Some little things

Simplicity of life is something you value only after you've experienced it and being in a developing country definitely allows you to experience it.  There's not much we have here yet there's not much we need either.  I knew within the first week that I "needed" a hammock ;o)  Luckily hammocks are pretty common around here, but you know me, I've got to shop around and make sure I'm getting a good price.  After our first month some of the volunteers took a trip to Caye Caulker for a 3-day weekend and while we were there I was able to purchase my hammock for $35 BZ, which is one week's stipend and well worth it!  Two of us girls bought them, which is good because they are always the coveted spot to sit on our back porch.







As you can see, we've tested the duability of my hammock by putting up to 3 people on it.  It was a little scary since I'm the one who tied the knots of the rope that is holding it up and I'm no girlscout.

The next little thing that brought a surprising amount of joy in the volunteer house were these hooks I found at the store and stuck to the wall for us to hang our keys and such.  Each of the girls got excited when they saw them and responded with "WOW!  These are great!"  "Who got these?! Yay!"  and "How exciting!  We have hooks!"  It was quite amusing when we realized how much joy and excitement something so small brings us.  I think if I were in the states my roommates would ask me why I hung something so ugly on the wall.

One of the days after Hurricane Richard we had our power and water back on and we went to eat at the rectory as usual only to find out that the normal food (rice and beans and eggs) hadn't been delivered and instead were several take-out dishes of Chinese!  I just sat at the table and watched people's reactions as they went get their food and saw what it was.  It's funny how something like unexpected Chinese food can really make your day.  Everyone was in a good mood that afternoon.

Last Friday we had "Fun Day" at school, which consisted of several relay races and competitive games for the students to play. The students really enjoyed it and I did too!  I went into it thinking it would be like "Fun Day" as a teacher in elementary school, but it was much much better in high school.  Also I think the students appreciate it more here, most of them really look forward to school here.  School is their main social activity, they don't hang out at night and on the weekends with their friends much.  So, you can imagine how much they look forward to Fun Day!  As we waited for the first event to begin I saw one of the boys wearing a Chicago Bears shirt and had to smile.  Most of the clothes they wear come from the states and they don't even know what they're supporting.  Still, I knew Matt would get a kick out of the fact that there are Bears fans even in Central America (I haven't seen any Packers, Saints, or Cowboys' shirts, fyi)

Lastly, we played monopoly on Saturday and it was a blast.  It may seem like we have a lot of fun and travel time from my pictures on facebook, but realistically it feels like we have hardly any down time for ourselves.  A nice afternoon with nothing to do was a blessing and we took the opportunity to play a great game of monopoly :o)  About halfway through the game two of the other volunteers start screaming all of the sudden and pull their legs up into their chairs.  I was sitting next to them so I followed suit, of course, assuming it was either the rat or a tarantula causing them to freak out.  The volunteers from the other side of the table jumped up and looked.  "How did a chick get in here?!"  Everyone's heart was racing as we looked at each other and started laughing.  We're not sure how it got in, but we are glad for the commotion in the end, it keeps us on our toes and light-hearted about life here!  Here's my roommate, Katie, with the chick she name "Leonard".  She begged us to keep him but we decided it probably wasn't a good idea so we released him in the wild (aka the dirt road in front of our house).

It's easy to appreciate the little things when you find yourself in Belize.  The challenge is to appreciate the small things in your life when it's not made simple for you.  To be thankful for the green lights when you're running late, for hot water in your shower (trust me, you should be thankful for that!), for an unexpected fun night with friends, for a great conversation, for getting the house clean quicker than you thought, for the rain starting  after you got the groceries in from the car, for a poopy diaper that didn't get all over her clothes, for your favorite song on the radio, for a great homily at Mass, for a clear sky with thousands of stars visible, for a hug or an 'I love you' from a child, and for all those other little things God is giving you everyday that we just plow through and don't even notice.