the weather outside is...frightful?

while many of our readers have been experiencing daily downfalls of snow and bouts of freezing rain for the past month, here in belize we, too, have fallen victim to the wrath of the “arctic blast”. temperatures dropped into the 60s at night, and by day an occasional long sleeved shirt was donned. it was truly frightful. i mean, delightful! whole days passed without a hint of sweat. showering was no longer mandatory at three hour intervals, and our fan started feeling rather neglected. i thought, wow, i could live like this. and then the sun slowly elbowed the cold front out and bore its wrath upon us once again. just to prove it’s point, i got sunburned yesterday while doing laundry. ok, i get it already!

we were recently blessed to have a visit by coy’s mom! in her first international travel adventure, mama sue met us in cancun and spent three nights on the beaches of tulum before we traveled back to belize. we wowed her with the powdery white sand and turquoise waters of tulum, and treated her to some real mexican fast food (salbutes, quesadillas, empanadas, tostadas).

mama sue nestled in her blankets inside the tipi, trying to keep out the chill of the artic blast!

sunrise on the beach

she spent a week with us here in guinea grass, meeting friends and neighbors, visiting the school, enjoying the tranquility of village life, and relaxing. it was a great visit and we are so happy to have had her all to ourselves for 12 whole days! we love you!

mama sue’s visit coincided with the first day of school for the new year, so i spent most of my mornings at the school. these days, i am focusing on literacy enrichment (aka pull-out reading groups) for lower performing students in standards 1-4. while this type of work is not my ideal focus as a peace corps volunteer (i would prefer to transfer skills to the teachers so that they have the capacity to address individual needs of their students) i find that i enjoy working with the small groups and it’s what the teachers really want. who knew i was a reading teacher? i work with a group of 3 in the mornings and 4 in the afternoon. right now we are starting with the basics: letter sounds. i hope to have them on grade level within another month or so, and they can return to their classrooms. in the meantime, i am buzzing around making bingo games out of cereal boxes and lesson planning like mad. all of my students are making phenomenal progress and their delight in their own success is beyond rewarding. many thanks to my personal teaching coach, coy, without whom none of this would be possible.

and speaking of coy, he’s busy teaching a reading group with the older students as well as co-facilitating chess club two afternoons a week. the club has really taken off, and some of the students are on their way to becoming masters. coy and maestro arnaldo recently received grant money from kids to kids to purchase additional chess sets for the club. hurray for chess!

other than that, we’ve been enjoying the gorgeous view afforded by our new location in the village, as well as taking our dog on daily strolls. we’ve finally adjusted to one another and settled into our roles, and i am happy to report that it’s great having a dog. as i sit at the kitchen table typing this, i am reminded of the tremendous beauty of belize. just outside the kitchen door in the neighbor’s yard, i am watching the wind rustle and sway the leaves of palm trees and banana trees as a dog darts by, his tail happily wagging and his tongue hanging out the left side of his mouth. i realize that it’s tyson, and sigh and shake my head.

fences can’t keep in this expert digger, but he always seems to come back when he’s ready.