Week 5

Another quiet week here in Belize. The week started off really humid and hot but another "cold front" came in and made it really comfortable, especially at night.

I spent last Sunday relaxing after church.

On Monday, I had to go get my passport extension. I have to do this every month. It was a quiet day at work. Not much happening. I tried pizza for the first time since I've been here. It wasn't that bad but nothing like the abundance or quality of what I am used to from home. When I got home from work I started a workout regimen seeing as I am doing the Iron Girl and a half marathon this year.

Tuesday was another quiet day at work but Mr. Ramos (the office assistant) took me to get my package from the post office. I thought it would never get here! As soon as we got back to the office I was so excited to open it. My mom had sent the items I had asked for along with some Valentine's day goodies for the kids. My favorite thing out of the whole package was the penguin figurine with a note attached: "To help me think cooler." I have the best parents <3

Raf the Cytologist got me a chicken quesadilla from Moon Clusters along with one of the signature drinks. MMMMMM..... : )

I walked home on Tuesday and considered that my workout for the day. It took me almost 40 minutes and that was walking fast! That along with the humidity definitely felt like a workout. When I got home, I helped Terry get and do some last minute things for Dante's birthday dinner. We had pizza, sandwiches, chips and dip, and Terry's homemade ice cream cake. All of which were fabulous. I spent the remainder of the evening relaxing and watching the Olympics.

Wednesday morning was slow but in the afternoon I helped Mel (the youth clinic and education director) organize her office. For dinner that evening, I had half a burrito that was soooo filling along with a dip made of onions, cilantro, spicy ketchup and grated cheese that Terry made. (Man, I thought I was going to lose weight here!)

Thursday was a bit busier with everyone being back from a workshop. I spent most of the day helping with the International Planned Parenthood Federation yearly report. I entered statistics for some of the BFLA clinics. For lunch I went out and about with Patricia. We went to a place called 'Courts' which is a furniture/appliance store. It was interesting to see how expensive T.V.s are here compared to the US. We caught a cab from the store to the downtown area (near my house). The cab only cost us $7 B which I was in awe about. You can barely sit in a cab in the US for $3.50 let alone get a ride so far.

We went to lunch at this nice sandwich/wrap/panini place in the downtown plaza. I got a roast beef panini and it was delicious. It had garlic butter on it which reminded me of my favorite sandwich from the Downtown Deli in Cortland. It only cost us $6 B (3 US!) to get back to the BFLA (crazy!).

When we got back to the BFLA, I helped out in the cytology lab and continued to work on the IPPF report. Raf brought me a double-shot choli (double shot of espresso with ice cream and cinnamon) MMMMMMM. I expect nothing less from Moon Clusters and I can say that I am addicted!

Friday was a busy day. In the morning I went to a local clinic on the southside with Nurse Suzette to run a clinic. She would be giving pap smears and drawing blood to test for HIV. I handled the paperwork and passed out pamphlets and condoms in the waiting room. While at the clinic I could smell wood burning outside and it reminded me so much of camping at home!

It was interesting to see how Belizians act towards one another. Women who would come into the clinic and not know each other would pick up a conversation. One young lady came in with 5 children. When she went into the exam room, she gave the baby to the oldest daughter. The baby started crying and the little girl couldn't get him to stop. Another woman sitting in the waiting room took the baby and cradled him. I would never see that back home.

For lunch I tried a 'fish burger' which was just a fish sandwich from the chinese restaurant. It was pretty good. The remainder of the afternoon was spent finishing up the IPPF report.

Came home and relaxed for a bit before heading to D'Ceviche Hut with Alberto and Terry. I am addicted to ceviche too and I think it will be a once a week activity. The picture above is me at the D'Ceviche hut and for the first time I ate a whole one to myself : ) When we got home we watched the movie 'Daybreakers.' It is a vampire flick and started off slow but it turned out to be an okay movie.

