So the last time I updated this thing was along time ago...I'm sorry about that...haha anyways. So what’s happened since my last blog? Well a lot of stuff...
We had our second placement, which was only a week and half because we helped out with VBS on the base and that counted for a week of placement. So for the first four days of my placement there was no school for anyone and my placement was at a school so instead of going there me and Rachelle went to a construction site with Stan and Nathanial that was cool because I got to drive a standard truck and shoot a 9 mm gun into the jungle...it was sooo awesome. But as for the actual construction part we mixed cement and filled cinder blocks with it that was pretty cool...we didn't really do much construction we more or less just messed around in Belmopan because the guy we worked with was lazy and awesome, so it was pretty much the best time ever.
The only this I have to complain about is that on the second day the four of us got there at 9, when we were supposed to be, and no one was there, except for this Spanish guy who couldn't speak English so he was so help to us at all, so we all sat down under the make shift canopy and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited....and waited some more...NO ONE SHOWED UP...we sat there in the heat (it was one of the hottest days yet) under the sun with no water and no way to contact anyone, we sat there for 3 and half hours along in the middle of a jungle where no one could see us, it wasn't cool, so when Duff (the guy we were working with) finally showed up we got him to take us home because we all felt sick...it wasn't cool.

So my actual placement was at Belize Faith Mission which is a school, well it’s a high school and little school, the high school is just fenced off form the little school but its on the same property. On the first few days me and Rachelle sat in a office at the high school and made the report cards...that was not fun at all...the day was soooo long...but after that we went to the little school and hung out with 2 kids all day and tried to help them read (which was useless because they didn't even want to read) so that was kind of boring...but not bad. Then we got to go and sit in on a class that was cool I got to mark their work and stuff (I was sitting in on Standard 2, which in Canada it would be Grade 2).

And this brings us to our second 2 week break, which in this case we actually got to break and didn't have to do anything which all of us liked a lot...we had several days of hanging out and doing nothing around the house...I guess just more bonding time, not that we haven't had enough of that.

We went to the Cayes again, and was rad, because I went snorkelling and it was really cool we went out really far and I saw an eel and a nurse shark and then when she went back to the boat the guide put some bait in the water and like so many sting rays and sharks and stuff came swimming around the boat, and at first I wasn't going to get out and instead I just followed Ben around the boat taking pictures but then I couldn't handle it anymore, I got in the water...and once I got in I was like “ahhhhhh what am I doing” and I started freaking out but once I realized there was nothing to be scared of I was OK...and once I got back into the boat I was so happy that I did it.

This is bring to when the unthinkable happened...our very own Laura went home...it was extremely sad and we miss her soooo much we all love her but we understand she had to leave and we support her...even though its hard LAURA WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

Then there was the Rodeo where two of our very own team members (Meghan and Liesl) competed. We are very proud to say that Liesl wont second in one of the categories YAAAY GO LIESL!

Anyways this concludes my blog and all of the events of the fast few weeks! Peace

Easter Weekend

So, what do I have to tell you guys today you ask?

Well last weekend we went to Belize zoo and saw some cool animals, it was kinda small and it didn't take us long to get through, but OK get this, they had white tail deer, yeah, pretty sure we have those in Canada....but anyways, so after the zoo we want to Belize city and hung out in a really nice hotel with a pool and all the luxuries, we tried to go to subway again but it was closed, so yeah thats pretty much how my Good Friday went down.

Saturday, we just hung out at the base and swam in our pool. We used that time to catch up on things that needed to be caught up on (sleep, logs and things like that). So yeah it was just some time to hang out with the team and do very little.

Sunday on the other hand, we went to the Mayan Ruins, now that was awesome let me tell you, they were so high and when you got to the top you could see forever! Man, I didn't wanna go down again...a few of us girls just sat there and looked over the edge for soooo long it was so pretty. You could see the Guatemalan border and there were army people guarding it, because of Guatemalan bandits who try to get into Belize.

So after we finally got down from the big temple we went over to the smaller ones and at the last one there was a guard and he let us take pictures with his M-16 (I think its the guns that the American troops use) so yes that was my weekend!

I'm out though, because its like 6 in the morning and I want to see if I can get back to sleep...plus I dont feel good this morning...


