The Last Month!

Welp, it’s been almost a month since my last post, so the whole every 2 weeks or so thing has kind of gone out the window. Since then, a lot has happened.

Starting from my last post, we had Kriol culture day on Friday, August 26^th, which would be our last culture day. It was actually an absolute blast – the best culture day we’ve had by far. They fed us as soon as we got there with some traditional Kriol breakfast food – Kriol bread, fried jacks and coffee, it was great. They showed us some traditional Kriol dancing and singing, which was actually a ton of fun. I’ll throw some pictures at the bottom, but one of my favorite photos here so far is a close up a friend took of me doing the plantation dance with a hat of leaves on my head. After that, they showed us how to make traditional mosquito swatters out of bush sticks, how they roast cashews, and how they make tongs out of bush sticks as well. After that we had a Kriol lunch of rice and beans, chicken, pig tail. Pig tail is a little weird, but it’s alright. We saw some awesome woodworking after that, learned about Kriol culture, took a walk through the bush and saw some howler monkeys, and then drummed and danced the rest of the afternoon. It was a ton of fun, but we were all exhausted by the end of the day.

The next day was Xuntantunich, which is the Mayan ruin we were supposed to go to about a month prior that didn’t work out. Super glad PC managed to make it happen, but it was both super gorgeous and a ton of fun. We had all morning there to just walk around and hangout – pictures below. Afterwards we went to this place called Benny’s to eat in the nearby town, and I swear to God it was some of the best BBQ I’ve ever had. Yes, that includes Sweet Cheeks and Soulfire back in Boston.

The next two weeks after that were kind of a blur. Training was really ramping up since it was the end of August and Swearing In was set for September 15. We had a bunch of practicums and presentations for prep for, packing, and planning our host family farewell celebration. Nothing much too exciting going on there except that one of our practicums was about healthy cooking, so we got to make some bomb breakfast burritos that was incredibly delicious, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it now. Our last week in Valley was that 2^nd week, which was really sad actually. We had a bunch of planning that week, taught in one of the schools in Valley (which was actually a lot of fun), put on a health fair in the community and had all the kids show up (thanks to Sarah for that one!), and then had our host family farewell on Saturday. That was actually a ton of fun and everything went super well, which was great to see after a ton of planning. We even managed to have just the right amount of food, which never happens. After that, we all split off to finish packing and spend a last night with our families. The next day we left Valley at 2pm, and I’ll be honest, I definitely cried. I told myself I wasn’t going to, and I would’ve made it if my host dad hadn’t come out crying himself and hugged me. He gave me a k’oxtal (a hand-woven Q’eqchi bag that men use to hold their corn when planting) and said he really got just to having me around. That’s about as close as you can get to a Q’eqchi man saying that he’ll miss you, so I lost it at that. That morning we sort of hung around and went to the grandparents for lunch before leaving. Mira and I played all morning which was fantastic, but when Vial went to drop me off, neither of them would look at me before driving away. As sad as that was though, it was the start of getting ready to going to CK, beginning with a week in Belmopan for Swearing In with almost the entire cohort (love you Lindsey, we miss you).

Belmopan week was, in a word, spectacular. It was a last little bit of training, getting ready for swearing in, and 21 of us in a hotel for 5 days actually getting to hang out and unwind. It was also really bittersweet at the same time though, since we’d be saying goodbye to each other for 3 months come Friday when we all left for our sites. About a bajillion wonderful conversations and heart-to-hearts and a ton of crying by all of us later, we’d eventually leave.

Swearing In though. That was a thing. The Wednesday of Belmopan Week we went to San Ignacio again to practice the ceremony and do another counterpart workshop. Fairly boring stuff, but SI is beautiful and the hotel is super nice. Plus it has an iguana preserve, so that’s pretty great. Thursday itself was Swearing In, and the ceremony itself is fairly long, but it’s pretty cool. It was actually really surreal officially becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer after 3 months of intense training and over 2 decades of the idea having been in my head. We also had 1 person from each of the 3 language groups (Spanish, Kriol and Q’eqchi) give a thank you speech, and I got to do the Q’eqchi one. Oishee and Nicole both killed it in Kriol and Spanish respectively, and was told mine went well also. After Swearing In, we had lunch at the hotel, and while I was super bummed my family couldn’t make it, I had a blast sitting with Nick, Yanni, and Oishee’s families, who were all Kriol. We eventually made it back to the hotel and got ready to head off again. We’d all been invited to the U.S Ambassador to Belize’s house (thanks honorable judge Carlos Moreno!), which was insanely nice, and technically made us be “back in the United States” for a couple hours. After some great apps, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our last night out in Belmopan together. I’ll leave it at the fact that it was a wonderful (late) night with lots of dancing and a few tears. The next morning we all left for our sites and we all cried a ton as we split off to catch our separate buses.

That was last Friday, and since then, I’ve been living in CK and mega-loving it. Things are definitely hard sometimes, especially because while Q’eqchi has been coming along well, I by no means know anywhere close to everything. I can communicate fairly well most of the time, but it’s still hard to understand a lot of the time. That’s been the biggest challenge though, the rest has been great. I got here on Friday, and pretty much just hung around with family all weekend long. Lots of sitting around talking, playing with the kids, and learning as much as I possibly can. Saturday I went into the bush to cut firewood with the fam and played football with the kids. I went to Q’eqchi church on Sunday morning, and it was even longer this time, but at least it wasn’t at night this time so I wasn’t exhausted and trying to stay awake this time. Monday we went to the creek and I learned how to wash my clothes by hand, which I’m pretty sure I did about half right. Some of my clothes came out smelling alright! I also saw 4 scarlet macaws there, and they were gorgeous. Tuesday I went to the school for their Independence Rally. Independence Day here is September 21, but since it’s a national holiday, the schools are closed that day and so they did their celebration a day early. It was really great actually - each of the classes performed a skit, song, poem, or dance on a stage the teachers made outside the school. Then they all went on a parade around town, it was a great morning. In the afternoon I went to the community center (hereafter just referred to as the center) for a talk from the District Health Educator about Rubella, which is going around here. Turns out my host dad is just getting over it, and my host brother Ven had it last week. Monday and Tuesday my host sister Zenida was teaching me to sing in Q’eqchi, which was a lot of fun. They also made me sing some stuff in English as well, including the Star Spangled Banner. I love singing, but I’ve never been a fan of when it’s a small group of people all staring at you. PC is one big exercise in feeling awkward a lot, so I’m kind of starting to get over that.

