Leaving Caye Caulker, an amazing experience!

Posted on December 21, 2019 by e2roberts

I’ve never felt time fly by in the way that it did while being on Caye Caulker. 8 weeks seems like forever and then it passes by in the blink of an eye. This morning’s ferry ride into the city was filled with tears and lots of reflection on the memories that were shared by all 6 of us. Abbey and I were fortunate enough to have had almost a whole extra week after school ended to relax and be in vacation mode, and I think it made it harder to leave. We spent our final days with our students and their families, enjoying our time at the Split, going on many boat rides from our friend Ryan, tubing at sunset with new friends we had made, and winning trivia and doing Karaoke at Sports Bar… the perfect way to go out in my opinion.

For those of you coming here in the spring, or any other time for that matter, or thinking of coming here… my advice to you is to just do it. Weather you’re doing it by yourself, or you’re as lucky as I was to get to do it along side one of your best friends, take the opportunity to come visit the island and its people because you will not regret it. Go on a full day snorkel tour and a sunset tour with Raggamuffin– ask for your crew to be Ellio, Ricky and Charles, trust me they’re AWESOME. Book a sunset cruise with your friends and meet every stranger on board with you. When you’re at the Split, you’re going to eat mozzarella balls and play corn hole and meet people from Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Portland, New York, England, everywhere– be open to every single person you meet. And when you’re ready to party, head on over to Sports Bar and tell our friend Charles behind the bar that the teachers sent you, he’ll know exactly who you’re talking about. Some of my favorite meals have come from the stands on the side of the road.. specifically my favorite is the burrito cart in front of the basketball courts, 9$BZ for a foot long burrito and a hot dog and they are AMAZING.

Leaving is the hardest part, but I know it isn’t forever. I plan on coming back to visit since its easy to get to and relatively cheap– not to mention I’ll always have somewhere to stay down there because of how many new friends we made. This whole experience opened my world to so many new ideas, opinions, lifestyles, and experiences. There were certainly amazing ups, challenging downs, and twists and turns along the way… but this experience is one I wouldn’t change at all.

If anyone wants to know ANYTHING, or has questions about the experience feel free to email me: ellbell1397@aol.com, I would love to tell you everything about it.

Thanksgiving and the midway mark

Posted on December 15, 2019 by e2roberts

Right now we have exactly 2 weeks left on this awesome little island. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas theres a lot of cultural experiences that we’ve gotten to have! My family came down to visit for thanksgiving and the Sports Bar we all go to was putting on an actual dinner with all types of turkey, side dishes, etc. and we all went and it was DELICIOUS. (If you’re coming to Caye Caulker, spend a decent amount of nights here. Truthfully, it’s helped us feel more like locals than tourists because it allowed us all to become familiar faces!) That friday was also LICA’s “Cultural Day” where the students are assigned different Belizean cultures and they create performances, dress in that fashion, and also have food to try. I brought my parents to the school that day so they could experience it and it was awesome. Students wrapped up their first term, and started second term… which we found it odd to us that term exams happened with a few weeks before Christmas break, but the Ministry has it set up that way. Now we’re into Christmas Galas and Variety Shows– last night we all went to Ocean Academy’s gala and it was AWESOME. LICA’s is next week so we’ll have updates to follow when its time!

Also, can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but Abbey and I live together and we’ve really focused on shopping locally from the stores fro food to avoid eating out ALL the time and its helped to save a lot of money. For those of you coming here in the future, theres shops EVERYWHERE that have food to buy so we usually buy breakfast and lunch foods to help save money and cook ourselves. It’s common handy and we’ve also been able to find things for really cheap.

As far as our free time, we’ve done a few snorkel tours and sunset cruises. On our last one we saw dolphins, manatees, sea turtles, sharks, fish and coral… which seeing ALL of those in one trip is nearly impossible so we got really lucky. There’s a lot of companies on the island that do tours. We prefer to use companies/shops that our students families either work at or run as a way to support them and their business! All our tours have been with Ragamuffin, which one of our student’s moms works at, and each time we go it has been nothing short of incredible!

