Get-ohh!

What a fun day we had today!!

I will start with the highlight-- We got to ride in a Cessna 172!! That is a little 4 seater plane with 160 horsepower!! Nathan, Corban and I were invited to ride with John, the Pastor here in Blue Creek, who we are staying with tonight and tomorrow night. He gave us a great view of the village as well as the surrounding area. The highlight of the trip was seeing where Belize, Mexico and Guatemala meet. Just seeing a place where a few countries border one another may not sound too exciting, but to us it was amazing! I can't imagine too many people have seen that sight! And from 1000 feet up no less!! Corban is one lucky kid to be able to do all these things before the age of 2!

Today reminded me so much of this day. I can't believe that was more than 4 years ago!

We also have now moved from Abe's house to John and Marians--as I just mentioned above. Abe and his family have been so wonderful and hospitable, it was great to be able to spread out and get comfortable in their home over the past three days. But as Nathan says, "Fish and guests go bad in three days." We didn't want to wear out our welcome, so we said our thank yous and our goodbyes today and headed to our final home-away-from-home in Belize. John and Marian weren't a pastor couple when we lived here last. John taught with Nathan and we had several opportunities to spend time with them and have some really great conversations. So, when they invited us to stay a few nights I was happy to accept! We have already had an awesome flight and a wonderful dinner-- they have set the bar high and we can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

Also, thanks to our time here in Blue Creek, Corban knows the difference between a horse and a cow almost 100% of the time! As I mentioned before, Cow is "pow" to him. And horse is "ossthhh"-- but he is getting his point across! And his newest word, as of bedtime tonight, is gecko, which he pronounces as "get-ohh!" This came about tonight when we found a baby gecko in his crib. I guess baby geckos need a safe place to sleep, just like baby people! Anyway, geckos are very very fast. So, as soon as he was discovered in the crib he shot out and crawled onto the wall then stuck to the ceiling. As Nathan changed Corban's diaper, he looked up and practiced saying, "get-ohh!" We have video of this and you better believe it will be up on one of our blogs very soon! I am so happy that Corban is learning so many new words and seeing so many different animals up close-- something that just doesn't happen in our little suburb!

I still have so many pictures to post. But, so much is happening so quickly and time is passing so fast, I can't keep up with everything. Suffice it to say, most of our pictures will have to wait until we get home. But, we are having a wonderful time. We are getting tired but will be very sad to say goodbye to this beautiful country and it's friendly people in just a few days time.

The only disappointing part of the day is that we didn't have a camera when we went up in the plane. The pictures aren't the best quality, because they were taken from Nathan's phone. His phone actually has a decent camera, but definitely not one made to take clear, detailed pictures from such a distance!

That white dot in the middle of this photo is an obelisk marking the point where Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize meet.

Totally Captivated

Ready for Takeoff!

North American Adventures! - 1/9/06

We've had a lot of fun since landing in Seattle on New Years Eve. Every day has been filled with wedding preparations, bridal showers, family fun, and reuniting with long lost friends! Here are a few pix of our US adventures so far...

Nathan, Katherine, Jeff, Lis and Harvey cheering on the Hawks and rejoicing in their victory over the Cowboys (sorry Grandpa)!

Getting ready to go get some eats at Katie Downs on the waterfront! Michelle, Russ, Harvey, Nathan, me, my mommy, Lis, Nate, and Sara! Yay "the couples" were FINALLY together again! Thanks for making that long trek across the snowing, scary pass just to see us guys!

Riding the train to Portland to visit my lil sis and her fiancé. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to sip a little Starbucks! Yeah, that's a scarf, it's brrr cold here!

Heeeere's Nathan! He’s my favorite traveling buddy. We had a great time on the train, it was a great way to get to Portland!

We went to Pizza Schmizza as soon as we stepped off the plane. It's YUMMY pizza and look how eco-
conscious the delivery boys are! Only in Portland!


We went to Powell's bookstore after this. For those of you who don't know, Powell's is the COOLEST bookstore in the world! We bought 9 books to take back to Belize with us and I had a great time browsing the kids section. We finally got to Kate's apartment where Jeff made us an AWESOME Indian dish. He followed it up with vanilla ice cream topped with homemade wine sauce. mmmMMM. It was fun hanging out with my lil sis and her soon-to-be hubby!

