independence day

braving the rain with yvette to see alyssa's float.

turns out she changed sides so we were on the wrong side of the street.

gabriel's magic. one of the designers in town had elaborate costumes.

osmani and ethan watching the parade.

my free beer from the guys on the float.

floats with kegs of beer were pretty popular!

someone was repin america. awesome!

the police keeping people entertained.

this little guy was winning hearts all day long.

independence day in belize is september 21st. (last tuesday)

the way that belize celebrates their independence is MUCH different than our typical 4th of july. on september 20th, the kids go home from school and most of them go straight to bed or rest until the night. at around 10pm there are speeches that are made and there is the singing of the national anthem, along with carnival rides and a big festivity that leads up to a midnight display of fireworks. the fireworks last for about half an hour and then once the fireworks end, a block party begins. the streets are blocked off and people stay out all night visiting with family and friends, dancing, listening to bands, and celebrating their independence.

the way that we spent the day of the 20th once i got home from school went kind of like that... kind of. when i got home from school around 4pm, yvette was cooking like crazy for that night. she had to cater for 100 people that were going to be attending the festivities as guests of honor. so we made cakes. we made shake and bakes. we made ceviche. we were over flowing with styrofoam plates. we cut potatoes. chopped potatoes. and cooked until 11pm. around 10:45 i snuck upstairs to shower, or bathe, as they called it here. they never say shower. but as i escaped the kids twisted my arm into taking them down to the fair since the parents were all busy with cooking and helping. so i showered quick, quick, quick and took the kids to the carnival rides. we were there until midnight and we watched the fireworks there. i saw a bunch of my students at the carnival who were shocked to see me in "street clothes". kinda crazy. around 12:45 we walked back to the house, i put on some make up and got dressed up and we went out. left the house around 1:30am... anora, nayely and her boyfriend fabio were going to take me out for a belizean-style independence day. we went to a club. it was small and not very crowded. it wasn't yet late enough to be going out. ha! around 3am me and anora left the club to go pick up gran ida and take her home. then we went back to pick up nayely and fabio, who had had enough for the night and we took them home as well. as for me and anora, we forged on! we went to another club and this is where the majority of people in orange walk were still hanging out. we arrived at 4am. danced for hours. at 6:30am we were walking in the door and practically collapsed. went to bed for a few hours and then woke up to prepare myself for the parade. the parade didn't really start until 4pm, but i didn't know that. we ate lunch and got changed and made our way out to the street corner where we waited almost an hour before we saw anything at all. the parade is made up of floats from major companies or organizations in belize. some major dance groups and bands come to march in orange walk's parade from all over the country. the parade lasted about 3 hours and although it was cloudy and overcast the entire day, only rained for the last 20 minutes!

i had an amazing time dancing and celebrating with my belizean family!

thanks guys, for an amazing couple of days!

love to all that are reading!

i miss you.

love,

me

an american in merida

anora, me, yvette and of course ethan.

ethan whistling for a cab for the six women he was traveling with. HILARIOUS!

got us a cab every time!

beautiful old catholic church.

i don't really know what this building was but red, white, and green was everywhere, i'm telling you!

this is what happens when you feed the pigeons. the square.

la cena en la calle.

my host family.

in order L to R: nayely, yvette, tia chum, alyssa, anora

down in front: ethan

me and ethan at the zoo. : )

the zoo.

apparently you shouldn't feed the hippos...

monkey see, monkey do

the seat ride.

yvette and our hats.

amazingly beautiful maya influenced art in the center of an intersection. of course, i needed to get out and take a picture.

in belize, you don't really want to go to the doctor for anything serious. no major surgeries. no complicated illnesses. so when nayely's allergies were eluding all the doctors in belize, itmeant that we had to take a trip to mexico! : )

yvette, tia chum, anora, ethan, nayely, alyssa, and me were the ones going. the plan was to leave orange walk on thursday night around 8pm. friday (the 10th) is a national holiday in belize, so there would not be school. let me take a minute here to tell you about this holiday before i continue with my mexican adventures...

