day 14

We went to the consulate’s for dinner tonight. It was paradise. We had to take a private boat over there because it is the only way to access the resort. It was like its own little tropical island. They made us American food!!! Burgers for most of us; veggies, salad, and rice for the vegetarians. We listened to music and had a great time.

Day 8

This island seems to be overpopulated. I’ve never seen so many children, and unsupervised at that. I’ve seen more young children wandering around alone in the past week than I’ve ever seen back home. I can’t tell if parents just aren’t as protective as they are back home, or if children just aren’t valued as highly. It seems to be quite the opposite in the schools. Parents come and bring the children a home cooked meal for lunch. Sometimes they even stay and eat with them. They seem very close and caring. They also seem to be very interested in what’s going on at school through this and attending conferences. You’d think their education system would be more valued because of this. The teachers are not trained properly and they don’t have the resources they need. Their jobs aren’t taken as seriously as they are back home.

Day 5

Day 5 and now no power! We were snorkeling all day and came back to land just to find out there is no power in the whole country as of now! We were asking around and they said it wasn’t a common thing to happen. That made us pretty nervous. They also said to stay inside and be very careful because crime gets pretty bad when stuff like this happens. Enough about the negatives, today was awesome!!!! Lou took us out to Mexico Rocks. It was about 10 feet deep with beautiful coral and fish. It was like something you see on tv! I got lots of pictures underwater… just haven’t figured out how to get them on my computer yet. He took us over to a shallow area after. The sea grass was very tall. We saw a stingray over there. It was pretty neat. After all of this he said we were going “fishing”. I was thinking fishing with a pole, but he informed me we were going to jump off the boat and grabbed conchs. I never really though about those big pretty shells actually having life inside of them. His friend and a few of the girls jumped off and actually got about 9 of them. (I threw one back when he wasn’t looking because he said it was a baby one… shhhh!) After we were through he took us back to his house where he pulled all of the conchs out and prepared them. There was a little spaghetti-like muscle he pulled out of each one that his daughter was eager too eat. Yuck! Everyone tried a bite of it, besides me. By the time he cut everything off there was a small pieces of meat. He brought them all in to his wife who made them into something we could eat… without actually cooking them. I was feeling brave and had a bite. Yes, I actually ate a raw sea creature! Don’t worry it was documented! Lou also took us on a tour of a lagoon area. It was gorgeous! I tool tons of pictures. The water is so clear here we saw huge fish, crabs, and another stingray. There was a lot of pollution too, which he said was from a hurricane. To top off an eventful day, we saw a shark by a pier at the shore while we were walking home. It was a small one, but it was right up on the shore! The only shark I’ve ever seen in real life!

day 4

So it is day 4 here and there is no water! I guess it could be worse, but were not able to shower or anything as of now. I hope it comes back on before tonight. We are going to see a band play. One of the high school kids is in it and they are raising money to send him to a music camp at Berkley, which he already got in to. We saw him last night and he was amazing! Only 15-years-old too! Tomorrow we are going snorkeling and fishing with a guy names Lou. The high school teachers know him well and even want to come with us. He said he’d take us out for a couple of hours. I’m very excited! I’m also very burnt. Tried staying out of the sun today as much as possible. I want to heal before tomorrow. We ate at a place out on the beach today and the elementary school’s marching band came down the beach. The boys were playing the instruments and the girls were dancing. They were great!

we made it!

I got here safe and sound Wednesday. The plane ride over to the island was i bit scary. The plane was pretty small so it was a bumpy ride! We're staying at a place called Pedro's Inn. I'll put pictures up later. This place is BEAUTIFUL! Everyone is very friendly and it helps that they all speak English. It is a little embarrassing actually that the children speak three languages, English, Spanish, and Creole (they're slang language), and I can only speak one! We went and visited the two elementary schools and one high school that we will all be teaching at. They were much different from the ones back home! They call their grades infant 1 and 2, then standard 1-6. These are their elementary grades which are equivalent to our k-8. The classrooms were much smaller and they only had about 8 kids in each class, the smallest class having only 2 kids! They also start at age 4, so there were 6 year olds in 2nd grade. Much different than the states. Their high school grades are called forms 1-4. It was a two-story building that was very open. They don't have air conditioning and its pretty warm down here, but some of them were wearing sweaters over their uniforms. They said this was a cold front (its about 80 degrees!). Their gym was an outside area with an awning over it. They were playing basketball while we were there. I will be teaching at Ambergris Caye Elementary School. The principal is from North Dakota! She was very inviting. The teachers there were my age and had been teaching for years! They only have to have graduated high school to teach here. Everyone is so friendly here! Its very refreshing! Well I'm off to the beach. We have the day off today! Miss you all!