So many adventures...so little time...

My last day at Isla Bonita Elementary school was the perfect ending to a great experience. Friday was only a half day, due to the upcoming two week Easter holiday. The morning was spent having a surprise “going away party” for me and the students making the sweetest thank you cards. We also spent some of the morning at the park on the beach. It was a great way to spend my last day enjoying time with my kids and my partnership teacher. There are a lot of different things that I will take from my time at the school and it was bittersweet to see it end.

                Saturday morning, we set off for our trip inland. We got on the water taxi and then loaded our bus to head to the Belize Zoo. The zoo was really interesting and we got to see the Tapir, Jaguars, Parrots, Toucans, Howler Monkeys, and more! It was another great zoo. That night we were staying down the road from the zoo so we went to check out our accommodations. They were rooms with bunk beds and we quickly felt like we were all back at sleep-away camp. Despite the bugs and loud wild life, it was a good night’s rest!

                Sunday was definitely top 3 besssssst days of the trip. We got up, had breakfast, and got ready for our long day trip to the ATM caves. I was nervous and anxious because of the unknown adventure ahead. We loaded the bus and started on our journey to the caves. This journey consisted of our bus making its way down bumpy, winding curves on dirt roads, crossing creeks, climbing up hill, and more. It was quite the durable bus! We finally made it to the caves only to realize we still had to hike to them. So we ate some yummy lunch, got in our caving gear (clothes to get muddy, water shoes, bug spray) and began our hike. We hiked through the rainforest and across the Roaring River and eventually got to our cave spot. Here we split into three groups of eight, got our helmets, and guides and began the real adventure! The spelunking in the caves was literally the coolest thing I have done before. We were in a real Mayan cave – swimming, rock climbing, squeezing into crevices, walking in waist deep water, etc. It was challenging in the best kind of way. In the cave we got to see Mayan artifacts, learn about the Mayan culture, see skeletal remains from sacrifices, and more. It was such a great experience and I would come back to Belize just to do it again. J

                We ended our ATM tour right before dark and loaded back on the bus to head to San Ignacio to our hotel. It was a little bit of a long ride and we were worn out from our day so we were all ready for some dinner and to get settled in our rooms. Katie and I got to stay in one of the cabanas and this was really exciting at first..until over the next several nights we had to conquer several types of bugs and bug bites. But it was good to be a different environment and get to see new sights.

                Monday was another GREAT day of my Belize trip. I had really wanted to go cave tubing for one of our excursions, as well as zip lining. After half the group had decided they wanted to go with the hotel’s price of $75 just for zip lining and not go cave tubing. Four of us were determined to find a better price and still get to do the combination. So we walked down the hill (oh yeah, our hotel was at the top of the hill in San Ignacio) and set our looking for deals. After much negotiation and failed attempts, we finally landed on someone who would take us out for zip lining, cave tubing, and lunch for $90US. Seeing as this was only $15 more than the other group had paid for just one, we decided to take it. It turned out to be well worth the money! We piled in our tour guides Isuzu and headed down the long and bumpy road to Jaguar Paws. We spent the first part of the day zip lining, which was so much fun! I was really nervous at first but after a few times it wasn’t so bad. I would love to do it again. Then we ate lunch and went cave tubing! I was so excited about this because I had wanted to the whole trip! We grabbed our tubes and began the 30 minute hike to where we started. We jumped off a rock on the way and learned about Mayan history and medicinal plants. Our tour guide, as well as all the ones I’ve had, was extremely knowledgeable! We made it to the water to start, put our tubes in, and hopped in. The water did not have much current for about half of the trip so we had to paddle with our arms then. But it was really neat to be inside the cave just floating along. Then when the current would pick up, we would be pushed fast. It was a great time and my friends and I made it a lot of fun! J We didn’t get back to the hotel until a little after 6 and most of the group had gone down the hill for dinner. We were wiped from our day so we decided to order pizza and play some cards at the hotel. The pizza hit the spot and it was a great end to our successfully fun day!

                Tuesday, we went to Caracol and got to see Mayan ruins. This was a great tour. It was so interesting to know that at one point the temples, houses, etc had all been underground and someone had found them. The temples were TALL and it was quite the workout climbing those stairs but what a great thing to have the opportunity to see and learn about. After the tour, we stopped at Big Rock waterfalls and got to go swimming and jump off. This was so much fun! We got to cool off and all just have some fun together! Wednesday was just a chill around the pool day and check out down the hill (downtown San Ignacio area). It was nice to just hang out and do whatever we wanted to for the day and get to explore the area.

