Dave is off flying to Punta Gorda (twice) this morning, so he will have a long day of flying. I don't know the medical emergencies, but given the 6:00 AM phone call, I wonder if it was a wild night in the south yesterday!
Here are some pictures of Dave and the plane and his buddy, Ivan the Iguana! Dave has named his "friend" who lives under the hangar and enjoys the sun in the morning until Dave arrives to disturb him.
(Clearly I haven't figured out my photo problem, i.e. I can't move them and then they take up lots of space.) Anyway, Dave arrived home as I typed this, having flown now 24 patients in 22 days for a total of 42 hours of flying!
This was a work week for me. I spent more hours than I agreed upon, being at the Centre for crises with the kids and meeting more of the children. I attended my first staff meeting, and there was discussion about what staff (they are called "officers," which bothers me a bit) might want for training. I am preparing a training now on rage in children. I'm interested to see what the response is. On a pleasant note, I walked home on Friday night with my assistant, Tracie.
On Tuesday evening, Yvette (Dave's boss at BERT) came over for a glass of wine and to talk about our adjustment thus far. The funniest thing happened as we sat in the living room. Izzie was suddenly at the very top of the screen door! A lizard had come in through a crack in the door--the skinniest kind of lizard you've ever seen! The cats were so excited! But the lizard disappeared, which was not my favorite result, and this morning it was found on the wall above Dave's BERT file cabinet--much to the fascination of the cats again! They've had no success in catching it!
Dave and I are frequently together in the car, as Dave has to be ready at a moment's notice to go to the airport. We went to the air-conditioned grocery store on Friday, then the meat market, and finally the fruit stand. I love the tropical fruits! I have never tasted pineapple quite like the ones in Belize! It reminds me of the pineapple one buys in the can with sugary syrup, only they taste like that when you cut it open! So sweet and less acidic!
On Saturday morning, we followed Yvette to the Cucumber Beach complex just out of town for a Rotary function. First, we wound through a neighborhood to pick up an aunt of Yvette's and a friend of Yvette's mother to take them to the function, an annual event for the elderly. What a fun time we had! A radio personality, one of the Rotarians, hosted the event, and had these people singing a cappella, dancing, etc. One lady was 96 who performed! The crowd was huge, arriving on buses who had gone to the residential homes to pick them up.
Here is a picture of the people dancing!
This complex, Cucumber Beach area, has a waterslide that is SO tall! And palapas. A restaurant and gift shop. A jungle walk. I don't know what all! Anyway, there is also a fish pond, which Yvette's son takes care of, cleaning and stocking fish in it. There is an eel in it (which I eventually saw), and Yvette can be seen in a picture cleaning a corner of the pond in search of it!
This area is also for visitors who might arrive by sailboat to visit!!! I caught a picture of a catamaran heading out to sea and the waterway that leads to the slips.
After the visitors climbed back on the buses to leave, the Rotarians and their wives or husbands had a social hour. We met so many wonderful people! At this point, I believe that I have met every importer or distributor of wine, beer or liquor in the country! So we drank well! (Well, Dave was having water until Yvette told him he could be off duty at 4:00 PM.) We met John Woods and his wife Marta (who had the pickup truck that hauled me and my cats to the apartment that first afternoon) and his son Cisco and his wife. John Woods has been in the country over 25 years and has a very successful construction company (and he owns the Cucumber Beach area). Cisco has the hangar next to Dave. We met Mary, who was in the clergy in Grand Rapids and moved here something over a year ago. We met Gustavo and his wife; he lives at the corner of Princess Margaret and St. Thomas, just up the street from us. They own a farm with cattle (and are suffering a drought here, too). We met Steffie, who moved here 14 years ago from Germany and who spends half the year here and half in Germany. Tonight she is having a girls' night of cocktails at her house on edge of the sea! (I wonder if any of them know how to play MahJongg!!) What fun to meet so many people (and there were more whose names I've forgotten at this point)! Yvette has taken such good care of us! I don't know how we will ever repay her!
I have a meeting tomorrow morning at the Ministry building downtown to staff a case. And the week promises to be a busy one. Next Saturday morning Yvette and I plan on doing the annual Cancerwalk. Dave will drop us off in Ladyville at 5:00 AM, and we will walk 9+ miles back to Belize City to the Hospice office, who is sponsoring the walk. Yvette does the walk nearly every year. And we will be cooked by the time we get back to Belize! I plan on taking suntan lotion, water, and my camera!
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