Happy Holidays from Belize!

Before I get started with any new updates, I'd first like to say happy holidays! I'm also sorry about the lack of pictures. They will hopefully be coming soon!

Now, how about those Tigers? Wins over South Carolina and Oklahoma have made it a very nice December here in Belize, especially since I was able to see both games! Coming into town for the S.C. game was a little difficult.  I had to hike 4 miles and jump on the bus just as it was starting to leave, but I made it! Luckily, it wasn't as difficult to see the Oklahoma game.  All I had to do was pay for a hotel room with a television and BAM! Good to go.

Aside from football, things here have been going well.  My cohort had its first In-Service Training (Reconnect) where we all got together and were given some direction for the next year: how to continue to motivate work partners, how to report data, etc. This was also the first time that all of us have been able to get together as a group since Pre-Service Training. I'm happy to say that all of the volunteers that attended swearing in in September are still here today, something that is pretty rare for Peace Corps.  In fact, the Country Director informed us that this is the first time in at least a decade that no one has Early Terminated (ET'd) in the first three months of service. 

It was great to see everyone and hear all their stories and different experiences!  It's crazy how different a Mestizo volunteers service is from that of a Q'eqchi volunteer.  Apart from the language differences, Mestizo villages tend to be larger and many sites come with more amenities such as washing machines, electricity, and internet.  Despite these perks, there are still many challenges that Mestizo volunteers face.  With larger villages come a greater risk of crime.  It can also be more difficult to integrate in the village.  At my site, I know almost all of the primary school kids by name and I at least recognize almost all of the villagers.  For the Mestizo volunteers in the larger villages, this is difficult to do since, in some cases, there are upwards of 2,000 people in the village.  Even through the challenges that we all face as volunteers, Q'eqchi or Mestizo, we've stuck with it and are continuing to do great work!

After Reconnect, I returned to site motivated and ready to start putting some projects in motion.  One of the needs of the village that has been voiced to me by many of the villagers is the need for latrines.  Currently, only about half of the people have a latrine.  Those that don't have latrines simply go to the bathroom in the bush, a term that can range anywhere from the forest in the backyard to a spot a few feet from their house.  Obviously, there are some health concerns when it comes to not using a latrine, mainly an increased prevalence of diarrheal disease.  The idea that my Community Health Worker (CHW) and I came up with is to have classes on latrines, maybe once a week for a month or a month and a half.  These classes would talk about the different ways to prevent diarrheal disease and what to do if you have diarrhea.  After an individual finishes the class, the CHW and I will make three random house visits to ensure that people are doing what we taught them.  If they pass the house visits, them we'll work on getting the materials for the latrines and the family will build the latrine itself.  That's the tentative plan for now at least.  Obviously, there are some other factors that will come into play, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.  This, I believe, will be one of my main projects over the course of the next two years.

To figure out the other needs of the village, the CHW and I will go around the village and ask people what needs they perceive to be most relevant. Some other needs that I've noticed are maternal health, diabetes education, and childhood nutrition.  Fun fact about the village: of the 404 people in the village, 242 are younger than 20.  Clearly, family planning is something that needs to be addressed.  I spoke to the village midwife and she agreed to start a women's group that will touch on family planning as well as other maternal health factors.  I'm hoping to get that started around March.  My CHW has also expressed an interest in a health fair, so hopefully that will take place sometime in mid to late 2015.

About a week and a half before Christmas, some doctors came into the village to set up a clinic.  They allowed me to borrow one of them to go out and do lice treatments with the families of the children I'd found lice in.  Hopefully lice will finally be eradicated from the village! On Christmas Eve, I was on my way to give out the second round of lice treatment to the families when my Q'eqchi language teacher came up to me and invited me to watch two pigs get slaughtered at the Catholic church.  Being a former vegetarian, the idea was kind of terrifying, but how often in one's life does an opportunity like that come around?  After three hours of watching two 350 lb pigs get turned into meals, I finished the handing out the lice treatments.

Later that night, I decided to spend more time with the Catholics.  For nine days before Christmas, they have a service at one of the villagers homes and then move to another house where dinner is provided by the family.  They next night, the family the hosted dinner the night before hosts the service.  This continues until Christmas.  All the while, they carry the Virgin Mary, symbolizing her search for an inn.  On Christmas, she finally rests at the church.  I really enjoyed being a part of this pasada.  I really felt like it helped bring together the families in the village, instilling a sense of community.  Plus, the service was beautiful!  Then, at midnight, I got together with the Baptists and had some more food while the villagers shot off their firecrackers, something that is custom for Christmas in Belize.  I can't wait to see what happens for New Year!

Overall, I have no serious complaints.  Everyday, I wake up and think how lucky I am and that I have the best job in the world.  Thanks to everyone who supports me, too! You guys don't know how much your support helps.  The next time I type up a post, it'll be 2015, so HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Maq' Daniel

Coming into the Peace Corps, I had a few expectations for the mental changes that would occur to me during service.  I expected that I would be humbled by how little some of the villagers have compared to how much I have.  I also thought that I would become better at listening and communicating with people.  Maybe I'd even learn a new language.

While most of these expectations appear that they will come true (still waiting to see about the language), one lesson that I didn't see coming was how to deal with kids, or, as some of the volunteers say here, how to be a parent.  I have had to learn and use patience like I have never had to before.  At one point in time, for about a week, there were twenty children either living with me or my extended family.  At least 15 of these 20 were were under the age of 12, and 13 of them were girls.  It is really something that I am not used to in the least, but I think I'm starting to learn how they think.  I also know their schedules, so it's easier to find the "me" time that I lacked in the beginning.  

It helps a lot, though, that most of the kids are really good kids.  They have their moments when they don't want to listen or when they resort to pouting if they don't get their way, but what kids don't do that every now and then?  I've especially become close with my two oldest nephews.  They come to my room most nights when the younger kids are either at church or in bed.  For the most part, they kind of just hang out and do their own thing, but its really cool to see when they learn something new about themselves.  They both have discovered that they really enjoy drawing and coloring, and they're actually pretty good, at least when it comes to drawing a picture from a coloring book.  One of them, Manuel, has even picked up cribbage and beat me in a game.  It's awesome to provide them with resources that they didn't have before, seeing them grow as a result.  Manuel even came up with a design for a Halloween mask all by himself.  I honestly would have never thought to make a mask like he did. 

Despite the fact that these are my two oldest nephews that live at home full time, it's still funny to remember that they're actually still kids.  The other day, Manuel and I were going through my movies.  The first one that caught his eye was Bambi.  I was a little confused and went through some of my other Disney favorites before Manuel again insisted that we watch Bambi.  Okay, if you say so. We got through 18 minutes of the movie before my computer died, but during that 18 minutes he was giggling at all sorts of little things.  If Bambi took a misstep and stumbled or slurred through a word, Manuel was giggling.  It's actually good to know that he's still a kid, something that can't be said about a lot of 13 year olds.  

