Homeward Bound

Sunset on the Southern Highway, Belize

As Michelle has already said in the post before this one, we are approaching the end of our service with Peace Corps Belize.  It has been a great 2 ½ years and both Michelle and I will truly miss Belize and all of our friends and family here.   Although, with the aid of the internet, we’ll be able to stay in touch with our friends in Belize via email, Facebook, and VOIP services (i.e.- Skype) and we’ll always come back for occasional visits throughout the years.

 

What We’ll Miss about Belize

 

There are too many things about Belize that we will miss to capture in a Blog post, but to name a few:  

•  our wonderful friends and family here that welcomed us with open arms
• how people enthusiastically greet one another in a proper fashion (most of the time) when passing by on the street (Good Morning, Good Afternoon, etc., or a slightly kinder way to greet someone you would say the salutation twice:  “Good Morning Good Morning!” )
• the always warm/hot climate
• the awesomely LOUD thunderstorms that Punta Gorda gets during the rainy season. 
• the interesting wildlife here:  Geckos chirping away while running up and down your walls and ceiling, the Jesus Lizards and Iguanas that inquisitively stare at you while every morning run across our tin roof sounding like small children pouncing and sliding, the scorpions, the numerous types of large spiders, and lastly the fire ants that pack such a painful bite/sting for such a tiny creature  
• the beautiful sunrises and sunsets
• the palm trees
• all of the fresh and interesting fruits and vegetables that most people have never heard of
• the beautiful historical landmarks and sites (i.e.- the Mayan temples and villages, the ATM caves, etc.)
• all of the fruits that were growing in our own backyard  (limes, avocados, bananas, coconuts, grapefruits)
• the overall kindness that Belizeans generally give to one another

Luckily all of the positives (as mentioned above) of this experience outweigh any of the tough or negative experiences.

Interactive Language Training is Making the News

On Wednesday, May 16^th at 6:30am (8:30am East Coast U.S. time), I will be on a Belize national TV show called “Open Your Eyes” with my friend and host mother Alice Noralez, to discuss and promote the Interactive Language Training (ILT) computer programs that I created for the country of Belize:  http://edition.channel5belize.com/OYE  (watch the live streaming of the program from this link).  “Open Your Eyes” is a morning talk show that discusses Belize current events, history, people, and basically anything that is newsworthy.

Before I came to Belize in March of 2010 as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I wanted to learn how to speak the basic greetings and vocabulary words of Garifuna, Q’eqchi, Mopan, and Kriol, all of which are the spoken languages of Belize, respectfully.  By being able to communicate the basic dialect of each of these languages, I hoped it would illustrate my level of respect for the languages, as well as the many people of Belize who I came to get to know and support in development capacity.   However, I soon realized that although there was limited information about these languages, there were actually no online resources available for individuals who wanted to learn how to speak these beautiful languages.  As a Peace Corps Volunteer serving two years in Belize, I made it my goal to develop free Interactive Language Training (ILT) Programs for individuals of all ages who are interested in learning Garifuna, Q’eqchi, Mopan, and Kriol.

As I began developing the ILT programs, I was pleasantly surprised by how many of my Belizean friends and acquaintances were in support of this project.  They shared with me their hopes and their fears.  They fear their native languages may disappear if the younger generations of Belizeans don’t take interest in speaking their native language.  They shared with me their hopes that these programs would encourage the younger Belizean population to become more active in their culture and language.  They believe, as do I, that these ILTs will create a fun environment for learning and serve as an introduction to the language so the youths can converse with each other and the elders in their community.

• Free downloads of all ILT programs:  http://pcbelize.com/ilt     

• View Interactive Language Training photos, interviews, and info on our Facebook page:   http://facebook.com/iltbelize
  
  

Thankful

 

A sailboat sailing off the shores of Punta Gorda Town, Belize

Michelle and I both feel honored to have worked alongside the great people of Belize and to have served our country in the U.S. Peace Corps.  As corny or cliché as this may sound, I really have a much greater appreciation and love for my country, the United States, more so now than ever.  I realize just how lucky we are to live in the U.S. and what a great country it truly is.  This isn’t to say that Belize is not a great country in its own right; it’s simply that absence (of the U.S.) makes the heart grow fonder. 

We would like to thank all of the Peace Corps Belize Staff who helped us during training as well as during our service to make our experience here in Belize go as smooth as humanly possible.  Also, thanks go out to our fellow PCVs who helped enrich our service and helped us grow individually and professionally.  Last but not least, a BIG THANKS to all our family and friends in the U.S. who supported us throughout our Peace Corps service, we couldn’t have done it without you.  We really look forward to catching up with everyone when we come home on May 27^th!