The following week my Belizean “boss” took me and the intern to Chetamul, Mexico! My first time to Mexico ever!! It was so cool! He brought us in to Belize City and put us up in a hotel. I hung out with the Belize City PCVs all day because I almost never see them. I also tried Lebanese food, which was awesome, for the first time! Early the next morning, Shawn picked us up for our big Chet excursion! Lucky for us, we got to take his car across the border, which was the best way to experience Chet for the first time. (Otherwise, you take a bus). On our way to Chet, we passed through OrangeWalk and Corozal, picking up other staff members for the journey as well. This was my first time in all these northern towns! I had never been past Belize or Cayo! Every minute was exciting! At first I was a bit skeptical about going to Mexico with work people, who I barely knew and didn’t have much in common with, but it ended up being such a fun and awesome day!
Once we crossed the border, we had to fill out all the immigration stuff and exchange some money. Then Shawn just drove us around Chet to see the general feel of the city. It was so clean!!! Much cleaner than I imagined Mexico to be! And it was so….westernized! So unlike Belize, basically!
Our next adventure was…brace yourself…Sam’s Club!!! I was in awe!!! I felt like I was at home!! Craziness!! It was fantastic! I got so excited I almost forgot I was in Mexico! The walked in and was like “Hey!!!” And he said Buenos Tardes and I felt stupid… Sam’s Club was so awesome! Except everything was in Spanish and in pesos, so it seemed ridiculously expensive and I was confused most of the trip. I got overwhelmed with my options and ended up coming out of there with only a bottle of conditioner to show for it.
After Sam’s Club, we went to the actual MALL!!! Hello, USA!!! I literally felt like I was at the Galleria at Crystal Run. Oh man! But I embraced the familiar environment! I bought a pair of earrings and a headband. I shopped! Oh man! I even ate a Big Mac at McDonald’s in the food court! (Which I can officially go the next 2 years without! My stomach hated me!) It was madness! After a fun afternoon of Americanism, we headed to the Free Zone to make some last minute purchases—mostly everyone wanted to get liquor, hahaha. And the guys bought Mexican beer. But I was able to buy a cute dress for cheap! It was a great day!
On the way home we belted out some Celine Dion: It's All Coming Back To Me, (I thought of Britt and Converse soccer bus rides--oh, and i DID the choreography!). It was really fun… I bonded with my Belizean co-workers. Sadly, the trip ended and I was back on my way to PG on the 5:15am bus the next morning.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Belize Meets Cornhole...
My blog has had over 1,000 hits! How exciting! So thanks for reading my random PC life story!!
After my week in San Miguel, it was a big party weekend: Michelle’s 30th Birthday! (Michelle is another PCV in Punta Gorda.) She and her husband, Nate planned a big party weekend for it all. Nate even made a cornhole board, for some good ole fashioned American fun! It was a huge hit! (& cool to play with all the Belizeans who came to the party!) It was kind of a potluck on Friday night, everyone brought food and different things to cook and we made punch. It was really fun! The food was awesome! We had music and hung out outside… it was great! Plus, a bunch of people from the North came down for the celebration! It was good to see people! After it got too late to run the music from their house, we moved the party to Sports Bar to go dancing for a little while. It was a fun night.
Saturday morning I woke up and headed to Cayo for a football match. It was the first game of our 2-series finals. We played Belize City and won 2-1! I played so crappy in the first half, but really stepped it up in the 2nd. Thank goodness! It would’ve been a waste to travel 7 hours on a school bus and not even played well!!! Midway through the game is downpoured on us. It was such a fun game. And when we won, the celebration after the game was INSANE!!! My team and our fans went crazy! We had about 75+ fans there! They had a little bar stand set-up too, and people were drinking and having a blast… it was such a cool experience! After the game everyone was squirting our team with shilling bags of water—kinda what they do after racecar wins with champagne? It was like that, but with these little square bags of water. Hahaha It was great!! Everyone was taking pictures and making comments like, “you can do it, white gyal!” Because they like to make fun of me and I usually get that joke or “run, white gyal, run” hahaha. It’s all fun though!! I really love my team!!!
After the game I got a ride back w/one of the girl’s family to Belmopan. I got dropped off at Bryan Dwyer’s house for his going away party, he’s our PTSO (which I’m not sure what the acronym stands for….but he’s important). He’s leaving for PC Honduras…. We will miss him so much!!!
