This weekend was craziness!! I finally got to experience the Saturday market in town, where I ran into a bunch of Toledo PCVs coming in from their villages. Always refreshing! Then, Cali and I hung out with Owen because his villagers were in town having some big meeting. We walked around the market, the water, onto the pier, and had lunch.... a nice long day of sunburn for me! hahaha. It was exceptionally hot....hotter than the normal hot!! hahaha Meanwhile, I was so dumb because I was supposed to be playing with the PG women's football team at 4 and I had been in the sun all day --fail! By the way, I chose the PG team because the other team wanted me to play in Belize, which is a 7 hour bus trip up just to play soccer.... too much! So anyway, I got home around lunchtime and ate and tried to cram in my hydration before game time.
Football is where I got my first TRUE taste of "Belizean time". I went over to the field around 3:30-3:45, knowing I would be way early, but still. So 4 o'clock rolls around and still nobody has shown up! Finally, at 4:20 the other team literally emerges from high weeds on the far side of the feel. haha So I have some hope. I wait awhile and they start warming up. Then I notice a little boys team start warming up on the other side of the field.... I think to myself: they wouldn't really have the girls team play these little boys, would they? And then the girls come off and the little boys split into two teams and start playing. I was confused, bc it was now almost 5pm and the boys were playing. I ask the ref and a coach and some other people if there actually is a girls game or what and everybody says yes, but nobody knows the time or details. So the best answer I got was that they were playing after the little boys, so I stuck around. As the game neared the end, there was still no sign of the PG women's team. I was confused. By 6 o'clock the men's team was playing. WHAT! So I try to ask around again, and everyone still seems to think the women are playing...."next." So I'm really frustrated at this point, having been waiting around for 3 hours! I head to Michelle's host family's home, "Teacher Alice's" house and hang out for awhile. Since I'd already invested SO MUCH time in this game, I decided I would head back towards the ending of the men's game and try to give it one more shot. So with almost no hope, I did, and sure enough, the PG team was there! Shocker! So I got excited again and introduced myself to people here and there. They were not very friendly or excited to see my white butt there, but I figured I would just prove myself on the field. Our game didn't actually start til 8 and we played a team from Guatemala that was fairly decent. I was actually surprised by the level of play of both teams! It was refreshing! Not as good as most teams I played with in the States, but considering the culture, they were decent! We were up 1-0 for awhile and I finally got into the game! I was able to score the second goal for our team and even assisted the 3rd! We won 3-0. It was SO great to play! And I gained the respect of the girls and they were nice to me by the end--a few still had grudges and wouldn't speak to me, but you can't win em all! I was so glad that I went out! And it was a true Belizean experience because there were TONS of people there! Most of them were there for drunkenness or to watch the men's games happening, but they truly supported the women's team too! There was an announcer commentating the whole game and it was truly one of those awesome cross cultural experiences in life! I loved every minute of it! After the game, the Toledo news came to interview us and he came up to interview me, my nickname being "white gyal" of course! haha I felt so dumb, because all I said was "yea, it was great..so much fun! we won! woohoo!" Could I look more American???? Aaahhhhh! It was kinda funny because the camera man/reporter was the same guy who interviewed me at Cacao Fest...and he remembered me! hahahaha too funny! So it was a good experience overall.... even though I had a true taste for Belizean time..... lol.
After the game, I rushed to Teacher Alice's house because they were throwing Nate a bday bash! They even cooked pizza!!! Yum! I went from one workout to another--dancing! Teacher Alice's family is Garifina and they know how to party! They had a dj and were dancing and drinking all night long! It was fantastic! I ended the night with a scorpion coming right at me on the floor! Yikes! 2 scorpions in 2 days!!! What are the odds!?!
