Here's a little slideshow I put together with some of the pictures I took on our trip:
I'm still in the midst of writing about it, so until I finish, enjoy the photos :)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Bye Bye Belize - The Beginning
On Sunday morning, we woke up at 6 to catch the 6:30 water taxi to San Pedro, which would then connect us to Chetumal, Mexico. The first boat ride was smooth (though we nearly missed it), and we arrived on Ambergris a little after 7. At the immigration office we learned that the 7:30 boat to Chetumal would be delayed until 8:30. Perfect, we thought: plenty of time for that breakfast we had to forsake on Caye Caulker!
Since it was Sunday (Palm Sunday, even), almost everything in town was closed. We decided to eat at a small cafe where we'd been before, which, apparently, is never closed. We sat down just after 7:30, and by the time 8:20 rolled around and we still had no food, we were beginning to worry. We found the cook and asked for our meals to-go, got our three plates wrapped in tinfoil, chugged our orange juice at the counter, threw some money down, and made it back to the water taxi terminal by 8:27. We took care of our immigration paperwork and ended up wolfing down breakfast while waiting to board the boat. It's a good thing we ate before getting on the boat, because it didn't take long for my fried eggs to become thoroughly scrambled. Added bonus of the whole breakfast ordeal: a free plate! The restaurant must have only had two paper plates because my meal came on a real one. Under normal circumstances, I'd be thrilled about free flatware; unfortunately, it's much less thrilling to acquire free things when you're backpacking and you actually have to lug them around. I was reluctant to throw it out just yet, so The Plate and I hopped on the boat, Chetumal bound.
(The Plate and I said our goodbyes in Tulum the next day.)
Easter Break: The Great Mexilizean Adventure 2010
After a lengthy hiatus, I have decided it's time to resurrect this thing. I've settled way too comfortably into the island life, and I just haven't been able to make myself sit down and post. Hopefully that'll change; there's definitely no shortage of things to write about. I've spent the past few days in a sniffly ball on the couch with a nasty cold I picked up in Mexico, so now is the perfect time to get started.
First things first, Easter is bigger than Christmas here (and by here I mean Central America, not just Belize). It's madness. Due to the holiday, we had an unexpected two weeks off from work; the school has been closed since the end of March and won't reopen until April 12th. Ben, Ashley, and I decided to take advantage of our time off and do a little traveling, so on March 28th we set off with no itinerary, no reservations, and no plans. We were armed with nothing but backpacks and a desire to explore the region..
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Just a Tease...
Wow. I’m so far behind I don’t even know where to begin. One of my goals for this week is to revive this baby and recap the month of February thus far.
Here are a few buzzwords from the past few weeks:
Scuba (anxiety!), leadership class, sunset yoga, books (lots of books!), the Olympics, research grant, bicycles (and bicycle theft!), moving, cooking, locals, ukulele, and Belizean men.
This is just a quick preview of things to come; I plan to elaborate on each of these things soon!
Until then, let the good times roll!
Here are a few buzzwords from the past few weeks:
Scuba (anxiety!), leadership class, sunset yoga, books (lots of books!), the Olympics, research grant, bicycles (and bicycle theft!), moving, cooking, locals, ukulele, and Belizean men.
This is just a quick preview of things to come; I plan to elaborate on each of these things soon!
Until then, let the good times roll!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wait.. it's Friday ALREADY?!
On the whole, this week has been awesome. Time is flying by. It’s been three weeks and I finally feel like I’m settling in and getting into the swing of things!
The volunteer who will be teaching World History and Geography at Ocean Academy this semester hasn’t arrived yet, so I got to teach both all week. It was so much fun! (Probably helps that they’re two of my favorite subjects..). I just wanted to get a feel for what the students already knew about each of the subjects, so we didn’t do anything too difficult. In Geography, I just asked them to list the 7 continents, 5 oceans, and as many countries as they could. Some knew quite a bit more than others, but most could at least name most of the continents and oceans. They’ve never had a geography class in school, so some of them were unsure of the difference between a city, state/district, and country. In History, another subject in which they have absolutely no background, I made a list of important historical events, scrambled them, and asked the students to put them in chronological order. Only a few were able to do so, so I went over them and talked a little bit about each event. The good news is, even though they’ve never studied geography or world history before, most of the students seemed fairly engaged and interested. The volunteer who will actually be teaching the course (WH and Geography will be taught as one class), will be here next week, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to continue to help out.
My Leadership Project class is going really well too. There have been a few switcheroos, so I ended up with a final group of 15 students, which is perfect. On Tuesday I passed out their journals/notebooks and we had a teamwork brainstorm. After we talked about and defined ‘teamwork’, we went outside and played Human Knot. Most of the students participated in the game at least once, and they all said they enjoyed it. Yesterday, I gave them an intro survey so I could get an idea about how they feel about their community/leadership/their ability to make a difference.. that sort of thing. I just read through their survey answers now, and I’m really encouraged by some of them. Even most of the students who marked that they were uncomfortable acting as leaders right now or never have done so in the past indicated that they believe they can make a difference in their community and that they’re motivated to do so. Some of their additional questions/comments were great, and will be really helpful for me, going forward. I plan on giving them a similar survey sometime in March, and another at the end of the semester. After they completed the survey, we played Toxic Swamp. I was a little disappointed with the lack of participation; only about half the class played. Granted, the space wasn’t ideal, and many of the girls have expressed some wariness about playing some of the games since they have to wear skirts. Still, that’s something that we can deal with. Next class I’m planning on giving them a breakdown of what they’ll be graded on for the semester, and remind them that participation will be a pretty large percentage. Despite the lack of participation, I’m still feeling pretty encouraged about the class, and I can’t wait to get them started on their projects. The only thing I’m a little disappointed with is the fact that I only get two class periods per week. It’s a ridiculously limited amount of time, so we definitely won’t be wasting any of it.
