Fancy Schmancy - 5/19/07

We are staying at Chan Chich Lodge in Gallon Jug, Belize. Mom arrived in Belize on Tuesday the 14th and enjoyed seeing our daily life in Blue Creek but was anxious to begin sight-seeing. We planned a day trip to Chan Chich, so she could walk in a real rain forest, see monkeys, and have a look at some ruins. But, she couldn't resist the beautiful thatch-roofed cabanas and so, here we are. Nathan and I have been to this spot for day trips on several occasions, but this is our first time staying over night. We have enjoyed the manicured lawns, the grass-covered ruins, the playful primates, and the colorful birds. Now we have enjoyed the feather beds, double head, rain-water shower, beautiful hot tub and pool, and, as you already saw, the bidet. Each time we come to Chan Chich we experience something new and different. I can honestly say that bidet was..."different."

Mom had a great time at the ruins and really enjoyed the hike through the rain forest. She saw spider monkeys and listened the roar of howler monkeys while relaxing on our porch during her morning devotions. There were so many great pictures of the hotel and grounds that I just had to do a slide show. If you are ever curious about the world that inspired "Apocolypto", Chan Chich is a great place to explore their world. Our cabana was surrounded on three sides with Mayan buildings and the entire resort is built on what was once the market area in the middle of dozens of Mayan temples, oratories, and residence buildings. All of the Mayan architecture in this site remains covered. The owner of the site believes this will help preserve the buildings. So, since mom wasn't able to see what the actual ruins look like, we will take her to Lamanai tomorrow.

Enjoy the slide show and I hope it inspires you to visit Chan Chich!

It's A Wonderful Life - 5/18/07

Scorpions underneath. Detention ahead. Tarantulas behind, boxes every-where. Crabby kids. Hot wind. Mangoes and exams; Ascension Day and wet chalkboards – overflowing garbage cans and final goodbyes.

These are the sights and sounds of a school year ending in Belize. I watched as my classroom was turned upside down and the books boxed up for the summer break. The desks and chairs were stacked in the corner and the kids ran excitedly from school like lizards on hot sand – most of whom I will never see again. Others I will still run into at church or in the community before we leave for good – which will be on June 14th. It is bittersweet because although I hate to say goodbye to everything and everyone here, it will be so much fun visiting friends and family again.

Melissa and I enjoyed an unforgettable, life-changing year in Belize. Through it all, there were steady reminders that I am in fact teaching in a foreign country – besides the view of the sprawling savannah of Belize outside one window and the hills and wide valley of Mexico out the other. For example, my students were almost all bilingual and many spoke with Low German accents. When my students didn’t like something, they might describe it in their Mennonite German by saying it’s “for sheet.” And only in Belize would a student come to school Monday morning pointing out bite marks on her legs and arm from where she was attacked by a monkey over the weekend. Only in Belize would a student say after coming to school, “I had a scorpion in my pants this morning.” Only in Belize would I walk to school and have a shard of painted Mayan pottery poke through the heel of my sandal and stab me in the foot. Only in Belize would our neighbors complain of the swarm of killer bees that nested outside the door of what used to be our apartment (which also serves as the general store.) Only in Belize would my students bring me gifts of tropical fruit throughout the year. By the way – did you know that cashews come from a fruit that looks like Dr. Seuss designed it? Cashewfruit is crazy looking, and delicious! (The More You Know….)

Throughout this experience I have seen that God has truly filled our cup to overflowing. Why us? Why have we been given so much? I can’t say. The only thing I can say is “thanks” and “to God be the glory.” We have been so blessed.

I had a terrific school year, but it came to a screeching halt at noon on Wednesday, and I’ve been busy with report cards and permanent records since then. The last two weeks were actually quite difficult. My kids – bless ‘em – got it into their heads that teachers have no authority after school on the last day of the year. Therefore, in their perfectly logical junior high minds, that meant they could try to earn a detention by the last day and then skip out on it since I would have no recourse. Or so they thought…

Now, this age group poses its own special challenges as it is, with their broken junior high brains and all. Add to that situation 76% of them trying to earn a detention. How fun was that! Oh boy, I wish I could do that every day! It was just swell! And even the best kids get crabby when you’re only days away from summer break.

