Randomness!

Is it seriously already august?!? What happened to this summer! July has been a fun month, I had a visitor, my cousin Sam. Straight from New York City, he managed to fit right into Belize. From sharing mango wine with villagers at 10AM to busting his butt helping out with our volleyball/personal empowerment camp he jumped right in and seemed to get a kick out of the experience. It was alot of fun for me as well, I got to see the country from another person's eyes, and reexamine my own feeling towards my adopted home. Im guessing his favorite place in the country was Caye Caulker...big surprise! I would post some pictures but sadly my trusty point n shoot canon has bit the dust. Frankly Im surprised it lasted that long! The woods of North Carolina, the icy mountains of patagonia and the sweltering heat of Belize are probably not the best things in the world for electronics. So be it! First my laptop and then the computer. Booo!

So these past couple of weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster. Projects that I have hoped were well on their way have stumbled to a protracted death causing me to reevaluate what I am doing here and what I hope to accomplish. If I learn nothing else from peace corps I will come back to the united states more able to cope with failure. Thats a good thing right?? So its been a time of reflection and searching within myself. I am learning what motivates me and makes me happy as well as realizing what kind of person I am, how I work best, and how to maximize what I do. I think one of the best conclusions I have come to is the fact that one of the reasons I am here in Peace Corps is to work on me. To make me a better person. My relationships with Belizians have developed as I let go of the United States and become more a part of the community here. For example, yesterday (sunday) I had just gotten home after a weekend of enjoying Fiestarama (imagine a county fair that has been left to rust for 5 years then the owner came back with the keys and started up all the rides again) and had just sat down on my porch with a book. My buddy Bat came by and yelled something out the window of his pickup. I couldn't hear a word through the pouring rain, so grabbing my umbrella I slogged to the truck. "I need a paddler for a canoe race!" "When?" I said. "Right now!" Oh crap I thought to myself. Its raining, I dunno how long the trip is so on and so forth. I finally relented and got in the truck. Turned out the race was only from the tollbridge to orangewalk, about 10 miles. But we had to paddle in Di Doctah, Bat's 25 year old 9000 pound puke orange satans spawn of a boat. My hatred towards this canoe was built up to its current frenzy after 174 miles of paddling the bitch for La Ruta Maya (see march post) Being the good sport that I was I jumped in with two other people who work for Bat (he runs a boat tour operation to Lamanai) and we paddled through the rain trying to win $300 for first. Sadly first price was taken by three fishermen who make their livings on the river and have, over the years, developed the ability to paddle insanely fast while still chugging gallons of mexican beer. My mind was blown.

But it wasn't until we finished the race, floated in the river for a minute and then hopped in Bat's motorboat for a cold one and a trip back down the river to cheer in the remaining teams that I realized that I had become an accepted member of this group. Sitting shirtless in the rain, Guinness in hand, bantering back and forth in Kriol it struck me that whatever my issues with this country, with my village and with peace corps may be, I could call these guys my friends.

I guess that sometimes when I feel like I have no good options left, that nothing is working out the way I want something comes along to kick me in the ass and let me know that its not all bad. I can make a life here, I can smile and enjoy myself and be happy for the next year...And thats exactly what I am going to do. Take this next year for me. Make it good, hopefully make a difference, but no matter what go home with both me and my friends here better for the experience!

I think Ill be posting more often now. I'd like to get back to the idea of putting down my thoughts and letting yall hear where I'm coming from. Im tired of simply recounting events. Mek ai cho wahn lee bitah spirit inah dese heer posts, no?!