Sunday I woke up soooo early because it was unbelievably hot!!! I think I sweated out about 5 lbs of water weight in my sleep.... uy! My host family were teasing me all morning... asking if I had a "goma", which is a hangover in kriol. I didn't, but they still harassed me about it all morning, lol. I ate kaldo in the morning, and then spent some much needed time with my fan in my room...that is, until we had a blackout! lol. Pretty much the whole afternoon was no electricity and no water, which was awesome because I smelled from dancing the night before and the whole family was waiting to bathe because we were heading to a graduation party that evening! So it was a sweaty afternoon of pretty much nothing. Mrs Assi sent the girls out to buy everyone ideals, which was definitely refreshing. When the power finally came back on, we had very little water, so we all took bucket bathes and got ready for the party. I was so excited to go! We went all the way to San Antonio village, where it ended up being Matt's old host mom's niece's party, (we call her "Na")! Before the party started, I got to go meet Mr Assi's mom and his sister and go to both their houses. We did a couple hours of sitting around and visiting before heading to the party. When I got there, Na immediately came up to me and hugged me. I was so excited to see her!! We talked for a bit and then the toasts began. The party format was toasts for about 30 minutes, all the men get drunk, then everyone eats dinner, the men are still getting drunk, then all the old men and women take a shot for the celebration, and then possibly dancing (music is playing the whole time)...but we left before any dancing happened. Na took good care of me, hooking me up with food and Coke while I was there. She's too cute! We left the party pretty early because we had to head back to PG. As we were leaving, I almost stepped on a scorpion on the road! I cannot believe it! I must be attracting them!!! haha 3 for 3 on seeing scorpions daily!!! hahaha Hopefully, this is not a habit! I'm a target for critters!
Anyway, I was glad to experience a Mayan party. And I hear that that was a pretty mild party for most....which is nice to hear because there are 2 weddings coming up in the near future that I've been invited to!!! I can't wait!! lol.
What a great weekend it was in Belize! Now, it's back to work for a lazy Monday!
Monday, June 7, 2010
back to PG!
I cannot believe it's only been a week since Swearing In! I feel like it's been months!!! Time is funny like that... lol
I was exhausted after Swearing In. We took the bus back to PG and I slept pretty much the whole way....then I went home, went to bed, and didn't wake up til noon on Sunday! I was beat!!! Sunday afternoon was then dedicated to laundry.... because I had tons of it! (and laundry takes hours...lol).
Monday began official volunteer work at my organization! Pretty much they had nothing for me to do besides inventory..... oh joy. haha So I spent Monday catching up with my emails and doing inventory! The big boss from Belize called me that afternoon to tell me that I'm going to be doing all the official supervisions because they are not going to hire a replacement supervisor for awhile....so I am it. hahaha I don't think this is how it works, but whatever...it's fine for now.
I went back to my host family and caught up with my tortilla making lessons! lol. I had a week off from cooking, so it's been back in full swing since I got home. hahaha. Mrs Assi is always asking me if I could cook, and do laundry, and have children.... I always respond, "maybe...but I don't want to!" I think she thinks I fail because I'm 23, single, no kids, and I can't really cook. I pretty much have NO good qualities suitable for a Mayan woman.... guess I'm not gonna get married off into the family! hahaha oh darn! I will be happy to move into my own house, just because it's really hard to live with another family....you have to be "on" all the time.... even when you work all day and want to come home and relax, you still have to be friendly and up for conversations with them.... it's kind of exhausting! I love my host family, don't get me wrong!, but sometimes I just need chill time! haha
Monday night Laura and Dan came into town for the Festival of the Arts because both their villages were performing... we hung out for the night and it was much needed after a long 2 days of getting back into the swing of host family life!
Tuesday I started going into the villages for supervisions--on my own! I was nervous! Fido, our driver, took me out and we covered Laguna, Santa Anna, San Felippe, and Midway villages...I felt very productive! Since I was so productive, I gave myself a very lazy evening of hammock time when we got home. I napped and hung out with baby Pachy and was just a big bum! It was fantastic! I even watched some bootleg tv from a local Idaho station.... yes, very strange. I wonder if the local electronics man in Lewiston, Idaho knows that his commercial is international??? hahahahaha
Wednesday I slept in a little, deciding to go to the office later than usual. I had fried chicken for breakfast, same as yesterday. What a weird thing to eat when you first wake up! hahaha My stomach pretty much hates me when I stuff it with dinner at ungodly hours of the morning! haha. But Antoinnette also made banana fritters that morning and they were delicious!! So good! After work, I met up with a few volunteers for a beer at an ex-pat bar in town. Nice and relaxing. Oh, what a stressful life!
