40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 14

The (sometimes helpful) way things are done here.

Belize operates a little differently than the U.S. does.  At times it can be frustrating for us Americans who are used to planning and knowing things way in advance.  But, at other times (like today!) it's really beneficial!  Yesterday was election day which means everything from schools to stores are closed.  I heard talk that we may not have school today, but I didn't really pay much attention to it since I thought it was pretty lenient that we had one day off school for voting!  But sure enough, we get to school and about 40% of our student body is all that shows up... so... we didn't cancel school, the classes were shortened to 30 minutes and we had a half day of school!  yay!  The reason the students didn't come is because the they were all up till 2 or 3am waiting for the election results... and today, once again, I am reminded that I do not live in the United States.  Things are done differently here, not better or worse, just differently.  And today, it's definitely different in my favor being that I have a few more hours to get ready for the canoe race!  

40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 13

Excel

Where would I be without my gradebook on Excel?  Well... I would pulling an all-nighter to finish averaging my grades before tomorrow.  But thanks to Excel I'm finished with grades at 9:45pm the night before the morning they're due!  

40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 12

My Girl Students 

About a month ago I went on a field trip with the first formers (freshmen).  I wasn't too thrilled about this field trip because last year's ended up being 17 hours long (12.5 of those hours were on the bus).  And of course, you're spending the whole day on a bus with 70 14-year-old-girls only to get off the bus and be joined by 70 14-year-old boys!  So, we set out at 5am for Belize City, to visit the House of Culture and the Belize Museum.  You wouldn't believe how excited these kids can be at 5am.  Honestly, the annual field trip is one of the best events for them.  Their bags are full of snacks and they are wide awake!  On the way to Belize City I slept and they took pictures of me sleeping.  As we got closer to the city the girls were all standing looking out the window singing at the top of their lungs (the bus driver was nice enough to play the music they like).  The people on the streets would all turn to look at this loud singing bus as we drove by and the girls would scream and wave.  It was so great to see the faces of the people light up when they saw the joy of these girls.  Everyone, men, women, young, and old couldn't help but smile and wave at them, many of them even started laughing.  It's amazing how contagious joy is.  

We visited the Museum and the House of Culture.  Mostly the girls saw everything as a photo op and I'm thinking about 400 pictures were uploaded to facebook that night.  They don't get the opportunity to travel much and they never get to travel with their friends.  School is their only chance for socializing.  Although Belize City is only 2.5 hours away, many of the girls told me they had never been before.  The House of Culture is right on the water and one girl asked, "Miss, can I go touch the sea?  I've never seen it before!"  To say that field trips are a big deal is an understatement.  

The way home was much the same, singing, dancing, and taking pictures.  There are no rules about standing on the bus, not sitting on the top of the seats, or keeping your hands inside so you can imagine what happens with 70 crazy girls.  By the end of the trip my head hurt from all the noise, but I didn't mind it too much because I know how much the girls enjoyed the day and I enjoyed seeing them that way.  They are loud, they are crazy, they talk constantly in class, they sing at the top of the lungs, they act like super models in pictures, they wear me out, but I love them so much, even their craziness.  Their joy and excitement for life is contagious.  

40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 11

Chinese Food

Those of you who know me well know I didn't eat much Chinese food when I lived in the States.  But around here it's the #1 non-rectory food!  There are many days when the idea of scrambled eggs, rice, and beans for dinner for the 10th day in a row is just too much to bear (or the eggs are gone and it's only rice and beans left) and that's when the Chinese restaurants in town come to the rescue!  The top two choices?  Chicken Chow Mien ($3 US) or a chicken burger with fries ($2.50 US).  

Today I got a chicken burger for lunch.  It has been raining since we woke up (making the wet/muddy walk to the rectory for lunch highly unenjoyable), I'm swamped with grading (didn't want to take the extra time to walk to the rectory and back), and black soup was served in the rectory (sometimes makes my tummy hurt afterwards)... thank God for the cheap Chinese food right around the corner from the school!  AND... the lady that owns it gave me a free pack of gum for no apparent reason!  :)     

40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 10

The Washing Machine(s)

We have two washing machines at our house.  The old one and the new one.  The old one doesn't wash the clothes too well but the spinner to dry still works.  Unfortunately, you cannot touch the clothes in the washer or the spinner of the old machine or you will be shocked.  The new one we got last spring washes well but takes about half an hour for the water to drain between each cycle and the spinner doesn't work anymore.  So this is how the process goes to do laundry.  

1. use the hose to fill the new washer and wash clothes

2. drain water (off the balcony and into the yard)

3. use hose to refill and rinse the clothes

4. drain water and refill again with hose (usually take two rinse cycles to get the clothes clean)

5. move clothes to the old machine's spinner 

6. plug in the old machine (only after you have the clothes in it to avoid being shocked)

7. hang clothes to dry

You're probably wondering why in the world I'm thankful for my washing machines, especially since it takes hours to do laundry here... the reason I'm thankful is because I HAVE a washing machine.  I'm thankful I'm not washing my clothes on rocks in the riverbed like so many other people here!  I'm thankful it takes me hours to do laundry, not days!  

sorry no picture, I'll try to post one of the washer on Monday for ya!

40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 9

Flowers Year Round

When I went home for Christmas this year I remembered how ugly things are outside when they're brown and dead!  Here we have flowers year round and we're surrounded by green grass, banana trees, palm trees, mango trees... It's quite beautiful, but like everything, when you see it daily you start to take it for granted.  So this morning I took all of these photos on my walk to school.  Another volunteer, Lucia, commented that it was a really nice walk to school.  We took time to "stop and smell the roses" and appreciated the beauty around us.  (no, we don't have roses, it doesn't get cool enough for roses here)  It's hard to make yourself slow down when you're so busy with everything in life... but when you do, it's so worth it! 

part of our backyard

entrance to Mt Carmel High School 

40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 8

Favors

lending you money, picking up your lunch, sending your mail, dropping your copies off, subbing your class, doing your dish duty, cutting your hair, cleaning the bathroom, using your computer, borrowing your phone, patching your clothes, buying you a coke, using your tape and scissors, baking you cookies, popping popcorn, listening to you vent, 

praying for you... 

all the things friends do for each other... 

we'd all be in bad shape without favors!