Hello From Belmopan!

Our flight was uneventful – after the bus driver, who was taking us to the airport in a 40 passenger bus, engaged in a high speed chase through the airport arrival and departure ramps because an airport shuttle hit the front of our bus. I thought I was in "Speed II", but couldn't find Keena Reeves anywhere on the bus! The excitement began to build as the pilot commended the group of 40 Peace Corps volunteers on board for their dedication and we all cheered as the wheels touched down in our new country. Our excitement built even more as we disembarked from the plane to the cheers of our fellow volunteers who had come from all over the country to welcome us. After clearing customs and immigration, we were bused to a very nice hotel to have dinner of rice and beans and chicken with the current volunteers – then we were taken to the hotel where we are staying - not so nice! There are two beds in the room, one has the mattress and the other the box springs. There is no closet, drawers or even a chair in the room. All of the rooms have a TV, some even work and some have air conditioning that works, but none of us has hot water.
I have a wonderful roommate here in Belmopan, Linda Crawford, from a small town just south of Canada in Minnesota, and she is really HOT! She is the same age as I am and her birthday is the day before mine. She was an executive director for several group homes for the developmentally delayed, so you can imagine how much we have in common and it's wonderful to hang out and explore Belmopan with her.
On Saturday, we were taken to a Kriol Cultural Day at a monkey preserve. Our guild showed us many varieties of trees and vegetation, and some that are used for medicinal purposes. We saw a family of Howler monkeys and the mother came down from the tree and rested on my shoulder as she examined all of us other primates! We then saw demonstrations of all sorts of things – how they make oil from palm seeds, how cashews are roasted, native dancing and the “Legendary Mr. Peters Band” a great Kriol band. We had, what else, rice and beans and chicken!

On Sunday, we went to a beautiful river in the jungle and joined locals as they played, bathed and washed clothes. We played! And the “kids” were amazed when I climbed the rock ledge and jumped off with them. It was cool, refreshing and a great day in a beautiful place. Today we are back in classes and had our first Creole language lesson. We will leave on Thursday for our villages for 6 weeks of Community Based Training, though classes won’t start until next Tuesday because Easter is a very big holiday here. All offices are closed and work stops on Thursday afternoon and doesn’t resume until after Easter Monday.

Well, layta. Tumaaro dehn!

Tomorrow is the big day!

It's Tuesday and I'm so excited and scared at the same time, I can't separate the feelings. I am staying with friends who live downstairs from my condo because mine is all closed up, water shut off and hurricane shutters lowered. My dearest friend, Kadi, is spending the night so she can take me to the airport at 3 am, a totally uncivilized hour, but then I'm going to a pretty uncivilized place, so I guess it's an appropriate way to start out.
These last few weeks have been absolutely perfect! My PEO sisters offered love and good wishes at my last meeting with them, and my Investment Club had an All-American red, white and blue themed party. Our President, Dorothy Schrage, gave a beautiful opening quote from Kahlil Gibran, "Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens." And my Book Club members, who after hearing the story that I told them about Tracy's seeds, sends me off with a bucket full of vegetable seeds to plant hope with the people of Belize.

My going away party at the Palm Pavilion was wonderful. Not only was it one of the first beautiful days we've had so far this year, but the number of friends who came and well wishes I received was incredible! My dear friend Jill had everyone make a page which she compiled into a beautiful book that I will look at with fond memories many times throughout the next two years.
I have visited with friends who I hadn't seen in years, yet we picked up as though we had just seen each other last week. It gives me a renewed sense of how incredibly blessed I am to have so many wonderful and caring friends. Though I'll be in a very different world, please keep me in your thoughts as you remember another quote from Kahlil Gibran, "A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?" I will miss all of you very much, but will feel your love and support with me, as I will be with you as you read of my adventures.
I wish I could say somthing profound as I embark on my journey. But in fact, it's Elle Woods in Legally Blonde that I recall as she is presenting the commencement address to her graduating class from Harvard Law School, "It is with passion, courage of conviction and strength of self that we take this next step." So, here we go!

Three days and counting!