In the end, two kids did in fact earn a detention on the last day – they pushed it just far enough. Unbeknownst to them, I had already discussed the situation with the board and cleared “extracurricular activities” for students to participate in on the last day of school. The parents were called, and after serving a lunch detention on the last day of school, the two lucky winners stayed behind all afternoon on what was supposed to be a half day to help me count books and organize the bookshelves of the student library. A real class party, Mr. Lemanski style!

Really though, even at their worst these kids are great. This community has been blessed with a whole generation of good kids.

But good or bad, the school year is over, and Melissa’s mom arrived on Tuesday to visit us before we go home. That put us in “tour guide” mode. So now we’re at a resort in the jungle together and I’m slowly unwinding. As we were sitting in the lounge sipping rum punch, listening to parrots and smelling tropical wildflowers growing at a plush resort in Central America, I thought to myself, “Wow, now that the school year is over, all three of us here are unemployed.” So now I’m wondering, “Why do so many people complain about being unemployed?” I think it’s terrific! In fact, I may never work again…

In the meantime, we’re preparing for the process of returning to los estados unidos. It will be most bueno. I hope to be able to see as many people as possible as soon as possible, because I miss you all! So, see you soon and take care!

N8

Grad Trip '07! - 5/6/06

This weekend, Nathan and I were invited to go back in time to our Senior year of High School as we chaperoned the 12th grade class trip to San Pedro (Ambergris Caye to you Americans). It was a blast but "ooooo eeee!" you couldn't pay me to be a High School girl again! There was more attitude and cutting girl remarks than I remember experiencing at good ol' Henry Foss High School!

There were 12 of us in all; 8 girls, 2 boys, and Nathan and I. The boys were in HEAVEN on that island surrounded by tanned bikini-clad women! I could write an entire blog about the boys and call it "Mennonite Boys Gone Wild" but since so many Blue Creekers read this, I'll just say, "a good time was had by all." Nearly all of the girls bought bikinis (the height of Blue Creek rebellion) and they all giggled when they wore them together in the pool (after dark.)

All but two of the kids had their hair braided and the boys went on a SNUBA trip. SNUBA is a cross between snorkeling and SCUBA. You have oxygen like SCUBA, but the tanks stay on the boat and you have a tube that connects to the tank. SNUBA allows you to stay underwater for about 30 mins. and swim at about 20 feet without having to be SCUBA certified. The boys also proved to be smarter than the rest of us. They decided to spend the $10 BZ to rent bikes for a few days. This made getting around a lot quicker and cooler!

While the kids were running around the island, spending money and having a blast, Nathan and I mostly hung out at the amazing resort which had a private beach (very very rare on the island) and a beautiful pool. We have already been on so many trips and are planning to spend lots of $$ when mom comes to visit next week, so we tried to make this trip as cheap as possible! It wasn't too difficult either, since we all raised the money for the lodging and we made our own meals! I tell you, these kids know how to travel: Spend all your money on an AWESOME place and just make sure it has a kitchen! We brought 2 coolers of food along with a suitcase and a cardboard box filled with "snacks." We were set.

I don't want to make it sound like we didn't perform our chaperon duties. We made sure all the students and luggage made it to the island and back home. We also cooked all the meals and did all of the clean up. We went into town with the kids the first few times and we, of course, set down a few ground rules. But, these are good kids. When so many kids are getting alcohol poisoning from drinking games and sleeping around on their Senior Trips, these kids rebelled by swimming in the pool after hours (even though they still asked our permission), buying bikinis they won't wear without shorts and Cuban cigars that they won't smoke. Chaperoning this group wasn't too tough.

So, another great weekend with fun company. My tan is a little darker and I have stayed at yet, another, georgous hotel in Belize. I am going to miss this!

School Picnic - 4/14/07

Can you believe it's almost over? This year has just flown by! School is out one month from tomorrow and things are quickly winding down.

