June 14, 2009

Accidentally put this post on my other tumblr...

It’s 12:30 now, and in about 5 hours I’ll be in a bus, on my way to Belize City to catch a flight to Houston, and then fly home to Memphis.  It’s all bittersweet, but today was a perfect last day.  We went shopping this morning and I got a beautiful blanket (haggled over it, of course) and then we took a boat out to Tobacco Caye for the day.  The weather was perfect, our boat driver took us into the other Cayes to bird watch and see the lagoons, I held a conch, we swam and layed on the beach, drank coconut milk straight from the shell, saw an eagle ray, it was just relaxing and wonderful.  Elizabeth summarized it well when she said, “It’s like we’re living a post card.”

Tonight the Usher family threw a big party for us complete with barbeque, kabobs, tortillas (that Marge, our amazing cook, taught me how to make!, she also sent us all home with coconut fudge, she’s fantastic), salad, ice cold pineapple juice, and chocolate cake with soursap ice cream.  A traditional Garifuna band came and drummed for us to dance to, and we finished the night out with a slide show from the trip.  I think the best part was that some of the POWA women came to join in on the party, dance with us, and say last goodbyes.  There were also a million stars out tonight, it was totally picturesque.  Then, we came in to take our showers, and the water ran out.  I was disappointed for about 5 seconds, and then I washed off with a water bottle.  It was really a perfect ending, Belize is such a mixture of beauty and inconveniences, but I think I’ve learned to laugh things off and take them in stride in true Belizean style.

…So I’m actually back home now, and I think my Belize experience is still processing.  I love that in those last few days in Belize, I couldn’t wait to get home to AC, and now that I’m here it’s freezing!  I think it’s just what you’re used to, my room in Belize was a pretty consistent 90 degrees when we went to bed (my alarm clock has a thermometer on it).  I am grateful for the shower here, though, I haven’t felt this clean in a while.  Church doesn’t start for another 2 hours, but I’m up because I can’t sleep (I’ve been waking up around 6:30 every morning in Belize because of the sunlight streaming through our window, not too early for most, but for a college student, that’s early).  After church I’m going out to eat with my parents, then working on my papers due Tuesday for the class.  I’d like to post some pictures from the last day, and that should probably finish up the blog.  I’ve really enjoyed writing in it, it’s been great to share all of my experiences in Belize and I look forward to reading back over it whenever I miss Belize.  I’m planning on spending a semester in France to study in the Spring, so since the blog is called “laurentravels” I’m sure it’d be appropriate to pick it back up again then!

June 11, 2009
Another picture from our intense softball game.

Another picture from our intense softball game.

At the end of the ceremony we played softball on the field the guys built at the park, the very first softball field in Dangriga.  The game was really fun, Belizeans versus Students, and the Belizeans won!  Not by much, it was a really close game.  It’s exciting that the park will be there for the kids, but also for adults in the community who want to play softball.  The community already has plans for the park, too.  Women from the neighborhood have started fundraising to build a band stand, and the adults are already talking about forming a softball team to compete against neighboring towns.

At the end of the ceremony we played softball on the field the guys built at the park, the very first softball field in Dangriga.  The game was really fun, Belizeans versus Students, and the Belizeans won!  Not by much, it was a really close game.  It’s exciting that the park will be there for the kids, but also for adults in the community who want to play softball.  The community already has plans for the park, too.  Women from the neighborhood have started fundraising to build a band stand, and the adults are already talking about forming a softball team to compete against neighboring towns.

Another park picture.

Another park picture.

People’s Park! There was a great turn out at the opening of the park yesterday. A lot of kids, members from the town council, and community members came out. There was an opening ceremoney and official cutting of the ribbon, then all the kids stormed the playground to play. It was a lot of fun, the guys worked so hard on everything and it was a really nice culmination to all of their hard work.

People’s Park! There was a great turn out at the opening of the park yesterday. A lot of kids, members from the town council, and community members came out. There was an opening ceremoney and official cutting of the ribbon, then all the kids stormed the playground to play. It was a lot of fun, the guys worked so hard on everything and it was a really nice culmination to all of their hard work.

Wednesday was our last business seminar with the POWA women. We talked about making a business plan (more things you should think about and Plan before starting a business, not information for potential investors), took pictures and got information from the women so they can advertise their services on the POWA section of the Dangriga town website (Yuki’s been working really hard on getting the website up and running), and we exchanged email addresses with all the women. There were no sad goodbyes, the women promised they were coming to Jungle Huts this Friday for our barbeque. This picture was taken by a precious man who happened to be at the POWA house, it probably took him about 8 minutes to figure out how to work my camera. He couldn’t fit everyone in, so instead of zooming out or backing up he kept rotating the camera from side to side and getting frustrated. We figured it out eventually, though, and even though there’s kind of a glare I think it’s still a really good picture.

