This is disgustingly late! But just this is just for those who are still faithfully checking this. It took me a while, but now I'm officially declaring that I am HOME!
It's hard to believe how quickly time went by...and it's still going by super fast! I've been home for 19 days already and all have been very busy. Tomorrow I'm planning on writing a math exam, and I've been working on a summative project about Belize. In fact, my team is having a presentation night on Thursday where we'll display our projects and each have some time to talk about our research in the various areas we chose. My project is researching the differences between the ancient Mayan religion and Christianity.
Anyone is welcome to come to the evening, even though it's a bit of a treck.
Here's the details:
7:00 – 9:00 P.M.
Thursday Evening
June 21st, 2007
New Life Pentecostal Church
824 Thompson Road
Milton, Ontario
Church Phone: 905 878 3358
I'm also hoping to talk about my trip at the Missions night at my church. That would probably be much easier to get to for most people.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my updates, even though at times I wasn't exactly on the ball with keeping them consistent. Your comments and your prayers were much appreciated. My experience was awesome!
~Elena
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
7 days left with the palm trees...
It looks like this may just be my final blog post in Belize!
I have a coundown on my laptop that is currently at 7 days. It's eight thirty in the morning on Friday and at this time next week we'll be boarding our flight home in four hours. Crazy!
Yesterday was my final day at my last placement, because today all the teachers are in Belmopan at a "demonstration" (basically a riot) protesting against the Belizian government, particularly the prime minister Musa. So what I'll be doing is homework. Basically a pretty boring day.
I really enjoyed my last placement. It wasn't as good as my first, because often I'd find myself with no real jobs to do. My mornings were always occupied by working in the back of Miss Linda's class. She discovered I like to draw, so I was given a lot of things to do in that area, particularly posterboards to hang up around her classroom. I had to draw a poster full of insects that have no backbones, and then yesterday I finished up another one about personal hygiene. I really enjoyed making them,, and I almost wish I could take them home with me because I worked so hard on them! : P
There was one day last week where I was sitting in the office, waiting for lunch to be over and the students to return to class. Suddenly I realized I was wasting my time sitting down when I could be outside on the playground. So I grabbed my camera, and before the buzzer went I'd taken close to 100 photos of the kids running around. They loved my camera...they posed for me, wanted pictures with me, and wanted to take pictures of me! It's probably going to end up being one of the most memorable experiences from the trip, and to think it might not have happened if I'd stayed in the office!
Today is when the people working at their placements get picked up for the final time, and we'll spend our last weekend in Belize together, hopefully going on a little daytrip on Saturday to do some last minute sight-seeing. Sunday will be a day of rest as it always is, and Monday will be begin the craziness! We'll probably all begin doing a cleanup of our house and beginning the packing process by trying to find all the stuff we lost three months ago. :P Then on Monday night we're going to have a big banquet in the dining hall with all the people we were involved with from our various placements over the entire trip. This is also where we're going to say our final goodbyes to them. That's going to be difficult for me, especially saying goodbye to my host family when I worked in the Mennonite school. It's easy to say that they are the people I'll miss the most out of everyone we're leaving behind. I think living with them at the beginning of the trip was the main reason why I didn't experience serious homesickness at all. I just felt so at home there, right when I walked into their house.
Tuesday will be utter insanity! It's our last day in our house at YWAM, and it's the BIG packing/cleanup day. By the evening hopefully all our rooms will be as clean and as empty as they were when we first walked into the house three months ago. It will be extremely exciting knowing that I'll be home soon, but the thought that I'm going to walk out of the bedroom I've lived in for three months and not ever walk into it again, is a very sad one. Our whole team has grown to love this house, and believe it or not, we're used to living with so many people under one roof! It's going to be quite the change to go from 20 people in the same house to five back home.
Early Wednesday morning (3:00 or somewhere around there) we lock up the empty house and hop on our bus for one last ride...but it'll be a long one. We'll be on the road for 12 straight hours to drive from Belmopan, Belize, to Cancun, Mexico. Hopefully we'll arrive sometime in the late afternoon/early evening. We'll spend the night in a hotel, and the next morning we're off to the airport to see off the team members that are flying out a day early so that they can go to prom, which is Friday night. The rest of the day will be spent relaxing, hopefully grabbing a couple last rays from the Caribbean sun on the beach. On Friday morning we'll check out of our hotel and be at the airport in time to board our flight which takes off at 12:37! Hopefully if all goes well I'll be touching down in Buffalo by 8:06 p.m., and in my house no later than midnight.
I wonder if I'll have any time to actually THINK this upcoming week!
Hope to see many of you, Lord willing, very soon! : )
I have a coundown on my laptop that is currently at 7 days. It's eight thirty in the morning on Friday and at this time next week we'll be boarding our flight home in four hours. Crazy!
Yesterday was my final day at my last placement, because today all the teachers are in Belmopan at a "demonstration" (basically a riot) protesting against the Belizian government, particularly the prime minister Musa. So what I'll be doing is homework. Basically a pretty boring day.
I really enjoyed my last placement. It wasn't as good as my first, because often I'd find myself with no real jobs to do. My mornings were always occupied by working in the back of Miss Linda's class. She discovered I like to draw, so I was given a lot of things to do in that area, particularly posterboards to hang up around her classroom. I had to draw a poster full of insects that have no backbones, and then yesterday I finished up another one about personal hygiene. I really enjoyed making them,, and I almost wish I could take them home with me because I worked so hard on them! : P
There was one day last week where I was sitting in the office, waiting for lunch to be over and the students to return to class. Suddenly I realized I was wasting my time sitting down when I could be outside on the playground. So I grabbed my camera, and before the buzzer went I'd taken close to 100 photos of the kids running around. They loved my camera...they posed for me, wanted pictures with me, and wanted to take pictures of me! It's probably going to end up being one of the most memorable experiences from the trip, and to think it might not have happened if I'd stayed in the office!
Today is when the people working at their placements get picked up for the final time, and we'll spend our last weekend in Belize together, hopefully going on a little daytrip on Saturday to do some last minute sight-seeing. Sunday will be a day of rest as it always is, and Monday will be begin the craziness! We'll probably all begin doing a cleanup of our house and beginning the packing process by trying to find all the stuff we lost three months ago. :P Then on Monday night we're going to have a big banquet in the dining hall with all the people we were involved with from our various placements over the entire trip. This is also where we're going to say our final goodbyes to them. That's going to be difficult for me, especially saying goodbye to my host family when I worked in the Mennonite school. It's easy to say that they are the people I'll miss the most out of everyone we're leaving behind. I think living with them at the beginning of the trip was the main reason why I didn't experience serious homesickness at all. I just felt so at home there, right when I walked into their house.
Tuesday will be utter insanity! It's our last day in our house at YWAM, and it's the BIG packing/cleanup day. By the evening hopefully all our rooms will be as clean and as empty as they were when we first walked into the house three months ago. It will be extremely exciting knowing that I'll be home soon, but the thought that I'm going to walk out of the bedroom I've lived in for three months and not ever walk into it again, is a very sad one. Our whole team has grown to love this house, and believe it or not, we're used to living with so many people under one roof! It's going to be quite the change to go from 20 people in the same house to five back home.
Early Wednesday morning (3:00 or somewhere around there) we lock up the empty house and hop on our bus for one last ride...but it'll be a long one. We'll be on the road for 12 straight hours to drive from Belmopan, Belize, to Cancun, Mexico. Hopefully we'll arrive sometime in the late afternoon/early evening. We'll spend the night in a hotel, and the next morning we're off to the airport to see off the team members that are flying out a day early so that they can go to prom, which is Friday night. The rest of the day will be spent relaxing, hopefully grabbing a couple last rays from the Caribbean sun on the beach. On Friday morning we'll check out of our hotel and be at the airport in time to board our flight which takes off at 12:37! Hopefully if all goes well I'll be touching down in Buffalo by 8:06 p.m., and in my house no later than midnight.
I wonder if I'll have any time to actually THINK this upcoming week!
Hope to see many of you, Lord willing, very soon! : )
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Want the specifics?
So I was bored at one point today, and I decided to do some math. Yes, some math in Belize. These are taken as of 12:00 noon on May 22, 2007.
Hours left in Belize---180
Hours left in Central America---228
Minutes left in Belize---10,800
Minutes left in Central America---13,680
Hours living in Belize---1,992
Minutes living in Belize---119,520
Seconds living in Belize---7,171,200
And the grand total once I step off the plane...
Hours total in Belize---2,172
Minutes total in Belize---130,320
Seconds total in Belize---7,819,200
Nine days! Crazy to think that I'm into the single digits now.
Watch this space for a slightly more informative post coming soon!
Hours left in Belize---180
Hours left in Central America---228
Minutes left in Belize---10,800
Minutes left in Central America---13,680
Hours living in Belize---1,992
Minutes living in Belize---119,520
Seconds living in Belize---7,171,200
And the grand total once I step off the plane...
