What's going on in Belize

Today we had a half day at school with just the teachers helping with some grading and report cards and then we also put together some Easter eggs for the party tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be helping out with the Easter party. We will hide the eggs and then the students will be able to do their hunt. There will also be snacks and drinks for everyone. I am excited about the day and being able to help out. We will also be taking the teachers grade books home tomorrow afternoon to create excel spreadsheets for them with students names and grades. This will be part of our service project here. Another thing that some people are doing is volunteering at the library here in San Pedro. One thing a couple of us want to do is to talk with the animal shelter or vet office about helping to work with the dogs and seeing if we may be able to walk them around or if they need any help with anything like that. Another idea is to go and volunteer at the preschools here in town. These will be the things we will be working on this week that is set aside for our service project. Wednesday we will be going to eat with the consulate of Belize for dinner so that will be exciting.

Children and education in Belize

Here in the schools in Belize one thing I have noticed is that the parents of the students are very competitive with their children's grades. The children get really upset if they think they didn't do well because their parents have put so much pressure on them. I don't know if this may just be at the school that I am working in or if it is like this in most of them. I know Ambergris Caye is a private school so this may have something to do with it. One little girl cried almost everyday that we took a test because she didn't do as well as her parents wanted her to. The kids are only 6 and 8 and it is really sad to see them get so upset when they did a perfectly fine job on their tests. I found it really surprising that some of the kids are out so late selling jewelry and working at stands with their parents. Even at the Arts Festival that was on a school night the kids were out pretty late for that event. I don't really know yet if I can say that the community of Belize does or does not value their children and education because there are many that I come in contact with that definitely do value both and then there are some that definitely seem not to. I was shocked by all of the free time during the school day and at how laid back everything is. The schools are so much less structured here than they are back home.

Getting settled into Ambergris Caye Elementary

Well we have been in the schools for three days now and this has been and will be a busy week. The students at Ambergris Caye Elementary are testing all week so there hasn't been too much going on but I think we have all gotten to know our teachers a little better and also gotten to know the students in the school. There are only about 50-60 students total at the school so it is much more personal than a normal elementary school. I have been helping out with typing up tests and things like that during the day. Today I was able to work with the students after lunch. I passed around some pictures of my class back home and told them about the project I had done with those students. I was able to give them letters and friendship bracelets from my partnership class back in the states. The students read their letters they were given and were able to learn a little bit about the other class I had been working with. The students also responded to the letters so that I will have some to take back with me. Tomorrow hopefully we will be able to make some friendship bracelets that I can also take back. The schools here are much less structured that I am used to. They have a legit bell that a teacher or student rings when it is time for snack, lunch, or the end of the day. Most of the children just hang out around the school playground or in the classroom until their parents get their to take them home. People around here either walk or drive golf carts. The only cars you really see are vans that are taxis. The school is very small with only seven classes. I am in infant II which is like second grade back in the states. Their are only 8 students in the class that I am working in and two of them are eight and the others are six. The teacher that I am working with is Ms. Mandy and she is very nice and compassionate. I am looking forward to my time here in the schools and I am just going to do my best to make myself useful! This evening we went to a birthday party for one of the children of the teachers at the junior college. He was turning two and they went all out for it. There was backyardigans stuff everywhere! It was very cool and they were so nice to invite us all. The people here are nothing but nice! Tomorrow those of us who are at Ambergris Caye will be helping out at the festival of arts. Everything is going well.

Day 4

Well it is day four of being here in Belize. Today was an awesome day! We went to a fund raiser for San Pedro High School that we were invited to by the high school teachers. It was a barbeque at a place called the Lion's Den. The food was good and the locals were so friendly. Two of the high school teachers even walked a bunch of us down to find a local snorkeling place where we were able to set up a whole day out in the water with a guy we had previously met at a little pub. The two teachers were Michelle and Carissa. We were able to see their house and talk with them about living in Belize. We met their children and they are even going to go snorkeling with us tomorrow. It is really great to be able to interact and talk to the local Belize people. Everyone is so friendly here! There are ten of us who are going out on the boat tomorrow from about 11am to 3pm. Lou (the guy who is taking us) told us that we could do some fishing and snorkeling and just cruise around.

2nd day in Belize

It is our 2nd day here in San Pedro, Belize. All 19 of us made it safely and have gotten settled into our rooms. We took a small plane from Belize City to San Pedro. It was a very interesting flight. We had a really great view from the plane. Today we did a walking tour through San Pedro and visited San Pedro High school, Ambergris Caye elementary, and Isla Bonita elementary. These are the schools that we will be working in while we are here. It is beautiful! Yesterday was actually kind of cool but today we got a lot more of the warm Belize weather. Today we all went to breakfast together. We are warn out from all the walking and heat. We're getting ready to go to dinner as a group for the first time and then we may go to trivia night at Pedro's.