Every year, the Linda Vista School holds an annual picnic to bring the community together to celebrate the end of the school year. This year, it was held a few weeks early because they wanted to have the pictures from the picnic in the yearbook - which hasn't happened in previous years. It was a lot of fun, but strange for the teachers who were here last year since they have to go back to work the Monday after the end-of-the-year picnic.

Though it was a lot of fun, the dry season is here full force. A couple days ago, it was a reported 112 degrees outside with 60% humidity. It felt about the same yesterday, too. On the way to the park, I experienced a sensation I'd never felt before. When I exhaled, the air from my nostrils actually felt cooler against my upper lip than the air outside. Now that's stinkin hot!

Anyway, the picnic followed tradition, beginning with games held by each class and ending with a community supper. We were divided by level, so my group included grades 6-8. Our games included several of the old-time favorites such as "Thaw Mr. Lemanski's sock from the block of ice" and "Pull the nylon with the orange in it off the other guy's head using your own nylon with the orange in it on top of your head." I'm pretty sure these games have their roots in Mennonite tradition dating back to Europe circa the late 1500's. Always innovators, these people.

We also had a camel-back egg toss, and a relay race where each team member had to run across the field, drink an ideal (a melted fruit ice-pop), and run back to tag the next person on the team to do the same. The kids had a good time and it helped fight the heat. Not the most restful Saturday possible for the teachers, but it's all part of working at the Linda Vista School! Today is mostly recuperation from the festivities, and back to work tomorrow. Of course, we have another 4 day week ahead of us, so it won't be too bad. And at the end of May, Melissa's mom is coming down to visit! It's going to be exciting taking touring around with her, and a great way to end an exciting year before packing up and preparing to head back to the States.

But there's still plenty of time! If anyone else wants to visit us before mid June, book your tickets now! We'd love to host you and show you around as well!

As always, we love and miss you all and hope to hear from you soon!

N8

I LOOOOVE THIS MAN!

Mayan Riviera - 4/6/07

Today marks our last full day in the Mayan riviera. This has been an amazing getaway from work and from moody junior high students. So relaxing! Who could ask for anything more? Wide, white beaches, palm trees, sunny weather, clear Caribbean blue water, good food, good drink, and great company. We are so blessed! Though today ended up being overcast, we've both darkened a lot on this trip. The sun shines hot here!

Playa del Carmen is a beautiful city, too. It looks more European than Mexican. It has the feel of a Spanish city with the countless sidewalk cafes and striking architecture. What I've found most interesting about this city is that even though it's spring break, and there's a strong American influence, the mix of people here is very different from Cancun - which is just two hours North of here. Though there are a lot of American tourists here, there are more Mexicans and Europeans.

And, it really may have one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It's similar to Cancun's beach, but without any rocks, more sand, and hardly any waves. I've never before been able to float on my back in the ocean with my eyes closed without having to worry about the waves crashing over me. It's crazy! The large island of Cozumel is just across the water - you can see the skyline of some larger hotels from the beach here. We think maybe the island keeps the ocean current from crashing against the shore and creating large waves and a strong riptide. It's safe enough for children to swim in, and there are lots of them here. This definitely seems to be more of a family destination than a tourist town centered on alcohol and bad decisions.

This morning Melissa and I went to a large protestant church for Easter service. We stopped by last night to check on the service times and were greeted warmly this morning by the woman we had spoken to. As well as the rest of the congregation, of course. It was such a good service! We were familiar with most of the songs because we sang them in our church back home, and they projected the Spanish lyrics on the wall, allowing us to join in. For the most part, the pastor spoke slowly enough that Melissa was able to catch the gist of it without having me translate it for her. Every now and then, though, he would get really excited and talk really fast, then we'd both get confused. It was a great message, but the music was my favorite part.