Peace

Hello hello
So ummm...this week we did VBS for the kids of roaring creek (the city in which the base is located) i was part of the crafts team, my job was pretty much to create some crafts and then help the kids make them. It was not a very exciting job but it was important so i guess it was cool. I didn't really get much out if it because i never got to know any of the kids, they just came in made a craft and left, the leaders of the groups got to know them because they spent the whole morning with them, but i guess it doesnt really matter because it was only 3 days so yeah.
In the afternoons me and few other people got to go to Ian's house. (he is the electrician for the base) he is building himself and his family a house, so we went there to help him with that, on the first day me and Meghan were smashing cinder blocks, then a huge truck came dumped a huge pile of sand on the lawn and we had to shovel it into a base of the house...dont ask me why...i was just told to shovel so i did. The following two days...we did the same thing and it was HOT, i have never sweat so much, but it was so liberating and fulfilling, because i feel like i actually did something, i loved it.
On the last day on work, someone pushed a kitten though the fence...and we found it and decided since the other people didnt want it we would take it home, and Mr K told us we could if Santi said it was ok...and he did SO we now have an actual pet, a kitten, its name is Cory and we love it. She is so small and cute and we all love her some, only she is extremely spoiled because all of us want to play with her and feed her and love her...but thats ok hopefully she will turn out to be a really nice loving cat...
anyways thats all for now!
peace

Trip to Corozal

Hey hey

Its been awhile since I left a post...sorry about that I was in Corozal, its a town right by the Mexican border. We were there for about 4 days its was fun, it took us about 2 hours I think to get there on Wednesday and when we got there we went to the ocean and swam for the whole day, we also walked around the town and got REAL milk for the first time is a month...it was delightful I mean I actually didn't have milk for a whole month because people here drink powdered milk, not real milk, so I decided to give up milk because I think powdered milk is gross. We went to these peoples house who are related to Emily (one of the team members) their name is the Zantingh's and Mr. Zantingh is the principal of a high school so he opened up some class rooms for us to sleep in, only these class rooms didn't really have door they were more or less gates. But that was all well and good because as it turned out the breeze was really nice and I slept like a baby.

On Thursday we went to the school care takers house and painted it pink and white, we also got acquainted with our new rule...we are not allowed to say “shut-up”, that’s an extremely difficult rule to follow seeing as how I say it ALL THE TIME...but anyways...so Ben said the “shut-up” word and got in trouble and was forced to stay after work for an hour while the rest of us went to the beach...then Stan said it as well and he was forced to stay after for an hour also...that was really crappy because none of us saw it coming that we would be punished like that for saying something we say all the time. So anyways we end up at this beach thing that sucked...I didn't even go in the water because it looked gross. A bunch of girls and I just sat on the bus and talked, it was a good time, then we realized that Stan and Ben were not back yet and it was pretty much 2 hours since they were supposed to come back, turns out Mr K gave the wrong directions and they ended up walking around the little town for 2 hours...I felt that was unfair because it ended that we had to wait for them to find us before we could do anything...ANNOYING...anyways this brings us to dinner...we decided that we had enough Chinese food and wanted something else...so we went to a place called “The Crazy Canuks” and they had pictures of Canadian beer and such on the wall so that was cool...the food was good and I was finally full...for the first time in awhile. Then we went back to the school and once again I had a good night sleep.

And now we come to Friday...we went back to the house we painted the day before and we finished our job...but not before I dropped the “shut-up” bomb and I was going to have to stay for an hour BUT I managed to get myself out of it by offering to give money to the “cane cutters” because Mr K had just told us how they get extremely underpaid and took us to go see them and honestly some of them were 82...that’s older then my Paka...and they work all day in the hot sun doing nothing but cutting sugar cane. So yeah, I started a collection and my team all together gave $312 to these cane cutters to split, and believe it or not but that’s pretty much their yearly wages and we were able to gather that up in a matter of minutes. Crazy stuff man. So anyways that night we went back to the Zantingh's house and we slept on the roof, it was awesome... I had a realization when I was up there... I was sleeping on some random persons roof in BELIZE, like are you kidding me... it’s so weird because I've seen pictures of people on missions trips and I’m always like “wow, that’s so cool” and now look at where I am...on a missions/co-op trip for 3 months in Belize it just blows my mind...

So then on Saturday we went to some place by the ocean and swam and had lunch and stuff...that was cool...we also saw some Mayan ruins they were cool I guess, not as cool as some other ones we are going to go to later on this week (I think, we are still deciding on what is happening this weekend).

So after that we were off to SUBWAY, and let me tell you, I never realized how ungrateful I actually am for all the stuff I have in Canada. Liesl and I ate our subs together and it was so bloody good, I have never eaten something so good. I had a 12 inch BLT and I was in heaven but if I was eating that in Canada I would have stuffed my face and then thought nothing of it, but since I NEVER get stuff like that here, it was so good and I savoured it. By the way that Subway is the ONLY one in all of Belize. Anyways, I know this is really long, but I've been told I must update and I was gone for along time so there was a lot to say

anyways

peace

A long day

Hey hey,

Ok so today day was spent at the orphanage because Ben was real sick and couldn't go...so I went, well the unexpected happened...I got real sick, like fever sick...it was uncool. I couldn't do anything with the kids because I was so like cold and tired and I just wanted to go home. So on top of being sick, I didn’t know I was going the orphanage until about 10:00 which is when Ben and Hannah usually go, so I started my usual work at 8:30 which is normal time for me...then got shipped off to the orphanage at 10:00 then I had to stay at the orphanage until 6 which is when Ben and Hannah usually stay there till...PLUS when Opa (a chaperone) was on his way to picking us up the van broke down and so he was like 45 minutes late so I pulled a 10 hour day while having a fever...it was not fun...