Dinner that night was chopped jibby jabby and tomatoes with tortillas..... it was so strange!!! I'm not really sure how to feel about that meal.... hahaha. And I'm not even sure what jibby jabby is! Just some weird plant/vegetable thing! hahaha
That night I watched "My Sister's Keeper" w/the family and CRIED! That movie is so sad!!! I felt really dumb, but when it ended I turned around and Ant and Cor were crying too. Mrs Assi, of course, was not...most likely because she didn't really know what all was being said. She did make fun of me for crying though and kept repeating "this is so sad" after I said it.... odd. I needed a happy thought before bed, so I tuned in to the end of Bridget Jones's Diary.
Thursday was another field day in the villages. I had to wake up earlier than usual, so I was able to walk with Cor to school on my way to work. This time Samuel came with, as did Pearleen. I think Pearleen is more like a social worker in our office...she doesn't directly work in our program, but we are both under the Ministry of Human Development. So it was a nice full car on the way there. San Jose was the first village, and I was dropped to supervise while they went around doing other stuff. I had to hike to the top of a hill for the first supervision and it was an AMAZING view! SO gorgeous! I talked a lot with the Rover who works there and she showed me where they had cleared the trees for the house she and her husband are building. She invited me to come when they build the thatch house sometime in August--I'm totally taking advantage of that invitation!! I'm not really her boss, so I think it's fine! haha I met back up with the car, and the chairmen of the village took us up another hill to get cell phone service and also for another great view! We drove around for Pearleen because she had a lot of other business to take care of in San Jose before heading to San Miguel. By the time we reached San Miguel, all the Rovers were done for the morning, so we headed home for lunch. We headed back out around 1:30. We stopped at a high school on the way where Pearleen did more stuff, but I was exhausted and fell asleep in the car! hahaha We pulled up to San Miguel and I thought it was another normal supervision---wrong! We actually were going door to door to EVERY house in the village who has a child under 3 to get feedback about our program and our Rovers.... OMG! I felt like the biggest gringa ever! I looked so dumb going around because I don't know the village or ANY families, and I don't talk Q'echi or Kriol! Ah...it was so awkward for me! I couldn't wait til it was over!!!! It was like bad memories of selling candy bars for fundraisers all over again.... ahhhh!
I didn't get home to well after 5 that night, and even though I was exhausted, I headed over to Cali's to hang out with her for a bit. We ended up going to one of Dave's friend's birthday party--it was very fun! It was a kriol family (and they know how to party) and they had great music and it was just an awesome night!
TGIF was exactly how I felt on Friday! It was a LOOONG week back after Swearing In! We had a "Forthnight" session, which takes place bi-monthly for all the Rovers in our PG office. At first, Samuel wanted me to run the session, but I've never even been to one! So I agreed to start it, but had him take over. It was a REALLY short session because I'm pretty sure he didn't really have anything planned...which worked out for me because Matt came into town from Santa Elena! I walked to meet him and hang out while he was waiting on his host dad for lumber! We hung out for about 2 hrs and his host dad never showed.... so I went back to the office and he got the lumber on his own. I had a nice hour of nothing to do in the office.... hahaha So I spent the time gettin to know Samuel... Then I left because it was Nate's bday! So I met up with Nate and Michelle, and Matt stayed in town and we all grabbed a burger! Then we went to the bank and Matt spots his host dad from across the street. He comes over and smells like straight Belikin! hahaha He ditched Matt to go drink! So funny! So he was talking to us for awhile and we finally left and told him we had to go somewhere he couldn't go. We all went our separate ways, and Matt and I decided to find a place to have a beer since he had a few hours to kill before the bus.... We were walking down Front Street and Matt spots his host dad again, and we straight up run! It was like an escape scene from a movie! We were in the market and like crashing through people....so ridiculous! hahaha We finally headed up to Reef Bar and had an amazing time lookin over the water and relaxing, enjoying our good ole Stouts. Nate and Michelle eventually came back and met us and we had an awesome Friday happy hour.... it was the perfect way to end the working week!
