Gettin Busy!
Alright first official work week was a success. The people here are wonderful and I am loving all my new friends I have made. First of all Monday we started by painting basketball court lines at the local elementary school and it was blazin hott! We were all shot by the end of that! But I must say the basketball court looked pretty dang good. Then my afternoon project was to go to an Orphanage in Belmopon which is the capital and about 45 minute bus ride. Danielle and I headed out on our journey there and when getting there it was a madhouse at the orphanage. We didn't really know what to do or where they wanted us. Some other volunteers from Canada who have been there for a while gave some kids to us to have them read to us. So we did that and then I turned to what I do best and that is SPORTS! Haha so we started a little volleyball circle with a small plastic ball and it was just 2 boys, myself, then another girl. Then they wanted to play a "game" so we laid 3 planks of wood down and that became our line that was the bottom of our imaginary net. So I let the boys win so they wouldn't throw a fit. Then we used the same ball to play kickball and that got a little violent and since it was 2 v. 2 when we both were on base we had to steal bases and stuff. Little confusing. Anyways my time there was done and I was sad to leave the kids they were a ton of fun! Then when we were waiting for the bus a supposedly "american" guy asked for some help and asked for $5 but I only gave him $1.50 and he gave me his shirt in return. I really did not want the shirt but he insisted I take it. Awkward. Once we got back the gang was getting ready to go watch Randy play b-ball with the local boys.
So it was made into an FHE. Randy killed it out there one on one and beat the Belizean boy. His friends were hilarious and had all sorts of funny comments and taught us some Kriol (We are trying to learn Kriol from every person we come in contact with). Tuesday I had the privilege to go to Corner Stone which is the place that teaches women who are battered, or have a rough home life but don't have the skills to leave all different skills such as baking, sewing, jewelry making, computer skills, english and etc. So hopefully some day they can get jobs or provide for themselves and kids. Another thing they do is make lunches for the kids at a elementary school because apparently schools actually have the parents bring them lunches everyday, or the kids go home for lunch if they live close enough. Naturally a lot of kids do not live close enough, or do not have parents who can bring them lunches. Cornerstone makes about 60 lunches that they hand deliver to some kids who cannot afford school and have a rough home life, and then the majority go to the school. Brad and I got to help prepare the lunches from 9:30-11 then we headed out with Stanley the driver and deliver the lunches to the house and then to the school. Once we got to the school we had 15 minutes to spare and got to know Stanley a little more and then bells rang and the kids ran over to the table. I helped by pouring their waters and then taught them a fun cup hand game that I learned at girls camp. They loved it. Then the little girls were fascinated with the red color in my hair so I let them play with and braid it and such.
Once we got back to Cornerstone we helped with the dishes and I got to chat with my favorite person I have met here so far. Ms Martha. She is so great! She has just taken me in as one of her own children, and teases me, and is just so helpful. I have learned here that the people are very laid back and they want your help but don't always know what to do with you once you are there to help. Haha so Martha just has her act together and was helpful and put us to work. She also is very giving and just so upfront and your typical Latin grandma. Ah I could seriously talk about her all day, I look forward to my many days in the future that I have working with her. After that shift we went back and had lunch and then it was Juice Bar Time. The hotel we are staying at us very slow! It used to be a hoppin place because the downstairs used to have all sorts of shops and such but now all there is a an internet cafe and a "barber shop". Kristina is a go getter and wants to open up a Juice Bar at the front to try and bring awareness to the hotel and bring healthy competitive business back to the "mall/hotel". For 3 hours we brainstormed, figured out start-up costs, came up with Menu's, called potential partners who will be helping run the buisness. Because once we leave we can't be here to work it, so we have to get the locals involved and employed to keep it running and make it successful. It has been a blast working on this idea and I am excited to see it go through and hopefully attract tourists back here and liven the place up again. Oh yeah rewind... before we started working on that I went to the barber guy downstairs and he gave me a dread. Haha it is so interesting to have. Kind of uncomfortable. But hey I can now say I have had a dread!
Wednesday was so great! I sacrificed sleeping in til 9 and woke up at 6:15 (surprising right) and attended Octavia Waight Center with Randy! He is doing a Physical Therapy Internship there and its all old people. So we hiked the 15 minutes hill there and what a wonderful experience it was. Dorothy the main nurse is such a doll! She is actually nice and patient with the old people! I got to work with many different characters and help teach them the proper way to do their exercises! Crystal was so sweet and told me about her life growing up in Honduras and then her dads passing away and how she had to drop out of school to work. She was also super strong and when we asked her if she was done she would always say I can do more! It was great. Then There was a 105 year old lady there and I would love to talk with her more next week! Her and Claire are adorable and hold hands when they sit next to each other in their wheelchairs! Melts my heart! Then Herman boy was he a pistol. He was one of those who complains about doing everything and he kept asking for coffee and a cigarette. It was quite the struggle to push him to do everything but I got a lot of laughs out of him! Then another favorite was an Owen who wore a cool hat, was coherent, very obedient and would do whatever we needed him to do. Such a good attitude. Then he busted out his guitar and played and sang for everyone. Very cool moment. Then last person I wanna brief you on is Louis. He was down the path in the "garden house" and he is very coherent and wise and has his hammock next to him, then his table full of books he is reading and papers he is writing. I loved chatting with him and hearing what he has to say. I love the excitement they all get when you just take the time to talk to them and invest your time into hearing their stories and such. It was a great experience. 
Thursday I was placed into my element. Elementary Volleyball Tournament!! There were 4 schools I believe that showed up and there were boys teams and girls teams and they are playing to represent the Cayo District team for National next month. I just helped ref, and pepper with the kids but luckily the St. Andrews girls team won the whole thing and they are just down the street from us so I get to help coach them and help them get ready for Nationals in couple weeks! The coach now seems pretty set in her ways so I am hoping she will be open minded to some of the drills I have for the girls. That will start tuesday and will be everyday! Can't wait!
After lunch I then went to Cornerstone for our first computer literacy class. Brad is the project lead for this project and he is awesome and making it way legit and has put a lot of time into creating an lessons and making sure the computers have the correct programs for us to use. We had 3 students and one was Jimiar who is a 16 year old boy who is a little slow but I seriously LOVE him! He is so kind and sweet. Then there was Juanita who laughs after everything she says! Adorable. Then Brad worked with the other one more and I don't remember her name. But working with Jimiar and Juanita was sweet. They both had very little knowledge of the computer but caught on quickly. We did the basic introduction to keyboard, mouse, monitor and such then did about 30 minutes of typing drills. They did great and were really focusing on keeping their fingers in the right position and getting a 100% on every drill. Seeing their drive to learn computer skills was way neat and makes me so much appreciative of how blessed I was to grow up learning these what I think simple skills. I love to see the desire and passion these people have to learn and develop the simple skills that I have been so fortunate to learn at an early age in life. After a great day of working 5 of us went to the river to cool off and had a great time entertaining the locals with our chicken fighting and such.
Here is some real Kriol for you!
Awesome stories, super neat experiences!! It is extremely gorgeous there! Live it up! Love you!
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