I had my first confined water dive this afternoon. Two of the other students in the class, Estrella and Byron, also got in the water with all the bulky, awkward gear for the first time today. As someone who is a bit of a basket case about being able to breathe, it took me a while to get used to the confined breathing of scuba. Thankfully, I only had one mini freak out/coughing fit! We stayed in shallow water today and practiced skills like clearing the regulator and mask when they fill with water, and using a buddy’s alternate air source if we run out of air (which was when I sucked water in my mouth and nose; the alternate air source is hard to pull from..). Before my fit, I was able to settle in and stay underwater for 15-20ish minutes, which I gave myself a pat on the back for. Tomorrow morning all 6 of us will be going to Coral Gardens to complete our first open water dive, which will be 40ish minutes underwater, I think. Eeps! I’ll try to remember to bring my camera and take some pictures..
After the dive, I intend to have a relaxing weekend. I might go to a rooftop sunset yoga class tomorrow, and Ben and I might hop over to San Pedro on Sunday, but we’ll see!
Happy weekend :)
The volunteer who will be teaching World History and Geography at Ocean Academy this semester hasn’t arrived yet, so I got to teach both all week. It was so much fun! (Probably helps that they’re two of my favorite subjects..). I just wanted to get a feel for what the students already knew about each of the subjects, so we didn’t do anything too difficult. In Geography, I just asked them to list the 7 continents, 5 oceans, and as many countries as they could. Some knew quite a bit more than others, but most could at least name most of the continents and oceans. They’ve never had a geography class in school, so some of them were unsure of the difference between a city, state/district, and country. In History, another subject in which they have absolutely no background, I made a list of important historical events, scrambled them, and asked the students to put them in chronological order. Only a few were able to do so, so I went over them and talked a little bit about each event. The good news is, even though they’ve never studied geography or world history before, most of the students seemed fairly engaged and interested. The volunteer who will actually be teaching the course (WH and Geography will be taught as one class), will be here next week, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to continue to help out.
My Leadership Project class is going really well too. There have been a few switcheroos, so I ended up with a final group of 15 students, which is perfect. On Tuesday I passed out their journals/notebooks and we had a teamwork brainstorm. After we talked about and defined ‘teamwork’, we went outside and played Human Knot. Most of the students participated in the game at least once, and they all said they enjoyed it. Yesterday, I gave them an intro survey so I could get an idea about how they feel about their community/leadership/their ability to make a difference.. that sort of thing. I just read through their survey answers now, and I’m really encouraged by some of them. Even most of the students who marked that they were uncomfortable acting as leaders right now or never have done so in the past indicated that they believe they can make a difference in their community and that they’re motivated to do so. Some of their additional questions/comments were great, and will be really helpful for me, going forward. I plan on giving them a similar survey sometime in March, and another at the end of the semester. After they completed the survey, we played Toxic Swamp. I was a little disappointed with the lack of participation; only about half the class played. Granted, the space wasn’t ideal, and many of the girls have expressed some wariness about playing some of the games since they have to wear skirts. Still, that’s something that we can deal with. Next class I’m planning on giving them a breakdown of what they’ll be graded on for the semester, and remind them that participation will be a pretty large percentage. Despite the lack of participation, I’m still feeling pretty encouraged about the class, and I can’t wait to get them started on their projects. The only thing I’m a little disappointed with is the fact that I only get two class periods per week. It’s a ridiculously limited amount of time, so we definitely won’t be wasting any of it.
I had my first confined water dive this afternoon. Two of the other students in the class, Estrella and Byron, also got in the water with all the bulky, awkward gear for the first time today. As someone who is a bit of a basket case about being able to breathe, it took me a while to get used to the confined breathing of scuba. Thankfully, I only had one mini freak out/coughing fit! We stayed in shallow water today and practiced skills like clearing the regulator and mask when they fill with water, and using a buddy’s alternate air source if we run out of air (which was when I sucked water in my mouth and nose; the alternate air source is hard to pull from..). Before my fit, I was able to settle in and stay underwater for 15-20ish minutes, which I gave myself a pat on the back for. Tomorrow morning all 6 of us will be going to Coral Gardens to complete our first open water dive, which will be 40ish minutes underwater, I think. Eeps! I’ll try to remember to bring my camera and take some pictures..
After the dive, I intend to have a relaxing weekend. I might go to a rooftop sunset yoga class tomorrow, and Ben and I might hop over to San Pedro on Sunday, but we’ll see!
Happy weekend :)
Monday, January 25, 2010
A Little Bit of Everything: The Catch Up Post
So I suppose an update on this sucker is long overdue. Sit back, relax, grab a snack; this is likely to be a long one..