the battle of st. george's caye day

combatants: the spaniards and the baymen

dates: september 3rd - september 10th, 1798

what went down: the land (what's now belize) was, of course, being fought over. spain had a whole lot of territory in central america and just assumed the this land should be part of their area as well. the baymen disagreed and were willing to fight for it.

what that meant: as far as i can tell, not a whole lot changed after this battle. they fought it out for a little over a week, the spaniards retreated, and then for the most part didn't try to mess around with belize anymore. but nothing really revolutionary changed.

anyways... so bottom line, thanks to the bravery of the baymen we had no school that friday. so we left the house at 9pm, because in belize an hour late is sometimes considered early. we drove to the belizean boarder and i had to pay the silly exit fee ($37.50bz ~ $18.75us -- also side note here- pretty much anywhere you go in central america there is an exit fee). i got my passport stamped, which never fails to excite me. and then we drove to the mexican border, where i got my passport stamped, AGAIN! from the mexican boarder we had to drive about a half hour to the bus depot. just after we crossed the boarder there is this little place that you have to stop. now for the record, i've heard that most people don't, but we were rule followers. i wish i had a picture of what happened here. we pulled off to the side of the road and paid 60 pesos (12 pesos = $1.00 in american money) for these men to spray off the tires. making sure our belizean germs don't make it into mexico. weird. from there we went to the bus depot and boarded the midnight bus to merida, mexico.

we got to merida around 6am. checked in to our hotel and rested. we reconvened for breakfast around 9, went to the doctor with nayely at 10 and were done and ready to tour around by 1pm. we got some lunch, some hats (gigantic sombreros!), and walked the square. mexico was quite festive this weekend in preparation for september 15th when they will be celebration their 200th anniversary of independence and their 100th anniversary of revolution! the streets were lined with vendors selling everything red, white, and green. it made me really miss the fact that i missed the 4th of july this year. how did i spend my day? well, the night of the 4th of july i played infinite rounds of solitaire with my american flag print cards and listened to miley cyrus' party in the u.s.a. on repeat. pathetic? it wasn't the worst night i've ever had. : ) but back to the streets of red, white, and green... i used my spanish more that i have in a long time.

the rest of the weekend was filled with a little shopping, eating, and enjoying the sunshine! we went to the zoo, which was hilariously fun. we got to see lots of animals and there were plenty of signs advising us on how we should behave with the animals-- big on depictions, just in case you didn't understand the spanish. all in all, the zoo was pretty great!

this american enjoyed her time in merida.

love love

literacy day

the front of our float

louisiana government school

"quality schools promoting literacy for a better belize"

the literacy parade: orange walk, belize 2010

louisiana's float with a big book that i didn't make and mine nowhere to be seen.

reading is cool at home and at school...

that's right... this little guy was harry potter. love love love.

belizean folklore

bible stories

some float.

belizean folklore booth

one of the literacy booths

today was the literacy expo.

part 1- the parade.

part 2- a fair at the stadium.

each school put together a float showing some sort of representation of literacy. our school had put together a nursery rhymes float. that's what the big book i had to make yesterday was for. me and my cooperating teacher, miss lucy, had to meet our class at the street where the parade was going to go and so we were not a part of putting all the things on last minute. i was really excited to see it!! : )

we met our class at 8:15 out in the street. that is where we remained... for over 2 hours. nothing. we had no idea what was going on. the parade was supposed to go though at 8:30. what i, and what i never, took into account was belizean time. in belize if someone says that they will meet you at 12:30 for lunch, they mean 1:30... at the earliest. it's not just people, it's business that take you on tours, stores are on a pretty lenient schedule as well, and it is just not a customary thing to be early anywhere. ever. so when the parade FINALLY came through at 10:45 i was pretty excited to see it.