Anyway, I showed up smelly and sweaty and soaked to the bone, thinking it was only he and his family and other PCVs going to be present…..wrong! Almost ALL Peace Corps staff and PCVs were there—dressed up!! It was a nice, classy party! WHAT!!!! DID NOT GET THAT MEMO!!! AH! I was so embarrassed! And I stunk! I was only going to pop in for a brief appearance and then I ended up making a grand embarrassing entrance! Yikes! Luckily, the Dwyer family is ridiculously nice, and Bryan’s 13 year old daughter gave me some clothes to borrow. Confidence booster: I fit into a 13 year old’s clothes; confidence killer: I also borrowed a bra from her…and it fit. Sad.
The party was really fun after I didn’t stink anymore! They had hummus, and all kinds of amazing food, and wine! Yum! But I was glad to leave because I was exhausted that night!
The following day we were supposed to have a tournament in Esperanza, and I went all the way back out there only to learn that it was cancelled. Epic fail. But it ended up being a good day because I got to eat fried chicken and mash potatoes at my coach’s house and hang out with him for awhile. Then we went to support our teammates who were playing in a softball game down the road, which was cool. It was a relaxing Belizean afternoon and I enjoyed myself. Around early evening time, I headed back home.
After my week in San Miguel, it was a big party weekend: Michelle’s 30th Birthday! (Michelle is another PCV in Punta Gorda.) She and her husband, Nate planned a big party weekend for it all. Nate even made a cornhole board, for some good ole fashioned American fun! It was a huge hit! (& cool to play with all the Belizeans who came to the party!) It was kind of a potluck on Friday night, everyone brought food and different things to cook and we made punch. It was really fun! The food was awesome! We had music and hung out outside… it was great! Plus, a bunch of people from the North came down for the celebration! It was good to see people! After it got too late to run the music from their house, we moved the party to Sports Bar to go dancing for a little while. It was a fun night.
Saturday morning I woke up and headed to Cayo for a football match. It was the first game of our 2-series finals. We played Belize City and won 2-1! I played so crappy in the first half, but really stepped it up in the 2nd. Thank goodness! It would’ve been a waste to travel 7 hours on a school bus and not even played well!!! Midway through the game is downpoured on us. It was such a fun game. And when we won, the celebration after the game was INSANE!!! My team and our fans went crazy! We had about 75+ fans there! They had a little bar stand set-up too, and people were drinking and having a blast… it was such a cool experience! After the game everyone was squirting our team with shilling bags of water—kinda what they do after racecar wins with champagne? It was like that, but with these little square bags of water. Hahaha It was great!! Everyone was taking pictures and making comments like, “you can do it, white gyal!” Because they like to make fun of me and I usually get that joke or “run, white gyal, run” hahaha. It’s all fun though!! I really love my team!!!
After the game I got a ride back w/one of the girl’s family to Belmopan. I got dropped off at Bryan Dwyer’s house for his going away party, he’s our PTSO (which I’m not sure what the acronym stands for….but he’s important). He’s leaving for PC Honduras…. We will miss him so much!!!
Anyway, I showed up smelly and sweaty and soaked to the bone, thinking it was only he and his family and other PCVs going to be present…..wrong! Almost ALL Peace Corps staff and PCVs were there—dressed up!! It was a nice, classy party! WHAT!!!! DID NOT GET THAT MEMO!!! AH! I was so embarrassed! And I stunk! I was only going to pop in for a brief appearance and then I ended up making a grand embarrassing entrance! Yikes! Luckily, the Dwyer family is ridiculously nice, and Bryan’s 13 year old daughter gave me some clothes to borrow. Confidence booster: I fit into a 13 year old’s clothes; confidence killer: I also borrowed a bra from her…and it fit. Sad.
The party was really fun after I didn’t stink anymore! They had hummus, and all kinds of amazing food, and wine! Yum! But I was glad to leave because I was exhausted that night!
The following day we were supposed to have a tournament in Esperanza, and I went all the way back out there only to learn that it was cancelled. Epic fail. But it ended up being a good day because I got to eat fried chicken and mash potatoes at my coach’s house and hang out with him for awhile. Then we went to support our teammates who were playing in a softball game down the road, which was cool. It was a relaxing Belizean afternoon and I enjoyed myself. Around early evening time, I headed back home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Washing Pan Di Rock
Crique Jute Village
