If it's the beaches' sands you want...

Things have been going great here in San Pedro. The time adjustment has been hard to get used to but it is getting us to bed early which is good. The weather is still beautiful and extremely hot but I am enjoying every bit of it.

A summary of my Saturday follows!

            On Saturday, we woke up and a group of the interns went to go scuba diving or to get certified. The rest of us rode our bikes (which we finally got J) to the bakery for some breakfast. Then we met back at the Animal Humane Society right down the road from where we are staying. There we met the lady who runs it and we played with the puppies for a little while. After that we each got a dog to walk for part of our service hours. The dogs do not get a chance to get out of their kennels very often so it is great that we can help walk them. We walked the dogs along the beach. My dog was a little bit of a bully but he enjoyed the walk. I was surprised though, by how he did not want to get anywhere near the water!

            After that, Kathleen and I went on a hunt to find a good deal to go snorkeling. We ended up finding a trip out to Mexico Rocks and to part of the Barrier Reef for $30US including snorkel gear. So we ate lunch at a place on the beach. I got a yummy chicken wrap with pineapple and apple on it and a smoothie. It was so good! Then we got a group together and headed out there. Tito was our “guide” and he was a riot. It was my first experience snorkeling and it was a lot of fun!! We got to see a ton of fish. Some of what we saw was sting rays, angel fish, and a big sea urchin. It was the best adventure/experience of my trip so far! I took some pictures with my underwater camera but it was hard to see through it so I am not sure what I really took pictures of. Haha. Hopefully I got some good ones though. I am so appreciative that we are at a place where we have the opportunity to get to do things like this.

            That night, we went to the Miss Isla Bonita Pageant. This was put on by the elementary school I am working at and was held at the high school. There were five girls from different grades in the pageant and each performed a talent, were in formal wear, swim wear, etc. Each girl had a booth set up and sold different things like food, beverages, toys, etc. Money spent at each booth went towards voting for the girls.

Overall, the pageant was a very different experience than what I would expect if going to one for an elementary school in the states. For one, it lasted all night and the winner was not announced until around midnight. They really do go by “Belize time” everywhere here. It is hard to get used to but it’s nice to have a different atmosphere than the normal hustle and bustle of back home.

Our office hours at Pedro's Inn. Just an example of Belize time. Seriously!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Today was our first official days in the school. I am working with Infant I which has students 5 & 6 years old. We got to the schools a little early so we hung around waiting for the children and teachers to get there. School starts at 8:30AM and then they have a morning assembly. During this time they say their prayer, sing their national anthem, go over any announcements, recognize birthdays, etc. This morning they introduced the six of us that are working at Isla Bonita Elementary. After the assembly, everyone goes to their classrooms and begins the day. The day went by pretty fast. There are a lot of differences from what I am used to as part of a regular school day and what expectations are of students. It is truly going to be a learning journey. I am excited to begin it though.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

            I almost posted this last night but did not have good internet connection! Luckily I didn’t because I need to post about my day today. So today was my second day being at Isla Bonita Elementary and when I got there this morning, I was informed that my teacher was sick and that I was to be substituting for the day. This was a great shock to me since I had only been in the classroom for one day and had no plans for the day. Luckily, I was given a couple of topics to teach and since I am teaching Infant I it was not too difficult to do without formal lesson plans. We covered all of our material and got to sing some songs and read some stories at the end. Overall, it was a pretty good day but I am exhausted now! It is just going to be very challenging to try to get used to the behavior management system here while also trying to implement a little bit of my own expectations.

I miss all of my second graders so much. I hope you are all being great students, making good choices, and earning lots of dollars! J J

Malia, here are some pictures of around my school and inside my classroom. J

Some of my class.

Part of the classroom.

Part of the playground.

The entrance to my classroom.