Short Blog about Nothing

Some weeks are not that interesting.  Life just goes on in a pattern...Dave takes flights, I work at the Child Care Centre, and we go to the gym too infrequently.

November 19 was Garifuna Settlement Day.  The previous day was extremely rainy, and our street and yard were flooded.  Across the street, the celebrations began with a concert at ITVET.  The festivities started about 10:00 PM, which is when all concerts start around here, and they were lucky that it didn't begin to rain hard again until about 3:00 AM.  I know this, why?  Because it is impossible to sleep during these concerts!  My plan had been to get up early and walk to the bridge and watch the Garinagu boats come in at 7:00 AM.  The street being several inches deep in water and the day being very gray, I stayed in bed instead!  And the rain continued to pour, so this day off in the middle of the week gave me an opportunity/excuse just to read a good book!

On the other hand, Thanksgiving is not a day off in Belize.  That day was a work day, though some people try to have Thanksgiving dinners for sale (fundraisers for schools).  Our cooks at the Centre prepared a lunch of ham, rice & beans, "dressing" (i.e. toasted bread crumbs), potato salad and cranberry sauce.  They even made cakes!  The food was good, and I ate while working!  I can't even remember if Dave flew on any missions that day.

The cold air that the U.S. has had means cool, rainy days for Belize.  I love the cool weather, but the constant rain leaves everything feeling wet to the touch.  And I think that everything smells of mildew, though that may be somewhat my imagination.  Last Saturday was a wonderful day of sun, but cool temps.  Dave and I walked very briskly to the nearby track, then ran on the track, and walked home!  So nice to be outside, working out!  Yesterday was back to the gym, and just getting from the car into the house left us dripping wet from the downpour that hit just as we arrived home!

My visa problem has not been resolved.  I am still waiting for the letter that shows my "volunteer" status.  Dave's letter for his work permit and visa have not arrived either.  We will have to get some resolution with Immigration handled tomorrow (it was to be today, but Dave has been flying all day), as we have a trip to Antigua, Guatemala planned, leaving on Saturday.  We have to solve this issue, at least temporarily, or we cannot leave and return to the country!  I don't know what Maddy and Izzie will do without us if we're deported!

Laura Connelly will arrive in two days for nearly a month in Belize.  She will be moving into her house that will serve as foster home for 7 or 8 girls.  She will go back to Florida on December 21st and return in January "for good."  I am so excited to see her and have her around more often!!

So much to do...revisited!

The above is a picture of a piece of the mural on the wall of Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre. Thank you to Jacque Woods for creating the most amazing mural across the front of the Centre!

I cannot believe that life has been so busy that I have not blogged for two months!  Shame, shame!  If I had not taken pictures of events, I would not be able to re-create many of the activities.  Fortunately, I can give a rough summary of all that has gone on.

September marked our second Carnival Parade!  This year we watched with a man from Phoenix, Arizona, a pastor who comes frequently to Belize to do missionary work.  He lived as a child in Belize, but had not been in town for the Carnival Parade.  I warned him what a wild event it could be! Here Dave and Pastor Thompson are talking along the parade route not far from our house.

And here are a few pictures of the parade!  Let's just say that it is a pretty much a beer-fest!

A tiny newborn baby watched the parade beside me.  I was a little concerned as she was dressed for cold weather, with hat and fuzzy booties, and I thought it was hot outside!  I was worried that she never cried and must be dehydrated!  But she was very cute!

September is a month of celebrations for the Independence of Belize!  One morning I heard drums and ran to the window with my camera to capture the parade of children marching by!  This parade was just one of many!

On the second of October, I had a fun outing with two favorite people, Yvette Burks and Marta Woods.  Yvette and I had to go to Belmopan to submit our information to receive an expedited police clearance.  Marta came along, and we took the opportunity to visit Kings Children's Home.  Kings is a privately run center with about 80 children in residence.  They moved into their new facility on 40 acres last Christmas Day!  What a beautiful place!  We were given a tour, and saw in the first building a well-equipped computer center for the children, a recreation room where a group of preschoolers were listening to a story read to them, and an amazing, huge, stainless steel kitchen with a large dining room!  Across the yard was another building with chapel and a room that was currently being used to make school uniforms and to embroider names on the underwear of the children!  Very clever and pretty!  Side buildings were dorms for the children.  And in the back is a building that will house 50 volunteers when missionary groups come to help out.  Quite an amazing facility!  The mural below, which is by a person from New Mexico (!), was astounding:  Hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil!

After visiting Kings and dropping off our information
with the police, we drove on to San Ignacio where Yvette,  Marta, and I had a wonderful lunch on a veranda overlooking a park at
Guava Limb Cafe.