Learning isn't just reserved for the kids, though.  I recently have accidentally acquired a puppy. Technically, it's not my puppy.  I'm just keeping it so that it doesn't die.  It all began when some pups were born behind my house.  Naturally, I started to keep and eye on them, and eventually mentioned to my host family that I'd like to adopt one once they were old enough.  It was fine with my family so I found the one I liked and told the kids about it.  Automatically, that became my dog, despite the fact that it was far from my dog.  I didn't even know who owned the puppies.  Well the puppies eventually go taken away, at which point, the kids said that the owners couldn't take "my dog." To try and alleviate the situation, they left one of the puppies instead of taking it with the mother.  The dog was just going to die if I didn't take care of it, so I brought it into my room and fed it.  I told my family I would do that until it found a new home or was reunited with its mother.  That first night, after it cried all night and had to be taken out three times, I realized I was not ready to adopt a puppy.  The second night was not much better.  Hopefully, it will have a permanent home soon.  The funny part to me, though, is that this all started when I told my kids which pup I thought was pretty over two weeks ago...

When I'm not at home, though, I'm at the school.  It has been my biggest resource to this point and I look forward to going and hanging out with the kids everyday.  The way I see it, if I can get an in with the kids at the school, then I can get to know there families.  Once I do that, I can really begin to do community work.  I'm already starting to see this work, as I am now fairly close to a few of the families in the village.  Even had an awkward handshake the other day when a Q'eqchi woman that I've gotten to know pretty well gave me a wave.  To me, it looked more like a high five, so I went to finish the high five when I thought, "Hey, Q'eqchi women don't high five." At that point, I quickly resorted to the awkward left handed hand shake.  Got a few laughs from her and the observers.

The school has also allowed me to start teaching some health lessons with the teachers.  I've gotten to give hand washing lessons to the younger students.  I'm going to give more lessons to some of the other young ones, too.  I'm also trying to set up a pen pal program with my second grade teacher back in the states.  On top of that, there will hopefully be student leaders that will be elected by their peers and be the voice of the students.  Right now, there are over 20 students that want to run.  I'll talk with the teachers and they'll choose the kids that will become the nominees.  I'm very excited about this, so I hope that it works.  The integration I'm experiencing among the students is also manifested through the fact that I am no longer "Li Saq," or in English, the White.  I am pleased to say that I am now Maq' Daniel, Mr. Daniel.

Overall, things are going very well.  Yes, there are stressful days, but I feel like I'm becoming more of a member of the village.  Though my Q'eqchi isn't perfect, it is improving and I can have small conversations with the people of the village.  I'm starting to see the communities needs and get ideas for how to address these needs in the future.  Latrines are something that I think many people in the village could benefit from.  I also think that the midwife can be a huge resource, and look forward to working with her more in the future.  The more time I spend out in the village, the more I see these needs and the greater the impact I believe I can have.

Sa Inch'ol

When learning a new language, I always think that it's interesting to look at the little phrases of the language that don't translate directly to English, but mean the same things.  For example, for any of you that know Q'eqchi, you'll know that chu' ke' is morning dew; however, the literal translation for this is cold pee.  Interesting right?  Well, another one of these that I find very interesting is the response to a greeting, "Sa inch'ol."  The equivalent to this in English is, "I'm good," but what it actually means is, "My heart's good."  I think this is the perfect way to describe how I feel about my first month at site.

Going into site, there were the obvious concerns about integration and kind of just figuring out what it was that I was going to be doing.  After being at site for a month, though, these concerns are slowly starting to diminish.  Before integrating with the community it's important to integrate with the host family, and that's been something that has come pretty easily to me with the help of Uno, coloring books, and Pokemon.  My host brother isn't in town too often, but my thirteen nieces and nephews are always around wanting to color and play Uno.  That's right, THIRTEEN nieces and nephews, most of which are girls.  In the states, I have one brother, so this is completely unlike anything I've had to live with before.  I'm still having to figure out how little girls think, but I'm learning pretty quick.

I've also been getting to know my host parents, too.  My host mom only speaks Q'eqchi, but as my Q'eqchi improves, so do our conversations following meals.  I get to talk a lot more with my host dad, though.  He speaks mostly Q'eqchi, but also some English.  We generally communicate pretty well, but there are still times when there are some misunderstandings.  I'm sure I've had some, but one in particular stands out in my mind from his end.  

One of my first days at site, my host dad looked at me and said, "Daniel, do you ever cream at night?" Naturally, I was pretty taken aback.  Apparently it was obvious because he decided to elaborate.

"Last night, I creamed that someone was trying to kill me and I was running away."

"Ahh, dream.  Yes, I dream at night."

Needless to say, we were able to get through that miscommunication and continue on with integration.  Probably the single best way I integrated was going to chop with my host dad and about 20-25 other men.  The day started bright an early around 5:15.  Around about 6:00 my host dad and I made our way out to the farm where we met up with the others.  

We chopped from around 7:00 until around noon with a few breaks in between.  I had never chopped before, so my hands were torn up by the end; however, going into it, I was determined for everyone to see that I was a hard worker.  I didn't care so much about how good of a chopper they thought I was (even though they said I was pretty good by the end).  I just wanted them to see that I was determined to work hard to help out.  Unfortunately, when I was filing the machete near the end of the morning, I cut my finger a little so had to end about 15 mins early.  Either way, I think going out there and working hard helped exponentially with integration. Whenever I see the men in the community, they give me a smile, say hi, and occasionally we'll have a conversation in (broken) Q'eqchi.

Right after chopping, I went home, ate some Caldo, and went to the futbol field for some Independence Day Weekend celebration (Independence Day was Sept 21, the following day).  Upon arriving to the field, I had been informed that I was going to a horse race.  When I got there, I got to see about 25 horses lined up at one end of the field.  One by one, they would ride as fast as they could and try and get a pen through a key ring that was hanging from a string.

It was at this point that I spoke to my host nephew and asked when they were going to start actually racing.  He looked at me confused and said that they were racing.  Oops, my bad.  Well the "horse race" was far from over.  There were still two more surprise events to come.  I should note here that if you are an animal lover, skip this paragraph.  You may also want to try and ignore the following pictures.  Actually, I'll let you know when you'll probably want to start reading again.

The next event that was on the agenda was "Rip the Head off the Duck."  In this event, someone tied a live duck to the same string that the key rings were tied on.  Here, the riders one at a time rode there horse at the duck and gave the head a good yank.  They did this until someone finally ripped off the head.  Winner gets the duck.  When I showed up for what I thought was going to be a horse race, I was not ready for this.  Definitely and experience that I will never forget and probably never see again outside of Belize.  It was just crazy.

The fun didn't stop here, though.  The next event involved burying a duck up to its head and then trying to road a lasso around it and pop it off.  This one was slightly more humane, but still tough to watch.  

 

Alright, animal lovers, hope you were able to ignore the pics.  You can come back in now.  The day after the "horse race," there was a futbol marathon at the field.  It was really nice to watch some futbol and talk with some people from the village.