Before I move on to more recent occurrences, I want to mention a few things that I missed last time. The first week we were here, before Maria left, we had lunch with Candy Armstrong, the District Education Officer for the Cayes. It was really great getting the chance to speak with her, and I hope to make it over to San Pedro some day so I can pick her brain about the Belizean educational system. Also last week, Ben and I met Dane, one of the founders of Ocean Academy. He donated the land that the school is built on. Once construction on the school began (in 2008), the building was done in 90 days. Pretty amazing. Dane seems like a pretty fascinating guy, and we’ve already had some interesting conversations. In addition to filling the roles of founder, administrator, and even janitor, Dane teaches windsurfing at Ocean Academy, and he offered to let Ben and I give it a shot. I definitely plan on taking him up on that offer at some point. Apparently once you try it, you’ll know if windsurfing is for you or not within the first 20 minutes. We’ll see how that goes..
Last weekend we spent at the Split getting sufficiently fried. (I’m telling you, spray sunscreen is useless. I’ve never used it and not ended up with weird cow splotches all over my body, even when I spray and then rub it in. I think I’ll be sticking to lotion from now on..). It was really nice just hanging out, reading, and swimming. It’s an awesome spot for swimming and snorkeling, and the water temperature is just about perfect. As most of you know, I’m kind of a sucker for figure skating (especially men’s figure skating), so I watched U.S. Nationals coverage both Saturday and Sunday nights. On Sunday afternoon Ben and I had a meeting with Joni, the third and final founder of the school that we hadn’t met. It was good to sit down and talk with her; she had a lot of great ideas for my class. She didn’t think an open-ended project would work well for OA students, so she suggested that the students organize a Spring Fair as a way to learn about event planning, etc. It would also provide a perfect platform for the students in my class to teach Peace Games to students from the primary school and other children in the community. So that’s what we’re working toward. Some students are interested in restarting the school newspaper, so that might be a great complimentary project to the Spring Fair. After the meeting I definitely felt like I had more of a direction and more clear-cut goals. Now comes the tricky part: actually implementing them. Also on Sunday, my Belizean phone, which was provided by Peacework, decided to go for a swim in the Caribbean. Resurrection efforts are ongoing, but at this point, the outlook is pretty bleak.
I got my official Ocean Academy teachers uniform last week. It consists of a teal and black, sleeveless, button-down top, and a knee-length black skirt. Both made of some sort of lovely polyester. I’m not supposed to wear flip-flops, and the only closed-toe shoes I have with me are Converse, so I’ve been wearing brown gladiator sandals with my uniform. It only looks slightly ridiculous. The uniform’s not so bad though. It’s kind of nice just getting up and putting on the same clothes every morning. The only downside is that once I started wearing the skirt to the school, the sand flies attacked. I counted over 50 bites from the knee down on just one leg the other day. I look diseased, and they itch like hell (I woke up a few times the other night, rolling around because of the discomfort). Ben has bites all over his legs AND his arms, so he’s been scratching like a madman too. Thankfully, after work a few days ago we ventured into Caye Caulker’s one and only pharmacy and picked up anti-histamine pills and anti-itch cream. We both took a pill when we got home, and the swelling and redness of the bites began to go down almost immediately. It was definitely sweet relief. Those sand flies are nasty buggers.
At the beginning of last week, I had to go around to the four classes and pitch my Leadership Project class. Since the direction that the class is heading in is still subject to change, it was a pretty weak pitch. Even so, I ended up with the largest elective class. Sixteen of the school’s forty students are in my class. I think having a larger class will be good, but we’ll see. On Thursday, I taught my first class. It went pretty well. We began by making a classroom contract (which all of the students signed), and then we spent the rest of the 50-minute period playing a game called Commons. I had the class get into pairs and find three things that they had in common, which they then shared with the class. Then the pairs got together to form groups of four and had to find four new things they had in common. The groups of four became groups of eight and they had to find two things in common. Finally the entire class had to find just one thing they had in common (their commonality: they all eat chicken). We debriefed the game afterward, and it was thumbs up all around. I was glad they all enjoyed it, and some of them even expressed that they would be interested in teaching the game to primary school students, which is great news. I teach again on Tuesday (unfortunately, I was only able to get two class periods per week), and this week will be “Teamwork Week”. I plan on having a teamwork brainstorm, giving them a quick introductory survey (so I’ll be able to track their responses/progress), and playing Human Knot. If we have time, I’d like to break the class into project groups and get those going (the projects will probably be newspaper and Spring Fair since students have expressed interest in both).
Over the past week or so, I’ve been talking with members of the school community, trying to get a feel for the Community’s perception of Ocean Academy and its students and the kind of reputation that it has. Unfortunately, the school’s reputation is overwhelmingly poor. Not because of the faculty or the facilities, but because of the type of students who attend the school. OA was founded on the inclusive principle of accepting anyone who wanted a shot at an education. As a result, many of the students who attend the school now spent several years out of school, often on the streets. The community perception of OA is that it’s a school full of drug dealers and dangerous kids. The school, which is providing such a great service to the community by giving these at-risk kids a chance at an education, has garnered a negative reputation as a result. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Fortunately, the community’s perception is slowly changing as OA students have begun to become more involved in the community. One of the things I want to do while I’m here is get the students in my class out into the community as much as possible, through volunteer projects as part of the Interact Club (more on this later), and their Leadership Projects.
I started my scuba class last week! We’ve only done the academic learning part of the course so far (which was comprised of watching a film and lots of reading), but this week we actually get to get in the water. We’ll have a swimming test and our first confined water dive on Friday, and on Saturday we’ll complete our first open water dive out at the reef! I’m super excited, and still amazed that I get to become PADI certified (forever) for free! How lucky am I?
