Planesnake

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:09:42 GMT

Greetings from San Salvador!

Where to begin?! Since my last entry I have become a certified open water diver, discovered that Hondurans take forever to do anything, camped in a cloud forest and had a momentary disaster when my bag with all my money and passport and EVERYTHING fell down a cliff and I couldn´t get it back [I did!] and I have bathed in Hot Springs.

I promised to talk about Graduation and my last week at Duck Run 2, so I guess I will begin there. My final week at the school was all a hectic buildup to their Graduation Ceremony - since it was me that knew how to make all the certificates print properly, I spent quite some time on Tuesday doing that -- one certificate for each of the twelve graduates and then all the academic related awards. On the monday of that week I took Standard One and Two for more exams and general classes, and then went with Standard 3 and 4, which was really nice because I walked in think "Help what am I going to do?!" and they´d already arranged themselves into two neat little groups - one tidying the library and one playing Hangman!

Wednesday 20th June - Graduation Day began with lots of blue and white balloons - blowing them up and attaching them to the wire so they would make an archway over the door. Flowers were obtained from one of the houses and had to be arranged into pots to go in front of the altar and there were lots of banners and crepe paper things all over the church. By the end, although very simple, the decoration looked fantastic - especially since most of it had been made by the graduating class. Went back to the house and changed into some nice clothes and returned to the church for the ceremony. The twelve graduates all looks really fantastic in their blue caps and gowns - graduation is a big deal for them and most had spent all day preparing for it. They marched in to Pomp and Circumstance and then there was a church service led by a vicar whose entire speech centered around the fact that if they weren´t going to high school then there was no point in celebrating because they must have bad parents. Idiot. Especially since only 3 of the 12 were going to high school because it costs 800 dollars in just tuition fees!
Then there was all the graduation presentations and myself and Hannah were given some plaques as a Thank You gift.
After the Graduation we went back to the house of our family´s cousin, Leydy, who was one of the graduates for a celebratory gathering, at which we discovered that there were two canadians living in Duck Run 2! Then came Thursday and leaving day.

To celebrate the end of the teaching phase we went to a place called Barton Creek - a sort of Jungle Lodge with a bar and a river to swim in and a whole lot of free drinks. Bearing in mind that I hardly really drunk at all during teaching phase, this was a lot of drinks. What I remember of the party was excellent fun. Drinking games and bar dancing and what not. I did have to wash regurgitated pizza out of my hair the next morning. Oops...

We left for Caye Caulker on Sunday 24th June, an hour away by water taxi. It is a funky little island with sandy streets and golf buggies instead of cars. Our diving course consisted of all day monday spent in a classroom pretending to pay attention to hours and hours of DVD. Then on Tuesday it was time to learn about all the kit and get all confused about which bit connects to which, and it is all rather important for being able to breathe underwater. Then we had our first practice dive in very shallow water learning how to take our masks off and our air supply our and whatnot. ´
Wednesday was an exciting day - our first open water dive on the reef! 40 feet down - though it took me a while to get there because you have to equalise your ears and I have weird ears or something so it just really hurt at first. Lots of brown coral and blue or yellow fish! What I hadn´t realised is that water absorbs colour so it wasn´t all crazy bright colours. It was, actually, rather mysterious and intriguing! Then we did a second dive with more underwater skills. Finished by lunchtime and quite exhausted Lou and I booked a ferry to Honduras for Saturday morning, leaving from Dangriga. Then we went back to our hotel and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Cable TV...! And did our PADI Exams.
Thursday morning was not, as every other day had been, bright and sunny. It was actually pouring with rain and lightning and thunder and really quite inhostpitable. So no diving on Thursday ànd a momentary panic because we had to make it to Dangriga on friday to catch our ferry Saturday morning. No worries according to the dive centre - we would finish early enough so we could catch the water taxi in time to make the last bus from Belize City. Since Lou and myself had already gone out in this lovely weather and were soaked through, we decided to detour to the bakery to buy something for lunch and then to the art gallery for a hot chocolate. Very nice stuff! Although the woman serving us did seem to relish in the fact that there was a 70 percent chance of the island being struck by lightning. As though we really wanted to know that...!
Friday morning, bright and early we set off for our final two open water dives. This time down to 60 feët, which took me even longer to get down to but was so utterly worth it. We were swimming with Nurse Sharks and fish that were about 2 feet long and eels in this strange otherworldly environment. Fantastic!
Now certified divers we grabbed our stuff, went for a milkshake and hopped on the water Taxi to Belize City to begin our own travelling.

More to follow about adventures and misadventures in Honduras. Tomorrow I´m off to surf!

Love lots,
Meg xx

And so the end...

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 13:21:10 GMT

The end of teaching, that is.

Thursday at 12:15 I waved goodbye to the students of Duck Run 2, hopped in a landrover and left.

I then spent all day trying not to cry. I can't believe that it's been seven weeks. It has been, without a doubt, the most incredible few weeks ever.

The week before Tulum was one of those strange itsy-bitsy ones where you do a lot but not much happens. Did reading and some art and I spent a long time on the computer doing certificates and the programme for graduation.

Mexico itself was absolutely amazing. I left Duck Run 2 at lunchtime on Wednesday and walked down to the ferry at Duck Run 1 where I was meeting Lou and Maddy. Off we went on the bus, to Belize City and then to Chetumal, just accross the Mexican border, where we turned up at "Hotel Ucum" (Yes, really!) at 10.30pm and ordered Dominoes Pizza!
The difference between the two countries becomes apparant the instant you cross the border - Mexico has things like Dominoes and REAL ROADS and NORMAL CARS THAT ARE NOT BATTERED PICKUPS. As I will tell more about later, Chetumal also has a huge shopping mall that feels just like shopping malls in England (Just, in Spanish).
Thursday morning we all got on a nice first class bus to Tulum, where we arrived at about midday and, having checked into our hostel and aquired a random Belizean that Ste brought from his village but who couldn't afford the luxury hotel Ste was staying in, we went off to the beach.
Having tested the waters on the beach next to Hotel Zamas, where the others were staying, we went decided to go for a walk to find more beach. 5 mosquito ridden Kilometers down a very pretty road we stopped outside a place called La Zebra that advertised free salsa lessons, we asked an American couple who were like "Oh it's just there" and, having wandered through we came upon miles and miles of sandy beach. The sort of Sandy beach that you see in postcards and never in real life.
Then we had to walk all the way back...! When we returned to our hostel we cooked ourselves burgers and ate Ice Cream.
Friday (Frankies birthday) was Beach Day at La Zebra. All day spent sitting around in the sand and building sandcastles and swimming. And getting quite burned. Then in the evening, following our free salsa class (Awesome fun!) we went back to our hostel to change and get ready for going out to eat and then for drinks etc...
The restaurant we ate at was nice, and by this time I was feeling awesome because I had a nice new pair of Havaianas (4th pair of flipflops) and had heard that the restaurant sold SANGRIA. Actually the Sangria tried to poison both me and Lou... but we survived :D Then we went to a beach hotel that had a Beach Party with performers and real music and had an awesome time!
We returned to Chetumal on Saturday and spent the evening in Liverpool, the huge shopping centre and department store. We also ate at McDonalds - mostly just because we could! It was very peculiar to be in a shopping centre that felt so much like England - just because it's something I haven't seen properly for so long!

