Only in Belize...

Well, the first week of school is over--it has been a tough one. The culture here is unlike America in many ways. For one thing, people don't really say, "Thank you" here. They just don't. So Minnesota nice is a bit uncommon for them. My kids at the school are amazing. They follow me like sheep and they love being read to. I'm starting a reading program after school for kids 5-8, and I will just do an enrichment program where we will do poetry readings, reader's theater, and do activities associated with books. I am also getting my own classroom! My class has about 40 students in it, and my teacher is very overwhelmed because it is the largest class she has ever dealt with. One of the ideas we had was to split the class and I would teach half of the students English and Math, and she would do the same. At the end of the day, we would finish out the rest of the subjects as a whole class. My teacher, the principal, and my supervisors were all for this idea, but some of the teachers at the school seemed very upset because they thought I didn't have enough experience and that I was just some volunteer from the states. I told them about my experience and that I would love to learn from them, that I didn't know everything, but that I wanted to help the students become better learners, and part of this would have to do with splitting the class so some students could get more one-on-one attention and focus on the two main subjects. So, I get my classroom, and I'm busy planning lessons/units/reading groups. I miss everyone, and I do my best to get on the internet--sometimes it "goes out" here (phone lines, too.) because of the aftereffect of the hurricane.

My new best pal here is Yukki--I think I've mentioned her before--she's a Japanese Peacecorp worker who is also teaching at the same school as me as a technology teacher. She is hilarious. She is so positive and always smiling--yesterday on our bus ride we had a cute conversation:

Yukki: (in her thick Japanese accent) Harley? When somebody say 'What's up' to me, what do I say back?

Me: Well, you could say "nothing much," or "just chillin'" or "chillin' like a villain."

Yukki:(scribbling all of these sayings down on her notepad.) Mmk, let's practice, cause I want to use.

Me: Okay. Hey, Yukki. What's up?

Yukki: Uh.....nothin' much. Just chirrin' like a virran.

I laugh so hard--she's so fun. I don't know what I would do without her here.

Okay, so I was thinking about a funny list to compose of about Belize so you can get an idea of what it's like here.

Only in Belize will you see ...

a man cutting his grass with a machete,

a man mowing his lawn with a small weed wacker for nearly a whole day,

pigs, horses, sheep, chickens, cats, dogs, and turkeys within a mile stretch of a walk in San Antonio,

chickens on a bus,

a man kill a chicken on a bus,

the bus driver make a special stop to talk to his friend for 10 minutes,

the bus driver make a special stop to get a round of beer for the passengers,

dogs humping on your morning run.

That's all I've got for now! I'll write more on Sunday!