Life is pretty calm in the past couple weeks and I’ve settled back into routine. My days are spent at the home, doing lots of school and homework, waging war on the nasty dogs’ nasty tics, and just hanging out with all the kids. The kids can be a bit overwhelming at times, and sometimes I feel short on patience, but it usually only takes a giggle or hug from one of them to re-energize me and remind me why I love it here.
I spend a few evenings a week at Perkup with Lucie and we always laugh because we look kind of ridiculous sitting there on our laptops barely saying a word. It’s nice because we get on well and are perfectly comfortable just hanging out. Thursday nights are our favourite because it is open mic night. We are becoming regulars, and getting to know the others fairly well also. Andy and Merv often try unsuccessfully to recruit us as performers, but I have a bet with Merv. If he finishes the entire first twilight book Lucie and I may have to give in and take to the stage. :S I have been missing being able to play sports, but last weekend Merv gathered up a bunch of people and we played Volleyball at the YWAM base. I still say the other team cheated ;) but it was a great time either way.
I read stupid amounts these days. I will soon have exhausted the mini makeshift Library at Perkup and will have to get around to signing up for the real library. Lucie’s family is a good source to borrow books and movies from as well, so I’ve been catching up on the latest DVD’s here too. I’m not sure if Belize even knows that unpirated movies exist. They would probably be so confused as to why anyone would a) wait for the actual release date and b) pay more than $2 for the movie. I know it’s not entirely proper, but my movie knowledge is improving rapidly.
It’s fun getting to know the dialect here and learning the terminology. Sometimes I can’t figure out what the kids are saying to me so I just smile, and say something ambiguous. “What?... What?... What?... Umm, Yeah, Maybe.”
Lucie speaks very English, I speak very Canadian, and we’re constantly surrounded by Creole, so we are inadvertently picking up bits and pieces of each others’ dialects. There are different degrees of Creole, I think. Some is more concentrated, but some just sounds like broken English with a few Creole words thrown in. I can understand it if it’s not spoken too quickly, but I cannot always decipher it from just improper use of English.
Ie) English: Can I have some chewing gum?
Creole: Me can have chingum?
I don’t imagine I’ll ever be fluent in Creole, but it can be amusing to listen to.
It seems to be a fun game, or maybe just a conversation starter, for people to bet on my Nationality. Most of the time they are actually right. Sometimes I am too nice, or don’t wear enough makeup to be American, or people can “Just tell” that I am Canadian, whatever all of that means. The other day a few locals at Perkup thought I might be Dutch (or something weird, I forget) and we ended up talking about Canada for awhile. My answer is always the same, “Yep… Canada’s cold.” Turns out, one of the men had spent some time in Canada a few years back and apparently misses it like crazy. By the end of the conversation, he was tearing up and another guy had presented me with a ”fly shoo-er” on behalf of Belize.
Speaking of frigid temperatures, Belize has been FREEZING lately. I have no idea the actual temperature, (I’m pretty sure Belizean thermometers only register either “hot” or “cold”) but I have been wearing jeans and sweatpants as much as I do in Canada – although, this may partially be due to the fact that, until yesterday, I hadn’t done laundry for a month. The locals don’t mind because it is a nice break from the sweltering temperatures, and they often laugh at me for being cold, considering the climate I’ve been accustomed to for the last 19 (almost 20!) years.
Every week, Lucie and her parents take a few of the kids to a hotel at Cahal Pech, right outside San Ignacio, to hang out by the pool for the day. I joined in as the “white orphan” on Sunday and it was lots of fun swimming and playing, and chatting with some of the girls. Even though it wasn’t overly hot, my albino skin soaked up more rays than it can handle and I am currently paying the price for forgetting to slather on SPF beforehand. Oops. The kids find it amusing to press their fingers onto my skin to see how it goes white and then watch it fill back in with colour.
In my life, I always said I would NEVER own a dog (or any animal for that matter), but low and behold, I have another roomie aside from a couple Canadians and some roaches (Side note – I thought my cleaning habits were keeping them at bay lately, but apparently they just come out less in cold weather, shucks.) Everyone and their mom (literally) has a dog here. They’re all pretty gross, but they are basically Belize’s version of a home security system. It belongs to one of the ladies at KCH, and she is actually a really good dog so I won’t complain.
I try to remember to appreciate every day I have here because I know that June 23rd is going to sneak up on me soon and steal me away forever. Okay well not forever; Belize isn’t going to be rid of me that easily ;)
XO
Steph