Hours total in Belize---2,172
Minutes total in Belize---130,320
Seconds total in Belize---7,819,200
Nine days! Crazy to think that I'm into the single digits now.
Watch this space for a slightly more informative post coming soon!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Three months, three weeks, finishing third placement!
Hey everyone!
I'm officially finished one third of my final placement, and in less than three weeks I'll be on a plane flying home.
This week went by very fast. I'm helping out at Belize Faith Mission in Ontario Christian School (yes, that's the name of the village!) doing various things. I do work in the office like typing up various documents, but I also get to work in classrooms correcting students' work. There are about 350 students in the school which is roughly the same size as my old grade school back home, I think. In just one week my name has gotten around and the name "Miss Elena" has resurfaced from my first placement. The kids especially just like to watch me when I'm sitting outside the office and when I smile at them they smile back and wave at me almost every time. There's also an orphanage on the property where some of the students live, so there's a mix of students that have families and students that don't.
I spent a bit of time talking with the principal Mrs. Adolphus during lunch one day. She asked me about my family back home and about my faith. She just listened while I talked about how this trip has caused many changes in me, and about the differences between this country and Canada. One thing I particularly noticed is different are the church services. They have no bulletins, no set schedule...however they want to worship they do it. I've seen people dancing, raising their arms, I've seen people collapse in prayer lying facedown on the ground, I've heard people speaking in tongues numerous times, which is something I've never heard before. I've actually been prayed over in tongues. All these things I've only heard about but never thought people actually did. These people are absolutely on fire for God, which is what I really needed to see when I came down here. It allowed me to see that there is more than one way to worship and that whatever way we choose is acceptable. I just got a taste in Belize of a different type that I've never really experienced before.
The week went by very fast. Each day walking over the swinging bridge I was surprised to find that it was already the next day and I was about to do it all over again! Something tells me that these last two weeks at my placement won't take their time to pass...they're going to be gone in an instant.
Our whole team's general mindset is that we're ready to go home. Three months is a very long time to be away from home, especially for the first time, in my case. Before this trip I'd never been away from my home or my family for longer than a week. That's a strange thing to think about...that for my entire life I've been living in such close quarters with my family. This trip has been a new thing in my life in many different ways, that being just one of them. Even though we're all ready to go home, we're not quite ready...just yet. It's slowly starting to hit us that when this trip is over, it's over and we can't go back. Something tells me that we're going to be trying to live for every moment in these last three weeks which we haven't necessarily done for the entire trip, especially during the rough patches. Closer to the beginning of the trip if I tried to imagine myself home, it didn't seem like a reality. Now, it's very much real. The countdown is at 20 days. I've been here for seventy three days, I believe. Three months ago today I was doing my first day at my short term placement at HMDCS. Hard to believe three months have passed since then!
Lesson for the week: Live for the moment, because later on when I'm home I'll look back on those moments and remember how much I've enjoyed myself here.
This has been an overall thoughtful post. I need those every once in a while, especially right now when this journey that's been constantly on my mind for the past year is coming to a close.
See you all soon!
Jumping back two weeks ago...the youngest cowboy in the rodeo who did some "bull" riding...but it was more like a calf :P
I'm officially finished one third of my final placement, and in less than three weeks I'll be on a plane flying home.
This week went by very fast. I'm helping out at Belize Faith Mission in Ontario Christian School (yes, that's the name of the village!) doing various things. I do work in the office like typing up various documents, but I also get to work in classrooms correcting students' work. There are about 350 students in the school which is roughly the same size as my old grade school back home, I think. In just one week my name has gotten around and the name "Miss Elena" has resurfaced from my first placement. The kids especially just like to watch me when I'm sitting outside the office and when I smile at them they smile back and wave at me almost every time. There's also an orphanage on the property where some of the students live, so there's a mix of students that have families and students that don't.
I spent a bit of time talking with the principal Mrs. Adolphus during lunch one day. She asked me about my family back home and about my faith. She just listened while I talked about how this trip has caused many changes in me, and about the differences between this country and Canada. One thing I particularly noticed is different are the church services. They have no bulletins, no set schedule...however they want to worship they do it. I've seen people dancing, raising their arms, I've seen people collapse in prayer lying facedown on the ground, I've heard people speaking in tongues numerous times, which is something I've never heard before. I've actually been prayed over in tongues. All these things I've only heard about but never thought people actually did. These people are absolutely on fire for God, which is what I really needed to see when I came down here. It allowed me to see that there is more than one way to worship and that whatever way we choose is acceptable. I just got a taste in Belize of a different type that I've never really experienced before.
The week went by very fast. Each day walking over the swinging bridge I was surprised to find that it was already the next day and I was about to do it all over again! Something tells me that these last two weeks at my placement won't take their time to pass...they're going to be gone in an instant.
Our whole team's general mindset is that we're ready to go home. Three months is a very long time to be away from home, especially for the first time, in my case. Before this trip I'd never been away from my home or my family for longer than a week. That's a strange thing to think about...that for my entire life I've been living in such close quarters with my family. This trip has been a new thing in my life in many different ways, that being just one of them. Even though we're all ready to go home, we're not quite ready...just yet. It's slowly starting to hit us that when this trip is over, it's over and we can't go back. Something tells me that we're going to be trying to live for every moment in these last three weeks which we haven't necessarily done for the entire trip, especially during the rough patches. Closer to the beginning of the trip if I tried to imagine myself home, it didn't seem like a reality. Now, it's very much real. The countdown is at 20 days. I've been here for seventy three days, I believe. Three months ago today I was doing my first day at my short term placement at HMDCS. Hard to believe three months have passed since then!
Lesson for the week: Live for the moment, because later on when I'm home I'll look back on those moments and remember how much I've enjoyed myself here.
This has been an overall thoughtful post. I need those every once in a while, especially right now when this journey that's been constantly on my mind for the past year is coming to a close.
See you all soon!
Jumping back two weeks ago...the youngest cowboy in the rodeo who did some "bull" riding...but it was more like a calf :P
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
In Between
This past weekend I had a really interesting opportunity. I got to volunteer at the National Agricultural Trade Show, otherwise known as the Belize Rodeo! Emily (a group member and good friend) and I were up nice and early in the morning to be at the fairgrounds.
We were actually the official timekeepers! It was neat when the security guard would come up to the rodeo tower and ask us why we're up there, and we'd get to say "we're staff...we're with John." (He's the head guy that runs the rodeo.) Another perk was the free drinks! (aka...pop!)
The days were really long though. We were there from about eight to six on both days. Sunday was the official rodeo day so that was when our timekeeping was really crucial. I think we did a really good job of it, even though they'd be telling us how to time a new event right before it was about to start. Things aren't as organized as they are in Canada, but I guess that could be expected. I also learned a bunch of different rodeo events like pole bending, keyhole race, wild horse race, and a bunch of other ones. It was really exciting, especially since we had two of our team members participating in some of the events! Liesl Thomas and Meghan VanHoeve were competing in the women's division, and Liesl took a second for the arena race! She's been practicing each evening after her placement for the past few weeks at a ranch close to the YWAM base.
All I've been thinking about this past weekend was rodeo rodeo rodeo. Now that it's over, I'm brought back to reality, and realizing just how long ago my last post was. I have yet to talk about my final week of my second placement. Looking ahead, I still have one more three week placement left, but besides that, there isn't much between the present and the day I'm on the plane home. When I'd worry about this trip I'd worry that three months was too long for me to handle. Now, with 29 days left, I'm amazed at how fast it flew by. I think I've mentioned that a couple times already in previous posts, I'm not sure.
So, I finished my second placement a while back at the orphanage. To be honest, it was harder than I thought. It was quite a challenge actually. The kids were great though; they were the ones that got me through it, as well as Aislin, and the girl we met there. Her name is Lisa, and she's a whole separate story! She's from Oregon and she's 23, and she's volunteering at the orphanage for two months. Her first day was our first day, and she came to Belize by herself. When we found out that she'd probably end up sleeping with the children inside the orphanage rather than at the director's home, we talked to Mr. K and ended up inviting her to stay with us for the weekend. She ended up applying to live at YWAM, and now has her own little cabin here on the base! She's not officially a part of our team, but I feel like I've known her for longer than just a few weeks.
The last week I was at the orphanage I spent a lot of time painting. There were a couple teams that passed through the children's home while we were there, and so we did some painting in the kids' rooms, but we also helped to paint the exterior of the building. Thankfully the heat wasn't too intense, and I actually really enjoyed painting because it allowed me to be outside. The home is cramped to say the least. Some of the kids there I'm never going to forget, like Amelia, Leah, Ashton, JR, and Marlon. I don't know if they'll always remember me, because every single morning they were faithful in asking me what my name was!
