Weekend

Hey All!

Wow I can't believe how long it's been since I last wrote on here....almost a week! There hasn't been as much going on as the first week but still some fun highlights!

This weekend did not go as planned. We were supposed to go to Placencia but it rained all weekend! I first arrived in PG on Wednesday night. Don Victor, the schools community liason and also boy dorm "manager" gave me a lift into town...bless him! When we got into town I immediately saw Mr. Sershaw (came into town with Linda, my instructor from Duluth) and Andy. They pointed the way to Ellen and off we went. Eventually we ran into Ellen (man I love small towns) and we both headed to Kristina's so I could drop my stuff off. Along the way we talked about how teaching was going and comparing how our experiences were a like and different. It's a slight walk to Kristina's and by the time we got there my back was killing me! I had to bring my big backpack because I needed to do laundry before we headed out for the weekend. When we showed up Kristina came out and said,"I thought I recognized that voice.." Yeah I get that a lot! She didn't get my message that I was coming into town but she was super cool about it and I went to put my things inside. I also met Kristina's friend, Jen, who also graduated from Duluth and is living in PG with Kristina until April. So I got to chat with her for a bit, she's super nice! Ellen headed home and I went with Kristina to go have dinner with Linda. Kristina lived with Linda part of the time that she went to school in Duluth so they are pretty close. We went to dinner at the Mangrove and it's the best resturant in town!! It's super small and intimate but the food is to die for! We chatted and I asked Linda some questions I had about student teaching. After that we said goodbye to Linda, who was flying out tomorrow, and headed home for sleep. I was so confused for Thursday and Friday because I didn't really have anything to do! No school, while everyone else was, and no big assignments that needed to be done. On Thursday, after lots of debating and chatting, we decided to not go to Placencia. It was supposed to rain all weekend and we decided to save our money and spend it when it was going to be a nice weekend. Turned out to be a great decision. The rest of Thursday I did my laundry, ran some errands in town, and met with Ellen again to go over curriculum and compare and contrast. Also just to blow off steam...the whole "teaching out of a book" is driving us both a little batty.

Friday the big plan was to go to an Andy Palacino memorial concert. Before that I went into town to run some errands, by myself. It's so weird for me to be in a small town! I'm used to this tiny little village. And to walk around by myself and feel a little iffy about it. In Blue Creek I can wander anywhere and I'm fine but in PG it's a little different. I don't like that I can't walk around town and feel 100% safe...it's annoying. Anywho...getting back to the topic. Sam and Lana (two other teachers from Duluth) had some students involved in the concert. So they came and picked me up and we headed out to the concert. Andy Palacio was a native of Belize and brought Garifuna music to the world and to a completely new level. He died just last year I believe. So to start off the concert they held a traditional Garifuna opening ceremony. It symbolizes the welcoming of the crowd, along with the ancestors that went before us. It's beautiful! They use three giant drums and everyone is singing and moving in a circle. Tons of color! Then they did a candle light procession in honor of Andy Palacio and that was gorgeous as well! After that they had people performing poems or songs of Andy's, Sam and Lana's students read a cute poem. Other talked about Andy and performed some of his music. It was so great because out at Tumul Kin, it's centered around the Maya culture. I only have 4 Garifuna students and they are as Maya as they can get. It was fun for me to see the other major culture in Belize and see some of the Garifuna traditions. After the concert we headed to the groups new favorite hang out, the Reef Bar. It's so funny because there is a Reef Bar in Duluth as well, must be fate! The bar is owned by this crazy British woman who is a hoot! And her chef is amazing! It was a fun night of hanging out, talking about teaching, meeting some locals, and dancing some punta!

The rest of the weekend was kept in doors. Literally all we did Saturday was sit on the couch and watch movies...nothing else we could do in the rain. Sunday some of us met up that evening to have dinner at the Mangrove...YUM...and chat about what we might do after we're done teaching. We have a rough idea but we know it will probably change about 20 times before we have it down. I was super nervous about the bus ride home on Monday. I had to take a bus from PG to the "Dump" is what they call it and then from there hop onto another bus to Tumul Kin....yeah just a tad bit nervous. The bus left at 6 am, so I had to be up by 5 am to walk down there and be on the bus in time. It wasn't too bad but super cramped! I realized that I hadn't been on this type of bus for about 6 years...yeah it was kinda fun! Luckily Lydia (money lady)and Mrs. Natividad (cook) both were on the bus and they both work at Tumul Kin so I felt a lot better. The bus for Tumul Kin was almost an hour late! Lydia and I joked that it must have been my fault, we Minnesotan's brought the rain and now the bus was late! The students almost went home but the bus eventually came. Wheew! That was an adventure, let me tell you!