Wednesday was our last business seminar with the POWA women. We talked about making a business plan (more things you should think about and Plan before starting a business, not information for potential investors), took pictures and got information from the women so they can advertise their services on the POWA section of the Dangriga town website (Yuki’s been working really hard on getting the website up and running), and we exchanged email addresses with all the women. There were no sad goodbyes, the women promised they were coming to Jungle Huts this Friday for our barbeque. This picture was taken by a precious man who happened to be at the POWA house, it probably took him about 8 minutes to figure out how to work my camera. He couldn’t fit everyone in, so instead of zooming out or backing up he kept rotating the camera from side to side and getting frustrated. We figured it out eventually, though, and even though there’s kind of a glare I think it’s still a really good picture.

June 9, 2009

Wrapping Up

I can’t believe we only have 2 days of project work left!  Friday is a free day, so we’re all going back to Tobacco Caye, having a barbeque at Jungle Huts (I’m learning how to make toritllas!), wrap up discussion, and packing.  This afternoon’s teaching was kind of anti-climatic, we got to our Standard 5 classes and they told us they had national testing for the rest of the week, so we won’t get to meet with any of them.  It’s kind of sad that we won’t get to have our last lesson/say goodbye to the kids. 

Tomorrow is our last POWA seminar.  We’re going to be discussing business plans, and I took some time today to print out worksheets for the women.  It’s amazing, when I forget to print out a paper on campus I can run and get it done 5 minutes before class, while here printing 15 worksheets was about an hour and a half long process.  Not having the typical American conveniences has taken a lot of getting used to, I tend to accomplish less during the day than I could have in the States, but the slower pace is kind of nice. 

Also, tomorrow at 4:30 is the grand opening of People’s Park, the Park the guys on our team have been working on the past 4 weeks (I put in a couple of days at the park, too).  The highlight of the park is a softball field, the first one in Dangriga, so we’re celebrating the opening of the park with food and a softball game— students agains kids, it should be really fun.  I don’t think I’ll be playing, but I’ll definitely be taking some pictures and should be able to post them tomorrow or Thursday.

June 8, 2009
Today for lunch I had fry tacos and Coke Light.  For $1 Belize (50 cents US) you can go to one of the taco shacks (the red shack is better than the blue shack) and get 3 mini corn tortillas rolled up with chicken and fried, covered in grated cheese and cabbage.  The shacks are a little sketchy, but the food is completely delicious and cheap.  It made me think of this weekend, this place probably had some of the best sweet bread and croissants I’d ever had.  John the Bakerman knows his stuff!  I think sometimes you just have to laugh, and enjoy the food.

Today for lunch I had fry tacos and Coke Light.  For $1 Belize (50 cents US) you can go to one of the taco shacks (the red shack is better than the blue shack) and get 3 mini corn tortillas rolled up with chicken and fried, covered in grated cheese and cabbage.  The shacks are a little sketchy, but the food is completely delicious and cheap.  It made me think of this weekend, this place probably had some of the best sweet bread and croissants I’d ever had.  John the Bakerman knows his stuff!  I think sometimes you just have to laugh, and enjoy the food.

There are 2 lizards in our room

and I’m incredibly excited, hopefully they’ll eat all the mosquitoes in here. It’s hilarious how many lizards there are here, and there not seen as a nuisance because of their diet of bugs. In Placencia, our hotel was an addition to the house of Deb and Dave, some ex-pats from California (I love the stories of the Americans who live here, it’s so funny how they just pick up and move to Belize, doing something like that would have never occurred to me). The addition has 5 rooms, a community bathroom, and a screened in porch with a kitchen area. The morning before we left, not even kidding, there was an iguana climbing on the screened in porch. It was at least 3 feet long, just climbing around. I think I’d be a little freaked out if there was an iguana in our room, but I’m fine with the lizards. What we really need is a bat, they eat about 1,000 mosquitoes every hour. Teaching got cancelled this morning because the students have national testing, kind of like the Standford Achievement Tests we had to do in elementary school. Around 10:30 I’m going to help the guys with the park, and then we have more teaching in the afternoon. Tonight we’re having a business group meeting to talk about all of our project work and papers that are due for the class (I do actually have to write some reports to get credit, and I have to write a paper for my scholarship), and I think the fate of the infamous tilapia project will be decided once and for all. I really don’t know what’s going to happen with that, it’s kind of been a mess. There was just a mismatch of expectations and reality (as in there is no possible way 3 undergrads can give you a comprehensive study of the tilapia market in Belize and internationally). We gave an alternative suggestion, and they said they’d give us data, and it hasn’t happenned…I don’t know, I think we’re just going to let Dr. Reyes decide what’s going to happen with that one. I’ll let you guys know how the meeting goes, I need to go and get ready for the park.

At the end of community day some Garifuna dancers came and danced for us!  There were the two traditional male drummers, and then the women sang while dancing about five dances.  It was really neat, Dangriga is the Garifuna capital of Belize, and the town wants to be known as the cultural capital of Belize to increase tourism.  But, for tourists to want to come, you need a clean city- which is why the good turn out at the beach clean up was a good sign. 

At the end of community day some Garifuna dancers came and danced for us!  There were the two traditional male drummers, and then the women sang while dancing about five dances.  It was really neat, Dangriga is the Garifuna capital of Belize, and the town wants to be known as the cultural capital of Belize to increase tourism.  But, for tourists to want to come, you need a clean city- which is why the good turn out at the beach clean up was a good sign.