Right now our team is on our break that we have between our placements. We haven't been doing much, which ended up kind of getting to me. Hannah Smele's family was visiting and they asked me if I wanted to spend a night with them on Caye Caulker, just to get away for a day. It ended up being so refreshing for me just to be able to sit at the end of a dock at ten thirty at night with the other girls that came along and just stare at the moon and talk. Every time I look up at a clear sky at night (but especially down here by the sea it's BEAUTIFUL) I realize just how small I am and how big this world is. It makes me realize that I need to make sure I put in a lot of effort into this trip because there are a lot of people in this world that need to feel love.
I'm back at the base now because I only stayed for one night. It was a pretty long trip to get back to Belmopan from San Pedro. First Lisa and I (we went home together) took a water taxi from San Pedro to Caye Caulker, and that took half an hour. Then we took another water taxi to Belize City, which took probably over an hour. At the boat terminal we found a nice cheap taxi to take us to the bus terminal, and then from there we drove for another hour and a half to finally get to Belmopan! Oh, and Belize transit isn't the prettiest. Just think school bus, but add more seats and reduce the leg room. Travelling back to the base wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The most annoying thing about Belize is probably guys passing in trucks and yelling to you, offering a ride, or just generally making you feel uncomfortable. It's really unavoidable here though. We're always dressed appropriately because we're under the supervision of YWAM, so it's not like we encourage it. We're all really good at not responding anymore though, because we don't want to give them a reaction.
Oh, and I'm going to put it out there...it's Suzanne's birthday today! Yet another sister's birthday I'm not around for, but I have 30 days left on the calendar that I'm here so it won't be long until I'm home again to officially give them birthday hugs!
I'm going to put in an extra effort from now on to keep these blogs consistent because I need to make sure you can all know everything I'm experiencing, and I'm experiencing a lot! There are times when I feel it's not easy to write it all out in a blog post, and then everything builds up and the blog post becomes insanely long. I'm going to have to learn how to write posts about things as they come, not as they build up. I still have a month to master that, so I'm hoping for the best!
I hope you're all enjoying the warm Canadian weather that I hear you're having!
This is Lisa and I painting...sort of. Those spindles took a crazy long time to paint because there are so many corners and curves and annoying parts you need to reach.
This is Leah! She was always ready to be picked up and held.
This is J.R...he's pretty much the coolest kid you'd ever meet.
This is Louis. He drooled a lot but had the cutest smile. At one point they gave him a blue M&M and he drooled blue alllll down his front.
Amelia and Nathan. They were both so incredibly cute you can't help but love them. I never saw Nathan when he wasn't happy!
Although this isn't the best picture of me, here I am with Ashton. Ashton and I bonded after he had a rock dropped on his head and I had to escort him back to the orphanage with one of my shirts covering his pretty bashed up head. He was nice to Aislin and I the rest of the time we were there. At one point while we were at the park he found a dollar and then insisted on buying the two of us a snow cone from a vender walking his cart down the street. The thing was so insanely sweet it almost made me sick, but I appreciated the general thought of it : )
We were actually the official timekeepers! It was neat when the security guard would come up to the rodeo tower and ask us why we're up there, and we'd get to say "we're staff...we're with John." (He's the head guy that runs the rodeo.) Another perk was the free drinks! (aka...pop!)
The days were really long though. We were there from about eight to six on both days. Sunday was the official rodeo day so that was when our timekeeping was really crucial. I think we did a really good job of it, even though they'd be telling us how to time a new event right before it was about to start. Things aren't as organized as they are in Canada, but I guess that could be expected. I also learned a bunch of different rodeo events like pole bending, keyhole race, wild horse race, and a bunch of other ones. It was really exciting, especially since we had two of our team members participating in some of the events! Liesl Thomas and Meghan VanHoeve were competing in the women's division, and Liesl took a second for the arena race! She's been practicing each evening after her placement for the past few weeks at a ranch close to the YWAM base.
All I've been thinking about this past weekend was rodeo rodeo rodeo. Now that it's over, I'm brought back to reality, and realizing just how long ago my last post was. I have yet to talk about my final week of my second placement. Looking ahead, I still have one more three week placement left, but besides that, there isn't much between the present and the day I'm on the plane home. When I'd worry about this trip I'd worry that three months was too long for me to handle. Now, with 29 days left, I'm amazed at how fast it flew by. I think I've mentioned that a couple times already in previous posts, I'm not sure.
So, I finished my second placement a while back at the orphanage. To be honest, it was harder than I thought. It was quite a challenge actually. The kids were great though; they were the ones that got me through it, as well as Aislin, and the girl we met there. Her name is Lisa, and she's a whole separate story! She's from Oregon and she's 23, and she's volunteering at the orphanage for two months. Her first day was our first day, and she came to Belize by herself. When we found out that she'd probably end up sleeping with the children inside the orphanage rather than at the director's home, we talked to Mr. K and ended up inviting her to stay with us for the weekend. She ended up applying to live at YWAM, and now has her own little cabin here on the base! She's not officially a part of our team, but I feel like I've known her for longer than just a few weeks.
The last week I was at the orphanage I spent a lot of time painting. There were a couple teams that passed through the children's home while we were there, and so we did some painting in the kids' rooms, but we also helped to paint the exterior of the building. Thankfully the heat wasn't too intense, and I actually really enjoyed painting because it allowed me to be outside. The home is cramped to say the least. Some of the kids there I'm never going to forget, like Amelia, Leah, Ashton, JR, and Marlon. I don't know if they'll always remember me, because every single morning they were faithful in asking me what my name was!
Right now our team is on our break that we have between our placements. We haven't been doing much, which ended up kind of getting to me. Hannah Smele's family was visiting and they asked me if I wanted to spend a night with them on Caye Caulker, just to get away for a day. It ended up being so refreshing for me just to be able to sit at the end of a dock at ten thirty at night with the other girls that came along and just stare at the moon and talk. Every time I look up at a clear sky at night (but especially down here by the sea it's BEAUTIFUL) I realize just how small I am and how big this world is. It makes me realize that I need to make sure I put in a lot of effort into this trip because there are a lot of people in this world that need to feel love.
I'm back at the base now because I only stayed for one night. It was a pretty long trip to get back to Belmopan from San Pedro. First Lisa and I (we went home together) took a water taxi from San Pedro to Caye Caulker, and that took half an hour. Then we took another water taxi to Belize City, which took probably over an hour. At the boat terminal we found a nice cheap taxi to take us to the bus terminal, and then from there we drove for another hour and a half to finally get to Belmopan! Oh, and Belize transit isn't the prettiest. Just think school bus, but add more seats and reduce the leg room. Travelling back to the base wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The most annoying thing about Belize is probably guys passing in trucks and yelling to you, offering a ride, or just generally making you feel uncomfortable. It's really unavoidable here though. We're always dressed appropriately because we're under the supervision of YWAM, so it's not like we encourage it. We're all really good at not responding anymore though, because we don't want to give them a reaction.
Oh, and I'm going to put it out there...it's Suzanne's birthday today! Yet another sister's birthday I'm not around for, but I have 30 days left on the calendar that I'm here so it won't be long until I'm home again to officially give them birthday hugs!
I'm going to put in an extra effort from now on to keep these blogs consistent because I need to make sure you can all know everything I'm experiencing, and I'm experiencing a lot! There are times when I feel it's not easy to write it all out in a blog post, and then everything builds up and the blog post becomes insanely long. I'm going to have to learn how to write posts about things as they come, not as they build up. I still have a month to master that, so I'm hoping for the best!
I hope you're all enjoying the warm Canadian weather that I hear you're having!
This is Lisa and I painting...sort of. Those spindles took a crazy long time to paint because there are so many corners and curves and annoying parts you need to reach.
This is Leah! She was always ready to be picked up and held.
This is J.R...he's pretty much the coolest kid you'd ever meet.
This is Louis. He drooled a lot but had the cutest smile. At one point they gave him a blue M&M and he drooled blue alllll down his front.
Amelia and Nathan. They were both so incredibly cute you can't help but love them. I never saw Nathan when he wasn't happy!
Although this isn't the best picture of me, here I am with Ashton. Ashton and I bonded after he had a rock dropped on his head and I had to escort him back to the orphanage with one of my shirts covering his pretty bashed up head. He was nice to Aislin and I the rest of the time we were there. At one point while we were at the park he found a dollar and then insisted on buying the two of us a snow cone from a vender walking his cart down the street. The thing was so insanely sweet it almost made me sick, but I appreciated the general thought of it : )
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Halfway!!
Hey everyone!
I know it's been a while since I last blogged, and some things have happened that I should be updating people about, such as my new placement, the VBS program we hosted at YWAM, and all the maintenance work we got to do on the base every afternoon!
Last week I spent Tuesday through Friday at the King's Children's Home in Belmopan. You can check out the website here: http://www.kingschildrenshome.org/
I'll have to say it's been quite the experience so far. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it. The kids had the week off for Easter, so they were all there all day every day. The place was also pretty crowded with a missions team from Bermuda painting all the children's rooms, so the children weren't allowed to be in their rooms. My first day I went with Liesl because Aislin, my original partner for this placement, wasn't feeling well. We found ourselves trying to find something to do when we got there because nobody introduced themselves to us. Someone finally mentioned to us that we could help out Dora, the laundry lady. So we spent well over an hour hanging up clothes on the clotheslines in the backyard.