I'm going to stop writing now: To follow is details about graduation, my final week and final party.
In an hour I will be leaving to go off to Caye Caulker to do some diving! All very exciting!

Lots of love,
Meg xx

Bienvenidos a paradise

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 23:55:18 GMT

Tulum is the most stunning beach in the world. Ever. And I've just been there.

Yes, I did just go to Mexico for a long weekend... as you do :)

Now I have to go back to my village but I just thought I'd share the Tulum-is-amazing vibe.

x

Hello, time? Where are you going?

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:01:33 GMT

End of week 5 in Duck Run 2!

Last weekend, following a picnic in the park (cold baked beans and PLANTAIN CHIPS) we hitched back to our village in significantly less time than the last time we tried it... Mostly because we caught a ride with a guy who drove us all the way to our village! I am sure that in England you wouldn't go out of your way along one of the worst roads ever just to drop two random strangers off!

On Monday we turned up to school to find a dead snake on one of the teacher's desks (apparantly some of the girls found it in the road) and a distinct absence of our principal. So we begin our week standing in front of Standard One and Two, on a boiling hot day with no idea what to teach and a lot of students who don't want to learn anything!
Of course, we survived. I took the lower set for some basic math, trying to get them to write out addition sums one above the other to make it easier to add. At the time I was having some serious doubts about whether they were learning anything, but then later on we did a quiz with them and they all started adding like I had taught them! Yay!

Then taught some creative writing - this time trying to do a picture story, which they obviously totally understood because they told me the story as I drew it on the board. So then, feeling confident I gave them all a plain piece of paper and set them about doing their own. Some of them told me sort-of stories about people called 'Santiago' or 'Ramon' - some of them drew me pictures copied out of library books which were all very pretty and they all worked so hard that I didn't really want to point out that wasn't quite what I meant :D Totally wish I could speak Spanish so that I could actually explain to them what I meant.

In the afternoon I showed them how to make tinfoil men, which went down rather well! They all stared and went "ohh, pretty" when I held up the example! Quite glad however that we finished at 3 on Monday and not 3:30, I'm not sure the tinfoil making would have lasted too much longer!

On Tuesday morning, marginally traumatised from being chased by a large bird whilst out running, I went into school to find that Mr Mejia had to go to pick up the Standard 6 exam results and so left us with his class - who were, thankfully, a little calmer than they had been the previous day. We gave them a reading book and had them all read it and then answer questions on it. Very simple questions about the story, but we had to help them a lot with that. I really enjoyed helping Jose, who really struggles with English but is obviously quite bright and I am sure would do so well if he was taught in Spanish. I taught him how to match words in the book with keywords in the question to figure out at least where the answer was. I think he learned something. Even if it was look at the pictures first to try to find the answer. As they finished we sent them all to the library to read (I have found that if you give them permission to look at any book they like they're so excited because it means they can look at the pictures in National Geographic). Going to check on them, we found that Jose and Jaime were sitting tidying all the books! Very pleased because then we didn't have to do it!

Mr Mejia returned at lunchtime with the exam results - 7 of the 12 students had passed, mostly with "adequate" which is the lowest pass. The highest mark was 79%. I would be curious to know how much of their scores was influenced by the fact that they speak Spanish. Having talked to people in different schools I think ours must be one of the most predominantly Spanish - just because all the teachers speak it as a first language and will use it with the students whenever they are not in class - because it is more natural, I think.

Did some computer lessons after lunch and then had some free time so I read a book about Shakleton which was very interesting!

On Wednesday morning, since it was the first of the month, the whole school went to the church next door to practice songs for mass, which should have been that morning although the priest didn't turn up so we all went back to class. I was very proud of myself for understanding the words of one of the Spanish Hymns!
Wednesday was spent mostly with Standard 5 and 6 - whilst Hannah did some Math with them I was typing up their exams for next week and trying to figure out their teacher's bad grammar on their grammar exam...
The afternoon brought more computer classes and then a visit from Will at fieldbase who filmed me talking about teaching and then teaching Standard 3 and 4 for art -- more tinfoil men, which went down just as well with this class! Although the idea of animating them with photos didn't really work because they all find my camera much too fascinating. Now I have a lot of photos of me and Standard 3 and 4!

On Thursday, after reading with standard 1 and 2, I did some creative writing with standard 5. A slight moment of "Eek, what to do!" (because they'd already done lots about story structure and I had no idea what their ability level was) followed by my grabbing a book of Shell fuel adverts and picking one with a sea monster in it and then getting them to write a story based on that. Aside from their grammar... they had some really interesting stories. Hopefully I am going to have time to copy some of them out so that I can put them here. According to my diary for Thursday: Afternoon brought more reading and typing of exams and an evening of silliness and giggles with Suleyma.

Friday we spent all day typing exams for standard five and six, and teaching some of the Std 5 and 6 girls how to make macrame bracelets (according to them: "Calidad!"). Got home to find that Ammy had come to leave me a present: A little journal that says "I love you" on the front. Please may I take her home with me?

Yesterday we went to Mountain Pine Ridge, which was an awesome tour. Went to see the site of Rio Frio project, Rio on Pools, Rio Frio Caves, Big Rock Falls (where we all jumped in off this really high rock that scared the hell out of me and I had to get Lou to come up and practically force me off. But I did it!) and Five Sister Falls. Awesome day :)

I am going to go now, other people want the computer and I have screen-eyes.

Lots of love,
Meg xx

How to make a paper plane...

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:17:40 GMT

"No quieres leer este?" is an important phrase. On Friday lunchtime in the library I used it without thinking about it and without hesitating! How awesome is that?!

It's now the end of Week 4 of the seven! Already! Time is being mischevious, I think and running away from me!

Monday morning we continued our reading with Standard 1 and 2 - Alicia and I read "We're going on a bear hunt" which was amusing - I kept trying to say things that didn't really make much sense - Spanish is a much more 'simple' language in some respects - It's hard not to try to overcomplicate sentences. More often than not things just don't translate. (Like the verb "To Pester" in Spanish actually translates as "To Molest" so my students often complain that so-and-so is "Molesting")

I also taught Standard 3 for Creative Writing, which was interesting. I decided to do something straightforward just to try to work out what sort of abilities they had. I had them pick their favourite characters from books or films and then worked with them on how the characters fit into the story - the language barrier is something of an issue, but it's given me a good plan for next week - I'm going to do cartoon-strips with them. It's so obvious that their enjoyment of stories is really hindered by the fact that they are forced to work in English all the time. I am hoping that working with stories in pictures will help that a lot, because having read some of the work that they did they have so much imagination!

Monday afternoon also brought an art class with standard 1 and 2. Lacking in any ideas whatsoever we decided to make and decorate paper planes, and then have a competition to see whose flew the furthest. Thus chaos ensued, and possibly one on the most enjoyable lessons I have had so far! Kenner managed to throw his paper plane into the middle of the softball game on the other side of the field, and there are several pieces of folded paper stuck in the rafters of the classroom... I love teaching ;)

Tuesday we did more reading with Standard 3 and 4 and then Creative Writing with Standard 2. Eight year old's who don't speak much English! This was actually really good fun - and it was very clear that certain students had a lot to say and did not have the ability to say it, which was, in a sense, quite frustrating. I am developining the opinion that they ought to be allowed to be taught in Spanish, but be taught "English" as a subject - I think it would totally make a difference to the quality of their education. Jose, for example, in Standard 2 speaks a little English, but can't read or write it, and yet he was writing things about his house in our lesson on Tuesday and was obviously wanting to say so much about his motorcycles but just couldn't.