I've also been able to make some friends in the community.  It's great to hang out with the kids, but I was really trying to find someone a little closer to my age that I could hang out with.  Well one weekend, a high schooler named Mario came over and actually wanted me to teach him cribbage.  I obliged and was surprised to see that he picked up on it really quick!  He seems like a good kid and could be a great resource in the village, especially for that age group.  I really want to build up that relationship more over the next few weeks. 

I've also been lucky in that there's a census that the Ministry of Health gives to the Community Health Workers (CHWs) in each village to find the population of the community as well as the lifestyle and health concerns that exist.  This has been a great way for me to get out and meet the people in the village.  I also get to practice my Q'eqchi with them.  Plus, anyone who knows me knows I love data, so getting information like this and compiling it and sifting through it is something that I really enjoy!

I also feel like a lot of my work will come at the school, especially early on.  One of the main needs the school had as soon as I got there was to revitalize the school library, so I worked on that with some of the teachers for the first few weeks and opened it up this past Wednesday.  The first day it was opened, 67 kids came to check out books! The kids just came, checked out their book, and left, but I'd eventually like to sit down and read with the kids some once all the excitement dies down.  I'm stoked that there is so much hype surrounding the grand opening!  It reminds me of when Super Walmart came to Moncks Corner. 

There's also a problem with lice in the school that I'd like to start taking care of.  I just need to speak with my CHW and see when he is free to start doing lice checks at the school.  After that, we'll get the shampoo and start doing house visits to knock it out.  At least that's my plan.  Like I said, still need to talk to my CHW, though.

I can't really think of much else that has been going on.  Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better first month! Sa inch'ol.

Living a Dream

The past few weeks can best be described as an emotional rollercoaster filled with all kinds of ups and downs, flips, turns, and barrel roles.  It all began with my final days in Armenia.  Leaving my host family and the comfort that I had grown to know was something that I had been dreading since my site visit.  I was going to miss nightly Uno games, movie nights, and American Sunday dinners.  I was going to miss talking with the kids and hanging out with the other volunteers every day at the school.  I was going to miss the Q’eqchi crew and the West side.  I was especially going to miss the family that had taken in a complete stranger and been more than accommodating, making my safety, comfort, and peace of mind a top priority.

The roller coaster’s first move was down.  I’m not talking a baby drop, but that initial drop that every roller coaster has when you stomach’s in your mouth and you’re screaming as loud as you can but noise is coming out.  That kind of drop.

Well the days came and went, as they usually do when you don’t want them to, and before I knew it, Dan, Molly, and I were waiting to hear the sound of the bus over the pouring rain, soaking in every last minute with our families.  When the bus pulled up to our street, my host mom stopped what she was saying mid-sentence.  I looked up, not knowing what had happened, and there she was sobbing, I’m talking a shoulder shaking sob, just at the sight of the bus.  It took all I had not to break down when I was trying to comfort her, telling her that we’d keep in touch and that I would come visit as soon as I had the chance.  Other than glazed eyes and a shaking voice, I think I did well.  The good byes to the kids and Martin were hard, too, but after saying bye to Victoria, nothing was going to be as tough.

But then came the upside.  For the entire week between training and going off for permanent site, I was going to be with the 17 other people that I had grown closest to.  It was awesome to get to hang out with everyone again outside of the classroom.  On our last night in Belmopan, we all hung out and celebrated the early birthdays of two of the volunteers.  It was the perfect way to spend the last night together.

Then the following day, Friday, the day of swearing in, the barrel rolls began.  At any given moment I was feeling both happy and sad.  On the one hand, I was going to be leaving everything that I had grown accustomed to: the people, the lifestyle, the structure of PST.  I was faced with the realization that I would be isolated for the next few months, which is a scary thought.  On the other hand, this was the day that I had been looking forward to for the past four years.  It was literally a dream come true, and I feel like lots of people live there lives without ever seeing that happen.  Sitting on stage with the certificate in my hand that said "Daniel Grant - Peace Corps Volunteer" was almost unreal. On top of that, the ceremony was amazing! The speakers all did a great job! Like I told some people here and in the states, I cried through the whole 45 minute ceremony but only ugly cried for five of the minutes, and that was only after my friend DH finished his Q'eqchi thank you and then went KD on us, giving each of us an individual shout out.  That ceremony and the emotions that came with it is something that I'll always remember.

After this ceremony, we were all off to our individual sites.  The good byes were difficult and teary eyed, but you could also sense that everyone was extremely excited for what the future had in store. It reminded me of what I had read in The Alchemist (and actually reread as soon as I got to site).  The quote relates to having fear in your heart and pursuing your dreams:

"Tell you hear that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.  And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

"Every second of the search is an encounter with God," the boy told his heart.  "When I have been truly searching for my treasure, every day has been luminous, because I've known that every hour was a part of the dream that I would find it.  When I have been truly searching for my treasure, I've discovered things along the way that I never would have seen had I not had the courage to try things that seemed impossible..."

This is something that I really liked and could really relate to.  I may not be sure of the treasure that I'm searching for but I know that I'm living my dream, and every second that I'm following my dream, regardless of how bumpy the road may be, I will be happy.

The Direction of My Life

The past two weeks have been, perhaps, the most important two weeks of my service up to this point.  It began with an engagement party in Jacinto, a village in Toledo.  The experience was unlike anything I had ever encountered.  When my friend, Dan, and I arrived to the house with my host parents, we were introduced to my host aunt.  Soon afterward, we found out that no one at the engagement party had been expecting two gringos to show up, but if my host dad wouldn’t have told me that, I wouldn’t have known.  Everyone was very welcoming.  Within 30 minutes we were playing Uno with my host uncle and seven or eight kids that were related to me in one way or another.

Side note: living in Belize is like living in a small town in the states in that everyone knows everyone, regardless of what village you’re from or live in.  For example, people that I know in Armenia know people all over the country, either through relation or friendships.  This is awesome because it’s really helpful as a way to meet people in different communities.  It also shows how important the relationships are within the different subcultures of Belize.

During my time in Jacinto, I also finally met my other host brother, Edwin.  He had been working at his grandpa’s farm most of the summer, so I had heard lots about him but never actually met him.  It was nice to finally put a face with the name.  Even if I would have met him not knowing that he was my host brother, I probably would have figured it out.  He looks, talks, and acts just like Adrian, only he’s three years older.  My first meeting was a little awkward with him (when are my first meetings with anyone not awkward?) because I was introduced as his brother and Dan as his uncle.  I could just imagine being in his shoes.  Here I am with my family for the first time in a month and they introduce these two foreigners to me as my brother and uncle.  I would have been a little confused.  Luckily, however, it wasn’t long before the awkwardness subsided and, yes, we began playing Uno.

The women were up cooking and socializing all night before the engagement while the men were playing cards and hanging out.  I believe it was around 2:30 AM that I woke up to the sounds of a chicken being slaughtered and around 4:30 that I heard “Skip you! Reverse! Reverse! Ope draw four. I want blue!”

Another side note: Uno is a great way to integrate into almost any community/culture.