But on a lighter note...I went star spinning...because I felt a little bit better after I laid down for a bit when I got home.. Anyways star spinning works like this...you look up at a star and then spin...you pretty much get dizzy like right away then someone else turns on a light and you all run toward it and you fall all over the place. It was fun, only I felt like I was going to vomit after the second spin...but yeah that’s really the only fun part of my day, all the rest sucked because I was so sick.... but I'm feeling much better now which is weird...I guess its because I pumped myself full of drugs when I got home...I'm way to social to sleep while everyone else is
out in the living room hanging out so I guess I just sucked it up to the point in which I didn’t even feel sick anymore.

So I found out today that my next placement is at a school and I'm still living on the base BUT the next two weeks are going to be spent with the whole team here at the base living together its going to be crazy...usually by the end of the weekend I'm ready for everyone to leave and go back to their placements so it will be quiet again and there’s actually space to like move around...but its all good because I love my team and I do like hanging out with them, It’s just going to be crazy. Oh yeah and I’ll have a whole new bunch of people to hang out with here at the base in my next placement which is going to be weird because I'm so used to these guys and I know I’ll miss them...I got so close with them over the past 3 weeks, but I guess it’s time to get close with even more of my team...so yeah that’s my thoughts for today.

Raining Eldery Dogs

Hey hey

So today I went to Amy and Emily's placement which is the “Octavia Weight Center” for the elderly. Some of them were really funny, but others I just felt sorry for. I realized that I don’t know if I could ever like help with the elderly, I don’t know, it’s just not my thing.

Although it was really nice to see Amy and Emily today, I cant say I really enjoyed myself and the really messed up part was that even though I did literally NOTHING all day I was more tired and ready to sleep then I have ever been after a day of grunt work at the base...like my eyes would not stay open, on the bus I actually feel asleep.

Ok, so when we first got here they told us we would not see rain for 3 months, and well, its been raining on and off for the past week and I don’t know if I have said anything about this yet but I went running around in a tropical rain storm this weekend and I could have done several more times this week...but you know what? It’s ok because it really only rains at night and that’s when I'm sleeping so I don't mind so much.

At the current moment its POURING out and I swear I just heard thunder...cool...its 11:24 pm and my head is right next to the window, which by the way, most houses don’t actually have glass it’s just screen and wire and then shutters which don't close the whole way so yeah...but surprisingly no water has come into the house yet...

We got a new dog this week, me and Laura named him Lupé, I feel bad for him tonight because its really coming down and he has to stay out there all day and night because he’s our guard dog and he will protect us from intruders such as other big animals from the jungle which is right next to our house or people who plan on killing us or stealing all our things...not that that has happened here in like ever, its just a precaution...which is cool with me...as far as I see it we have...a very mean and vicious pet, but a pet none the less...we also have and electric fence around the back of our house...for extra protection so I think we are going to be ok now that we have all this security surrounding our house.

Blue Hole

Hello Canada

So I hear its cold there...well guess what? It’s not cold here, it’s actually nice and hot...but enough of that...ok so this weekend on Saturday we went to the “blue hole” and I’ll explain what that is...actually its pretty self explanatory it’s a small pool of water (natural) that is blue water also we went into caves and it was totally like pitch dark like you could not see your hand in front of your face if the flash lights were turned off and on top of that we swam in the water inside the cave which was so cool but very scary. So we swam like really far and when we were half way back to the shore the boy decided to turn off the flash lights and the girls screamed and yelled at them oh man we all freaked out I also found myself holding the hand of anyone I could find because I was so scared but once I was out of the cave and I could see again I realized I was so happy I did that because I would have kicked myself if I didn’t go in...Man though I realized I am doing so much more here then I ever would have in Canada it’s so cool. So yeah after that went to blue hole and swam in the water there which was cool, very refreshing, if you look at my facebook there’s pictures there of it all... alright so this brings us to Sunday...we went to church at night and the service was 3 hours...but it didn’t feel like that...at all...I didn’t want it to end I was reluctant at first but in the end was really into it and everyone was being prayed over and crying and I was right there in the middle of it all and let me tell you I have never felt God that strongly before in my life it was so cool we decided we are going to that church again next week and this time I’m going to get right in the middle of the action right away instead of waiting until pretty much the very end...it was cool...a huge eye opener...man I can feel myself changing...its cool...because I’m changing for the better...but anyways I guess that’s enough...