This week has been going pretty well so far. On Tuesday the 2nd Form students had a movie night to raise funds for a class trip. Obviously I went to support them and they were showing "Transporter 3" so I was definitely there! These kids appreciate movies almost as much as I do..:tear:..it's so great! I walked a student who lives in the village to and from and found out that she's a Bon Jovi fan! Yeah we are best buds now! The movie night was fun and it was hilarious because all the students were cold and I was sitting there going, "are you serious?!" One student, Irael, stole my sweatshirt for the night because he was freezing! I just had to laugh at them. He wouldn't give me my sweatshirt back until right before the boys dorm and I had to promise to give him my sweatshirt when I left. I spose! He's adorable. Then on Wednesday they finished up a softball game. It was so much fun to watch! They don't use gloves...at all...talk about hard core! The best was when they got frustrated at the umpire..or whatever...they all started yelling in three or four different languages! It was hilarious! I could only understand every 10 words because they are yelling in Queqchi, Mopan, Creole, Spanish, and English! I had a student, Mirium, sitting next to me and she's just screaming in Spanglish! Good times all around :D Yesturday went pretty well. The best part was that we have been interviewing the 3rd form students for "jobs" as practice for the "real world." They all have been doing so well and my two trouble students, that always tend to be on behavior contracts, aced the activity!! I was so proud I thought my face was going to split into two!! Yay them! They are starting to really get it :D The rest of the day I chilled in the library. That night though I watched a football game (they spell it the same as us, just different sport) with Pablo (acedemic director), Thomas (computer director) and Filiberto (1st form core teacher). It was Belize against Honduras. So funny!!! Belize lost 2-0 but it was fun to watch the game with native Belicians. There were no Maya men on the team and that's why Belize lost...apparently :D

I thought I would share some cool customs I've learned throughout the past week. I don't know if I've mentioned it but everytime someone leaves the table they say, "Thank you everyone." and that's towards anyone in the room, whether at school or at home. Also they say "good night" to mean good evening...that messed me up a few times. Also we noticed that all the Maya woman we met had these beautiful gold earings. I wondered if it was a tradition, or if the girls got them at a certain age or whatever. Apparently the tradition started that the grooms would give their wives earings instead of a ring. The earings symbolized that they were married. Then it was an heirloom that would be passed down to the youngest daughter. It's lost most of that now and you can buy them anywhere but I thought it was a cool tradition.

An interesting question that Ellen and I came up with while talking is if there was any support in the schools or communities for students who are gay. We learned a lot in our Human Relations class last semester ~Thanks Helen!~ and we are very curious. I have a lot of boys out here who like to target some students that they are "gay" and needless to say whenever they pull those behaviors around me I stop it pretty quickly. One student was considered gay because of his pants and I reassured the students that a persons pants does not regulate a persons sexuality. When I posed the question to a couple of people I found out that there is no support whatsoever to any students if they are gay. There is apparently a huge underground group but for the most part the students were on their own. That didn't surprise me but I am concerned for students. [ Helen if you have any advice or think I'm going about something wrong please let me know! Your wisdom is always welcome!]

My biggest challenge right now is my teacher. He just turned 23 and has had no teaching training what so ever. Because of this we tend to butt heads on how he runs his classroom and he is very apprehensive about giving me full access to teaching the classes. I really don't think I'll be able to fully teach any classes while I am here. I'm super frustrated most days and I know part of it is because he has had no training but I feel like all I'm learning is how to help him with techniques I already know. Everytime I try to ask him things or introduce something I am ignored and he rolls right over me. Needless to say I'm quite frustrated but I'm trying to look at his perspective and to get as much teaching in as possible...it's not always easy!


That's pretty much been my week so far! More will definitely come after this weekend. The internet has been something of a butthead right now and isn't working full force, it took me over an hour to just pull this page up to write my post! So in other news I will only be here for 8 weeks (two months) Linda wants me to experience other types of teaching and I support that but I feel like I'm going to just get into my groove and then I'm leaving. I feel unsettled because I'm going to put so much into it but it won't fully come together because I'm leaving so soon. And I'm missing Maya Day! Boo! So I will be back in the US by March 23. So family, even friends, come visit me because I'm free to do whatever from March 5-21! Let me know!

Miss you all a ton and I love reading your comments! Puts a big smile on my face! Oh cait...wonderful comments! I giggled a lot! Pretty sure my students think I'm nuts everytime I read my comments and giggle...it's not common I guess....Kisses to all! Stay warm...tehehe :D