Generally, the things I did there were hang up laundry, take the kids to the park, help with the painting (on Friday) and basically just babysit the kids. There were points where I felt rather useless, and those were the times when I just wanted to be home. The upcoming week is when the kids are back in school again, so hopefully Aislin and I will be able to have a bit of a schedule for each day. Last week wasn't a regular schedule week, and that was the week we just happened to begin our placement. Next week is the final week of my second placement already! Monday the 16th is the halfway point for the trip...it's amazing how fast it's going by!
The week before last was the week that our team hosted a VBS program for the children of Roaring Creek. Our first day produced only a few children, but we still had a blast doing crafts, Bible stories and sports. I was part of the crafts team so we thought up some awesome crafts for the kids for each day. At the end of the first day we asked each child to invite a friend for the next day, and voila! The next day we had almost double the amount of kids! The mornings flew by with the kids, and it was neat to get to know some of them. After VBS and lunch, we'd all work at the base doing general maintenance. I spent one afternoon scrubbing the outside of a house with some girls, and we managed to get eachother rather soaked with the hose in the process. Another day I was in the kitchen helping to bake almost 100 cupcakes for the next day's VBS. I cleaned fridges, swept out cabanas, and all that good stuff! Our nights are usually spent relaxing, emailing, playing Dutch Blitz, and enjoying eachothers' company during group devotions every night at 8:30. I love living at the base! Whenever we mention "home" we usually mean here at YWAM. Whenever we talk about "home" home, we need to emphasize the fact that it's in Canada. I'll say it again, we're at the halfway point tomorrow so we are getting very used to it here : )
Well, it's almost time to go to church so I'm going to end this post with just a few pictures of what I've been up to since I last posted!
Missing you all!
Oh, and I changed it so that you can now leave me comments without having an account, so you're all welcome to leave a comment if you'd like!
I know it's been a while since I last blogged, and some things have happened that I should be updating people about, such as my new placement, the VBS program we hosted at YWAM, and all the maintenance work we got to do on the base every afternoon!
Last week I spent Tuesday through Friday at the King's Children's Home in Belmopan. You can check out the website here: http://www.kingschildrenshome.org/
I'll have to say it's been quite the experience so far. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it. The kids had the week off for Easter, so they were all there all day every day. The place was also pretty crowded with a missions team from Bermuda painting all the children's rooms, so the children weren't allowed to be in their rooms. My first day I went with Liesl because Aislin, my original partner for this placement, wasn't feeling well. We found ourselves trying to find something to do when we got there because nobody introduced themselves to us. Someone finally mentioned to us that we could help out Dora, the laundry lady. So we spent well over an hour hanging up clothes on the clotheslines in the backyard.
Generally, the things I did there were hang up laundry, take the kids to the park, help with the painting (on Friday) and basically just babysit the kids. There were points where I felt rather useless, and those were the times when I just wanted to be home. The upcoming week is when the kids are back in school again, so hopefully Aislin and I will be able to have a bit of a schedule for each day. Last week wasn't a regular schedule week, and that was the week we just happened to begin our placement. Next week is the final week of my second placement already! Monday the 16th is the halfway point for the trip...it's amazing how fast it's going by!
The week before last was the week that our team hosted a VBS program for the children of Roaring Creek. Our first day produced only a few children, but we still had a blast doing crafts, Bible stories and sports. I was part of the crafts team so we thought up some awesome crafts for the kids for each day. At the end of the first day we asked each child to invite a friend for the next day, and voila! The next day we had almost double the amount of kids! The mornings flew by with the kids, and it was neat to get to know some of them. After VBS and lunch, we'd all work at the base doing general maintenance. I spent one afternoon scrubbing the outside of a house with some girls, and we managed to get eachother rather soaked with the hose in the process. Another day I was in the kitchen helping to bake almost 100 cupcakes for the next day's VBS. I cleaned fridges, swept out cabanas, and all that good stuff! Our nights are usually spent relaxing, emailing, playing Dutch Blitz, and enjoying eachothers' company during group devotions every night at 8:30. I love living at the base! Whenever we mention "home" we usually mean here at YWAM. Whenever we talk about "home" home, we need to emphasize the fact that it's in Canada. I'll say it again, we're at the halfway point tomorrow so we are getting very used to it here : )
Well, it's almost time to go to church so I'm going to end this post with just a few pictures of what I've been up to since I last posted!
Missing you all!
Oh, and I changed it so that you can now leave me comments without having an account, so you're all welcome to leave a comment if you'd like!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Corozal!
Well, here I am back at the YWAM base after four days in Corozal, a town a few miles south of the Mexican border. We were there to help out at a high school. The principal there is Albert Zantingh, who seemed to know a lot of our parents! On Wednesday we started the three hour drive up to Corozal, and when we spent the remainder of the afternoon on the “beach” (no sand...just a wall you had to jump over to get in the water) and swimming in the beautiful Caribbean Sea. The water is very foggy and the sand underneath is less than pleasant to walk on because your feet will sink a few inches into the goosh everytime you take a step. The temperature was wonderful though and so refreshing after the long bus ride.
Our first (and second as well) night was spent in the high school...the boys on the first floor in the home ec room and the girl upstairs on the locker room floor upstairs. The school consists of two buildings, each two floors high. It's complete concrete, and very open concept. The locker room was the width of the school so there was a big cage door on either side of the room leading to the balconies. We just managed to squish all the girls into it. The funny thing is that the room the seven guys were sleeping in was big enough to fit in all the girls easily, but they made us go upstairs for security issues, which is probably a good idea. We didn't take our laptops with us because in that town expensive things tend to grow legs and disappear.
On Thursday morning we woke up at 5:40 and completely packed up and ate breakfast because, of course, there was school that morning. We packed up the bus and then headed down the school driveway to the security guard's house which we were going to paint. The colours we had: off white and baby pink. Those aren't weird colours though, trust me. We passed by some sunshine yellow houses on the way up. The whole day was spent painting the exterior, and then with the extra paint we painted some of the inside as well. Other members of the team were cleaning up a ditch, and others were taking a back room off of a storage shed.
On Friday we finished off the house and since we had extra paint, we decided to go a little farther and paint the shed too. Also, on Wednesday while we were at the beach we were met a couple from the States who felt called by God to sell their two businesses, their house...basically everything, and move to Belize to start a seminary for people who want to dig deeper into the Bible. They've been here for two months and are extremely homesick, and we decided to bless them and paint their house as well. So four girls from our team spent the two work days there and did a whole bunch of painting for them. Our initial jobs in Corozal were to clean up a ditch, paint a house, and tear down the back of a shed. We managed to paint the shed as well as paint another house. We did much more than was expected, and that was a really cool thing.
Friday night was spent at the Zantinghs' house eating mac and cheese and watching Ice Princess (we all watched it too!) and celebrating a whole month of being in Belize! When it was time to go to bed, we all took foam off the back of the bus (we'd been trucking it around for the past few days with us), climbed the ladder up to the top of the roof, and slept under the stars! As you may or may not know, most houses in Belize have flat roofs, so we took advantage of the opportunity! The weather was beautiful and the moon was full. I honestly haven't had such a good sleep on top of a house. I did wake up very early though, thanks to the sunrise, but wow...it was gorgeous! You don't get to do something like that everyday in Canada!
Saturday was a day for ourselves. We drove through some pretty horrible back roads, crossed a river on a ferry (the bus too!) drove for a little while longer until we reached...voila! Mayan ruins! They weren't really what I expected them to look like. They looked more like huge hills when we were walking up to them, but then we saw the steps climbing up to the top and then they looked pretty awesome. I climbed to the top of one and it was beautiful...but the steps are so steep and spaced apart. It's strange that the Mayans built them like that because they were apparently very short people. Anyways, so we walked the trail and found some more unnatural hills but they were so broken down that you couldn't see any stairs on them. It's amazing how steep they are though!
We left for YWAM after that, and took a huge detour into Belize City for a pit stop at the one restaurant chain in the entire country...SUBWAY! It was amazing...all I got was a six-inch BLT but it was delicious. After that we drove all the way back and arrived at around nine. We unpacked, had a devotional, and were off to bed. It was a really cool sidetrip, and we're not too sick of eachother yet! That's a good thing, because we still have one more week together!
Our first (and second as well) night was spent in the high school...the boys on the first floor in the home ec room and the girl upstairs on the locker room floor upstairs. The school consists of two buildings, each two floors high. It's complete concrete, and very open concept. The locker room was the width of the school so there was a big cage door on either side of the room leading to the balconies. We just managed to squish all the girls into it. The funny thing is that the room the seven guys were sleeping in was big enough to fit in all the girls easily, but they made us go upstairs for security issues, which is probably a good idea. We didn't take our laptops with us because in that town expensive things tend to grow legs and disappear.