Back at mom's house, I took some time to play fetch with Jorja, the family dog. Even though it was raining, and less than 40 degrees, she still wanted me to throw the ball into the lake so she could swim after it!

Pix of Kate, Jeff, Nathan and me, goofing off in her new car!

We're hilarious, we know it, do you?

We still have a lot more people to see and a lot more stuff to do. After all, The Great Wedding of 2007 hasn't even happened yet, but we've already done so much! Keep checking in on us!

Chetumal, Take 2 - 12/9/06

Yesterday we went on a Christmas touring and shopping extravaganza! New friends, Paul and Susie picked us up at 6:30 a.m., we crammed into their van along with another couple, Darryl and Corrina and our friend Hilda and headed to Mexico to do some light Christmas shopping. A quick stop to drop off Paul and Susie’s two daughters and we were just a group of crazy youthful adults full of Christmas cheer!

An hour and a half and 45 bumpy, dusty miles later we stopped in Orange Walk and had a breakfast of tacos from a street vendor. THEY WERE SOOO HOT! I should have known better, I have lived in Belize long enough. But, when they ask, “¿Quiere chile?” I should be careful, these tacos were loaded with habenero! They were still sooo good though and some fresh squeezed orange juice washed the heat away. Who knew? I was always told to drink milk after eating spicy foods, but the OJ was just what I needed.

Another hour and a half and we were at the Mexico-Belize border. Nothing exciting to report there, everyone added one more stamp to their passports and we were on our way downtown to do some shopping in the markets. We looked at lot of stuff but didn’t find anything to buy. We were on a mission, we had signed up to sponsor two children from a local orphanage and were desperately trying to figure what 10 and 15- year old Belizean boys would want to see all wrapped up on Christmas morning.

We all met back up a few hours later and were headed to the mall when we saw police lights behind us. Paul pulled the vehicle over and a very angry and hostile police officer came to the window demanding to see Paul’s license, which he immediately handed over as requested. FYI: Do not ever, under any circumstances, hand over your driver’s license to a police officer in Mexico. You can hold it up for them to read, but do not let go of your license. The officer asked if anyone spoke Spanish and we all played dumb. We have learned that language barriers and confusion often lead to a quicker solution in sticky situations. This was not one of those times. The officer began animatedly yelling at Paul, pointing at him and made a gesture that clearly meant he intended to keep Paul’s license. At that point, Nathan folded and began talking with the officer. He accused Paul of a silly traffic infraction which basically translated into, “Hi, you’re foreign and you’re in Mexico. I have your license, if you want it back you will have to pay my bribe.” At that point he said he would write a ticket that would cost Paul 200 pesos. Nathan asked for the license back and explained, very respectfully, that it was his understanding that the officer had no authority to take Paul’s license away. It was at that point that the officer must have noticed the leather interior in the van because suddenly he remembered Paul had committed a second infraction and it would now cost 400 pesos to solve the situation. At this point, Nathan, Paul and the officer all stepped out of the vehicle and continued this charade on the side of the busy Mexican road. In the end, Paul left without his license and the officer left without a bribe. Not much incentive to travel to Mexico and try to boost their economy with foreign dollars, huh?

Still in relatively good spirits, we continued to the mall. Paul was very calm and seemed unconcerned with losing his license and I was very impressed with this cool head in that very unjust situation. We all had lunch together, more tacos, and then decided to check out the movie theater, in hopes of seeing a nice Christmas movie. Most of the group wanted to see The Nativity Story, but it was only playing in Spanish. Our choices for English movies were A Good Year, Casino Royale, DejaVu, or Children of Men. I voted for A Good Year, but the group decided on DejaVu, because the timing was right to maximize our shopping time. I was surprised by the cast; Denzel, Val, Jim “I’ve played Jesus” Cavaziel, and Nathan’s favorite “Hebrew Hammer” (nod to Dad and Nathaniel) Adam Goldberg. There was a brief joke about Canada during the movie and since we were surrounded by all our new Canadian friends, I made sure to laugh extra loudly. The movie was a little annoyingly far-fetched, but it was still pretty good. Or maybe it was just the excitement of being in a real movie theater again.