We took Matt to his bus before heading back to our houses... I did some PC integration and went to visit with some neighbors in IndianVille. They are actually related to Matt's old host family in San Martin. And they gave me some delicious homemade cinnamon bread! Mmmm!!! lol. Food.
I got home to my phone to find out that two different football teams wanted me to play for them the next day! So I was in a dilemma because both were last minute and I didn't know what to choose! Things like this always happen to me!!!
I got home around dinner time and headed to the corn mill for Mrs Assi to get some ground massa. Then we made tortillas and had pork kaldo for dinner. It was really good that night! lol. Meanwhile, Matt texted me that his host dad never got on the bus and then later on they passed him passed out on the side of the road and the driver wouldn't stop to pick him up! hahaha Fail! Poor guy.
I ended the night going back to Cali's that night to hang out with some people for Nate's bday. I came home early and was still locked out of my house! Ah! Even worse, she let me in and was in her underwear, which is like spandex type satin lacey shorts things... it what all the Mayan women wear under their dresses.... but how awkward! Whatever...it was hot... I understand her nakedness! hahaha
I got into my room and noticed a weird black spot on the wall by my bed. I shined my flashlight on it and realized it was a SCORPION!!! My first encounter with a real life scorpion!!! So, as anyone would do, I stopped freaking out.... took a picture of it.... sprayed it with cockroach spray....took another close up pic of it... and then hit it with my shoe repeatedly. It was quite an exciting way to end my evening! hahahha
I was exhausted after Swearing In. We took the bus back to PG and I slept pretty much the whole way....then I went home, went to bed, and didn't wake up til noon on Sunday! I was beat!!! Sunday afternoon was then dedicated to laundry.... because I had tons of it! (and laundry takes hours...lol).
Monday began official volunteer work at my organization! Pretty much they had nothing for me to do besides inventory..... oh joy. haha So I spent Monday catching up with my emails and doing inventory! The big boss from Belize called me that afternoon to tell me that I'm going to be doing all the official supervisions because they are not going to hire a replacement supervisor for awhile....so I am it. hahaha I don't think this is how it works, but whatever...it's fine for now.
I went back to my host family and caught up with my tortilla making lessons! lol. I had a week off from cooking, so it's been back in full swing since I got home. hahaha. Mrs Assi is always asking me if I could cook, and do laundry, and have children.... I always respond, "maybe...but I don't want to!" I think she thinks I fail because I'm 23, single, no kids, and I can't really cook. I pretty much have NO good qualities suitable for a Mayan woman.... guess I'm not gonna get married off into the family! hahaha oh darn! I will be happy to move into my own house, just because it's really hard to live with another family....you have to be "on" all the time.... even when you work all day and want to come home and relax, you still have to be friendly and up for conversations with them.... it's kind of exhausting! I love my host family, don't get me wrong!, but sometimes I just need chill time! haha
Monday night Laura and Dan came into town for the Festival of the Arts because both their villages were performing... we hung out for the night and it was much needed after a long 2 days of getting back into the swing of host family life!
Tuesday I started going into the villages for supervisions--on my own! I was nervous! Fido, our driver, took me out and we covered Laguna, Santa Anna, San Felippe, and Midway villages...I felt very productive! Since I was so productive, I gave myself a very lazy evening of hammock time when we got home. I napped and hung out with baby Pachy and was just a big bum! It was fantastic! I even watched some bootleg tv from a local Idaho station.... yes, very strange. I wonder if the local electronics man in Lewiston, Idaho knows that his commercial is international??? hahahahaha
Wednesday I slept in a little, deciding to go to the office later than usual. I had fried chicken for breakfast, same as yesterday. What a weird thing to eat when you first wake up! hahaha My stomach pretty much hates me when I stuff it with dinner at ungodly hours of the morning! haha. But Antoinnette also made banana fritters that morning and they were delicious!! So good! After work, I met up with a few volunteers for a beer at an ex-pat bar in town. Nice and relaxing. Oh, what a stressful life!