After all the preparation came the engagement.  Around 11:30 AM, the boy’s family showed up to the girl’s house where I was staying.  I was anticipating no more than ten people showing up with him, but when the bus pulled up, I figured that I had underestimated the importance of a Q’eqchi engagement.  After all 30 people had piled off the bus with their crates of Coke and buckets of Caldo pork, the two fathers met each other and spoke about the intentions of the boy and the future of the two families.  There were about 50-60 people around watching as the boy put the watch onto the girl’s mom’s wrist and then proceeded to put the ear rings on the girl.  After that, the families exchanged the food that they had spent the night preparing. 

At one point, the boy’s family asked the girl’s if she could live with his family.  Apparently, it’s normal for the girl’s family to say no and the boy to run out crying.  This was the case in this engagement as well.  There was also some drama because the boy wanted to have the marriage a year from now.  This is a really long time for Q’eqchi families.  The girl’s family told the boy’s that if he really loved her, he and his family could find the money to have the wedding in a month, so that was awkward.  Then again, this is all translated from my host mom.

Overall, it was an extremely interesting event unlike anything I had ever attended before.  I thought it was interesting how different an engagement is in Q’eqchi cultures versus in the states.  In America, engagements are generally between the boy and girl, maybe with a few friends or family members involved.  In Q’eqchi cultures, it’s much more of a family event.  I was honored to see it, especially because I may never see anything like that ever again.

The other (pretty major) event that occurred was site placement.  This was something that I had been looking forward to for about a week prior to the actual event.  Ask any of the other trainees and they’ll tell you how I drove them crazy about it.  We all got in a big circle around a map and drew names out of a hat.  When someone’s name was drawn, they’d go up, yell out their site, and pin it on the map.  To me, it was a lot like Christmas.  I was excited to see where everyone would end up.  After it was all said and done, my site is (drum roll)…

Actually, I just found out that we can't post our site publicly to protect from stalkers.  If you want to know my exact site, contact me privately.

It is a small community half a mile away from the Guatemalan border.  It’s down in the southern district of Toledo and mostly Q’eqchi.  There’s some Spanish and some English, but for the most part, Q’eqchi is the most common.  This is going to be awesome and hopefully lead to a fluency in Q’eqchi.  Unfortunately, despite its proximity to Guatemala and the markets on the other side of the border, I’m not allowed to go there.  Either way, I get the benefits of both aspects of the culture.  They eat and drink a lot of the Guatemalan cuisine, and some of the stores even take Quetzales, the Guatemalan currency.  I’m pretty isolated from other volunteers, but I don’t anticipate that being much of an issue, especially since we will have workshops with our Community Health Workers (CHWs) once a month where I’ll get to see them.  It will suck being far from the volunteers outside of Toledo, but that’s something that we’ve all known was coming for a while.

After we found out our sites, we met up with our CHWs and were on a bus for a site visit the next week.  I got to meet my host family and other leaders in the community.  Though there were a few times when I felt very alone in a new situation, the site as a whole was awesome.  San Vicente is in the mountains and is beautiful! I get to bathe in a creek daily which is something that I’ve been looking forward to for months.  I have a traditional birthing attendant (TBA) in my community as well.  I feel like she is going to be a great resource to educate women about having a healthy pregnancy and healthy children.  My CHW also told me that there was a problem with diabetes in women.  On top of that, there is a school in the community that I’ll get to work with.  They recently got a new principal that wasn’t in the community, so I haven’t met with him/her.  I think that working in the school will be awesome, though.  One thing that I’m excited about is teaching the kids in the community that there’s more than San Vicente and farming.  There’s science and space and all kinds of stuff that’s so cool that they probably have no idea about!! Overall, I’m nervous to get started because it’s a huge change, but I’m excited to see what all the future has in store. 

While I was doing my visit, I also had some time to read, especially during the seven and a half hours in the bus.  I was reading a book called Cloud Atlas.  Many people may know the movie (which I loved), but the book was equally as good.  The writing style was so interesting.  It is written like a Russian doll, if that makes sense.  It starts with one story and then cuts off in the middle and movies to a completely different story and keeps doing that until it gets to the final story.  After the final story completes, it goes back in time to finish off all of the previous stories.  The really cool part is that each story has a completely different writing style and writing media and all of the stories connect somehow with each other and the overarching theme of the novel.  It was awesome.  Here’s a quote that I found particularly incredible.

“Belief, like fear or love, is a force to be understood as we understand the theory of relativity and principals of uncertainty.  Phenomena that determine the course of our lives.  Yesterday, my life was headed in one direction.  Today, it is headed in another.  Yesterday, I believe I would never have done what I did today.  These forces that often remake time ad space, that can shape and alter who we imagine ourselves to be, begin long before we are born and continue after we perish.  Our lives and our choices, like quantum trajectories, are understood moment to moment.  That each point of intersection, each encounter, suggest a new potential direction.”

A Day in the Life

Now that I’ve been here for a few weeks, I’m starting to settle into a daily, and even weekly, routine.  Anyone who knows me knows that I really enjoy having an organized schedule.  I’ll admit, it’s not a great thing to have, especially being a Peace Corps Trainee, but it’s helping to keep me sane while so many changes are occurring. 

Generally, the morning starts out around 6:45 when the kids get in a fight and the younger, Alvin, starts crying.  I’ll either lose all hope in going back to sleep and get out my Kindle, or I’ll stuff my ear plugs into my ears and hope beyond all hope that I can just get thirty extra minutes of sleep.  My family also has a radio that they played once early in my stay, but it died and they had lost the charger.  They asked if I had a charger that would work for it.  I said I may but that it was locked up at the Peace Corps office.  After that, I’d forgotten about it.  Unfortunately, my host family had not.  My host dad bought a charger for it while he was in Belize City the other day.  That night, instead of listening to my iPod while we played Uno, we listened to the ten songs that they have saved to the car on repeat.  My first inclination was to feel bad about not trying harder to get my charger from the Peace Corps office.  It was clear that they really liked the radio and had to pay a relatively large amount to get the charger.  It wasn’t until 5:30 the next morning when they were blaring the radio that I remembered why I had not wanted to give them the charger.  If that radio would have been playing every morning for the first four weeks of my stay here, I think I would have gone crazy. 

After I eventually roll out of bed, I’ll throw on my business casual and walk out to a breakfast that’s usually larger than I prefer first thing in the morning.  The breakfast size seems like a constant battle with my host mom.  I say that I don’t usually eat a large breakfast.  The next morning I get a small breakfast of oats or cereal (perfect for me).  A few days go by at which point she slowly starts to include a banana or some mango.  As the week goes along, breakfast gets larger and larger until finally I’m back where I started – just me and my pound of rice and beans.  I guess, though, too much food isn’t a bad problem to have.  Plus, it’s around this point that the day turns from a dreary, I-don’t-want-to-be-a-productive-member-of-society kind of day to the overarching feeling of I-am-the-luckiest-person-in-the-world.  Once I’ve eaten as much as I can, I give my host brothers a hug, tell them to be good and listen to their mom, and run out the door so as not to keep the other trainees in my neighborhood waiting for me for school. 