Wednesday (the day I’m writing this) I went to the farm all day. Up at 5:30am and back around 3:00pm and despite sunscreen, I got burned again. I’m on doxy now for anti-malarial meds because the chloroquine was messing with my being able to sleep, and one of the side effects is sensitivity to the sun. As if my pasty whiteness wasn’t bad enough in the sun already, haha. Turns out the farm is a 4-5 mile walk from CK, so I definitely got way more than my fair share of steps in today. I could have ridden a bike, but PC doesn’t let us unless we have a helmet (PSA: wear your helmets y’all), and I didn’t think I was going to get a bike out here so I didn’t check one out. Stupid me. Good exercise though I suppose! (PSA: walking is good for your heart!) It was also a beautiful walk, so that was pretty cool. The entire day was devoted to building a small house and thatching it for the corn, so I got to see how Q’eqchi houses are thatched, and that was awesome. After a long day, we went back to eat caldo at one of my uncle’s places (Elias and his wife Cecilia, I’m sure they’ll come up again in here at some point). Went home and rested, and here we are.

I gotta say, I’m absolutely loving it out here. I love these people, this village, the fact that I can walk around and literally say hi (dyoos!) to anyone, or straight up go to someone’s house unannounced and just hang out for a bit. That last part is actually done all the time and encouraged in Q’eqchi culture, which is amazing. Here’s the hippie you predicted coming out Sarah, but I’m totally digging the collectivist culture in Belize. I’m also reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac right now since one of the last volunteers left it here, so that’s probs feeding into the lingo there too. I love that everything is shared here, and that while I have a room and can close the door if I want to, I don’t want to, because it’s just another part of the house here that everyone shares. Even now, 3 of my host siblings are looking at photos on my camera right next to me as I type this, and it’s great. Just being present really is enough here, and that’s really flipping cool. I have a feeling these next 2 years are absolutely going to fly by, and it’s going to be so hard leave here when I have to. In the meantime, there’s a lot of work to do, and a bunch of awesome little kids next to me to hang out with.

Yo’o!

Bryan

P.S. My village definitely does not have internet, and I’ll likely get access to it every 2 or 3 weeks I think if I’m lucky – so if it takes awhile to reply, that’s why!

Me at Kriol culture day

Howler monkey!

View from the top of Xunantunich

Trin with our healthy cooking practicum breakfast burritos

Full picture of my house after the roof was fixed

My little sister Mira from Valley

Andy looking super nerdy, only missing the suspenders

View from my back door in Valley

Anna and her coconut (qo'ok)

Ellen demonstrating proper handwashing at our health fair!

Our fearless Q'eqchi leader and teacher, Florencio, demonstrating proper breastfeeding holds

Teaching in the classroom!

Host family farewell celebration in Valley

My Valley host family!

Ellen in the final showdown of a Great Belizean Moo-Off (ask me about it sometime, it's hilarious)

Grace cheesin' out with some watermelon

My standard goodbye pic - leaving Valley

My grandparents' house in Valley

Last meal in Valey - Caldo with green beans!

Host mom and sister in Valley

Official swearing in letter!

Chat and Yanni, needs to explanation

The Q'eqchi crew! (Anna, Grace, me, Trin, Megan)

Loryann and me at swearing in

Grant, Nick, Loryann, Morris and Chelsea at swearing in

Me and Nicole at swearing in

Me and Grace at swearing in

Me at the U.S. Ambassador to Belize's podium at his house, because why not?

My CK host brother Fredo climbing a tree

Ven chopping wood and Zany being a chin'a batz (little monkey)

All 5 kids sitting still

Little Tony is priceless here

Ven asked for this shot specifically, that kid is hilarious

Independence Day rally at the primary school

Tony and Zenida

Rubella talk at the center

Road to the kaal (farm), mas chaabil! (very beautiful)

Se li kaal! (At the farm)

 Starting work on a thatch house for the corn

Finished product

The last month!

Oofda the last few weeks have been crazy! Lots of stuff to catch up on.

The weekend following Earl, Nick, Anna and I stayed at the Mayflower, a house the Peace Corps owns in Belmopan where PCV’s stay while they’re in the city. Friday we had pizza at one of the staff’s houses in Belmopan and watched the start of the Olympics, then got to go out and unwind in the city as a group, which was really great. It was something we all really needed after the crazy week that was Hurricane Earl, especially after being cooped up in the office all week. Loryann, Anna, Nick, Chelsea and I stayed at the Mayflower that night with Jason (forever will be J-Dawg to me after this weekend), the Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (PCVL) who’s been helping lead a lot of our training sessions. The other trainees stayed at various hotels and staff houses. Saturday, everyone went back to their sites except Nick, Anna and I. The rest of the weekend was a lot of hanging out with those two and J-Dawg, walking around Belmopan, and watching the Olympics – it was actually pretty great. Even better was that all 3 of us got news over the weekend that we’d be going home Monday. We were all ecstatic and ready to go back to our host families.