After the movie we stopped by a little café for some faspa and then finally got to some Christmas shopping! The mall was decked out; in Mexico you’re actually allowed to celebrate Christmas, no one wished us a “Happy Holiday.” After much anxiety, we selected a Razor scooter for our 10-year old (those are just now catching on down here) and a soccer ball and new t-shirt for our 15-year old. I really wanted to get a basketball, but Nathan reminded me we are in Central America, and futbol is the big sport here. Things are much cheaper in Mexico, than in Belize. We took care to make sure our selections were good quality and we only spent about $30 US! Next weekend we are going to the orphanage with a group of people from Blue Creek to deliver the gifts to the orphans, I hope the 15 year-old likes soccer!

After a quick cruise through Burger King—yes, I finally folded for that flame broiled taste, we headed back to the border! Going through customs was a bit more tricky. Hilda went through before us with a wave and smile from the friendly officer. I don’t know what happened to him between the time Hilda walked away and I pushed my things forward. Maybe he just saw my U.S. passport, which I wasn’t able to slip back into my purse quickly enough. He sized up all my purchases and decided I needed to pay $10 in duty. I explained I had a volunteer Visa and that the gifts were for orphans, then he went into a long lecture about how everything has a price, blah, blah, blah. I asked if he would write a receipt for the duty and he said he would. That calmed me down because I realized he wasn’t asking for a bribe, that the duty would go to the Belizean government, which is appropriate. Then I explained we had changed all of our money for pesos and assumed it would be fine if we paid that way. He stated they would not accept pesos and said we would have to pay in BZ. Nathan calmly explained we really, truly only had pesos but the officer was unconcerned and said we’d “have to figure something out.” That’s when I lost my cool completely, thinking about what had happened with the Police officer earlier that day and realizing we were the only ones in the customs area being asked to pay duty. Nathan of course, stayed calm. I said some things I shouldn’t have said, which basically boiled down to, “It’s really unfair how we are constantly targeted by crooked officials just because we are Americans.” Of course, I typed it here much more politely than I said it. I had to end up borrowing money from Darryl and Corrina, who skated through customs without even a side glance from their customs officer. My officer, however, explained I could be charged with assault for the way I gave him the money. I’m really lucky I have a husband who can remain calm and not make a scene in public government places. Especially when, really, I threw a fit over $5 U.S. and Paul had remained completely calm when an officer had unjustly taken his license from him on the side of a busy Mexican road.

After a few more hours on a long, bumpy road, we made it home! We have gifts for our sponsor kids, we have a new bottle of wine and we bought 4 glasses, so we don’t have to drink everything out of the 1000’s of mugs that came with our apartment. All in all, it was a good day with a few minor bumps. We spent some time with new friends, got to see some pretty impressive Christmas lights, and I’m not currently in a Belizean jail!

God bless us, everyone!

Lamanai – 11/26/06

…A face only a mother could love…

This is the famous trademark of the Mayan ruins of Lamanai. This site is about fifteen miles from us, set along a river and featuring a small, American-owned (of course) resort. We spent the afternoon walking around the ruins after church.
Much of the site is still under jungle cover, but the shape of the hills cannot be mistaken for anything but temples, palaces, and municipal structures. The biggest temples are fully excavated, however. The Temple of the Mask features a unique carving of a single, giant face – a feature not typically found on Mayan temples.

Walking around the site was fascinating because most of the trees and strange plants alongside the trail were labeled. A botanist’s dream come true. I know money doesn’t grow on trees, but did you know that horse balls do? The hand-painted sign proves it. And the “seeds” further emphasize the point. This sign is incredibly useful because it also features the Mayan word for cojones, so if we ever travel to the far South we’ll be able to converse with the locals.

On the way to the High Temple we passed a detour sign directing us to the Fig Tree. We decided to see what the big deal was about and stepped off the main trail. This thing was ginormous!

First, let me say that mosquitoes must love figs. I know this to be a scientific fact because near the giant fig tree we experienced what could only be described as pestilence. Maria loves the significance of fig trees, so she wanted us to take a picture of her at its base. I don’t really think you can disturb a mosquito nest because they spend most of their time flying by your ear and biting you in your sleep, but I’m guessing she found a big one. She could not stay still for even half a second for this picture. They swarmed her as if they were part mosquito, part Africanized honey bee. Consequently, all pictures of Maria and the fig tree look like this…

But, the adventurers that we are, being eaten alive would not stop us from continuing our trek. Well, most of us. Maria did ask for an ambulance, or to call 911. We had to remind her that a 911 call from Central America would not only be expensive, but the response time would be less than ideal…

