week one!

Hi friends! I've finally found the time to update you all on what I've been up to this past week. On Thursday afternoon the group of 41 Peace Corps trainees split up into its sectors and headed out for our first homestay! My sector is Youth Development and there are a total of 9 of us. We are currently living and working in San Ignacio on the Belizean and Guatemalan border.

My origional host family had to drop out at the last minute, so I'm currently living with another volunteer and her host family. In a few days, I will switch to live with another volunteer that is staying with a woman that speaks Kriol. The family I'm with now is amazing, so I'm a little sad that I have to leave...but since we hold Kriol language class at this house, I'll at least get to stay in touch with this new family.

To everyone at Elm City and beyond, the host family that I'm living with currently, as well as the family I will be living with in the future have most of the amenities that you would find in a typical American household. We have running water, electricity, the internet, mostly hot showers, and even a washing machine! I'm living in a city by Belizean standards so I don't have to worry about washing my clothes in the river....yet.

The clothes washing is really dependent on what region of the country that you live in and each sub-culture of a region has its own method of doing laundry. I'll learn whatever method is used in my final placement and if its different, I'll explain how I wash them then. I did attempt to wash my clothes in Belmopan before leaving for San Ignacio....unfortunately the room was too humid to dry anything and I had to pack damp clothes...needless to say, those are all terribly smelly and I'm in the process of rewashing them all as we speak!

Backtrack to last weekend when we traveled to the Mayan ruins...I have a few photos that I'm putting up here...this region still continues to impress me and the view I have each morning is breathtaking...its nice to know that even though my family lives at the top of the BIGGEST hill in San Ignacio, there is a reward at the end of the day after the long hike!

Hope you all are well and enjoying life in the states as much as I am here!

arrival

Hi everyone!! Just wanted to let you know that we all arrived safe and sound in Belize with all of our luggage! success from the start. :0)

This first part of the week has been full of training and orientation. Currently we're staying in Belmopan in a local hotel that's about a 10min walk from the Peace Corps office where we have our daily activities. Bonus to the office: free wifi & air conditioning.

Yesterday we traveled to Xunantanich, on the western border. Very impressive Mayan ruins...we were able to climb all the way to the top and look out and into Guatemala. AWESOME! I did scoot my butt all the way to the edge at the top for a photo (hopefully I'll be able to post it soon) but my fear of heights definately kicked in a little.

On the way home, after some tire trouble with the van I was origionally riding in, a few of us stopped in San Ignacio at a place called Cayo Twist for some ice cream. It only sells soy ice cream but it was delicious, especially in the Belizean heat!

Today we're headed to the local river to cool off and there's a chance for some of us to wash our clothes there as well. It's almost time to head out so I'll post more later when I get the chance.

flight information

...because I know some of you are curious, compulsive worriers - I'm putting the information here. You can track these flights at your leisure and at least know when I've landed. Again, I'm not sure when I'll have access to internet to update you all so at least this is an alternative.

My Flight from St. Louis to Washington, D.C.

Wednesday August 19, 2009
American Airlines Flight Number: 884
Class of Service:Coach Class G
Depart: ST LOUIS/LAMB,MO 6:40 Am August 19, 2009
Arrive: WASHINGTON/NATL,DC 9:35 Am August 19, 2009
Total Flight Time: 1 Hour 55 Minutes Non-Stop



My Flights from Washington, D.C. to Belize City, Belize

20 AUG 09 - THURSDAY
AIR AMERICAN AIRLINES FLT:1631 ECONOMY FOOD FOR PURCHASE
LV WASHINGTON REAGAN 605A EQP: BOEING 737-800
DEPART: TERMINAL B 02HR 29MIN
AR MIAMI INTERNTNL 834A NON-STOP
AIR AMERICAN AIRLINES FLT:2103 ECONOMY FOOD FOR PURCHASE
LV MIAMI INTERNTNL 1010A EQP: BOEING 737-800
02HR 05MIN
AR BELIZE CITY BZE 1015A NON-STOP

Thank you all for the wonderful well wishes and kind thoughts as I head to Belize!!!! Please feel free to email or post comments and I'll keep in touch when I get the chance!

love/hate relationship with...

