Updates, Updates, Updates!!

So I have been procrastinating on my blogging and it has become a this huge daunting project now.... So here goes on the updates of my life:


Ok, where to begin! These past few months have flown by! I can’t believe I’ve only got ¾ of service left! It seems like yesterday I was stepping off the plane. It’s been an amazing ride so far, and as each day unfolds I cannot wait for what’s in store.


After I got kicked out of my host family's house, I moved in with Nate and Michelle. I lived with them for about 10 days or so.... maybe. (this is all the first week of July, by the way). It was fun!
In the meantime, our security guy, Daniel Mendes, came and approved a new house for me and another PCV, Taylor, to live in. The house is currently one story, but they are extending the top to a second apartment......Temporarily we are allowed to live together in the bottom, and the plan is to then have me move to the top. The only glitch - oh Belize- is that they were supposed to start construction on July 1st and they have yet to start...... oy! So we shall see....

I cooked my first meal in Belize.... the very ethnic spaghetti and meatballs! hahaha BUT for someone who has no cooking skills whatsoever, I did make the meatballs from scratch! go me! Speaking of cooking, I’ve been trying to learn to cook, but failing miserably. Yesterday I tried to hard boil an egg…. The yolk came out all liquidy (yes, it’s a word) and the rest was hard boiled. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get sick from that! Hahaha. But I DID cook eggplant with pasta and onions, peppers, and garlic the other night…. I was proud of myself. That counts as a legitimate meal! I think I’m gonna need somebody to send me cookbooks…. Preferably cooking for dummies!!! Hahahahaha

I’ve also become quite acclimated to the bugs and rodents of Belize. Call me dirty, but I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor in Taylor’s house for awhile, and I had a cockroach crawl on the mattress in the middle of the night and I was just too tired to even bother knocking it off. Yep, it’s true. I’m much less creeped out by bugs these days. Last night a HUGE cockroach crawled in my hair in the middle of the night. I woke up and brushed it off and thought it was a piece of hair itching me. Then it crawled back on my face and I realized it was a cockroach. So I knocked it off again—very casually. And then got my spray and killed it. And I wasn’t grossed out at all! Weird. I’m officially Belizean.

Throughout most of the summer I spent the majority of my time in the villages of Toledo. I was either working for RCP or doing summer camps in Crique Jute village. So that’s my big excuse for not blogging! Haha Being in the villages makes it hard to get computer/internet access—at least long enough to write a blog!


Meanwhile, I enjoyed a lot of the World Cup in Belize.... everyone-both Belizeans and PC alike- seemed to really get into it! It was exciting! Except every team I rooted for would lose....so I would move on and find a next team and they would lose.... it was a vicious cycle! haha


But, my absolute favorite thing about Belize is the atmosphere of a rural Toledo village. Every village you go to has its own feel, dialect, and little ways to make life work. Some have no running water, some no electricity, and still others have neither. And yet, they get by, day to day. As an American, it’s surprising and hard to get used to this simplistic lifestyle. We tend to try to fill up every second of our days with work or entertainment of some sort. You rarely ever find a family who hang out after dinner in the darkness, just enjoying each other’s company. I sometimes think of Belize as just a few generations behind the States, but in a junglesque environment. When I was in San Jose village for the week, we had no electricity or running water. We bathed in the river around 4 in the evening, just before dinner time. We prepared dinner and by the time we ate it was dark out, so we sat around a kerosene lamp. Once dinner was over, the family gathered around the transistor radio and listened to the news or music for the remainder of the evening before going to bed by at least 8pm. Can you even imagine the last time you went to bed at 8? Most people probably haven’t seen that day in awhile! But then they were up again at the crack of dawn, starting the daily chores all over again. Washing, preparing breakfast, etc. It really gives you time for self-evaluation. That’s what I like the best. You are forced to sit alone with your thoughts, which are easy to avoid in the States. Whenever I get overwhelmed and stressed, watching a movie/tv, surfing the internet, or listening to music is an easy way to avoid what needs to happen and have some mindless enjoyment. In the village, you find plenty of time to read and write and THINK! Oh, to think without distractions! It’s fantastic! Maybe it’s just me, and I have no will power when I’m trying to get something done and a tv or computer screen is in front of me….easy choice! I immediately opt for entertainment! To not have that option is refreshing, really.

Anyway, enough ranting about technology…. Back to my actual life down here!