Hello all! Lets just start this by saying I know I havent posted pics in a while. I promise to get some pictures together in the next few days and post em.
Spent the past few days in Dangriga for settlement day. It was pretty much wonderful. Crazy partying for a night and a day, sweet parade with tons of marching bands and BBQ chicken available 24hrs a day from streetside vendors. For those of you who may not know, Settlement Day is the national holiday that commemorates the Garifuna peoples' arrival in Belize. Suffice to say its a raucous affair. A bunch of us stayed at my friend Abby's place, super tiny and cute right by the beach. Her yard is sandy and the whole house looks like something out of "Horton Hears a Who". I pitched my tent in the back yard and spent a couple of nights blissfully lulled to sleep by waves and a seabreeze.
The past few weeks life has started to pick up. The remedial reading classes are on hold for a lee bit while the students prepare and participate in finals/exams. This upcoming week will be kinda hectic. Sunday starts Youth Week, of which I have made myself a part. Lets go over the next few days:
Sunday: Opening Ceremony in Belize City (im goin)
Monday: I will be on Fiesta Radio doing a talk show about Peace Corps, 4H, Youth For the Future (the org. coordinating all this) etc
Tuesday: Along with YFF and Humana I will be starting a gardening project working with Standard V students (middle school age) we will be spending the day setting up beds and planting cucumbers, radish, cilantro, lettuce and a few other choice morsels. The basic idea is to increase awareness of where food comes from and to give kids a hand in bringing their own hard work to the table. should be especially interesting because this will be the first time I have ever done any gardening myself.
Wed: I will be giving 3 presentations to all of Orange Walk Technical High School talking about conflict resolution, anger management, dealing with/verbalizing emotions etc. I am really excited about this part. In a way it will be getting back to the wilderness therapy aspect of dealing with issues directly instead of in such a managerial aspect. neat.
Thurs: Head to Belmopan for Thanksgiving celebration with all of Peace Corps
Friday: A few PC sessions and the dinner
Saturday: Back to Carmelita
AAAANNNNDDD
Getting stuff together to move into my HOUSE!!! (you should be saying hooray! and smiling, because thats what im doing over here. The dude in the internet cafe is looking at me weird. But for serious, I found a house! The pics to come will show you, but its super cute and I have taken to calling it La Casita Verde, or Cassie for short. Cassie is, obviously, green. Mint green in fact, with dark green trim. Her yard is decently sized, if i could judge these things at all I would tell you. But its got two small bedrooms, a decent sized main room/kitchen and a bathroom with a shower and toilet. Now you may say "duh Jake, of course it has a shower and toilet!" But remember, this is Belize, and less than half of us volunteers have indoor plumbing. Im psyched. The house is unfurnished, and in this country that means no stove, no fridge, no sink. Truly unfurnished. Ill be purchasing/renting all that stuff, which shouldnt run over my budget. The really awesome part is that the house, with fenced in yard for as yet unpurchased pooch, restroom facilities, sleeping quarters, old dilapidated outhouse (looks like something outta deliverance) will be repainted, tiled, and have a porch built onto it for the lovely price of $BZ100 a month. One Belize dollar is worth US$0.50. So I will be renting my house for fifty US dollars. :D I have started buying knives, spatulas, pots, dishtowels and a sweet piggy bank that I couldnt really turn down. Can you tell Im excited??
Oh yeah, subject change, I got a cat. Her name is Zipper and she was a gift. She doesn't like it when I read without petting her. She also doesn't like me sleeping past 6AM. But she is adorable. I never thought I would have a cat but here I am!
Life is good here people. I cant wait to show you all.
love
jake
Friday, November 21, 2008
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2 comments:
HOORAY! Update! So awesome about the gardening project AND the high school conflict resolution stuff! (and the rest of it, too, but those two stuck out to me). You're representing Asheville well, with the whole "know where your food comes from" bit. ;)
I cannot WAIT to see the house. I'm so glad you took La Casita over the other choice... it needed a little love and a lot of imagination, i'm sure, but i have no doubt you'll turn it into a home.
Looking forward to seeing more pictures!!
See you soon! (isn't it great to be able to say that?)
Love,
Suzy
PS - no more cracks about my cat. ever. you've officially forfeited your teasing privileges by acquiring your own. :)
Sounds like you are doing a lot of great things. I'm excited for you. I tend to read your posts while at my desk in corporate America, and your experience is so exciting and all your pictures look beautiful (minus seeing a cow served up)
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