Ben and I are still hunting for used bicycles and cheap food. We’ve made some progress in locating the latter; on Saturday we found a tiny café nearby where we had the best meal since we’ve been here for 20 BZ (aka 10 bucks! For both of us!). I had an amazingly delicious burrito the size of a small child and Ben had some crazy jerk chicken (which looked like it was literally the whole chicken) with two sides, and we each got ½ liter drinks. What a deal. We’ll definitely be frequenting that place. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any luck finding bikes yet, but we’re still looking!
There’s a new volunteer at the school named Adi. When we first met, she thought I was European, which I took as a compliment. (Is that bad? I love the U.S. and all, but I’m just glad I’m not perpetuating a negative stereotype..) Anyway, Adi is a marine biologist from Israel. Ben and I went snorkeling with her at the Split on Friday morning. It was awesome being able to snorkel with someone who actually knows what they’re looking at (I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention in Oceanography..). Apparently she’s going to teach us to free dive at some point. This might be a bad idea, since I can hardly hold my breath more than 20 seconds..
I’ve been entertaining the idea of applying for a research grant while I’m here. It seems like I’ll be pretty busy at the school, but I think working on a research project would allow me to delve a little deeper into the country. I’ve been looking up possible topics, and I think I’ve finally landed on one; I want to research what it means to be Belizean by examining the role that race and ethnicity play in society. This is one of the most diverse countries anywhere, so I think it’d be super interesting research to do. Plus, it’d give me a legitimate excuse to visit all six districts (which I’d like to do anyway). I’m going to work on drawing up a proposal and finding a faculty sponsor this week, hopefully.
So I realized last week, as I was floating on my back in the Caribbean after work, that I might possibly have the best co-op ever. Sure, I’m not getting paid, and I’ll be horribly in debt by the time I get back to Boston, but never mind that. I get to live on a beautiful tropical island, work with a great group of people (both students and staff), try crazy things like scuba diving and windsurfing, and make as much of this experience as I want. I just feel ridiculously lucky.
I think that’s all I’ve got to say for myself right now. This post is a little scatterbrained and all over the place, but I think it covers just about everything I’ve missed. Kudos to you if you made it all the way to the end. :)
P.S. The streak is way over. We’ve been seeing cockroaches here and there, but the cockroach spray that we have seems to help keep them at bay. I did see one crawl right out of the drain in the sink as I was brushing my teeth yesterday. Not okay.
Before I move on to more recent occurrences, I want to mention a few things that I missed last time. The first week we were here, before Maria left, we had lunch with Candy Armstrong, the District Education Officer for the Cayes. It was really great getting the chance to speak with her, and I hope to make it over to San Pedro some day so I can pick her brain about the Belizean educational system. Also last week, Ben and I met Dane, one of the founders of Ocean Academy. He donated the land that the school is built on. Once construction on the school began (in 2008), the building was done in 90 days. Pretty amazing. Dane seems like a pretty fascinating guy, and we’ve already had some interesting conversations. In addition to filling the roles of founder, administrator, and even janitor, Dane teaches windsurfing at Ocean Academy, and he offered to let Ben and I give it a shot. I definitely plan on taking him up on that offer at some point. Apparently once you try it, you’ll know if windsurfing is for you or not within the first 20 minutes. We’ll see how that goes..
Last weekend we spent at the Split getting sufficiently fried. (I’m telling you, spray sunscreen is useless. I’ve never used it and not ended up with weird cow splotches all over my body, even when I spray and then rub it in. I think I’ll be sticking to lotion from now on..). It was really nice just hanging out, reading, and swimming. It’s an awesome spot for swimming and snorkeling, and the water temperature is just about perfect. As most of you know, I’m kind of a sucker for figure skating (especially men’s figure skating), so I watched U.S. Nationals coverage both Saturday and Sunday nights. On Sunday afternoon Ben and I had a meeting with Joni, the third and final founder of the school that we hadn’t met. It was good to sit down and talk with her; she had a lot of great ideas for my class. She didn’t think an open-ended project would work well for OA students, so she suggested that the students organize a Spring Fair as a way to learn about event planning, etc. It would also provide a perfect platform for the students in my class to teach Peace Games to students from the primary school and other children in the community. So that’s what we’re working toward. Some students are interested in restarting the school newspaper, so that might be a great complimentary project to the Spring Fair. After the meeting I definitely felt like I had more of a direction and more clear-cut goals. Now comes the tricky part: actually implementing them. Also on Sunday, my Belizean phone, which was provided by Peacework, decided to go for a swim in the Caribbean. Resurrection efforts are ongoing, but at this point, the outlook is pretty bleak.
I got my official Ocean Academy teachers uniform last week. It consists of a teal and black, sleeveless, button-down top, and a knee-length black skirt. Both made of some sort of lovely polyester. I’m not supposed to wear flip-flops, and the only closed-toe shoes I have with me are Converse, so I’ve been wearing brown gladiator sandals with my uniform. It only looks slightly ridiculous. The uniform’s not so bad though. It’s kind of nice just getting up and putting on the same clothes every morning. The only downside is that once I started wearing the skirt to the school, the sand flies attacked. I counted over 50 bites from the knee down on just one leg the other day. I look diseased, and they itch like hell (I woke up a few times the other night, rolling around because of the discomfort). Ben has bites all over his legs AND his arms, so he’s been scratching like a madman too. Thankfully, after work a few days ago we ventured into Caye Caulker’s one and only pharmacy and picked up anti-histamine pills and anti-itch cream. We both took a pill when we got home, and the swelling and redness of the bites began to go down almost immediately. It was definitely sweet relief. Those sand flies are nasty buggers.
