Internet vs. Water...

As a preface to this e-mail… Our internet was turned on today for one hour so that we could check e-mail, I guess turning it on much longer than that has the powers that be afraid of the system crashing again. This is the latest update, I wrote this yesterday so that I’d have something to post when the ‘net came back on! Apparently the entire Belizean Internet is pirated from the States or something like that (I hope I don’t get shot for posting that knowledge on-line), and it’s not unusual to have these sorts of problems. So, here’s my post from yesterday:

It’s Monday, September 6. I don’t really know when you’ll all read this because the internet has been down for three days already, with no hope of a solution in sight. I’m in the computer “lab”, listening as the nerds-turned seminarians-now being called upon for their nerd skills hunch over the main computer, exclaiming about how archaic the internet system is in Belize. The absence of the internet has had an interesting affect on all of us... There’s always a feeling of isolation from the outside world that comes with the territory of living in a second world (ok, in my opinion, the absence of the internet bumps it down to 2.5 world) country without a phone, radio or even a daily paper. The internet is sort of our “link to reality”, the thread that we desperately cling to in hopes that if we keep sending out signs of life to our friends and family in the states, they won’t forget about us and keep us updated on “life in the states” that we’re missing out on. However, that line has been severed and everyone’s feeling it. It makes me wonder what in the world it was like here before the ‘net was set up! Incredible!

We’ve set about comparisons about what aspect of modern convenience we’d sacrifice for the ability to communicate via the world wide web. Anne, my housemate, has concluded that it’s easier to go without running water than the internet. I don’t know if I’m ready to concede that, but we’ll see how long this lasts.

Am I being excessive here? Probably. But that’s how it is right now, and it sure puts things into perspective.

So, life as a teacher gets progressively harder, but in an incredibly rewarding, “I’m growing as a person” way. I’m beginning my unit on the Mass, and I handed out a survey to my kids on Friday to find out what they wanted to know based on what they had been asked/ told/ observed at mass with school. My discovery that only about half of my students are Catholic has led to my realization of the need for a balance of not just catechises but evangelization and even apologetics. Catechesis always necessitates evangelization, but the misconceptions these kids have are different from what I’ve heard in the states so it’s required a lot of explanation in my teaching. I just spent about an hour on creating a worksheet for my class tomorrow. I know that good Catechists aren’t supposed to rely on textbooks and teachers editions, but after creating EVERYTHING I use from scratch this semester, I’m really going to be grateful for the first teacher’s manual I set my hands on! (Speaking of which, if anyone reading this has the teacher’s manual or chalk-talk books or worksheets/ tests for Faith and Life grade 6 and would like to mail it down here, PLEASE, contact me by e-mail!)

So, beyond teaching, we’ve also been settling into our neighborhood and getting to know Belize a little better. One of my students lives in the Evangelical Church across the street (“Church” in the sense of the word that it’s a living room) and she chats with me on the way home sometimes. It’s been an awesome challenge on my part and Ali’s, because we both have students living right across our house who are (along with the rest of Belize, it seems) watching our every move. I’ve always been inspired by the quote attributed to St. Francis to “preach the Gospel at all times and use words when necessary”, and this opportunity to be a wittness to our students every moment of the day has really been a great honor and challenge. My student across the street is a great girl though. Very bright and articulate, she’s given me many opportunities to learn more about where my students are comming from. Her mother has been in the states for ten years, she lives with her grandparents and other relatives. She tells me that she wants to go on to sixth form (their junior college) because she wants to help her grandparents. Myself and the other teachers have been really inspired by the fact that selfishness and the desire to serve themselves is very foreign to these kids (even the behaviour problems...). Their motivation for an education is a sincere desire to help their families. Their responsibilities are incredible for their age--- they do so much work for their families and then balance their studies (hypothetically speaking) on top of all that.

Please keep me and my students in your prayers!