In the afternoon we took some of the Infants until it was time for them to go home. Teaching them was really fantastic. I began by showing them how to make paper hats, and they were all totally eager to copy what I was doing and then to decorate them. I also had my camera with me, so I took photos of them with their hats on. Then I told them the story with the hat about the ship... in Spanish [!] which they all adored.
Then a moment of "Eek that only took twenty minutes, what now?!"
So we taught them "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and toes" which they all found really quite entertaining, even if they couldn't quite get all the words right! And then they taught us some of the songs that they knew, in both English and Spanish, which was really good fun!
And then it was time for them to go and we were alive! I love teaching infants!

Wednesday was spent mostly with standard 5 and 6 - we began with reading. Standard 6 had a book that even I struggled to understand properly - and the story I was reading with Kelly was full of African names that she kept asking me how to pronounce and I was like "I have no idea!"
We also took Standard 5 for Math - how to add fractions with different numbers at the bottom. I had no idea 12-14 year old girls could giggle so much!!! But it was good fun :) Then at lunch, quite exhausted, I was accosted by 4 of the infants: Ammy, Vanessa, Kenia and Seleny who all wanted piggy back rides!
School finished at 2:30 on Wednesday. The weather had turned cold (I am sure in England it would have been considered a hot day, still...) and there was a large rainstorm on the horizon. The instant Hannah and I walked through our door it began to rain so hard that we had to shout to hear one another! The afternoon was then spent playing cards in our bedroom trying to ignore the fact the one of our windows was leaking!

Thursday became an impromptu day off because it was Mr Mejia's birthday! Belize is a country where national party-food is Rice and Beans, so we ate that! Much sport was played and we had a lot of fun watching the younger children bundle each other in an attempt to get sweets!

Friday was spent doing "Library Time" with Standards 1 - 4 and computer classes with Standard 6 - Some of them can use a computer, others can't even work the mouse - but they all managed to draw a picture in Paint or play music! All useful skills, of course ;)

This weekend I am in San Igncio for a mellow weeked. Discovered a bookshop in town and got very excited. We all went in and started picking books and looking at books. I found a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit that I wanted to buy, and, just when I had decided that I had enough books, and got all excited about THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, the woman who obviously owned the bookstore went obviously mad.

EVIL SHOP LADY: (Snatching books out of my hand) "I'm getting ready to close now, leave."
ME: "Oh, OK, May I buy these books please?"
EVIL SHOP LADY: "No, you will leave the shop."
ME: What the hell? "I only want to buy these books, is that OK?"
EVIL SHOP LADY: "No!"
ME: "Um, I'm sorry, why can't I buy these books?"
EVIL SHOP LADY: "Get the f*** out of my shop!"
ME: Flees

So I didn't get to buy The Velveteen Rabbit. I went to the DVD shop and bought Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to make myself feel better. It did make me feel better, especially since I ate Pizza and drank half a bottle of Sangria at the same time as watching it!

Hasta Luego,

M xx

On Volleyball and paint...

Sun, 27 May 2007 14:23:36 GMT

After I had written that entry last week it took us 4 hours to get home with a combination of bus, hitching, walking, ice-cream and more walking. However we made it back in one piece which is always a plus ;)

Tuesday we spent the morning doing individual reading with Standard One and Two during the morning, which was really good fun. The abilities of the students varied from being mostly unable to read a word to being quite good. I do wonder what they would choose to read were they reading in Spanish, as opposed to English, since they were all reading books chosen because they had easy words in them. It was fantastic though when one of them learned a new word - I was reading a book called "Peanut Butter is the Best" with Kenner, which has the word "peanut" about 30 times in the whole book. He finally went from "Peee-ah-noot" to "Peanut" after about three quarters of the book and after that said it with total genuine glee just because he obviously recognised the word!
The last person I read with was Alicia, who barely speaks a word of English, and after the first few pages of struggled reading I let her explain to me the story of Goldilocks in Spanish, which led to both of us giggling a lot until lunchtime. Not sure how constructive it was to her English, but then I think that there's more to be said for actually associating books with enjoyment. I'm hoping to spend more time with her to work on her English, just so that she has a chance to move up a year (at 12 she ought to be in Standard 4 or 5, not Standard 2).

In the afternoon on Tuesday we demonstrated various things on the computer to some of the Standard 5 an 6 girls - we started off with Word, but then moved on quickly to showing them more interesting things, like how to view photos (mostly because they all wanted to see photos of the football tournament from the previous Thursday). We're going to be teaching them one-to-one, mostly because they tend to get embarrassed quite easily in a group and I think for the IT classes it'd be better to teach them on a level.

We also found out that the girls team won the football!!! And that the boys team came Third.

Wednesday we went to the school at Duck Run 3 for a volleyball tournament. This was a fantastic day -- I spent it all either out in the sun taking photos of the matches or playing with Amy, who came to watch with her mum. We were sucking on Ideals (like Ice-Pops) and playing 'catch' or 'hide the book'. The finals for both the girls and boys teams were closely fought and went to 3 games. The girls won and the boys came second. On the way back, squashed into the back of a pick-up, the girls were all singing and shouting "Who's the best? Duck Run!" to everybody we passed on the way home. It was a total delight to see - these girls who get so embarrassed about participating in class, grinning like cheshire cats and shouting so loudly. I think the boys were laughing at them.

That night Amy came over to play, so we played Hide-and-seek and Tag with her and Suleyma and then, as it got dark Snakes and Ladders. After she left we walked to our neighbours' house (the ones with the monkeys) to show the photos to Wilson and Leidy who hadn't been at the Volleyball. I ended up going through all the photos about 6 times that night so that everyone could see them! We also played cards with Josue, Wilson, Mira, Mirabel and Suleyma - I taught Suleyma Go Fish and Slapsies last week and she adores both. Slapsies, in particular, always seems to go down well (it's like a version of snap with lots of people). They were quite delighted when I didn't win at Slapsies - I've spent too long practicing it at college!

Thursday we did more individual reading with Standard 3 and 4 - which was good fun. Some of them were really into reading and several told me that they didn't want to stop!

In the afternoon, exhausted because I had spent 40 minutes playing football with some of the boys at lunch, I went to begin individual computer classes with Standard 5 and 6 and found that the computer would not work. It would not even try to work. So we spent a while cleaning up in the Library, and then went through our timetable for the next 3 1/2 weeks (Is that really all I have left?!). We're teaching CREATIVE WRITING!!! I'm planning to base it all on a play I bought out here - called "Dog and Iguana" from a book of Belizean Plays that I spent far too much money on but couldn't resist buying. I'm hoping to theme all our art/writing lessons on this to give the students a sense of purpose with what they're doing, and hopefully display the work at Graduation, which is the day before we leave.