At the beginning of last week, I had to go around to the four classes and pitch my Leadership Project class. Since the direction that the class is heading in is still subject to change, it was a pretty weak pitch. Even so, I ended up with the largest elective class. Sixteen of the school’s forty students are in my class. I think having a larger class will be good, but we’ll see. On Thursday, I taught my first class. It went pretty well. We began by making a classroom contract (which all of the students signed), and then we spent the rest of the 50-minute period playing a game called Commons. I had the class get into pairs and find three things that they had in common, which they then shared with the class. Then the pairs got together to form groups of four and had to find four new things they had in common. The groups of four became groups of eight and they had to find two things in common. Finally the entire class had to find just one thing they had in common (their commonality: they all eat chicken). We debriefed the game afterward, and it was thumbs up all around. I was glad they all enjoyed it, and some of them even expressed that they would be interested in teaching the game to primary school students, which is great news. I teach again on Tuesday (unfortunately, I was only able to get two class periods per week), and this week will be “Teamwork Week”. I plan on having a teamwork brainstorm, giving them a quick introductory survey (so I’ll be able to track their responses/progress), and playing Human Knot. If we have time, I’d like to break the class into project groups and get those going (the projects will probably be newspaper and Spring Fair since students have expressed interest in both).
Over the past week or so, I’ve been talking with members of the school community, trying to get a feel for the Community’s perception of Ocean Academy and its students and the kind of reputation that it has. Unfortunately, the school’s reputation is overwhelmingly poor. Not because of the faculty or the facilities, but because of the type of students who attend the school. OA was founded on the inclusive principle of accepting anyone who wanted a shot at an education. As a result, many of the students who attend the school now spent several years out of school, often on the streets. The community perception of OA is that it’s a school full of drug dealers and dangerous kids. The school, which is providing such a great service to the community by giving these at-risk kids a chance at an education, has garnered a negative reputation as a result. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Fortunately, the community’s perception is slowly changing as OA students have begun to become more involved in the community. One of the things I want to do while I’m here is get the students in my class out into the community as much as possible, through volunteer projects as part of the Interact Club (more on this later), and their Leadership Projects.
I started my scuba class last week! We’ve only done the academic learning part of the course so far (which was comprised of watching a film and lots of reading), but this week we actually get to get in the water. We’ll have a swimming test and our first confined water dive on Friday, and on Saturday we’ll complete our first open water dive out at the reef! I’m super excited, and still amazed that I get to become PADI certified (forever) for free! How lucky am I?
Ben and I are still hunting for used bicycles and cheap food. We’ve made some progress in locating the latter; on Saturday we found a tiny café nearby where we had the best meal since we’ve been here for 20 BZ (aka 10 bucks! For both of us!). I had an amazingly delicious burrito the size of a small child and Ben had some crazy jerk chicken (which looked like it was literally the whole chicken) with two sides, and we each got ½ liter drinks. What a deal. We’ll definitely be frequenting that place. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any luck finding bikes yet, but we’re still looking!
There’s a new volunteer at the school named Adi. When we first met, she thought I was European, which I took as a compliment. (Is that bad? I love the U.S. and all, but I’m just glad I’m not perpetuating a negative stereotype..) Anyway, Adi is a marine biologist from Israel. Ben and I went snorkeling with her at the Split on Friday morning. It was awesome being able to snorkel with someone who actually knows what they’re looking at (I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention in Oceanography..). Apparently she’s going to teach us to free dive at some point. This might be a bad idea, since I can hardly hold my breath more than 20 seconds..
I’ve been entertaining the idea of applying for a research grant while I’m here. It seems like I’ll be pretty busy at the school, but I think working on a research project would allow me to delve a little deeper into the country. I’ve been looking up possible topics, and I think I’ve finally landed on one; I want to research what it means to be Belizean by examining the role that race and ethnicity play in society. This is one of the most diverse countries anywhere, so I think it’d be super interesting research to do. Plus, it’d give me a legitimate excuse to visit all six districts (which I’d like to do anyway). I’m going to work on drawing up a proposal and finding a faculty sponsor this week, hopefully.
So I realized last week, as I was floating on my back in the Caribbean after work, that I might possibly have the best co-op ever. Sure, I’m not getting paid, and I’ll be horribly in debt by the time I get back to Boston, but never mind that. I get to live on a beautiful tropical island, work with a great group of people (both students and staff), try crazy things like scuba diving and windsurfing, and make as much of this experience as I want. I just feel ridiculously lucky.
I think that’s all I’ve got to say for myself right now. This post is a little scatterbrained and all over the place, but I think it covers just about everything I’ve missed. Kudos to you if you made it all the way to the end. :)
P.S. The streak is way over. We’ve been seeing cockroaches here and there, but the cockroach spray that we have seems to help keep them at bay. I did see one crawl right out of the drain in the sink as I was brushing my teeth yesterday. Not okay.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Week One
I can't believe we've been here exactly one week. It feels like it's been so much longer, but at the same time, time is kind of flying by..
