Howdy!
So to begin....Happy 2011. This year has started off special for Nate and I. We truly enjoyed going home for vacation. It was wonderful to see everyone. We really loved hanging out with our friends and family. Needless to say, it was difficult leaving everyone but we are definitely excited to be back.
We returned home right before New Years. We celebrated New Years with amazing friends. We ate, drank and were merry. We loved watching the fireworks from our house. It was literally 100 feet away. Amazing.
Nate has completely come back to Belize with a bang. He has basically networked all the computers to each other, as well as the printer. He has been busy doing all of these amazing things at his site. School started with a bang too. I love seeing all the kids and planning for this upcoming semester. It will be fun!
It has only been two weeks but the most fun that we experienced thus far was our New Years with our friends, having our house infested with critters, and enjoying this "cold front" that hit Belize. The weather right now is 74 degrees! YAY!
Miss you all so much,
Love,
Michelle (and Nate)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Holiday Time!!!
Dear All,
We are so excited to come next week. I think we are probably more excited to see you guys then you are to see us! I know- you don't believe it, but its true. T-minus 7 days. Hope everyone is ready!
Okay, now to try to keep you guys updated on our events. The month of November really has come and left. The new house is AMAZING. We feel like we have hit the jackpot. We love waking up to the sunrises and going to bed with the ocean's waves. What a blessing. Besides the new location, Nate and I have been pretty busy with our projects.
Nate has been working at his site placement. Of course, he and it is successful. He accomplished this huge task and now he is about to begin working on a new database. He is still teaching PE for a standard 4 class (grade level about 3rd grade). They really enjoy him and love playing soccer with him. He goes to Tumal'kin and that process seems to take a little longer.
I am still the librarian and providing after school programming. I am also helping the high school counselor with her class curriculum. It's great. I also just created a presentation for seniors at the high school on role modeling and healthy relationships. Finally, Nate and I both just finished the upcoming PCV DVD on Peace Corps in Belize. When we an official copy made we will try to share it with you. I believe it is a huge success.
Besides work, the month of November had two holidays. One, Garifuna Settlement day on November 19th and Thanksgiving (not a Belizean holiday but celebrated by many). Garifuna Settlement day is a day to honor the Garifuna culture to Belize. In honor of this tradition, there was a battle of the drums contest and a weekend of celebration. You got it----music, dancing, BBQ, reenactment, and of course parties.
Finally, Thanksgiving. We had 40 volunteers that came and about 15 Belizeans. Kind of funny and amazing, out of the 15, 12 of the Belizeans were our host family or friends. It was a great way to share cultures and spend time with each other. Nate and I made a turkey, mashed potatoes, cheesy vegetables, Mayan chicken tacos, and garnaches. Old traditions and new. We wish we were with our family and friends in the states but we can't complain with Thanksgiving. Yummy food. For reference, there was beer bread, rolls, turkey, stuffing, green casserole, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies and other sweets.
Cant wait to see you guys. Next time Nate and I will discuss our lovely IST training. Cliff hanger.....
Love and miss you. See you soon
Michelle (and Natey)
We are so excited to come next week. I think we are probably more excited to see you guys then you are to see us! I know- you don't believe it, but its true. T-minus 7 days. Hope everyone is ready!
Okay, now to try to keep you guys updated on our events. The month of November really has come and left. The new house is AMAZING. We feel like we have hit the jackpot. We love waking up to the sunrises and going to bed with the ocean's waves. What a blessing. Besides the new location, Nate and I have been pretty busy with our projects.
Nate has been working at his site placement. Of course, he and it is successful. He accomplished this huge task and now he is about to begin working on a new database. He is still teaching PE for a standard 4 class (grade level about 3rd grade). They really enjoy him and love playing soccer with him. He goes to Tumal'kin and that process seems to take a little longer.