Thursday after school we went into Spanish lookout to choose some paint for the Standard One/Two classroom because friday - a day off for the students - we painted! A really fresh colour called Surf Blue - it's amazing how much of a difference it can make just putting fresh paint on the walls. It took us all day, and we still have all the window frames to paint, as well as the alphabet on the wall, but already it looks so good!
I had a bit of a mishap painting the blackboard -- I found some blackboard paint in the school and thought it would be a good idea - so I used the only thing I had - a spare roller head and my hands. The blackboard looked great, and there's now a spot on the floor good for chalking on, but when I went to wash my hands it would not come off! So I had very black hands, and ended up using gasoline to get it off! Oops!

This weekend I am staying at The Trek Stop, a sort of eco-lodge place. There are 12 of us here right now - and yesterday we all went Tubing down the river - which was fantastic and so much fun! We also played frisbee golf - although we quit on hole six! Then last night, after some spaghetti and a hot fudge sundae watched the end of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and a behind the scenes for film 3 (Which I WANT TO SEE!) and then a film called "Stick it" on cable, followed by "Step up" - Quite a mellow evening really! We're staying in little wooden cabins and here in true eco-friendly style they call their long-drops "composting toilets"!

I was reading National Geographic magazines here yesterday and found an article about a guy who cycled all the way around Australia in 9 months. How wrong is it that I am here and I am still jealous?!

Lots of Love,

M xx

PS - Did you know that all the ants in the world weigh the same as all the humans?!

In which Meg goes to the seaside...

Mon, 21 May 2007 16:03:26 GMT

And thus I have reached the end of Week 2 of teaching in Duck Run 2.

Last week was "Education Week" in Belize - During which time it would seem that academic education is avoided at all costs! As I think I said last week, May is something of a 'Holiday month' for the students.

We went to school on Monday not really knowing what we were to be doing, but knowing that this week was 'education week' so not really too worried we'd suddenly have to plan a lesson or anything. During morning assembly, the principal got each class to stand up and sing something to the rest of the school. The infants sang the song 10 Little Indians, which, from what I've heard, they sing every morning in class! I think the older years were a little embarrassed by the whole idea of singing in front of the school!

Monday morning they had "Clean-up Campaign" - a litter pick around the village. I went with Standard One and Two, down the road towards my house, to the house of one of the kids, Wilson (and my next-door neighbour) - to see his pet monkeys!
I spent the entire time being clung to by Rosita and Marlyn who kept racing back to hold my hand!

Hannah went with Standard 3 & 4 who visited a chicken farm along the way! She was handed an entire tray of eggs which we took home to Liliana who was somewhat confused by this!

After the litter-picking, I stayed with the Standard 1 & 2 class, and watched them practice their poem for the school's mother's day celebration. A poem in Spanish, which I actually understood!

Monday afternoon they spent two hours doing a team quiz in Standard 1 & 2, with spelling and math questions, which Hannah and I took a little of. I had forgotten quite how competitive eight year olds can get!

Tuesday was a half-day, spent setting up for the mother's day celebration that evening at school. Hannah and I made a large banner saying "Happy Mother's Day" to be put up - much to the amusement of many of the students who came to watch. There was a large blue tarpaulin tied to one of the football goals, on which was our banner and some flowers drawn by the students and some laminated pictures of flowers.

Then, tied in a large rectangle from this, to the volleyball posts, were "blinkers" - flashing outdoor fairy lights and crepe paper. All in all, it looked quite awesome. We were told to come back for 5pm for the celebration and went home to eat lunch.

Tuesday afternoon we hitched into Spanish Lookout to go to Western Dairies, where we met up with Naomi and Amelia from Duck Run 3, and I discovered that they had something quite momentous: Black Cherry Yoghurt. Awesome.

On our return we wandered down to the school, arriving just before five pm. There was nobody there. However, all the tablecloths were absent, as was our large banner, which Hannah was convinced must have blown away (actually it had been put in the classroom to stop it blowing away!)
Students and parents began drifting in slowly, and the teachers arrived at 5:30 with the biggest HiFi ever, which was then set up.
The five pm start time became 6:30, and in the darkness, lit up only by the fairy lights, the students performed their various items. They even had "Mother's Games" including musical chairs! It was rather amusing to see one parent in particular taking it much too seriously!
All in all a rather sweet little celebration, with a fantastic mellow atmosphere.

On Wednesday the kids had a sort of 'Sports Day' - I joined in with the football in the morning, which was amazingly hot and totally exhausting, but so much fun! Playing until midday, lunch was very welcome! My team came second out of the three teams :)
Then, being too tired to even consider playing volleyball, went into the library and began working on fixing the books that have been torn or have worn out a little. Some of their books were in need of a considerable amount of sellotape! This was a mellow, therapeutic afternoon and school finished early again. Afternoon naps are way underrated ;)

On Thursday we went to another village with some of the Students to play in a football tournament organised by the other school. Packed into a single pick-up and land rover we drove to the school for about 9am and waited for all the schools to arrive (there were eight in total). Both our teams first matches [Boys and Girls] were against the school in Duck Run 1, and both matches went to penalties. Both our teams won, which was awesome! Our school looked slightly scruffy in comparison with Duck Run 1, who all at least had matching football tops. Our boys team was obviously a lot younger, and one of them was playing without shoes on! Obviously it didn't affect their playing though, and all were delighted to get through the first round. The second round match took place much later in the afternoon, and Hannah and I had to leave before it started to reach San Ignacio in the evening. Hopefully they played well - we will find out on Tuesday when we are back at School.

This weekend we had a long weekend in Hopkins Bay because we had friday off school for "Teacher's Day" - Hopkins is an awesome place, very chilled out and mellow and with a BEACH! On Friday night at Windschief, the cocktail bar on the beach, I met a man who had been to Davis Falls in the time since we left it. He commented on how awesome our bridge was! It's strange because since leaving I haven't been anywhere near Davis Falls or that part of Belize, so when we drove past it to go to Hopkins I was really surprised by how much I was taken by how stunning that area of Belize is. It's really beautiful! I also didn't realise quite how much I thought of Davis Falls as home until then.

On Saturday night we went to the Drumming Centre in Hopkins to watch a demonstration, which was absolutely amazing - they played so well and it sounded so good! Much fun!

Don't yet know what next week will bring. Something fun, I hope!

M xx

Week One of Teaching

Sun, 13 May 2007 14:35:08 GMT

So, Sunday night we returned to Duck Run 2 not really sure what to expect for the morning. Never mind, we had been told all the teachers would be there, so probably just observing or helping with reading, perhaps?

Monday morning arrived and we turned up at the school to be told that actually, the Principal was away today and would we mind taking his class? - so, being kind and helpful people we turned up in front of this class of (supposedly) 7-8 year olds, all of whom are fluent in mostly-spanish-spanglish but none of whom speak good English and can't understand our accents anyway. But we thought, OK, what's on the timetable? Religion. Help. Found a book and picked a random page and started teaching: 20 very confused children sat and stared at us. Ok, maybe Religion wasn't such a good idea - OK, what's next? Maths! Good! We can teach Maths... so Hannah checks the book to see what they have been doing before - shapes. So I decide to teach them something about Tessalation. I draw examples on the board and try to explain them in slow simple English. All the students dutifully copy out my examples and then we get them drawing and colouring new examples. So they all dutifully copy out and colour the example on the board!