                Thursday, we made the journey back to San Pedro. We got on the chicken bus at 7am and then the water taxi at 11am and got back around 1ish. Boy, was I glad to be back in San Pedro. Home sweet home!

                Overall, my trip inland was WONDERFUL. It was interesting to learn all about the Mayan culture and all that entails. It helps me to better understand my students here and where they and their families may be coming from. It also helps me understand the Mayans more than I even began to before. I really think this experience will benefit me and my future classes in how I teach and the material I teach on.

Less than a week left here! Everyone is getting ready to leave starting tomorrow and Sunday. I will be sad to see them all go, especially knowing that my turn is coming up. It will be bittersweet to leave because I will miss Belize but I am excited to see my friends and family.

Easter Celebrations

One for the books..

This weekend was another great one spent in Belize! Each day brought its own joys, smiles, and enjoyable moments. It really reminded me how appreciative I am to be a part of this opportunity and experience in San Pedro. I am learning things about myself, other people, and new places that open my eyes a little more each day.

Friday evening was spent helping the San Pedro Public Library out with their movie night. This required helping set up the huge blow up movie screen and tying it to palm trees J and watching as the others attempted to get the sound and audio set up correctly. After setting this up, children from around town came to watch Stuart Little 3 outside on the beach. This was a relaxing time and was nice to see an opportunity for families to spend time together. After this, we met up with the rest of the group for a much needed fun night out on the town of San Pedro.

Saturday morning, we got up early to help my school Isla Bonita Elementary paint a mural. The current Arts & PE teacher (an intern from Philadelphia) arranged this as a project to raise money for school supplies. She painted the outline along the outside of the school and students donated money and got cups of paint to color in the mural. A lot of my students came out and parents and teachers were there. All of the interns in our cohort came out too, along with the professors. It was a great time and good to see everyone come together for such a positive event! The end product looks FANTASTIC too. It definitely brightens it up and I am so proud to be a part of the school!

After this, we had to treat ourselves to some snorkeling off the dock and a nap. Of course! J Then Saturday night was spent watching some of the interns participate in a football (soccer) game that was parents vs. teachers. This was at the other elementary school but a mix of our elementary interns played. It was an intense game and I was so proud of everyone! The parents did end up winning by one goal but I think they are scheduled for a rematch this coming Friday. Haha. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and hanging out so we could prepare for our early morning on Sunday.

Because this Sunday morning we went to……….

Dun dun dunnnnnaa naaaaaa… MEXICOOOOO!  Even though we had skeptics, the trip to Mexico was a GIANT success! It was such a fun fun fun and eventful day. First off, Katie and I overslept this morning so we were rushing to not make Michelle, Lauren, and us late for the water taxi! We did get there in time, of course because everything in Belize is on “Belize time.”  We bought our tickets, filled out customs/immigration forms, and got on the water taxi to Chetumal! The boat ride was about two hours and we filled it by talking to locals and playing card games. It went by pretty fast and before we knew it, we were there! We once again, went through customs/immigration. Then we exchanged some money and were on our way to explore! To sum it up our day consisted (in no particular order) of

·         new market

·         old market

·         ice cream

·         yummy empanadas

·         mall

·         lots of Spanish charades

·         McDonalds J

·         Taxis

·         Zoo

·         Being the only Americans in Chetumal, Mexico.

BUUUT We did make it back on time for the water taxi back to San Pedro and got to sit up top on the way back! It was a much better ride up there! The captain showed us the different parts of Belize and several islands along the way. Overall, it was a wonderful time!

I just think I am really lucky to be in a place where I can just hop on a water taxi to go spend the day in Mexico. I feel like I have to take advantage of it now that I have the chance because I may not get the same opportunities again. It was a great way to spend the day and get to see/experience another place.

For the blog prompt this week:

I have learned a lot about myself as a teacher throughout this experience and some things have been confirmed. I have always wanted to teach internationally and this experience has proven that I have a real desire to do so. I hope to find an opportunity that will allow for me to teach internationally in a positive way. It has also just reconfirmed my love for children. There is nothing better than having them be a part of your day and being able to spend time with them and teach them. This experience has taught me that I am a lot more adaptive than I thought. Back home teaching is all about planning, planning, planning and I had come to rely on that. Here, it is all about not as much planning and just doing. It is also a lot of trying to be resourceful and creative as you can with very minimal materials and resources provided. Overall, it has been a great learning experience and I have enjoyed it thoroughly.