I am still the librarian and providing after school programming. I am also helping the high school counselor with her class curriculum. It's great. I also just created a presentation for seniors at the high school on role modeling and healthy relationships. Finally, Nate and I both just finished the upcoming PCV DVD on Peace Corps in Belize. When we an official copy made we will try to share it with you. I believe it is a huge success.
Besides work, the month of November had two holidays. One, Garifuna Settlement day on November 19th and Thanksgiving (not a Belizean holiday but celebrated by many). Garifuna Settlement day is a day to honor the Garifuna culture to Belize. In honor of this tradition, there was a battle of the drums contest and a weekend of celebration. You got it----music, dancing, BBQ, reenactment, and of course parties.
Finally, Thanksgiving. We had 40 volunteers that came and about 15 Belizeans. Kind of funny and amazing, out of the 15, 12 of the Belizeans were our host family or friends. It was a great way to share cultures and spend time with each other. Nate and I made a turkey, mashed potatoes, cheesy vegetables, Mayan chicken tacos, and garnaches. Old traditions and new. We wish we were with our family and friends in the states but we can't complain with Thanksgiving. Yummy food. For reference, there was beer bread, rolls, turkey, stuffing, green casserole, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies and other sweets.
Cant wait to see you guys. Next time Nate and I will discuss our lovely IST training. Cliff hanger.....
Love and miss you. See you soon
Michelle (and Natey)
Friday, November 5, 2010
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)
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)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
600+ Photos Now Available...
We now have over 600+ photos for everyone to look at. Picasa seemed to be organizing all of our photos into separate albums so I reorganized them all into one album to make them easier to get to. So there will be hundreds of photos that will be new to all of our friends and family. We'll be writing captions to the photos soon so everyone will know more info about what you are looking at. Enjoy!
The photos can be viewed by clicking here or by clicking on the top rotating photo album in the right column:
URL to Belize photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/...
Love to all,
Nate and Michelle
The photos can be viewed by clicking here or by clicking on the top rotating photo album in the right column:
URL to Belize photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/...
Love to all,
Nate and Michelle
Friday, October 1, 2010
Greetings
Hey everyone,
Hope everyone is doing well. I dont know where we left off last time but i am thinking it has to be near our Independence Day Celebration. Okay, so Independence Day (September 21) is their national holiday for....that's right....the country's Independence. Independence Day fell on Tuesday so the festivities actually started on that Friday before Independence day. On Friday, all of the kids met in the town park and paraded throughout town. It was beautiful to see so many people there to support their children, friends, and family. Of course, my school rocked and I was so proud of all the pickni (children).
That weekend was fun. We basically hung out with with some Peace Corps Volunteers on Saturday and then went to a BBQ on Sunday. We kept waiting for the greasy pole contest (pretty much as it is described) but it didnt happen. Mondaywas the big celebration. The party/celebration starts around 9pm in the town park and lasted until 4am in the morning. Their is music and dancing and at midnight, our town had the most beautiful fireworks (really nice ones too!....just like with Dad). We celebrated that evening with our host family. It was so nice. On the actual holiday, we went to a town parade where there was schools and floats and pretty much the whole town coming together to share in the experience. Nate and I ended the day with BBQ chicken. The day started around 6am for most and went until 9pm that night.
The week was also interesting because we had Tropical Storm Matthew come around. We were consolidated and were suppose to go to Belmopan but the bridge flooded so most of the volunteers ended up staying in PG in a hotel (Nate and I actually stayed in our home). Imagine about 30 PCVs staying in a little hotel. haha. Oh the memories. So we got a little rain, wind, and a little flooding....no big deal. We are ready for the next big storm! Bring it on!
Nate and I are doing great. We are learning a lot about ourselves, other PCVs, and Belizeans. Our projects are taking off and now we are beginning working on our second projects. Nate began to work at Tumalkin. It is a Mayan organization and is located in a little village about an hour and half away from town. The organization has a number of projects including a Mayan radio station. He is very excited to be working there and to learn a little Mayan Mopan Language! I am involved in several different committees through Peace Corps. I was just nominated for the WID/GAD committee! YAY! It's goal is to educate community members about healthy relationships and gender equality. I am still interested in Special Olympics and can't wait to see what the future holds.