After lunch, we had some time before being due back to pick up our police clearances.  We stopped at the home of people whom Marta and Yvette knew and who own a wood furniture-making operation.
They gave us a tour of the shop, which smells so good with all of the fine and varied woods!  Then we had coffee and pastries in their beautiful home!  Here are a couple of pictures of some of the wood

 features in their home:  a carved door to the
bathroom and a spiral staircase!

The three of us then went to Santa Elena to visit a primary school that is using the Kagan Learning system.  The school, which has 950 students, was remarkably different from any school that I've seen in Belize!  The positive messages, the small group learning, the peers working together, the respect for the environment and the other people at the school were all impressive!  The school leadership made a commitment to adopt this new method of teaching, and the forty teachers agreed to remain there for 3 years to allow sufficient time to develop the program.  12 teaching coaches are at the school to help teachers with the methods.  They adopted this program 5 years ago, and the vandalism has decreased (the campus was neat as a pin) and behavior problems have decreased.  How I wish that our children's center could do a complete reformation such as they did at the school!  The commitment of time and money was great, but the outcomes are amazing--and this is a school that serves a very diverse and poor area.

Yvette and I returned for our clear police reports (we've been very good citizens!), and the three of us returned to Belize City after a wonderful time together!

On October 6, I flew to Houston to attend the Association for Play Therapy conference.  I met Candace McKenzie there, and we had both a wonderful time learning and a wonderful time playing! I had little time to shop, but managed to get in the necessities, largely because the conference was held at the Galleria Westin and I had the second largest shopping mall at my fingertips!  Candace and I ate wonderful dinners.

At the end of the week, I skipped out on one workshop so that she and I could drive to the Johnson Space Center,  The traffic, because of road construction, delayed our arrival, but we were still able to
take the tram to visit Mission Control and the Saturn V exhibit.
After our tour, we went to Kemah Boardwalk where we had dinner on the deck, watching boats come in and out!  Beautiful!

As soon as I arrived back in Belize, Dave took off!  He flew the Cessna back to St. Louis.
Here Dave is getting some help, moving the airplane out of the hangar for the last time, and then

he takes off!

Getting through Mexico is difficult, as there is only one airport from the south that he can enter the country (in their attempts to control drug and human trafficking).   It took so long to do the paperwork in Cozumel that he had to spend the night.  He then flew to Brownsville for another night, then on to St. Louis.  Dave had the opportunity to do some flying while at Wings of Hope in the "new" Cherokee that he then brought back to Belize.  He was also able to spend a weekend with his sister, Judi, and Bill. The plane was loaded with medical supplies, every niche stuffed full.  Quite a lot fell on the ground when the authorities in Veracruz had Dave start taking out boxes (and allow the drug dog into the plane) for inspection!  He finally made it home with the goods, and the new plane was put into action the following day!

While Dave was in St. Louis, Laura Connelly was here.  We had a very, very busy week!  This time we went to Belmopan to register her group home as a corporation.  Other stops were at the utility companies and the Mennonite furniture store and other errands to get ready for a home to be furnished and running in December!  We had a little time for fun, like lunch at Cafe Michelle, which was wonderful!

Laura and I also attended the art opening at Image Factory for Inga Woods.  (Her mother did the art work on the walls of Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre.)  What amazing art and jewelry (which I want for Christmas) created by Inga, who is just 19 years old!  Yvette went with us, and the three of us had dinner overlooking the sea at Chateau Caribbean!

(There is Inga with the long hair and black heels beside her grandmother, Marta!)

My next trip to Belmopan was with Dave.  He had to get his police clearance for his work visa.  This time we arrived to find a street fair in progress.  I took a picture of Dave near at the park and a picture of the square outside the Belize legislative building.

Meanwhile, I have been busy as ever at the Child Care Centre.  I have had the opportunity to supervise two social work interns from the University of Belize.  They have been such a wonderful addition to the staff, and I will miss them as the term is nearing its end!  Here is a picture of Kharislyn as she prepares the room for the great Social Skills Group that they presented over the last month to a group of upper elementary school children!

Last week, I attended the retirement party for Hortense Augustine, officially the "Foster Mother" of Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre, but really the director of the facility as she is responsible for a large facility and a large staff, in addition to being mother to nearly 60 children!  I don't know how someone who looks as beautiful as this can be anywhere near retirement age!

We had a wonderful time with food, drinks and music and dancing!  And here's a chance to see some of my favorite people with whom I work!