On Thursday morning we woke up at 5:40 and completely packed up and ate breakfast because, of course, there was school that morning. We packed up the bus and then headed down the school driveway to the security guard's house which we were going to paint. The colours we had: off white and baby pink. Those aren't weird colours though, trust me. We passed by some sunshine yellow houses on the way up. The whole day was spent painting the exterior, and then with the extra paint we painted some of the inside as well. Other members of the team were cleaning up a ditch, and others were taking a back room off of a storage shed.
On Friday we finished off the house and since we had extra paint, we decided to go a little farther and paint the shed too. Also, on Wednesday while we were at the beach we were met a couple from the States who felt called by God to sell their two businesses, their house...basically everything, and move to Belize to start a seminary for people who want to dig deeper into the Bible. They've been here for two months and are extremely homesick, and we decided to bless them and paint their house as well. So four girls from our team spent the two work days there and did a whole bunch of painting for them. Our initial jobs in Corozal were to clean up a ditch, paint a house, and tear down the back of a shed. We managed to paint the shed as well as paint another house. We did much more than was expected, and that was a really cool thing.
Friday night was spent at the Zantinghs' house eating mac and cheese and watching Ice Princess (we all watched it too!) and celebrating a whole month of being in Belize! When it was time to go to bed, we all took foam off the back of the bus (we'd been trucking it around for the past few days with us), climbed the ladder up to the top of the roof, and slept under the stars! As you may or may not know, most houses in Belize have flat roofs, so we took advantage of the opportunity! The weather was beautiful and the moon was full. I honestly haven't had such a good sleep on top of a house. I did wake up very early though, thanks to the sunrise, but wow...it was gorgeous! You don't get to do something like that everyday in Canada!
Saturday was a day for ourselves. We drove through some pretty horrible back roads, crossed a river on a ferry (the bus too!) drove for a little while longer until we reached...voila! Mayan ruins! They weren't really what I expected them to look like. They looked more like huge hills when we were walking up to them, but then we saw the steps climbing up to the top and then they looked pretty awesome. I climbed to the top of one and it was beautiful...but the steps are so steep and spaced apart. It's strange that the Mayans built them like that because they were apparently very short people. Anyways, so we walked the trail and found some more unnatural hills but they were so broken down that you couldn't see any stairs on them. It's amazing how steep they are though!
We left for YWAM after that, and took a huge detour into Belize City for a pit stop at the one restaurant chain in the entire country...SUBWAY! It was amazing...all I got was a six-inch BLT but it was delicious. After that we drove all the way back and arrived at around nine. We unpacked, had a devotional, and were off to bed. It was a really cool sidetrip, and we're not too sick of eachother yet! That's a good thing, because we still have one more week together!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
just a few more days...
Well, it looks like our whole team is off to the coast for five days to work at a school! It's going to be interesting. This won't be a very long post because I have to pack for it still, and I need to finish my laundry. I'll just give you a bit of an update on what's happening.
I've finished my first placement, and it was so amazing...I'm going to miss it there so much! The kids were awesome, and on the last day I was able to go with the two older classes on a field trip...like a real field trip. We went to Springfield, a community complete with no electricity, a school where the boys and girls have separate entrances, and where the men drop their work and help eachother raise barns. To top it all off, we had to take a five mile trek into the heart of the jungle on horrible roads, and i was sitting in the back of a pickup truck. While we were there we climbed a mountain...literally. I was rather scared for my life, and to get to the mountain we had to walk through a cow pasture. My poor poor pants and flip flops...but it was really cool to see the view at the top! After that we drove to the Blue Hole and to the cave I was just at last Saturday, but it was still neat to do with all the students.
This weekend our whole team took a break...we spent our time doing laundry and swimming in our pool that is finally up and running! Yesterday and today the whole team has been hard at work around the base...organizing a vbs program we're hosting here next week (I'm doing arts and crafts with Rachel and Aislin) and we've been doing general maintenance around the base too. We've been scrubbing walls, bleaching sidewalks, sweeping dorms, the whole nine yards. On Monday I was moving a pile of wood to the burn pile, and when I was almost at the bottom I lifted a plank of wood and underneath it was a big...black and orange...hairy...TARANTULA! I kind of yelled...a lot. Then John, who works at YWAM, poked it with a stick and it started running and he squished it. It wasn't pleasant, let me tell you. The worst part is that it was only a baby, and where I had found it there was a dead one that it had been feeding on. EW.
My first experience with a tarantula! I can't believe it took a whole month for me to see one. But I almost TOUCHED it. EW.
So next week we're running the VBS program here, and then after that I'm beginning my second three-week placement. I'm going to be working at King's Children's Home with Aislin. It's really close to the base so I'm going to be living at YWAM during that time. It's going to be pretty fun actually...but I'm not too excited about the cold showers.
That's about it from me! Oh, and I'm seventeen tomorrow!! yay!
I've finished my first placement, and it was so amazing...I'm going to miss it there so much! The kids were awesome, and on the last day I was able to go with the two older classes on a field trip...like a real field trip. We went to Springfield, a community complete with no electricity, a school where the boys and girls have separate entrances, and where the men drop their work and help eachother raise barns. To top it all off, we had to take a five mile trek into the heart of the jungle on horrible roads, and i was sitting in the back of a pickup truck. While we were there we climbed a mountain...literally. I was rather scared for my life, and to get to the mountain we had to walk through a cow pasture. My poor poor pants and flip flops...but it was really cool to see the view at the top! After that we drove to the Blue Hole and to the cave I was just at last Saturday, but it was still neat to do with all the students.
This weekend our whole team took a break...we spent our time doing laundry and swimming in our pool that is finally up and running! Yesterday and today the whole team has been hard at work around the base...organizing a vbs program we're hosting here next week (I'm doing arts and crafts with Rachel and Aislin) and we've been doing general maintenance around the base too. We've been scrubbing walls, bleaching sidewalks, sweeping dorms, the whole nine yards. On Monday I was moving a pile of wood to the burn pile, and when I was almost at the bottom I lifted a plank of wood and underneath it was a big...black and orange...hairy...TARANTULA! I kind of yelled...a lot. Then John, who works at YWAM, poked it with a stick and it started running and he squished it. It wasn't pleasant, let me tell you. The worst part is that it was only a baby, and where I had found it there was a dead one that it had been feeding on. EW.
My first experience with a tarantula! I can't believe it took a whole month for me to see one. But I almost TOUCHED it. EW.
So next week we're running the VBS program here, and then after that I'm beginning my second three-week placement. I'm going to be working at King's Children's Home with Aislin. It's really close to the base so I'm going to be living at YWAM during that time. It's going to be pretty fun actually...but I'm not too excited about the cold showers.
That's about it from me! Oh, and I'm seventeen tomorrow!! yay!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Photos!
Here's a taste of my first placement...in picture form! (Also some randoms I decided to throw in)
^Here are my Grade Ones...we do flash cards after lunch...
^...and here are my Grade Twos. We also do flash cards, but I make them stand farther away from me because they tend to spit when they say their answers. Kelvin, on the right, likes to roll his "r" when he says "three" which is pretty cool to hear.
^This is Jeffry...I help him with his English work. We're pals.
^Connie, on the right, is the girl who I do algebra with. She's a ton of fun and she's also learning how to do her math from my help...which is very rewarding for me : )
^Here's some students from Mr. Milton's class who I do art with. They were the only ones who finished their work for the day so there were only three participating that week. We painted rocks!
^Here's my art class from this Tuesday. I was rather short on supplies so I used my imagination and we made curves on our papers by drawing only straight lines...and they all surprised me by their awesome results. They never have art class so I loved being able to give them that chance!
^I was in an artsy mood one day...and the hibiscus here are slowly wilting, so I thought I'd take advantage before it was too late and draw one. I drew it really quickly and it was windy outside...so it's a little rough, but I like it.
^I was tired yesterday afternoon, so I took a nap. Somehow my camera was underneath my arm, and left a nice little imprint. Don't ask my why I'm putting this up here...I just thought it was funny.
Read more about my placement in the massive post I made below...
^Here are my Grade Ones...we do flash cards after lunch...
^...and here are my Grade Twos. We also do flash cards, but I make them stand farther away from me because they tend to spit when they say their answers. Kelvin, on the right, likes to roll his "r" when he says "three" which is pretty cool to hear.
^This is Jeffry...I help him with his English work. We're pals.
^Connie, on the right, is the girl who I do algebra with. She's a ton of fun and she's also learning how to do her math from my help...which is very rewarding for me : )
^Here's some students from Mr. Milton's class who I do art with. They were the only ones who finished their work for the day so there were only three participating that week. We painted rocks!
^Here's my art class from this Tuesday. I was rather short on supplies so I used my imagination and we made curves on our papers by drawing only straight lines...and they all surprised me by their awesome results. They never have art class so I loved being able to give them that chance!