Peace Corps school is pretty much the equivalent of college except it’s eight hours a day and almost all of the information that we receive is going to be relevant for at least the next two years (and maybe the rest of my life).  We have just recently gotten into the health work that we will be doing.  The two main goals of PCBZ is maternal and child health (MNCH) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).  We just worked our way out of having a health pregnancy and are starting to talk about child health.  When I’m not learning about health topics, I’m learning Q’eqchi, but I won’t get too much into that now.  I feel like I could write a whole post just on the language.

After school, I’ll get home and play soccer with my family or go on a run, weather permitting.  This, inevitably, leads to the bucket shower.  Over the course of the past month, I have developed a love/hate relationship with my showering area.  At first, the roof was about six inches shorter than I was, so I was more concerned about the pain in my lower back than how cold the water was.  It wasn’t until my host dad raised the roof that I began to actually feel the cold.  Since that point, I’ve realized there’s a perfect time for a bucket shower.  If I don’t get to the shower by that point I’m out of luck.  The perfect time is about seven minutes after exercising – too soon after, I’ll sweat for the rest of the day; too late and the shower is freezing. 

Pretty much every week day goes like this up to this point.  After dinner, though, things start to mix up some.  On Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I play Uno with my host family and some other trainees that live in the neighborhood.  This is something that the kids really look forward to, so much so that I’ve started trying to use not playing as a form of punishment.  I noticed that the kids were constantly fighting and nothing was really being done about it.  Occasionally the parents would yell at them or threaten to spank them, but other than that, there’s not much that the parents can take away as an alternative form of punishment.  Because of this, I spoke to both of the parents and asked if taking away Uno would be good.  They both said yes.  A few days later Alvin was being very obnoxious and difficult, so I told him he couldn’t play Uno that night.  He proceeded to say he hated me and sneezed in my face.  It’s okay though, the next day he was on my team for Uno and things were back to normal.  There was another morning when I heard Alvin crying.  I walked out of my room and stared right at Adrian.  No words were spoken but he could see in my eyes that I knew he had done something to make his brother cry, and I could see in his eyes that he was terrified I was going to say something to his mom and take away Uno.  I don’t want to seem like a dictator to them, but it was getting to the point that I needed to become more of an authority figure to them, not just their personal playground.  This method seems to be working for now.

Tuesday and Saturday have become established as movie nights.  Saturdays are the ones for the kids in the community.  We recently watched How to Train Your Dragon.  It was my second time seeing it and it is still one of my favorite movies.  If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend it.  I have also been told that I am Hiccup, the main character.  Tuesdays are a movie night for the family and my neighbors.  We recently finished the first three Star Wars movies (IV-VI), and I think my host family really enjoyed it.  I think The Princess Bride is next on the list. 

Every other Saturday, the trainees go on what we call a culture day.  This past culture day we all went out to Benque Viejo, a really cool Mestizo town.  We got to try and bunch of Mestizo foods and see some of the traditional dances.  After that, we went to an awesome Mayan ruin near the border with Guatemala, Xunantunich (X is pronounced ‘sh’).  It was incredible! It’s hard to believe that it was built hundreds of years ago.  It’s even harder to imagine thousands of people there for a ceremony or sacrifice.  It was awe inspiring.  I definitely will be going back sometime.

Sundays are my time to get together with my family.  The other trainees and I cooked them black bean burgers this past Sunday.  We also made some guacamole that they really enjoyed.  Overall, Sundays are a time to relax and hang out.  After lunch, we had another get together with the kids in the community and taught them about self-esteem.  This past Sunday, an incident occurred, so we were not able to hold our lessons on healthy living.  Everything is okay, though, and we should be back at it again this weekend.

I suppose that’s about it.  It may not seem like a lot, but it keeps me busy.  As a side note, I recently found a solution to the rats: his name is Tiger.  That’s right, I got a cat, two actually.  The first cat I got was borrowed from one of my teachers’ host family.  In Belize, it’s customary to put a cat in a bag when transporting it so that it can’t find its way back to its old home.  Then, when you bring it to the new house you circle it around the kitchen fire three times chanting, “A’an a’in aaochoch,” or, “This is your home.”  After performing this ritual with the first cat, we pulled it out the bag and it ran away… Fortunately, it made it back to its old house after four days.  Either way, after Moonshadow (the first cat) ran away, my host mom got lucky and found a woman who had kittens that she was giving away, so my host mom grabbed one.  Since it was orange, it only seemed appropriate that its name be Tiger.  Since he’s been in the house, the rats haven’t been an issue at all.  Judging by the poop, they’re still there, but at least they’re quiet.

Well I suppose that’s it.  Next time I post, I’ll probably know my permanent site.  Until then, all I’ll be doing is figuring out what sites I may be going to.  So far, I think it’ll be down south in the rural district of Toledo.  It’s going to be a blast! 

Keeping Busy

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind!  I moved in with a Q’eqchi family in Armenia on Wednesday the 2^nd.  Luckily they speak a lot of English so I am able to communicate with them as well as learn a lot of Q’eqchi.  The parents’ names are Martin and Victoria.  There are three kids: Edwin (13), Adrian (10), and Alvin (4).  Edwin is in the southern city of Punta Gorda with his grandpa, so I haven’t met him yet.  The other two kids are great, though.  They keep me busy constantly.  For instance, one morning, they woke me up fifteen minutes before my alarm clock.  When I told them I was going to sleep for a little longer, they decided to create a mound of buckets and peak over my wall to watch me sleep.  After that I decided that sleep was no longer an option, so I crawled out from under my mosquito net and opened the door, at which point Adrian asked, “We will play cards?”  Needless to say, no cards were played that morning, partially because I had school and partially because I was not very happy about losing fifteen critical minutes of sleep. I think he learned his lesson though because no one has woken me up early since, at least intentionally.  This is just a dramatic example, though, of how an average day is at home.  When I’m not in class, I’m constantly moving and entertaining the kids, something that is both loads of fun but exhausting at the same time.

The experience to this point has been just what I expected.  I live in a small wooden house with a thatched roof.  I don’t have electricity, and I get internet only once a week when we go into Belmopan.  At times it can get tough, but overall I’ve loved it!  My house is on a road with five other volunteers.  Two of them live with families that are relatives of my host mom.  Because of this, we are always getting together to hang out at the grandma’s house.  At nights, instead of watching the newest episode of the hit TV show, we play Uno and hang out under my solar light.  It’s crazy how much not having the option of television can bring families closer together.  Just observing the interactions of other families in the community, it’s crazy how much of a difference it makes not to have that amenity. I’ve heard stories of host kids that wake up and start watching TV right away.  Technology has become an addiction for those that have it.

