Hey all! What a busy time we have had here in Belize so far.... we can’t believe it has only been 2 1/2 weeks! Anyway, here is the deal so far since our last post. Keri and I were assigned to our CBT (Community Based Training) site in Belmopan (Business/Organizational Strengthening) on 8/26 and the next day we moved in with our host family. Funny thing is they live in a beautiful house that we have been walking by everyday and admiring.... we certainly are not roughing it.
Host Mother is a Head Operator at BTL (phone company) and the Host father works for an outside company that works on cell towers. They have a son who has finished university with a business degree. We have our own room with a fan, hot water showers, refrigerator in the kitchen, pirated cable tv (movies with chinese subtitles anyone?), and internet (albeit slow DSL.... can’t believe I just typed that. Apologies to the trainees in San Antonio & Albania who have latrines and no electricity). Our training schedule is pretty jam packed with the average day being language training from 8 am-12 pm and technical training from 1 pm-5pm. We then have meetings with our community project counterparts, homework, cultural trips, ect.
Speaking of Language Training, we are officially learning Kriol (Creole)! Now this is not the Creole we know in the US with the french and spanish influences. The Kriol spoken here is english based with african influences. While we need to learn how to speak it, I truly think learning how to translate/understand will be most advantageous as everyone speaks english here. We have tried practicing our Kriol in the community only to have everyone insist on speaking english. After we are done with our very basic, 5 week Kriol course, we are going to continue with our Spanish as a significant part of the population speak Spanish.
Our weekends have been full with “official” activities as well.... for example yesterday, Saturday, we went with an intern from the Belize Counsel on the Aging, the organization we are doing a small community project with, to the 23rd anniversary of Octavia Waight Home for the Elderly. It was a very cool day and we met members of HELP AGE from all the different districts. The group from Dangriga brought the house down with a group of drummers playing a Punta beat.... Brook would of loved it!
The speech from the Board member about the history of the facility really brought home to us what a lasting impression we can possibly make here. 23 years ago, a Peace Corps volunteer by the name of David Wheeler helped them get the project completed after it had stalled. The speaker didn't say “the Peace Corp” helped or “a volunteer” helped, he remembered him by name. That’s pretty powerful stuff and speaks volumes as to the difference we have a chance of making.... OK, I’m climbing down off the soap box.
Today we just went to a small eco-tourism site in San Ignacio that breeds iguanas for release into the wild. We went there to practice using an evaluation tool as well as to just have some fun and hold iguanas! On the walk down the trail to the breeding area, the guide showed us a termite nest and we tried eating some. They were actually good! They tasted like a minty carrot.... no kidding! We stayed for lunch and splurged on some pizza and beer.... something the guys from San Antonio needed badly!
We are relaxing now with our host family and will work on some homework in a little bit. Please add some comment or email us when you get a chance.... miss you all!