I’ll talk more about the actual school side of it all in a later post. Lots to say there. Cant believe we have 2 weeks left!!!

One of the sea Turtles

this was cultural day with standard 3 and standard 2 girls!

Week 1 Caye Caulker

Posted on November 6, 2019 by emloch

Our first week at Ocean Academy has been hectic. However, we have enjoyed every second of it. Liz and I were shown around the school by Vice Principal Ms. Zeiden. We learned that in Belize, children are only required to remain in school until they are fourteen years old. As a result, Ocean Academy is the first high school on the island and is only 10 years old. A major challenge that they face at Ocean Academy, is that the school has limited staff and resources. In regards to supplies, the school lacks simple necessities such as white board markers, folders, pens/pencils, highlighters, loose-leaf paper, class sets of books. All students have a laptop though, and they use google classroom, which allows us to have more options in regards to materials we can give them. The school also has some donors who will sponsor the purchase of one book per student each year.

Although the national language of Belize is English, most students speak either Spanish or Creol as their first language. In turn, there is a large population of students at Ocean Academy who are below reading level and need one-on-one attention. Unfortunately, since the staff is spread so thin, they are unable to give at-risk students the individualized attention that they need to succeed. As a result, our central role has been working as a reading mentor/ English tutor. We will spend the majority of our day working with students individually to help students with their reading comprehension. Ocean Academy is currently working on implementing IEPs for their students to better accommodate all student needs. The staff has discussed how the process is strenuous since it can take years for an IEP request to be processed for a student. In one case, it took three years of requesting a visit from the Ministry of Education to have someone sent to the school to provide testing for a student. Then after they came, the staff at Ocean Academy did not receive the results of the testing until a year after the visit. In addition to the lack of federal attention, they also lack the resources necessary on the island to have students properly tested in order to receive a medical diagnosis for their disabilities. Therefore, students who are unable to make a trip to the mainland, or even afford to receive proper testing, are forced to go through their high school career without proper accommodations.

We have had some time taking over the classes at Ocean Academy. As of now, we have taught one reading class, and lead a class discussion on the book Breath, Eyes, Memory, by Edwidge Danticat. The course is an elective students can take to help prepare them for the CESE, which is the standardized exam given in the Carribean.

Overall we have loved working at Ocean Academy. The staff are extremely welcoming, and they are open to any ideas Liz and I have to improve classroom instruction or ways to support student learning. The student body has also been kind and welcoming to Liz and I. Most students have shown an eagerness to learn and respond positively to our assistance.

As for our down time, we have been having a blast. We have spent most evenings after school watching the sunset at The Split, where the two halves that make up Caye Caulker meet with a thin strip of water separating them. We swim in the clear blue water at least every other day, if not every day, and have fed stingrays, pelicans, and seen some small nurse sharks. This weekend we have our first big snorkeling trip scheduled on a large sailboat with all 6 of us teachers, plus some visiting family members. We are all very excited and have heard great things about the tour we have decided to take. It promises manatees, stingrays, sharks, sea turtles, and other species we haven’t even heard of yet. Should be a wonderful time and we look forward to it immensely.

Until next time!

Thoughts on San Pedro and Slideshow

Posted on December 20, 2018 by mayagonzales

Coming to San Pedro to finish my student teaching was a huge deal for me. I lived at home all 4 ½ years of college and commuted. I have never been away from home for this long. I travel a lot, but mostly throughout the US, and very rarely out of the country. When I heard about the opportunity to come here, there was something in me that knew I had to come and would regret it if I didn’t. When I first got here, I had a very hard time adjusting and could not wait to go back home. I am very lucky to have been here with Jen and Paige who helped me make it through the first few days when I was feeling very unsure. Once we started to settle in, my whole perspective on this experience change. I stopped thinking about the fact that I was so far away from home, and focused on the experience and what was in front of me. I am leaving San Pedro a completely different person than I was when I arrived. I cannot believe how fast these last two months went by and am not ready to say bye to this beautiful place.

