever had an opportunity to participate in dance. They will need shoes and instructors, but it is very exciting to me and I'm hoping that Miss Cheryl Lee and her students will be as excited as I am about the possibilities. If any of you have contacts in the states with a dance studio, I'd really appreciate it if you could help me get in touch with them. It may not be feeding the world, but I think to be a fully restored Belize, young people must also learn an appreciation for the talent and arts of their country, so maybe I'm starting to find my mission here.

Meet the Newest Addition to the Family

On Friday, Miss Kitty became the newest addition to my Belize home. Miss Kitty has lived with three other Peace Corps volunteers over the last five years, and agreed to move from Belmopan to Belize City to live with me. She has refused to tell me her age, but I think she is about six years old. She is very mellow and sweet and loves to be scratched on the head. As you can see, she has already made herself at home on the sofa (though she is still trying out the bed, under the bed, the chair, under the chair, against the wall in the kitchen and in the closet.) It's nice to come home and have her meet me at the door with a welcome home "meow" and I hope she likes living here as much as I like having her here.

I've rejoined the 21st Century!

Well, I not only got wireless internet connected at my house this week, but through the miracle of a VPN (virtual personal network - whatever that is!), I am now on Skype. My address is jane.house2, and since we're two hours different in time, we can talk AND see each other any morning from 8-10 am, and in the evening after 7pm, Eastern time. Yesterday, I held my computer and gave my Dad, Kadi and David, Jill and Cristy a walking tour of my house and yard. Peoples, the dog, even put his nose up to the screen and introduced himself. It was pretty amazing, and I almost felt like they were here with me! So, if you're not on Skype, sign up for it and give me a call sometime!

It was short, but the lobster was sweet!

KC, Colleen, Linda and me
Last weekend was the first time since we were sworn in that we were allowed to leave our sites and travel around the country. So the four "golden girls" (those of us over the age of 50) decided to go to Caye Caulker for Lobster Fest weekend. Everyone arrived in Belize City on Thursday night, and it was fun having my first guests in my new house. We walked around the corner to the Princess Casino and had a wonderful dinner of shrimp cocktail, lamb chops, baked potato, fresh vegetables and chocolate cake for dessert - for $16 BZ (that's $8 US!) Then we went into the casino and bought $2 worth of chips and got 2 free drinks while gambling away our big bucks! It was a fun evening and a great way to start the weekend. The next morning we took the water taxi to the Caye, which dropped us off right in front of our hotel, the Seaside Cabanas. It was a darling resort and they stored our bags while we went to lunch for our first lobster meal - lobster civche! After lunch, we checked into our air conditioned, two bedroom suite with a living room in between. We settled in, visited the bar for our first round of happy hour beverages, and proceeded to pick out our lounge chairs by the pool. We swam, listened to Garafuna drummers and watched young people punta dancing until it was time for dinner - our second lobster meal of the day - delicious broiled lobster.
Unfortunately, tropical storm Alex didn't cooperate with our plans, and on Saturday morning the Peace Corps notified us that we had to evacuate the island and head to Belmopan until the storm passed. So, we caught the first water taxi of the morning to Belize City, took a cab to the bus station, a bus to Belmopan and a cab to the Garden City Hotel - which was nothing less than a shock from the beautiful Seaside Cabana where we had been peacefully sleeping only three hours earlier! But at least we had a great day together, ate some delicious lobster and got to see the beautiful Caye before the storm. I'm sure we'll all be back there many times in the next two years!!

There's no place like home, Auntie Em!