Break time, and the two of us panic a little about what to teach next for English - with no idea what they've been doing and the fact that they don't speak good English, even though we have to teach in English (the other teachers translate into Spanish all the time but all the kids should be taught in English). So we decided to teach letter writing. I wrote an example on the board and went through it and they all said they understood. Then asked them to write their own, at which point they all stared at me most confused. So maybe they didn't understand... so we went though it again in a different way and then it was time for lunch. At least they got reading practice!

After lunch we had Social Studies and Vocabulary - Social studies was about as sucessful as Religion had been and then we let them out for PE before afternoon break (Recess!). For the final lesson I taught them for Phonics - teaching them the 'CH' sound. Finally, something that they understood! - and that they were able to join in the lesson with! Progress!

I think I fell asleep at about 8pm on Monday night!

More to follow as soon as I can.

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[It is now later in the day and I am returning to add in the rest of the week. I was distracted by the lure of Spiderman 3.]

Tuesday we were to continue teaching the same class. We managed to speak to the principal who said that we could just do some basic adding and subtracting for Maths and "maybe some art or something..."

We decided to skip religion altogether and begin with the adding and subtracting. We gave them a series of questions to answer and then went round and helped them all individually. This seemed to work much better than Monday although we really struggled with the vast difference in abilities of the students. I think this comes a lot from having multi-grade classes and students repeating years, as well as that they have no setting for anything and no help for the slower ones. And then the faster ones get bored and tend to play around and distract the others. But we coped, and I think we actually taught them something useful!

At breaktime on Tuesday I spent time in the Library reading with some of the Infant class - they are all adorable, and one girl in particular, my next door neighbour, Amy (The only infant to speak good English!) comes to hug me every break time. I want to take her home with me!

After recess we had English, for which we went to the library and did reading. This was a mission with such a large class - we divided into two groups, and had the students reading out loud. As with the Math, it was very clear that all the students have very different abilities and I found it worked well to explain the story in Spanish as we were reading, much to the amusement of the kids who had great fun correcting my grammar! From what I can gather Hannah did not even attempt to speak Spanish!! We decided maybe to work with smaller groups for reading, which might make a big difference.

After lunch (Lunch, by the way, is brought to us in School by car so we don't have to walk back in the midday sun. So we get a full meal that's still hot!) we taught some science - I went through the idea of a Lifecycle and the lifecycle of a Frog and of a Butterfly. This seemed to work well and I think they really understood what they were doing. Yay!

To finish off the day we did some portrait drawing with them - lacking mirrors for self portraits we paired them off and had them draw each other. This was all most amusing though they were slightly distracted by the other classes who seemed not to be doing much and came in to see what my class was doing (they have a sort of half-term sports week next week - I think that they have had some holiday spirit! Which is, in a way, nice. I like that they have so much energy!).

At the end of the day one of the Girls, Rosita, asked me if we were teaching again on Wednesday, to which I said "no, your teacher is back tomorrow" - and she was like "but I want you to teach us again."
And she told me I was pretty... So double yay!

Wednesday we were observing the same class whilst Mr Mejia, their normal teacher took them, and helping out where we could. They went for "PE" in the afternoon, which was more of an extended recess. Since it was the teachers call, and as I said - Holiday Spirit - I went out and joined in their games for the afternoon, playing football and catch and jacks. I had a really good afternoon!

We also read with them in groups of three, which worked well. One of my groups was made up of the three "troublemakers" of the class, Jose, Jaime and Freddy. All three are very bright kids, with so much spirit and interest for life that I love all three of them! Though their attention span was not long, I found that they were able to read in a group together and concentrate on the story and actually enjoy helping each other with words they didn't know.

On Wednesday after school we went into Spanish Lookout with Little Amy, her mum and her older sister, Sadie, for ice cream at Western Daries. That was rather nice!

Thursday we were back with teaching the class again! We began with Math and this time divided the class into "upper" and "lower" sets. I worked with the lower set for more basic addition. This involved a lot of lively working out on the board with noise and lots of smiling when they got it right. Especially from Alicia, one of the 12-year-olds in the class who struggles to add to ten - she obviously had a moment of understanding when it came to working out basic sums and was asking to do more! Quite a contrast to Hannah's group who sat quietly working through subtraction questions!

Then, after break, we took them for Spellings, since Mr Mejia had asked us to help with that - they tend to spell phonetically according to how they hear things. We got them spelling very simple words from their spelling list - Ate, Big, Day, Fast and Jump. Had them all reading the words from the board and then copying them down and then asking them how to spell words and writing them back on the board. Some loved this and were asking for more words - others were not so enthused by the idea of learning how to spell. Hopefully we will be able to make some progress with this, because I think it will help their reading and English a lot.

After lunch they did some art - the classroom could do with some bright wall displays so we had them write their names and decorate them with pictures and colour (Me and Hannah had great fun making the examples on Wednesday night!) - they seemed a little perplexed at first and not very convinced, however we persevered and after about ten minutes I was running around the classroom answering cries of "Miss Meg, Miss Meg" being shown all sorts of brightly coloured, all brilliant pieces of work.
I think possibly it is impossible to feel happier than when I watched them all having such a good time being so creative. I think this could just be one of the best things I have ever done.

Thursday was Mother's Day in Belize (and today is Mother's Sunday, as it were... all a little confusing) so we went with out family to Duck Run One to the church there, for the Mother's day service. The church was a newly decorated building all light and airy with sky-blue painted pews. At the front were stacked all the gifts for the mothers from the children. The service (all in Spanish) seemed to be quite interesting - a lot of singing and clapping and a general feeling of this being a welcoming place to be. We also met up with Rachel and Charlotte who are living in Duck Run 1, which was pretty cool, since we don't get to see other people in the week usually. Then, just as we were all thinking "that was nice, let's go home" we got preached at in Spanish for 45 minutes, during which time the preacher probably said some variant of "honour your father and mother" at least twice every minute.
But then we got a huge piece of cake, which made it all alright!

Friday was a slightly different day - it was the official beginning of "sports week" so we only had to teach from 8:30 until 10 - more maths - this time some work on decimals and number placement (tens, ones, tenths etc) and then a little bit of English - a combination of Phonics and Spelling - learning to spell some "Ch" words. By which point we were exhausted and so were the kids. The afternoon playing football was very welcome for me - though I miss nice flat green pitches we have at home - I kept falling into cracks in the ground! Hannah sat in the shade and watched as I played with these kids who are all rather good at football. Lots of fun!

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to Belize Zoo in the morning, which was really amazing. We watched for ages as the Jaguars played with each other and I got all excited about the Kinkajous because I remember loving seeing them in the Zoo as a child. Then we returned to San Ignacio to stay at fieldbase - went out for drinks and then came back to watch "Mean Girls" which didn't work so we watched "The Butterfly Effect" instead, which was pretty good.

And now it is Sunday and I have written so much! Yikes!
Next weekend I am going back to Hopkins, which should be pretty cool. A nice, chilled weekend on the beach I think. I miss being able to swim every day - I got so used to it through the jungle phase and in Guatemala!