The High Temple was creatively named. I bet you can’t guess how it came to be known as such. I could only describe it as something large, stone, old, and, yes – high. There are some steep steps leading partway up the temple, then some even steeper steps beyond that with a rope fixed to the middle of them to help you climb to the top. Once there, however, I couldn’t help but feel like I had a little bit of the Captain in me…

Melissa and Maria also got to show off their muscles at the top, with a stunning view of rainforest canopy and jungle growth as far as the eye can see with a river cutting through the middle of it all. I kept trying to picture what it was like with a Mayan city in its prime along the riverbank and the boat traffic coming and going from all the foreign traders. All that’s left now are mounds of stone and angry black howler monkeys. There was a particularly aggressive one in the tree closest to the temple that started screaming as we began our descent. Other monkeys returned its call from nearby, and their echoes through the trees, trails, and temples continued long after we left. I wish you could hear their call – it sounds more like a lion’s roar than a monkey’s scream and incredibly loud.

There were a couple other temples to conquer, but we plan on saving those for when our guests arrive from the states. We thought maybe next time we’ll just drive to Orange Walk and take the boat up the river to the landing at the site of the ruins – that way we’ll get a good jungle tour in as well.

Until then, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Well, not really – but we have a small tree and two stockings to remind us of the season. Although we’ve been sweating recently, another “Norther” is coming this week so we should be able to wear long sleeves for a few days again.

So, I hope you are all enjoying your holiday season. It’s busy here – our Christmas program was moved up to the 8th, so this is a short school week with a lot of practicing while gearing up for semester exams at the same time. I can’t believe how fast time is flying by! I love and miss SO many of you, let me know how you’re doing!

Love,
Nathan

Rantings of a Former JPO - 11/5/06

Hey! This blog is for all you guys I worked with back in Idaho. Brian, Skye, Kathy, Denise, Gabe, Chad, Kathi Jo, Lois, Jennifer, Amanda—and whoever else is reading my blog but hasn’t sent me any email or comments yet. I MISS YOU GUYS!! I am loving life here, and I like going into work every day at 10:45; but lately I have been missing my old life as a JPO in good old Idaho! I don’t know who all out there is reading our blog, but I would really like to hear from you if you are. Let me know how things are going and let me know what you think of my new life out here. Send me pictures, comments, whatever, so I won’t miss you all so much! Also, don’t be shy, forward my blog address to anyone you think may like to read it, I would love to hear from any one of my old co-workers, colleagues, boss (hint, hint) - anyone! Even though I am enjoying my time here, I miss familiar and friendly faces and would love a word now and then.

I hope you all haven't forgotten me so easily!

My Arm Hair Changed Color - 10/9/06

One of our favorite fruits here is apple bananas, as I think Melissa has mentioned previously. The mother of one of my students asked us to come over to their orchard and pick a bunch of apple bananas since they have so many. So generous! We went to Earl’s house and walked around the banana section looking for a ripe enough bunch to take. He chopped down the tree that had a bunch of green bananas with a machete. Each time you harvest a bunch, you have to cut down the tree it’s on. Then two to three more will sprout up from the base. Otherwise, the plant will die. Don’t ask me why, I didn’t design it...

We learned there are several different kinds of bananas including plantains and crazy purpley bananas, along with the regular kind we get back home and the sweet, tart little apple guys. Those are the crack bananas! I also learned that Earl has not been telling his mother the whole truth regarding his homework and how much he ACTUALLY has. Hmmm….somebody’s busted! It’s so nice when my students’ parents invite us over for some real conversation…

While we were there, he also loaded us up with white grapefruit, red grapefruit, and Washington oranges. I hope he doesn't think this is a bribe to lighten the homework load, because that sure won't work! They also have apricots, a kind of blackberry that grows on a large tree, cherries, and coconuts. The blackberries look like small purple raspberries with a soft stem that you eat with the whole berry. They were really sweet. Freakin’ sweet! The berries are the only fruit we’ve seen with actual color. I want to take a picture of all of them side-by-side for you. The grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes, and plums are all the exact same color. Green. My students still try to convince me that my life has been a lie; that fruit in North America is dyed and painted to look that way.