Dinner that night was chopped jibby jabby and tomatoes with tortillas..... it was so strange!!! I'm not really sure how to feel about that meal.... hahaha. And I'm not even sure what jibby jabby is! Just some weird plant/vegetable thing! hahaha
That night I watched "My Sister's Keeper" w/the family and CRIED! That movie is so sad!!! I felt really dumb, but when it ended I turned around and Ant and Cor were crying too. Mrs Assi, of course, was not...most likely because she didn't really know what all was being said. She did make fun of me for crying though and kept repeating "this is so sad" after I said it.... odd. I needed a happy thought before bed, so I tuned in to the end of Bridget Jones's Diary.
Thursday was another field day in the villages. I had to wake up earlier than usual, so I was able to walk with Cor to school on my way to work. This time Samuel came with, as did Pearleen. I think Pearleen is more like a social worker in our office...she doesn't directly work in our program, but we are both under the Ministry of Human Development. So it was a nice full car on the way there. San Jose was the first village, and I was dropped to supervise while they went around doing other stuff. I had to hike to the top of a hill for the first supervision and it was an AMAZING view! SO gorgeous! I talked a lot with the Rover who works there and she showed me where they had cleared the trees for the house she and her husband are building. She invited me to come when they build the thatch house sometime in August--I'm totally taking advantage of that invitation!! I'm not really her boss, so I think it's fine! haha I met back up with the car, and the chairmen of the village took us up another hill to get cell phone service and also for another great view! We drove around for Pearleen because she had a lot of other business to take care of in San Jose before heading to San Miguel. By the time we reached San Miguel, all the Rovers were done for the morning, so we headed home for lunch. We headed back out around 1:30. We stopped at a high school on the way where Pearleen did more stuff, but I was exhausted and fell asleep in the car! hahaha We pulled up to San Miguel and I thought it was another normal supervision---wrong! We actually were going door to door to EVERY house in the village who has a child under 3 to get feedback about our program and our Rovers.... OMG! I felt like the biggest gringa ever! I looked so dumb going around because I don't know the village or ANY families, and I don't talk Q'echi or Kriol! Ah...it was so awkward for me! I couldn't wait til it was over!!!! It was like bad memories of selling candy bars for fundraisers all over again.... ahhhh!
I didn't get home to well after 5 that night, and even though I was exhausted, I headed over to Cali's to hang out with her for a bit. We ended up going to one of Dave's friend's birthday party--it was very fun! It was a kriol family (and they know how to party) and they had great music and it was just an awesome night!
TGIF was exactly how I felt on Friday! It was a LOOONG week back after Swearing In! We had a "Forthnight" session, which takes place bi-monthly for all the Rovers in our PG office. At first, Samuel wanted me to run the session, but I've never even been to one! So I agreed to start it, but had him take over. It was a REALLY short session because I'm pretty sure he didn't really have anything planned...which worked out for me because Matt came into town from Santa Elena! I walked to meet him and hang out while he was waiting on his host dad for lumber! We hung out for about 2 hrs and his host dad never showed.... so I went back to the office and he got the lumber on his own. I had a nice hour of nothing to do in the office.... hahaha So I spent the time gettin to know Samuel... Then I left because it was Nate's bday! So I met up with Nate and Michelle, and Matt stayed in town and we all grabbed a burger! Then we went to the bank and Matt spots his host dad from across the street. He comes over and smells like straight Belikin! hahaha He ditched Matt to go drink! So funny! So he was talking to us for awhile and we finally left and told him we had to go somewhere he couldn't go. We all went our separate ways, and Matt and I decided to find a place to have a beer since he had a few hours to kill before the bus.... We were walking down Front Street and Matt spots his host dad again, and we straight up run! It was like an escape scene from a movie! We were in the market and like crashing through people....so ridiculous! hahaha We finally headed up to Reef Bar and had an amazing time lookin over the water and relaxing, enjoying our good ole Stouts. Nate and Michelle eventually came back and met us and we had an awesome Friday happy hour.... it was the perfect way to end the working week!
We took Matt to his bus before heading back to our houses... I did some PC integration and went to visit with some neighbors in IndianVille. They are actually related to Matt's old host family in San Martin. And they gave me some delicious homemade cinnamon bread! Mmmm!!! lol. Food.
I got home to my phone to find out that two different football teams wanted me to play for them the next day! So I was in a dilemma because both were last minute and I didn't know what to choose! Things like this always happen to me!!!