M xx

Sun, 06 May 2007 14:14:49 GMT

Hey there!

Back in San Ignacio for the weekend after spending Thursday and Friday in the Village of Duck Run 2 near Spanish Lookout in Belize.

We were dropped off at our Schools on Thursday morning all ridiculously nervous about the whole thing. The principal of our school drove us to our house and introduced us to our family. We're living with Liliana, her husband and three of their four daughters. The family is totally lovely, as is our house. They have a DVD Player, a microwave and a computer but no flushing toilet! The long-drop is ... interesting. But then, I've lived with worse so I shouldn't complain, really.
And we get good food!

The School - St Joseph's RC, is bright blue and has 4 classes - 78 students in total. We have spent the first two days observing classes and will begin taking students for reading, computer lessons and art (art with no resources and to 5-year-olds who don't speak English!) - all very exciting!

And now I'm going to be really rude and stop writing so I can go to watch a movie ;)

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Later:

Came back to edit this :)

We watched Indecent Proposal, which was a pretty cool film. Ate granola for breakfast and managed to wander into town and back. And forget to buy the blu-tack I'd gone in for...!

Yesterday we got a lift into Spanish Lookout, the nearest "town" to Duck Run 2, where we were to get the bus into San Ignacio. Spanish Lookout is comprised mostly of mennonites, a supermarket and a fast food place. Very dull when one arrives at 7:30am and is awaiting a bus at 12:30pm. But we met up with some of the others from the nearby villages so we ate Ice Cream and compared notes on our schools. I think everyone is really happy where they are.

Stayed at fieldbase last night - I slept on the balcony in my new Antigua Hammock, which was really comfy, even if I was all of 1mm off the floor.
We're getting a lift back to our villages later, since there are no buses on Sundays and it is much too far to walk!

I have been gathering ideas on various artsy things to do... I also bought a fantastic book of Belizean Plays - I had no idea that in the past Belizean Theatre was actually so important.

Last night we went out to Hannah's in San Ignacio for a meal. I shared a bottle of Wine with Lou, which was so amazingly nice, and then went back to fieldbase to watch Candyman, which was only scary when other people jumped and screamed...! Hannah's is probably one of the nicest restaurants in San Ignacio, and awesomely cheap. It also has the Best Cheesecake In The World. Like, ever.

Now I really am going...
I need to take my hammock down and find all the stuff I've scattered over fieldbase in the last 24 hours.
It's all very odd, living away from other people and having no form of immediate communication having to make arrangements for next weekend now. We are going to Belize Zoo! It's odd to think that in England we can just text someone to see what they're doing or where they are at any given moment in time.

I sent quite a few postcards from Guatemala, by the way, so I hope they all arrive safely :) And I have much enjoyed reading postcards from various people's holidays!!

Love lots,

Meg xx

Post-class update

Wed, 02 May 2007 20:10:37 GMT

Just thought I'd point out that I am still alive.
In fact, I really liked teaching and am quite excited for the next few weeks...

I'm quite looking forward to actually being able to get to know students - I didn't feel as though I could tell them what to do or to be quiet, quite so much because it wasn't my class. But I totally loved trying to get them all involved - some of them were so fascinated and really wanted to learn stuff.

Still terrifying and all but...

I get to teach people and it's going to be awesome!!

Teacher Training in San Ignacio, Belize

Wed, 02 May 2007 04:21:58 GMT

This message is brought to you from Trekforce Fieldbase, Belize. All of us who are teaching are living in this house in San Ignacio, spending lots of time learning to teach.
We arrived here on Saturday from Flores, and found out the names of the schools we will be teaching at. Mine is called St Joseph's RC Primary School (and is apparently also known as "Duck Run Two"), has around 80 students aged between 4 and 14 and 4 classrooms. We will be near to Spanish Lookout, which is one of the Mennonite communities in Belize, and not too far from San Ignacio, so we can do stuff at weekends.

We went into a class at a local school on Monday to observe how students are taught here. It was an interesting experience - I felt quite sorry for the students in our class - Hannah and I were observing a Standard 4 class, which is about equivalent to an American Grade 6. We think they are about 11. The teacher can't have been much older than me, and didn't seem to understand his students at all. They were all running around aimlessly and talking all the time. And the teacher just carried on teaching, as though all he cared about was getting through what was in the book. I was slightly horrified at my inability to do Maths, though. I think I'm going to let Hannah teach that...!

Tomorrow we are returning to teach the same class for an hour and a half. At least we get to teach Language Arts, which is a much better subject than Maths. We're doing a class on Story Structure, which I really hope they understand - the teacher didn't seem to want to tell us anything on Monday!! If it works, I guess it'll be awesome! I'm not sure whether to be terrified or excited.

We have also had to do sample classes for each other, which was, in my opinion, much more terrifying than facing real children. We've been rather inundated with information about how to teach, how students are taught in Belize and so much other information that I'm quite sure I'm going to forget it all. So long as I don't have to teach "Math" or "Bible" then I'm sure I'll be fine.

The real work starts on Thursday, when we are going into our Schools for the first time. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I'm certainly not ready to be teaching, but I'm absolutely excited about it. Guatemala was awesome, but I'm looking forward to something that's actually a challenge.

Write to me if you can -- Apparently it gets quite lonely living with only one other person all week. And it's such a fantastic feeling to get mail from my friends - seriously, it's amazing how happy a letter can make you feel! There is a new address to send mail to:

Trekforce Worldwide
PO Box 266
San Ignacio
Cayo
Belize
Central America

I should probably go now, upload some photos if I can get it to work, and then go to bed.

I have to teach tomorrow. Yikes.

M xx

Final update from Guatemala!

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:27:15 GMT

Hey there!

Returned safely from Antigua and now have only a few days left of Guatemala before I return to Belize for Teacher Training and then teaching.

Climbing the Volcano in Antigua was amazing! We drove for 2 hours to the beginning of the trail where we walked up a dusty path behind our guide. Even from there we could see the smoke rising out of the top of the volcano, and heard a charmingly reassuring sound of something errupting somewhere above us. Once we reached the point where path turned to volcanic rock we could see the Lava creeping down the sides of the volcano. Volcanic rock is possible the most vicious rock ever - sharp and jagged and rather warmer than is comfortable. Our guide dropped a chunk of wood into a crevice and it caught fire immediately! We climbed up as far as we could, and stood about ten metres from the Lava on the side of the volcano. All of us were in quite a hurry to get down, since it was so unbearably hot, but being so close was absolutely awesome. I discovered later that part of my trainers had melted! I also had to walk down with the lovely sensation of having blood dripping into my shoes... as I said, volcanic rock is quite unforgiving!

On Friday we also visited one of Antigua's many ruined churches and wandered around the shops. In the evening we went for a meal and then out to an Irish bar and a club that, for some reason, made me think of Tramps back home, which was a little odd. I half expected to see people that I knew!

Saturday we went over to Panajachel on Lake Atilan. This lake is supposed to be the most stunning in Guatemala, with amazing views of the volcanoes on the other side from Panajachel. Naturally, it was misty and we couldn't see a thing. Panajachel itself is probably one of the least attractive towns I have seen. We did, however find a lovely cafe called Cafe Bombay - Best Pita Sandwich Ever. (Worth getting soaked in a thunderstorm!)
In the afternoon on Saturday we went for a walk to the next village, which looked rather as one might imagine a 'genuine' non-tourist village to be. Needless to say, we just admired it from the top of the hill before walking back!