Nate and I are embarking on a little trip today! We are heading out of town for the weekend for a little 2 day get away. We can't wait!
We hope all is well and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Love,
Michelle (and Nate)
Hope everyone is doing well. I dont know where we left off last time but i am thinking it has to be near our Independence Day Celebration. Okay, so Independence Day (September 21) is their national holiday for....that's right....the country's Independence. Independence Day fell on Tuesday so the festivities actually started on that Friday before Independence day. On Friday, all of the kids met in the town park and paraded throughout town. It was beautiful to see so many people there to support their children, friends, and family. Of course, my school rocked and I was so proud of all the pickni (children).
That weekend was fun. We basically hung out with with some Peace Corps Volunteers on Saturday and then went to a BBQ on Sunday. We kept waiting for the greasy pole contest (pretty much as it is described) but it didnt happen. Mondaywas the big celebration. The party/celebration starts around 9pm in the town park and lasted until 4am in the morning. Their is music and dancing and at midnight, our town had the most beautiful fireworks (really nice ones too!....just like with Dad). We celebrated that evening with our host family. It was so nice. On the actual holiday, we went to a town parade where there was schools and floats and pretty much the whole town coming together to share in the experience. Nate and I ended the day with BBQ chicken. The day started around 6am for most and went until 9pm that night.
The week was also interesting because we had Tropical Storm Matthew come around. We were consolidated and were suppose to go to Belmopan but the bridge flooded so most of the volunteers ended up staying in PG in a hotel (Nate and I actually stayed in our home). Imagine about 30 PCVs staying in a little hotel. haha. Oh the memories. So we got a little rain, wind, and a little flooding....no big deal. We are ready for the next big storm! Bring it on!
Nate and I are doing great. We are learning a lot about ourselves, other PCVs, and Belizeans. Our projects are taking off and now we are beginning working on our second projects. Nate began to work at Tumalkin. It is a Mayan organization and is located in a little village about an hour and half away from town. The organization has a number of projects including a Mayan radio station. He is very excited to be working there and to learn a little Mayan Mopan Language! I am involved in several different committees through Peace Corps. I was just nominated for the WID/GAD committee! YAY! It's goal is to educate community members about healthy relationships and gender equality. I am still interested in Special Olympics and can't wait to see what the future holds.
Nate and I are embarking on a little trip today! We are heading out of town for the weekend for a little 2 day get away. We can't wait!
We hope all is well and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Love,
Michelle (and Nate)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Greetings
Howdy (well they really don't say howdy much here....how about hola/gud aftanoon, or tardes),
I am starting to think that I start each blog with the same thing....yes we are still alive, no, we are not stranded somewhere and cant get to the internet. Nonetheless, we are here and we are loving it. I hope you will get a kick out of the last few weeks as we have. Let me start with Nate's visits to the villages.
Each day, he went to one or two villages for a sort of graduation process for the Cacao farmers. He would wake up most mornings at 5am and travel up to two hours on a road that could give you a whiplash or make you get car sickness, to visit villages, eat caldo. Caldo is a Mayan traditional dish that consist of chicken, pork, or gibnut. It is in a red caldo flavoring and is a hot soup. You eat the soup with hot tortillas. Its delicious. It is customary to eat the dish at each house you visit. Needless to say, Nate ate it three times before noon one day. What a trooper. He did this for 5 days. Most days he didn't get home time dinner time (5 or 6pm). While he had the opportunity to do that, I visited Baranco, a small Garifuna village in Toledo District. One of my friends lives there and it is beautiful. It is known for the culture, the beauty, and being one out of two villages that speak garifuna. It is also one of the fishing villages down here. I also started the school year....oh boy.