Sleeping in on Saturday felt great! I took my time in the morning and got dressed to go out and walk around for a bit. I first stopped at the salon where I get my pedicures. I had to return the flip flops she lent me last week. I also put money on the cell phone I have here because every so often they have a double/triple day so for $25 US I got $150 B added to my phone! That should last me a little while. While I was out I figured I HAD to stop at Moon Clusters to get my fill. Raf was there and brought me across the street to his wife's salon so I could meet her. They are such a nice couple. On my way back towards home, I stopped in a lot of the stores on the way. I bought some nice long skirts that I can wear to work when it starts to get really hot out, along with sandals and a nice tank top shirt. You'd be surprised how cheap things are here along with being able to talk some shop owners down. My sandals were the last thing I bought and they were priced at $15 B. The place did not take cards and the only cash/change I had left was about $14.45 B. Needless to say she took that and I had myself a new pair of gold sandals : )

When I got home, Terry and I ordered lunch from 'The Celebrity,' a restaurant located sea side that has $10 takeout meals. The meals can feed 3 people so we ordered and brought it over to her mom's house. It was pasta and chicken that was delicious. It almost seems that everything I talk about is the food I consume here haha. When we got back home, I had a bad headache so I layed down for a bit. I ended up falling asleep for almost 2 hours! It was the greatest nap I have had in a while and I really miss those days of being able to do that. Relaxed for the evening while trying to be productive.

I am looking forward to Marielle's visit so that I have someone to go out and explore more of Belize with : )

I love you and miss you all. Wish you were here instead of stuck in the blustery North <3

One month and going strong!

Cool and quiet week here in Belize...

I figured out how to post some pictures so check out the older blogs for a couple pics : )

Sunday was another day filled with food and beer. We were celebrating Daniel's dad's 77th birthday. Soooooo much food!! I had some bbq chicken, potato salad, scalloped and baked potatoes, ceviche (w/out the seafood part), different desserts, etc etc. After eating, Terry and I played Scrabble with Daniel's mom. Terry won the first game and I came in last. Daniel's mom won the 2nd game. She kicks butt at Scrabble and I set her up on that game! I also found out that Marielle will be coming to visit!!! So excited!!

Monday was kind of a busy day at work. We spent a majority of the day at St. John's College (which is not too far from the BFLA) to discuss sexual and reproductive health issues along with giving exams. It was the school's Wellness Week so we were not the only ones there. Nurse Suzette was set up upstairs to give pelvic exams, breast exams, and taking blood to test for HIV. Arthur and myself were set up at a booth on the main floor with some games, pamphlets, and pictures of STI's and information about them. My supervisor, Ms. Bulwer went to speak in some of the classes.

It was interesting to see what people (ages 17-20) here do not know about reproductive health issues. I think that sex and reproductive issues are still seen as taboo to talk about because many students were not interested in stopping to talk or even pick up pamphlets. Another problem was that the students did not have enough time in between classes to stop. Some students made an exception and just went to class late. The school gave good incentive for the students that stopped at the booths because if they visited five booths they would get extra points.

Two things I observed at the school were that the bathrooms do not have soap (I waited till we got back to the BFLA because that is just disgusting)! Also, the backs of the toilets have cages on them with a cutout for the handle. So not only are there bars on windows everywhere here....but on toilets too.

When we got back to the BFLA, I helped Cecil from accounts with the commodities inventory. It is intriguing to see the names of the medicines they use here as opposed to in the states.

The rest of the work week was pretty quiet. I just helped out in the Cytology lab and helped Ms. Ana find a venue for a youth retreat in April. Terry and I went to church after work on Wednesday to get our ashes. The church was packed! We saw Daniel's sister, Lupita (who always gives me beer), and she said, "I didn't know alchy's come to church." I told her that I was just following in her footsteps.

Besides work...I have been making plans for the year. My friend Kristen and I are going to do the half-marathon in Virginia Beach on Labor Day weekend. I thought that would be my accomplishment for the year besides graduating but Nancy talked me into doing the IronGirl again. She didn't have to do much pleading because deep down I really wanted to do it again but was just hesitant to sign up. Both events are great motivation to stay in shape though.

Friday was spent discussing my project for the semester. I think it will be very beneficial to myself and the agency. I will be assessing how much contraception the BFLA distributes throughout Belize (along with the age groups) and compare it to the sexually transmitted infection and HIV/AIDS rates of the country. Maybe my time and research here can help the BFLA set up a health database to keep better track of their information.