This is a very musical city overall. In the evening there is always music playing at different places along fifth avenue - which is a few miles long. There are always street musicians and a couple mariachi bands playing, and last night a newlywed couple walked the length of the avenue to their reception with a mariachi band following them, and the wedding party and guests right behind. It's funny - I was watching the crowd pass by the band when I noticed that most of the Mexican people who passed just couldn't contain themselves. They'd be walking walking walking, then when in front of the band they'd shake shake shake, maybe a twirl, then they'd pass the band and continue walking normally as if nothing happened - usually without interrupting the conversation they were already having. What a fun country!


Tomorrow however we return to reality. Though our bus doesn't leave until mid afternoon, so we'll still enjoy the afternoon sun and a quiet morning on the beach. We're thinking of catching a movie while in Chetumal before crossing the border back into Belize since it's been awhile since our last flick. Thank you, cinepolis!

I hope everyone else enjoyed their Easter Sunday and spring break if it's nearby. I'd love to hear from y'all. Let us know how you're doing too!

Love and miss my friends and family!

N8

Hunting, Mennonite Style! - 3/22/07

Some of you will be horrified at this posting and others will say, “What’s the big deal?”

Most of us grow up in the Western World where wildlife is generally seen on TV and in zoos. At my mom’s house, in the city, I grew up thinking raccoons were “nuisances” who got into our garbage. At my dad’s house, raccoons were furry, territorial animals who challenged our cats for their food and ate plums off our trees. At my Grandmom’s house, raccoons were fuzzy, clever animals we left food out for and watched, with big smiles and giggles as they took our dinner scraps and carefully washed each piece of food before eating it or sharing it with their young.

In Belize, raccoons are nasty, dirty animals who live in the rice fields and destroy the farmer’s crops. They are mean, they are not afraid of dogs or of people, and they will bite, scratch, and attack. In a 3rd World Country, without PETA and the WWF, people are left to themselves to defend their farms and cattle from wild animals. Here in Blue Creek it is always “Open Season” on crocodiles, alligators, cougars, and raccoons who threaten their livelihood.

So, one evening my friend, Susy, called me and said, “We’re going hunting! Wanna come?” I said, “What are you hunting?” “Raccoons, gators, whatever we find in the rice fields.” “Sure,” I said, “What about the girls?” (Referring to their 2 -and 4-year olds.) “They’re coming too! Get ready, we’ll come get you!” So, since Nathan had a meeting and I had no plans that evening, I jumped into Paul and Susy's truck and sped off to help save the young rice buds from the terrible creatures that would seek to eat and destroy them before they could mature to become yummy meals of Belizean rice & beans.

So, I get in the truck and Megan (the 4-year-old) says, “We’re going hunting Melissa, daddy’s going to kill a gator and I am going to jump in the water and kill it too!” ….Alright, Megan….wow, so this is what it’s like to grow up in Belize….If a probation kid talked like this I would assume it was indicative of some terrible childhood trauma, order a psych evaluation and get ready for a long battle with mental health professionals, the Court, and irresponsible parents….But here, it’s just called “family time!” Megan was very excited and Kate was also in great spirits. They posed for the camera and were silly little giggly girls in all their glory!

Our mission was to seek and destroy any and all animals posing a threat to the rice fields. The girls, Susy, Megan, Kate and I, were in the truck, driving and navigating. The boys, Paul and Corney, Susy’s husband and lil bro, and faithful Rusty, were standing in the back of the truck with the guns, ammo, spotlights and all the other “many” stuff.

After about 5 mintues of driving around, Susy stopped the truck and yelled to Paul, “Do you see it!?” Paul said “yup!” and the girls immediately covered their ears. I was completed confused….see what? What are we doing? Why did we stop? Then Megan yelled, COVER YOUR EARS MELISSA IT’S LOUD!” ..What’s loud….BANG ”Aaaah!” …oh that…You see, when you’re sitting in a metal truck and a man is in the back of that same metal truck with a loaded gun, when he shoots that gun, Megan’s right, it’s LOUD! So, with one nasty man-eating-rice-crop-destroying crocodile down, we continued our crusade.