the louisiana float was first. i could hear it before i could see it. there was a large speaker set on board that was playing our nursery rhymes while the float drove by. it was beautiful! and then as it drove by me and i was pointing out my book to the person next to me i realized... it wasn't there. my book that i had worked on for 4 hours was not even on the float anywhere. i was a little annoyed. why did they make me make that thing?? oh well.

there were about 20 floats in total and when they were all past us we had to wait for a bus to come and pick us up to take us to "the stadium". now, orange walk is not a very big place so anything that happens here that requires a stadium is done at "the stadium". we waited and waited for the bus and arrived at the very crowded stadium where booths that the schools had set up were ready! they weren't what i was expecting when i heard the word booth. i was expecting a booth with a flyer or an activity work sheet. instead there were tents with lots of tables set up and there were books and puzzles and people talking to kids about why it is important to read. SO COOL!! i think that this is an amazing thing! today i got to be a part of a parade that celebrated reading! and then got to talk to kids about why it is important to read everyday!!

today was ridiculously hot and sunny and i had to become one of those people who carries around an umbrella in the sun. i kinda resented it. it just seems silly to use an umbrella unless it's raining. and even then, i'm still pretty against them... umbrellas that is.

tomorrow i'm going to merida with my host family. i am really excited. we are going to chetemal tomorrow night and we take the midnight bus to merida and get there around 6 in the morning. : ) nay is going to the doctor that morning when we get there and then after that we are just going to enjoy mexico!

happy birthday, louisiana!

the daily essentials: sunglasses. hsm lunch box. my journal.

"in the shade of our school, we stay cool" -- LGS motto

the selections for queen. last year's queen leading the line.

my vote for this years queen: standard 1s queen nomination

the kids dancing. so great!!

then the teachers dancing-- bailando!

my pages for this ridiculous book strewn about the classroom

one of my gigantic pages

today was louisiana government school's 22nd birthday! kind of a tangent story... but what of my stories aren't tangent stories... when kids in belize sing happy birthday they just sing like this:

happy birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy birthday, happy birthday

happy birthday to you

how old are you now

how old are you now

how old are you now

how old are you now

you're --- years old now

you're --- years old now

happy birthday, happy birthday

happy birthday to you

there's no names mentioned. nothing. and at the end they clap to the number age you are turning.

in honor of the schools birthday we had an assembly this morning. now for most kids, you think ok, an assembly. long and boring but at least we get to be sitting in the gym in the air conditioning. wrong-o! these kids were number one, EXCITED to have an assembly and number two, had to stand up for the entire 2 and a half hours of it! insane! the school had a motto: "in the shade of our school, we stay cool". for assemblies the students come outside and stand where the school casts its shadow. kinda neat. and kinda crazy that the students don't complain too much about standing for the entire assembly. i remember being in school and being a little annoyed if i didn't have a good enough seat, let alone have to stand for the entirety.

what the assembly consisted of was the national anthem, prayer and the school pledge (kinda like the girl scouts "on my honor...") followed by some musical entertainment, the introduction of our queen nominees, more music and dancing, and then the general manager of all the government school-- who had come to wish us a happy birthday-- declared it a half day! yahoo! the introduction of our queen nominees from every level was hilarious. belizeans love their queens. they have a queen for just about everything. and the girls love going out for queen. they almost thrive on it. there will be many opportunities for me to show you this, seeing as there are about 8 holidays and parades while i'm going to be in belize. : ) yessss!

but back to the news about the half day. so i was pretty stoked to go home and not have to come back after lunch, but no. tomorrow we are having what they call a "literacy expo" and the standard 5 classes were in charge of making a big book for our float for the parade for literacy day. so we all had to come back at 1pm and work on the float. so i went home and ate and returned to school where i was nominated best handwriting and delegated our author for the big book. the task: writing humpty dumpty, i'm a little teapot, and the old woman who lived in a shoe on paper that was 2 yards long and 1 yard wide. sounds alright, i guess. wrong-o again! it took me approximately 4 hours to finish that darn book. post the 4 long hours i slaved away at my book i inquired as to what would happen to the book after the parade. it will be thrown away. ummm, i don't think so. if i have to fold it up and ship it home, that book will not be thrown away!

