St. Andrews

So our first full day here we were scheduled to go and help out at a local elementary school really close to our apartment. We had a nice breakfast of eggs, sausage, and baked beans drowned in catsup and then we all got ready to go.

When we got there school was in session and you could see all the children in their uniforms learning. We immediately drew their attention away as they looked out the windows at the 5 Americans coming into their little school. We met with the principal who showed us the wall that needed painting as well as the staircase next to it. We got to work scrubbing down the wall with brooms to get the dirt and other junk off. The wall had seen better days and the sun had most definitely worn off a lot of the blue paint.

The paint they had us use came in 2 colors a light blue and a royale blue. For some reason the royale blue had weird globs of tar or something floating around in it as well as thick layers of dried paint from past uses. We spent the next few hours painting the walls and then started on the staircase. During the middle of painting the children were released for lunch and the kids rushed over to see and feel the new fresh paint. Lets just say there were more than a few children that couldn't resist touching the shining oily paint. One little girl touched it "accidentally" like 6 times. Each time coming back to the fountain where I was trying to clean up the other kids.

After the kids went back to class we started on the staircase and busted out into Disney songs. Thankfully from spending time with Kyle Schoney in Texas, I knew the lyrics to most of Disney's greatest hits. Some of the faculty commended us on our amazing singing voices.

When were all done with St Andrews we headed to the local fruit market to grab some fresh fruit to make smoothies for some lunch. We grabbed some fruit at the market and went back to our apartment. Unfortunately our power was out, so instead we relaxed on the Veranda of the hotel. Nice tropical breezes greeted us in hammocks. It was nice.

When we were all freshened up and sweat free we did a scavenger hunt to find local places that we might need to know for later. I was teamed up with Danielle and we found most places but also met some more than friendly people, one gentleman especially. They like to hold hands while talking, very much like Middle-Eastern cultures. Anyway this guy rubbed his hands up and down my arm saying "Ya mon I help ya out findin dis tings on da leest" He showed us around trying to find some center, he took us to the wrong one then was like "So what you gonna do to help me out mon?" I gave him a Belize which is equivilant to $0.50.

Me and Danielle climbed some gnarly hills and soon called it quits when finding one place was 30 mins away. We headed back and grabbed some pillows on our way. Belize's finest pillows it advertised. More like rough cloth over styrofoam. But hey TIB (This is Belize) a saying I might adopt from the Chinese TIC (This is China)