^I was in an artsy mood one day...and the hibiscus here are slowly wilting, so I thought I'd take advantage before it was too late and draw one. I drew it really quickly and it was windy outside...so it's a little rough, but I like it.
^I was tired yesterday afternoon, so I took a nap. Somehow my camera was underneath my arm, and left a nice little imprint. Don't ask my why I'm putting this up here...I just thought it was funny.
Read more about my placement in the massive post I made below...
Monday, March 19, 2007
Life in Spanish Lookout...week three.
Here's the post I've been promising everyone! My laptop is somewhat up and running, so I'm pretty happy about that. It's not perfect...there's still a blue screen that shows up, but then the computer automatically restarts itself, and all is well again. I'm not sure what to think, but now it's alive for long enough that I can actually upload all of my pictures! I don't trust this computer yet, so they're all going onto a flash drive, and the good ones I'm keeping on my memory card. I can only take 9 more, so I was in desperate need of putting those pictures somewhere.
Now, I'll update you on life here in Spanish Lookout. It's hard to believe that we're already working on our third week! This past week flew by...I guess it's true that the first week is long and then the rest goes quickly. I only have one week left of my first of three placements. This past weekend we spent Saturday in Blue Hole National Park, in which is a 25 ft. deep water hole (aka the “Blue Hole”)in the middle of the jungle. The water is a misty tourquoise colour. It's not the Blue Hole in the ocean though...that would be scary to visit! (Google it if you've never heard of it) One mile down the road there's a massive cave, which we explored first. It was about 300 yards long to walk into, but then you could swim farther in. We all had our bathing suits on, so we didn't pass up the opportunity. I won't say it wasn't scary, especially since at some points the ceiling came a little low and there was no natural light in sight. We lit the way by a few flashlights, and just the fact that we were so far underground and swimming was a scary thought. We swam as far as the water could take us, up to the point where we couldn't really fit anymore. I loved every second of it though.
I have four days left at Roseglen Christian School. It's sad that it's almost over already! This past week I've being giving a lot of math help, as well as doing flashcards with the grade one and two students. I'm so used to being addressed as 'Miss Elena' now! The way they pronounce it is really cool too! I also help kids my age with their math as well, and they're all asking me if I'm going to come along with them on their school field trip on Friday. The field trip is a daytrip to a very very conservative community (It's like the Amish, but they aren't the Amish...they're something else.) Those are all the details I know, but they all really want me to come along and the principal said it was my call...I could go if I wanted to! Naturally, I said yes. I don't want to pass up any opportunities on this trip. Yesterday was the last day of the third quarter in their school year, so they were really busy. I was marking tests for teachers, testing students...all this in thirty plus weather. The school has an outdoor concept, with each classroom kind of like a cabin, and you need to walk from one to the next. I really like it because I'm getting so much fresh air here. I've never been outside so much!
Another thing I do at the school is teach art to Mr. Milton's class on Tuesday afternoons. It was a bit of a last minute thing, so for the first week the only thing I had on hand was some origami paper and books that my Mom sent with me to make some cool things for kids when I work at the children's home. But, it looked as though I was short on options, so I went with that. We ended up making two projects, one that I can't explain...you'd need to see it to understand it. The other one we made was a helicopter...and just seeing them all turn out and seeing the kids run outside and toss them in the air was so rewarding. They hadn't had much in the way of art classes, so I think they appreciated it, and I liked being able to show someone else how to fold paper, and that it's actually a pretty cool thing!
This week in art, only three students were done their schoolwork, so what we did was we went down to the parking lot and collected some nice flat rocks. We painted them, and then we wrote Bible verses or little things like “Jesus Rocks” (on a rock...). Then what you do with them is you put them out on the roadside, so that people walking on the road see them and see the Bible verses! It's a cool idea...Mrs. Hein gave it to me because I was trying to think of ideas the night before. This upcoming week we might weave baskets with paper...we'll have to see what happens. Monday nights are usually when I work all that out.
Life at my host family has been really good too! Meghan and I were pretty busy this week...there was no school on Monday because of the national holiday Baron Bliss day (look it up...it's pretty interesting!), so we were dropped off at the Heins' house at around lunchtime. The whole afternoon I spent catching up in my diary, which I am unfortunately falling behind in again. I write too much, but there's so much to write about! That's why I'm thankful this computer is up and running because I type faster than I write.
At night we're very busy. Tuesday nights we teach a kids church while the adults watch a DVD message, and that can get pretty tiring. The first time we did it was rather eventful. We had a whole bunch of kids, we had to do a puppet skit with “Gladly the Bear” (needless to say, it was hard to keep a straight face during that) and then a bird got in the room. Meghan and I ran out of the room, while the kids all cornered the bird...obviously not freaked out at all.
Wednesday nights are Bible Study. Bible Study consists of singing a few songs before we begin, and then we meet in groups outside to discuss the previous lesson. The thing is that the youth don't talk much, so it's hard to get answers out of them. It's still interesting though, because we've met a few really neat youth here.
Thursday is volleyball night. All the youth get together and play volleyball and soccer. This week we played volleyball for two solid hours. I always forget until I actually start playing that I'm horrible at volleyball. I played anyways, and the youth all play by their own rules. They have the whole 'three hits' thing down, but most of their plays involve more lifts than anything else. Some people are really good though...a few were on my team and they hogged the ball.
Fridays when we come home from school we quickly shower, pack, clean up our rooms, and meet at the dairy for some ice cream and to be picked up by our bus with squeaky brakes. Oh, and on Monday morning when we were going to all be dropped off at our placements, our bus wouldn't start. It looked as though we'd paid ten thousand dollars for a bus that worked for only a week. It did start thank goodness, and it's been working ever since.
Last weekend was pretty awesome. On Saturday March 10, I spent the day at Southwater Caye, a little tropical island resort that probably only had about 50 people on the entire island. The first thing I did was go snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea! Unfortunately, when I first jumped into the water I forgot it was salty seawater, and I got a good mouthful of it. It was all worth it though, when I looked under the water. The coral reef wasn't as colourful as I'd expected, but I still loved it! There were these big purple meshy kind of plants that looked like big fans and I was so tempted to touch one, but I didn't, or else they apparently die. I also saw fish! Blue ones, rainbow coloured ones, a coral fish(but he was shy and only poked his nose out of his hiding spot) and two barracudas! I stayed away from them though. We did that for about half an hour, and then the next group went. The remainder of the day was spent tanning out on the docks, eating some really good rice, taking picture of the island, and drinking coke out of glass bottles! The whole time I was thinking “I wonder what everyone will say when I show them pictures of this place!” I still can't believe I was actually there...a tropcial island! The speedboat ride was also pretty fun too, but on the way I was up at the front...and I didn't do that again. I didn't know just how hard that boat crashes down on the water every time it hits a bit wave. The ride was also half an hour long, so by the end...I had a bit of a sore backside!
Ok...the dead chicken incident. Meghan and I were going to bed pretty late a few nights ago...like around twelve. I was just walking into our room and Meghan said to me “Do you smell that?”
Sure enough, it reeked...like the smell of slaughtered chickens, courtesy of the chicken killing plant just down the road. We closed windows, turned on the fan, and tried to find anything we could that smelled nicer than the smell of dead poultry. I guess we made a bit of noise, because Mrs. Hein came in and...realized the situation. She gave us a solution...kids cherry-scented vicks to put under our noses. We slept very nicely after that. Another thing that we did this week was sleep outside in the hammocks. She accomplished it, I...attempted it. We got in them at around eleven, and for about two and a half hours I tried to sleep. Meghan had the more comfortable hammock, and the oil refineries surrounding Spanish Lookout light up the sky. Everyone has dogs, and they all wake up at night. And bark. Plus, I smelled dead chickens. I looked at my options. Stay out here with Meghan and try to sleep, probably with no luck, or go inside and get at least a few hours in, but leave Meghan outside. I chose inside. Meghan slept through the whole night out there...and she said she's never had such a comfortable sleep. I guess hammocks aren't for everyone.
I feel like I'm running out of things to say, but there's still so much on my mind. This blog post has been hanging over me for the past week though...as well as the need to email everyone again. I really need to send out another email, and I'm hoping to do that this weekend. If there's anyone who wants me to add them to my list of people to email to, just leave a comment on my blog or send me an email...and I'll add you! (It's eknibbe28@hotmail.com)
I'm sorry that it took so long to update this again. There's so much happening with me that it's difficult to collect my thoughts in word form. I hope this will do for now : ) Thank you all again for your support and prayers. Even though I'm only working on my third week, I can already tell this is going to be an experience I'll never forget.
