Only 3 More Weeks of Work Left

Monday, June 20th
We have only 3 more weeks of work left because we are taking off a week early to travel :) Can't believe we leave in 4 weeks from TODAY! It has flown by!

Today we got into the office by 8:30 - we are definately some of the first volunteers to arrive since we have so much we are working on. We had a 2 hour HIV/AIDS meeting with everyone to plan out the next couple of weeks because we are beginning to plan the training to role out our program nation-wide. I had to leave a little early to work on the database I am developing because I wanted to get it to the Ministry of Health by the end of the day.

There were no kids at the lunch program today and we had our basic meal of beans, rice and split pea soup. We can't wait to get home and have some variety :)

After work, we went to Champions Sports Bar, yes, just like back in the US, and watched the Sox play the Indians since it was on ESPN2. GO SOX! They pulled off the win in the 9th. After, we met our friends Paul and Melissa for pizza at Yolis. This was the first time we had pizza, if you can believe it with Jim, in Belize. Now I know why we haven't, it sucked. It was no Victors to say the least.

Tuesday, June 21st
Today we did crossword puzzles with the kids at lunch - it was sad to see some of them couldn't do it without cheating completely. Even once I said the answer and SPELLED IT OUT, some of them had to look at their neighbors papers to write the answer in. I asked Miss Ger, our local mom, if she thought it was my American accent and she said some of the kids barely know their alphabet! These are kids aged 5 - 12! Crazy.

At night, Colin and I had a banana bread bake off. It is so cheap to make banana bread here - bananas are 10 for $0.50 and the other stuff is cheap too - so we make it all the time. I have to say mine won :) hehehhehe Jim went over to Paul's to get his ankle rubbed by a local massage guy. I met him over there and we watched the CRAZIEST PIRROTED COPY OF STAR WARS EVER!!! Maybe it was the way we watched it, with half the screen covered with paper towels because there was the start menu flashing there the whole time and #s flashing at the top the whole time, but we didn't really like Revenge of the Sith. Not to say Jim won't see it back in the US, but it wasn't as great as we had expected but it was an experiece to watch it at Paul's Belizian house which is basically a shack on stilts with no running water, no appliances etc. There is an outhouse down the stairs through the mass of weeds and trees. Crazy town.

Wednesday, June 22nd
YEAH! We hit up Sandy Bay again after work today and I mastered the Rope Swing and jumped off a 25 foot rock face. It is so fun to have all of this in our town. I guess we don't have hte options of other things to do at night as we do in the US but this river is awesome! jim and i attempted to swim back into town instead of take the hike in the jungle and it was HARD to say the least. We were beat by the time we made it back to the Big Bridge. At least we got some cardio! After that work out, Jim proceeded to go hit the basketball court with the local guys. His ankle is much better.

Thursday, June 23rd
I am almost finished with our database and we are FINALLY finished with the forms and training manual for our program. We just got the final manual from the press, called "Children Have Rights and Needs: Community Based Solutions", and it looks great. Jim and I are using our 'business' skills to help the Cornerstone Foundation founder, Pam, with the budgets and staff schedule for our program. We are rolling out training of all community nurse aids and community information centers in each of the 6 districts and that requires a ton of planning and financial rework. At least it's good to know we can be of help!

We have been working late days (meaning 5 or 6pm) with Pam to get all this done. We really want to make sure this program succeeds after we leave. We are lucky that we have involved the other volunteer Libby and she is super smart and motivated and should be a great person to take over. She is trying to stay in Belize through December which would be great because our Grant with UNICEF runs through December. After Decemebre, we are relying on the community to supply the help.

Thursday night we went to our friend Melissa's focus group on Gender in Belize. It is amazing how different it is than Jim and I's views on Gender. The local women WANT a man to be a provider and judge them on what car they drive etc. Most local women just stay at home and care to the house and their many children. Just different I guess.

Friday, June 24th
We were up SO late last night counseling our friends Paul and Melissa (somehow people come to us with their problems) so we are just going to crash after work today and play cards with Colin and Jackie. We are going to the Belize Zoo and the Old Belize Museum tomorrow and to the cave ATM on Sunday (I can't spell out what it stands for but it's this killer cave you hike through and canoe through). Can't wait for some R&R - yes - some of you might laugh but we are working hard down here :)