Hurricanes Galore!!

June 22nd:

By Tuesday, we were in "Standfast" mode for our practice hurricane, which meant we would probably be evacuating for the drill on Wed. Typical me, I never got the call from our warden because my host mom was having me peel shrimp and I wasn't around my phone for awhile! haha. But Cali came over to tell me to check my phone and let them know I got the call.

Sure enough, Wed morning we got the call to take the noon bus to Belmopan. So it was a huge gringo fest, as everyone from Toledo brought their bags and hurricane supplies and headed on the bus up north. It was really funny and kind of ridiculous how many of us were on this bus....but still fun to get to see everyone! I think the conductor was overwhelmed by all of us, he couldn't tell us apart and skipped me and Cali at first when he went to collect money! We arrived in Bmp after 5 and headed to the PC office. It was a little bit of a walk, especially since we just got there, checked in, got a paper with instructions on it, and then had to head back out to the Garden City Hotel. Luckily, some of us got a ride back out there. Wed night was free for us... we just had a curfew so they could account for us during "hurricane zeus." We were able to go out to dinner and hang around in the hotel with everybody before then. It was fun! We had a couple of birthdays to celebrate--which meant cake and candy! woohoo! -- and then Kevina did hair cutting for everyone who needed it! I got a little trim trim. haha

The next morning, we all headed to the PC office bright and early at 8am. We had talks and went over the good and bad points of the hurricane drill--just standard things we have to do but are never fun... After that, nobody was in a rush to get home, so we hung out and got lunch, watched WC games, and did nothing.

Laura had 2 friends drive down from NY, all the way through Mexico, and into Belize to come visit her! So we met and hung out with them for a couple of days! They were pretty cool guys, and they gave us a ride into Placencia for Lobster Fest weekend! (Lobster Fest was this big weekend event that everyone was excited for because it was partying, dancing, games, events, lobster, the whole 9 yards!) We got a hostel with them for the night and had a fun time! Since we were in their car, we beat everyone there.... but soon enough the party started.

Lobster Fest was so much fun, but we barely got to enjoy it because we had to evacuate for a REAL tropical storm! (alex!) We had booked a hotel for the rest of the weekend, (a really nice hotel with a hot tub and tv and everything!) and we couldn't even enjoy it! Saturday morning we were told to get to PG and wait further instructions. Everybody was really bummed. We ate breakfast and headed back down south. Luckily, all the village people were put up in the hotel in PG, so we hung out and watched the World Cup and watched movies for the next 2 days. Thank God we never had to get fully consolidated to Belmopan again! hahaha At one point we did attempt to get some exercise, and a few of us went to the football field to kick around. Otherwise, it was straight bumming it was a few days! hahaha.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I headed home to my host family. Unfortunately, Mr Assi was now home for summer break. He had had a little run in with the PC bosses and the Ministry of Education out in the village he works in and was not a happy man with Peace Corps. So he was pretty rude to me and made me feel very awkward when I came home. It was a weird situation, because he lived out in the village during the school year, so I don't really know him. I know and love the family, but when he came home, Mrs Assi never left his side! And they wouldn't speak to me! The night I came home after Lobster Fest weekend, nobody even got me for dinner...they ate and I was in my room reading and nobody bothered to tell me! It was so strange! Luckily, I'm close with the 2 daughters, Cornelia and Antoinette. I almost feel like their older sister... they tell me about boys and ask my advice now! It's cute.

Anyway, what a crazy week of events!