Update

It’s been a while since I last made a post on my blog. I’ll try and be brief yet still include the majority of things that happened during this past week. In the future I’m going to make a conscious effort to post at least every two days so I don’t let events pile on top of another like I have for this post.

            This past week was, for the most part, relatively the same as previous weeks here. I’ve been continuing my computer classes every Tuesday and Thursday and also helping prepare and deliver lunches at Cornerstone. I’ve come to know a few kids at the Santa Elena School where we deliver the lunches and most of them are pretty rowdy but a few just like to sit and talk to volunteers.

            Last Tuesday there was a citywide volleyball tournament for the schools in both San Ignacio and Santa Elena. My cousin Trellany is in charge of coaching the St. Andrews’ girls volleyball team. She had been coaching them for a while and preparing them for this tournament. The winners would go to the capital to compete in the district finals, and then on to Nationals if they won. With Trellany being really good at volleyball it seemed a natural fit for her to coach. Kyle and Randy were in charge of coaching the Santa Elena boys team.

            All of us went down to Santa Elena School to cheer on the teams that our volunteers were coaching. Kyle and Randy’s team unfortunately didn’t make it and were eliminated after 2 losses. I watched Trellany’s team play 1 game, which they lost. However, that was due to the terrible attitudes the girls were displaying and not my cousin’s coaching. Trellany had a chat with her team after the loss and told them something to boost up their confidence and better their attitudes. By that time however I had to get back to Cornerstone to teach my computer class with Kim, so I didn’t get to watch as Trellany’s team took 2^nd overall and advanced to the District finals.

            On Thursday everyone started to feel a little sick. I was at Cornerstone in the morning doing lunch prep when I started to get sick, I ended up throwing up there and so decided to go home early. Much to my surprise Danielle, Trellany, Randy, and I were all sick with something. Our stomachs were not in good moods and the three of them ended up passed out in the living room on mattresses while I was in my bed. I was woken up by Randy violently hurling in the toilet in the next room at like 2:00 am. Needless to say we weren’t having fun or feeling well.

            On Friday Trellany, Kristina, Kim, and Randy all headed out to Caye Caulker for the weekend. Caye Caulker is one of the islands off the coast and they wanted to go to the beach there. I didn’t really want to go due to the fact that it was a $200 + weekend, so Danielle, Kyle and I stayed back. I still wasn’t feeling good with my stomach so it was a good thing I stayed back. An hour or so after they had left we got a text from Kristina saying their bus had broken down and that as soon as the next bus came and picked them up it hit a car. What luck. I laughed as I read the text at the absurd but comical situation.

            The weekend was very chillax and we had some quiet time to ourselves. I like doing a lot of adventurous excursions but every once in a while it’s nice to just relax for a while. The three of us went out to dinner and played a few more get-to-know-you games. After dinner on Saturday we met up with a woman who is in charge of putting together a camp of sorts out at Pineridge. It sounded very much like a scout camp and we were interested in having a few volunteers going there to camp for the week and help teach different skills. I’ll have more details on that later.

            The rest of the group got back Sunday afternoon and we played some card games like BANG! After we were done playing games we had our weekly meeting and discussed goals for this week and filled in our calendar to ensure we had at least 2 projects everyday. At the end of this week however we’ll be losing Randy, Kim, and Danielle and the 2^nd wave will be coming in on Saturday. We decided that Thursday afternoon we’re going to try and go to Xunantunich, another Mayan ruin. The ruin is about a 15 min drive from our place and we hear it’s a cool place to go.

            Monday morning I spent time making a lesson plan for my computer classes for the week. It’s definitely been interesting teaching someone how to use a computer. I started out with 3 students but one of them stopped coming. She really only showed up for the first class and I think she just wanted us to make a facebook for her. I’ve been having them do the Mavis Beacon typing program part of the time and the rest of the class I’ve been trying to show them how to use other basic computer skills.

            In the afternoon I went to Belmopan with Danielle to go to what they call the Special Olympics. I had gone to Belmopan last week as well to spend time at an orphanage with the kids there. The bus ride is an hour and you’re pretty crammed the entire way. So yesterday we got to Belmopan and then took a taxi to the Garden City School to volunteer with the special education students. There are 6 total in the class but yesterday there were only 2 to begin with. We had P.E. with them and ran around and threw softballs. The kids were fun and very loving and happy to see us. A 3^rd student showed up later after he had gotten off work. The class has students from the ages of 12-18.

            Today I went with Kyle and Kristina to meet with the head of ProWorld, another volunteer group here in Belize. We’re trying to have a big community movie night with a big inflatable screen and projector. We spent a short time going over details of what we wanted to do and made a goal to make it happen by July 2^nd. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

            After I was done I went over to Cornerstone to help do the lunches again. I went with Stanley to Santa Elena school and did the lunches. Apparently one of the girls that was so nice to me before now hates me. I had no idea why until her friend told me. Apparently I don’t treat the girl better than everyone else so she hates me. I really don’t know what she expects me to do but whatever. Kids will be kids.

            In the afternoon I taught computer class with Trellany and I was finally able to set up an email account with one of my students. A cellular number is required to set up most and one of my students doesn’t have one. So we’re stuck with him. But with Jaclyn, I set her up a gmail account. It took a while because they have questions on every single step. When she was filling out her birthday she put the actual day, Saturday, instead of a number. Funny mistake but it took a bit of explaining to tell her what it was really asking.

            So that’s what’s been happening so far with us here in Belize. Tomorrow should be a good day. It’s another day with Cornerstone and then doing a program with Kyle at the police station called cadets. Stay tuned.