It's hard to believe it's been three weeks since my last post. I wish I could say it's because I've been so busy, but in fact, it's because I've had little access to the internet. I do have exciting news to report though. I found a beautiful place to live and moved in on June 11th. Of course, there's a story involved! In Belize City, the safest place to live is called the Kings Park area. So everyday after work, I would take the bus to that area and walk the streets looking for "For Rent" signs. I didn't see one sign in over a week's worth of looking, so I began talking to people on the street and knocking on doors of apartment buildings, asking if anyone knew of a place for rent. One afternoon I walked by an attorney's office. I said to myself, "Attorneys in America always seem to have enough money to buy investment properties, so maybe they do here also. Anyway, all that time I spent on getting the Paralegal degree might as well be of some benefit." So I walked into the office and asked the receptionist to ask the attorneys if anyone had rental property. A few minutes later a young man came out and said he had just purchased a house. He said he was going to move into the upstairs and was considering renting the downstairs. He gave me his card and when I got back to the office, I asked my Executive Director if she knew the name. She said she thought he was the son of the Executive Director of one of the member agencies that worked with us, so I called her and sure enough, he was her son. I told her she HAD to tell her son to rent the apartment to me (even though I hadn't even seen it yet!) Then that evening, I went to visit a Belizean friend I have made and showed her the card. She screamed and said, "He should have been my son-in-law, but he's too much of a bad boy!" She picked up the phone and said, "Ariel, you know who this is? It's Mary, and you need to rent your apartment to my friend Jane." Two days later, Ariel showed me the apartment and I rented it for $200 less than he usually rents it, because I told him the amount the Peace Corps allows me for rent and he agreed. It is a two bedroom, two bath, furnished apartment with nice wicker furniture in the
living room and a futon for extra guests! The kitchen has a full sized refrigerator, six burner stove (though one burner would have been enough for my culinary skills!), a washer and, ready for this? - AIR CONDITIONING in the living room! There is an eating area off the kitchen, and a cute alcove for my desk. My landlord is going to move upstairs in a few months, so we are going to split the cost of cable television and internet. That will help keep my costs down (so I can use the AC!) I planted two trees in pots and hung planters by the front door. It has a huge fenced yard, and I've been weeding gardens and planting coconuts, so hopefully there will be shade by the time I leave the country! I also have a private patio off of the bedroom in the back of the house. The house even came with a dog named "Peoples", who unfortunately likes everyone and onlybarks at other dogs. I'm afraid he won't be a very good watch dog, but he's great company! So, I'm ready for visitors any time you decide to visit lovely Belize!

I'd like a House Blend, please. Grande. Black.

Yesterday I bought a coffee maker. Don't get me wrong, I love coffee in the morning, and Minerva always has a pot made when I get to work. But, I realized this morning it was much more than the caffeine buzz that wakes me up. It's the ritual of morning coffee: the smell when you take the lid off the can, the sound of the coffee maker as the water begins to be sucked from the holding tank and dripped over the grounds, and finally the smell as the freshly brewed coffee begins to waft through the room. Yet, there's still more senses to be awakened. I glance over at my coffee maker and begin to see the dark brew dripping into the pot. Anticipation kicks in and I move over to watch my first pot of coffee emerging, drip by beautiful drip, and realize I'm sitting on the floor in front of my little coffee maker almost praying that the perking will soon be completed.
Having no kitchen (or for that matter a table) to sit the coffee maker on, I unpacked my new coffee maker last night and turned the box on its side. I took the plastic bag it came in and laid it over the box to protect it from drips, so I can use the box again when I move to my own house. I set the coffee maker on the box, then neatly (because you know how fastidious I am) put the familiar blue can of Maxwell House on the left, the nicest mug I could find in my host mother's kitchen in front of the can and laid a spoon beside the mug.So, here I sit, legs crossed, waiting patiently for the silence as the last drips trickle into the pot. I realize the only thing missing is a candle, japa mala prayer beads or a round-bellied Buddhist god of Java. As I sit there and pour my inagural cup, once again I close my eyes and take in the aroma. I lift the cup and cradle it in both hands, recalling how often the cup would warm my hands on a winter morning. But that's not the case today, as I notice my crossed legs are now stuck together from the incessant heat which causes my skin to constantly feel like I'm covered in a thin layer of molasses. In my mind, I add that to the list of things I miss - the comfort of warming my hands until it drives a shiver from my cold body on a chilly morning. As I sit in front of my Java shrine and bring the cup to my lips, savoring the first sip of my very own coffee, my mind says a little prayer of thanks for a touch of sanity, a little bit of familiar, in this strange new world!

I'm an OFFICIAL Peace Corps Volunteer!

It's been a whirlwind since I last wrote on the 22nd, but before I catch you up on my last week of training and the swearing in, I want to tell you about the WINNERS meeting I attended the Friday before I left. WINNERS is the volunteer group of WIN Belize and I must say I was a little apprehensive about the meeting that night. Like in America, many people take advantage of a holiday weekend to get away. They go to one of the Cayes or resort towns by the sea. So I was wondering what the turnout would be that Friday night before the Commonwealth holiday. (Remember this was a British colony - they don't celebrate Memorial Day or the 4th of July!) So at 5:30 when the meeting started I was happy to see about 5 people there. However, by 6:00 there were 10 more volunteers and by 6:30, over 20 women were present. I don't know if I've ever attended a better volunteer meeting because, unlike the famous saying by Woody Allen, "80% of success is just being there", these women were not only there but involved! Everyone dug in, volunteered to help with their projects and offered ideas and suggestions for making their efforts more effective. It was really neat!