tomorrow should be a good day for pictures at the literacy expo. : )

all my love,

me

he loves me... he loves me not... he loves me!!

my little love

i have some outstanding news. brenden, more commonly known here as ti-ti, has finally come around to liking me. he looks additionally happy here because he loves getting his picture taken, but he lets me hold him now without making a fuss and waves at me and lets me hold his hand as he walks around. mission accomplished.

std #5

my std poster. still giggling.

coming back from lunch!

my standard five class

school day 2!!

how can it be that today is only the second day of school? i feel like the first day of school was weeks ago, but alas it was only yesterday.

today in my standard 5 classroom my teacher asked me to make a welcome poster for the students. she asked me to write "welcome to std 5". well i don't know about you, but the more common connotation for the letter combination std is not in reference to a school grade so i had the giggles all morning as i made my std poster. after that i got to make a poster for the word wall. this and helping to "correc" homework and make sure that each of my students brought a journal with them, pretty much took me through the whole morning of school.

today john picked me up from school with tia chum and we went home. thank goodness cause it is a hot hot walk home at lunch time. today for lunch: liver. since i am now a pseudo-vegetarian i only sampled a small amount. i told my family that i would try everything. it was pretty good, but i stuck with the normal cucumber-avocado-rice-beans combo. i don't think i've mentioned this before because it makes me sad, but brenden (the 15 month old) does not like me. he only puts up with me if i am feeding him something, and then he's still pretty against it. but today was the first day that gran said she thought he was growing on me. : )

when i returned from lunch miss lucy asked me if i wanted to teach the afternoon's science lesson. and of course! the lesson was about cells. identifying parts of a cell and comparing plant and animal cells. i was pretty familiar with the information so it was not completely out of nowhere.

tomorrow is friday!! i get to teach from "a history of belize" which reminded me a lot of harry potter's "a history of magic". if only i could be teaching at/attending hogwarts... if only. but i digress, belizean history is something that i am not really familiar with so i'm reading up on it before tomorrows lesson.

for all of you that this interest:

belizean national prayer

Almighty and Eternal God, who through Jesus Christ has revealed Your Glory to all nations, please protect and preserve Belize, our beloved country. God of might, wisdom and justice, please assist our Belizean government and people with your Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude. Let your light of Your divine wisdom direct their plans and endeavours so that with Your help we may attain our just objectives. With Your guidance, may all our endeavours tend to peace, social justice, liberty, national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety and useful knowledge. We pray, O God of Mercy, for all of us that we may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Your most holy law, that we may be preserved in union and in peace which the world itself cannot give. And, after enjoying the blessings of this life, please admit us, dear Lord, to that eternal reward that You have prepared for those who love You. Amen. belizean national anthem O. Land of the Free by the Carib Sea, Our manhood we pledge to thy liberty! No tyrants here linger, despots must flee This tranquil haven of democracy The blood of our sires which hallows the sod, Brought freedom from slavery oppression's rod, By the might of truth and the grace of God, No longer shall we be hewers of wood. Arise! ye sons of the Baymen's clan, Put on your armour, clear the land! Drive back the tyrants, let despots flee - Land of the Free by the Carib Sea! Nature has blessed thee with wealth untold, O'er mountains and valleys where prairies roll; Our fathers, the Baymen, valiant and bold Drove back the invader; this heritage hold From proud Rio Hondo to old Sarstoon, Through coral isle, over blue lagoon; Keep watch with the angels, the stars and moon; For freedom comes tomorrow's noon. Arise! ye sons of the Baymen's clan, Put on your armour, clear the land! Drive back the tyrants, let despots flee - Land of the Free by the Carib Sea! love, me