School started Wednesday. I went in after lunch and tend to leave around 4 or 5. I also helped to paint a world map (geography lessons are limited here). I am the school's librarian, so I have started to reorganize the library so it is easier for the kids to pick books. This week, Nate and I headed to Belmopan (Peace Corps headquarters location) and attended a meeting. I get to participate on the VAC committee. It stands for Volunteer Advocacy Committee. Basically, i get to make sure the volunteer's concerns in PG are addressed. That was on Wednesday. On Thursday Nate and I took a trip up north to visit some of our friends for the holiday.
Wait...the holiday. Okay, so on September 10, all Belizeans celebrate (national holiday) St. Georges Day. It is a celebration of the Belizean Army who conquered a Spanish troop who tried to take over Belize. This fight occurred on St. Georges Cayes. Therefore... a celebration. Celebrations include a lot of alcohol consumption, cook outs, parades, and carnivals.
Okay, so Nate went to Yo Creek village, a village located outside of Orange Walk, and located 3 1/2 hours from Belmopan to hang out with Kevin (another PCV )until Saturday. I went to the top of Belize (near Mexico) to hang out with a couple of really good friends. I stayed with Kaitlyn at Copper Bank, and visited Chunux to see our friend Roma. Both are small Latino villages. We had to take ferrys to get a round...fun. The whole trip was a blast. We ended the trip by staying in Orange Walk with another Peace Corps Volunteer. Now, we have returned to Belmopan for a few days.
This upcoming week includes a meeting with the ambassador, HIV/AIDs training, and Nate has a meeting as the new Warden. He is going to be responsible of contacting people if there were an emergency. A huge responsibility. We are proud of him!
That is it. I cant tell you how much we miss everyone. We have hit the mark almost 6 months and boy, we miss you all. We are planning on coming come for the holidays, so we hope to see/squeeze everyone in during our two week visit home.
Keep us updated on whats going on with you. Emails are always the best. We respond quicker to them.
We love you,
Michelle (and Nate)
I am starting to think that I start each blog with the same thing....yes we are still alive, no, we are not stranded somewhere and cant get to the internet. Nonetheless, we are here and we are loving it. I hope you will get a kick out of the last few weeks as we have. Let me start with Nate's visits to the villages.
Each day, he went to one or two villages for a sort of graduation process for the Cacao farmers. He would wake up most mornings at 5am and travel up to two hours on a road that could give you a whiplash or make you get car sickness, to visit villages, eat caldo. Caldo is a Mayan traditional dish that consist of chicken, pork, or gibnut. It is in a red caldo flavoring and is a hot soup. You eat the soup with hot tortillas. Its delicious. It is customary to eat the dish at each house you visit. Needless to say, Nate ate it three times before noon one day. What a trooper. He did this for 5 days. Most days he didn't get home time dinner time (5 or 6pm). While he had the opportunity to do that, I visited Baranco, a small Garifuna village in Toledo District. One of my friends lives there and it is beautiful. It is known for the culture, the beauty, and being one out of two villages that speak garifuna. It is also one of the fishing villages down here. I also started the school year....oh boy.
School started Wednesday. I went in after lunch and tend to leave around 4 or 5. I also helped to paint a world map (geography lessons are limited here). I am the school's librarian, so I have started to reorganize the library so it is easier for the kids to pick books. This week, Nate and I headed to Belmopan (Peace Corps headquarters location) and attended a meeting. I get to participate on the VAC committee. It stands for Volunteer Advocacy Committee. Basically, i get to make sure the volunteer's concerns in PG are addressed. That was on Wednesday. On Thursday Nate and I took a trip up north to visit some of our friends for the holiday.
Wait...the holiday. Okay, so on September 10, all Belizeans celebrate (national holiday) St. Georges Day. It is a celebration of the Belizean Army who conquered a Spanish troop who tried to take over Belize. This fight occurred on St. Georges Cayes. Therefore... a celebration. Celebrations include a lot of alcohol consumption, cook outs, parades, and carnivals.
