Short Entry

The week after...after all of the celebrations for Belize as a country!  Children are back in school, there are no parades, and life is back to normal.  Normal and hot.  We have been in a pattern of high humidity and high temperatures, and my friends who grew up here say that it has not been this hot for this long in the last two years!  I'm hoping that next year will be more "normal"!?!

Laura Connelly and the pastor of her church in Florida, Vicki, were here for much of the week, bringing smiles, clothes, and gifts to the children at Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre.  The children were delighted that Miss Laura was here!  We have added an educational incentive program, which I think that the staff are dismayed by the high standards that we expect.  I have been on a rampage about education this week, prompted by the broken arm of a six-year-old (he jumped, fell and broke his arm at school).  Now he cannot go to school until his arm is out of a cast (6 weeks or more) because he can't perform in class!?!?  I will probably get myself in trouble next week as I want to find out the logic behind this.  I am pretty sure that this very smart little boy still has use of his eyes, ears, and the other hand.  Of course, I DID send my children to school with pneumonia on more than one occasion.

Flying has been somewhat slow, too.  Dave made a few trips, but not at the pace of the first months that he was here.  I don't think that there is any reason for the ups and downs of the patient traffic.

I felt so hot here that I went and purchased a thermometer.  Our house stays right at 90 degrees inside, and when we turn the air-conditioner on at night to sleep, our room gets down to 86 degrees.  Then I took the thermometer to work.  The kitchen is about 100 degrees, the office above the kitchen comes in at 96 degrees, and after an hour session with the door closed, my office came in at 91 degrees.  I think that qualifies as too warm to work.  Do we get "hot" days like NM gets snow days?!?

A new resident arrived at the Centre.  She is beautiful and brilliant and wanted to get back into school, but did not have the shoes and socks required, though she had her uniform.  In the evening (after dark) and after Dave arrived home from a flight, he and I took her downtown to purchase shoes and socks.  It was a great experience for me!  Dave parked outside the shopping "mall" and someone "guarded" our car.  We found what we were looking for, and I was able to see some downtown shops!  I love how situations arise that send me out of my comfort zone and into new experiences!

The weekend was spent at home.  We worked out a couple of days.  And we took Laura and Vicki to our local Indian restaurant, which has such wonderful food!  It was so great to spend time talking with them with no children interrupting!