New house, new blog post

Hello find family and friends,

We of course have not blogged in a while. I can honestly say its because we have been incredibly busy....so sorry all. So lets recap the last few weeks for everyone. The last time we blogged was shortly after the Independence day celebrations. That has been a month ago...sorry again.

In the last month a lot of things have happened. Nate shaved his head. My hair grew two inches. haha. Okay for the real facts. In October, Nate and I found that we were incredibly busy with activities. The first week of October, Nate and I participated in a training on behavioral change. That lasted three days. I wish I could tell you that it was eventful, but it wasn't. Something that Nate and I are excited about, however, is that we are helping Peace Corps staff with the filming of the new Peace Corps Video. It will be sent out to all of the upcoming volunteers, their families and friends. One of our friends and I are doing the video, and then Nate (the skillful man that he is) will be doing all the editing. We are excited and hope to make it professional yet fun and full of cultural facts about Belize.

Besides that Nate has finished the database for his site at TCGA. It is a huge success. Of course they are so appreciative. He is now currently taking on new projects at his site. He is continuing to work in Tumal'kin. He loves it. It is a great secondary project. His counterpart there treats him like family already. Finally, he has picked up a 3rd secondary project. He will be helping our host mom with her class. He will help her weekly with her PE class. That's right...he is a PE teacher. I love it! I want him to get a pair of those gym shorts that the PE teachers use to wear when we were kids. A girl can hope. haha.

I am busy as well. The after school programs are up and running. Mondays are sports. I am currently teaching kids how to play volleyball while some of the boys are playing soccer (futbal). Tuesdays I am teaching kids how to play chess. Wednesdays we have a girl's club. The group of course is designed to teach them self-respect, reliance, and leadership skills. I have a few other secondary projects right now too. I am helping a counselor at the high school create curriculum on mental health to the students. I am also creating a presentation for gender roles and domestic violence for seniors at high school. It is in relationship to Men's Day on November 19th. We are hoping to increase positive male role models. We will see.

Halloween came and gone. They have costume contests and there is a little trick and treating. But very little. Some of the reason this year had little celebrations were due to Hurricane Richard. Of course we were stuck in our house and actually had a curfew. We haven't seen a curfew in some time! haha. Where we live, we didn't have any problems. Belize, however, did have some damage near Belize City and Belmopan. Luckily no one was hurt and a lot of the damage was rain and wind.

As most of you already know too, Nate and I were planning on moving. This week, we officially moved! The house is amazing. Nate and I feel like we are in heaven. The house is directly on the ocean. If you walk out in our backyard, you are 10 feet from the water. We are safe of course. But the view is amazing. Stay tuned for pictures!

November will come and go. We have Thanksgiving planned in our district and a lot of volunteers are coming and staying with us. We have more trainings and more meetings. I can't wait to tell you more about it.

We hope everyone is doing well. Hope to hear from all of you.

We love and miss you.
Michelle (and Nate)