We have been quite the hit with the kids lately. We took our PS2 over to a friend’s to play Dance Dance Revolution (the video game at the arcade where the kids are jumping all over the pads on the floor). It was such a hit that somebody brought us a spare television to borrow so we could play it in our own apartment. We couldn’t do it before because there is a small cable Y-adaptor (readily available in the U.S. for $1.25) we needed for the sound. Now, kids shout up to us, “Can we play DDR? Hey! We want to play that dancing game!” Now the Americans have the Mennonites dancing! Gasp! It’s funny, too, because so few of them actually want to try it, but when they do they can’t get enough. Even the “tough guys” are hittin’ the floor and planning on buying their own for their playstations. Too funny.

Oh! We were also offered a microwave to babysit until we leave! The kindergarten teacher has a daughter in my 8^th grade class and two high schoolers in my Spanish class. She’s going to let us use their spare until they need it again. Add that to the fancy “beanless” bag chairs we got in Mexico and you’ve got yourself the beginnings of a comfortable home! Add a little Sirius (on its way soon – thank you Lynda!) and we’re going to forget that we’re not in the U.S.! Except for the heat. And the humidity. And the geckos. And the vultures. And the fact that the Caribbean is nearby and Mexico is to the North of us. And the crazy tropical fruit that looks like this...

Packages Galore!!

The past two weeks have been pretty exciting as they have brought packages, mail and well-wishes from our friends and family back home! First, we recieved the shower curtain from our "Wish List"--thank you to the mystery friend who sent that!! (Was it you, Sara?) It was exciting to find that our Wish List acutally works!!

We have also recieved a package from Auntie Reda--thank you thank you THANK YOU!! And our birthday package arrived from dad, Debbie and their crew! Thank you for the wonderful gift you guys and when we're not using them for their intended purpose, they make beautifully colored knick knacks for our empty shelves!!

Grandpa Cliff and Grandma, we got your card, thank you for you generosity and for remembering us. I hope Grandma is healing well, I love you both!

Just so you all know, we appreciate the gifts, pictures, kind words, and moolah. We are saving the money for a nice weekend trip. This weekend is the "Marrieds Retreat" and we may use some of it then. Two weeks from now is the "Teacher Retreat" and we may use some of it for a fancy, romantic dinner at that time!! We love you all and miss you very much!

(By the way, Nathan hasn't been able to post anything for a while because he has been busy, busy busy. But, just today, he was able to post two new entries. You'll have to scroll down to read them, they were saved between some of my older posts.)

Mis Cumpleaños! - 8/28/06

Woo Hoo! I'm 29!

Wait, I'm 29. I'm almost 30. What the... how did that happen again?

I was walking home at lunch time, and as I began climbing the stairs to our apartment, I thought to myself, "It's my birthday! I'm 28! Wow! Wait......no I'm not...." Then I realized the last year of my twenties began that morning and I could never again, for the rest of my life, say that I was 28 years old. Which I thought was a pretty good age. I look back fondly on my 28's.

It was a fun day, though. Melissa crossed the river to Mexico and bought me a Nemo Piñata full of Mexican sweets, and then brought it to school. During recess, she surprised me and all the students on my level gathered around for a Mexican birthday fiesta. I, of course, got the first whack. The only thing we didn't count on was the tropical rain that arrived out of the blue. We were under a wide covering, but the wind soaked everyone anyway. It only started at the beginning of recess, but didn't dampen our spirits. The kids were excited too about all the candy. Let's just say that afternoon they were a bit more energetic than usual...

Later she made a kick-butt dinner for me and we invited all of our friends over. We had eleven people over for dinner in our little apartment! It was so much fun! She made a taco bar with meat, cilantro, onion, lime, homemade guacamole, corn tortillas, salsa, rice, beans, the works! It was SO good. One guy remarked to his wife, "This tastes like Mexican food. Like, ACTUAL Mexican food. Like, if you went to somebody's house in Mexico and they made dinner for you. It would taste like this."

Then she served dessert. Hecka yum! She made one of my childhood favorites that my mom would sometimes make: Yellow cake with chocolate pudding for the icing. And, she poked holes in the cake before pouring it on, so each slice had a little puddin' surprise in the middle. Mm MM mm!

In the middle of all the brouhaha, Melissa's mom called to wish me a happy birthday. It was nice to hear a voice from home. Sounds like everything is going well over there, and we had a good conversation about all the stuff happening here in Belize. I love the people here!

So, stay tuned for the next installment. Same bat-time, same bat-channel. Miss all y'all! Don't be afraid to leave us a comment, it's good to hear how others are doing!