The next week was site assignment week, which was great for two reasons: moving back in with my host family and finding out where we’d be serving the next two years. My little sister, Mira, definitely missed me, which was awesome (and a ton of progress since day 1!) and we played a ton all week. She also really missed my flash drive with Frozen on it, so there’s that too. The week dragged a bit though leading up to site assignment since we all (well, most of us) were super anxious to find out where we were going. Site assignment day finally came and they made us wait until after lunch for it! It was pretty cool though. They made us leave the room for 15 minutes to setup the room, and when we came back, it was decked out with streamers and a big map of Belize. They would call us up one by one and announce our names and sites, and have us place our pictures on the map where our site was, and then read the next person in turn. I got placed in the Stann Creek district in Southern Belize, but due to Peace Corps safety and security rules, I’m not allowed to say exactly where on social media. If you want to know exactly where, feel free to ask me personally!

The next week we had counterpart workshop on Monday and Tuesday in San Ignacio, where we met our future counterparts. There I met Mr. Ical (my community health worker) and Mrs. Chiac (my principal) and we had two days of training with them. On Tuesday, I left with Mr. Ical to head down to my community (hell yeah!). Riding the bus down to Stann Creek was definitely an experience. I was told that you really need to fight your way onto the bus from the Belmopan terminal, but you never really know until you actually get there. I literally had to push my way through people to get out of the gate and we all squeezed through and made it onto a packed bus. I legit had to stoop on the bus for a few minutes since no one can be standing on the bus when it leaves the terminal. Then I was standing for about 45 minutes or so until a seat opened up that I could take, and rode the rest of the way to my village’s junction. We picked up another bus there after about 5 minutes and rode the 4 miles in to the village.

Let’s just call it Chaab’il k’aleb’aal (beautiful village), CK for short from now on, that’ll be way easier. Riding up to CK was literally breathtaking. Big tz’uul (mountains) covered in che (trees), mas li tz’ik (many birds), and red dirt everywhere. Seriously amazing. I was falling in love with CK on that first ride in. We got into the village and Mr. Ical (not only my CHW, but also my host grandfather) showed me to his house where I met his wife. Now let me tell you, my first experience in CK was meeting Xan Candelaria (Mrs. Candelaria), who happened to be topless making tortillas (xorok) in the kitchen without a care in the world. Big of a shocker right there, but I got over it pretty quick when I realized that she didn’t care at all, so I really shouldn’t either. We carried on talking in Q’eqchi for a bit, had some maatz (green corn porridge – DElicious) and then Mr. Ical showed me to my host family, his son Pablo. That’s when I met Pablo (inyaua – my host father), Fermina (his wife, inna – my host mother), and 5 younger children (wiiz’in) Venancio, Shereen, Wilfredo, Lizzany, and Anthony. Sarah, the previous volunteer in CK was also there since she was still in the village for another week or so. The welcome I got was absolutely amazing. They had me sit down and eat first (more maatz!), showed me my room with a big “Welcome to the Ical’s!” sign (awesome), and helped me setup my mosquito set and put a hammock in my room. We talked for awhile that night and then went to bed.

The next day I hung around with the fam all day, and in the afternoon Mr. Ical took me to meet the village chairman and show me around the village a bit, and I ate dinner at his house. I went home and chatted with my family at night and went to bed. The next few days would not be as calm as that first one was though, which was great! Over those next couple of days, I spent a lot of time playing and talking with my family, talking with Sarah, walking around the community, meeting people, experiencing Q’eqchi church (oh boy, that’s a thing), cleaning a community center, and playing with a bunch of the village kids. Okay, Q’eqchi church. 2-3 hours of church where there are a ton of hymns that everyone screams (yes, screams) to off-key and you can barely understand a word. They do say yuam a lot though, I did catch that, which means both body and life. It was actually really cool though. The community is really involved in church services, so lots of different people come up and speak or lead songs throughout the service, and Mr. Ical introduced me to everyone at the beginning, so that was pretty cool. My family goes Wednesday night, Friday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night, so I’m not sure I’ll do all of that, but I’ll probs at least go Sunday mornings.

About my new host family: in a word, they’re wonderful. Pablo is a farmer and Fermina stays at home with the kids. Ven is the oldest (14) and is super smart and a really cool kid. I taught him how to play Uno during the week and that was a lot of fun. Shereen (but we call her Sonida) is the next oldest) and is super nice and also really hard working. Then is Wilfredo (Fredo), who is really hard-working and always goes to the farm with Pablo. Next is Lizzany (Zany) who I swear is the cutest little girl y’all have ever seen in your life. She spent the week talking to me only in Q’eqchi, which was hard, but it helps to learn. Finally Anthony (Tony), is the youngest at 2 and is absolutely adorable. It took him about half a day to warm up to me and he was following me around everywhere and climbing into my hammock. I absolutely love these kids. They’re all super smart, fun and well-behaved, and already treat me like an older brother, it’s amazing. The day after I got back from site visit, Pablo texted me asking how I was and making sure I got home alright because Tony was worried about me. Freaking adorable. Mr. Ical, well, Augustine, is my grandpa and just an all-around awesome dude. He’s been a CHW for 31 years and is super knowledgeable, so he’s gonna be awesome to work with. My entire host family speaks both Q’eqchi and Mopan Maya (another Mayan language I’ll have to learn now), and Fredo and older all speak English as well. I already can’t wait to get back to them.

That being said, I also super love my Valley family. I don’t know how I got so lucky as to get 2 host families that are beyond amazing, but here we are. As excited as I am to get back to CK, I’m just as bummed about leaving Valley in my family here. Quite the back and forth really.