I got home around dinner time and headed to the corn mill for Mrs Assi to get some ground massa. Then we made tortillas and had pork kaldo for dinner. It was really good that night! lol. Meanwhile, Matt texted me that his host dad never got on the bus and then later on they passed him passed out on the side of the road and the driver wouldn't stop to pick him up! hahaha Fail! Poor guy.
I ended the night going back to Cali's that night to hang out with some people for Nate's bday. I came home early and was still locked out of my house! Ah! Even worse, she let me in and was in her underwear, which is like spandex type satin lacey shorts things... it what all the Mayan women wear under their dresses.... but how awkward! Whatever...it was hot... I understand her nakedness! hahaha
I got into my room and noticed a weird black spot on the wall by my bed. I shined my flashlight on it and realized it was a SCORPION!!! My first encounter with a real life scorpion!!! So, as anyone would do, I stopped freaking out.... took a picture of it.... sprayed it with cockroach spray....took another close up pic of it... and then hit it with my shoe repeatedly. It was quite an exciting way to end my evening! hahahha
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Inappropriate Storytime With Mal
So some of you have been privy to my extra exclusive and borderline inappropriate stories that I've had to share... unfortunately, as much as they are hilarious, they are not always great to publicize to the entire world! Nonetheless, I have to mention this story because it is just too ridiculous to keep to myself.... haha.
So as you all know, I am still living with a host family in Indian Ville. We have a latrine outside, which is pretty clean for some of the latrines I've experienced. Nonetheless, it is still a latrine and it is still outside. Lately, we've been having thunderstorms and just craziness weather. So I try to avoid using the bathroom during this weather. But the other night, I was so HOT and I drank lots and lots of juice and then stayed up reading in my room. Well, to make a long story short, I was up later than the rest of the family and stuck in my room having to pee. Not only did I not WANT to go outside in the dark and muddy weather to the latrine, but I had been locked! inside my house already because they lock us in at night! So I was regretting my life decisions to drink after 5pm and danced around in my room desperate for a solution. Then it came to me: I gazed over at the small plastic cup sitting on my makeshift shelf and thought, "there's no way." I did the pee dance a little longer and realized it was only 10:30 at night and really, there was no way I wouldn't pee my bed if I didn't. So yes, folks...I peed in a cup.
Classy act, I know.
Lucky for me, I had plenty of hand sanitizer, a roll of toilet paper, and a trashbag in my room, so I didn't feel all that gross...it was almost better than using a latrine! But then I was thinking, what the heck am I gonna do with this cup of pee now??Another great realization occurred! My window has no screens! Hurray! I simply grabbed my cup, stuck my arm as far out the window as it would go, and poured. Talk about problem-solving techniques!
Oh boy, I love the jungle!
So as you all know, I am still living with a host family in Indian Ville. We have a latrine outside, which is pretty clean for some of the latrines I've experienced. Nonetheless, it is still a latrine and it is still outside. Lately, we've been having thunderstorms and just craziness weather. So I try to avoid using the bathroom during this weather. But the other night, I was so HOT and I drank lots and lots of juice and then stayed up reading in my room. Well, to make a long story short, I was up later than the rest of the family and stuck in my room having to pee. Not only did I not WANT to go outside in the dark and muddy weather to the latrine, but I had been locked! inside my house already because they lock us in at night! So I was regretting my life decisions to drink after 5pm and danced around in my room desperate for a solution. Then it came to me: I gazed over at the small plastic cup sitting on my makeshift shelf and thought, "there's no way." I did the pee dance a little longer and realized it was only 10:30 at night and really, there was no way I wouldn't pee my bed if I didn't. So yes, folks...I peed in a cup.
Classy act, I know.
Lucky for me, I had plenty of hand sanitizer, a roll of toilet paper, and a trashbag in my room, so I didn't feel all that gross...it was almost better than using a latrine! But then I was thinking, what the heck am I gonna do with this cup of pee now??Another great realization occurred! My window has no screens! Hurray! I simply grabbed my cup, stuck my arm as far out the window as it would go, and poured. Talk about problem-solving techniques!
Oh boy, I love the jungle!
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