Peace

Hey hey
So I went to see orphans today and to hang out with them and keep them entertained because they had a day off and there was a lot of them and Ben and Hannah didn't want to deal with all of them by themselves plus there wasn't very much for the people who are working on the base to do today because legacy was here (legacy is just a group who rented out some time on the base this weekend to do their thing). Man some of the kids are so cute...other just annoying but all in all it was a good day long but good...thats one thing I've always wanted to do on a missions trip, hang out with kids...and i got to do that so I'm happy. Oh man and in the morning when we were trying to start up the bus to go drop everyone off at their placements it wouldn't start for like a such a long time i would say like 45 min, something like that...so everyone was late and therefore had to stay later which made the day seem much longer. As for tomorrow its back to work with Laura on the base doing grunt work...whatever needs to be done we are the people who do it...uhg...BUT only 2 more weeks of it and then its off to a new placement...but as for now its bed time...
peace

SNORKLING

Hello everyone

So guess what? I swam in the ocean for the first time in my life yesterday, it was really pretty, I went snorkling and it was so cool... I was really scared at first, but we had a buddy system and my partner (Ben) had been before and he jumped out first and he was all “hurry up Rachel, I want to go right now!” so I was forced to face my fear right away and jump in. Let me tell you, it was the best thing ever it was so pretty I saw so many cool colourful fish. OK so Mom this ones for you...we need to go to the Caribbean on a vacation because I don't know if you have ever been there...but yeah we need to. And this is for Momma Romkema... I now understand why you love the Caribbean or any hot place by the ocean, and Jason we have to go for a week sometime next winter sometime awesome. So we went on this like little boat for about 45 min I guess, it was really fun except the waves were big so it hurt a lot when we hit them hard. But finally we got to the tiny island it was so pretty literally it was like a post card I couldn't believe how pretty it was and the ocean oh man awesome...just like I've always thought it would be. Check out facebook guys, I have a bunch of pictures up and more to come and you can actually see where I was and how nice it was. The sun was really hot and powerful and I'm paying for it right now. I got heat stroke last night and fell asleep really early and woke up a bunch of times in immense pain and ended up getting out of bed early because it hurt to much to try and sleep...it was so much fun but I wish I had thought about sunscreen earlier then I did...but its almost time for church so I must go and get changed into more appropriate attire.

Ok, so church is over now and it was pretty cool, very involved although they spoke creole, so I didn't understand more then half of it but yeah that's ok I guess it was also 2 hours long...but again oh well haha

Peace!

Hey hey everyone in Canada, so I don't know if any of you know that we have no hot water at all on the base, at all...and its the worst. BUT I can handle it, because if I think about it, when its hot like in the hot season, which is April, it will be nice to have a cold shower. But you know surprisingly it's kinda cold here right now. It was raining today but this afternoon was good... I just hope it gets hotter from here on in because it was cold enough for me to wear two shirts and long pants earlier, still better then Canada though! Haha. Anyways its bed time for Rachel so im going to end this blog post for another night.

Peace

So today is March 7 2007, and I realize that this is the first blog I've done since I got here, but you know I got things to do. I'm in a new country, with new people and many things to do. I'm still bonding with my team, I've gotten more and more comfortable with them, and I know it will just get better...we are going to be living together for 3 months. We are all going to get really close...haha...wether we like it or not...
So today me and my partner Laura raked leaves...uhg... We also scrubbed the shower house...let me tell you not a nice smell at all. It was so gross, I didn't even wanna breath, but once we got done with it, it was much better. We hosed down the whole room and scrubbed it from top to bottom with bleach. It was actually really fun, I loved it. I know it sounds weird, but that was my favorite work thing I've done so far... But what I love most is hanging out after a long day with all the people who are staying here during the week. It's so much fun and I love it!
Anyways, this wraps up my very first blog post about Belize!
Peace

Northwood Public School (kindergarten)

hey everyone I'm Rachel, and for the past 2 weeks I was working with kindergartens kids.
I painted with them, helped them get ready to go outside and take off their outter clothing such as, snow pants, boots, coats etc.

I went outside with the kids and played in the snow, we built snow men and went on the swings.

There were 60 kids and many names to remember but all in all it was fun and I enjoyed meeting them and im pretty sure they liked meeting me to.

I did learn that I would never want to be a kindergarten teacher thats for sure, I do love kids but I can only take so much of them