One Week Down

We have been in Belize for a whole week already, in many ways this week has flown by, yet at the same time I feel like we have been here forever. We are, for the most part, set in new routines and feeling pretty comfortable in our schools. I can finally buy my own lunch now. Haha. The cafeteria at Faith Nazarene School reminds me of a concession stand at a football game, you walk up and order your food. However, unlike North America where we wait in orderly lines to order, everyone just pushes their way to the front, waving their money in the air, and yelling what they want. I found out the first day that I am not a very pushy person as a group of Standard 3 (5th grade) boys pushed past me. At least I have 1 1/2 hours for lunch, I can just wait until the crowd is gone to get my food. Today we had the delicacy of beef for lunch. After having baked chicken for every lunch and dinner the past week the beef was a welcome change!

I have become a lot more comfortable in my classroom and with my cooperating teacher. I know most of the kid's names (even though they still laugh when I pronounce some of them) and I feel comfortable stepping in when my cooperating teacher isn't helping students that could really use guidance. Today has been a much better day in the classroom, the smiles on the children's faces confirm that I am doing things right. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention in last night's post that the well broke and we found a tarantula. Fortunately, the well was fixed in a timely manner and we didn't have to go too long without running water. As for the tarantula, as my van got back to our campgrounds from school we walked out to see a little Belizean boy. He ran over to us yelling, "Miss, miss I have a gift for you!" We all that it was such a sweet gesture, until we saw the nice-sized tarantula that he had in a cup! We quickly denied his offer and ran the other way. I guess we can't say that we are completely comfortable in the Belizean culture. Haha.