The school alone was an eye-opening experience, and I feel as though I can handle anything as a teacher after being here. Some days were very stressful, but always ended with a smile and hug from students who love you very much. Saying goodbye to the students was very difficult for me, since I built relationships with each of them. There was one student in particular that could not even write his name when I arrived, and I worked with him throughout the weeks. By the end of my time here he was writing his name and was able to take notes from the board. Saying bye to him was heartbreaking and I will never forget him.

The people who live here make the island what it is. We have met so many people throughout or visit that we have built strong friendships with and spent a lot of time with. The people that live here are some of the nicest and selfless people I have ever met. It has made me realize how uptight and selfish most people are around me at home. Jen, Paige, and I frequently joke about how weird it will be to go home and not just wave and say hi to random people. We got so used to saying hi, smiling, and waving at everyone we walk by. At home people do not even make eye contact and just walk by with their heads down or in their phones. The hardest thing about leaving for me is having to say bye to all the friends we’ve made and people we’ve met.

I feel so lucky to have shared this amazing experience with Jen and Paige. Going home, I know I now have two lifelong friends. The bond we have as we leave here is something no one else could ever understand. We’ve been through a lot together here and at times only had each other to depend on. I hope one day the three of us can come back together on vacation.

If you have any doubts about coming to Belize to finish your student teaching, all I can say is just do it. This experience has been so amazing and I would not trade it for anything. Besides the experience of teaching in the schools here, being on this island was an experience alone. It’s safe to say that I have never had this much fun before and been able to do so many fun things a short period of time. I decided to make a slideshow with pictures from our trip to attach in the blog, enjoy!

San Pedro-13yn0b5

Bittersweet Belize

Posted on December 20, 2018 by j1harkness

It feels like just yesterday that Odelia picked Maya, Paige, and I up at the water taxi to bring us to our apartment. The emotions I was feeling then could not be any more different than the ones I am feeling now with so few days left here. Upon arrival I was anxious, homesick, and doubtful. Now in my final days I have a full heart and can honestly say I consider San Pedro a second home to me. Advice that I would give to those visiting San Pedro would be to take risks without thinking too much about it (snorkeling with the sharks was not something I ever pictured myself doing), do not expect anything to be fast paced (island time is a real thing), and to get as involved with the community and school as possible as there are so many opportunities and it feels amazing to have everyone in town know you for the work you are doing.

I feel very blessed to have had so many people from home visit me here including my mom and dad, sister, and best friend Michelle. Getting the chance to introduce them to the school, my favorite spots here, and to people we have built relationships with will make Belize a topic of conversation for a long time at home. My parents are already talking about planning a trip to come back! Belize seems to have an effect on people where you leave feeling that you still need more time here. I can completely understand why we have met so many people from the United States who have moved here or come back for a few years at least. Some of the best decisions we have made here were renting a golf cart (there is so much more freedom), exploring areas outside of San Pedro, trying local dishes (stew chicken is amazing pretty much anywhere you go), and being friendly and open to making connections with locals including student’s parents and our teachers. This has gotten us lots of perks including local discounts at restaurants and even an occasional free meal, cheaper prices on excursions (Thanks to Paige’s teacher), and most of all knowledge about the island that we would not have known otherwise including which clubs are free on which nights, special events, Christmas festivities (boat parade, tree lighting, etc.) and more.

I can truly say I am leaving San Pedro a different person. This is all thanks to the amazing children and individuals I have met here who have changed my life. The people here are so incredibly appreciative, selfless, positive, and carefree and this attitude has rubbed off on me after being here for 2 months which those who have visited me here have noticed. I have learned to be a more humble, patient, and understanding individual. This is a place filled with so much love in every corner that it is near impossible to be unhappy. Even with the struggles we have endured through finding our way, adjusting to the school system, dealing with technical difficulties with our apartment, and occasional homesickness I would not trade a second of this experience for the world. Some of my favorite memories here would be visiting KoKo King in Caye Caulker which is the most beautiful beach I’ve been to, enjoying meals at the amazing Elvi’s Kitchen where we have gone so many times we’ve made friends with the staff, attending school events like the Christmas dance recital where I got to see my girls perform, and of course all of the excursions we have done as each of these were things I’d never tried before. I would recommend San Pedro to anyone because the pros of being here outweigh the cons by a landslide. Come here with an open mind as well as a thirst for adventure and friendship and you will not be disappointed.