(Nicol Crawford, Tracey Ogaldez, Marcia Stephen)

A special guest of honor was Dorothy Menzies, president of the Board, with Ms. Augustine, who is beside Chris Garcia, Board Secretary for Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre.

Not everything has been paradise in paradise.  The rains ruined our street, and one day a large truck was stuck in the ditch, blocking traffic.  The road to the airport finally was cemented and opened, but only to the corner, not down to the terminal or hangars.  Dave has to drive through an amazing "lake" to get to the runway at Muncipal Airport.  The hangar door is still broken.  Luckily, Dave and the security guard have become friends, and he watches out for trespassers at night.  We know there have been people in the hangar during the rains, though.  No damage to the airplane, though.  

The rains brought out the sandflies and the mosquitoes, so I look like one large bite.  I also fell off a moving treadmill, so I had some lovely cuts and bruises.  Dave was trying to move the new airplane by hand and fell flat on his back, so he has been nursing sore ribs.  I have a stubborn intestinal infection that abates and returns and saps my energy.

Dave had trouble filing for his work visa.  One can only do so on Wednesdays, and the last two Wednesdays, he has been flying all day.  (In fact, he flew to Guatemala City on one Wednesday.)  He and Yvette finally got the attention of someone who stretched the hours and let him submit the application.  Then my work permit came through without the word "volunteer" on it.  The Income Tax Department, therefore, wants to charge me $2000 before Immigration will give me the work visa.  And that is currently a stalemate...I refuse to pay, and the Labor Department has so far been unable to find a way to insert the word "volunteer."  

My washing machine quit working, and we're beginning to smell a bit!!  The car's air conditioning went out on the same day.  And the power steering leak has become more of a river of fluid.  None of these things seem to be able to get fixed.  

In the general scheme of things, I don't think any of these things should cause too much stress (unless I am deported, and who knows whose doorstep I'll land on in that event).  So we continue on, looking forward to Jeremy and Jonattan's Christmas visit which we have planned with great adventures!

So Much to Do!

The above picture, which I love, shows Dave flying between cloud layers.  The weather has been more unstable lately, and the rain is actually a welcome change!  The cool(er) breezes help, too!  And Dave has been flying frequently, sometimes getting a bit wet and sometimes finding a whole lot of mosquitos.  Vector control in Belize City has been diligent this summer and apparently effective if one compares the number of mosquitos in other areas.

The rain, however, has only made getting to the Municipal Airport even more challenging!  The extremely bumpy road is now a lake of muddy water through which one must drive.  It looks like the road will soon be cemented, though we are uncertain that it will go all the way to the airport, perhaps ending at the corner.  Any part of the road cemented will help!  The sidewalk is finished, though!












One day, I decided that I had been working enough, so Dave and I played tourist!  We went to the Belize Museum!  Interestingly, we had never made it there, perhaps because I think of going to a museum as a weekend activity and this museum is closed on weekends.  It was a nice, small museum with good Mayan history.  Lots of preserved insects, too, but I rushed through that section!  The museum is in the old prison building. At one time, the prisoners had a popular bakery!

On the first Thursday of the month, Wine Tasting Club holds its event.  Dave and I went this month, which turned out to be a mistake in a few ways.  First of all, it was the beginning of September, and the Belikan (beer) Bash was going on at Memorial Park, making it a challenge to maneuver through the road blocks and not get lost in the dark!  We decided to go to wine tasting instead of a concert, planning to go to the encore performance of the concert on Sunday night--which we didn't do.  And few people showed up for the wine tasting, none of whom we knew, probably due to the above mentioned conflicts!  Maybe another time!

The reason that we did not go to the concert on Sunday night was that our neighbor across the street, Angelia, invited us to her house for her birthday party!  Very special!  I baked a plate of cookies to take as a gift.  We met a number of Cuban doctors who are in Belize for a three year tour of duty. One of the interesting experiences for us in Belize is the opportunity to talk with Cubans, most often doctors and nurses.  They love their country and are certainly good ambassadors for Cuba and for their medical system!  Belizeans also go to Cuba for medical training, and I just saw where a group has returned after 6 years of training there.  Anyway, we plied the doctors with questions about where to go visit--one of our goals in the next 6 months!

The food at the party was wonderful!  We had Nicaraguan tacos, which are what we call taquitos, and they are covered with cole slaw!  They were wonderful!  (Angelia is from Nicaragua.)  Chicken and ham and pasta were also served, plus a wonderful birthday cake!

Jeremy and Jonattan would be happy to know that kareoke is alive and well at birthday parties in Belize!  It was fun, especially, to watch the little girls take over the mike to perform!  I had such a great time people watching and being present for a family/friends birthday celebration!