So far, the only major problem I’ve run into are the other inhabitants of the house: rats.  Rats are one of those creatures that I used to defend in a sense.  I always felt that they were a little misunderstood.  This feeling began to change around my third night in Armenia.  For those that don’t know, rats love thatch roofs.  They also prefer to come out at night.  This wouldn’t be an issue if I didn’t enjoy sleeping at night.  The first night I heard them was a shock.  My room isn’t very big so when they move, it sounds like they’re crawling on my mosquito net or under my bed.  There have even been times when I’ve felt them running at the foot of my bed or on the wall behind my head.  They leave their poop everywhere and even gnawed on one of my hats some.  For about 3 or 4 days, lack of sleep was killing me.  Last Wednesday, I was able to get some ear plugs from the nurse.  This helped immensely as far as sleep is concerned.  The poop, however, still exists.  Rat poison was the next alternative.  They ate it but still didn’t die.  I’ve brought up getting a cat with my host family and they seem to not mind the idea, but I just feel like that’s a lot of responsibility.  The most recent approach that my host dad has devised to rid the home of rats is to stay up late in the dark with a pellet gun.  If you give the rats about five minutes, they start to come out.  Then you shine a light and shoot the rat.  It’s the more aggressive approach to getting rid of rats but it has been surprisingly effective.  It’s an unfortunate situation, but he’s gotten five so far and I’ve been able to sleep.

Outside of the rats, though, it really has been incredible here.  I can only hope that I’m as lucky when I get to my permanent site.  The first Saturday in Armenia, a fellow volunteer, my host dad, and I went out to a Mennonite village called Springfield.  It was an incredible trip.  We walked about four miles to get there, but the final destination was totally worth it.  It was beautiful and completely different than anything I had ever seen before.  I’m living without electricity and was still stunned by the seclusion that they live in.  Our final destination was the saw mill.  Here, they sit a 10 year old in the middle of a group of horses.  His job is to get the horses to run in a circle which, in turn, moves a saw.  When I say saw, I’m talking about a high powered saw that cut through four trees simultaneously, not just some dinky horse-powered saw.  The whole set up was an engineering spectacle. 

The trip back home was also exciting.  It involved many different modes of transportation. First there was hitchhiking the horse and buggy…

Then there was hitchhiking the rusty truck…

Then there was trudging through a jungle that didn’t really have a path…

It was so sick! Definitely what I thought I was going to be doing when I signed up for the Peace Corps.  Later that day, we had our first movie night.  It was a huge hit! We watched Finding Nemo.  There were about 40 kids there from the community, much more than we expected to have for our first event.  The next day, my host family and the other volunteers that live on my street got together for a big family (all of our families are related).  It was great to hang out and have that time to get to know the families.  After we finished eating, we played soccer for about two hours. 

Last week was not much different than my first few days in the community.  I spent a lot of time in class and trying to get to know my host family better.  I also began to develop a daily routine.  I get home form class and then go on a run or hang out with the kids some playing soccer.  Then my host family and I get together and have dinner.  After that, the other volunteers on the street come over and we study some Q’eqchi and play Uno with my host family.  It’s nice to have that family bounding time. 

One of the main aspects of last week was that we were having Teamwork Week.  On Thursday, our cohort had its first literacy night.  Some of the girls in our group read the Bearenstein Bears to a group of about 30 kids.  The main goal of the night was to have the kids in the library so that they could read some if they wanted to, but not many of us, including myself, thought that would really happen.  To our surprise, the night was a huge success!  We had to force the kids to leave because we had to close up the library.  They were so excited to read or have someone read to them.  It was awesome!  On Saturday, we had our weekly movie night where we continued the theme of the week and watched Lego Movie.  My host brother asked me to sing the “Everything is awesome” song to him afterward because he couldn’t really understand it at the time (his English isn’t great).  Since that point, though, he and everyone else in my family have been singing the song.  It’s pretty funny.  Then on Sunday, we had a teamwork gameday/info session for the kids.  We had the same group of about 40 kids show up, so that was great.  We taught them with a short lesson in the beginning, and then played a few games to have them implement what they learned.  In the end, one of our volunteers asked, “So what did you learn from today?” One of the girls who was very shy and had been quite throughout the day raised her hand and said, “When we work as a team, we can do anything.” That about summed it up.  We couldn’t really say anything to top that, so we moved to the bonfire that we had made and roasted some marshmallows with the kids.  The week was a hit!

Aside from Peace Corps work and promoting teamwork, it was a great weekend with the host family.  On Friday night, my host dad bought a chicken to eat.  Unfortunately, it escaped during the night into the forest in the backyard.  On Saturday, everyone was on a manhunt to find that chicken.  In the process of hacking through the forest with machetes to find that chicken, my host parents found a cave.  It was a pretty tight squeeze, but once you got through that, it was super deep.  There were all kinds of bats and stuff.  It was so cool!  It was really smooth on the sides, so there is talk that it could be a Mayan tunnel but the skeptic in me thinks that it once had a water way running through it.  Either way, it’s still awesome!  After that, we went to my host dad’s farm.  On the way, we tried all sorts of fruits straight off the tree/bush.  We had cohun nut, crabble (which I think is crab apple), the heart of bird-of-paradise (we think that’s the name), and fresh sugar cane. It was a great weekend!

I think that about sums up the past two weeks. I know it was a ton, but internet is iffy so I can’t update the blog as often as I’d like... Sorry ‘bout it.

Settling In

Has it really only been a week? I feel like I've been here for months, but I've been far from disappointed. Belize is an amazing country!  Following my last post, I began my Pre-departure Training and met the rest of my cohort – BH2.  This just indicates that we are the second group to come into Belize focusing strictly on health (Belize Health).  The rest of the people in the group are all amazing!! We have all gotten really close during the past week.  I feel like I've known them for much longer than a week.

Pre-departure Training consisted of some basic safety training, but was mostly icebreakers to force all of us to speak to each other.  The next morning we were up and on our way to the airport.  Landing in Belize City was such a rush.  There was no turning back.  We were in it for real.  We were greeted by the staff and on our way to Belmopan, the capital city.  As soon as we got there, we began the introductions from the staff and to the site.  Belize is unlike any Latin American country I've ever been to.  For instance, in most other countries, the capital and other large cities are full of towering buildings and crowded streets; however, in Belize, the “urban hubs” are far more rural than these other countries.  To further this point, the tallest building in the country is a Mayan ruin, not a skyscraper.  In Belmopan, there are only 10,000 people.  If this is a big city, I can’t wait to see what a village is like.

This past week of training has been a lot of classes.  We've been learning mostly about staying safe and ways to mitigate dangerous situations.  Aside from that, we've had classes on our homestays and how the Peace Corps works toward development.  One of the classes that we've had is essentially a type of group therapy.  During these sessions, we are forced to remember why we came here and how to deal with the trying times. In one of these sessions, we were asked why we decided to join the Peace Corps.  I went with the usual "I like to help people" answer, but that wasn't enough for me this time.  I wanted to consider why I like to help people.  I came to the realization that I am very fortunate.  I've been given a lot in my life and had a lot of opportunities, but others aren't as fortunate as me.  They don't have the access to the amenities that I've had access to my whole life.  Because of this disparity, I believe that it's my duty as a person to help those that are less fortunate.

Outside of the classroom, the group went to a Mayan village on Saturday.  We walked around a cacao farm and saw how they turned it into chocolate.  Then we walked through a hut that was the Mayan museum.  It just had the usually setup of a Mayan home/kitchen.  We made some tortillas out of flour and water and learned a traditional Mayan dance.  We then went and visited a Mayan healer.  It was really cool!  The connection that the Maya have with nature is awesome!

