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!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Placencia Mental Health Weekend!!!
June 18th:
So luckily for me, my football team was traveling to Placencia for a game!Saturday morning, I set out and headed up to Placencia for my first time! I met up with KC, a PCV in Independence, and we took the water taxi over. Beautiful!! Molly was also coming down for the game, and she brought Kim from Hopkins--our own little party. To top it off, Owen, Zander, and Cassidy were in town for Owen's b'day....so we had a whole little crew! We met up at the beach and KC paid for a night in a lovely hotel for us....she's so nice! Our mother hen!
We spent the morning swimming and relaxing by the sea, getting some sun.... probably the worst thing to do before a football match! hahaha. But it was much needed after the stress of last week and just being busy and overwhelmed. (It's amazing that it's a $9 bus trip here.... to paradise!)
Finally, around 3:30 Molly and I headed to the field for our game. Typical Americans, we were about an hour early... the team didn't even arrive in Placencia til about 4:15! (Our game was supposed to start at 3:30).
Our team barely warmed up and we got out there and looked like crap!! We were passing to nobody and missing stupid shots--it was terrible! We were down 2-nil by halftime. In the 2nd half we finally got our act together. Around 70 min into the game or so, I hit a through ball to Naki and she had a perfect finish! The momentum of the game instantly changed. We pounded in 2 more goals, to finish with a 3-2 win! (It was like the US World Cup game.... but our goal counted!) haha It was really great!! The team was pumped after the game! One of our fans came with a cooler full of Mexican beers-- non Belikin! woohoo! We drank beer and rum and had a little tailgate dance party! It was so much fun! And I felt like I was integrating in the best possible way! The girls were teaching me Kriol and it was just really, really fun! I learned "wah don kill ya, fattn ya!" Which basically means, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger (fattens you).
Finally, they all had to pile into the bus to get back to Cayo. I got a ride back to our hotel and hung out with my friends. We ate and chatted and finally Cassidy and I decided to go out dancing. We headed to the Tipsy Tuna, which actually one of our fans was playing the drums at that night. So we said hi to him and he bought us a drink and then we ran into random people we knew! Cassidy saw a guy from her village, and then another guy who she hitched in with once. It was such a random night, but we danced and met people and just had so much fun! It was fantastic; really a hilarious night!
We headed home after we were beat from dancing and enjoyed our nice air conditioned hotel room....ahhhhh. The next morning I woke up late and relaxed for awhile. We all left the hotel to check into a cheaper place for the next night, because KC was leaving and we are poor! hahaha. So we moved our stuff and were heading to the beach when Ian, the guy we hung out with from Cass's village, called to invite us out on his boat for the day!! Twist my arm, we all agreed to go.
Ian was able to call in a favor and get us some snorkeling gear, so we got a free snorkeling trip! My first time snorkeling, too! It was beautiful!! We went out around the different cayes of Placencia... we snorkeled in the clear, blue water. I swam around coral, so beautiful. And we saw a LOT of fish and creatures! We saw stingrays, barracudas, giant starfish (that we picked up), sanddollars, and I even picked up a HUGE conch shell and Ian gutted it and we ate it! I never had conch before!!! It was a little bit weird to just eat right there, but not bad! hahaha. It was such an amazing day! Oh, lovin Belize!
We got home that afternoon and were pooped! We all kinda crashed and laid around lazily. Once we got the motivation, we got up and made garnaches with the stuff we bought on the way home. As we started to use the stove, we realized it wasn't working, so Cass went upstairs to make friends with our neighbor and borrow his stove.... turns out he's a former Peace Corps volunteer!! He was an older man, named Time, and he served about 30 years ago! He was such a cool guy, a real hippie from Cali who had just left everything to come travel down here and ended up falling in love with Placencia. He's been here for over a year now. We brought him up some dinner and hung out on his porch that night, just talking about PC and all kinds of random stuff. It's so great having random encounters with people like that!What a great night!
The following morning was the end of our trip....sad. Mental health weekend was over. Molly and Kim headed out on the bus early, while Cass and I had a little bit of time to kill before heading back on the water taxi. It worked out that I caught an express bus home from Independence, so I got home quick and had AC! woohoo!