Café Lemanski - 9/8/06

So, who's the most popular couple in Belize? Well, it's not us. However, we have been a hit with a lot of the kids in Blue Creek because we brought with us a fancy-shmancy espresso machine. Many of them have never had espresso. Our mission is now clear. . .

I told my students about some of the priorities we had when planning out move down here, and one thing we had to accommodate was the espresso machine we received as a wedding gift. Some of my students had lived in Canada and got really excited about the idea of being able to have an iced latte or a mocha once again, others were like, "What's the difference between that and regular coffee?"

So, Melissa and I were enjoying an evening to ourselves with a cool breeze coming through the window. The breeze brought with it the desperate cry of an eighth grader, "CAN WE HAVE AN ESPRESSO?" We shouted back, "Sure! Come on up!"

About five seconds later, eleven junior high and high school students were at our door - excited to either finally have another latte or to try one for the first time. I don't think their feet actually touched the stairs on the way up to our apartment. So, we made them all some coffee, and they LOVED IT! A couple days ago in class, a few students whispered to each other, then several hands shot up. I called on one girl who asked, "If a bunch of us come over Friday night with chocolate syrup and coffee will you make us all espressos?"
"OF COURSE!"

So, it looks like we've placed the groundwork for a little espresso bar. And, so many people run businesses out of their homes, Melissa is thinking of doing the same with coffee. Like the woman who has a video rental store in her kitchen with a sign out sheet and cash box by the door. That would be so cool! It would also be a fun thing to do in the giant upper room by our store, like a youth outreach. Just have a "Coffee Night" where the kids can come and hang out (since they don't have a place like that) to talk and listen to music and sip espresso. How cool would that be? It's also a great way to get to know the kids and influence their lives outside of class. What an opportunity! Stay tuned! We'll let you know how it goes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US- 9/8/06

“So, are you guys gonna have another birthday next week too?”

This was a question asked by Cuatro, one of our guests at Nathan’s birthday dinner on Monday, the 28^th. He was referring to the fact that both Nathan and I have now celebrated our birthdays since our arrival here. Apparently, the fact that they are only 10 days apart has people suspicious that perhaps we are just starving for attention!

We celebrated my birthday on the 18^th. Nathan woke me up to say “Happy Birthday” before he left for work. I went back to sleep immediately, of course, since it was 7 a.m. and I had no where to be that early! When I finally rolled out of bed at about 11 am, I went into the kitchen and saw that my neighbors, Liz and Maria, had baked me blueberry muffins and brought in a white board that said, “Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear Melissa, Happy Birthday to you!” That made me smile, what a kind gesture from girls I had known just over 2 weeks!

During the afternoon Liz and I went to check our e-mail at Abe’s house and his parents invited me for faspa, afternoon coffee. When we got back to my place, Nathan had baked a birthday cake and had a bouquet of tropical flowers waiting!!

For dinner, our neighbors went with us to Three Flags where a group a people was waiting to celebrate with us! I had no idea it was going to be a dinner party!! The pastor and his wife, Darryl & Corrina (pictured to the left), where there with their children, Natasha, Kenton, Shaina, and Jessie. Our old friend Abe (he's the blue-eyed gentleman in the picture sipping the iced tea and he is single and ownes his own planes ladies!) was there, as were his sister and brother-in-law, Lisa & Poncho, along with their two daughters Rhonda and Michelle. Rosie & Cuatro, another couple who have been married just over a year, also came to celebrate. (They are the beautifully tanned couple on the left) Rosie teaches 6th grade and she and Nathan pray together every morning for the Middle School students. Two teachers from the UK- Rhoda & Daniel, joined us later. What a blessing to be surrounded by new friends so soon after our arrival. The picture to the right, is Rhonda- Poncho & Lisa's oldest daughter- and Jessie- Darryl & Corrina's youngest daughter- What pretty girls!

After feasting on salbutes and iced tea, it was back to our place for cake and ice cream! Most of those at dinner joined us and our apartment was full, full, FULL! We followed dessert with a little Texas Hold ‘Em—yes even the good people of Blue Creek joined in and learned how to throw those chips into the pot! (No daddy, I didn't win, Abe did actually. But that's good, cuz now he's hooked and will be coming back for more!)

This was a wonderful day, I will let Nathan tell you about his himself…

We have Mail!! - 8/27/06

Yay! During the last week we have gotten several pieces of mail, this means that the address we have given out truly works!!

