Welp, Christmas has passed...my first christmas ever in fact. I saw no movies in the theater, I did not eat at the Chinese restaurant. My holiday was distinctly non Jewish. (which i guess is how most gentiles' christmasesses are. Hmm.. So i belize i mentioned that I was put in charge of the christmas committee and then i found out there wasnt a committee and nothing was going to happen, right? Well this lil factoid changed about three days before the big day. I was given the enviable task of preparing a "bash" or a "bram" for the village. Scramble scramble said jacob. Without getting too detailed, lets just say I spent the next three days racing around like a chicken with my head cut off in order to make this happen. Along with a wonderful group of people I ran around to shops/stores/houses etc asking for donations, gifts etc. I am happy to declare that the party went off without a hitch. Over FIVE HUNDRED people came out to live it up. We had a DJ with a sound system worthy of Madison Square Garden (that loud too). Over 100 lbs of chicken, 80 lbs of rice, gargantuan amounts of beans, juice, butter, salad and the works was served to every person who came out. We had a volleyball tournament with a $100 prize (my team came in 2nd :( Hired a professional fireworks show (this was the big un) And were able to provide a gift to every single child from the village. I truly feel like it was my first Peace Corps success. (we even had the tree lit up!) Melissa and Coy, volunteers in Guinea Grass (about 15 miles away) came to Carmelita to see a Kriol Kristmas. Evidently its rather different from the Mestizo celebracion.
The whole day was just great. As I begin to become more a part of the village I am getting invited over to homes, asked to parties, given help with construction projects (i built my own bed:) and the works. In fact, I had 4 christmas lunches. I couldnt walk down the street without someone insisting on filling me a plate. After I said that I couldnt possibly eat another bite, out came the tinfoil, with a comment like "well, dis di bes cake inah allah Carmelita, mek yu trai dat an tell me ih no chroo!!!" Im still eatin xmas ham!
In other news, I am just two days (deese heah hours be draggin bwai) from seeing Ms. Susannah. We have gotten to talk quite a bit over these past few months, but to actually get some face to face time will be wonderful. She has warned me that she doesnt shower or something like that...but neither do i. Should be fun :) Hopefully she still thinks Im the cats meow. We will be meeting up and spending a few days in sartenejah...a tiny fishing village on the northern coast of belize. Guess I got some making up to do for missing her birthday as well as new years last year!
That seems to be about all folks...Moses and Zipper say hello and happy new year!
jake
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Its..hot..again...
Yes, its true. It has hotted on up here. I will say one thing though, moses has taught me that the best way to deal with the heat is chewing on ice cubes till you have a nice lil crushed pile and then laying on the concrete with them between you and the floor. granted i come away with a dirty belly, but whose complaining?!
Settling into the house is going nicely. I bake chicken and baked beans for dinner pretty regularly, just bought some flour and other assorted oddities to make pizza too. Ill tell ya what though, it gets kinda lonely at times. Lets go over a normal day (one that isnt filled with meetings or what not, just a kinda average time.) I usually wake up around 7, make some tea (thanks for the tea parents!!) And eat a pb&j. from there I bike to the gym and work out for an hour. afterwards Ill either go to orange walk and check email/go shopping etc or head on home. A shower takes place while I wait for a mug of coffee to boil. Mo and I go for a walk while I drink my coffee. From there I read, write letters, work on fixing up the house, clean, generally keep myself occuppied through the afternoon. (lunch happened btw) We take an afternoon walk to the tienda where I hang out for an hour or so with the shop owner, a nice guy named Cristobal (es un buen opportunidad para practicando mi espanol) Dinner, then i head on out to play volleyball and dominoes with the village.
So im settling in, but i still find it tough to not have a vehicle here. The seemingly easiest things are made so much more difficult with waiting an hour and a half for a bus, or not being able to get a stove back to your house or something random like that. i have heard some volunteers talk about how they are happy to not have to worry about a car...not jacob. I will be truly excited to regain my mobility...in two years :-)
In work related business i am finally getting the 4h club off the ground. We are holding our first meeting this saturday. I have told all the kids, put up signs, reassured all that they will be bribed by a free snack, but lets see who shows up!
So i received a hannukah package a couple of days ago and want to thank all of you who contributed. mr frasier, the newspapers and candy were wonderful. The papers have been read over more than once and passed on to the other volunteers. the books, the football, bandannas, everything was great to receive. thank you guys so much. (for all the rest of you, feel free to send me anything, anytime. even a letter. i promise to write back! I dont think I put up my new address, so here it is
PCV Jacob Hafkin
Carmelita Village
Orange Walk District
Belize
There is something kinda fun about not having any numbers in your address. Makes me feel...villagey :)
In other news, Xmas is coming up and to celebrate I put up a xmas tree in the middle of the village and got ppl to donate stuff to decorate it. its the first tree the village has ever had. I rode out on a tractor with one of the locals, 10 teeth and muscles like whoa. He used a machete to chop down a 1.5 ft wide tree in a matter of minutes. Precision folks. Hauling it and resetting it was an adventure. its about 25 feet tall and towers over the basketball court. Figures that a jew would be in charge of christmas...
Yep, thats about it. I should run, got a bunch of frozen and refrigerated stuff sittin here that should probably get into a space colder than 90 degrees. Plus Moses needs to go out im sure. We are working right now on "come", "sit", "lay down" and against his will "no" and especially "no biting" goodness. PS mom, dad, a book called "Marley and Me" was recommended, think you could send it down with the next batch of goodies?? thanks!
take care all!
