i procrastinate.

Okay okay. I am finally writing about my placement. So where do I start? Last Friday all us trainees packed our bags and headed back to Belmopan very nervous about out possible site placements. Once we got there we of course played a game to find out our sites. It turned out to be kind of fun exept I was the last to find out my site. As you probably know I am assigned to San Ignacio working with the Cornerstone Foundation. Feel free to check out their website: cornerstonefoundationbelize.com I’m not really sure yet what exactly I’ll be doing. It is all very overwhelming. I really like that Cornerstone is so well organized. They have records of what each volunteer has done in the past which can give me lots of ideas to what I want to do. It is definitely the kind of organization that I will have to be proactive.
I’m happy to be back in San Ignacio. It is the coolest little town and I’m pleased to stay. Also, since I have spent the past seven weeks training here there is really no need to get introduced to my community since I have already lived here.
So far I have just been following people around and going to meetings. There was supposed to be a girls group meeting today but no one showed up. From what I can tell it is very hard to get a program off the ground here.
Thursday I went to mass with my host family. I have to say it was very interesting. For one thing it was in Spanish so I only knew what was going on a small part of the time. Today (Saturday) I will be hanging out with one of the other volunteers, Kashay. She’s cool and it’s nice to have an instant friend in the area.
Welp I’m not sure what else I should write about. I miss you and love you all.
Christa

xoxo

My Bad

I know I know, I have been horrible about updating. I'm been super busy... When they tell you that after training is over it slows down...they lied.. :-) Seriously I will update on Saturday. Sorry I'm such a procrastinator.

heart you all

Independence Day

So this weekend was the celebration of Belize's 28th birthday. Which also means we got another full day off of training (that makes 30)... after going to the blue hole we all went home and cleaned our selves up and then the Spanish people went to do our cooking day.. We made Salbutes and they were amazing.



Afterwards we all eventually met up at a local bar in the center of San Ignacio. Some weird fellow that looked similar to santa claus was telling us bizarre stories. We all hung out for a while and at midnight they shot off fireworks officially kicking off Belize's independence day.



Independence day was very fun plus i finally got to sleep in (all the way till 9!) There was a really cool parade which the pics are on my facebook.. sorry i'm not very detailed i have to be back in class at ten.

The Blue Hole

On Sunday the San Ignacio Youth Development group took a little field trip to Blue Hole park. It was great. We spend the day swimming and hiking in the rainforest. It was nice to have calm relaxing day. I couldn't believe how cold the water was. When we swam in the sea last week the water was pretty warm and the lagoon was HOT.




I procrastinated writing and now i'm out of time... I will add another blog over the Independence celebrations probably tomarrow..

Current Volunteer Visit

Well hello all. All is well in San Ignacio. This last weekend I spent in the north on our visit of a current volunteer. Holly, Emily, and I got sent to Progresso to visit Laura who is a teacher trainer in the small village. I had a great time!




Friday we went to Belmopan for our tech sessions then the three of us set off on the long, long bus ride to Corozal (about 4 hours). Since the bus to Progresso doesn’t run that late we had to stay the night in Corozal at the Sea Breeze hotel. Corozal is beautiful! We were finally able to see the sea for the first time since we arrived in Belize. In the morning we had a great breakfast and walked around touring Corozal. We were even able to hop in the sea for some fun in the sun. I got a little burnt but by now it has faded into a lovely tan. In the afternoon we took a bus to Orange Walk town. Since Progresso is so small Laura has to do her shopping in Orange Walk. She showed us around for a bit and shopped then took another bus to Progresso. By that time we were all pretty much exhausted. We cooked some stir fry potatoes and then went to bed. Sunday we took a short bike ride around Progresso and Laura showed us the village. Her house is amazing. It’s a one bedroom house right on the lagoon. I’ll post a picture of the view from her patio. It’s ridiculously amazing. After the bike ride we went for a swim in the lagoon. We then cooked dinner (yummy nachos) and went to bed. Monday we got up early and Laura introduced us to the principal of the school that she works for. At around noon we had a wonderful lunch at her host mom’s house and headed back to Belmopan on another very long bus ride. It was such an amazing weekend. Now I am really excited to find out where I will be placed for the next two years. Most likely I’m going to the north but we’ll see..


Here is a picture from Laura's porch


Until we meet again….

Christa


xoxo

Swimming at Cahal Pech

First of all I'll just say that we have class and or training everyday. So instances like these don't really happen that often.

Yesterday we got out of training at 12 and decided to go swimming. There is a resort at the top of San Ignacio that has a beautiful pool and is $10BZ to swim. It was an amazing afternoon. It was wonderful to just lay out in the sun and relaxed. We are constantly gross and sweaty so the pool was lovely! It also includes a great view. Since I've finally figured out how to upload pictures i will post a couple. I have them all up on facebook though.

Everyone: YouTube "Bot fly"

Hola!!!!

We I am currently sitting in a internet cafe with a fellow trainee, Kevin, watching disgusting you tube videos about possible ailments that we could encounter during our time here in Belize. Be sure to Google "bot fly". We have been told that many volunteers have encountered such creatures. Luckily being in the second largest city in the country we don't really have as much problems with bugs as other training sites. A lot of mosquito.

I went ahead and added the video:



Basically a bot fly is a fly that bites you and lays an egg under your skin and develops into a larva and eventually into a bot fly. This video is of a guy extracting the larva from under his skin.

So I go my youth group assignment for training. I will be working with the Police Cadets with Kevin. Today we met with them all and it was awesome. I'm really looking forward to it. They looked so cute doing there drills and marches. The officer in charge, Mr. Medina, is really entusiastic and proud of the group. He showed us about a million pictures of all the things that they have been doing. I know it is great how laid back Belizians are but it can be a little frustrating. As part of the assignment we have to have a community service project. Typical answers are, "oh yeah... do what ever you want" "oh you can meet with me whenever you want, the morning would be fine, or the afternoon, whatever you want". He seems like such a nice guy. I'm happy for this project we are working together. At least from my point of view, i don't know about Kevin. I've never worked with boys really so this should be interesting. I'm very excited!!!

Tonight we're (by we I mean the trainees in S. I.) going to a block party. September is the month of Belize's independace and is widely celebrated. I'm really excited for the party.

Well I am drawing a blank about what to write about next.....

so untill we meet again...


with love, Christa


XOXO