back in Benque!
Aaah... After a wonderful three weeks at home I have returned to Benque for five more months of teaching! What a difference it is to be landing in the Belize airport this time around! For one thing, I had about fifty pounds more luggage than I did the first time (yeah... so much for detachment to material possessions) but instead of feeling like a strange "gringa", I really felt like I was comming home... Waltzing through customs with a teacher's visa and chuckling at the other tourists on line as they mispronounced the towns they were going to visit, I realized that Belize has become a second home.
Seeing my students again has been a treat, they really missed their teachers (well, the girls at least...) They were actually quiet and respectful the first day we were all back. When I walked into my last class of the day-- my second form girls-- they had shut all the doors and windows to the classroom. I knocked on the door, it opened and they all have their heads down on their desks, pretending to sleep. Then, they all sit up and said, "Happy new year miss!". How can you not miss students like that? Other comical student moments: I saw Andrew, a second form boy, in the office later and asked him if he was in trouble. He said, "yes miss, I'm in trouble. I beat up a little kid to steal his cookie". After complimenting me on my skirt, my second form girls said to me, "miss did you eat alot when you were home?" I said, "yes, why, do I look fat?". They said, "not fat miss, just sturdy... yes miss... just sturdy". Belizian honesty is still something to get used to!
For all you spanish speakers, I was at mass on Sunday and Father Mark was giving the children's homily in spanish. He was asking them about what they receive in Baptism, and one of the children exclaims, "agua bonita" (I dont' know if I spelled that right), "beautiful water" in English. Out of the mouths of babes, eh?
On a more cultural note, some of the teachers went out to a farm on Saturday and picked coffee beans. Even I, a devoted coffee drinker, had no idea how much work goes into its creation! Imagine, the coffee fairy doesn't just put it in the bags... I didn't pick the beans on Saturday but I did help "shuck" them last night-- it involves taking these grape-like berries and sqeezing the very slippery little beans out of them. The juice from the beans stains your hands and they fly everywhere. The next step is drying them for a few weeks and then we'll roast them. Pretty cool, eh? In the first world, you go out for a cup of coffee. In the third world, you get together and shuck coffee beans, wait three weeks, roast and then drink.
It's a cloudy day, so I should probably post this before the satellite fades out. Happy New Year, everyone!
Seeing my students again has been a treat, they really missed their teachers (well, the girls at least...) They were actually quiet and respectful the first day we were all back. When I walked into my last class of the day-- my second form girls-- they had shut all the doors and windows to the classroom. I knocked on the door, it opened and they all have their heads down on their desks, pretending to sleep. Then, they all sit up and said, "Happy new year miss!". How can you not miss students like that? Other comical student moments: I saw Andrew, a second form boy, in the office later and asked him if he was in trouble. He said, "yes miss, I'm in trouble. I beat up a little kid to steal his cookie". After complimenting me on my skirt, my second form girls said to me, "miss did you eat alot when you were home?" I said, "yes, why, do I look fat?". They said, "not fat miss, just sturdy... yes miss... just sturdy". Belizian honesty is still something to get used to!
For all you spanish speakers, I was at mass on Sunday and Father Mark was giving the children's homily in spanish. He was asking them about what they receive in Baptism, and one of the children exclaims, "agua bonita" (I dont' know if I spelled that right), "beautiful water" in English. Out of the mouths of babes, eh?
On a more cultural note, some of the teachers went out to a farm on Saturday and picked coffee beans. Even I, a devoted coffee drinker, had no idea how much work goes into its creation! Imagine, the coffee fairy doesn't just put it in the bags... I didn't pick the beans on Saturday but I did help "shuck" them last night-- it involves taking these grape-like berries and sqeezing the very slippery little beans out of them. The juice from the beans stains your hands and they fly everywhere. The next step is drying them for a few weeks and then we'll roast them. Pretty cool, eh? In the first world, you go out for a cup of coffee. In the third world, you get together and shuck coffee beans, wait three weeks, roast and then drink.
It's a cloudy day, so I should probably post this before the satellite fades out. Happy New Year, everyone!
posted by Alison G. @ 4:30 PM
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