So I told Dan I was going to blog about his stories at some point because they are just too hilarious to not be told....
Dan is in a house w/7 young children and 2 adults. The youngest child, Charlene, is the cutest little 3 year old girl you have ever seen! She is really bossy and demanding, but she is so cute you can't help but to obey her! (She will definitely be the devil in a few years.... lol). So anyway, she still breastfeeds (even though she also eats normal food) because their family is rather poor and many Belizeans breastfeed a lot longer than we do in the States. Anyway, Dan has grown quite accustomed to Charlene randomly going up to her mom and just yanking out her breast.... B/c, like I said, Charlene is quite bossy so when she was a little snack, she gets it. haha.
So one day at lunch Dan was super excited because he had Ramen! He is eating his noodles, and Charlene whips out her mom's boob. She then continues to say, "Danny, Danny" & points to her mom's boob, essentially offering him a little taste! AAH HAHAHA! Dan quickly looked to his Ramen for the rest of the meal..... Amazing!
To make things EVEN BETTER, about a week after that incident happened, Dan was walking to the shower in his towel. Charlene yells, "Danny! Danny! Nice doo doo!" And Dan was utterly confused. His poop? He comes to find out from the other children that "tzoo tzoo" is nipples in Mopan!!! hahahhaha He told us the story that morning and I told him that she was probably wanting to try them out... I'm just saying... hahahaha. So now Dan's entire family constantly makes fun of him and says "nice doo doo" all the time!
Oh the life of a Mopan-eer. hahahaha
Sunday, May 2, 2010
busy busy
Thursday
I tried to skip breakfast again by being late and Mrs Sotz sent Choni on bicycle with a packed breakfast for me instead! Ugh, I felt so bad & didn't even want to eat! I guess skipping breakfast is really not an option.... lol
That morning we had class w/ Mr Cal and got to go visit with a bush doctor! It was a really cool complex where he lived & we got to see a bunch of herbs he uses for various cures. The guy was a tiny man with about 2 teeth and really not the healthiest looking individual. Still it was a cool morning session & we got to explore the Maya Mopan village as well. That afternoon we gave our HFLE presentations at Kuxlin Ha Gov't School. I was kinda nervous about teaching kids, but it ended up turning out really great! I taught Infant II, which is the equivalent of 1st grade, & they were pretty well behave & seemed to learn some things about personal hygiene by the time I was done. It was definitely a good experience.... and at least I didn't have to do private parts! (that was Dan's topic! hahaha)
After our presentations, we went to PC for sessions with Chanda, homework time, & yoga again. So many ppl went to yoga that night! (b/c all the Dangriga ppl were in town for the night). It was really fun & we all hung out at the good ole Garden City hotel afterwards. It was actually the latest the San Martin crew stayed out yet! I had gotten a key to let myself in the house and Dan left his window open & Matt's room is separate with a key of his own, so we all could stay out w/out keeping our families up waiting! It was a hilarious night and we had a blast!
Friday
PC Day! I woke up trying to act like I hadn't been out late the night before, but I still got weird looks and questions. Oh how I love being a teenager again! lol.San Martin didn't have water again in the morning, so I had to get clean as best as possible. Fail!
Our sessions on Friday were actually really fun! (the constant lecture sessions had been getting a bit tiring). We did like 2 hours of group games, which were hilarious and funny. One of the games was a spiderweb w/38 holes for all 38 of us and we had to get everyone through the holes without touching the string & every hole can only be used once. It took us over an hour to do but it was awesome! I went through one of the top holes and had to be lifted through and caught on the other side.... I guess it's kinda hard to describe in writing. We also got to meet our new Country Director that morning! She is SO nice and seems really genuine! I'm excited to work with her!
The rest of the day was a lot of crammed sessions with Nurse Jackie before our last Development talk with Bryan! Bryan is amazing. He gave such a great motivational talk. It really made you reevaluate your reasons for coming here and why even little changes are so important. It was definitely an inspiring end to the day and week....