We got thank you cards from Dad, Deb, and Haley We got birthday cards from Jim and Sheilah, Nathan’s dad and step mom, which was a great surprise! (Hey you two, thank you for remembering us, it is sooo appreciated!) We got a happy, fun, just-thinkin-‘bout-cha-card from Auntie Reda and Uncle Marv. And I got a birthday card from Levy and she even sent us a wedding card!! (Better late than never, Lev!) Ironically, some of our junk mail has also made it across two countries and into our rural mail box as well. No thanks, Capital One, I really, truly, do not want your credit card... seriously... now leave me alone!

Just an FYI: If you are sending anything to us, whether a package, or an envelope, please write AIR MAIL on it. I have recently learned that sending it that way takes about 2 weeks. If you don’t write AIR MAIL on it, and the Post Office does not take pity on you and write it for you, it will take about 2 months to receive a package or envelope. Good info, huh? I thought so! Thanks, your letters are sooo appreciated!

Salbutes, Banana Splits & Mennonite Madness…Oh My!! – 8/27/06

What a fun Friday night we had!! But before I get into that, I need to get something off my chest. Most of you who know me well, know that bananas and I have not gotten along for a very long time. I don’t want to get into who did what and who hurt whom, because that will just bring up past bad feelings. But suffice it to say, I have never enjoyed or understood how others can find enjoyment in the taste or texture of bananas. However, I now live in a country where mangos have a very short season and are currently not available, (I know, isn’t that devastating?), pineapples cost $3.00 each, apples cost $1.85 each, and good ol’ bananas cost only 50 cents a pound. Since I have decided to eat better and try new things, I have given in and decided to put my life’s struggle with bananas aside in order to get the vitamins and nutrition I need at a cheaper price. It has been rough, and we still have a long road ahead of us. Although there is much bad history between bananas and I, but I believe in the end, we may learn to appreciate each other, even if we’re not best of friends.

Back to Friday night, it started with Nathan and I and our neighbors, Liz and Maria going to Three Flags for their Friday menu selection. On Fridays they offer several items for $1.00 and when peanut butter costs $11.00 US and 1 quart of milk costs $4.00 US, Fridays are a chance for us to fill our bellies with good food for a reasonable price. At the restaurant, we met another couple, Rosie and Cuatro, and Abe. Also, since everyone eats out on Fridays and all the tables are long, seating about 25, we set with a few other familiar faces and were visited by students during the course of our meal.

We ate salbutes and garnachas to our hearts content and washed it all down with good Belizian hot sauce and iced tea. Garnachas are very similar to a tostada. They are fried corn tortillas topped with refried beans, wonderfully seasoned chicken, tomatoes, cabbage and cheese. Salbutes are corn tortillas that are cooked in a way that makes them “puff” and the inside is filled with seasoned chicken, cabbage, and tomatoes. Those are my favorite!! I ordered 3 and topped them with lime and hot sauce….mmmMMmmm!

After the restaurant we all were off to Abe’s house to play card games and a game he had been promising to teach me….Mennonite Madness! And that is a very appropriate name for it! It is not a complicated game, most of the games we played that night were extremely simple, but all were very competitive and a lot of fun! In Mennonite Madness, everyone is given a blank sheet of paper, but there is only one pen.You pass a die around the table and if you roll a 1 or a 6, you grab the pen, and start writing numbers from 1 to 100 as fast as you can, while the die continues to be passed around and rolled. When someone else rolls a 1 or 6, they grab the pen out of your hand and begin to write their numbers. Sometimes as soon as you get the pen out of a person’s hand, another person rolls and 1 or 6, so you lose the pen before you had a chance to write down a single number. The first person to 100 wins! It is as simple as it sounds, but OH is it fun!! At one point, I rolled a 6 and then knocked the die off the table, so I would get more time to write. People were throwing themselves across the table, I fell out of my chair, and everyone got plenty of opportunities to laugh.

We took a break from the games to eat banana splits—quite a treat here because food is expensive, especially sweets! We had bananas, strawberries, chocolate sauce, almonds (which we hammered ourselves into small pieces to sprinkle), cool whip, and ice cream. I didn’t even put any ice cream in mine because it was sweet enough with all the other ingredients!

We met a few new people on Friday night, but mostly we had a lot of fun with familiar faces. I am always encouraged when I am reminded how much fun you can have, just being with people.

Kids & Crocs - 8/27/06

"Ehh! Ehhh! Ehhhh!"

