Living The Dream: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Well, it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted a blog…sorry about that. Don’t worry, there will be pictures, I know I’ve been slacking there too.

I’ll start out by saying that I’m doing well, things in my village are wonderful, and I really do love my life here in CK/Belize. That being said…Peace Corps is kind of a mixed bag. Things are sometimes great one minute, and awful, stressful, crazy, or just lukewarm the next. It can change back just as quickly, too. It’s sort of like going through those crazy mood swings of puberty (got to teach that lesson 4 times, haha). There’s a plethora of good and bad, and we can’t sugarcoat it all the time. So this time around, I’m going to just give you some highlights of what’s been going on the last few months, without sparing the bad and the ugly.

I teach a lot. A lot a lot. This is great, except when I have to do all the planning for it, sometimes with less than a day’s notice. Sometimes I’ve been given 5 minutes notice and those have been some of the most frustrating moments. I really do love teaching, but it’s freaking hard. Mad respect for ALL the teachers out there. Seriously.
I got my scuba diving certification, which is super awesome and I’ve really been enjoying diving a lot. Seen tons of cool stuff already, and have gone down to 100 ft. under the water. Crazy right?
I’ve finished tutoring the Standard 6 kids for the Primary School Examination. Some did better than expected. A lot falied. I’m actually really bummed about some of the kids that failed. I know my teaching helped at least a little bit, but it still hurts when you see it on paper that some of these kids have failed. I’ve been teaching some of these kids every week for 8-9 months, I’m attached. I love these kids. Seeing those scores has been one of the hardest parts of my service so far, it was heartbreaking.
I got to go to the zoo with the school, twice. Once with the upper division kids, and once with the preschool. That was an absolute blast.
I taught some awesome lessons on puberty, self-esteem, tooth decay, and gender roles and responsibilities. Classes like those make all the hard work with it, when you can see the kids pay attention and retaining the information. It’s easily one of my favorite parts of being a Peace Corps Volunteer.
I’ve gotten to help out with some awesome projects other volunteers have been doing, like health fairs in Grant’s and Loan’s villages and helping build a multipurpose court in Sarah’s village. I love getting to see what other volunteers are doing.
April was a crazy busy month. We a bunch of us went to Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve and got to do some hiking and swimming near some beautiful waterfalls, and then went to Placencia for Easter. Right after that, I went to BRO (Boys Reaching Out) Camp, a camp for boys across Belize teach them about things like leadership, self-esteem, self-reliance, and teamwork, all while have a blast. Hands down one of my favorite weeks in Peace Corps.
Language is coming along great, I actually feel really comfortable speaking Q’eqchi now. Just last week I had to give instructions in school in Q’eqchi to a girl who barely speaks any English, and it actually went well. That was a really cool feeling.
My host family is still just as amazing as they were last time I posted. I love them so much. My service would not be the same without them.
I’ve started cooking more, which has been fun. We had a little bit of a fiasco with some pancakes, but it all worked out and they were delicious. I also showed them yesterday how a French press works, and they got to try some legit American (read: Seattle) coffee. Next on my list are cupcakes, cookies, pasta, and pizza. We’ll see how that all works out.
I’ve had a few visitors here: Tisha, Andy, and Megan have all been here to visit. When Megan came, we had a ukulele jam session in my room with all the kids that culminated in us getting into a rolled-up-poster-board fight. It was awesome.
Some of my projects have fallen through for this year, which kind of sucks. I was planning on doing a health trivia competition here at the end of the year that didn’t pan out because of how busy things got for the school with the year ending. I also planned to start my own BRO and GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) clubs before the year ended, but I just ran out of time. I was really hoping that would be something I could do over the summer, but I guess I’ll have to find something else to occupy my time with instead.
My library project will be going ahead though, finally. I’ll be working on that over the summer, and I’m super stoked to finally do something with it.
I went to the farm with my dad to plant corn. It’s tiring, but going to the farm is always a good experience.
I went to Boston for a week to visit the States for the first time in a year. I’ll be honest, it was really weird, and a bit overwhelming at times. Overall though, it was awesome. A bunch of us went to Boston Calling Music Festival, which was unbelievably amazing. I also got to present at BUSPH on being in the Peace Corps, so that was cool. A week was just the right amount of time though, I was ready to be back home in Belize after that.
BH3 (the cohort before mine) is leaving over the next few months, and I’m really sad about it. Some have already left, and the rest will be going in July, August, and September. I’m really going to miss BH3.
On a happier note, BH5 is getting here in a couple of weeks! It’s crazy how soon they’ll be here, because that means that we’ve been here for a year already. I can’t believe how fast time flew by here. I’m not going to be ready to leave in September 2018.
Every Monday morning, the kids at school do devotion. Since school is ending very soon, we had the last devotion this week done by the Standard 6 kids that will be leaving. They gave little gifts to all the teachers, myself included, that was really nice. I’m really sad I won’t get to teach them anymore.
That being said, graduation is in a couple weeks and I can’t wait to see them all graduate!
I’ll be back in Eau Claire in July for Jackie and Mike’s wedding, which will be awesome. Looking forward to seeing everyone back home again soon!

Well, that’s where I am right now. I’ll try to be better about posting these in a more timely manner, but I can’t make any promises. In any event, here are some pictures for you since it’s been so long!

Bryan