Almost as soon as I walked in the door of my host family's house, I found out that we were going to be having a practice hurricane consolidation in a day or two and that I would be leaving for Belmopan. Ah! I just got home! I tried to explain what would be happening to my host mom, to no avail, and went out to make sure I had hurricane supplies.
That night, Mrs Assi decided to make homemade bread. Apparently, she wanted to teach me how...but she just started making it and never said anything to me! It was like 9:30 at night and I was tired and I started to head in to bed and that's when I found out she was making bread for me! I went in to read for a little and told her I would be out soon, but I was so tired, I just passed right out with the light on. The next morning, she told me she tried banging on my door at 1:30 am to tell me it was ready.... I sleep like a log, so I never even stirred. But why the heck would she make bread so late!!! Crazy lady, hahaha. Also, why would she try to wake me up! I was so happy that it's impossible to wake me out of my coma of a sleep because I had to get to work early the next day.... I would have been very cranky!
All in all, Placencia weekend was amazing!... But I could barely get back into the work routine because I awaited to hear further instructions for our practice hurricane event soon to follow...
So luckily for me, my football team was traveling to Placencia for a game!Saturday morning, I set out and headed up to Placencia for my first time! I met up with KC, a PCV in Independence, and we took the water taxi over. Beautiful!! Molly was also coming down for the game, and she brought Kim from Hopkins--our own little party. To top it off, Owen, Zander, and Cassidy were in town for Owen's b'day....so we had a whole little crew! We met up at the beach and KC paid for a night in a lovely hotel for us....she's so nice! Our mother hen!
We spent the morning swimming and relaxing by the sea, getting some sun.... probably the worst thing to do before a football match! hahaha. But it was much needed after the stress of last week and just being busy and overwhelmed. (It's amazing that it's a $9 bus trip here.... to paradise!)
Finally, around 3:30 Molly and I headed to the field for our game. Typical Americans, we were about an hour early... the team didn't even arrive in Placencia til about 4:15! (Our game was supposed to start at 3:30).
Our team barely warmed up and we got out there and looked like crap!! We were passing to nobody and missing stupid shots--it was terrible! We were down 2-nil by halftime. In the 2nd half we finally got our act together. Around 70 min into the game or so, I hit a through ball to Naki and she had a perfect finish! The momentum of the game instantly changed. We pounded in 2 more goals, to finish with a 3-2 win! (It was like the US World Cup game.... but our goal counted!) haha It was really great!! The team was pumped after the game! One of our fans came with a cooler full of Mexican beers-- non Belikin! woohoo! We drank beer and rum and had a little tailgate dance party! It was so much fun! And I felt like I was integrating in the best possible way! The girls were teaching me Kriol and it was just really, really fun! I learned "wah don kill ya, fattn ya!" Which basically means, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger (fattens you).
Finally, they all had to pile into the bus to get back to Cayo. I got a ride back to our hotel and hung out with my friends. We ate and chatted and finally Cassidy and I decided to go out dancing. We headed to the Tipsy Tuna, which actually one of our fans was playing the drums at that night. So we said hi to him and he bought us a drink and then we ran into random people we knew! Cassidy saw a guy from her village, and then another guy who she hitched in with once. It was such a random night, but we danced and met people and just had so much fun! It was fantastic; really a hilarious night!
We headed home after we were beat from dancing and enjoyed our nice air conditioned hotel room....ahhhhh. The next morning I woke up late and relaxed for awhile. We all left the hotel to check into a cheaper place for the next night, because KC was leaving and we are poor! hahaha. So we moved our stuff and were heading to the beach when Ian, the guy we hung out with from Cass's village, called to invite us out on his boat for the day!! Twist my arm, we all agreed to go.
Ian was able to call in a favor and get us some snorkeling gear, so we got a free snorkeling trip! My first time snorkeling, too! It was beautiful!! We went out around the different cayes of Placencia... we snorkeled in the clear, blue water. I swam around coral, so beautiful. And we saw a LOT of fish and creatures! We saw stingrays, barracudas, giant starfish (that we picked up), sanddollars, and I even picked up a HUGE conch shell and Ian gutted it and we ate it! I never had conch before!!! It was a little bit weird to just eat right there, but not bad! hahaha. It was such an amazing day! Oh, lovin Belize!