We got back from site visit that Saturday and had a busy weekend of re-integrating in Valley, doing laundry, hanging out with family, and helping to setup a football marathon at the village football field (baalil). We also setup a free blood pressure check booth there and ended up being at the field from 7am to around 3pm. Fair bit of work, pretty warm out, but a lot of fun. We got to hang out a bit, meet and talk with a bunch of people, and educate on healthy living. Pretty dang good day actually.

All this week was pretty down in the group though. Everyone was drained from site visit and re-integration into Valley, and some people didn’t have the greatest site visits unfortunately. Here’s hoping that everyone has an amazing round two when we go back in a few weeks though! The training has been up and down this week as well. Monday was alright, but Tuesday was super low energy all around. Wednesday we were supposed to have our final LPI and it got pushed back to Saturday last minute. Thursday was good though, and we found out we’re going to Xunatunich (a Mayan ruin) on Sunday, so that’ll be sweet. Friday is Kriol culture day (writing this on Thursday night right meow), so that should be fun as well.

The next few weeks are going to be absolutely crazy. 3 weeks from the day I wrote this (25/08/16) is swearing in (15/09/16); I still can’t believe it’s so soon. We have a couple of practicums over the next couple of weeks, a bunch of deliverables, some presentations, lots of planning (including a farewell party for our families though!), and very little time. Before we know it, we’ll be swearing in as official volunteers and I can’t wait!

Bryan

P.S. Here are some more pictures for y’all!

First tarantula I've seen/killed in Belize, in my room

Anna rocking her awesome hat and shades

(Left to right): Wren, Corley and Molly doling out our Hurricane Earl rations

Our standard meal during Earl in the office: Special K, chicken sausages, salines, peanut butter and orange jam

Nick painting Lindsey's nails

(Left to right): Megan, Florencio (our Q'eqchi teacher), Lindsey and Anda

Site assignment day!

Staff starting to announce site assignments

Site assignment map!

Family farm (1 of 2) where I helped plant corn!

Family farm (2 of 2)

My/family room with the roof off and on the ground post-Earl

The house my dad is building (helped a little bit pouring cement!)

Latrine and chicken coop

Kitchen and where I'm currently bathing (yep, from those big blue barrels)

Full view of my home in Valley, middle house is the family's shop

My room at the new site with a welcome sign my new host family made me!

Two of my new younger brothers, Anthony and Wilfredo (Fredo)

Lizzany (Zany) and Venancio (Ven)

Zany Ven and me in my room, Ven loves taking selfies

My host mom, Fermina, Zany and Anthony

Pictures from walking around my new community!

Anthony having fun with a pot lid

My host dad, Pablo, Anthony and Fermina

Anthony trying to hide behind my bed and mosquito net (pabayon)

My last younger sister, Shereen (Sonida) and Anthony

Grant checking BP at our booth at Valley's football marathon

Chatting around our booth

Tisha talking with someone after giving a BP check

Morris, Tisha and Ellen

Grace holding the play-doh poop (k'ot) for our diarrhea (k'otakil) presentation

Earl and His Wake

Ioos! (Yo-ss, also hello in Q’eqchi)

People have been asking me about when I’m going to post again, so here y’all go! Things have actually been pretty eventful since I posted last; it’s been a pretty crazy ride. Since the last post, we’ve kicked off our literacy night (Thursdays) and sports clinic (Saturdays), both which have been awesome, and our trash cleanup was great last Sunday. The two lit nights had 30+ and 20+ kids respectively, and they were both spectacular. The first night there was a mad rush at the end of the night to check out books (which we actually can no longer do without parental permission, really no shocker there). They were a little disappointed about that the next night, but they’ll be ready next time. The sports clinics were about the same. The first had 30+ and we played a bunch of games and ended with an hour of football. The kids here absolutely love football, it’s great. I’m crap at anything but keeper, but it’s still a lot of fun. The second time we had 15-20, and that was just as great. No football, but Grant brought out his slack line and the kids mega-loved that, so that was pretty sweet.

Training has been the usual, lots of long days, being tired all the time, and lots and lots of Q’eqchi. The language part is still the best by far though. We also have to do these practicums periodically where we present on topics that we’ve learned about through PST. The first we had to do was on maternal and child health, with our group presenting on antenatal care and birth, in as much Q’eqchi as we could (which was not a ton at this point). It was a big wakeup call for what we’d have to do when we’re in our villages, and how much there is yet to learn. The second was supposed to be Wednesday on either acute respiratory infections or diarrheal disease, with us having to do the same sort of thing with treatment and prevention of diarrheal diseases. The first went pretty well talking for 25 minutes on ANC, the second postponed due to Hurricane Earl, which I’ll get to later.

My host family has been amazing, though that has a really large and sad asterisk on it, which again I’ll get to later. I finally got to a point where I really felt integrated into the family. My relationship with my host mom was great, she loves playing jokes by lying hilariously about random things (chik chii) and then laughing about it. She knows I don’t care much for Coke/pop in general, so she thinks it’s super funny to ask if I want a Coke and then laugh about it, which is actually really funny. My host dad is great, we’ve always gotten along really well and it’s pretty cool being able to help out with random things around the house, learning stuff I never would’ve expected (like planting corn, building a house and fixing our road). My host sister finally realized I’m more than just a saq (white person/gringo), and actually talks to me and calls me by name now. We play a lot and have actually had a couple convos in Q’eqchi, which is absolutely amazing. She also randomly gives me parts of her snacks, which is simultaneously really sweet and super adorable. I absolutely love my host family.