Later today, we will be going to live with a host family for our Community Based Training (CBT) in the village of Armenia, only about 30 minutes outside of Belmopan down the Hummingbird Highway.  During this time, we will continue to take classes, but these will be more technical than the ones up to this point.  We will be learning more about how to lead a community health project as well as taking language classes.  We will be in Armenia until early September, when we will have our swearing in.  This is also an important time because the host family that we are placed with will determine the community we will be in for the next two years.

To determine our placement, we had an interview with the staff.  Before leaving the states, I was beginning to get in tuned with my Native American ancestry.  For this reason, I wanted to get placed in a Mayan community; however, during the first week, I was torn between wanting to learn Spanish or Q'eqchi (Ketchi).  To me, there are positives to both.  Spanish is a language that could be used back in the US.  That plus the fact that I already know a fair amount of Spanish made it a very appealing language to learn.  With the Maya, however, I would be living the Peace Corps experience.  I wouldn't have electricity or internet.  It would just be a very cool (and at times difficult) way to spend the next two years.  My mindset was that when I signed up for PC I was willing to go anywhere, not necessarily guaranteeing me Spanish.  I decided that I would continue with this idea and told the interviewers that I wanted Q'eqchi, and yesterday, I officially found out that I will in fact be living in a Mayan community for the next two years speaking Q'eqchi!! I couldn't be more excited to get started and learn some of the language!

That's about it for now! Gotta get back to class.  Thanks to everyone for all the support.  I lose instant access to internet later today, so if you don't hear from me as frequently, that's why.  And here's a pudgy baby just because.

Navigating the Peace Corps

Today's the day! I just arrived to Miami where I'll soon meet up with my fellow volunteers and the Peace Corps coordinators that I've been working with to this point.  As I finish my time in South Carolina, I have been thinking of how I got to this point in the Peace Corps process.

Overall, the process has been about a one year process.  I began the long application last summer which eventually lead to an interview in Atlanta.  I was originally nominated to do health work in Guatemala.  For those that don't know, being nominated didn't actually mean I was accepted into the Peace Corps.  It is possible for a nomination to change (as was obviously the case for me).  After being nominated, there wasn't much to do except wait around for an invitation.

Around early February, I was beginning to get antsy because I hadn't heard from the Peace Corps in about a month.  This was the same time that I had gotten three days out of school because of snow.  During one of the snow days, I was sitting around playing Mario Kart with a friend and I got a call from DC.  On the other end, the woman asked if I would be willing to leave a week earlier than I had intended to and take a health position in Belize.  Obviously, I was ecstatic and said I would take it!  Three days later, I got my official invitation to Belize.

Since that time, I've been working on required paperwork, orientations, and readings.  It's been a long, and at times stressful, process, especially with my senior design project that was going on last semester.  The Peace Corps has recently begun using email, so instead of receiving a packet with everything that I need to complete, I've received about 30 emails all telling me different things I need to get done.  I think that added a little to my stress level.

Other than that, the process isn't terrible.  It is long, and at times requires a lot of patience, but really it's just preparation for the Peace Corps service. One of the main things that has been preached to me regarding my service is patience.  There are many times when I'll be frustrated and feel like I'm not having the impact that I want to have, but as long as I remain patient, I'm setting myself up for success.  I also received some words of wisdom from one of my friends that is a former PCV: focus on the individual.  If I go in wanting to have an impact on an entire village, then I may get discouraged when only six people come to a health fair, but if I can have a large impact on one of those individuals, then I'm planting the seed for success after I'm gone.  That, to me, would be a success.

On a different note, outside of finalizing my PC work, I've been really busy traveling, as you can see from previous posts.  This time, the trip was to St. Louis, the Mecca for the Grant family.  My grandma was raised there and my dad was born there.  I've grown up a Cardinal fan, so it was great to finally make it out to the gateway to the West.

On our trip into the city (Father's Day) we stopped by Belleville to see my grandpa's grave.  When we arrived, we weren't prepared for the size of the cemetery, and having no idea where the tomb was, we began to search.  We searched for about an hour and a half to no avail.  We decided to give up and finish our trip into the city.  We would stop by again on the way our way out of town once we had contacted someone about the location of the tomb.  As we drove out, we noticed a deer in one of the plots, so we stopped the car and did one last look around the area.  After about five minutes without finding it, we decided to just give up when, on the way back to the car, we found the grave! It was a really cool moment that wouldn't have happened had we not seen that deer.  I was really happy that my dad could spend Father's Day with his dad and that I could spend time with him.

After we had arrived in St. Louis, we just spent time being tourists, spending most of the our time at the ball park and Ballpark Village.  It was great to finally be in the majority when at a Cardinal's game.  We went to four different games.  Currently, the Cards are on a pretty hot streak, winning 8 of there last 11.  Unfortunately, three of the four games were the three losses.  Not great luck, but we still had a pretty good time, especially during the win.

Ballpark Village

Outside of the game, we went and saw the Gateway Arch, which I later found out was the tallest man-made monument in the US (while we're on fun facts, I also learned that hotdogs, hamburgers, and peanut butter were first introduced at the 1904 in St. Louis).  We got to go to the zoo which was awesome! There were loads of animals that I had never seen or even heard of before.  We also spent some time at City Park, where I learned that the fountains in St. Louis also qualify as public pools.  Near the end of our trip, we went to the City Museum only to find out, lo and behold, it is not actually a museum.  It's more like a system of tunnels where you try and go from point A to point B taking the most convoluted route possible.  It was like a Discovery Zone for adults and was so much fun!

That about sums it up.  For now, I'm going to wait around in the lobby of the hotel and mentally prepare myself for registration which begins at noon.  It has been a longtime dream of mine to be where I am today and it's finally here. It still seems unreal to me.  Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Belize.

Also, I tried to get as many email addresses as possible before I left, but I didn't get them all.  If you would like to email me, my email is daniel.grant.pcbz@gmail.com. I don't have a permanent address yet, but when I find it out, I'll let you all know.

I-95 Summer Tour

Going into the summer, my goal was to see as much of the US as possible, so I began making plans to go to Miami for a cruise and then to Philly the following weekend. The first trip along 95 was south to Miami.  A group of guys and I drove all the way from Charleston to Miami.  At first, we looked forward to every state border.  It wasn't too exiting, but it was at least something to look forward to.  During a nine hour drive, you need to create as many landmark destinations as possible to help the drive go by a little faster.  If you don't do that, you'll go crazy.  This game would have been great if there was more than one state between SC and FL.  After crossing the FL/GA border, the only way to countdown our trip was to look at signs and see how far we were from Miami.  The first sign we saw for Miami indicated we had some 323 miles to go before arriving to our destination... Despite that, the drive wasn't terrible. Before we knew it, we were there.