That night we ate in Belmopan and hung out at Andy's for awhile before heading home. It wasn't really a late night for us b/c pretty much everyone was exhausted from the night before. When I got home, Mrs Sotz was sick again in the hammock. She was sitting with a bowl of burning hair under her... I was so confused! I asked Nardo what was happening and he explained to me that she had gotten frightened by something which had caused her to get worms which caused her stomach pains and thus she had to burn her hair and cleanse herself with it and then each person in the family had to cut a chunk of their hair to burn and cleanse her with. It was so fascinating, but totally strange! The entire kitchen house smelled like burning hair.... It was weird! Just another piece of Mayan culture I was introduced to!
Saturday
May! I can't believe it's May already! Saturday was a great day! We had a meeting with NAVCO in the morning before the Agricultural Show, which is a huge 3-day fair in Belize. People come from all over the country and it's complete madness! We went around to all the booths, drank some beers, went to the river, & rode some rides. It was a very long and fun day! Choni and Dora, my host nephew, were both at the fair and every time I saw them they were WAY drunker! It was funny, but I was glad they never saw me drinking b/c that could get me a worse rep than I already have! hahaha. Afterwards we all went to one of the 2nd year PCV's house to hang out. Of course, Matt went to Brodie's to get some rum and who bags up his purchase? My other host brother, Dino! I can't escape them! On top of that, Alana was outside the store and talked to Matt asking when I would be home and what I was doing. OMG! haha. We had another late night out, but it was a great day!
I tried to skip breakfast again by being late and Mrs Sotz sent Choni on bicycle with a packed breakfast for me instead! Ugh, I felt so bad & didn't even want to eat! I guess skipping breakfast is really not an option.... lol
That morning we had class w/ Mr Cal and got to go visit with a bush doctor! It was a really cool complex where he lived & we got to see a bunch of herbs he uses for various cures. The guy was a tiny man with about 2 teeth and really not the healthiest looking individual. Still it was a cool morning session & we got to explore the Maya Mopan village as well. That afternoon we gave our HFLE presentations at Kuxlin Ha Gov't School. I was kinda nervous about teaching kids, but it ended up turning out really great! I taught Infant II, which is the equivalent of 1st grade, & they were pretty well behave & seemed to learn some things about personal hygiene by the time I was done. It was definitely a good experience.... and at least I didn't have to do private parts! (that was Dan's topic! hahaha)
After our presentations, we went to PC for sessions with Chanda, homework time, & yoga again. So many ppl went to yoga that night! (b/c all the Dangriga ppl were in town for the night). It was really fun & we all hung out at the good ole Garden City hotel afterwards. It was actually the latest the San Martin crew stayed out yet! I had gotten a key to let myself in the house and Dan left his window open & Matt's room is separate with a key of his own, so we all could stay out w/out keeping our families up waiting! It was a hilarious night and we had a blast!
Friday
PC Day! I woke up trying to act like I hadn't been out late the night before, but I still got weird looks and questions. Oh how I love being a teenager again! lol.San Martin didn't have water again in the morning, so I had to get clean as best as possible. Fail!
Our sessions on Friday were actually really fun! (the constant lecture sessions had been getting a bit tiring). We did like 2 hours of group games, which were hilarious and funny. One of the games was a spiderweb w/38 holes for all 38 of us and we had to get everyone through the holes without touching the string & every hole can only be used once. It took us over an hour to do but it was awesome! I went through one of the top holes and had to be lifted through and caught on the other side.... I guess it's kinda hard to describe in writing. We also got to meet our new Country Director that morning! She is SO nice and seems really genuine! I'm excited to work with her!
The rest of the day was a lot of crammed sessions with Nurse Jackie before our last Development talk with Bryan! Bryan is amazing. He gave such a great motivational talk. It really made you reevaluate your reasons for coming here and why even little changes are so important. It was definitely an inspiring end to the day and week....
That night we ate in Belmopan and hung out at Andy's for awhile before heading home. It wasn't really a late night for us b/c pretty much everyone was exhausted from the night before. When I got home, Mrs Sotz was sick again in the hammock. She was sitting with a bowl of burning hair under her... I was so confused! I asked Nardo what was happening and he explained to me that she had gotten frightened by something which had caused her to get worms which caused her stomach pains and thus she had to burn her hair and cleanse herself with it and then each person in the family had to cut a chunk of their hair to burn and cleanse her with. It was so fascinating, but totally strange! The entire kitchen house smelled like burning hair.... It was weird! Just another piece of Mayan culture I was introduced to!