Next, it was Rusty’s turn to shine as we spotted several raccoons in the middle of the rice field. Paul and Rusty jumped out of the truck and ran to confront the enemy on the front lines. You could hear the raccoons from the truck and we could also tell when Rusty was injured because he let out a classic hound dog yelp/howl. After about 10 minutes of screaming raccoons and howling dog, Paul comes into view with 2 raccoons. One is an older, bigger one which is near dead and which Paul quickly puts out of its misery. The other is a juvenile, not full-grown, but not a baby either. He holds it up for the girls to see and I think it looks kinda cute. Of course Megan immediately says, “Don’t kill it daddy, let’s keep it!” It was very cute, silently hanging there by its tail, until Paul tried to touch it. Then, it spat and let out a nasty hiss that scared the girls and reminded met that, although cute, raccoons are nasty little wild animals. In the end, Paul wouldn’t kill it, he said it was too young to kill. He thought it was old enough to survive on its own, so I am sure they will just end up killing it on their next hunting trip. I’m not really sure which option is the more humane. But again, this is all new to me, I’ve never had to defend my livelihood against a troop of wildlife. There aren’t a lot of mountain lions rallying to pick of my probation kids….and somehow if there were I don’t think I would fight them….Of course I’m kidding.

Anyway, throughout the night, they killed 2 crocodiles and 3 or 4 raccoons. I guess that’s what you call a successful hunt. I don’t think it did a whole lot to save the rice, but I am sure that every little bit helps. The girls seemed to have fun, the dog had a blast, the men got to hold guns and shoot stuff and Susy and I got to keep each other company in the truck and tell the guys what good hunters they were. So, in the end, everyone but the animals were winners. And no matter what you think now, when you see my crocodile tooth necklace, you’re going to think it’s pretty cool.

Caye Caulker, Take 2 - 3/26/07

Okay, so we've been busy. Plus, it seems for the past week and a half all computers in Blue Creek have been allergic to Blogger. I can finally post, yay! It won't let me upload pix though, so those will follow. A quick recap on what has been going on.

• Third Quarter officially came to an end on March 9th
• We had our biannual Science Fair on March 15th
• We had a school holiday on March 16th - 3 day weekend! Woo Hoo!
• I sent report cards home on March 19th with only one student in serious danger!
• My class went to the zone elimination spelling bee in Trinidad today while I stayed back to teach my two high school Spanish classes. Easy day!
• Today there was no class again as the junior high traveled to Orange Walk Town for the PSEs (the Belizean version of the WASL).
• Easter Break is coming up! We will be out of school from April 5-10. Fun fun! We are planning to visit Playa Del Carmen in Mexico and stay at the Quinta Sol – about two hours closer to us than Cancun with a similar beach.
• Melissa has been keeping busy with 3 book studies and being an all around AWESOME person.

So, things have been pretty busy around here. Luckily though, those PSEs don't have near the impact on our schools as the WASL back home. Only Standard 6 students take it (Grade 8) and it has no effect on what happens in the classroom or graduation - it's just a measurement by the government for demographic reports.

Also, we recently got back from an awesome trip to Caye Caulker. I just love that island! It is so relaxing. We once again stayed at the Barefoot Caribe - which lucky for us does not accept reservations so we're almost guaranteed vacancy whenever we show up on the island. Most places were full of Canadians celebrating their spring break. We went on a an all day sailboat and snorkeling tour of the Barrier Reef, leaving from Caye Caulker and heading North to Ambergris Caye. We visited the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve, Shark Ray Alley (with rays and nurse sharks), and the Hol Chan Marine Reserve off of Ambergris Caye.

Hol Chan is the Mayan term for "Narrow Passage" and describes a break in the reef leading to open ocean, with the white caps of the waves crashing over the reef marking the barrier between snorkeling waters and the deep blue sea. In the center of this channel is a buoy that we're not allowed to swim past, because the current moving through the reef is strong enough to carry you out to sea. We swam along the edge of this channel, looking down on the huge coral and animals, only to look up and see that we had moved beyond the magic barrier created by that buoy. Hmmm….now if I were the guide, we would not be this far out. But the current was not strong and we swam all over, it was so much fun!