Okay, so Nate went to Yo Creek village, a village located outside of Orange Walk, and located 3 1/2 hours from Belmopan to hang out with Kevin (another PCV )until Saturday. I went to the top of Belize (near Mexico) to hang out with a couple of really good friends. I stayed with Kaitlyn at Copper Bank, and visited Chunux to see our friend Roma. Both are small Latino villages. We had to take ferrys to get a round...fun. The whole trip was a blast. We ended the trip by staying in Orange Walk with another Peace Corps Volunteer. Now, we have returned to Belmopan for a few days.
This upcoming week includes a meeting with the ambassador, HIV/AIDs training, and Nate has a meeting as the new Warden. He is going to be responsible of contacting people if there were an emergency. A huge responsibility. We are proud of him!
That is it. I cant tell you how much we miss everyone. We have hit the mark almost 6 months and boy, we miss you all. We are planning on coming come for the holidays, so we hope to see/squeeze everyone in during our two week visit home.
Keep us updated on whats going on with you. Emails are always the best. We respond quicker to them.
We love you,
Michelle (and Nate)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
And now its time for the Maga Season
Hey friends and family!
Yep we are still alive. I know people are starting to wonder where we are and what we are doing...well we are here!!!! Lets see, where to begin. First a little Belize culture/language lesson. Maga means "thin". In two weeks during August, they call it the "Maga Season" meaning "thin season". They call it the thin season because for two weeks in August, it gets real hot and dry....no rain, thus a two week/thin season---a change of seasons for a short period of time.
Okay, now where to begin. The last two weeks have been great. We had a 30th birthday bashment that seems to have last for days. We had about 40 Peace Corps volunteers come on friday. We played corn hole and had a blast. On Saturday we had about half and half. About 20 volunteers came and about 20 Belizeans came. We felt honored and blessed to have so many friends to come our house and celebrate with us. We also had a Belizean meal. We served BBQ chicken, tortillas and salad (not vegetable, but potato). It was awesome. Nate and our friend Laura did a wonderful job planning and carrying out the party. I partied and played and enjoyed the beginning of the big 30. On the actual b-day, Nate made a wonderful meal and it was great.
In the mean time, Nate and I have been working at our site placement. Nate has been creating a database for his organization. I have working on creating a curriculum for chess club and girls group. We have been also working with other volunteers on their projects. That sums it up.
We hope everyone is doing well. We miss everyone and hope to see everyone someday soon.
Love,
Michelle (and Nate)
Yep we are still alive. I know people are starting to wonder where we are and what we are doing...well we are here!!!! Lets see, where to begin. First a little Belize culture/language lesson. Maga means "thin". In two weeks during August, they call it the "Maga Season" meaning "thin season". They call it the thin season because for two weeks in August, it gets real hot and dry....no rain, thus a two week/thin season---a change of seasons for a short period of time.
Okay, now where to begin. The last two weeks have been great. We had a 30th birthday bashment that seems to have last for days. We had about 40 Peace Corps volunteers come on friday. We played corn hole and had a blast. On Saturday we had about half and half. About 20 volunteers came and about 20 Belizeans came. We felt honored and blessed to have so many friends to come our house and celebrate with us. We also had a Belizean meal. We served BBQ chicken, tortillas and salad (not vegetable, but potato). It was awesome. Nate and our friend Laura did a wonderful job planning and carrying out the party. I partied and played and enjoyed the beginning of the big 30. On the actual b-day, Nate made a wonderful meal and it was great.
In the mean time, Nate and I have been working at our site placement. Nate has been creating a database for his organization. I have working on creating a curriculum for chess club and girls group. We have been also working with other volunteers on their projects. That sums it up.
We hope everyone is doing well. We miss everyone and hope to see everyone someday soon.
Love,
Michelle (and Nate)
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