This week has been busy, I don't even know where to begin. Monday feels like so long ago. We've spent most mornings this week in the school's computer lab, installing new software, getting rid of old software, basically just trying to get as many computers as possible to work consistently. There's a pile of old laptops and several desktops that we haven't even touched yet, so it looks like it'll be an ongoing project.
Other than that we've been doing various things around the school. I watched over a couple of study periods and helped administer a spelling exam in one of the classes. Ben and I both got a chance to be Caye Caulker's librarian this week. The actual librarian is a teacher at the school, so she's needed someone to cover at the library the past three afternoons because of her exam schedule. I covered Tuesday and today, and Ben covered on Wednesday. It was surprisingly enjoyable. It was a nice break in the day to just sit back, read, and meet some interesting people (both locals and tourists alike). One little boy, Eldon, is in the library everyday. Today, he showed me all his card "tricks". He's pretty adorable, so it wasn't too hard to play along.
It looks like I'm going to get to teach my class as an elective next semester. (Yaaay!) I think it's going to be called 'Leadership Project' or something along those lines (not my idea..). This weekend I'm going to come up with a sales pitch for my class to present to the students next week before they have to choose their electives. Since the school is so small (bigger now, but still pretty itty bitty.. but more on that later), I will probably only have 10-12 students, which sounds manageable. I'm looking forward to getting started and seeing how the curriculum works out here.
I mentioned that the school is bigger now; that's because Ocean Academy got 10 or 11 new students from the island's other high school this week. OA only had about 30 students to begin with, so it was a pretty big deal. With 40 students now, it seems like the school is pretty much at max capacity. There are only 3 classrooms, plus a computer lab, and hardly enough desks and chairs for everyone.
Oh! Something kind of awesome: I get to learn to scuba dive! Scuba is offered as a P.E. option at the school, and conveniently enough they need a supervisor in the class. Scuba diving is one of the things I was hoping to be able to learn in Belize, so I'm super psyched that I get to do it for free through the school.
I'm still getting used to island living. The pace of life is definitely much slower here. I've been told to "go slow" by people on the street more than once (I haven't quite gotten rid of my "city walk" yet..). Nothing is hurried, and punctuality doesn't seem to be especially important. No one ever looks like they're going anywhere in particular; they're just going. The people here are really friendly. (Maybe it has something to do with the stress-free lifestyle, and the fact that shoes are always optional). People say hi/good morning, etc. to people passing on the street, even strangers. It's definitely a refreshing change.
I feel like there's so much I could talk about, but it's all just a big scrambly mess in my brain right now! I guess I'll leave it at that for now.
Happy (almost) Friday :)
P.S. I haven't seen a cockroach in 6 days.. here's to hoping the streak continues!
This week has been busy, I don't even know where to begin. Monday feels like so long ago. We've spent most mornings this week in the school's computer lab, installing new software, getting rid of old software, basically just trying to get as many computers as possible to work consistently. There's a pile of old laptops and several desktops that we haven't even touched yet, so it looks like it'll be an ongoing project.
Other than that we've been doing various things around the school. I watched over a couple of study periods and helped administer a spelling exam in one of the classes. Ben and I both got a chance to be Caye Caulker's librarian this week. The actual librarian is a teacher at the school, so she's needed someone to cover at the library the past three afternoons because of her exam schedule. I covered Tuesday and today, and Ben covered on Wednesday. It was surprisingly enjoyable. It was a nice break in the day to just sit back, read, and meet some interesting people (both locals and tourists alike). One little boy, Eldon, is in the library everyday. Today, he showed me all his card "tricks". He's pretty adorable, so it wasn't too hard to play along.
It looks like I'm going to get to teach my class as an elective next semester. (Yaaay!) I think it's going to be called 'Leadership Project' or something along those lines (not my idea..). This weekend I'm going to come up with a sales pitch for my class to present to the students next week before they have to choose their electives. Since the school is so small (bigger now, but still pretty itty bitty.. but more on that later), I will probably only have 10-12 students, which sounds manageable. I'm looking forward to getting started and seeing how the curriculum works out here.
I mentioned that the school is bigger now; that's because Ocean Academy got 10 or 11 new students from the island's other high school this week. OA only had about 30 students to begin with, so it was a pretty big deal. With 40 students now, it seems like the school is pretty much at max capacity. There are only 3 classrooms, plus a computer lab, and hardly enough desks and chairs for everyone.
Oh! Something kind of awesome: I get to learn to scuba dive! Scuba is offered as a P.E. option at the school, and conveniently enough they need a supervisor in the class. Scuba diving is one of the things I was hoping to be able to learn in Belize, so I'm super psyched that I get to do it for free through the school.
I'm still getting used to island living. The pace of life is definitely much slower here. I've been told to "go slow" by people on the street more than once (I haven't quite gotten rid of my "city walk" yet..). Nothing is hurried, and punctuality doesn't seem to be especially important. No one ever looks like they're going anywhere in particular; they're just going. The people here are really friendly. (Maybe it has something to do with the stress-free lifestyle, and the fact that shoes are always optional). People say hi/good morning, etc. to people passing on the street, even strangers. It's definitely a refreshing change.
I feel like there's so much I could talk about, but it's all just a big scrambly mess in my brain right now! I guess I'll leave it at that for now.
Happy (almost) Friday :)
P.S. I haven't seen a cockroach in 6 days.. here's to hoping the streak continues!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Weekend!