Our second culture day was Mestizo and that was last Friday, and it was unfortunately kind of a bummer. The morning was alright and we actually learned a fair bit about the culture, which was cool, but the activities weren’t super engaging. It didn’t help that it rained a ton and all we all could think about was the second half of the day when we were supposed to go to a Mayan ruin, Xutantunich. Because of the onslaught of rain and how late the morning stuff dragged on, we couldn’t go unfortunately. Huge bummer to everyone, since we’d all been looking forward to it so much, both for the experience and because we’ve all been craving a break from PST and some time to get outside and have some fun. PST has been rough and it’s been getting to us all a little bit, so that was a rough situation. It could have been planned a little better in terms of timing, but really it wasn’t anyone’s fault. The one day we needed there to not be rain so we could do something super fun, there was a ton of it and we couldn’t go. Just means the next time we get the opportunity to go to a ruin will be that much better for the wait though.

Not much more eventful to write about until Hurricane Earl now. Practicum was supposed to be Wednesday, and that’s when things started to escalate. They postponed it opting to do our 2^nd technical interviews instead, which help determine our site placement. Meanwhile, those who were done or had later interviews went home to pack up in the event we had to consolidate in Belmopan. I had packed that morning with a few others, so it was a lot of waiting around before and after my interview. We got the official notice around 11 that we were being moved to Belmopan, since Earl had officially been upgraded from a tropical storm (less than 75 mph winds) to a category 1 hurricane, with the potential for it to upgrade to a category 2. We all split up to go home, eat lunch, and get ready to leave for Belmopan. This involved bagging up all of our stuff to prevent from severe water damage, taking 1 bag of essentials with us, and telling our families to take care and that we’d hopefully see them soon. I left saying taawil aawib (take care) and that I’d hopefully see them in 2 days, then left in the already light rain.

That was incredibly hard actually, because it felt so wrong to be leaving our families. Here we are coming to help out communities and live with them, only to say Peace Out when things get crazy. That being said, I really do get it, Peace Corps has a responsibility to keep us safe and I am very grateful for that, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult to do that. I expected to see my family in just 2 days time and with that in mind, left for the pickup site for us to go back to Belmopan to the Peace Corps office.

Hurricanes are some crazy things, but I’ll be honest, we all needed some consolidation time together (consolidarity 2016!), even given the circumstances. It was so nice to just be able to hang out for a night and not have to stress about training, integrating, studying, practicums, sleep, eating, illness, and really just everything about being a PCT. We also got to hang out with some COSing (close of service) volunteers and current PCV’s, which was spectacular. Every volunteer I’ve met is absolutely incredible, it’s kind of mind-blowing actually. I really get the Peace Corps bond thing now, especially with PCV’s who’ve served so long and just took us and as if we’d already known each other a long time. Plus being able to talk openly to everyone about literally (read: litRally) everything (yes, that includes poop, there’s actually a lot of talk about poop, it’s ridiculous how comfortable we are with each other) is really something else. Everyone is so nice, friendly, helpful, and all around wonderful. The support system here is actually ridonkulous, and that’s really, really good. Especially with the next part of the story about to come up.

Cue today. The storm was crazy, but we were all fine and had no issues short of a little flooding on the second floor in one room. We’re waiting around hoping to hear from families and wondering when we’ll get to go home to our host families, and most everyone’s heard by midday. I texted my family at 8 and hadn’t heard by noon, so I called. What I heard shook me up, but didn’t rock my world yet. Everyone was fine, which was the important part, but 2 of the 3 houses (the ones with thatch roofs) lost their thatch roofs. The 3^rd has a zinc roof, but many openings at the top, so that got hit too. Suddenly, my family has no home to sleep in and I don’t have a homestay home anymore. I’ll be honest, it was pretty devastating, but knowing my host family was okay was the biggest thing. I didn’t care about the non-essential stuff I’d had to leave at home, all that’s replaceable, but I did care about them and the idea of living with them the last 5-6 weeks of training. They were staying safely with family, but the house was in shambles. Thankfully, everyone’s families were safe and sound, so that was definitely a huge sigh of relief across the board.

I wasn’t the only one unfortunately, two others were in similar boats. We got called down to speak with Racquel, the host family coordinator, Anna, Nick and me. Being told to meet with her was immensely ominous, and I went down with the others holding my breath. Anna’s family lost part of the roof and part of a wall, but she could stay with her host brother, who was the backup Q’eqchi family, which is great, it just might take a couple days. No one could get ahold of Nick’s family, so that was up in the air. We found out later that two trees had fallen on their house and he was in the same boat as me, but everyone was okay. It was then I found out that there was not another backup Q’eqchi family, and my return to homestay was indefinite. That was the point I teared up, because this family that I’d been living with for 6 weeks was very likely no longer going to be my family. That was going to be hard enough in 5-6 weeks time when we were set to leave, but getting that ripped away so prematurely was beyond heartbreaking.  I’m not much of a crier, but I definitely did a little bit there, and I was teary-eyed for awhile after. Nick and Anna are stellar though and stayed down to hang out with me for awhile before we had to go back up. They’re going to try and find new host families for Nick and I to live with to go back to our communities, but I’ll be honest, that sounds harder to me that not going back at all. It would kill me to not go back to live in Valley the rest of my time in PST, but I think it would kill me more to go back with another family and have to say goodbye to two families in 5 weeks.

I was a wreck the rest of the afternoon, but everyone, and I mean everyone, is so incredibly wonderful here, that I felt so much support from all sides. Some of them went out of their way to buy us dinner and snacks to cheer us up, which was so incredibly thoughtful and we were so grateful and lost for words. We spent the rest of the night hanging out, talking, playing cards and cards against humanity, which was a blast. It really helped take my mind off of things and demonstrated how truly amazing these people are. I will never forget this day for multiple reasons, but the most glaring of which is that I love these people so very very much. By the time evening rolled around Nick and I were doing much better, rolling with the punches and treating this as just another Peace Corps challenge for us to get through. There’s nothing we can do from here except move forward. It’s still hard to think about and I’m still really sad about it, but I’m moving forward. We both are. At the end of it all, everyone’s families are safe and sound, and that’s the most important part.