On Saturday morning I took the bus back to Belmopan. It was my first time taking the bus and of course, it was an adventure! I asked the taxi driver on my way to the bus station when the bus left, and he told me 11:00. At 12:30 I was still sitting in the bus station waiting for a bus that said Belmopan when the young man who sells juice and snacks came up to me and said, "Lady where are you going?" I told him and he replied that about 5 buses to Belmopan had left in the last hour. I said I watched every bus and none of them had said Belmopan. After he stopped laughing, he told me that ALL buses go through Belmopan on their way to another city in Belize and that I could pretty much take any bus heading west or south to get there. So I jumped on the next bus and an hour later I was pulling into the familiar bus station in Belmopan. I walked to the hotel and immediately started seeing the familiar faces of my wonderful Peace Corps friends.

We went downstairs to the Chinese restaurant where Linda and I celebrated our mutual birthdays by enjoying two bottles of wine! More volunteers continued to arrive and the restaurant became the central meeting spot, as we were so glad to be with familiar faces again. Peace Corps volunteers filled every room of the hotel - OK, so it's not a Hyatt Convention Center, but we roamed the 40 or so rooms all evening exchanging hugs and expounding on the variety of diverse stories about our first week in our new homes - from my adventures in the big city with military men carrying machine guns on the street, to a village you can only get to by boat that has no running water or electricity! Later that evening, we all went upstairs to "the ballroom" as we refer to the empty space on the third floor. Some volunteers had made birthday cakes for Linda & I and we switched from wine to $5 a bottle rum!! It's amazing when you're far from home with no one or nothing familiar, (and drunk on cheap rum) how close you can become to perfect strangers in so little time, but I feel such a bond to all of these amazing, intelligent, fun people who have such positive attitudes!

The next day training resumed, but with a whole different tone. Now we were learning about how to patch a bicycle tire and put a chain back on, how to connect a propane tank to a stove, how to hand a mosquito net and how to sharpen a machete and cut weeds without cutting off your foot!

Then Friday finally arrived - the swearing in! We had practiced the Belize National Anthem, when to stand at the arrival of the Governor General and Ambassador, and how to walk to the podium, shake hands and accept our certificates. We were taken to the Governor General's House where four beautiful tents had been set up. All the Peace Corps volunteers from throughout the country came to welcome their newest volunteers, our host families were there and all the staff and trainers who had helped us get to this point in a mear eight weeks. For me, and I think everyone else in our group, it was very emotional, especially when they played the Star Spangled Banner! After the ceremony, lunch was served and congratulations and pictures abounded. Here are the girls of Peace Corps Belize 2010!

After the ceremony, we returned to our hotel and immediately changed into play clothes, as it was time for the annual volunteer "futbrul" game between the "old" volunteers and the "newbys". I contributed by whistling on the sideline, though since I don't know how to play soccar, I think I might have whistled for the wrong team sometimes. Us new volunteers were easy on the old guys and ended the game in a tie to save face.

Back to the hotel to change again, this time to attend a dinner party at the U.S Ambassador's house. It was a fabulous evening, albeit a culture shock becasue as we passed through the gates of the U.S Embassy, it was as thoughwe were transported into one of the most exclusive communities in Naples Florida! After enjoying "real American wine!!" we dined on a delicious dinner of Indian cuisine. The Ambassador and his wife sat at my table, so of course, I took the opportunity to give him some suggestions about how to remodel the Embassy and do his job here in Belize! After dinner, Ambassador Thummalapally's wife Barbara, assembled some chairs in a circle, gathered two guys from our group who had brought their guitars, and sat down for an impromptu karaoke session. It was a great evening that I'm sure I'll always remember - especially when I'm sitting in a thatched hut eating beans and rice for the 3rd day in a I'm back in Belize row.

So, now I'm back to the real world, trying to settle in and bring some normalacy to my life. I come to work everyday at WIN Belize and am trying to find a place to live. Santos, the bus driver, actually knows me already (might be because I'm the only white girl within miles!) and tells me where to get off at my stop. I've met several people who wait with me at the bus stop in the morning and I've got them looking for a place for me to live also.