Dave has been flying early in the morning lately.  Here is a view of sunrise from the air!

Blackout!

Dave and I miss having lots of choices of cultural activities:  plays, symphony, concerts, etc.  If something comes along that we are aware of here, we go!  (Finding out about events seems one huge hurdle to me.  Publicity seems to be lacking, or I am looking in all the wrong places.)

This week three young Mexican pianists came to perform at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts.

The program was one mixing classical pieces and regional pieces. And the pieces were for two, four or six hands!  The concert began on time with a respectable audience.  The young men were excellent pianists!  About one-third into the show, there was a sudden "POP" and all of the power went out! Right in the middle of Beethoven! Ricardo Moo paused, hands raised, in pitch darkness!  (No emergency lights went on, by the way.)  Then the audience pulled out their cell phones and turned on their flashlights, shining the light toward the stage...and Beethoven continued without fault!  One of the men asked if we wanted the concert to continue, and everyone yelled "Yes!"  With a few staff people holding flashlights, they continued their program.

The air conditioning was out, the fan on stage for the performers was silent (and though the audience suggested that they take off their jackets, they did not), and not a person in the hall left the concert!  The music was wonderful, but the spirit of the people, performers and audience alike made the experience memorable!  These young men will never forget the concert that they performed in Belize!

I thought that the building's circuitry had blown, but we left the theatre to total darkness.  It was a dark trip home!  We lit candles when we arrived home, and after the one-to-two hour blackout, the power returned.

I don't know if it is the heat or what, but this morning we had another two hour blackout.  Fortunately, we also had a strong, cool sea breeze.  Lately, the breezes have not come from the sea, if we have one at all, and the air is simply hot, moving or not.  Belize has had the driest wet season in history, but a tropical wave is to arrive tonight or tomorrow.

My observations of medical care here:  Having not really had a physical in well over a year and my brother having died recently of a heart attack, I decided I should have a thorough work-up.  I began with a blood test, a mammogram, and a doppler exam of the carotid arteries.  In U.S. dollars, an absolutely thorough blood screening cost about $150 (and several vials of my blood)!  The mammogram cost $50 and the doppler about $150.  Then I went to the cardiologist.  I was expecting to have an echocardiogram, but I spent more than two hours with him, talking!  Yes, talking...as he illustrated the mechanism of the entire heart in detail.  This cost me $60.  And I learned a lot!  From the many questions that he asked me, he determined that he preferred to do a stress test, so I was scheduled for the following week for that.  My first attempt was cancelled by an emergency that he had, as was the second attempt.  On the third attempt, I sat talking again for another hour or more.  He said:  "I don't need to do anything else but monitor a man with a faulty pacemaker and examine you."  Then I had the stress test, which I passed with flying colors.  All of this cost $175.  Oh, yes.  He did a urinalysis at the first visit for $5 U.S.  As reference, my co-pays and deductible would have exceeded the amount I spent on this physical. And I can assure you that I would never be able to find a cardiologist in the U.S. who would spend approximately 5 hours with me for any price!  And I would not have known what subtle symptoms might mean or that high cholesterol, my only real issue, would have symptoms such as irritability, inability to sleep, tingling in the arms and feet, etc.  End result:  I'm on statins and will have a follow-up blood test in a couple of weeks (but just a cheap, simple one!).

My other observation is on the medical system for the populace who gets free care, such as the children at the Centre.  Children can be rough and tumble, and the staff are very good about taking the children to the doctor promptly.  For example, one child came back to the Centre with a very swollen knee from playing football (soccer).  The doctor at the Clinic examined him and X-rayed the knee, finding that there was no fracture and that he should recover shortly.  We have had a child in the hospital for two weeks with a lung infection, and the doctors sent him to the private clinic for an MRI to be sure that nothing else was going on.  And my personal experience is with the psychiatry department.  Last year I was so dismayed that no psychiatrist was practicing in Belize.  Finally, one arrived from the Philippines. Now we have a second from Cuba.  This week I went to see the psychiatric nurse, who does the majority of monitoring the medications for our children.  She spent an hour with me, listening to my description of the symptoms of a child she had seen previously, with the result that she changed the medication back to a protocol that seemed to be working last spring.  (We didn't want to take the child out of her first week of high school, which is why I went alone.)  I will take the child back in two weeks for a follow-up appointment.

In general, I think that the medical care is good.  The public hospital is still a scary place to me, but they are working to improve the facility and the procedures that they can do.  Complicated cases are still sent to Guatemala or Mexico or to the United States.

"To Be or Not to Be!"