Miami was a lot nicer than I had anticipated.  We spent Sunday night there touring some of the city, and then on Monday we headed to the port.  I had never been on a cruise before, so I had no idea what I was doing.  I was just playing follow-the-leader.  We had a slight scare when we almost lost the group's boarding pass, but one of the guys was able to run it down before the wind blew it out of sight.  We went on a Carnival cruise, which I've since been told is on the lower end of cruise lines, but I thought it was incredible! There was a club, a casino, and a pool.  What more could we ask for?  The first night, we made friends (at least that's what we liked to think) with two of the waiters - Made and Jose - and requested them every night for the rest of the week.  By the last night, they practically had my Long Island iced tea waiting for me at the table.

Outside of the boat, we made stops in the Keys and Mexico.  Most of the time in the Keys was spent searching for a beach.  We never found one, but we did get to the southern most point of the continental US which was pretty awesome.  Cozumel was a completely different story.  As soon as we got off the boat, people were telling us where we could find a beach.  We found one that was cheap and had a bar, so we stayed there the rest of the day.  It was great!

Looking back on the cruise, I notice that I was pleasantly surprised with the experience.  Before leaving, I was worried that it was going to be full of pretentious people that wanted to spoil themselves, but afterward I realized that there were some people who just wanted to travel and see some of the world.  Yes, it was nice to spoil myself a little, but it was even cooler to stand out looking over the edge of the boat, watching the sun set while being entirely surrounded by water.  My first cruise was a great experience and something that I will never forget.

Just four days after getting back to Moncks Corner, I was heading north up 95 to Philly with Nicole to catch up with some of the FIMRC family that we hadn't seen in a while.  The boarder game was a lot more fun this time with all the states that we had to pass through to get there (I think it was something around six states and DC).  We stopped in Richmond on Thursday to stay with one of my close friends and finished up the trip to Philly the next morning.  

It was great to catch up with everyone that I haven't seen in a while as well as make some new friends.  We toured some of Old Town Philadelphia the first day and got to see the FIMRC headquarters.  On Saturday, we ate Pat's, and I tried my first ever real Philly cheese steak - kind of.  Luckily the person taking my order was nice and didn't mind that I was vegetarian and trying to order a steakless cheese steak as quickly as possible.  After that, we went to a Phillies game and got lucky enough to see the Phillies tie it up in the bottom of the ninth.  Around the twelfth inning, we were beginning to think that the game would never end. Unfortunately, the Phillies lost the game in fourteen.  Fortunately, the game only went fourteen innings. Other than the fact that we were there a little longer than we were anticipating and that the Phillies lost, it was a great time!

The next day, we had brunch and finished our tour of Old Philly before heading to Doylestown to hang out with my friend, Dana, and her family.  Despite the fact that we were exhausted, we had a blast.  I got to try water-ice for the first time.  For those of you that don't know what that is, imagine something slushier than Italian ice but not as slushy as a Sonic slushy.  It was delicious! The next morning, we were up early to grab a bagel and then head back to Charleston.  Overall, I thought Doylestown was an awesome city!  We had a pretty good drive despite the fact that I messed up at some point and had to pay a $33 toll.  It was a cash only toll, and the only cash that Nicole and I had was $1.  Luckily, I had $30 in quarters and the toll guy was nice enough to let us through.  Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful, eleven and a half hour drive.

To sum up the trip, I think Nicole said it best: "Super thankful for these friends and for a great weekend in Philly.  It's amazing how so many different people can be brought together by their common interest to make the world a better place.  Love you people, your hearts, and your friendships.  I can't wait until we get to be reunited again."  It was really awesome to think that I didn't know any of these people just four years ago and that common interests can form such a strong bond between people.  How many times do you get to have a discussion at a bar about the future of a nonprofit organization and its international sites and actually enjoy it?

Other than my recent I-95 travels, I've also been keeping up on Peace Corps work.  It's finally starting to all come together.  I just need to read up on a few things and do an online orientation.  After that, I'll be pretty much done with the Pre-Service forms (I hope).  On a completely different note, I recently finished a book called The Color of Water.  It was amazing!  It has been described as "a black man's tribute to his white mother."  It was awesome.  I would highly recommend it to anyone.  That's about all for now.  It's crazy to think that next time I'll be on here, I'll be within days of leaving for Belize if not already there.

Oh yeah, photo credit to Warren Snell and Abi Proctor

How to Begin??

They say that the introduction to any writing tends to be the most difficult.  This is something that I've noticed through my years of schooling, but never has it been as true as when thinking of an introduction to this blog.  Ask any of my closest friends and they'll tell you that just coming up with a title to this was a two week long process.  An even more difficult task was figuring out how to resize a background photo and now how to begin what will ultimately be a journal following the next 27 months where I will be in Belize as a volunteer with the US Peace Corps.  This blog is intended to document my journey as a Peace Corps volunteer as well as the highs and lows that occur along the way.

As many of you may know, both of my parents were members of the Peace Corps in Ecuador.  Because of this, it has been something that I have been considering since I was a senior in high school.  My sophomore year at Clemson, this idea became a dream of mine.  I became determined to get into the Peace Corps.  I began taking Spanish classes and got my certificate in public health to increase my chances of being accepted.  This past January, what started as an idea in high school came to fruition as I was accepted to the Peace Corps to do health work in Belize.  Currently,  I don't know where exactly I will be in Belize or what exactly I will be doing in the health field.  All I know is that on June 24, I will be on a plane to Miami, and June 25, I will be heading to Belize.

Though Belize is a Central American country, it is not the typical Spanish speaking country that many people tend to associate with the region.  It was initially colonized by the English, not the Spanish.  For this reason, it's national language is English, though most of the population speak an English Creole that sounds something like Jamaican.  Even with this English influence, a large portion of the population still speaks Spanish as well as the indigenous Mayan language.  Belize is a small country right below Mexico and is bordered to the south and west by Guatemala.  The country is about the size of Massachusetts with a population of about 300,000, similar to St. Louis.

Because of its ideal location, Belize has become a tourist hot spot with beautiful beaches and dense, mountainous forests.  Off of the coast of Belize sits one of the largest reefs in the world.  Up into the mountains are where the Mayan ruins can be found.  Basically, I doubt I'll have too many complaints while I'm there.  If you Google some of the pictures, you'll see what I mean.

Well, I guess that's about all I know for now.  I'm sure there's going to be much more to learn once I get there.  All that's left to do is continue to plan for the next few years and have some fun until I leave.  I'll be going on my first ever cruise! I'm going to the Keys and Mexico.  It's going to be awesome! The weekend after I get back, I'll be heading to Philly to hang out with some friends and former FIMRC members.  We're going to hit up a Phillies game and have a great time catching up.  Finally, two weeks before I depart, I'll be heading to St. Louis with the family to watch the Cardinals play.  This summer is going to be amazing and I'm planning on going out with a bang!

On that note, I'll leave you with the quote that inspired the title to the blog: "We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity.  Life is eternal.  We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.  This is a precious moment.  It is a little parenthesis in eternity."  This comes from my favorite book, The Alchemist.  This quote not only encompasses how I want to spend my next two plus years abroad, but how I want to live my life pre- and post-Peace Corps.  I believe that having this mindset will allow me to be the most effective possible volunteer.