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)
Friday, November 5, 2010
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)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Oh how we miss napkins
Howdy family and friends,
Nate and I wanted to fill you in on our last two weeks. We also thought we will increase some of this interesting facts about our experience thus far. To begin with, we will do a list of fun medical stuff that we have encountered thus far. Please enjoy.
whiplash...check sore throats...check
flea bites...check cold....check
bike accident...check spider bites...check
chiggers....check sun burn...check
red bugs...check muscle spasm...check
mosquito bites...check cuts, burns, scrapes...check
explosive diarrhea...check close call with scabies...check
food poisoning...check
So...hehe... we are having a blast. These things make our experience rememberable. On a different note, I thought I would also list some of our favorite things thus far. First, Nate and I love the thunderstorms down south in PG. They are some of the loudest thunderstorms we have ever heard. Imagine having your house shake for 20 or 30 minutes at a time. Also, Nate and I love our nicknames here. Most of the Belizians call Nate "Nathan" and me "Mich". It's cool. We also love how all the kids are getting familiar with us and call us Miss Michelle or Mr. Nate. We love how we can walk down to the market to get fresh produce. We love how we are becoming friends with people who live in PG too and that they just stop by to "hail" us (drop by to say hi).
Okay, now on the last two weeks. Nate has been working incredibly hard on creating a database for his site. He went to a local village called San Jose and took some incredible pictures of the mountains, the cocoa trees and plant. He loved walking in the mud and throughout the farms. I on the other hand have been working at home mostly. I have been creating new food dishes and learning how to make more Belizian food. I have been also working on secondary projects like Special Olympics and a boys groups on healthy relationships. Over the weekend, we hung out and said good bye to one of good friends here. He is done with his two years and will be heading out today.
I am pretty excited too. Nate and one of our friends Laura are planning a 30th birthday bashment at our house this weekend. They invited all the PCV down for the weekend. There are 100 volunteers and about 50 of them are coming! WOW. Nate and I are also inviting our host family and friends from our placement sites. I hope to take tons of pictures.
Well, thats it....for right now. We miss and love you all. Don't be a stranger!
Michelle (and Nate)
Nate and I wanted to fill you in on our last two weeks. We also thought we will increase some of this interesting facts about our experience thus far. To begin with, we will do a list of fun medical stuff that we have encountered thus far. Please enjoy.
whiplash...check sore throats...check
flea bites...check cold....check
bike accident...check spider bites...check
chiggers....check sun burn...check
red bugs...check muscle spasm...check
mosquito bites...check cuts, burns, scrapes...check
explosive diarrhea...check close call with scabies...check
food poisoning...check
So...hehe... we are having a blast. These things make our experience rememberable. On a different note, I thought I would also list some of our favorite things thus far. First, Nate and I love the thunderstorms down south in PG. They are some of the loudest thunderstorms we have ever heard. Imagine having your house shake for 20 or 30 minutes at a time. Also, Nate and I love our nicknames here. Most of the Belizians call Nate "Nathan" and me "Mich". It's cool. We also love how all the kids are getting familiar with us and call us Miss Michelle or Mr. Nate. We love how we can walk down to the market to get fresh produce. We love how we are becoming friends with people who live in PG too and that they just stop by to "hail" us (drop by to say hi).
Okay, now on the last two weeks. Nate has been working incredibly hard on creating a database for his site. He went to a local village called San Jose and took some incredible pictures of the mountains, the cocoa trees and plant. He loved walking in the mud and throughout the farms. I on the other hand have been working at home mostly. I have been creating new food dishes and learning how to make more Belizian food. I have been also working on secondary projects like Special Olympics and a boys groups on healthy relationships. Over the weekend, we hung out and said good bye to one of good friends here. He is done with his two years and will be heading out today.
I am pretty excited too. Nate and one of our friends Laura are planning a 30th birthday bashment at our house this weekend. They invited all the PCV down for the weekend. There are 100 volunteers and about 50 of them are coming! WOW. Nate and I are also inviting our host family and friends from our placement sites. I hope to take tons of pictures.
Well, thats it....for right now. We miss and love you all. Don't be a stranger!
Michelle (and Nate)
Monday, July 5, 2010
4th in style
Hey Fam and friends,
Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th. I wanted to tell you guys that we had an amazing weekend. Wow. So Nate and I both went on the fishing trip this weekend. It was awesome. We left on Saturday morning at 6am and returned Sunday at 4pm. We fished all day in the Caribbean Ocean. We swam and snorkeled. We slept overnight on one of the Cays, Lime Cay. It was amazing. Nate and I went with his placement/work. They were great and it was a great way to to get to know them better too. Nate and I both caught a barracuda each. ROCK ON.
Sunday we returned to PG and went to BBQ for the 4th at one of the PC volunteers house. There was like 30 people there. It was just great being surrounded by family (PCV) and friends. We miss you all and hope everyone is doing well.
Love,
Michelle (and Nate)
Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th. I wanted to tell you guys that we had an amazing weekend. Wow. So Nate and I both went on the fishing trip this weekend. It was awesome. We left on Saturday morning at 6am and returned Sunday at 4pm. We fished all day in the Caribbean Ocean. We swam and snorkeled. We slept overnight on one of the Cays, Lime Cay. It was amazing. Nate and I went with his placement/work. They were great and it was a great way to to get to know them better too. Nate and I both caught a barracuda each. ROCK ON.
Sunday we returned to PG and went to BBQ for the 4th at one of the PC volunteers house. There was like 30 people there. It was just great being surrounded by family (PCV) and friends. We miss you all and hope everyone is doing well.
Love,
Michelle (and Nate)
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