I got out around 2 on Friday because I had to walk home. Terry left for Dallas for the weekend so I asked if I could leave in time to walk home before it started to get dark. I was not expecting to get out THAT early but it was nice. I walked to Moon Clusters (Raphael's amazing coffee shop) and was going to stay there till Daniel got home but I decided to go get a pedicure instead. The pedicure was much needed after walking around with flip flops on all week : )

The evening was spent writing my project proposal and weekly log to hand in.

I never thought the day would come that I would consider 8:30 a.m. sleeping in but that is what is has come to. It was really nice out today so I spent most of the day going from the couch and TV to sitting out on the upper deck and enjoying the sea-breeze. It felt good to do nothing for once.

I miss home but according to mama bear today....I'm not missing anything but more snow falling. I love you all and feel like I am really finding myself with my time here.

"When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift...Thrown away...Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over." ♥

Three weeks in!

Hope everyone is staying warm ; )

My week started off slow again on Monday.... began to think to myself....wow this is going to be a long semester (internship wise). I was not in a good mood between the way the week started off and the fact that the abroad office has their own set of guidelines for me on top of the school work I already have.

I have to admit I woke up miserable Tuesday thinking I was going in to sit around all day but just as I was dreading the worst....a miracle happened. Not only did I have work to do, I couldn't even finish it all in one day.

I had gotten set up with a label maker and laptop to make labels for the medicine, condom, lubricant, pregnancy test inventory but got pulled away to help in the Cytology lab (where slides are prepared from pap smears and then analyzed by Raf the Cytologist). Raf showed me the database he uses to enter in patient's personal information and results. Today he started me off with helping him to enter their personal information in. When I was finished I double checked it because just like in America, the doctor's here have awful handwriting too (maybe I really am meant to be a doctor :} ) After helping Raf I went back to finishing my labels just in time for lunch.

Lunch was an interesting experience today. I had decided to walk to "Subway" to get a sandwich. This "Subway" looks like our Subway but everything that is on the menu is not available. The first thing you do in Subway is tell what kind of bread you want right? Well I decided to go for a wrap. "We don't have wraps" the girl said, as I was looking at the list of things they should have. Okayyyy....how about some wheat bread. "We don't have wheat bread" she says. So instead of continuing to play this game I said "What do you have then?"....just parmesan and white (decisions, decisions). Long story short, I thought I finally found someplace like home but DENIED. It was good but nothing like home. Oh and it's not diet coke here it's Coca Cola Light.

During lunch I was talking to Raf (the Cytologist) and come to find out he owns a coffee shop named "Moon Clusters." We got on the topic of coffee because I was saying how I would KILL for a good cup of coffee. Raf invents all the items they sell. They have hot coffee but their specialties are frozen coffees (ice cream, espresso and complete deliciousness). Sooooo when he went to pick up his son at 1 he said he would bring me back their best seller to try (Choli). I'M IN LOVE!! I will surely miss Moon Clusters!! AMAZING

The rest of my Tuesday was spent alphabetizing one of the nurse's client files (which I could not finish which meant definitely having something to do tomorrow). After work I was in such a great mood! Terry cooked up grouper and rice & beans. This was my first time trying grouper and it was delicious!

Wednesday-It is quite interesting walking to work from Daniel's work. If I am not getting called at or whistled at, I'm getting asked for money (No fret mom and dad, I walk only on busy roads, there's always people around, and Daniel & Terry wouldn't allow me to walk anywhere they didn't think was safe). I guess I really need to get a tan or something so I don't look like such a tourist all the time.

I spent the morning finishing up Nurse's files (time flies when you're having fun haha). After lunch I started to put together a power point on Sexual Harassment for a presentation the following day. I worked on that until I had to leave around 3 p.m. to go to St. John's College extension with Nurse Rachel to give presentations on breast exams, pelvic exams, pap smears and personal hygiene. SJC was doing a wellness week promotion and we were only one booth out of several. Long story short, our booth was not as popular as the others (no music, no scale, etc). We started out with about 10 girls paying attention and ended with 2 who were not evening paying attention they were just being polite. Interesting experience to say the least.

