Mennonites are just German Amish people.....

Saturday was our 1 month anniversary of PC!!! Woohoo!! I can't believe it's been a month! Sometimes I feel like I've been here FOREVER & sometimes it feels like it's been only days!
Luckily, the Belikin helped me sleep like a baby (without interruptions by the rats) so I was well rested for a full day! We were supposed to have language class that morning, but Mr Cal gave us the morning off! It was great! On top of that, we had fry jacks for breakfast---pretty much my favorite Belizean breakfast food! Fabulous! I spent the whole morning doing laundry!!! Oh man, it is such an ordeal here! This time I went all-out, no spinner at all (which is our makeshift "washer"). I used the washing stone! Of course, the whole family cracked up about me washing b/c the silly gringo couldn't wash right! Sofia was helping me out & showing me all the steps-- that sounds silly b/c I have washed things by hand before, but they have a system & I wanted to do it their way! Anyway, I failed miserably! hahaha So Mrs Sotz came over & said "let me show you to wash", which basically was "Now I'm doing your laundry b/c you silly gringa can't do it right!" haha So she washed all my laundry & I rinsed & Sofia wrung it all.... Even with the three of us doing 2 weeks of my clothing it was 2 hours by the time I had it all hanging on the line! Wow! (But a great arm workout!)
So by the time I finished all my laundry, it was time for lunch!  Lunch was awesome! I had Ramen again!!!! Who knew Ramen could be so exciting??! hahaha After lunch we headed to Mr Cal's for an unexpected afternoon adventure!

We were heading to Spanish Lookout to buy chickens for dinner.... The quick trip turned into an afternoon excursion! We stopped and bought the chickens-- yes, 2 live chickens!-- and had them tied up and put in a bag til we came back for them... Then we had Milky Ways! Stop right there.... we DON'T have chocolate here! "Milky Ways" are the milk version of "Ideals"... Ideals are what they call ice pops.... Milky Ways are the creamy version I guess you can say.... Nonetheless, delicious! So we ate those and drove for an hour in the back of Mr Cal's pickup truck....heavenly! We drove all the way to Spanish Lookout (where you find the Menonites!) to try their famous ice cream! (Yes, we just ate pretty much the same thing...) We got to a shop that had ice cream, milkshakes, and PIZZA! Mr Cal got us all slices of pizza! AMAZING! It was so good! And we all also got milkshakes! Probably the most amazing milkshake I have ever had..... just saying. haha

After the random trip for ice cream, we were so hot & really sunburned!! (Nobody planned to be in the back of a truck for an hour!) So Mr Cal surprised us with a quick stop at the river! It was a different river from the other 2 we've been to.... It had such a strong current! It was a workout to stay still! But OH SO refreshing!!! WE all just jumped in in our clothes! We dried off on the way home anyway!

Before heading back we picked up our chickens & one escaped in the truck bed! I screamed & jumped out of the truck! It scared me! hahahaha They were able to catch it & get it back in the bag...phew!~

The reason for the chickens was a learning experience.... The three of us were supposed to cook a traditional Mayan meal from scratch for my host family: chicken caldo.... So we got the chickens to my house and tied them upside down from a tree (to drain the blood)... One of the chickens died almost instantly b/c it was basically traumatized & didn't make it through the car ride. So that one we did nothing to.... Then Mrs Sotz broke the neck on the other chicken to kill it.... It was a fighter & WOULD NOT die! I screamed and was very emotional about the whole experience! We were actually all pretty pumped to kill chickens, but I'm glad Mrs Sotz did it instead b/c I would have been upset! I felt the broken neck afterwards & it was horrible!  So after I mourned the death of our future dinner, we stuff them in boiling water & plucked them! I really think everyone who eats chicken should really do this process....it's a must. The plucking took quite a while & once we got them all clean, Mrs Sotz & Sofia took them and got all the little fuzzes & hairs we didn't get, hahaha. Then we cleaned the chickens.... which was weird b/c we cleaned them with dish soap..... Hmmmm..... haha. After cleaning came chopping! Basically, Mrs Sotz broke a open the chickens & pulled out their guts, saving pieces like the liver, heart, & such & throwing away all the rest... Then, she broke a bunch of bones & brought out her machete to chop up the chicken! She gave me a knife & let me cut some too! Is it weird that I had a deja vu experience of the orthepedic knee replacement I watched in college during this process????! hahaha So we chopped up the chicken & Sofia cleaned all the parts while we boiled the heads....b/c that's what you do.?! All the good pieces were tossed in the boiling water & we starting collecting the spices from around the gardens in our yard. There were a bunch & I just don't care enough about plants to go into it... so we had spices in our caldo.... haha. While all the ingredients boiled in the pot, we made the corn tortillas ("wah" in mayan) on the xumuch (the tortilla grill). That was a long process, (one I've done before), but it was fun doing it with Matt & Dan.... letting all the women make fun of the 2 gringo boys in the kitchen! haha Finally, after 2 1/2 hours of preparation, our kaldo kax (chicken broth) was done!!!   Let me just say this.... kaldo kax never tasted so good!!!

We fed the whole family & it was a nice little event! I tried the chicken foot, heart, & liver.... they were all surprisingly yummy! But I don't really understand the foot part.... it's really hard to suck the toes of a chicken..... hahahahahaha (Never thought I would ever write a sentence like that!)

Anyway, after an amazing day, I showered & headed to Matt's as we attempted to do some work for our Heatlh Fair & watch some Arrested Development..... Oh just another day in the life of a PCT......  =)