Go To Spots In San Pedro

Posted on December 20, 2018 by pphilbin

And just like that it is time to go home. I have had such an incredible time here in San Pedro having to leave feels like I am leaving a second home. Being here for two months I have really had a chance to experience the town, meet the locals and find the go to spots on the island. This is my list of go to places if you are traveling to San Pedro.

Beaches

Secret Beach: The drive to secret beach is, to be blunt, awful but when you arrive the clear blue water and soft sand make every bump worth it. It is a pretty far trip but it is a great place to spend all day at. They have seats in the water and chairs on the beach. You can order food and drinks that they will bring right to you!
KOKO King: This beach in actually on Caye Caulker, so you would have to take the water taxi from San Pedro over there but its only 30 minutes away and 52 Belize round trip. Once you get to Caye Caulker you take the free boat over to KOKO King, this boat ride is literally less than 2 minutes. KOKO King is a secluded, beautiful island with clear blue water. There is food, drinks, a DJ and swings that swing over the water. (Perfect for a photo!)
Ramon’s Village: So, if you’re not looking to make the trip to Secret Beach you can swim off the dock at the back of Ramon’s. The dock is pretty far out with a large palapa where you can lay out and jump off of. This is somewhere I would go frequently after school to catch some sun and cool off from the day.

Dining

Elvi’s – Elvi’s has been a staple in my diet the past two months here in San Pedro. It is a little bit more expensive but the food is so delicious. (I would highly recommend the basil pasta with chicken and requesting Kian to be your waiter!) This is a great place to take family or friends if you are having people visit you.
Brianna’s – If you are looking for more of a traditional meal, this is the spot! The Stew chicken with rice and beans is out of this world yummy and the portions are huge!
Truck Stop – This is the place to be on Sunday nights! Truck Stop is four different food trucks with twinkly lights, live music and drinks. Such a great atmosphere with amazing food and various options!
Coffee Bar – If you are looking for a good coffee and a laugh look no further! Coffee Bar is a great place to go to when you have work to do, the staff is so friendly and the vibe is so chill to sit and get work done while you drink your coffee. The food is delicious as well! Have Miss. Anna cook you up a stuffed fryjack and you will not be disappointed!

Nightlife

Wayo’s – Wayo’s is right on the water and the staff absolutely makes it feel like home! Jason, Jovi and Mateline have made us feel like locals!
Intro – This is more of an upscale club scene. I would recommend going on Wednesday nights because there is no cover charge for ladies.
Jaguars/Daddy Rock – These are more of the “local clubs” where you will find that most of the locals go to after all the bars have closed at 12. The nightlife is very different than in the states, after 12 you head to the club and some stay out until 4 or 5 in the morning. Getting breakfast after a night out is not uncommon!

Hopefully if you are planning on coming to San Pedro you will try some of the places I have listed! I promise you will not be disappointed!

L.I.C.A. Christmas Variety Show

Posted on December 12, 2018 by m1rosen

La Isla Carinosa Academy orchestrates a lot of community and extracurricular events to become as involved in the community as possible. This year, the faculty put on a Christmas variety show this past Saturday and it was a resounding success in all aspects. I was proud and overjoyed to be part of such a spectacular event. All of the teachers including myself and my supervising practitioner created and orchestrated acts from each of the classes to perform at the event. Our class decided to make a skit for the song, “Grandma got run over by a reindeer.” Everyone had a lot of fun practicing in the weeks leading up to the event and also the actual performance. I was Santa for the show and enjoyed taking tickets and passing out candy while greeting the guests at the front door with the principal of L.I.C.A. The faculty also orchestrated and practiced our own performance in the weeks leading up to the event. We all made costumes and practiced almost every day after school taking this event very seriously. I was also Santa for this performance and broke out some unique dance moves for the show.