This is our last week in the schools and I hope to make the most of it! It has been quite an experience so far…So who knows what the week will bring. J

Until next time, J

Oh, land of the free by the Carib Sea

This has probably been the best past several days I have experienced on this trip. This is due to several contributing factors.

I am feeling so much better than I was last week. All “illnesses” are clearing up or gone. This is great because I do not like to be sick when I am away from my mommy’s great care. J I am getting more adjusted to all of my surroundings and getting into a routine during the week. I have been having great experiences the past few days. This includes discovering the ability to make phone calls from my computer! And I got to have two wonderful conversations with my mom and roommate! This was a great cure to that tiny bit of homesickness I had hanging around in the back of my head. Haha.

For part of our service learning, two girls and I are creating a children’s book on the history of Isla Bonita Elementary school. Yesterday, we interviewed our principal Ms. Addy and got to hear about her life and how Isla Bonita got started. This was the most interesting hour I have spent in a while. You will have to read the book to hear all about it. J Last night, I went to church with Katie T to listen to a pastor who was down from Maryland on a missions trip. This was a very interesting service since it required a lady to translate it in Spanish. This was quite distracting but the message was a good one. This morning, a group of us rode around on our bikes to deliver flyers about some events the library is having to several elementary schools around the island. This was a great experience to get the opportunity to see some of the different schools and what they have to offer. It was an eye opening experience to see the differences in all of the schools and to realize that education is regarded differently at many of the schools. It definitely changed my view of how San Pedro views education, in a positive way. I would really enjoy spending some time at the different schools but I don’t think the professors will allow this. I am grateful to be able to get the small glimpse that I did today, though! I did this for the better part of the morning and returned to my classroom around 11:00am. Needless to say, my kids were extremely excited to see me return. J This made my day even brighter.

Our prompt this week is to explain what we have learned from the teacher we are placed with here in San Pedro. I have extremely enjoyed the opportunity to see how my teacher maintains positivity and is so engaging with her class. This is a great thing because she is so limited with resources in the classroom. She also demonstrates a lot of great strategies with the students in attempting classroom management. This is not something that I have seen in most classrooms at the schools we are at so it is great when I do see it. It is has been a great experience observing her.

Me and Genieve

Darren sporting the shades!

Getting ready to mount my bike. It is quite the task.

There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard...

This weekend went by way too fast! Time does fly when you are having fun. J On Friday night, a group of us found a new place to eat that has cheap sandwiches and croissants. So good! We ate here and then headed to one of our favorite weekend spots, BC’s. On Friday nights they have free trivia. The questions are pretty hard and geared towards an older audience. That being said, Katie P and I got a whopping 8 out of 17 points. J After trivia, we came back home to get some sleep because we had a busy morning ahead of us.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at about 8:00 and rode our bikes about five miles in the hot hot hot hot hot hot weather to a Mayan dig site. Here we walked around in the jungle of mosquitoes and sticky hotness to see ancient Mayan pottery pieces, where they lived, old structures, etc. It was neat but the bugs were awful and the heat was hot. When we got back from this adventure, it was about 12:30pm and we were exhausted and hungry! Katie T and I decided to take Dr. Crawford (who is here for the week) to one of our favorite places to eat. I got a much needed smoothie and a yummy grilled cheese. Yes, I am in Belize and have found a grilled cheese. J As soon as we got home from lunch, we decided to hit the beach and brought our snorkel gear down to one of the piers we swim at. There were so many fish down there! It was really neat that they are where we can just jump out and see them. When we got back from the beach, we were all about to start getting ready for the night and get cleaned off from our day…when the power goes out! This started the trend of off and on power outages for the remainder of the weekend. So far so good today though! Saturday night was the high school beauty pageant. Katie T and I went to it so we could interview some of the girls for our documentary on the pageant. This went on for the rest of the night. We had to leave around 11:30pm though because 1) it was getting late and we had to wake up early 2) our flip camera died at evening wear 3) there was still a ton left to go of the pageant. We did get some good footage for our documentary though and we will interview the winner sometime this week.