Tomorrow we have some training and everyone goes back to their sites, except Nick and myself while the search begins, and maybe Anna depending on when she can go back as well. Tomorrow was also supposed to be our shadowing day, visiting a current PCV at their site for a day, and that was cancelled and another huge bummer, but understandable given the damage from Earl. Most of the country is fine and safe, but there was a lot of water, wind, down trees and flooding, so moving around is still tough. They’ll try to reschedule it, but there’s so little time left that while I hope that works out, I’m not sure it will. There are things to look forward to though. Just over a month of training left, and we find out our site assignments next Friday the 12^th, which we’re all super anxious about. We’re all ready to move on and get to our sites, but even that is bittersweet having to leave our first host families and each other until reconnect in December. Before we know it, it’ll be September 15 and we’ll be swearing in. It’s been a crazy few days and though it’s bound to not get much crazier than Earl and its wake, it’s sure to fly by even faster than the past 6 weeks have. If anything, we’re much closer now as a result of getting through all of this together, and I can honestly say that it’s something I will never forget.

So here we go - 1 week to site assignment, 2 to site visit, 5 weeks to be done with PST , and 6 to swear in and move to our permanent sites. Yo’o! (Let’s go!)

Bryan

A month in Belize!

Baanu! (Hello in Q’eqchi)

Hope everyone’s doing well up in the States! I figured it’s been just about a month down here, so it’s probably time for another blog post. I also said I’d post some pictures at some point, so I’ll throw some of those up at the bottom here. We’ve been keeping really busy, the training schedule is pretty rigorous being M-F 8a-5p, longer if we have to go into Belmopan for training days in the office. We sometimes have homework on the weekends as well, and most of our free time is spent hanging out with our host families. We’re also starting some projects around here in Valley of Peace where we’re staying, so that’ll just add to all the stuff we’re doing. Everyone’s super pumped about those though, and all 17 of us are involved in multiple projects. So far, we’re working on putting together a literacy club every T and Th, sports clinics on Saturdays (both of which we’re starting this week, WOO!), a trash cleanup project we’re kicking off in two weeks, and we’re working on putting together a mural of the world map hopefully on the back of the library that we’ll get a bunch of the local kids involved in. Especially pumped about the first two, but all the projects will be fantastic. I think we’re all glad to be giving back to the community in some way, since we’re spending 3 months here and hadn’t done anything for them up until now. We met with the village council last weekend to discuss everything, and they were on board with everything we had planned, so we’re excited about that as well.

It’s not aaalll work work work all the time though, which is nice. We have 4 culture days throughout PST that allow us to experience a lot of the different cultures around Belize, which is awesome. Our first one was last week, and Mayan was up first. We went to a place called Maya Centre, which was pretty awesome. Being a part of the Q’eqchi crew, we were all super pumped for everyone else to experience some of the Mayan culture we’ve been living in for the past three weeks, and it was fantastic. We got to see some traditional Mayan artifacts like the Marimba instrument, some dancing, chocolate making, bug repellant making, traditional lunch of Caldo (which I’ll come back to in a second), and we learned a ton about the history of the Mayan people in Belize. It was fascinating. Now, Caldo. I seriously cannot get enough of this stuff, it’s so amazing. Caldo is a spicy soup that’s the traditional dish of the Mayan people. It’s usually served with chicken (chilan) and either tortilla (wa, pronounced kwah) or poch (which is basically a giant corn brick). I love this stuff. I had it 4 times last week and I’m still not sick of it. And the WA! I love normal tortillas, but the way the Mayan people make wa is so so so much better than any tortillas I’ve ever had. It’s super thin and fantastic, and it’s awesome to see people make it. It’s traditionally the Mayan women who make them (xorok – to make tortillas), but I’ve tried making them once. It actually came out pretty round, but they’re supposed to puff up on the tortilla stone (q’il) when they’re done, and mine definitely did not puff up. Sad day. Still delicious though! Anyway, culture day 1 was awesome, next one is Mestizo (Spanish) a week from Friday and that’ll be awesome too.

Other fun stuff! Hanging with our homestay families is a blast, and my little sister is starting to get more used to me being around, so we play a lot, and that’s pretty great. Hanging out with the rest of BH4 (our cohort) is always a good time, because everyone is wonderful. Learning with the Q’eqchi crew is pretty damn great, and it feels like we’re all coming along really well. On that note, if you’re reading this, we miss you Carly! We’re all sending you our best and hope everything is well back home. Playing with the kids around here is a blast. We ran off to get banana peanut butter smoothies the other day after training (even more amazing than it sounds, especially because they can make them sin leche [without milk]) and ended up playing football (soccer) with some of the kids for awhile in the yard of the shop. So much fun. Chatting with everyone in VoP (Valley of Peace) is such an awesome experience as well. Eating. Seriously, we’d all get super fat around here if we weren’t walking and exercising a ton. The food is soo good, and I swear to you, I’ve never had better pineapple (ch’op in Q’eqchi) and cantaloupe in my life. And mangoes. Blech to the avocados (o) though. For all of you that know that I dislike avocado’s (here’s looking at you Jen and Q), I tried a fresh one the other day when my host mom served it to me with lunch, and I just couldn’t do more than the one piece I had. Just can’t do it, more o for the rest of y’all then! I’ve also had fresh coconut (ko’ok) and that’s spectacular. Star showers! (chahim achink!) This is my favorite part of every night. I bucket bathe outside every night, and there’s nothing quite like looking up and seeing a bajillion stars. It’s breathtaking how many there are out here on a clear night. Finally, just being here in general is amazing. Some days are tough, and it feels like the language isn’t going as well as it should (no worries, it is, especially for being 3 weeks into it), the people don’t want us here, or it’s just really effing hot. But those days are few and far between. Most days I really do love it here. Belize is a strikingly beautiful country, the people are amazing, the culture is fascinating, and the people I’m with are beyond spectacular. Frequently I have a moment here that’s just so amazing that I’m left stunned thinking, “This is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.” It happens more than you’d think, but it’s great reassurance that I’m not only doing what I’m passionate about and have been dreaming of most of my life, but that it feels right here too. What’s even better about all that, is that I’m pretty sure most (if not all) of us have felt something similar at least once since coming down here. Crazy to think it'll be a month Friday!