We got home that afternoon and were pooped! We all kinda crashed and laid around lazily. Once we got the motivation, we got up and made garnaches with the stuff we bought on the way home. As we started to use the stove, we realized it wasn't working, so Cass went upstairs to make friends with our neighbor and borrow his stove.... turns out he's a former Peace Corps volunteer!! He was an older man, named Time, and he served about 30 years ago! He was such a cool guy, a real hippie from Cali who had just left everything to come travel down here and ended up falling in love with Placencia. He's been here for over a year now. We brought him up some dinner and hung out on his porch that night, just talking about PC and all kinds of random stuff. It's so great having random encounters with people like that!What a great night!
The following morning was the end of our trip....sad. Mental health weekend was over. Molly and Kim headed out on the bus early, while Cass and I had a little bit of time to kill before heading back on the water taxi. It worked out that I caught an express bus home from Independence, so I got home quick and had AC! woohoo!
Almost as soon as I walked in the door of my host family's house, I found out that we were going to be having a practice hurricane consolidation in a day or two and that I would be leaving for Belmopan. Ah! I just got home! I tried to explain what would be happening to my host mom, to no avail, and went out to make sure I had hurricane supplies.
That night, Mrs Assi decided to make homemade bread. Apparently, she wanted to teach me how...but she just started making it and never said anything to me! It was like 9:30 at night and I was tired and I started to head in to bed and that's when I found out she was making bread for me! I went in to read for a little and told her I would be out soon, but I was so tired, I just passed right out with the light on. The next morning, she told me she tried banging on my door at 1:30 am to tell me it was ready.... I sleep like a log, so I never even stirred. But why the heck would she make bread so late!!! Crazy lady, hahaha. Also, why would she try to wake me up! I was so happy that it's impossible to wake me out of my coma of a sleep because I had to get to work early the next day.... I would have been very cranky!
All in all, Placencia weekend was amazing!... But I could barely get back into the work routine because I awaited to hear further instructions for our practice hurricane event soon to follow...
world cup and PCVs
Monday 6/14/10:
Another working day. The internet was down, so I did a LOT of productive things at work! The best was, figuring out that COMPAR has the exact same camera as me! So I uploaded their pics and then uploaded MY pics to the comp too! Yay! I could finally share my pics! A lot of people were in town Monday, so I seemed to run into PCVs wherever I went! I watched the World Cup game before heading home to my family. I had some fun playtime with Pachy til he peed on me…. He peed right through my skirt and when I stood up it looked like I was peeing---oh boy, that kid!
I had football that night, so I finally asked if I could make myself a meal before playing. Since everyone knows I can’t cook, 2 sunny-side up eggs it was! Delicious! Finished off with mangos…Hahaha.
I met up with Sam to kick around at the field before playing with the Jah Roots. They were heated and more competitive than usual that evening—I thought there may be a fight a couple of times! But overall, I still had fun! And I played well, so I was pumped! I started learning names of the guys and I’m officially becoming a friend—well, maybe an associate. Hahaha
That night I used my great chess workshop experience and taught Cor how to play! It was fun!
Tuesday 6/15/10:
Village day, once again! I did my supervisions all morning, and some office work in the afternoon. I left around 3 and passed Michelle during her run—I asked her to come hiking with me and Cor because we were going up Sarah Hill again. It had poured the night before, so the hike was very slippery and muddy! I didn’t really prepare Mich for that, and I felt bad because she was slipping and sliding. I was torn because Cor was practically running up it no problem (she’s used to it), and Mich was struggling a lot and I was in the middle. Eventually, Michelle decided it was too slippery, so Cor and I finished the hike together. And the second time was just as good as the first—beautiful! I love that hike!