In reality, almost half of the island was in attendance for this event. It was on a Saturday night and the show was centrally located at the basketball courts which made it a very populated gathering. I honestly was not expecting half as many people at this event. There was an estimated 400-500 people in attendance and we ended up selling out of all the food less than half way through the show. We charged 5 dollars Belize for adults and 2 dollars for children and ended up making over 1900 dollars for the school. The school utilizes fundraisers in a variety of unique ways and it really pays off. My fiancé had come down to Belize to visit the previous week and had brought down a large variety of Christmas decorations for the show because they are very hard to find on the island. Our faculty was the talk of the island in the wake of our show and I was very honored to be such a big part of the event.

Santa with his sleigh

Santa with some of his elf associates

Santa with his supervising practitioner and principal

Group photo of the faculty after the performance

A Note to Anyone Thinking About Student Teaching in Belize..

Posted on December 3, 2018 by pphilbin

Welcome to my classroom!

I think one of my biggest curiosities before coming to Belize was wondering what my classroom and school would look like. After working in my school and classroom for close to a month now I think it is very important for people at home in the states to know that the classrooms here are extremely different than what you will be used to. To start off, there is no air conditioning so you will be hot. You are hot, your classroom teacher is hot and your kids are hot. It is something you just have to power through. You will be grateful for the occasional rainy day! Your classroom is a decent size but you will have a large number of students in it with you, especially if you are early childhood. There are 31 students in my Infant 2 class. They do not have individual desks, at least in my classroom; they sit at tables together with 3-4 students at each one. Their backpacks hang on the back of their chairs, as they do not have any other place to store them. If they stand up sometimes their chairs tip over because the backpacks are heavy. They do not have cubbies so all of their supplies like pencils, erasers, crayons etc. are kept in personalized shoeboxes that they call their “box” in the corner of the room. The tables, chairs and students basically fill the whole room. There really is not any other furniture in the room. There are two bookshelves, which hold all of their text and workbooks and a small rack that holds storybooks. My teacher has a desk as well as a white board, which is great!

For students who are looking to travel to Belize for their student teaching I definitely think there are things you should bring with you.

School supplies! White board markers, pencils, pens, erasers, and handheld sharpeners. All of these things seem extremely basic but they will be crucial in your day to day in the classroom. I always thought if I needed to borrow a pen for example, that I could just grab one off of my teachers but that is not always the case. If my teacher has a pen it might be the only one she has so it is very good to come prepared with your own supplies.
Books!! Please, please, please bring a handful of your favorite picture books. I brought a Pete the Cat book and a Doctor Seuss book and that was not enough. The books that they have in their classroom are extremely limited and the quality is not good, the books that are in their classroom have been there for years. My kids absolutely love when I do a read aloud, it is the highlight of their day and my biggest regret is not bringing more books for them!
Reusable water bottle! As I said before it is hot. Everyday. Everywhere you go. It is so important to be constantly drinking water and having a reusable water bottle makes it so easy to refill as you go. Drink more water than you think you need to because it is so easy to get dehydrated without even realizing when you are in the hot sun for hours.
An open mind! This is probably the most important thing you are going to need. This is going to be such a different teaching experience than you are used to. The teaching techniques that are used at RC are much different than the techniques that are used back in the states so finding a happy medium is a struggle. But I will say that with an open mind this experience will push you to become a better teacher. It causes you to think deeper than you have to at home because lesson planning is not as easy as printing something off Teachers Pay Teachers and making copies, you have limited resources and you really have to think about the best way to get your point across with the resources you have. You will struggle but I promise that your students will be there with a hug and a smile to help build you up. My saying for my classroom is “nothing but love in this room” because that is truly how I feel.

Hopefully this provided you with some insight of what teaching is like here in Belize and hopefully it didn’t scare you away, haha!

Update from beautiful Caye Caulker!