We sailed slowly on the way back, enjoying about five gallons of rum punch while getting to know the other people on the boat. At one point, the boat slowed a bit and one of the guides jumped out with his flippers on and came up with two live conch. He pulled them out of their shell on the side of the boat and cut them up for the fresh conch ceviche he made for us to enjoy. Conch shells are beautiful, but the animals themselves are UG-LY! At one point, the guide pulled a clear, worm-like piece out of the center of the conch and swallowed it, calling it the "power of the conch." He did the same with the next one and gave it to a tourist to swallow – which he did. No thank you, sir. I'm on vacation, not Fear Factor.

The Canadian group we met was fun enough to make plans with – we all got together for dinner at the world-famous streetside barbecue of Jolly Roger. I recommend the Barracuda. It wasn't quite as much fun as the night before however, when Melissa and I decided to go from restaurant to restaurant across the island to see who actually had the best rum punch. In the end, I decided it was that one place across from the big palm tree along the sandy road near the beach. Mmm…that one place.

So, until our next entry! Write us, we love hearing from home! Oh, and Angel, email me. Everything I send to you still bounces back. Talk to all of you later!

Love,

N8

A Taste...

We are in Caye Caulker again for the weekend. As Nathan mentioned in his Cancun blog, Blue Creek can't seem to let a month pass without a three-day weekend. So....here were are! We don't have the pix on-line yet, but when we get them, you'll see what a great trip this has been for us the second time around!! We went snorkeling at 3 different sights, saw sharks, HUGE rays, moray eels, and sooo soo much more. The coolest part of that? We did it on a sail boat! It's been a beautiful two days so far and we are getting our island tans back. We will write much more about it later. This is just a taste of what is to come...

New Digs! - 2/24/07

Our biggest news of the week is that we moved last Sunday. We moved because of several reasons that aren't important enough to blog about, what is important is that we LOVE our new place!

Perks of the new digs:

• We have a front and back yard
• We have a palm-lined driveway
• We have pointsettias year-round
• Our bathroom is no longer the size of a broom closet.
• We have a cat. Cats hunt spiders and other creatures. Yay cat!
• We have ficus trees is our backyard- ficus trees grow HUGE here!
• We have a comfy bed that actually fits Nathan's body - No more back problems from legs hanging off the rock-hard matress!
• We have rain water, we can actually drink the tap water!
• It's an actual house

It's not just the house though, Nathan and I absolutely love the new location as well. We are still very near the school and the "downtown" area of Blue Creek, so Nathan can still walk to school. We can acutally see the shopping center where we used to live from our front yard. But there is much less noise and the house is set off the road. Also, Nathan loves a species of tree that grows here in Belize. We don't know the name but large, beautiful bright orange flowers grow in shocking contrast to their dark green leaves. There are two of these trees in our front yard! It gives me a place to hit the volleyball with my friends and sunbathe in the afternoons! It is so much more peaceful and we will have saved quite a bit of money in rent by the time we leave.

I can't wait to have family visit so I can show them our rain-water shower!

The Kids of Belize - 2/24/07

I have taken lots of cute pictures of kids during the last 7 months so I thought I would finally get around to sharing them with you guys. I know all the girls will enjoy them...the guys will too...they'll just deny it later. All in all, they sure seem to grow them extra-cute around here, I think it's all the sun and fresh air.

Enjoy!

Rodeo Time, Ya'll! - 2/17/07

A few things I didn't know when I woke up this morning:

#1- Important Blue Creek holidays are ranked as follows: Christmas, Rodeo Day, Easter....etc.

#2- The bravest cowboy I have ever known is a 5 year old girl who ignored her fear and got on the back of a bucking baby sheep and smiled after she was bucked off 2 seconds later.

#3- When a little boy says, "Daddy, I wanna be a cowboy when I grow up" that is an attainable goal. There are job openings here and it's a very competitive field!










#4- It doesn't snow in Belize, but that doesn't keep kids from being pulled by a horse-drawn sled!















#5- There are a few kids in Nathan's Junior High class that won't make great cowboys someday--they already are!