I spent a lot of time on my butt on the way down—the mud definitely was not on my side. Hahaha. But it was fun still. We met Michelle at the bottom and were exhausted walking back…. Luckily, we were able to hitch with someone back into IndianVille—yay! It was good we hitched because I made it home just in time to grab my spikes and head to the football field for practice!
That night we had more thunderstorms…. Which was cool because I showered after soccer outside in the thunderstorm…. Two-fold shower! Hahaha
Wednesday 6/16/10:
I took the day off from EVERYTHING on Wed! I woke up stressed….people were yelling in my house and madness was happening… come to find out, Panda, one of my host family’s dogs, had puppies the night before! Sadly, one died the first night, so only four remained. They were outside in the thunderstorms!
We had a PCV meeting with the PG police that morning, basically where the guy told us that we stand out and not to hang out with druggies…. Obviously! They also told us not to hang out with Rasta guys because of how they look….. interesting. All my football guys are Rasta men! But, I took what they said with a grain of salt, because they also said that we were just looked at as tourists anyway. Thanks a lot police force of Belize!
After our meeting, I enjoyed the various WC games with different people in different places. I enjoyed doing nothing for a full day! Oh life!
I went home and Mrs Assi made me a cohune cabbage meal that was surprisingly very good! I had cohune cabbage for 5 meals after that, so I got sick of it, but the first time was really tasty! I spent the afternoon playing with baby Pachy and Panda and her pups. Poor Panda—I felt so bad for her! The puppies are so tiny and cute…. Sad. I hope they make it!
I enjoyed a lazy afternoon nap before meeting people in town for dinner…. There’s always someone coming into town to visit it seems! Haha I rode my bike home and almost missed the rain…almost. I got drenched the last minute of my trip….fail. I went to bed listening to puppies crying all night…. So sad!
Thursday 6/17/10:
I started eating half of my meals and feeding Panda the rest. Poor mama dog! I went to work and Fido and I headed to the villages. All the recent rain flooded the bridge in San Jose, so after the long, long trip there, we couldn’t even get in and had to turn around! Ah, so bad! We did some of the closer villages before making it home for lunch.
That afternoon, the other dog, Scooby, chewed through my new bike handles and seat! Ahhhhh! I was so mad! Oh well, things get destroyed here!
I headed back in to work a little angry with Scooby. I then was told that I would be doing the staff meeting the following day that Samuel Choc was supposed to run…. Not prepared! I got overwhelmed and frustrated….. I was in the bitter barn. Haha. I’m not really supposed to be running staff meetings, that’s something the boss should do, so it was frustrating and when I tried to refuse, Samuel had the big boss in Belize city call me and kinda back me into a corner…. So0o0o, I agreed.
Luckily, I had football to get my frustrations out! Rion, another PCV, came into town to play that night—so it was extra fun! (And he helped me get out of going on a date w/one of the Rasta men!) I love these PCV boys that can always pose as my boyfriends….so handy to have around! Haha
Friday 6/18/10:
Friday I woke up and ran the staff meeting. It was actually a really good discussion and I got through to all the girls, (we call them Rovers). By the end of the meeting, they were even asking me questions and participating in the discussion! It felt rewarding! After we finished, I rushed to meet up with people to watch the USA world cup game! I went back to the office after the game and meddled around all day…
Seems like football was on the brain this week! I love it!
Another working day. The internet was down, so I did a LOT of productive things at work! The best was, figuring out that COMPAR has the exact same camera as me! So I uploaded their pics and then uploaded MY pics to the comp too! Yay! I could finally share my pics! A lot of people were in town Monday, so I seemed to run into PCVs wherever I went! I watched the World Cup game before heading home to my family. I had some fun playtime with Pachy til he peed on me…. He peed right through my skirt and when I stood up it looked like I was peeing---oh boy, that kid!
I had football that night, so I finally asked if I could make myself a meal before playing. Since everyone knows I can’t cook, 2 sunny-side up eggs it was! Delicious! Finished off with mangos…Hahaha.
I met up with Sam to kick around at the field before playing with the Jah Roots. They were heated and more competitive than usual that evening—I thought there may be a fight a couple of times! But overall, I still had fun! And I played well, so I was pumped! I started learning names of the guys and I’m officially becoming a friend—well, maybe an associate. Hahaha
That night I used my great chess workshop experience and taught Cor how to play! It was fun!