"Hamlet!"  Yes, we were able to attend the performance of Shakespeare's play performed as part of the "Globe to Globe" project from London!  The project takes "Hamlet" to all of the countries of the world over a two year period.  Belize was the 32nd country!  This production was beautifully performed and was very creative!  The set (above) can be packed in the trunks and suitcases of the cast--four per person.  The set was simple and effective.  The man who portrayed Hamlet was very disturbed! Perfect!  I saw interviews of him and he was so professional, and not a bit disturbed!  The play began with music which I described as bluegrass and Dave said was more of an Irish jig!  Not sure how that relates to Denmark, but it added such spirit to the performance!  When considering how many countries would have little understanding of the English spoken, having the music helped maintain the interest.  I am so thankful that I was able to see this performance.  I also loved our seats--behind the Governor General of Belize and the High Commissioner of Great Britain!  We drove to the theater pulled onto Newtown Barracks Drive behind the Ambassador from the United States in his black SUV with an escort car in front of him.  I figured if we were stopped at a police checkpoint, I could believably say that I was with the car in front of me!  We drove to the theater, but the Ambassador and his wife were dropped off in front of the theater and Dave and I had to park and walk.  Guess we weren't quite in the motorcade!

The Globe to Globe cast performed the play for high schoolers in Belize for free.  I insisted that our children would attend, so went to the theater and picked up their tickets.  I did not get a lot of feedback from the kids due to my fear of violence!  LOL!  Some of the kids said that they enjoyed it, some fell asleep!  I am just so pleased that they had this once-in-a-lifetime experience, whether they enjoyed it or not!

On Friday night, I had "girls' night out" with Laura Connelly and Natalie Lanni as their two months in Belize draws to a close.  I cannot believe that the time has flown by!  And I hardly even saw them! They will return, but I'll miss having them here.

And I have had another stressful week with the children.  I am excited to be putting together a social skills training program for the kids with whom I work.  And I will have two University of Belize interns in another week.  High school begins next week.  I will be very glad to spend a week in Houston for the Association for Play Therapy conference!

Highs & Lows

The above picture is from the Woods' home in the mountains

A very high point of our recent adventures was the trip that we took to the Woods' orange grove in the mountains near Dangriga.  John and Marta, Yvette and her two "kids," Clayton and Jess, a nephew of Yvette, and Woods' daughter-in-law, Elda, and two children made for a spirited group on a beautiful day!  The home is spectacular, built entirely of stone and wood with a deck overlooking the orchard and grounds.  

Clayton brought coconuts, which he opened.

I drank coconut water fresh from the coconut!  What a difference from the coconut water that I've tasted from a bottle or can!  Very good!

(To the left, Elda pouring coconut water beside Liam.)

And I loved having fresh coconut from the shell, too!  Marta brought turkey tettrazini, and Yvette brought a salad, Jess made brownies, and we had lots of chips and dip!  We were well fed!

All of us then went to the waterfall on the property!  Some of us walked, some of us drove.  All of the young people hopped into the pool of water, and Liam bravely rode the waterfall down into the pool! What a beautiful place!  And what a wonderful time of conversation and laughs with good friends! 

Here, Marta, John, Dave and I are crossing the foot bridge on the way to the waterfall:  

Here Dave and I stand in front of the waterfall:

The "kids" are in the pool and behind the waterfall!

Here are Yvette, Elda, Marta, John (taking a nap), and I lounging by the pool!

One day in the last couple of weeks, Yvette, Laura Connelly (from Florida), one of my former kids, and I went to Belmopan so that the child could interview for a transitional program.  We had a good time, talking, and our child was accepted into the program.  Yay!

But this high point was followed by a tragedy.  One of the friends of our child was murdered by another classmate.  This news was devastating, and put in to some jeopardy the program that our girl was to attend.  She bravely carried on and made the decision to continue with the program that should guide her to a bright, successful future.  The emotional toll on all of us was significant.

On a positive note, Dave and I attended the Rotary Handing-Over dinner.  

Yvette was given an award for her contribution to the Gift of Life program, which provides life-saving medical intervention for very ill children.  And to my surprise, I accepted an award given to the Dunedin, Florida Rotary Club for its contributions to the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre!  I will be sending it along with Laura to take to the Rotary Club there!

In the meantime, Dave has been flying a lot.  There is a big festival in San Pedro this weekend, so he has been called twice for stabbing victims.  One person was still drunk when transported!  With Laura and Natalie here from Florida for the summer, most of our children at the Centre have been able to visit at their home for some field trips to places in the country and for some cooking lessons from Natalie's husband, Kris, the chef!