On Sunday we went to the famous market at Chichicastenango, which was pretty cool. Very crowded and stuffed full of the sorts of things bought by tourists........ ;) Probably one of the most colourful, liveliest markets I have ever been to! Lots of chaos and noise!

Then we got a Chicken Bus back to Guatemala City (thankfully only noticing the bullet on the floor after we'd set off) to get our overnight bus back to Flores for Monday morning.

It still makes me smile how at home I would never travel so long for four days, and yet here I think nothing of it. It's just a fun thing to do.
I also think this weekend may have got me addicted to the whole travelling thing - I want to stay here for ever and ever!

Am basically finished with my Spanish Classes now. Have recently discovered a love for reading children's stories in Spanish! Hopefully I won't forget it all within the next few days!!

Am going to go now since I've been staring at the screen for far too long and have screen-eyes!

Lots of love,

Meg xx

Antigua!

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 00:11:33 GMT

Hello!

This message is brought to you by the free internet in the hostel I am staying in in Antigua.

Got on a bus last night at 10pm from Flores - nicest coach I have seen for a long while - for which I was very grateful since we didn't arrive in Guatemala City until 6am. Then we had to get a chicken bus from there to Antigua, which was... cosy.

Antigua is an absolutely stunning city - quite touristy, but such a lovely place to walk around. Found the touristy market and bought myself a real hammock (not a green jungle one!!!) - Am only having a minor crisis about overspending a lot... I am going to be eating very cheaply the next few days, I think!

We also lost ourselves in the local market, which was a fascinating experience. A whole confusing tangle of brightly dressed locals amidst the brightly coloured foods and fabrics. We had to squeeze past many old women with baskets on their heads that were nearly as big as them and people carrying live chickens by the feet. Aside from the smell and the slight sense of claustrophobia it was absolutely fascinating. Such a contrast to the clean, pretty tourist market we also visited.

Went to a place, which I cannot remember the name of, a house that belonged to a Spanish Royal Official (I think) and reminded me greatly of the kind of house you find in europe, not at all like the places I have seen here so far. A quaint little courtyard with a fountain and rooms full of antique furniture and carvings and portraits. I got very excited when I understood part of the caption on one of them.

Tomorrow we are booked onto a tour to climb a volcano near to Antigua (I'm not actually sure which one!) - the woman in the hotel has shown us photos of the volcano and all the lava - which looks wicked!

Tonight we are going out to eat in a place that also shows movies, so we are going to watch Blood Diamond, which I have seen before but really enjoyed. Then it's a super-early start tomorrow for the aforementioned volcano!

I have a week left here in Guatemala, then it is back to Belize to begin teaching. I'm quite looking forward to it! I will be teaching with a girl called Hannah (who is awesome!), though I am not sure where yet. From what I have heard, it will be in the Cayo District and will be in an area that speaks mostly Spanish. Hopefully my Spanish will get better...

Also, I am hoping that the following works:

First sights of Belize from the Bus Window on the way to Sylvester Village

The mess tent at Sylvester Village where we did all our cooking. Behind it is the football pitch.

Trekforce Landrover and a tree. In the background you can see the thatched huts of the village houses.

The Davis Falls project group just before we set out on jungle training in the jungle!

Spider! These ceased to be anything special very quickly!

Wisteria Lane. Taken at 5am just before I took it all down.

Laguna Verde.

Random Tree at Laguna Verde.

Helicopter!

Another of the Helicopter!

Demonstration of how people get winched. I wish I could do this one day! (For fun, of course, I'd rather not be dying...)

Taken lying on my back after we got off the tractor on the way to Transects.

Vicki, Me, Naomi, Amelia, Hannah and Dani just before leaving for project.

The longhouse at Sylvester Village. The shadow in the front is the bus I was sitting on when I took the photo.

I think that's all for now.

Take care and much love as always,

Meg xx

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:32:24 GMT

Greetings from Finca Ixobel!
I´s really a lot nicer than the website makes it look. Spent the night in a Palapa in a hammock, although "night" was actually "3am until 9am" which might constitute morning. I am, therefore, a little sleepy.

Here there are Hammocks to lie in, brightly painted chairs with magazine collages on them, random multi coloured birds and an algae-filled pond in which we went swimming. All rather fab. Not really doing any of the "activities" because we have to go back to San Jose tonight for school tomorrow. (It feels quite odd to say that!) I spent yesterday afternoon reading random National Geographic magazines (and by that I mean I was admiring the photographs...) and then last night was spent playing cards for about 4 hours in the bar. Came second in Poker, which was quite cool considering I´ve only played properly once before. The bar was quite awesome -- the coloured lights hanging from the ceiling had hats as lampshades and there was a twister mat painted onto the floor. Yes, I think we did play twister at 3am...

I should probably go to find out if anyone else is awake yet...

Lots of Love

Meg xx

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:07:07 GMT

Hey there!

Waiting for my photos to upload themselves to Facebook so that I can have more room on my memory card.

This week has been filled with attempts to learn Spanish Verbs and days spent lying by the lake getting sunburned and regretting forgetting to put suncream on.

Friday night most of us stayed in Flores so that we could go out in the evening. The hostel I was staying in was called Los Amigos and was really quite lovely - very backpackery. I am hoping that everywhere I stay when I am travelling is this awesome. It also had the best happy hour ever. Had a fun night in Flores - it was packed because it was Semana Santa - Caught a glimpse of the Good Friday parade, which went past the restaurant where we were eating. As far as I could see, the parade consisted of several religious statues being carried by a few people, and lots more people carrying the wire down the rest of the parade that was keeping it all lit up. All the streets were decorated with sand patterns, which looked amazing and by later that night had been dispersed.

Saturday five of us took a bus to Tikal, which is were we stayed on saturday night. I rather wish that I had thought to air out my hammock before this - it didn{t smell too good. However the night in the hammock was short - having watched the sunset, we were up a 4am to see the sunrise from Temple 4 (the tallest in Tikal). We all stumbled through the dark towards the temple, and up the steps to the top, where we sat and watched the sky get gradually redder. In the trees the Howler monkeys were going somewhat bonkers (it is odd that in Tikal, the most touristy place I have been, there was more wildlife than in all the time I was actually living in the jungle) and the birds were making a lot of noise.
The sun came up really quite suddenly - we watched it rise up into the sky and then it just sort of, got light. Really quite awesome.
We also went on a tour of Tikal, climbing up and down the various temples until we were quite exhausted. You can't go inside them anymore, which is a bit of a shame, however from the outside they are incredible - quite imposing and, against the clear sky, really quite beautiful.

My photos are taking such a long time to upload. I really hope they actually work this time.

Take care,

Meg xx

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:53:00 GMT

Hola!

Greetings from the Bio Itza Spanish School in San Jose.

As promised, here is a little about what I got up to in my final couple of weeks in Belize.

Our trip to Hopkins bay was muchos awesomeos ("awesomeos" is not a word...) - as you probably figured by the post I made from there. Actually, in comparison with what I have since seen of the caribbean sea, it is not very spectacular.