Today is Sunday and my dear friend, Jill, is coming over this afternoon. She is bringing a book she has compiled with pages that she asked my friends to complete. People have been asking me how I liked their page and I've had to tell them that I haven't seen the book yet. So my anticipation has been building, and I think I will save it to read on the plane (partly so I can't chicken out and stay here!) It's been wonderful visiting with friends and sad to say good-bye, yet it brings cause to wonder why we don't make such efforts every day to stay more closely in touch with the people we love and who's company we enjoy.
I have been in contact through email with three volunteers who are currently in Belize. I've been drilling them on questions about what to bring and managed to fit in a question or two about what I could bring them. Anyone know how to get a hamburger in a suitcase?
The last and probably the most frequently asked question is:

4. What on Earth possessed you to join the Peace Corps? In my Christmas note, I explained how my family watched the evening news every night and I remember watching as President Kennedy signed the bill that created the Peace Corps in 1961. Honestly, I don’t think I had any idea what it really was, but I knew I wanted to join the Peace Corps. Life and almost 50 years got in the way until Christmas 2008, when my Dad asked me, “Have you thought about joining the Peace Corps?” To which I responded, “Well that’s a little drastic way to try to get rid of me, don’t you think?”After my initial laughter over the absurdity and telling him that I’m sure they don’t take people my age, he said, “Just check out the website. I’ve looked at it and I think you might find it interesting.” Before I knew it, I was filling out the application and the rest is history.
From the time I was six years old when my parents bought an unbuildable lot to build our dream home until last year when I returned to college for the first time in 35 years, I’ve always thrived on a challenge. When I was 8, my parents took us on our first camping adventure because my Mom said, "If they can build houses on the sides of mountains in California, we can build our dream house on a hill in Dayton Ohio." Fantastic camping trips evolved through every state in the continental US, except Florida; and each one was a wonderful adventure. So, I guess it was only natural that when I packed up my belongings in a U-Haul at age 27, I headed to Florida. And, as all of you know, I have had challenges and great adventures throughout the 31 years I’ve lived here. School was very challenging and I’m proud that I got A's in every class and passed the National Exam. But I think the most important thing I learned (besides the fact that I don’t want to work for an attorney), is that I can do almost anything if I work hard and put my mind to it. Sometimes you have to get lost to find yourself, and it’s time for new challenges, a new adventure and to begin a new phase in my life.
One of my "pen pals" in Belize told me a story about some vegetable seeds that her friends sent her from the U.S. She asked her host father if he wanted to plant a garden and as they began to dig up the plot several children, then their mothers came to help. When Tracy realized that she would have extra seeds, she offered them to one of the women. The woman began to cry and ran back to her hut. Tracy asked her daughter if she had offended her mother and the girl replied, "Oh no. My father was an alchoholic and drank anti-freeze on New Years Eve. He died and my mother has been very worried that she wouldn't have enough to feed all of us. The seeds you gave her bring her hope."
At the end of Schindler’s List, Oscar Schindler is given a ring with the inscription, “If you save one life, you save the world.” I’m not so idealistic anymore to think I can help save the world, but if I can help one person it would be a good thing; and that’s the main reason I want to join the Peace Corps.

Five Days and counting!

Today is Friday and I'm starting to see some progress in my "to do" piles. I am selling my car to my best friends today and they are going to let me continue to drive it until I leave next week, which will be a big help! I still haven't tackled the packing issue, though I've started to lay out some possible items, but putting them in the duffle bag just seems too final to deal with yet.
I'm very excited about going to my Goddaughter's house tonight for a "sleep over". Cathy, her mother, Arrie and I are going to watch a movie in our pj's and just have some quiet, quality time before I leave (and I'm sure there will be some wine involved for Cathy and me!)
Here are the next FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) that I promised to answer:

2. When do you leave? I suppose I could take this question personally and ask another question – why is everyone so anxious for me to leave? Nevertheless, I guess you've figured out by the countdown that I leave on Wednesday, March 24, at 4 am and fly to Dallas where “staging” begins at noon. I will meet the approximately 40 other volunteers going to Belize, receive the first of a series of immunizations, attend orientation meetings, fill out more paperwork (this is the government, after all!) and get my passport. Our flight leaves the next day at 1 pm, and we arrive in Belize City at 3 pm! After checking in with Immigration and going through Customs, Peace Corps staff will meet us and we will be bused about an hour and a half to the capital city of Belmopan Cayo, where we will stay in a hotel for one week during orientation. At the end of this phase, we will begin six weeks of Community-Based Training with about four other volunteers from our group in each village. The villages are about an hour from Belmopan. Each of us will be placed with a host family and begin training specifically designed for our projects that will include cross-cultural & technical training, health components, safety and security issues, and begin detailed language training in either Kriol, Garifuna, Maya or Spanish. During Pre-Service Training we will begin to develop a better sense of the people and language of Belize, the Peace Corps’ policies and staff, our job descriptions and host country counterparts, and our role as a Volunteer. After the community based training, we will learn where our future site will be and move to our permanent site for 1 ½ weeks of field training. We then return to Belmopan for a final week of training and will be sworn-in as a Volunteer on May 28th.