Now, I'll update you on life here in Spanish Lookout. It's hard to believe that we're already working on our third week! This past week flew by...I guess it's true that the first week is long and then the rest goes quickly. I only have one week left of my first of three placements. This past weekend we spent Saturday in Blue Hole National Park, in which is a 25 ft. deep water hole (aka the “Blue Hole”)in the middle of the jungle. The water is a misty tourquoise colour. It's not the Blue Hole in the ocean though...that would be scary to visit! (Google it if you've never heard of it) One mile down the road there's a massive cave, which we explored first. It was about 300 yards long to walk into, but then you could swim farther in. We all had our bathing suits on, so we didn't pass up the opportunity. I won't say it wasn't scary, especially since at some points the ceiling came a little low and there was no natural light in sight. We lit the way by a few flashlights, and just the fact that we were so far underground and swimming was a scary thought. We swam as far as the water could take us, up to the point where we couldn't really fit anymore. I loved every second of it though.
I have four days left at Roseglen Christian School. It's sad that it's almost over already! This past week I've being giving a lot of math help, as well as doing flashcards with the grade one and two students. I'm so used to being addressed as 'Miss Elena' now! The way they pronounce it is really cool too! I also help kids my age with their math as well, and they're all asking me if I'm going to come along with them on their school field trip on Friday. The field trip is a daytrip to a very very conservative community (It's like the Amish, but they aren't the Amish...they're something else.) Those are all the details I know, but they all really want me to come along and the principal said it was my call...I could go if I wanted to! Naturally, I said yes. I don't want to pass up any opportunities on this trip. Yesterday was the last day of the third quarter in their school year, so they were really busy. I was marking tests for teachers, testing students...all this in thirty plus weather. The school has an outdoor concept, with each classroom kind of like a cabin, and you need to walk from one to the next. I really like it because I'm getting so much fresh air here. I've never been outside so much!
Another thing I do at the school is teach art to Mr. Milton's class on Tuesday afternoons. It was a bit of a last minute thing, so for the first week the only thing I had on hand was some origami paper and books that my Mom sent with me to make some cool things for kids when I work at the children's home. But, it looked as though I was short on options, so I went with that. We ended up making two projects, one that I can't explain...you'd need to see it to understand it. The other one we made was a helicopter...and just seeing them all turn out and seeing the kids run outside and toss them in the air was so rewarding. They hadn't had much in the way of art classes, so I think they appreciated it, and I liked being able to show someone else how to fold paper, and that it's actually a pretty cool thing!
This week in art, only three students were done their schoolwork, so what we did was we went down to the parking lot and collected some nice flat rocks. We painted them, and then we wrote Bible verses or little things like “Jesus Rocks” (on a rock...). Then what you do with them is you put them out on the roadside, so that people walking on the road see them and see the Bible verses! It's a cool idea...Mrs. Hein gave it to me because I was trying to think of ideas the night before. This upcoming week we might weave baskets with paper...we'll have to see what happens. Monday nights are usually when I work all that out.
Life at my host family has been really good too! Meghan and I were pretty busy this week...there was no school on Monday because of the national holiday Baron Bliss day (look it up...it's pretty interesting!), so we were dropped off at the Heins' house at around lunchtime. The whole afternoon I spent catching up in my diary, which I am unfortunately falling behind in again. I write too much, but there's so much to write about! That's why I'm thankful this computer is up and running because I type faster than I write.
At night we're very busy. Tuesday nights we teach a kids church while the adults watch a DVD message, and that can get pretty tiring. The first time we did it was rather eventful. We had a whole bunch of kids, we had to do a puppet skit with “Gladly the Bear” (needless to say, it was hard to keep a straight face during that) and then a bird got in the room. Meghan and I ran out of the room, while the kids all cornered the bird...obviously not freaked out at all.
Wednesday nights are Bible Study. Bible Study consists of singing a few songs before we begin, and then we meet in groups outside to discuss the previous lesson. The thing is that the youth don't talk much, so it's hard to get answers out of them. It's still interesting though, because we've met a few really neat youth here.
Thursday is volleyball night. All the youth get together and play volleyball and soccer. This week we played volleyball for two solid hours. I always forget until I actually start playing that I'm horrible at volleyball. I played anyways, and the youth all play by their own rules. They have the whole 'three hits' thing down, but most of their plays involve more lifts than anything else. Some people are really good though...a few were on my team and they hogged the ball.
Fridays when we come home from school we quickly shower, pack, clean up our rooms, and meet at the dairy for some ice cream and to be picked up by our bus with squeaky brakes. Oh, and on Monday morning when we were going to all be dropped off at our placements, our bus wouldn't start. It looked as though we'd paid ten thousand dollars for a bus that worked for only a week. It did start thank goodness, and it's been working ever since.
Last weekend was pretty awesome. On Saturday March 10, I spent the day at Southwater Caye, a little tropical island resort that probably only had about 50 people on the entire island. The first thing I did was go snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea! Unfortunately, when I first jumped into the water I forgot it was salty seawater, and I got a good mouthful of it. It was all worth it though, when I looked under the water. The coral reef wasn't as colourful as I'd expected, but I still loved it! There were these big purple meshy kind of plants that looked like big fans and I was so tempted to touch one, but I didn't, or else they apparently die. I also saw fish! Blue ones, rainbow coloured ones, a coral fish(but he was shy and only poked his nose out of his hiding spot) and two barracudas! I stayed away from them though. We did that for about half an hour, and then the next group went. The remainder of the day was spent tanning out on the docks, eating some really good rice, taking picture of the island, and drinking coke out of glass bottles! The whole time I was thinking “I wonder what everyone will say when I show them pictures of this place!” I still can't believe I was actually there...a tropcial island! The speedboat ride was also pretty fun too, but on the way I was up at the front...and I didn't do that again. I didn't know just how hard that boat crashes down on the water every time it hits a bit wave. The ride was also half an hour long, so by the end...I had a bit of a sore backside!
Ok...the dead chicken incident. Meghan and I were going to bed pretty late a few nights ago...like around twelve. I was just walking into our room and Meghan said to me “Do you smell that?”
Sure enough, it reeked...like the smell of slaughtered chickens, courtesy of the chicken killing plant just down the road. We closed windows, turned on the fan, and tried to find anything we could that smelled nicer than the smell of dead poultry. I guess we made a bit of noise, because Mrs. Hein came in and...realized the situation. She gave us a solution...kids cherry-scented vicks to put under our noses. We slept very nicely after that. Another thing that we did this week was sleep outside in the hammocks. She accomplished it, I...attempted it. We got in them at around eleven, and for about two and a half hours I tried to sleep. Meghan had the more comfortable hammock, and the oil refineries surrounding Spanish Lookout light up the sky. Everyone has dogs, and they all wake up at night. And bark. Plus, I smelled dead chickens. I looked at my options. Stay out here with Meghan and try to sleep, probably with no luck, or go inside and get at least a few hours in, but leave Meghan outside. I chose inside. Meghan slept through the whole night out there...and she said she's never had such a comfortable sleep. I guess hammocks aren't for everyone.
I feel like I'm running out of things to say, but there's still so much on my mind. This blog post has been hanging over me for the past week though...as well as the need to email everyone again. I really need to send out another email, and I'm hoping to do that this weekend. If there's anyone who wants me to add them to my list of people to email to, just leave a comment on my blog or send me an email...and I'll add you! (It's eknibbe28@hotmail.com)
I'm sorry that it took so long to update this again. There's so much happening with me that it's difficult to collect my thoughts in word form. I hope this will do for now : ) Thank you all again for your support and prayers. Even though I'm only working on my third week, I can already tell this is going to be an experience I'll never forget.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
t...a...n...n...e...d...already!
It's been...way too long since I last updated. And...trust me there is much to update. The thing is, my computer still doesn't work, and I'm doing all my internet stuff on the Hein family's home computer. So...naturally I'm going to take a long time to write an update, and I don't want to spend too much time on their computer. This isn't the update yet, but here's what you can look forward to!
-pictures!!!
-more about my placement
-random things that have happened
-Belize life
-a day trip to Southwater Caye! I've already got my summer tan everyone...in MARCH!
and...
-what you do when, at midnight, your bedroom suddenly smells like dead chickens from the chicken killing plant up the road. That was the fun adventure Meghan and I had to deal with last night!
I'm so sorry this has taken so long...I'm counting on that computer so much...
Here's a picture to satisfy all you who want pictures! You can be temporarily satisfied with this one. I took it myself!
-pictures!!!
-more about my placement
-random things that have happened
-Belize life
-a day trip to Southwater Caye! I've already got my summer tan everyone...in MARCH!
and...
-what you do when, at midnight, your bedroom suddenly smells like dead chickens from the chicken killing plant up the road. That was the fun adventure Meghan and I had to deal with last night!
I'm so sorry this has taken so long...I'm counting on that computer so much...
Here's a picture to satisfy all you who want pictures! You can be temporarily satisfied with this one. I took it myself!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
I'm here!
It's already the fourth day of my trip! It's taken a while for me to be able to get a hold of an internet computer and take the time to type this all out. Boy, has there been a lot happening! I'll try and describe it all...we'll see how I do!