Thursday-Well the comments on my walk to work are never ending. Maybe one day these people will learn that I'm not a tourist and forget about me. Work started off slow today because my supervisor was running late but I found things to occupy my time....like cooling off from walking. After I cooled down Raf showed me how he writes the results of the slides and how to enter them into the database. It took a little while but I finally got the hang of it and now I can be a big help to Raf (and he can repay me in Cholis ; } ). After lunch I went with Ana (a youth officer) to Wesley College (High School) to give a presentation on Sexual Harassment. The school we went to is one of the better disciplined schools here. We had about 125 students and they were very respectful. Ana is a great presenter too!

When we were waiting for our ride back to the BFLA, street vendors came by with corn on the cob on a stick that they brush with mayonnaise, sprinkle on cheese, and then squirt ketchup on. I wasn't willing to try this concoction yet. The other vendor had fried plantains (banana like fruit that is really good fried) with hot sauce. Another concoction I was not too keen on trying.

Ana invited me to go with her to a school tomorrow to present 'Puberty.' Since her computer crashed we spent the rest of the afternoon developing a power point for that. Ana is really nice and invited me to come out for drinks and to have dinner at her house sometime.

For dinner I tried tamales. Tamales consist of seasoned chicken wrapped in cornmeal dough and steamed or baked in corn husks. I decided to put salsa on top of mine and mmmmm it completed it.

I met with my academic advisor, Kathy, to hand in some paperwork for the guidelines of the abroad office. She told me she'll take me out soon and that it won't consist of business because I mentioned all the things I want to try and do but do not really have anyone to do them with (till Marielle, Chris and Shauna come to visit of course :] )

Friday-It was really hard to get out of bed today but when I realized it was Friday I couldn't be happier. Terry made french toast for breakfast and it was sooooo good. Reminded me so much of home.

I decided to wear jeans for the first time here because the only pants I had clean were in desperate need of ironing and there was just not enough time for that this morning. I completely regretted the decision of jeans though because it was really hot today.

Ana and I were late to Ladyville Technical High School because the driver went on a run and didn't come back on time. The school rearranged some of their activities so we had to wait a half hour before presenting. Personally I felt like the age group we were presenting to were too old to learn about puberty but that was me assuming they had ever learned about it at all. It seemed from the presentation that they really hadn't. After the presentation, Ana told me that this was one of the least disciplined schools and they have very high pregnancy and HIV rates. While we were waiting for the driver to come back to get us the school provided us with tamales and juice. They're tamales and juice were really good!

The rest of the afternoon was kind of boring because my supervisor had went to a meeting for the remainder of the day. So I just did some computer work and talked with people in the office.

Terry made Curry so we ate a little bit of that before heading out to the D'Ceviche Hut with Alberto and Daniel's cousin, Patch. MMMM I sure will miss Ceviche too. It was a nice chill night filled with ceviche and beer. Afterwards we went back to the house to watch "The Vampire's Assistant." For how tired I was before the Ceviche Hut I was the only one who stayed awake the whole movie! It was a cute movie with a definite sequel in the future.

Saturday-Felt so good to sleep in finally! (if 8:30 could be considered sleeping in haha) I made some toast with onion & chive cream cheese for breakfast. I sat down to get some homework done and thank God I did because there would be no other time over the weekend. Around 11:30, Martinique, Dani and I walked to Moon Clusters to get something tasty. It was a decent walk and I was shocked that Dani did not complain at all. Moon Clusters is such a cute and cozy little place. It's on the second level and has an open porch with couches and little cafe style tables. The walls are painted with all different pictures and the shop is decorated for Valentine's day. Everywhere you go down here is decorated for V-day. I specifically wanted to come to Moon Clusters today because Raf was telling me about their V-day Choli and of course I want to try everything on the menu while I'm here. I ordered the V-day Choli while Marts and Dani shared a banana foster (similar to a banana milkshake). The V-day Choli is espresso blended with milk and ice cream with red and pink sprinkles and a mini cupcake on top, all in a decorated cup. It was fabulous. I think I may make this my new Saturday morning ritual! : )