3. What will you be doing in Belize? I will be in the Business and Organizational Management area, but won’t know where I will be living permanently or what my specific project is until the end of May, when I'm sworn in. The purpose of the Business & Organizational Management area is to help Belizeans achieve a decent standard of living through improved community leadership and sustainable business practices. Volunteers help community groups to effectively manage the need of their communities through enhanced leadership and organizational practices, and help entrepreneurs and microenterprise groups to implement locally appropriate, efficient and profitable business practices.
In addition, I'll be responsible for a project that I will develop independently from the Peace Corps. I've been trying to make some contacts and have several ideas, but ultimately what I am able to do will depend on where I live and what the people need and want. So, I'll just have to keep those ideas in the back of my head until I get settled.
Any guesses what the most frequently asked question is? Stay tuned!

Seven days and counting!

I leave in one week from today. So what have I been doing all month? Mostly eating! I have dubbed it "bear going into hybernation preparation" or "Last Supper Syndrome."
"Hi, Jane. I'd love to get together with you before you leave. Can we have lunch/dinner?"
At the restaurant: "We should have a cocktail to toast your new adventure." "And another."
"How about dessert, since you probably won't be getting cheesecake in Belize?"
Good thing I'll be eating beans and rice for the next 2 1/2 years, because that's about how long it's going to take to loose the weight I've been gaining!
OK, so I've been doing a few other things also: like actually filing my income taxes BEFORE April 15th!, getting a passport, making a will (not that I'm expecting to need it, but the Peace Corps requires it - what do they know that they aren't telling me?), going paperless, electronic and changing my address on everything from credit cards to bank accounts, arranging to get absentee voting ballots sent to Belize, canceling telephones, cable, internet, car and health insurance, putting important papers and valuables in a safe deposit box, compiling a hurricane evacuation plan for my friends to follow (just in case), making contact lists for family and friends (just in case), selling my car, preparing the condo to be gone for two years, including installing a "humidistat" on the air conditioner (pretty cool - no pun intended), getting medical and dental clearances and copies of eye glass and medicine prescriptions, buying lightweight clothes, towels and sheets that dry fast, downloading over 8,000 songs on my IPOD, and did I mention I got SCUBA Certified on Saturday?
Last Sunday, I had a party at a restaurant on Clearwater Beach where over 75 friends came to show their incredible love and support as I embark on this great adventure (or are they just anxious to see me go and want to be sure I'm really leaving?) Everyone had lots of questions, so I put together a little FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions). Here's the first of four questions I'll try to answer in the next few days before I leave.

1. Where is Belize anyway? Belize is a small country in Central America about the size of New Hampshire with only 300,000 people, the lowest population density in Central America and one of the lowest in the world. It was formerly British Honduras until September 21, 1981 when Great Britain granted Belize full independence. Belize lies just below the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, bordered on the east by the Caribbean Sea and to the west and south by Guatemala. Belize is one of the world’s most biologically diverse nations and unlike what we have recently become aware of in Haiti, 93% of Belize is under forest cover. It has the largest coral reef in the western hemisphere, the largest cave system in Central America, over 500 species of birds, the only jaguar reserve in the world and thousands of Mayan temples. Belize also has a very diverse culture and population, over half are Mestizos, or people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry, Creoles, Mayas and Garifunas, who are descendants of African slaves and Carib people, also live in Belize. English is the official language, but Spanish and Creole (or Kriol) are fast becoming the language common to all. Other languages spoken in Belize include Mopan Maya, K'ekchi and Garifuna.
There have been over 1,700 volunteers who have served in Belize since 1962. There will be 40 people in my group who will work in education, agriculture, health, environmental conservation and small business development.
Well, that's your history lesson for today. I have to start packing!