So we took our first flight out of Buffalo at six thirty in the morning on Thursday. We took another from Atlanta, and arrived in Cancun at about two-ish. When we got off the plane we were blasted with heat! We then took a coach bus to where our group bus was parked. That ride took a good hour, but there was AC so i took advantage and got some well needed zzzs. Then we got on the bus our group bought (which is a school bus, by the way) and began our twelve hour treck through the Yucatan, out of Mexico and into Belize! We went through the sleepy customs of Belize at about one in the morning. It wasn't too busy! Our last sight of pure American civilization was a quick bite to eat at Burger King.
We arrived at the YWAM base at three thirty on Friday morning. I'd been up for about thirty hours at that point, with no more than about two hours of sleep to my name. It was nice to walk into the house they prepared for us...with a kitchen complete with a stocked fridge and shelves filled to the brim with snacks and ingredients for some tasty meals. We were happy, but tired. The rest was much appreciated!
The next morning I woke up, walked to the front door of the house, and was greeted with the sight of a couple palm trees in the front yard. To the right was a hedge, and behind it is solid jungle. The sound of the crickets is endless...day or night.
The rest of the day was filled with meetings. We learned about the base, about our placements, everything! We also learned the standard food for Belize is rice and beans, just like potatoes are for us dutch! :P
At night I played soccer (or football!) with some kids living on the base whose parents work there. Boy, are they good! They ran us out in ten minutes, and, of course, won the game. That afternoon we had also just received our DSL connection, so everyone was in line for one of the four connections to talk to parents. We also have a phone, so I made a call to my mom to tell her how everything's going.
Another thing our group has come together on was the idea of buying a pool for the base. We're all so hot and not used to the climate that we wanted so badly to swim in the river...anything that was wet! They hadn't cleared a path to the river, and we were getting pretty desperate. So, we asked Kathy, part of YWAM, to see what she could do. She found an inflatable pool available for $500 US. We did the math, and it came out to $30 each! So we all pitched in, and we now own a wonderful pool to use for the next three months, after which we will donate to the base. It will be so nice...considering we're here for the hot season. May will be intensely hot!
The next day I was packed up and ready to go to my first three week placement, which is at Roseglen Christian School. I'm going to be teaching and helping students! I'm staying with a family of two parents and six children, two or which are adopted girls. They're the Hein family, and they are wonderful! They're spoiling Meagan and I here! Their daughters are so much fun and I guess they see us as older sisters!
The food has been amazing, and the hammocks are very very comfortable. Sitting out on the veranda at night is amazing!
So we've been here for just over a day. Today we went to church, and then afterwards we were invited with some youth to go a restaurant they like. I had some of the best chicken wings I've ever eaten in my life there! We talked to them all, especially one girl, Darlene, who's very friendly and energetic...she's basically awesome! Another great thing about Belize is their pop. They have fanta, a brand of pop that just tastes so much better than Canadian and American pop. And pop is so available here...you drink it with anything and everything!
After we ate there, we went back to the church for faspa, which is like a giant picnic at the church. People play sports like "football", baseball, and beach volleyball, and then they all eat together. We spent a few hours there, and a lot of people came up to us and asked us about absolutely everything about us. It was long, but enjoyable. And that brings me to now! This is a very long post. I'll have to cut it off here...thanks everyone for reading this blog faithfully...I'm hoping to get pictures up soon! I'm hoping!
~Elena
ps- the temperature is thirty degrees, and when I wake up I over look a line of palm trees and a grove of orange trees. They're very pretty when the morning sunshine casts shadows. And the oranges taste good too!
So we took our first flight out of Buffalo at six thirty in the morning on Thursday. We took another from Atlanta, and arrived in Cancun at about two-ish. When we got off the plane we were blasted with heat! We then took a coach bus to where our group bus was parked. That ride took a good hour, but there was AC so i took advantage and got some well needed zzzs. Then we got on the bus our group bought (which is a school bus, by the way) and began our twelve hour treck through the Yucatan, out of Mexico and into Belize! We went through the sleepy customs of Belize at about one in the morning. It wasn't too busy! Our last sight of pure American civilization was a quick bite to eat at Burger King.
We arrived at the YWAM base at three thirty on Friday morning. I'd been up for about thirty hours at that point, with no more than about two hours of sleep to my name. It was nice to walk into the house they prepared for us...with a kitchen complete with a stocked fridge and shelves filled to the brim with snacks and ingredients for some tasty meals. We were happy, but tired. The rest was much appreciated!
The next morning I woke up, walked to the front door of the house, and was greeted with the sight of a couple palm trees in the front yard. To the right was a hedge, and behind it is solid jungle. The sound of the crickets is endless...day or night.
The rest of the day was filled with meetings. We learned about the base, about our placements, everything! We also learned the standard food for Belize is rice and beans, just like potatoes are for us dutch! :P
At night I played soccer (or football!) with some kids living on the base whose parents work there. Boy, are they good! They ran us out in ten minutes, and, of course, won the game. That afternoon we had also just received our DSL connection, so everyone was in line for one of the four connections to talk to parents. We also have a phone, so I made a call to my mom to tell her how everything's going.
Another thing our group has come together on was the idea of buying a pool for the base. We're all so hot and not used to the climate that we wanted so badly to swim in the river...anything that was wet! They hadn't cleared a path to the river, and we were getting pretty desperate. So, we asked Kathy, part of YWAM, to see what she could do. She found an inflatable pool available for $500 US. We did the math, and it came out to $30 each! So we all pitched in, and we now own a wonderful pool to use for the next three months, after which we will donate to the base. It will be so nice...considering we're here for the hot season. May will be intensely hot!
The next day I was packed up and ready to go to my first three week placement, which is at Roseglen Christian School. I'm going to be teaching and helping students! I'm staying with a family of two parents and six children, two or which are adopted girls. They're the Hein family, and they are wonderful! They're spoiling Meagan and I here! Their daughters are so much fun and I guess they see us as older sisters!
The food has been amazing, and the hammocks are very very comfortable. Sitting out on the veranda at night is amazing!
So we've been here for just over a day. Today we went to church, and then afterwards we were invited with some youth to go a restaurant they like. I had some of the best chicken wings I've ever eaten in my life there! We talked to them all, especially one girl, Darlene, who's very friendly and energetic...she's basically awesome! Another great thing about Belize is their pop. They have fanta, a brand of pop that just tastes so much better than Canadian and American pop. And pop is so available here...you drink it with anything and everything!
After we ate there, we went back to the church for faspa, which is like a giant picnic at the church. People play sports like "football", baseball, and beach volleyball, and then they all eat together. We spent a few hours there, and a lot of people came up to us and asked us about absolutely everything about us. It was long, but enjoyable. And that brings me to now! This is a very long post. I'll have to cut it off here...thanks everyone for reading this blog faithfully...I'm hoping to get pictures up soon! I'm hoping!
~Elena
ps- the temperature is thirty degrees, and when I wake up I over look a line of palm trees and a grove of orange trees. They're very pretty when the morning sunshine casts shadows. And the oranges taste good too!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Less than a Week!
I can't believe that after months of planning, fundraising and everything in between, I'm actually leaving this Thursday. It's a little shocking too, I'll admit. It won't seem to be a reality until it's finally happening and I'm sitting on the plane!
I don't know exactly what I'll be like on Thursday morning. My sleeping pattern is going to be a little mixed up because we're flying out of Buffalo at 6:30 in the morning, so we're leaving from TD at 1:30. Then after we touch down in Cancun, we drive for a good eight hours by bus to get to Belize.
The thing that I wonder about a lot is how fast the time will go by. My brother Eric, who spent four months in Hungary, told me that the first day is the longest, the first week never ends, but then once I'm comfortable with my surroundings after that, I'll wonder where the time went! But for now, I find that hard to believe. : P
I'm looking forward to using this blog to communicate with everyone! My camera is going to be with me wherever I go, so I'm planning on posting pictures regularly on here. I don't think it would be good enough to describe all the experiences I'll have with just words.
Anyways, I think that just about does it for now for a quick introduction. I'll have to do a better job explaining everything on my next post!
~Elena : )
I don't know exactly what I'll be like on Thursday morning. My sleeping pattern is going to be a little mixed up because we're flying out of Buffalo at 6:30 in the morning, so we're leaving from TD at 1:30. Then after we touch down in Cancun, we drive for a good eight hours by bus to get to Belize.
The thing that I wonder about a lot is how fast the time will go by. My brother Eric, who spent four months in Hungary, told me that the first day is the longest, the first week never ends, but then once I'm comfortable with my surroundings after that, I'll wonder where the time went! But for now, I find that hard to believe. : P
I'm looking forward to using this blog to communicate with everyone! My camera is going to be with me wherever I go, so I'm planning on posting pictures regularly on here. I don't think it would be good enough to describe all the experiences I'll have with just words.
Anyways, I think that just about does it for now for a quick introduction. I'll have to do a better job explaining everything on my next post!
~Elena : )
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