Halloween, Lots of Rain and an Eye Infection

Friday was the school’s annual Halloween Fair. Most primary schools in Belize throw a fundraiser fair for Halloween with food, games and raffles. Each class was responsible for running a booth or activity at the school. Miss Laura’s Standard V class had a lollipop game. Pay $0.50 to pick a lollipop decorated like a ghost, if there’s a piece of paper wrapped inside then you win a prize, otherwise you just get a lollipop. I tried 4 times and never won a prize. Now I have 4 very blue lollipops that make your whole mouth bright blue. There was a bake sale, dance hall, haunted house, dart games, games of chance and lots of food! The school had a BBQ chicken with rice, beans and coleslaw (a very traditional meal here) for $2.50 a plate. Mr. Freddie and Mr. Jason manned the grills all morning. Some kids dressed up, but most came in “rags,” or regular street clothes. Unfortunately, Mr. Vernon wouldn’t let the Std. V kids wear a costume or rags, so they were all in uniform.

The weather almost put a damper on the festivities. With a rising tide and strong on-shore wind, much of the property was flooded, and many booths were moved up onto the verandas as a result. The fair lasted a couple hours in the morning and was over by noon. In the end, the school raised about $1500. For a community that can barely put food on the table every day, this is a sizable amount. As Miss Francis always says, “Little drops of water, tiny grains of sand.” Unfortunately, this amount won’t even cover this month’s electric bill at the school. Everything is super expensive down here in such a remote location.

When I woke up Saturday morning, my right eye was swollen and I looked like Disney’s Hunch Back of Notre Dame, without the hunch-back part. (Photo available upon request only.) Living a town with virtually no pavement, strong winds mean there is lots of sand, dust and other debris flying around. I think something got lodged in my eye and got infected.

This is the only time I wished I had a working cell phone. Originally, I was going to get a local SIM card, but after a couple weeks I realized that I really have no need for one. Besides, they are really expensive ($0.25 per minute). Anyways, I paid for some minutes on a neighbor’s phone and got in touch with Miss Linda, the school office manager, to find a doctor to go see on a Saturday. 45 minutes later I was at Dr. Lerida Rodriguez’s office south of San Pedro.

I was pretty impressed with her office. It is simple but well-equipped with two patient rooms and a small pharmacy. I think the back room was a baby delivery room. She checked my eye out for any more bits of dust and gave me two antibiotics, one in drop-form for my eye and the other an ointment for the lid and tear duct. In the end, my office visit and 2 prescriptions cost me $75. While this is a bargain on US standards, it’s still more than one week’s pay for most residents here. There is a free clinic (donation requested) but it’s only open on weekdays (8-4:30) and usually only has a limited availability of medications.

The rest of my weekend has been pretty dull. My swollen eye hurts and is making my right eye strain to focus, which has caused a persistent headache. I have to keep sunglasses on while I’m outside to keep more debris from getting in it. Also, I don’t really want to walk in any stores where I have to take my glasses off to reveal my ogre-looking eye, so I’ve been reading books and watching old James Bond movies.

At first, I was a little bummed out that I was going to miss all the hoopla of Halloween. Then it started to rain. When it rains here, it RAINS. It can downpour for hours. Locals call it Nortes, referring to the North-easterly winds that bring persistent rain and wind. Every time I woke up Saturday night it was raining. I’m curious to find out if people still went out to celebrate that night. If it rains in the morning, attendance plummets at the schools because the locals think that if they go to school in the rain, then it will make them sick. I wonder if that applies to parties and bars too.

Luckily the rain brought cool weather with it. Then, it’s at least tolerable to stay inside during the hottest parts of the day. The sea side of the island always has a nice breeze. Although Ambergris is only about 250 yards wide where I live, I don’t get any breeze off the water living on the lagoon side of the island.  During the middle part of the day, it gets so hot that I have to sit right in front of my fan to be remotely comfortable.  I’m writing this at 1pm in the afternoon and it’s quite pleasant lounging in my hammock with the fan on low. As a side note, I think my hammock was the best $35 I could have spent on this island. It beats sitting in a plastic patio chair all the time.

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!

A Wonderful Weekend Admist Chaos

That last entry was pretty depressing. On a lighter note, last weekend was wonderful even amidst the chaos at school.