When we got back, I showered and got ready because we would be leaving for Orange Walk for a 50th wedding anniversary. It was the first time since I've been here that I straightened my hair (thankfully it was comfortable weather today). We were originally going to stay the night in Orange Walk at Terry's friends house but change of plans and decided to drive back after. We went to the church for mass to celebrate the couple. After mass everyone gathered out front to chat. We arrived at the reception and sat down with Daniel's brother and sister were sitting. We listened to the speeches about the couple. It is so nice to see that marriages still last and how respected this couple were. When the speeches were over, they started the party off with a waltz. While people were waltzing, dinner was being served. It wasn't long after I started eating that a beer was placed in front of me....courtesy of Daniel's sister, Lupita. Let's just say open bar here isn't like open bar in the states. Open bar here doesn't stop till the party stops.

I sat and drank and people watched until Terry came back from her friend's house. She pulled me up and dragged me on the dance floor. I didn't leave the dance floor for the rest of the night (and thanks to Lupita a beer never left my hand). It was mostly Spanish music up until close to the time we left. As soon as "Girls just wanna have fun" came on I couldn't control myself anymore. Nothing beats the typical wedding music.

Dante was so funny because he saw this cute girl when we first got there but was too chicken to go up to her. Some of his cousins finally pushed him up to her and he didn't leave her side ALL night. According to him we can go back to Orange Walk any day.

Spanish wedding anniversaries are a great time and I suggest you go to one!

Second Week in Belize : )

Hope all is well with everyone!

This week started off kind of rough but ended very well!

Monday-I started working with the BFLA. Before arriving, I felt so sick to my stomach from the nervousness about 1)entering my last semester of college and 2)entering the workplace of an atmosphere similar to what I would like to continue on with. My supervisor, Ms. Bulwer, had to step out for the day so she passed me over to Nurse Rachel who brought me up to her air conditioned office to explain her responsibilities with the teen clinic. After meeting with her I met with Patricia Smith who does a lot of the reports for all the BFLA clinics around Belize. Ms. Patricia is so sweet and down to Earth. She gave me a tour of the building and introduced me to everyone. I had met the teen clinic employees last week on our trip to Orange Walk so that made things a bit more comfortable until they had to leave for a workshop for the week.

After my tour, Patricia spoke with me about her responsibilities and then we had lunch and chatted for a bit. The rest of the afternoon was spent observing what goes on in the office and I ended up leaving around 2:30. Since I left so early, I walked to Terry's work to wait for her to go home. They typically have the food network on at her work and I got hooked on 'Worst Chef ever.' Glad to know I am cook better than some people!

I had emailed many of you the previous day and it was really nice to come home to a near full inbox of personal messages : )

Tuesday-Started off bad in the sense that Sunday I had not slept very well from nerves and Monday night was not any better. Ms. Bulwer was in the office so she started off by giving me a presentation about the BFLA, their services, and the order of employees. Next I was shown some games/activities that are used to educate youth about sexual and reproductive health. I was then left to organize the monthly calendar of Outreach programs (many which I will be attending) throughout Belize. The rest of the afternoon was spent flipping through some manuals, pamphlets, etc and observation. I'm not into American Idol but I watched the tryouts with the fam and they were pretty hilarious. Felt very tired though from not sleeping and not really being busy at work.

Wednesday-Started off well because I actually got some sleep but it was very warm and sticky early. On the way to work Terry mentioned possibly snorkeling on Saturday which I was thrilled about. At work, I went over to the hospital with Nurse Rachel to educate women who had just given birth about contraception and pap smears. Rachel goes every Weds and Nurse Sue goes every Friday. The waiting room was pretty full but the first difference I noticed was how easy it was to have access to go into the hospital (no id, no visitor's pass). The feel of this hospital compared to the ones at home was unsanitary. It definitely did not have that hospital smell. Upon entering the maternity ward there's no closed doors or hand sanitizer dispensers on the walls. The first room we went into had 6 beds: 3 filled. One girl was sleeping but I found out that the other two were 23 & 25 (new moms). Neither had ever had a pap smear and have never used contraception (I know what you're thinking, duh Sarah they obviously weren't using contraception if they were pregnant, but contraception is not just for pregnancy, but STI's and HIV too; at this point my jaw hit the floor but this reminded me of why I was here) Nurse Rachel discussed pap smears, where they are available, and how long after giving birth they could get one. I gave them pamphlets on all forms of contraception and breast exams.