#6- Sheep can be aggressive! "I am Jesus' little lamb" has taken on a whole new meaning to me!















#7- There is a reason rodeos are held in corrals (most of the events today took place in an open field). When the calf gets spooked, it runs as fast as it can in any direction away from the cowboy, even if it's right into the crowd!







#8- Calves are very offended at the thought of wearing underwear!





Nathan and I spent the day at a Rodeo hosted by Blue Creek. We brought two local kids along with us. Kenny, a boy I am tutoring, and his sister, Leslie. Their parents own the restaurant, 3 Flags, and would be serving food at the rodeo. This meant their kids wouldn't be able to go because they wouldn't have time to supervise them. That just didn't seem fair to me, so we brought them along with us! Most of the participants in the rodeo were locals, but some people came from as far away as Spanish Lookout, Belize, a town about 3 1/2 hours away.

As far as I can remember, I have never been to a rodeo, and although this one did not include any bull-riding, it was a thrill I will not soon forget! Men and women participated in events such as calf roping and barrel racing. They also had shovel racing, where there is one cowboy riding a horse and one cowboy riding a shovel being pulled by the horse! As far as I could tell, the key to this event was to stay on the shovel and in the event that you fall off, avoid losing as eye on the edge of the shovel or face planting in a cowpie. Other events included children. There was sheep riding--and I had no idea sheep could be so aggressive. One small sheep, apparently more familiar with the work of Gandhi than the others, must have decided if it would simply lie itself down on the ground and refuse to move, the child would eventually get off and leave it alone. Another sheep did not have the same passive, non-violent approach to the event. He threw himself head-first into the walls of the small enclosure, throwing his rider into the metal bars. In another event, an old truck bed liner was tied behind a horse and the cowboy dragged one child at a time around the arena. The goal was for the child to remain standing and, or course, not fall out of the truck bed. While watching this event, I thought it was make a great commercial for the durability of Rhino Linings! And of course, since this is Belize, this was all done without even the smallest child wearing a helmet! Ah, what a different world in which we live!

The final, and by far the most humorous event was the "calf dressing" event. Teams of two went into a small arena, had to catch a calf, put men's underwear on it, and drag it across the arena to a pre-designated position. The team to complete the task the fastest was awarded $100! I don't even know if words can describe in words how hilarious this was to watch!

It was a wonderful day! Horses, Belizean sun, a nice breeze, kids, friends, palm trees, and fun all served with your choice of rice & beans, BBQ chicken, or ceviche. Another wonderful memory for us to cherish!

Cancún – 2/13/07

An interesting fact about teaching at the Linda Vista School in Blue Creek – they would be hard pressed to get through one month without a three day weekend. If there is not a national holiday in any given month, the school has a local “Blue Creek” holiday to give people the chance to get out of town and do some shopping. This month, we had some help planning our destination.

Melissa’s sister and her new husband, Jeffy Weffy, spent their honeymoon North of us in Mexico – enjoying the beauty of Cancún before the spring breakers crowd the beaches. They were generous enough to leave behind their quality snorkel gear at the resort for us to pick up – giving us a good enough reason to take a bus trip up the Yucatán peninsula. We left town after school and spent the evening riding up the Mexican coastline while watching movies on our surprisingly comfortable bus.

Some highlights of the trip:

• The stunning view of the coast along this part of Mexico and the Caribbean colors along the beach outside our hotel. Nowhere else on Earth looks quite like this.
• Speeding a boat across the lagoon, through the mangroves, and to the reef to do some snorkeling. We saw a barracuda, a giant parrot fish, and little bizarre, clear lobsters digging in the sand at the reef.
• The sunrise Saturday morning. We slept with the balcony door open to listen to the ocean, and the sunrise came pouring in early that morning. If you’ve never seen the sun rise over the Caribbean, it looks something like this…
• Dinner at Bubba Gump’s with Maria and easy access to Starbucks. Not to mention walking along the beach.