Posted on November 20, 2018 by m1rosen

Wow! There is a lot to talk about since my last update 11 days ago! I have adapted to many of the nuances of the culture and teaching style here in Belize. I have gotten creative with my lesson planning in order to accommodate the lesser amount of resources than I am used to in Massachusetts. For example, I am teaching how to find volume this week and created varying sizes of cubes out of construction paper and tape to give the students a visual and tactile experience with cubic units. I brought down from Massachusetts a fair amount of school supplies when I came such as construction paper, pencils, pens, erasers, glue sticks, permanent markers, paper clips, tape, expo markers, etc. and they have all come in handy! I have not printed out one worksheet to complete with the students which is very different from Massachusetts. The students mainly either copy down notes or homework from the whiteboard or their textbooks. The students complete assessments based on what they are learning on paper or posters and hang them around the room to display. All of their work is decorated to look visually appealing and displayed then, taken down when the class moves to a new topic. My Fiancé will be visiting in a few weeks and she is bringing from the states more supplies as well as Christmas lights and blow up Christmas decorations for L.I.C.A.’s Christmas variety show that they are putting on December 8th.

This week, our whole school was preparing for cultural day which was last Friday, the 16th. Each class teamed up with another class to create an expo for their specified cultural group to represent the 5 major cultural groups of Belize. Our class and the standard 3 class were responsible for putting on an expo to display the Mayan culture. We prepared the students all week by teaching them each facet of the Mayan culture so that they would be prepared to present during the expo. Also, I orchestrated a performance of the students acting out a human sacrifice during the expo that mimicked a scene from the movie, “Apocalypto” The students who were in the performance stayed after school to practice almost every day of the week to prepare for the act. We dressed them in traditional attire and painted the students’ face and bodies also tying coconut leaves around their waist to make them look like ancient Mayan people. I also created many posters for the students to present during the expo of the various Mayan ruins as well as language, calendar, food and drink, traditional dance as well as the number system and alphabet. We also made traditional Mayan food called “escabeche” which is a chicken and onion soup served with soft corn tortilla shells. This food was sold at our expo to fundraise for the class and resulted in altogether making 330 dollars for the class! This day took a lot of preparation and effort but the students had a lot of fun and the parents and guests were very impressed with the entire event. During this week, I also gained some carpentry experience after school by teaming up with another teacher to build a wooden bike rack for the school. This was valuable to the facility and myself because I am not a handy person and could use some experience with these types of projects and the school desperately needs a bike rack! There are long hours here at L.I.C.A. For everyone; I get into school around 7:30am and usually do not leave until 5:30- 6pm either helping students with schoolwork or doing other extracurricular endeavors. There is a lot of value that is coming from my effort for the entirety of the school and the students at L.I.C.A. which makes the long hours worthwhile.

I have kept in steady contact with my former supervising practitioner in Massachusetts throughout my international student teaching experience. I had brought letters and decorated folders that my former students made from Massachusetts to my current students in Belize. In response, my new students completed letters and folders for me to send back to Massachusetts and were sent to the states on Thursday of last week. Each class was so curious of what the other class and individual students were like that I set up a FaceTime video chat between classes this past week. I set up a chat for the students to meet each other as a class and also individually meet their specific pen-pals! I went around to each student and had them meet and greet the student that they received and will be sending letters back and forth to. The principal and multiple teachers were there to witness the event and it was an engaging and culturally valuable thing to do for both sets of students. L.I.C.A. had done pen-pals before but never had done anything like that with a video chat before.