After spending all day Friday becoming acquainted with the school, it was nice to have the weekend to relax and process. Unfortunately, the weather yesterday was less than spectacular, so it prevented us from doing much outdoors. It was rainy and chilly, in the 50s/60s! (I know, I know.. I won't be getting much sympathy from most of you..)
Despite the weather, Ben and I walked up to The Split, a narrow channel created by Hurricane Hattie in 1961 that separates the northern and southern islands of Caye Caulker. We walked around the northern part of town for a bit, and spent most of the rest of the day indoors. (I read on the hammock for a bit.. until I almost got blown off). We did manage to venture out to have dinner at a touristy spot at the end of Front Street. There I discovered the magic of Caye Caulker tortillas. They're warm and thick and delicious! (I'm sure they're great all around Central America.. this just happens to be the first place I experienced one).
Today was a beautiful day. I ventured out on my own this morning to hunt down an ATM and some coffee. Once Ben got up we spent the rest of the morning exploring the southern part of the island. We meandered our way down the beach, through a mini-reserve, and across the airstrip. The southern part of the island is pretty sparsely populated and much greener than where we're staying. Once we made our way back to Front Street, we walked into Lloyd's Bar to find that the Patriots were getting creamed (in the first quarter, no less). We decided to stay and watch the whole game anyway, which wasn't pretty. At least we met some interesting folks while we were there. After the game we met with Maria to go over some logistics-y paperwork stuff. Maria made our first dinner in the house: pasta, sauce, and garlic bread.. all of which I'm sure we'll be eating lots of over the next six months 8] We decided to skip out on trivia night downstairs tonight since we'll be starting at the school at 7:45 tomorrow!
Here are some pictures from our walk today:
Despite the weather, Ben and I walked up to The Split, a narrow channel created by Hurricane Hattie in 1961 that separates the northern and southern islands of Caye Caulker. We walked around the northern part of town for a bit, and spent most of the rest of the day indoors. (I read on the hammock for a bit.. until I almost got blown off). We did manage to venture out to have dinner at a touristy spot at the end of Front Street. There I discovered the magic of Caye Caulker tortillas. They're warm and thick and delicious! (I'm sure they're great all around Central America.. this just happens to be the first place I experienced one).
Today was a beautiful day. I ventured out on my own this morning to hunt down an ATM and some coffee. Once Ben got up we spent the rest of the morning exploring the southern part of the island. We meandered our way down the beach, through a mini-reserve, and across the airstrip. The southern part of the island is pretty sparsely populated and much greener than where we're staying. Once we made our way back to Front Street, we walked into Lloyd's Bar to find that the Patriots were getting creamed (in the first quarter, no less). We decided to stay and watch the whole game anyway, which wasn't pretty. At least we met some interesting folks while we were there. After the game we met with Maria to go over some logistics-y paperwork stuff. Maria made our first dinner in the house: pasta, sauce, and garlic bread.. all of which I'm sure we'll be eating lots of over the next six months 8] We decided to skip out on trivia night downstairs tonight since we'll be starting at the school at 7:45 tomorrow!
Here are some pictures from our walk today:
Friday, January 8, 2010
Day One - Cockroaches and Global Domination
Cockroach sightings: 12 and counting.
I think these cockroaches know that they give me the heebie-jeebies so they're taunting me. There's just something particularly unpleasant about squishing a cockroach the size of your palm in a wad of toilet paper..
Roaches aside, today was a great day. We got going fairly early and spent the day at Ocean Academy. It's about a 20 minute walk to the school from our house. When we got there we met Heidi, one of the founders of the school who is also the principal and a teacher there. The school is smaller than I expected, with only about 30 students in Forms 1-3. We sat in on Heidi's English class and the math class that followed. Next week is exams week, so today was all about review and exam prep. After observing some classes we met with Heidi and Hilda (the woman who will be taking over for Heidi, as she is going on maternity leave). We got a chance to talk about what Ben and I will be doing at the school and the different projects that we can take on. We came home for lunch (pb&j!), and headed back to the school in the afternoon. We spent the afternoon in the computer lab helping out a bit. We attended the staff meeting after school, which was helpful in terms of getting the opportunity to introduce ourselves and to start understanding and becoming a part of day-to-day operations at the school.
After meeting with Heidi and attending the staff meeting, my role in the school is still a little up in the air, but I feel like it's headed in a good direction. It sounds like I will have plenty of opportunities to incorporate Peace Games, even if I'm unable to get a regular class period to teach, which was originally intended. I may even be able to introduce Peace Games to the primary school, which would be great in terms of creating a project that will be sustainable here on the island. Nothing is defined at this point, but I think there is a lot of potential. Maria and I had a good talk tonight, and I'm feeling really good about where things are going.
Tonight we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant around the corner while watching a terrible movie starring Bruce Willis and Chris Tucker (10 points if you can name the movie). The food was cheap and tasty ($7 Bz for a heaping plateful of veggie chow mein). After dinner Ben and I walked around downtown for a little while. We walked to the beach and on the way back stopped in at a store to buy some soap (one of the things we somehow neglected to pack.. oops).
Tomorrow is Saturday, so it'll probably be a chill day. Hopefully I'll get around to taking some pictures while I'm out exploring..
