A day in the life: I realize that some of you are curious as to what I must do with all of my time here in Belize, so I thought I would share my Sunday with you. I wrote this Feb. 28th...enjoy!
Today...
I woke up to birds chirping frantically, like they always seem to do when the weather is cool and calm. There was a little light seeping in through my windows and the air was clean and fresh. I sat up and opened my aluminum blinds to the most amazing sun pouring in onto my bed. Ah, Sunday morning. I think I had forgotten what it felt like to be completely content in a moment until then. You know that feeling, right? When you wake up and you just feel new. That's how I woke up this morning.
I also woke up to four other women sharing my space. That's just how my life works here in Belmopan...I have a constant rotation of friends sharing my space and its wonderful. We had all gone to a friends for dinner on Saturday night and after much conversation and lots of delicious food and wine, we meandered back to my house for some much needed sleep. I pulled off the extra foam from my bed and miraculously managed to make sleeping quarters for everyone. It reminded me of a childhood sleepover and was actually, very much, a girls' night I needed.
We all slept in and woke at various times. I decided to linger in the morning stillness and I put on some acoustic music I have and went about reading my current bedside book. As people stirred, there was a rotation of showers that made college dorm life less of a distant memory- thank goodness I have lots of extra towels- and a delicious breakfast of pancakes was made by my generous friend Christen (the girl has a way with the pancake!) It was great to sit with each other and laugh. I think laughter is one of the best ways to start your day, don't you think?
A little after we ate, we said goodbye to two and the rest of us went about getting ready for another gathering of friends this afternoon. I learned how to make bread dough from scratch and attempted garlic bread sticks....attempted, but failed. Thank goodness Zan was there to fix all my pathetic looking work – she's an excellent cook and worked culinary magic – the bread sticks were fantastic! (and don't worry, I already had made strawberry cheesecake to bring so I wasn't slacking)
Around 2, we walked with our food down the sidewalk that borders Mot-Mot lane to Cardinal street and Sandy's house for the Belmopan resident's pot luck lunch. There was shrimp, brownies, bread sticks, pineapple salsa, bean dip, spinach salad, rice, sobe noodles, terayaki chicken, chow mien noodles, bruscetta and of course, cheesecake. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Needless to say, I did not need to have dinner tonight. Around 11 of us were there, enjoying each others company and watching the U.S. / Canada hockey game for the gold medal in the Olympics. Sadly, I had to leave before the final outcome because I needed to walk the girls back to my house to grab their things so that they could catch buses back to their villages, but what a great game!
I attempted to put leftovers in my fridge with some success, but left the dishes. I can always do them tomorrow.... Instead, I sat down and watched a movie (a new one...my addiction here is even worse! bless the market movie man). I paused it to watch the sunset through my front door. I think that view is my favorite...an iron gate with flowers and palm trees beyond. Its nice that something as simple as watching the sky change colors gets to be a routine part of my day. I mean, when I think about it, when is that last time that I actually took the time to watch the sky before I moved to Belize?! The thought would have seemed nonsensical and wasteful of time to me 6 months ago, and yet here I am....appreciating the crap out of my skyline.
When the movie ended, I looked at the time and realized that it was still before 8pm! Holy cow, so much time left in my day still. And before starting a next movie – because its Sunday and I'm allowed to be lazy – I decided to write this, because today has been a great day and you should all get to hear about it.
And...because I'm loving where the past 6 months have taken me. I'm in a place where personal relationships matter more than artificial ones, where the days are slow and time flows on in an endless, relaxed progression, where saying hello to a neighbor is expected and reciprocated, where meals are shared by friends on a regular basis, and where I begin my days with laughter.
Not all days are created equal, I know. Here is no exception. But, I find more days than not like today in my life in Belize and what a wonderful thing it is to know that no matter how far I travel or how different people may be from me...there is good in every part of the life I lead.
Ah, Sunday. :0)
P.S. Trafford is still the cutest dog ever and is growing like crazy – he is now the owner of a fancy new (& larger) collar and an absurd amount of dog bones given to him by my wonderful friend, Marla. Judging by his newly acquired things and his mad obsession with coconuts (which he proudly displays all over the front yard), I'd speculate that a day in the life of the dog isn't half bad either. He sends his love.