Monday morning it rained, but hey, we’re locals. That didn’t bother us. What’s a little tropical rain during an outdoor breakfast? Wet toast, the wind blowing our napkins away, the table and all four chairs across the patio sliding across the wet tile toward us as the wind funneled through the dining area – just part of the tropical getaway! We realized after awhile that we were the only ones still attempting an outdoor breakfast; all the other tourists had long since ran inside and probably stared in disbelief at the crazy couple insisting on finishing their coffee before allowing a silly storm to chase them away.

It was a fun weekend. There’s a reason so many thousands of people flock to Cancún every year. I wouldn’t attempt to go during the madness of Spring Break again, but I’m glad I got to share this experience with my wife. We are so blessed!

Stay tuned for next month’s getaway! And don’t forget to email me! I want to hear from you, too!

Back to Basics - 2/10/07

We have been back in Belize for nearly a month and life is back to normal. Internet access continues to be a problem, so Nathan and I have been avoiding it altogether. This is less stressful and disappointing for us, but less convenient and informative for you, our friends and loved ones—and the occasional stranger—who keeps track of our lives through this blog. So, here is a quick run-down of what we have been up to over the past month…..

We arrived back in Belize after "The Great Wedding of 2007," on January 15th and Nathan went back to work the next day. Nathan has begun his second and final semester as the 7th and 8th grade teacher at Linda Vista School. He has added two new subjects to the Junior High curriculum this semester- Spanish 1 and Public Speaking. The kids are really enjoying both, especially public speaking. They have given three speeches so far, including a demonstrative speech. Kids talked about various subjects, including how to wash dishes, how to make different kinds of food, and one kid even explained bull castration! Wow! Thanks for the info kids! Nathan is enjoying a bit of a lighter load this semester, with two other teachers stepping in to help him teach some of his classes. He still has more subjects than class periods, but his schedule is definitely more manageable and he spends much less of his Saturday playing catch up and planning the next week’s lessons.

My days have been much less exciting since our return to Belize as I am no longer at the school two periods a day. I am still in charge of detentions, and the kids have been keeping me busier than usual the past couple of weeks. I am also still tutoring students after school. Since I generally don’t have anything scheduled until 3 pm, I have been spending more time getting to know some of the women in the community. One woman in particular, Susy, a young mother of two vivacious girls, has been a lot of fun to get to know. We have played volleyball on occasion and are involved in 2 bible studies during the week. We also get together on Tuesday evenings with our husbands and 4 other people and eat a potluck dinner together.

Also, I am taking advantage of all of my spare time to continue to hone my cooking skills. I have become a master bread baker (without a bread machine!) and even got together with some women in the community and made tamales. I arrived at the house where the tamales were being prepared and was SHOCKED to find them sitting around shucking 200 ears of corn. I stopped and stuttered, “Wha-? Corn! Corn? We’re making them from corn?” I don’t know why I was so surprised. I should have learned by now that everything is truly made from scratch here—even cornmeal is a shortcut! The ladies got a good laugh at my surprise and patiently walked me through each step of the tamale-creating process. It was a lot of fun, very educational and of course, delicious!

Oh yes, and the biggest football event of the year did not pass us by just because we are living in Central America, where futbol is much more popular than football. One of Nathan’s co-workers, John, had a Super Bowl party at his home and quite a few people turned out to watch. Everyone chose a team to root for, but it was very obvious that these were not die-hard football fans, much less Bears or Colt fans. Never-the-less everyone enjoyed themselves! We even had great Super Bowl food! Two ladies, our friend Hilda and the pastor's wife, Corrina, made Belizean Style Hot Wingz!!They're cooked outside on a grill that looks very similar to a wok, called a "disco." They were soooo spicy and soooo good! None of the Belizean kids were interested in watching the game at all, I have no idea where they boys went, but here are the girls jumping and jumping and jumping on the trampoline. I joined in for a while—I just couldn’t resist!

So, that’s all for us! Nathan went on a great hike with a friend, Daniel, but I’ll let him tell you about that. For now, you are nearly caught up. We are currently spending a long weekend in Cancun and will write about it soon. For now I will leave you with this unbelievably beautiful picture of the breathtaking view from our hotel room.

iAdios!