Saturday
May! I can't believe it's May already! Saturday was a great day! We had a meeting with NAVCO in the morning before the Agricultural Show, which is a huge 3-day fair in Belize. People come from all over the country and it's complete madness! We went around to all the booths, drank some beers, went to the river, & rode some rides. It was a very long and fun day! Choni and Dora, my host nephew, were both at the fair and every time I saw them they were WAY drunker! It was funny, but I was glad they never saw me drinking b/c that could get me a worse rep than I already have! hahaha. Afterwards we all went to one of the 2nd year PCV's house to hang out. Of course, Matt went to Brodie's to get some rum and who bags up his purchase? My other host brother, Dino! I can't escape them! On top of that, Alana was outside the store and talked to Matt asking when I would be home and what I was doing. OMG! haha. We had another late night out, but it was a great day!
peeping belizean
Monday
There's never a dull moment as a PCT.... or at least not for me! So I woke up early motivated to run... (mostly b/c something fell onto our zinc roof at 5:30am and woke me up). Matt and Dan weren't out so I decided it was safe enough to venture on my own... The run was good and i sprinted the last stretch into our front yard. I was pacing and trying to catch my breath as I turn around to a guy who I thought was peeing oddly close to the road.... Well, as I walked around my front yard I realized he wasn't peeing.... yea, awkward. You fill in the blanks.... He stood there for awhile, being creepy. Yuck! Bad news bears! Only things like this happen to me! Yikes!
That was a great start to my Monday morning!!! Eeek! We had Tech Training in Cristo Rey all day & I was exhausted when I got home, so I decided to watch a movie w/the fam & let Alana paint my nails.... I now have bright teal nails that are about an inch thick! hahaha So I decided to watch Along Came Polly with my family, thinking it's pretty harmless and good to watch with both the guys and Alana. Well, you know how you don't notice small little jokes until they are about people you are with? That totally happened to me.... If you know the scene where Ben Stiller clogs the toilet and is tryin to use the loofah to get it out ...Well he says, "please God if you make this go down I'll do anything... I'll adopt a small Mayan child....etc" Talk about AWKWARD!!! ahhh! What are the odds???!!! hahaha
Tuesday
The next day I had a cute family moment looking at some old pics Mrs Sotz had of the family... The most recent ones are at least 5 years old, but she was so excited to share them with me! It was so cute. Language training was pretty boring and pointless both in the morning and afternoon.... I'm over training!!! hahaha It was so hot & Mr Cal didn't really care about the lesson either.... Blah. The only good part about Tues was our meetings with Austin about our permanent sites! All the signs seem to be pointing me to Punta Gorda....we will see if that's what happens!
That night we did yoga at the PC office.... Talk about stereotypical PC experience! hahaha but it was fantastic! We ate dinner in Belmopan before going home.... A pretty boring day for the most part. It seems like the heat has made me so lazy!
Wednesday I tried to wake up late in order to skip breakfast.... it didn't work. hahaha We had no water, so I had to bathe in a makeshift way to try to not smell for the day (luckily I had showered the night before!) In class we learned about some Mayan traditions like the Greasy Pole ceremony & watched a bunch of clips of different festivals.... It was really cool! Then we all took a trip to Matt's host grandpa's house to talk to him in depth about the ceremonies. Pablo is the funniest old man! He speaks pretty good English and is just a riot! But his house was a little bit gross and covered in flies and dirty dishes and food & it just had a general stench. Ugh! We went to leave and Mr Cal's truck died! So Matt, Dan, and I had to push his truck up a hill to get it started & it actually worked! I felt like a real country girl... go us! hahaha They would think I was lame for saying that...... hahahahahaha.