"we need you to teach infant two"

louisiana government school

the school

too cute. my shy little one.

infant 2

picking up trash : )

the race

racing to the finish...

today when i showed up for school, early-- which is very un-belizian of me, i met with ms. lucy and got ready for the day! the kids came in. we said the lord's prayer. we said the belizian national prayer. we sang the belizian national anthem. and by we, i mean they. they said the belizian national prayer and sang the belizian national anthem. i will learn it.

about 10 minutes into class the vice principal came into the room and said, we're going to need you to teach infant two. hold the phone. me? teach? my own classroom? oh my! so they walked me down to the infant section of the school and brought me to "my" class where there were many confused parents waiting with hyper 5 and 6 year olds. there was no game plan. there was no agenda. chaos. but when is the first day of school NOT pure chaos? so i went in and introduced myself as miss rachel and i would be standing in for their teacher for the day. it turns out that the teacher who i was standing in for was out because her father had died. slowly but surely the parents left, a little unsure that leaving their children with me was a wise decision. reassuring. but i started teaching and both they and i seemed a little more sure.

infant two. well for the first activity we counted. : )

a little math never hurt anyone so i had the kids sit in a circle and put their hands one on top of another in a down-by-the-banks manner. we clapped each hand to the next and as a class counted to 50. some of the kids doubted that we could do it, but we did! si se puede!

next, we got out our math subject notebooks and in perfect penmanship we wrote the numbers 1-50. which again, we were not sure that we could... but they once again succeed!

so at this point i realized that none of the other classes were doing organized lessons so i had them sit in a circle and we introduced ourselves by saying our name, our age, and what we want to be when we grow up. about half the kids in the class said they wanted to be doctors. lots of future policemen, lots of teachers... and one precious little girl said she wanted to grow up to be pretty like me. my heart melted. i, of course, said that when i grew up i wanted to be a singer on broadway or a photographer, and that i was 22. they all immediately told me, but miss you are grown up and you're already a teacher so you can't do that. i told them they should never stop dreaming. something i often forget myself as do most, and i shudder as i say this... adults. i may never be free of my peter pan syndrome.

after that we all went to lunch. in belize the way that schools do lunch is that there is a break from 11:30-1:00 and everyone walks home and eats with their family. i was really hesitant to let my 5 year olds who said that they were walking home alone go off by themselves but after seeing the other teachers relinquish their lee (lee meaning little in creole) children into the world i followed in suit.

when i got back from lunch with my family i was quite early and opened my classroom so that i could go in an assess what was going on. after lunch we were supposed to do language arts, social studies, and then physical education. do-able. nothing i couldn't handle. when the kids started coming back about 7 of them had drawn me pictures when they went home. some little boy brought me in a peacock feather too... which was beautiful and is now laying in my journal.

the afternoon went, well, smoothly would not be a good word for it, but it went. i read some stories to them out loud and we attempted writing sentences in our language notebook. epic fail. this little boy abel brought me his notebook to check. the assignment: write about 3 things you like to do. this little, adorable boy's notebook said, "i like to sin". i asked him to read me his sentence and he replied with "i like to sing". he had left a crucial consonant out of his sentence. no worries, we fixed it.

towards the end of the day the kids were just about nuts so i said let's go pick up trash!! they said, no way! but i said that this is our world and we need to take care of it. and more specifically, this was our school and we need to make it beautiful so we could be proud of it. they said that was very nice of me to care and agreed that we should do it. win! we went outside and picked up all the trash we could and then i let them have some races on the field.

mission accomplished. day 1 done. well, for infant two at least. infant one and two get out at 2:30 and the rest of the grades get out 3:30. so i went back to my standard five class and spent the afternoon in there doing miscellaneous tasks for miss lucy.

at around 4:45 i walked home and met up with my family. i helped ethan and osmani with their homework and now i'm excited to be blogging and hope you enjoy the pictures.

xox