I went snorkeling last Saturday. One of the major tourist draws on Ambergris Caye is that the second largest barrier reef in the world is located ½ mile off the coast. Standing on the beach, you can see the waves breaking on the reef. Without the reef, Ambergris Caye would have eroded away a long time ago but the reef protects it from waves and rough waters. At its highest point, San Pedro is less than 10 feet above sea level.

Going snorkeling is a big deal for me. As you may already know, fish and I don’t have the best relationship. In fact, I have somewhat of a phobia towards them. It’s rather ironic because I absolutely love water sports (rowing, windsurfing, whitewater rafting, kayaking…). My policy so far in life is that if the fish leave me alone then I will leave them alone.

I went snorkeling the last two times I came to Ambergris Caye. I figured that I couldn’t come to such a destination without taking advantage of its uniqueness. The only difference is last time I had my dad nearby to latch onto when I started hyperventilating.

I went with one of the local dive shops in town. It was a really slow day so it was quite an informal trip. Just as we were launching, my guide said that we’re going to “Hol Chan Marine Reserve” and “Shark and Ray Alley”. Oh boy. I don’t like Shark and Ray Alley. I went there on my first snorkeling trip in Belize and it didn’t end well. There isn’t a lot of coral there but the fish are attracted to the sound of the motor because they know the guides bring chum. On my last trip, I couldn’t stand how close the fish were to me. The Horse-eye Jacks swarm around you by the hundreds and the 3ft rays and nurse sharks are a little too friendly. My guide last time knew that I didn’t like fish but still got a kick out of throwing chum at me in the water. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I went back to the boat. As I climbed up the ladder, one of the guides lifted a ray out of the water and put it on my back. A “Ray Hug.” No thank you.

So here we go again, back to Shark and Ray Alley. Seeing all the Horse-eye Jacks, I was really hesitant to get in the water but I didn’t want to look like a wimp so I jumped in. Not bad. The Jacks didn’t seem so big or close to me this time. I just kept telling myself that, “They are more scared of me than I am of them.” Then to my amazement, the guide swam down a couple feet and wrapped his arms around a nurse shark and brought it up to the surface in his arms. Touch the shark? You’ve got to be kidding me. After my heart skipped a beat, I touched its back and stomach. Did you hear that, Mom and Dad? I touched a shark! The guide did the same thing with a sting ray and I touched its back too. The trip to Hol Chan was very nice. There are beautiful 30ft deep coral walls there. I never minded Hol Chan because the water is deeper and the fish stay below me where I can keep an eye on them.

Since it was a slow day, one of the guides taught me how to make cerviche, from start to finish beginning with the sea floor. Out by the reef, the water is only about 3 ft deep so looking for conch shells isn’t too hard. The only hard part is finding ones that are alive. After gathering about 8, the next step is to get them out of the shell. A couple hits with the back of a hammer put a hole near one end. The tricky part is to stick a knife in the newly created hole to separate the animal from the shell. A little finessing with a knife from the big opening of the shell and the animal comes right out. I never knew conch have eyes. Separating the meat from the rest of the animal is pretty quick and then it’s ready to make cerviche. Conch pieces plus some lime, onion and peppers make a delicious and refreshing snack.

Sunday was Harvest Sunday! The holiday is sort of like our Thanksgiving holiday but is a religious celebration. Rather than sitting down to gorge oneself on turkey, cranberry sauce and pie, people come together with non-perishable food to donate. The school brought a priest in from the mainland and held a celebration at the high school’s outdoor auditorium. Each class processed in with donations, a bag of rice here and a packet of Tang there. Little by little the donation added up to hundreds of pounds. Each class also prepared a song or poem to recite. Pictured are select students from the Standard V class reciting the poem, Giving Thanks. They nailed it. I was very proud of them. The school also hosted a very creative raffle afterwards. One parent donated a nicely decorated, large sheet cake. The contest was like a blind auction. Participants would put their bids in an envelope for the cake, without knowing what other amounts people bid. The person with the highest bid won the cake. (If you didn’t win, you don’t get your money back, that’s your donation). The highest bid went to Mr. Freddie with a winning bid of $33 USD. The school raised over $200 USD in the process.

So even with all the chaos of substitute teaching for a dysfunctional class, I am still having a very enjoyable time down here!