That night was one of the weirder/sadder ones at my host family. Mrs Sotz has diabetes and she was having some sort of severe stomach pains that she attributed to that and also "worms". I'm not sure what was going on, but she couldn't get out of the hammock and it was really frightening! Sofia and I spent an hour pushing as hard as we could on her belly in various areas to try to alleviate the pain. It was intense. I felt so bad for her and also so helpless b/c I didn't know what exactly was wrong and how to fix the problem. She goes to a bush doctor, so I'm not even sure what they told her was wrong. It's just complicated I guess. Anyway, after helping her I decided to do a pilates workout video and TurboJam b/c I wanted to keep working out. My whole family laughed at me and thought I was crazy, but I was glad I did it! After I finished, I came to find out that Mrs Sotz had added $10 worth of credit to my phone for helping her out! (We buy credits here, not phone plans). It was the sweetest thing in the world and so unncessary! But I was glad to have that little bonding moment with my family =)
There's never a dull moment as a PCT.... or at least not for me! So I woke up early motivated to run... (mostly b/c something fell onto our zinc roof at 5:30am and woke me up). Matt and Dan weren't out so I decided it was safe enough to venture on my own... The run was good and i sprinted the last stretch into our front yard. I was pacing and trying to catch my breath as I turn around to a guy who I thought was peeing oddly close to the road.... Well, as I walked around my front yard I realized he wasn't peeing.... yea, awkward. You fill in the blanks.... He stood there for awhile, being creepy. Yuck! Bad news bears! Only things like this happen to me! Yikes!
That was a great start to my Monday morning!!! Eeek! We had Tech Training in Cristo Rey all day & I was exhausted when I got home, so I decided to watch a movie w/the fam & let Alana paint my nails.... I now have bright teal nails that are about an inch thick! hahaha So I decided to watch Along Came Polly with my family, thinking it's pretty harmless and good to watch with both the guys and Alana. Well, you know how you don't notice small little jokes until they are about people you are with? That totally happened to me.... If you know the scene where Ben Stiller clogs the toilet and is tryin to use the loofah to get it out ...Well he says, "please God if you make this go down I'll do anything... I'll adopt a small Mayan child....etc" Talk about AWKWARD!!! ahhh! What are the odds???!!! hahaha
Tuesday
The next day I had a cute family moment looking at some old pics Mrs Sotz had of the family... The most recent ones are at least 5 years old, but she was so excited to share them with me! It was so cute. Language training was pretty boring and pointless both in the morning and afternoon.... I'm over training!!! hahaha It was so hot & Mr Cal didn't really care about the lesson either.... Blah. The only good part about Tues was our meetings with Austin about our permanent sites! All the signs seem to be pointing me to Punta Gorda....we will see if that's what happens!
That night we did yoga at the PC office.... Talk about stereotypical PC experience! hahaha but it was fantastic! We ate dinner in Belmopan before going home.... A pretty boring day for the most part. It seems like the heat has made me so lazy!
Wednesday I tried to wake up late in order to skip breakfast.... it didn't work. hahaha We had no water, so I had to bathe in a makeshift way to try to not smell for the day (luckily I had showered the night before!) In class we learned about some Mayan traditions like the Greasy Pole ceremony & watched a bunch of clips of different festivals.... It was really cool! Then we all took a trip to Matt's host grandpa's house to talk to him in depth about the ceremonies. Pablo is the funniest old man! He speaks pretty good English and is just a riot! But his house was a little bit gross and covered in flies and dirty dishes and food & it just had a general stench. Ugh! We went to leave and Mr Cal's truck died! So Matt, Dan, and I had to push his truck up a hill to get it started & it actually worked! I felt like a real country girl... go us! hahaha They would think I was lame for saying that...... hahahahahaha.
That night was one of the weirder/sadder ones at my host family. Mrs Sotz has diabetes and she was having some sort of severe stomach pains that she attributed to that and also "worms". I'm not sure what was going on, but she couldn't get out of the hammock and it was really frightening! Sofia and I spent an hour pushing as hard as we could on her belly in various areas to try to alleviate the pain. It was intense. I felt so bad for her and also so helpless b/c I didn't know what exactly was wrong and how to fix the problem. She goes to a bush doctor, so I'm not even sure what they told her was wrong. It's just complicated I guess. Anyway, after helping her I decided to do a pilates workout video and TurboJam b/c I wanted to keep working out. My whole family laughed at me and thought I was crazy, but I was glad I did it! After I finished, I came to find out that Mrs Sotz had added $10 worth of credit to my phone for helping her out! (We buy credits here, not phone plans). It was the sweetest thing in the world and so unncessary! But I was glad to have that little bonding moment with my family =)
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