I'm Still Legal!

 

My visa is renewed for another 30 days! Every tourist coming in gets an automatic 30 day visa, with an option to renew it up to two more times. Luckily there is an immigration office in San Pedro, which wasn’t always the case. I have absolutely no desire to go into Belize City. The immigration officers here are grumpier than the DMV people in the states. Unfortunately, I’ll have to revisit them on November 28^th to renew again for my last 6 days.

To celebrate, I bought a new piece of furniture for my little apartment, a hammock. Thanks to the foresight of the builders, there are already hammock hooks in place. Now I feel like a true Belizean with a hammock in my living room instead of a couch. 

Thanks to Mr. Freddie, the handyman who keeps Holy Cross together, I now have a working stove! I was a little hesitant to light it for the first time, hoping that there were no leaks that the last owner neglected to mention. So far, so good. The front-left burner works great and I haven’t burned the place down yet. Speaking of which, a new 2-story apartment building has been under construction next door ever since I moved in. Last weekend, my neighbors told me that there was an apartment just like mine there, but it burned down last Christmas. In the process, my apartment got scorched. I can’t see any signs of it now, but maybe that explains why half of my ceiling has a fresh coat of paint on it. Why not paint the whole thing? My place isn’t exactly big. 

Life at the school is pretty good right now. Miss Laura is back and healthy. The Standard V kids are still in military school, but I have seen lots of improvement. Mr. Vernon has officially created a satellite office in the back corner to keep an eye on the kids. A couple of the students have personally apologized to me for the class’ behavior. They are all good kids deep down but unfortunately have many roadblocks in life. A couple weeks ago I was walking on the veranda of the school when my sunglasses fell off my head and the lenses fell off. One of them slipped through the boards into the contaminated lagoon, luckily landing on a piece of floating Styrofoam. One of the most problematic kids in Std V was nearby and rushed down the steps to climb under the building to retrieve them. Despite all the acting out, they really are good kids. 

I am back to tutoring reading and math. On Tuesday, I gave both my reading students a test to see what their actual reading age is. One has the reading capabilities of a 5 year old and the other of a 6 year old. I can’t imagine how frustrating school must be not able to read anything on the board, tests or in books. I plan to work with these 2 students every day until I leave because I don’t want them to slip through the cracks. This may be their only chance. Unfortunately, Holy Cross doesn’t have the resources or personnel to provide tutoring like this without the help of outside volunteers.  

Each one of these students has a heart breaking story. The more I hear and learn about them, the more I want to give them all hugs. Many of the most troublesome students who act out are dealing with abandonment issues, specifically mother abandonment. They have so much anger and confusion bottled up inside that they take it out in unproductive and destructive ways. Yesterday, I had to report a case of child abuse to the principal because a student came to me saying they had bruises on their back from their step-dad beating them. It breaks my heart. The worst part is that charging the abuser isn’t necessarily the best solution for the child. In this case, the student doesn’t have anyone else to take care of them if the father is arrested. Life in a childrens home is no bargain either. There is just as much violence there from wardens or other kids. This student lives within eyesight of my apartment. All of this is happening so close to me, but my hands are tied. 

I proposed a challenge to my Std V students this week. They are struggling with their multiplication tables. If they can learn them, then we will have an ice cream party. I will give them a test in 3 weeks and if all of them get above 85%, then we’ll bring ice cream in for them. To help them study, I am giving them a short quiz everyday to practice. At the start of each math class, they have 4 minutes to fill out a 30 question quiz. Everyday I grade and return them later in the day for them to study from at night. As of now, they have some work to do as only half of the class is getting above an 85. I hated timed tests when my 4^th grade teacher, Ms. Pudis, made us do them. Now I’m grateful and hopefully someday these kids will be too. 

The Halloween fair is this Friday! I’ll take lots of pictures and post them this weekend!