Jake
Settling into the house is going nicely. I bake chicken and baked beans for dinner pretty regularly, just bought some flour and other assorted oddities to make pizza too. Ill tell ya what though, it gets kinda lonely at times. Lets go over a normal day (one that isnt filled with meetings or what not, just a kinda average time.) I usually wake up around 7, make some tea (thanks for the tea parents!!) And eat a pb&j. from there I bike to the gym and work out for an hour. afterwards Ill either go to orange walk and check email/go shopping etc or head on home. A shower takes place while I wait for a mug of coffee to boil. Mo and I go for a walk while I drink my coffee. From there I read, write letters, work on fixing up the house, clean, generally keep myself occuppied through the afternoon. (lunch happened btw) We take an afternoon walk to the tienda where I hang out for an hour or so with the shop owner, a nice guy named Cristobal (es un buen opportunidad para practicando mi espanol) Dinner, then i head on out to play volleyball and dominoes with the village.
So im settling in, but i still find it tough to not have a vehicle here. The seemingly easiest things are made so much more difficult with waiting an hour and a half for a bus, or not being able to get a stove back to your house or something random like that. i have heard some volunteers talk about how they are happy to not have to worry about a car...not jacob. I will be truly excited to regain my mobility...in two years :-)
In work related business i am finally getting the 4h club off the ground. We are holding our first meeting this saturday. I have told all the kids, put up signs, reassured all that they will be bribed by a free snack, but lets see who shows up!
So i received a hannukah package a couple of days ago and want to thank all of you who contributed. mr frasier, the newspapers and candy were wonderful. The papers have been read over more than once and passed on to the other volunteers. the books, the football, bandannas, everything was great to receive. thank you guys so much. (for all the rest of you, feel free to send me anything, anytime. even a letter. i promise to write back! I dont think I put up my new address, so here it is
PCV Jacob Hafkin
Carmelita Village
Orange Walk District
Belize
There is something kinda fun about not having any numbers in your address. Makes me feel...villagey :)
In other news, Xmas is coming up and to celebrate I put up a xmas tree in the middle of the village and got ppl to donate stuff to decorate it. its the first tree the village has ever had. I rode out on a tractor with one of the locals, 10 teeth and muscles like whoa. He used a machete to chop down a 1.5 ft wide tree in a matter of minutes. Precision folks. Hauling it and resetting it was an adventure. its about 25 feet tall and towers over the basketball court. Figures that a jew would be in charge of christmas...
Yep, thats about it. I should run, got a bunch of frozen and refrigerated stuff sittin here that should probably get into a space colder than 90 degrees. Plus Moses needs to go out im sure. We are working right now on "come", "sit", "lay down" and against his will "no" and especially "no biting" goodness. PS mom, dad, a book called "Marley and Me" was recommended, think you could send it down with the next batch of goodies?? thanks!
take care all!
Jake
Monday, December 8, 2008
Hello, my name is Moses!!!
Cassie got new paint! Buuut ya cant really tell .
Meet Moses!!! He's trying to point at a chicken i think.
glamour shots??
My neighbor comes over to play and tire Moses out.
MoMo in front of the house. Dont mess with his turf, yo.Helloooooo!!! How ARE you?! Im doing well thank you for asking! Yes it has been a long time. Life has been busy fi chroo! What have i been doing? Well, setting up my house!!! Yes, Cassie has received a new paint job (which you will hopefully be able to see in the pictures if they ever upload on this slow raas computah!) Putting down linoleum, setting up a fridge, tables, bookshelves and all sorts of other fun domestic tasks. i am moved in enough to have a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Thats pretty moved in folks! So yeah, life is super good! Its been really nice moving into my place and feeling comfortable. Granted i am still sleeping on my thermarest camping mattress in the bedroom, but hey, what can ya do?!
Lets see, what else, oh yeah, I baked chicken yesterday...no big deal. BBQ sauce, ketchup, hot sauce, brown sugar, black pepper, and garlic powder (btw mom, i finally broke out that salt and pepper grinder and its pretty awesome! Thanks again!) so that lovely chicken meal was accompanied by a bed of white bread slices. Yum! To drink I enjoyed a lovely glass of very tart limeade made from limes picked directly from my yard. Note to all, ten limes is about 6 too many for 64 oz of water :) It ended up being a concentrate and has lasted for a few days now!
So lets move on to the fun stuff that im sure you are wondering about since seeing those pictures...Jakey got a puppy!!! Please allow me to formally introduce you to Moses, a Belizeian Hound Dog. MoMo is absolutely adorable, but kinda a baby. (and probably poopin in the house as i write..) He enjoys playing tug of war with a rope, nibbling on shoes, slippers, sandals, socks, hands toes, fingers, the couch, well...pretty much everything. Hes kinda scared of the dark right now, and is mad because I wont let him sleep with me. (stay firm Jacob!) Im kinda sorta enamored and in love. Zipper the cat is kinda jealous too. I feel a bit bad, but she makes me pay attention to her. I was given a lovely present of a headless mouse the other night, so i think she still loves me. but yeah, Im happy and excited and looking forward to learning and helping mo learn.
:D
Jake
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