Sunday was probably one of the best days I have had since on this trip. All twenty of us woke up early Sunday morning to head out to the boat dock for a day of snorkeling and a trip to Caye Caulker. We all boarded a catamaran and lounged out for our ride. We snorkeled at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. It was a great time snorkeling and we saw a lot of really neat stuff! The highlight for me was the sea turtle!! I was so excited to be so close to it! J The boat crew was so nice to us and gave us delicious refreshments. Caye Caulker was a really nice island and it was neat to get to see another island! After eating and shopping around here, we sailed back to San Pedro. On the way back, we got to see about six dolphins swimming. They were so close to us and it was incredible! Overall, it was a great day!

Hopefully this week will be a good one!

Until next time,

J

All of us before we headed out!

Yeah buddyyyyyyy. ; )

The first days you were here...you didn't wear those glasses.

I am still having a great time here in San Pedro! This past weekend was spent at a Palapa Bar & Grill. Here we fought off the Pica Picas (http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/picapica.html) and laid in the tubes in the water for a relaxing Saturday. Then on Sunday Lauren, Michelle, and I had our own adventure of going out on sailboat which went up and down the coast of the island. It was a relaxing and fun day!

Sometimes the water comes in bags. You tear off a        corner and enjoy the plastic bag taste of h20. :)

This week has been an interesting one and a tough one to get through. I have been dealing with sun bumps, an eye irritation (which has led to me wearing my glasses and has left my children with great curiosity) and just today-a stomache bug. Not to mention the extreme HEAT that has taken over the island. You know it is a hot day when the locals are complaining! However, I just have to look out and remember that I am on a beautiful island and these things don't seem so bad. Also, my children help make my days a little brighter. They are always ready to welcome me with a hug or a warm smile. There is nothing better than the affection they have towards me daily!

Greetings from the Codington Interns. : )
We all miss our classes and partnership teachers (& wonderful parents) so much and talk about yall all the time!

Miss Britney is a...princess?

Responding to our prompt, this is a post dedicated to the similarities and differences of Isla Bonita Elementary and Codington Elementary (or just schools back home in general). There are so many but I will try to touch on a few of the biggies.

-At Isla Bonita, my students get a break in the morning from 9:30am to 10:00am. During this they can run around outside and eat or purchase snacks. They have lunch at 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Most students go home for lunch or their parents come and pick them up for lunch. Few students actually stay at the schools during this time.

-At Isla Bonita, if students do not finish their work my teacher holds them back until they finish. This often leads to students being late for break, lunch, or even being dismissed from school at the end of the day. At home, this would never happen because there would be a huge upset if students missed any part of lunch or missed their busses or vans. Also on this note, there is no dismissal procedure at Isla Bonita. The bell rings and students run and leave the classroom. At home, we have to make sure everyone is accounted for and leaves with their correct dismissal bell.

-Another difference is that at Isla Bonita, my students call me Miss Britney, Teacher Britney, or just teacher. I enjoy being called by my first name but the "teacher" thing was an adjustment!

-At Isla Bonita, the students have uniforms and have to pay to go to school. The uniforms are a garnet polo and tan pants/skirts. The students can pay $1 on Fridays and wear whatever they want. I like Fridays because you get to see the students’ personalities and cultural similarities/differences come out.

For example: Lindley, Justin Bieber is very popular here too. :)

-A HUGE difference is the lack of resources and materials at my school in Belize. I became very dependent on the availability of a smart board, copier, computer, classroom library, desks, pencils, dry erase markers, etc. Not have easy or any access to these things has been a hard adjustment. It really makes you think about what the necessities of teaching are. I can still teach my students the same things but it may take a little longer or the activity may not be as “pretty” as a copy might have been at home. It definitely requires you to be a little more creative with your lessons. Also, there is a lot of note taking going on in not only my class (Kindergarten equivalent) but all of the classes. This surprises me because it is so different from the types of activities I am used to presenting my students.

-The biggest similarity is that everywhere you go... kids will be kids. This is what makes me want to be a teacher and brings joy to my days. I love my class here and I enjoy working with them just as much as I enjoyed working with my 2^nd graders at Codington. :)

Some of my students during break! (I have 14 students in all)

Precious Gabriella

Reina and Emely 

Gabriella, Reina, Alex, and Genieve