The next room, all six beds were filled. (I could not imagine being a new mom and having to sit in a room of other new moms who I've never met) Another disadvantage of so many women in one room is that they are not as willing to tell us personal experiences (or lack there of) or ask questions. Only 1 out of 6 had ever gotten a pap smear and none were using contraception(can you say culture shock). Rachel said that about 65% of women that come out of there will go to the clinic but I was still in shock. Arriving back at the BFLA, I was reassured that I would not have to travel throughout Belize by myself like Ms. Bulwer had previously mentioned to me (wipes the sweat off my brow). I will travel with her or the team only.

I tried my first Belizean fried chicken at lunch time. It was really good and really cheap! ($2.25US for 3 pieces of chicken and fries). It was nice and sunny out so I took advantage of my hour long break to sit outside and get my dose of Vitamin D.

The afternoon was spent working on a presentation for the following day. Nurse Rachel and I would be presenting on STI's to 9-14yr olds. (9-14 yr olds & STI's!!!) She had the information she wanted to use so I put together a colorful (to catch their attention) but basic (to not lose their attention) powerpoint.

The evening was spent relaxing with the family and then Terry, Marty and I went to Terry's parents house so Marty could do a science experiment with food coloring that her grandmother had. Terry's grandmother and parents are so sweet and gave me REALLY good hugs : ) Terry's sister lives about her parents with her husband and 3 kids. When we walked up there Terry's sister thought it was just Terry until she saw me and screamed because she was in her underwear...talk about a great ice breaker(hahaha). Her sister is very sweet just like the rest of their family.

Thursday-Fresh fruit was cut up at work (pineapple, papaya, watermelon and oranges). The pineapple was delicious as was the watermelon but I did not care for the papaya. I sat with Ms. Bulwer and Nurse Sue while they worked on a yearly report but it is difficult to stay awake in Ms. Bulwer's office because she doesn't turn the lights on(migraines). I went up to Rachel's office where I could wake up while we worked on the activities we were going to use with the kids about STI's. After lunch we went to St. Mary's school to give our presentation. They uniformly welcomed us. Many were eager to participate in the presentation but it got crazy when it came time to do the activities (we all know most 9-14yr olds have a short attention span). We had originally planned to run two activities each but Rachel had to move her car so I ran 3 and she ran 1 when she got back. I would say it was a great learning experience all around because I was getting frustrated with the shouting out of answers and talking above me but I realized that is bound to happen with 50 students at that age level.

One thing that made me really uncomfortable was one of the teachers disagreed with some of my statements but instead of saying it in question form she proceeded to say out loud what she believed to be right while misinforming the students at the same time. Another reminder of why I am here because if the teachers do not know or know the wrong things then the students are only going to be misinformed which will lead to the problems that exist today. It is a tough situation because the age of engaging in sexual activity seems to be getting younger & younger therefore S&RH education needs to be taught younger but at the same time, there are adults that do not even know what is going on (the community as a whole needs to be educated).

As we were leaving, a couple of the girls approached me and touched my hair (insert own opinion). Terry informed me when I got home that St. Mary's is one of the poorer primary schools.

Friday-Left early for a local high school (Canaan) to give a presentation on contraception. We had about 45 students to present to in a small schoolhouse room with no circulation (on one of the hottest days of the week). Before the actual presentation, I handed out a 10 question quiz about contraception to see what these students knew already. While Nurse Rachel presented, I graded them and the top 5 scores got a BFLA pen. A majority of the students got 6/10, while about 10 people got 7&8/10 and one girl got 9/10. Two of the questions I was not even aware of the right answer before Nurse Rachel told me so I did not expect many to get those right. This presentation went a lot better and although there were several students that were disrespectful, the teacher mentioned that she would deal with them later.

After lunch, Ms. Bulwer and I developed some learning objectives and descriptions for me for the semester. Finally! an idea of what I will be doing while I am here. At twenty to five she had me enter some information into a powerpoint that I could use for a paper I have to write about the organization (I was not thrilled that I did nothing all week and on Friday, right before it's time to leave, she wants to give me something to do). She is sweet but can be really confusing sometimes.