Here's Ocean Academy's website. You should check it out:
http://www.cayecaulkerschool.com/
I think these cockroaches know that they give me the heebie-jeebies so they're taunting me. There's just something particularly unpleasant about squishing a cockroach the size of your palm in a wad of toilet paper..
Roaches aside, today was a great day. We got going fairly early and spent the day at Ocean Academy. It's about a 20 minute walk to the school from our house. When we got there we met Heidi, one of the founders of the school who is also the principal and a teacher there. The school is smaller than I expected, with only about 30 students in Forms 1-3. We sat in on Heidi's English class and the math class that followed. Next week is exams week, so today was all about review and exam prep. After observing some classes we met with Heidi and Hilda (the woman who will be taking over for Heidi, as she is going on maternity leave). We got a chance to talk about what Ben and I will be doing at the school and the different projects that we can take on. We came home for lunch (pb&j!), and headed back to the school in the afternoon. We spent the afternoon in the computer lab helping out a bit. We attended the staff meeting after school, which was helpful in terms of getting the opportunity to introduce ourselves and to start understanding and becoming a part of day-to-day operations at the school.
After meeting with Heidi and attending the staff meeting, my role in the school is still a little up in the air, but I feel like it's headed in a good direction. It sounds like I will have plenty of opportunities to incorporate Peace Games, even if I'm unable to get a regular class period to teach, which was originally intended. I may even be able to introduce Peace Games to the primary school, which would be great in terms of creating a project that will be sustainable here on the island. Nothing is defined at this point, but I think there is a lot of potential. Maria and I had a good talk tonight, and I'm feeling really good about where things are going.
Tonight we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant around the corner while watching a terrible movie starring Bruce Willis and Chris Tucker (10 points if you can name the movie). The food was cheap and tasty ($7 Bz for a heaping plateful of veggie chow mein). After dinner Ben and I walked around downtown for a little while. We walked to the beach and on the way back stopped in at a store to buy some soap (one of the things we somehow neglected to pack.. oops).
Tomorrow is Saturday, so it'll probably be a chill day. Hopefully I'll get around to taking some pictures while I'm out exploring..
Here's Ocean Academy's website. You should check it out:
http://www.cayecaulkerschool.com/
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Maga Season
Fifteen hours, two flights, and a water taxi ride later, we made it to Caye Caulker. As far as travel days go, today was a fairly smooth one. We left the house at 4 a.m. and arrived in Boston a little after 5 for our 8:30 flight. After checking in and having a classy airport breakfast (thanks, Dunkins), Ben and I began the trek. A few hours later we found ourselves in Miami, and after a short layover we were on our way to Belize!
At the airport we were met by Maria from Peacework and a taxi driver named Robert. Here are a few things we learned from Robert on the drive into Belize City:
1. Maga Season = a garifuna term roughly meaning 'thin', maga season refers to the time after the holidays when everybody's wallets are hurtin'.
2. Yukun = a creole word meaning Belizeans like new things for a little while, but then it's back to the same ol' same ol'.
3. Heinz Salad Cream makes a bangin' potato salad. (I plan to taste for myself.)
We stopped at Brodie's, a grocery store in the city, to pick up a few essentials. We were shocked by the prices, until we remembered they were in Belizean dollars (aka, that 12 dollar box of Kix really costs 6 dollars, U.S.). From there we went to the water taxi dock and hopped on the 5:30 express to Caye Caulker. A dark and bumpy 45 minutes later, we arrived on Caye Caulker. The guest house that we're renting is right across the street from the dock, so thankfully we didn't have far to lug our bags. We're living in a little 5-room place above a sports bar and an ice cream parlor. (I'll try to post some pictures soon. Aside from a slight cockroach problem, it's pretty cute). After settling in a bit, we walked up the street to the Rainbow Bar & Grill for dinner. Now we're back and I'm about ready to call it a night.
Tomorrow we'll be spending the day at Ocean Academy (where I'll be working for the next 6 months). I can't wait to see what it's like!
P.S. As you can see, this blog doesn't have a name as of yet. I'm open for suggestions.
At the airport we were met by Maria from Peacework and a taxi driver named Robert. Here are a few things we learned from Robert on the drive into Belize City:
1. Maga Season = a garifuna term roughly meaning 'thin', maga season refers to the time after the holidays when everybody's wallets are hurtin'.
2. Yukun = a creole word meaning Belizeans like new things for a little while, but then it's back to the same ol' same ol'.
3. Heinz Salad Cream makes a bangin' potato salad. (I plan to taste for myself.)
We stopped at Brodie's, a grocery store in the city, to pick up a few essentials. We were shocked by the prices, until we remembered they were in Belizean dollars (aka, that 12 dollar box of Kix really costs 6 dollars, U.S.). From there we went to the water taxi dock and hopped on the 5:30 express to Caye Caulker. A dark and bumpy 45 minutes later, we arrived on Caye Caulker. The guest house that we're renting is right across the street from the dock, so thankfully we didn't have far to lug our bags. We're living in a little 5-room place above a sports bar and an ice cream parlor. (I'll try to post some pictures soon. Aside from a slight cockroach problem, it's pretty cute). After settling in a bit, we walked up the street to the Rainbow Bar & Grill for dinner. Now we're back and I'm about ready to call it a night.
Tomorrow we'll be spending the day at Ocean Academy (where I'll be working for the next 6 months). I can't wait to see what it's like!
P.S. As you can see, this blog doesn't have a name as of yet. I'm open for suggestions.
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