This past weekend, the other student teachers from San Pedro (Jen, Paige, Maya) and I took advantage of the long weekend and went on an all day trip to the mainland on Saturday. I took the water taxi to San Pedro on Friday night and then we woke up and started our journey into the mainland. Our first stop was at the ancient Mayan ruins of Altun Ha which were humbling and breath taking. Your mind cannot help to think about what the monolithic structures and plazas looked and felt like in ancient times at their pinnacle. We then took a drive through the rainforests, had some lunch and arrived at our next stop which was ziplining and cave tubing. Jen, Paige, Maya and I zipped over the rainforest and the vegetation and animals were very captivating. To witness the contrast of wildlife in the Belizean rainforest compared to Massachusetts was definitely a sight to behold. Possibly my favorite spot of the day is when we trekked 30 minutes into the rainforest to arrive at a large cave entrance. This was a gigantic limestone cave system that was carved out by the water of the Maya Mountains. We floated down the river and soaked up the beauty of the caves and our guide provided us with great information throughout the trip. At one point, the guide had us turn off our lights to experience total darkness and to have us appreciate why the ancient Mayans thought of these caves as the entrance to the underworld. I have been doing a lot for the school and the students but have also taken the opportunity to enjoy the sights and experiences of Belize.

This photo captures the essence of cultural day at L.I.C.A.

Our class and standard 3 students are performing a Mayan human sacrifice as part of our cultural day expo.

This photo shows the informational posters of the Mayan ruins that I created as part of our Mayan expo.

Honing my carpentry skills by helping to build a bike rack for the students of L.I.C.A.

Flexing on top of the beautiful Mayan ruins of Altun Ha.

The main temple at Altun Ha where the “Jade Head” was found and has an estimated value of 5-10 million U.S. dollars.

Ziplining over a river in the rainforests of Belize.

Group photo with Jen, Paige and Maya after ziplining.

Group photo with other student teachers before going on our cave tubing adventure.

Floating down the river out of the caves!

Snorkeling tour at the reef!

Life Update in the Amazing San Pedro

Posted on November 12, 2018 by j1harkness

My first weeks of school here at the San Pedro Roman Catholic School have been eye opening, filled with excitement, and quite an adjustment. I am in an infant 2 classroom which has 30 children with an age range of 5-7 years. I have constantly had to think of more creative ways of teaching without materials I had at home, communicate openly with my teacher about the pacing of student teaching and ideas I have, and be unafraid of asking questions about things I am not sure of. An example of this would be when working on letter sounds with the students. Some of them are pronounced differently in Belize and sounds that wouldn’t be acceptable at home are considered correct here. So far, one of my favorite experiences in the school has been Saint’s Day. All of the students dressed up as their favorite saint and paraded through the town towards the church for a ceremony. Then when back in the classroom they were asked to stand in front of the class and discuss facts about their Saint. I was so proud of them for being able to do this so well at such a young age! In the second week my parents were here visiting from home. My mom who’s a teacher had wondered if she could come to check out the school during the break time. She brought an electric sharpener and a 64 pack of crayons for the classroom which was a wonderful surprise. Not only did she get to come in and see the classroom, but my teacher allowed her to talk to the kids about her classroom at home in the United States. They were asking insightful questions and could not believe my mom was here from so far away. It was so special! Going into week 3 I am feeling fully adapted to the way of life and differences in instruction of academics here.

Maya, Paige, and I have been making the most of our weekends here and packed them with lots of excitement. On the first Friday night Mike came to visit and got to see San Pedro and explore some of our favorite spots to eat and grab drinks at. Saturday morning, we all traveled to Caye Caulker on the 30-minute boat ride so that he could show us his island! It’s crazy how different everything is there when it’s only a short distance away. It’s much smaller and less congested, hardly anyone drives golf carts, and there’s more of a colorful/island vibe. We went straight to The Split which is an amazing swimming spot with a platform that can be jumped off of, tables floating in the water, and great food. On Sunday, we explored Secret Beach with my parents which is about a 45-minute and very bumpy golf cart ride, but well worth it. There is so much to do there from lounging on beds or hammocks in the sun, snorkeling, swimming in the clear water, and browsing local’s crafts/services like hair braiding and handmade art pieces. We have been thoroughly enjoying relaxing on the weekends as we’ve still been getting used to the time change, intense heat, and finding our way, but for the upcoming weekend we have a lot of plans including cave tubing, exploring the Mayan Ruins, and going ziplining. After only a few weeks, I truly feel like this island is a second home of mine and no amount of time here will be enough.