After work, I relaxed for bit then got ready for my first night out in Belize! Terry's friend, Alberto, picked us up around 10 and we headed to the Riverside Tavern. It is a really nice place (reminds me of one of the nice downtown bars back home). To my surprise I was not the token white girl either : ) The prices for beer are so cheap here compared to a bar back home though(like $2-3). We hung out there for a while and enjoyed a lobster,shrimp,saugage,beef nacho mix. We left to go to club Next at the Princess hotel & casino. It was a really fun looking club & they were playing some good music but it seemed that everyone from the Riverside came too but that was about it for people. We didn't stay there long. Alberto mentioned that Saturdays are the popular night for the club so we'll have to try again later. Alberto and Terry seem to have a great time in each other's company and I had a great time my first night out! I was also excited to go home and not have to get up at 6am!

Saturday-I woke up around 8:30 to get ready for snorkeling but I got nervous when I looked outside and it was so cloudy and gloomy. Upon opening my window it was cool out too. Next thing I knew I was rushing to get ready to go.

The people that work for Terry are really nice. We boarded about 15 minutes after I arrived. There were many older couples on this tour but there were some young people too. The excitement was really getting to me because I remembered these were the perks of working in such a beautiful place for the summer. The boat ride out to the private island took about 20 minutes but time passed by quick listening to the other people talk about where they've been and what they've seen. Come to find out, most of them were from Canada & one couple was from Long Island(who proceeded to tell me that Syracuse is way way way North...uh not that far lady haha). We dropped the people who were not going snorkeling off at the island then we ventured out to open sea to snorkel! Where the boats dock at the island is a manatee area so we had to go really slow and I was hoping to see one but no luck today. We arrived at the area for snorkeling and it is part of the barrier reef that stretches for hundreds of miles. I put on my snorkeling gear and was about to get in the water when I peered out behind the boat to see a huge sting ray jump up and out of the water about 100 feet from us. I got really nervous at this point(1. about him;2.about why he was jumping). But I did not succumb to my fear and I was the second person to jump in. The water where we got out of the boat was about 3 1/2 feet deep so I could stand but I stayed close to the other woman that got in until I got comfortable. The water felt great & it was clear!! It was nice that it was cloudy because I didn't have the sun beating down on my pale skin.

Snorkeling was AMAZING! I hope to do it again before I leave. I saw some colorful fish of all sizes, a school of blue fish, a HUGE lobster (probably 2+feet), a little lobster, an itty bitty starfish, coral all over and another sting ray (too close for comfort)! The water eventually got pretty wavy but it came just in time to head back. When we got back on the boat, they had brought the smaller lobster on board so we all had our photoshoot with it. We arrived back at the island and had about an hour & fifteen minutes to relax, eat, drink, etc. I ordered some food and a beer and headed down to the beach (thinking to myself...man I could get used to this). After I ate my food, I walked through the water a bit and collected from shells. I found some little conchs with orange shells all over too. I ventured on to an area with a whole mess of huge conchs washed up on shore. Venturing back I had a picture taken of me with a palm tree shorter than me! Visited the manatee museum which had some pretty cool stuff.

The crew & tour were amazing! I look forward to seeing them again.

I walked home from the tourist village and upon doing so, I had every person welcome me to Belize and try to sell me something. I also got asked twice if I needed any ganja (probably to celebrate Bob Marley's birthday) and spoken to by almost everyone else I passed. Very interesting walk home needless to say. I arrived home to be rushed again to shower and change to go to Daniel's parents house for a BBQ. My hair was so knotty from the sea water and wind that brushing my hair after was quite the process (shaving my head sounds like a good idea). The BBQ was really nice. I met many of the relatives who were both welcoming and hilarious. The food was excellent along with the endless flow of beer coming my way courtesy of Daniel's brother. I had amazing grilled chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, and beans. After snorkeling, sunning, eating, and chatting, I was quite relaxed and tired from the festivities.

What a great ending to a long week! : ) As the days progress I am getting really comfortable here and have enjoyed the time already spent. Looking back on the great times I have had and looking forward to what is to come! : ) <3