Tuesday 6/15/10:
Village day, once again! I did my supervisions all morning, and some office work in the afternoon. I left around 3 and passed Michelle during her run—I asked her to come hiking with me and Cor because we were going up Sarah Hill again. It had poured the night before, so the hike was very slippery and muddy! I didn’t really prepare Mich for that, and I felt bad because she was slipping and sliding. I was torn because Cor was practically running up it no problem (she’s used to it), and Mich was struggling a lot and I was in the middle. Eventually, Michelle decided it was too slippery, so Cor and I finished the hike together. And the second time was just as good as the first—beautiful! I love that hike!
I spent a lot of time on my butt on the way down—the mud definitely was not on my side. Hahaha. But it was fun still. We met Michelle at the bottom and were exhausted walking back…. Luckily, we were able to hitch with someone back into IndianVille—yay! It was good we hitched because I made it home just in time to grab my spikes and head to the football field for practice!
That night we had more thunderstorms…. Which was cool because I showered after soccer outside in the thunderstorm…. Two-fold shower! Hahaha
Wednesday 6/16/10:
I took the day off from EVERYTHING on Wed! I woke up stressed….people were yelling in my house and madness was happening… come to find out, Panda, one of my host family’s dogs, had puppies the night before! Sadly, one died the first night, so only four remained. They were outside in the thunderstorms!
We had a PCV meeting with the PG police that morning, basically where the guy told us that we stand out and not to hang out with druggies…. Obviously! They also told us not to hang out with Rasta guys because of how they look….. interesting. All my football guys are Rasta men! But, I took what they said with a grain of salt, because they also said that we were just looked at as tourists anyway. Thanks a lot police force of Belize!
After our meeting, I enjoyed the various WC games with different people in different places. I enjoyed doing nothing for a full day! Oh life!
I went home and Mrs Assi made me a cohune cabbage meal that was surprisingly very good! I had cohune cabbage for 5 meals after that, so I got sick of it, but the first time was really tasty! I spent the afternoon playing with baby Pachy and Panda and her pups. Poor Panda—I felt so bad for her! The puppies are so tiny and cute…. Sad. I hope they make it!
I enjoyed a lazy afternoon nap before meeting people in town for dinner…. There’s always someone coming into town to visit it seems! Haha I rode my bike home and almost missed the rain…almost. I got drenched the last minute of my trip….fail. I went to bed listening to puppies crying all night…. So sad!
Thursday 6/17/10:
I started eating half of my meals and feeding Panda the rest. Poor mama dog! I went to work and Fido and I headed to the villages. All the recent rain flooded the bridge in San Jose, so after the long, long trip there, we couldn’t even get in and had to turn around! Ah, so bad! We did some of the closer villages before making it home for lunch.
That afternoon, the other dog, Scooby, chewed through my new bike handles and seat! Ahhhhh! I was so mad! Oh well, things get destroyed here!
I headed back in to work a little angry with Scooby. I then was told that I would be doing the staff meeting the following day that Samuel Choc was supposed to run…. Not prepared! I got overwhelmed and frustrated….. I was in the bitter barn. Haha. I’m not really supposed to be running staff meetings, that’s something the boss should do, so it was frustrating and when I tried to refuse, Samuel had the big boss in Belize city call me and kinda back me into a corner…. So0o0o, I agreed.
Luckily, I had football to get my frustrations out! Rion, another PCV, came into town to play that night—so it was extra fun! (And he helped me get out of going on a date w/one of the Rasta men!) I love these PCV boys that can always pose as my boyfriends….so handy to have around! Haha
Friday 6/18/10:
Friday I woke up and ran the staff meeting. It was actually a really good discussion and I got through to all the girls, (we call them Rovers). By the end of the meeting, they were even asking me questions and participating in the discussion! It felt rewarding! After we finished, I rushed to meet up with people to watch the USA world cup game! I went back to the office after the game and meddled around all day…
Seems like football was on the brain this week! I love it!
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