Still, it is challenging. The language is hard, integration is a 24/7 job, and while I enjoy more alone time than most of my colleagues, that’s a double-edged sword. It’s nice to be able to get some solo time especially given how exhausting training is, but I also wish at the same time that I was spending that with my family or out in the community. I think all things considered though, there’s been a pretty good balance. I’ve fallen into a bit of a routine here now. Mornings I wake up, clean my room and sweep, then study or read in my room until breakfast. I’ll hang out with the family for a bit and get ready to leave for the day. Training all day, home for lunch and back again, then home for supper. I’ll usually decompress a little bit in my room until dinner, then hang out with the family most of the night until around 7 or 8. Star shower, read or study a bit, maybe watch a movie with the family, and head to bed early. Most nights I’m out by 8:30 or 9 (having to get up around 5:30/6 every morning), and rarely I’ll be in bed as late as 10. Saturdays I’ll lounge about a bit, maybe get together with some fellow trainees, and help my host dad out in the afternoon if there’s something that needs doing around the house. Sundays are extended family days, and we go to my host dad’s parents every Sunday, usually for lunch. They almost always serve Caldo, so I mega love that, and my host grandpa is awesome (and super helpful with Q’eqchi). He told me last week I was coming along well, so that was really encouraging. It’s still really difficult to understand a lot of what they’re saying when speaking to each other since they talk so fast, but again, 3 weeks in.

Overall though, things are amazing down here. Getting ready for month 2 of Belize, and before I know it, I’ll no longer be a PCT (trainee), but a sworn in PCV (volunteer) on September 15. It’s nuts how fast the time is flying, but as our CD (country director) told us early on, the key is to “Be present.”

As promised, here are some pictures below!

Grant, Mia and me on a teeter-totter near our hotel the first week in Belmopan.

People crowding around Mia’s mad piano skills while Josh films it.

First week at CBT (community based training), birthday party at my little sister’s friends house.

 Piñata broken, kids scrambling for candy!

Our first project here, community garden!

4^th of July with everyone at the office!

Some of the awesome scenery on the way to Maya Centre, got yelled at for sticking my head out the window to get this shot. Worth it.

Lindsey! Seriously one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in your life.

Sorry Andy, your face is priceless here.

Chat (aachinak!). Chat is absolutely hysterical, never fails to make us all laugh all the time.

















Learning about herbs and making insect repellant at Maya Centre. 

First Week in Belize!

Welp, here comes the first “real” post since I’m in country now, so it’s probably going to be a long one. Here goes!

For future volunteers, my packing list can be found in a separate document, there’s a lot going on there and I’ll upload that later on. Packing itself wasn’t too bad, but that’s mostly because I had moved cross-country back from Boston to Wisconsin prior to leaving for service, so I already knew where everything was!

I spent my last night in the Midwest in Minnesota with the Shackeltons, Jefe, Cooper, and Kylie, and that was awesome, I couldn’t have asked for a better send off. It was pretty surreal hopping on the plane to Miami, but I was definitely ready to go. Plus I knew at least one person who’d be on the same flight as me, Chelsea, who was from the same program in Boston and joining the same program with me in Belize. Little did I know that another trainee was from St. Paul too, so I met Megan, and the 3 of us flew off to Miami.

Miami was hot, but it was actually a nice precursor to Belize, which would be just about as hot, if not a little more, and more humid. We got to Miami a day early, so we had nothing for Staging until the next day, so the 3 of us bummed around Miami with Chelsea and I’s friend Odette. We had some amazing food and got to check out this awesome outdoor mural art gallery in Wynwood, which lent us some pretty sick pictures. Even I wasn’t opposed to taking some there, and I guess it was a good way to force me into starting to get used to taking lots of pictures. (I’m still not super great at that, but I’m getting better, Q :-P). After a great night, we had Staging bright and early the next day. Getting to know everyone was awesome, and I loved my cohort from the start, all 22 of them (shoutout to Chelsea, Megan, Andy, Nicole, Trinity, Chat, Carly, Yanni, Nick, Josh, Grant, Morris, Mio, Eileen, Ellen, Lindsey, Loryann, Taylor, Latisha, Grace, Oishee, and Anna – I swear I didn’t even look that up because I know them all because they’re all that awesome). After a long day of staging, we packed up to get ready for an early departure from the hotel.