PACKING! I cannot describe this process any better than saying it is a serious pain in the a**. BUT, I also get excited about packing because I know that it brings the next adventure in my life so much closer to reality. With that excitement comes my over-zealousness for throwing in everything that I think I might possibly need. Usually this isn't too bad, but this whole two year time frame has thrown a little monkey wrench into my process. How can I possibly be expected to know what I will need/find useful for the next two years?!?! Several current volunteers have posted suggestions and of course, each person has a different suggestion (with guys bringing the least amount).

So, naturally...I attempted this - and ended up 20lbs over the limit for my bags. I have since repacked a few times and while I'm getting closer to the limit, I'm approaching the point of saying "no, I need that and I don't care about the weight limit!" Seriously, toiletries are important and if i remove anymore clothing, I'm not quite sure if I'll have enough for a week, let alone how ever long is necessary before I can find new in Belize.

Taking up some weight I'll admit, were a few non-essentials like books and extra supplies that I can have mailed to me once I get settled. So I've taken those out already (FYI...US Postal Service Flat Rate boxes are the cheapest way to ship anything to Belize). I've also got myself a laptop bag in addition to my backpack because I'm allowed to take both as "Carry-on" and "personal Item"....I feel that if there is a way to maneuver the system, I will find it!!!

So today I'm attempting round 4 or so of reorganizing and adjusting my things to accomodate the weight requirements. Now the only thing left to worry about is lugging all of it through the airports by myself...perhaps that can be motivation enough to slim down the extras.

home again

Just got home from my mid-west tour...exhausted! I had a fantastic time catching up with friends for my '5 states in 5 days' adventure...but what shall be sitting for me here in the kitchen but a few copies of our local paper...complete with photo and story of me as front page news...oy! If any of you know me well, you realize that while I will kindly answer questions for curious minds, I do not expect it to be newsworthy. And if some one else deems it so, I pray that the article sits comfortably on pg. 6, with a tiny photo (because apparently a photo is necessary).

Just to clarify a few things about the article...

• My dad is not a social worker at Elm City- While it is an organization that serves adult clients with mental and physical disabilities and values social work ideals, that doesnt make all of its employees social workers.
• My work in Kenya was in a village named Meru. Harambee is not a city/town, but a Kiswahili word meaning "coming together." We titled the trip with this word because it described our American culture and the Kenyan culture working together to fund the construction of classrooms at the Primary School in Meru.
• Along with that, my various trips in high school were described slightly incorrectly: while I did visit a Native American community in South Dakota, I never worked there. I stayed and worked in Belvidere (a town of 63 people in the middle of nowhere - where even the interstate was a dirt road).

Editorial oops... I realize that these are just silly things that get under my skin but sometimes the smallest mistake shows up in the details and I might have to stick my foot in my mouth.

In other news, I believe that tomorrow I will attempt packing, round 1. (after I get caught up on sleep,of course). If it doesnt happen...well, there's always the weekend!

countdown kickoff

Hello everyone!!! I've officially decided that this will probably be the best way to update you on all of my adventures in Belize. Hopefully this will avoid all the problems and dilemmas of mass email with attachments (and thinking that my updates are spam!).

This week I'm headed to KY for a few days to visit Sarah and take a breather before attempting to pack my life for these next two years. Due to my serious lack of affection to this proccess, I'm willing to put roadtripping in front of it. I'll probably be cursing this decision later, but I think procrastination is still allowed.

Official countdown to departure is 9 days.
I'll update you with flight information a day or two before I leave.

for those of you that suffer from update anxiety...please be aware that internet connection is sketchy in some parts of the country and due to time constraints during training (especially through October) I may not be able to update this as often as you all wish.

Happy Reading!!