june recap

june was a great month for us in the village. we kept ourselves busy visiting friends, receiving guests, gardening, and just enjoying the belizean pace of life. school began winding down, and our work obligations lessened, allowing us to fully take advantage of leisure time: practicing yoga together in the morning, sharing coffee and breakfast afterward, bathing several times midday in an attempt to combat the heat, walking the dog in the evening, and having movie and popcorn time at night. gotta love it!

this seems like a good opportunity to update folks on our day to day life, so i’ve included a few pictures to showcase our home and daily activities.

our home.

hanging out with some chess champs and junior chefs.

coy's amazing garden.

with an abode like this, it’s not hard to lure other peace corps volunteers over for a visit, and this month we spent quality time with several new friends. thanks to the orange walk crew for venturing out to the “bush” and making time for us!

coy giving zach a lift to the main road.

friends of ours from the village decided it was time to take us on a lee tour and show us another side of orange walk. we hopped in the back of the garrido’s pickup truck and bounced along cane roads to the village of august pine ridge, where the other half of the family lives. unfortunately, grandma wasn’t home, but we took full advantage of her guaya and mango trees and stuffed ourselves to the point of bursting.

reina and her little sis, julissa.

amin shows off his climbing skills in the pine trees that give august pine ridge their name.

claribel attempts to eat a mango half the size of her face!

DID I MENTION IT’S MANGO SEASON?!!! (well, at the point of posting this entry, mango season is coming to a close, but in june it was in full swing) if only the reader could understand how truly magical mango season really is. the varieties. the flavors. the textures. all magical. and we learned a special trick this year: if you mention to other people how much you (or your significant other) love mangoes, they will send their children to your home with bags full of mangoes. this is amazing. we actually had so many mangoes in june that coy began blending the fruit and freezing it. this makes for a delightful nighttime snack, and will allow us to enjoy mangoes well beyond the end of the season. yay for mango frozen treats!

aside from lounging and being complete gluttons, at least one of us managed to get some work done :) in fact, i began collaborating with teachers on what ended up being my favorite project yet: teaching life skills lessons to the upper division classes. one of my favorite books i discovered in peace corps zambia, the life skills manual, was created by peace corps volunteers as a compilation of lessons intended to give young people the “life skills” they need to guide them toward a healthy and happy life. topics include HIV/AIDS, communication skills, decision making, and healthy relationships. i am a huge fan of this manual. anyway, when i shared it with the upper division teachers (think 6th and 7th grade) they were very excited and interested in working with me. i taught three lessons to the standard 6 class (7th grade) the week before graduation: peer pressure, alcohol and drugs, and what is love? the lessons emphasize class participation and utilize a lot of role plays and group work. it was so much fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves. and more importantly, the teacher was so thrilled that he couldn’t stop complimenting me about the lessons and how much he enjoyed them! it was awesome. i even managed to snag a block of time from the standard 5 teacher (6th grade) and co-taught a lesson for the girls on puberty and menstruation. i made some kick ass (excuse the language, but they rock!) visual aids detailing the internal and external sexual organs, and we made beaded bracelets with various colors which represent the stages of the menstrual cycle. it was great to work with ms. yesenia (the preschool teacher) on this lesson and we learned a lot from one another. the girls’ teacher was thrilled that he didn’t have to tackle this taboo subject with them, and is looking forward to collaborating more with me next school year. PEACE CORPS SUCCESS!!!!!!!!

in other work related news, the women’s group now has an official name: sonadoras del futuro (dreamers of the future). although our membership wavers from week to week and we’ve seen upwards of 50 females pass through our meeting space, ms. elisa and i are still hopeful that we’re doing something positive for the community, and we manage to keep one another inspired. our regular meeting numbers have dwindled, though we do have a surge from time to time. in fact, near the end of june i held a recycled paper making demonstration at my house and we had more than twenty bodies squeezed into every corner. peace corps staff were here taking pictures and shooting video for a project they’re working on, and i was beaming with joy at our turnout. it was fun to take something i enjoy doing and turn it into a lesson for others, the ladies really enjoyed learning a new skill, and the staff members were giddy to be part of it all. everybody wins!

we closed out june with a practice hurricane consolidation (the season opened june 1st) that brought more than 100 peace corps volunteers together in belmopan. in spite of all our complaining and moaning (there is no way to coordinate a convenient time for 100 people) it went relatively smoothly and gave us all an opportunity to meet our new country director, nina. it also gave us hope and reassurance that in the event of a real hurricane, peace corps has our backs. and that is good to know.