That's the sound a baby crocodile makes when you grab it around the neck. I don't normally make a habit of strangling baby animals, but I also don't want to get into the routine of letting them gnaw on my fingers. That's just not being a good steward of what God's given me.

I didn't really hurt the thing, I just wanted a picture of it. I was at a student's house - really a farm - to see the crocs they hatched in their backyard pond. He told me about them in class and invited Melissa and me over to see them. After school I knew he meant it, because he came back on his four wheeler, pulled up to my window, and informed me that, "If you and your wife want to see my crocodiles you have to come either right now or at six, because I have to mow." So, I left work right away. Such a funny guy!

I don't think he got much work that day though, I hope I didn't get him in trouble. But we weren't expecting to find so much cool stuff at his house. The view itself took awhile to get over, I swear you could see the edge of Belize from his house. Their hill faces the school, so you can see everyone coming and going, then across from that our apartment, the medical center, the park, the hills leading down from Blue Creek, then the farmland and roads stretching across the flat terrain all the way to the coast. It was a hazy day but I can imagine how breathtaking it would be on a sunny day in the dry season.

This property pretty much has everything you would ever need. A comfortable home, thatched roof garage and shop, cows, coconut palms, lemon trees, mango trees, banana tress, a garden and pumpkin patch, one sheep, chickens, turkeys, huge Mayan artifacts, dogs, and two trampolines. I'm sorry, did you say you were leaving to Canada and wanted me to house-sit for a year?

While we were there, Earl knocked a few coconuts down and got his machete to give us something to drink. I thought he was going to cut the nut out of the middle of the thick, green case they grow in. Instead, he just chopped away at the top until there was just a quarter-sized opening into the nut itself, stuck a straw in, and handed it over. Now, I knew in my head that it was natural, unsweetened coconut. But, my tongue is still very American. It is not familiar with the flavor of coconut without sugar. So, the first sensation when you taste the clear, watery coconut milk is confusion and surprise. You have to work through that. Then you taste it for what it is. MAN THAT'S GOOD STUFF! After we drank all the milk - which was a lot - he chopped them in half and with a spoon we ate the coconut flesh. mm MM mm!

His mom was very sweet, too. It's such a pleasure to talk to the families of my students and meet new people in the community, everybody is so friendly and thoughtful. While we were talking she had Earl go pick a bag of lemons for me. It didn't take long before he returned with a heavy, clear plastic back filled with small, perfectly round fragrant lemons. "Six per gallon plus one cup of sugar."
"Thanks, Earl. Oh, and this will not effect your grade - you still have homework."

On the way out, his mom mentioned something about the turkey. I couldn't see it by the chicken coup, so Earl said something to it in what was probably low Turkey (since they speak low German). "Lobolobolobol!" Suddenly I saw and ugly red thing flip over the beak of a giant white head in the shadow as it responded, "LOBOLOBOLOBOL!" I think the turkey likes Earl. Then it walked toward him. Huge! This bird was huge! I want to go there for Thanksgiving!

That's a meal we still need to plan for, I think it will be exciting to have it here. Last night's meal was good though. The youth of the community planned a "Disco Supper." I got really excited, got my wig, platform shoes, bell bottoms, and gold chains. Then they explained that a "disco" is a type of wide shallow pan they put over a fire to cook a lot of food for a lot of people. So, the youth cooked for the community last night, accepting donations as a fundraiser for a new piano.

It was a good time, with volleyball and a chicken game after dinner. They had a raffle for the chicken game. $2 a ticket. Then they drew the numbers on the ground, put a plywood fence around it, and dropped a chicken in. Everyone screamed at the chicken, it pooped, and the number the poo landed on was the lucky winner of $50! I had number 37. The chicken pooped on 53. I never win the chicken poop game.

I watched Melissa play volleyball afterward. That girl can play! She got game still! But I was standing there watching her, enjoying the sport, when I felt a stray cat brush up against my ankle. I looked down and saw instead that it was a Jurassic Moth. It was not my happiest moment ever.

So, time to get ready for tonight. Our neighbor Maria had an awesome conversation with her students that turned into a student-led worship service tonight. It's going to be in the common area/open room by our apartments. It's going to RAWK! So pray that leads to something that happens often because I am SO excited to see the kids take initiative for the first time and start something they want to see happening anyway. I love this job! Let us know how you guys are doing!

Love ya!