Wave 2 and goodbyes

So if you’ve been keeping track of the days this summer you’ll have realized we hit the middle of June on Saturday. That means my time here in Belize is half way done. Also that means the first wave for HELP is at an end and unfortunately we had to say goodbye to a few of our volunteers. Before I get into that let me catch you up to speed to Friday.

Thursday I went about my normal Thursday routine and went and helped at Cornerstone prepare lunches for the children at Santa Elena and the various elderly throughout the sister cities. I went with Stanley again to the school and hung out with the kids for an hour until we came back to Cornerstone to clean up the mess. Cleaning out 80 bowls, forks, spoons, and cups takes a while. I don’t know if I’ve said this before but around 25 kids come to Cornerstone from another school nearby, that combined with the 55 is a lot of hungry, rambunctious children.

In the afternoon I taught my computer class again, this time only one of my students showed up, Jaclyn. However, it was nice because I was able to focus on her skill level and not try to have everyone progress at the same rate, sometimes that can be a slow process. I was able to show her how to find a file off the computer and attach it in the email. We ran through a few different ways to find, save, attach, and download files using her email. She was excited and even got a few of her friends email addresses to send them emails.

Men at Fuego

Ladies at Fuego

Thursday night was fun too. It was Randy’s last night here in Belize so we went as a group to a restaurant called Fuego. It was really good food and pretty expensive but it was provided for by HELP so my wallet didn’t take a hit. After Fuego we hiked up the hill to a place called Cayo Twist and got ice cream shakes and blizzards. We spent some time sharing some of our favorite moments from the past month and it was a good last team bonding. I was a bittersweet moment for all of us. We were all happy to have shared the past month together getting to know each other and we’ll definitely take the memories we’ve shared with us forever.

Friday morning I went with Trellany to Belmopan for her girls volleyball tournament. We both had to renew our visas to be able to stay in Belize, which required us traveling to the capital. While we were gone Randy left for the airport with Kyle and Kristina who went to pick up the new wave of volunteers. After getting our visas renewed I took the bus back to San Ignacio and Trellany stayed in Belmopan to finish her volleyball tournament. She said the girls played well but unfortunately they didn’t advance to nationals.

In the afternoon I went to Cadets, a program through the local law enforcement for children. We played some netless volleyball at the park and ran around for a bit, the kids were full of energy and I was worn out by the end of it. After Cadets, Danielle, Kim, and I went back to the apartment and hung out on the veranda where we were soon joined by Trellany from Belmopan. We chatted for a while and then we heard the van show up with our new volunteers.

Wave 2 brings a few new faces to Belize. Anne, Sarah, Jessie, and Laura joined our team and we talked for a while over dinner and then later went to get more Cayo Twist ice cream. We made plans to visit Xunantunich the next morning as we all weren’t able to do that on Thursday.

I’m excited to work with our new volunteers. They all seemed pumped to be here which is excellent for me and Trellany, it will give us some energy boosters and psych us up for a new wave of fun and service.