I was one of the 4 section leaders for leaving the hotel, so I had a checklist to follow (you’re damn right I loved that part), but also had to coordinate things when we got to the airport, which I’ll admit I was a little anxious about. Things went well minus a couple minor hiccups at security though, and we got through alright, and were off to Belize! It was pretty crazy touching down there knowing this is where we were all going to be spending the next 27 months of our lives, but I was crazy excited about it. No trouble with customs, and then we walked outside to only the 2nd greatest welcome I’ve ever had, greeted by a bunch of the Peace Corps staff. The greatest would come later when we got to the office and met ALL the PC staff. That was some seriously awesome stuff, and I’d never felt more welcome anywhere in my life. On the way to the office though, the first bit of culture shock set in. Belize definitely wasn’t what I expected, and it really hit home that we enjoy a great bit of luxury in the U.S. At the same time though, Belize was absolutely beautiful. I began falling in love with this country on that first bus ride in to Belmopan.

We had a few days of training in Belmopan, and were staying at a hotel in the city. It was actually a bit overwhelming at first with all the information they were throwing at us, and frankly, that hasn’t really stopped yet. Those first few days in Belize were amazing, getting to know everyone, the culture and the city. We had some absolutely amazing food as well – in particular, our driver Abel took us to this small restaurant off the beaten path that I swear for just $3.50 US I had some of the best food I’ve ever had, and we hadn’t even gotten to our CBT (Community Based Training) sites with our first host families. We also had some interviews during those first few days to go over medical stuff and figure out which language we’d all be learning. Among the 23 of us, 12 would be learning Spanish, 5 Kriol, and 6 Q’eqchi (a Mayan language).

They told us not to have any expectations going into the language decision, but it’s hard not to have at least a little bit, especially when this effectively decided the direction of the next 27 months of our lives. I’ll admit, I really wanted Q’eqchi, because the culture is fascinating, but I would have been happy with either of the other two. I was absolutely stoked to find out at the language reveal that I was one of the 6 Q’eqchi volunteers. We’d be training with the 12 Spanish volunteers, and the 5 Kriol would be in a different location. It sucked separating from the Kriol people, even though we’d known each other less than a week, it already felt a lot longer than that. We would get to see them at least once a week though, often much more than that.

The day after language reveal was Saturday, our 4th day in Belize, and this was the day we would meet and move in with our host families. We all packed up and got ready to meet them at lunch, where they had us do this activity where we had to match puzzle pieces of our host family’s house to find out who we’d be living with. That was when I first met (part of) my host family: Floridalma (my host mom), Elmira (my host little sister), and Gina (Flor’s sister who wasn’t living with us), and that first encounter was actually pretty rough. My Q’eqchi (we had a basic crash course that morning) was pretty non-existent at that point, but they spoke English as well, so that helped…still a bit rough through. My host mom, host sister, and my host mom’s sister were all there to pick me up, but my host dad (Vialto) couldn’t be there, so I met him that night when we got to the house. I settled in and we had chicken panades at a local restaurant, and they were fantastic. The next day, I actually went to the farm with my host dad, meeting his dad and 2 of his brothers while we planted corn. That was definitely an awesome experience, though I can say for certainty I am definitely not a farmer. Still, I got to learn a lot about my host family and Q’eqchi culture doing that, and it was pretty damn good exercise. I took a hard earned nap when we got home and then helped my host dad fill in mud holes caused by the rain with stones and dirt. My host sister didn’t want to talk to me yet, but by the end of that second day, I was really loving Belize.

Then came this week, the first full week of CBT, which means long days and lots of information. Learning Q’eqchi is difficult, but I’m definitely enjoying it, and it’s unlike any other language I’ve experienced. I’m starting to get better at it, and my family is talking to me in Q’eqchi more and more, which is great. I still can’t understand or say much at this point, but it’s improving, and they’re helping me along a lot. The Wednesday of this week we got to go back to the office for what they call Core Training, which everyone gets, so we got to see the Kriol people. It’s amazing how excited you can be to see people you’ve only known a week when it’s only been a few days since you’ve left them. But it feels like we’ve known each other longer than a week, and it felt much longer than just a few days. Core days aren’t the most exciting, but it means we get to see the Kriol people and use the internet, so that’s pretty great. It was also Nicole’s birthday, so the 6 of us Q’eqchi volunteers learned how to sing happy birthday in Q’eqchi, and the PC staff got her a cake, so that was pretty cool.

Going home that night was super interesting though, as the bus popped a tire on the way back. They called for another bus, and there happened to be one ahead of us, so we plodded along at a few miles an hour anyway in a jam-packed sweaty bus until we made it to the next bus. There was a pretty crazy point where we were inching around a corner and it felt like the bus was going to tip over to the left, so we all instinctively leaned right to try and keep the bus up. Thankfully we were fine, made it to the next bus, and made it home.

After a rough day, I was greeted by my host sister actually saying my name for the first time, when until now she hadn’t ever talked to me, and just referred to me as “Saq”, which means White in Q’eqchi. I thought that was pretty funny, but it was awesome that she was now fine with talking to me. We played for a couple hours that night running around the yard and playing a lot of hide and go seek/peek-a-boo (she’s 4), and that was the happiest I’ve been since I’ve gotten here (which is saying a lot, because I love this place). The next two days were more training and nothing really notable. Saturday I helped my host dad for a bit in laying the foundation for a new store house, and played soccer with some of the other volunteers. It’s super hot today though, so I took a nap afterward. Oh yeah, the house. We have a big yard and 3 little structures here: one is the common room and my room, the 2nd is the store that my host family runs, and the 3rd is the kitchen. There’s a wooden stall that’s ¼ open in the backyard for bucket bathing, so learning how to do that was interesting. Think I’m doing alright at it now though about a week in.

Overall though, things here are great and I’m doing well. I love the people and the culture, my cohort, and my host family. The language is tough, but awesome, and I can’t wait to get through PST (Pre-Service Training) to swear in on September 15 and move to site. Haven’t taken a ton of pictures yet, but I’ll try to take more and post them sometime this week or next.

Xikwe! (I’m going in Q’eqchi)

Bryan