After said trip to Hopkins those of us who went on Chicabul Trek or Ruta Maya were in the camp at Davis Falls putting finishing touches to our project. This involved moving lots of very heavy hardwood to various point along the 2km trail to rebuild the footbridges that rotted through. Santa Maria wood, which is what we used, is not going to rot. Hopefully. We also built our palapa (big wooden hut) from Santa Maria so it doesnt get termited. The final thing we did was to build a 25 foot bridge with proper foundations across one of the streams - the previous 2 bridges were washed away. Our bridge turned out AWESOME and will therefore last forever.

As I mentioned when I posted from Belize City, we also climbed up above the waterfall. I think the jungle is most stunning from places like this - you could see all along the valley with trees and hills going into the distance. Where the main waterfall began there was another, smaller fall which we went and stood in. Then we crawled on hands and knees onto a ledge 350ft above a sheer drop and sat with legs dangling admiring the view.

On Monday March 26th we had our final night in the jungle, which involved a mock wedding and much drinking of Rum. Tuesday night we had a BBQ at the house of Dwight Monetero, the president of the NGO we did the work for - Karaoke and much Rum. Wednesday night we had our first night in civilization and much beer and cocktails at the Bellvue hotel. Thursday night we had a massive party with much, much rum and beer and a caribbean island (slept on beach. managed not to be ill on boat back on Friday... Just.)
Friday night we went out for a project meal, during which I almost fell asleep. Went to bed. got up at 2am for much cocktails and beer...

Was quite sleepy when I got to Guatemala!!

San Jose is a lovely little village. I am staying with a local family at the top of the hill. My room, which I am sharing with my friend Vicki, has an amazing view of the lake. I did swim in the lake and went quite far out. Then I saw a huge fish and came back very quickly in case it ate me.

Spanish lessons are going well. I am begining to understand what people are saying and can ask stuff. Have Muchos Verbos to learn for mañana (tomorrow), along with all the verb endings. I am totally loving it though, and thought it was awesome when I actually thought "peligroso" instead of "dangerous" without trying to!!!

Have been shopping in Flores, a fab little touristy town on the other side of the lake. Very popular with backpackers. Am learning to haggle. I love that 100Quetzales is only 7 pounds!! Makes everything seem so cheap.

Anyhow, must dash - I have homework to do.

Que tenga feliz dia!

Meg xx

Two Steps Back

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:32:27 GMT

[Those last two entries have arrived in Blighty. Those of a queezy disposition may want to look away briefly... Here goes!]

March 3rd

Hullo!

It is 8pm and I am lying in my hammock listening to the insects. This is my second night back at camp following trek, though by the time I crawled into my hammock last night I was pretty drunk and therefore don't remember much... Sods law states that if one is going to vomit through an overdose of junk food (seriously I had a bottle of fanta for breakfast on Friday) bouncy tractors and RUM it would be on one's only clean clothes. OOPS

Today has been a lazy day recovering from the rum related escapade and washing clothes with REAL WASHING POWDER. I gave up on the socks I wore for trekking and have decided to throw them away. Ate tortillas and beans for breakfast (yummy! I must remember how to make tortillas), which was rather nice. I also discovered that rehydration sachets are the best hangover cure ever.

Apparently in our absence the other people have been making up all sorts of good food. Yesterday they all ate fried Jacks for breakfast! (At this point I got tired and stopped writing...
Entry continues March 4th 2007) ...Fried Jacks are like deep fried tortillas - I think I am going to come back fat!

Our trek was absolutely awesome. We left davis Falls on Saturday morning by Land Rover. It was very odd to see other people, but very nice to know that there is a civilisation out there! We spent all day driving until one of the Land rovers broke down in the middle of nowhere. Stopped by at Rio Frio(the other project) and got to see them for a few minutes which was quite nice.

(...I think someone has left the toilet door open again - it really smells quite bad right now - I can smell it from my hammock)

Stayed the night at Las Cuevas Research station. I left my name in their visitors book! Then on Sunday (official day one) some local guy who must have been about 4'5" tall drove us and our guide, Victor 16 of the 17km to Natural Arch, where we stayed the first night. Spent the aftyernoon swimming under the arch, which was utterly incredible. For those that saw Jack Osborne this was where they did the river crossing in which all his stuff got soaked. They didn't tell him that you can walk right over it!

Day 2 brought a trek to Chicabul Chamber which is the largets cave system in the western hemisphere apparently. All exhausted from a 9km walk we clambered down the rocks to the cave entrance. (I should probably point out that 9km walking in the jungle is a long way - because of the terrain average trekking pace is 2-3km per hour)
Going inside the cave was a somewhat surreal experience, crossing the threshold takes you from dense green jungle to barren rocks that disapper into the darkness. Torches on we ventured down into the cave feeling slightly as though we had landed on another planet. Deep in the cave we came upon an underground stream inwhich we washed and swan and filled up 8 litres of water each to carry because our next night's camping was without water so we had to carry water for cooking as wellas our own drinking water. Getting out of the cave was something of a mission - we had to scramble back up all the rocks we had come downand so all ended up feeling just as sweaty and more exhausted than before!

Day 3 was probably the hardest day - carrying 8 extra kilos because of the water it was also our longets walk at 10.5km. Arrived at a camp in the middle of nowhere and slept very well that night. Apparently we were carrying more weight than Jack Osborne because he didn't carry extra for cooking! Wet wipes and talcum powder let us pretend we were clean.

Day 4 walking was not so long and we reached camp by lunchtime and ate NOODLES! (Not crackers with maggoty cheese - yes we didi eat the cheese anyway!) Our water here was a pond covered by a thick layer of green slime under this however was good water. Washing out of a suacepan on a path never felt so good.

Day 5 we trekked into Caracol, ate lots of junk food - chicken vienna sausages in tins with our crackers. Caracol itself is vast, and utterly awesome. It appears out of the trees quite suddenly and seems to touch the sky. From the top you can see for miles - just trees and sky. it felt asthough they went on forever. We watched sunset and sunrise from the very top of the temple, which was beautiful. I found it hard to imagine that once there were 2 million people living here and seeing the sun set and rise all the time. Thursday night we also had some drinks with some random americans who were filming for the discovery channel. They were most amusing when we told them of Nickolai being stung by a scorpion. They were like "Oh my God, was he ok, did he die?"

Friday night we arrived back late into Davis Falls (HOME!) and were greeted by rum, fried jacks, onion bargees and peach crumble. Didn't get to bed until gone 3am (after I hurled on my clean clothes I had been saving to wear after trek) Before we got drunk we all went down to the river and washed in the light of the full moon, skinny dipped and streaked through the camp.

Today (Sunday) we were back to work collecting wood and cahoon leaves for the big palapa. (They built the little one when we were on trek.) Tomorrow Ben and I are on admin. We are cooking bacon sandwiches for breakfast since Ed came to visit from fieldbase with bread, bacon and red wine (which we drank with our tea) We're also going to cook baked potatoes with Happy Cow cheese and baked beans and beefburgers. I'm quite looking forward to it!

Quite tired now so am going to sleep. By the way if anyone has sent me a letter we haven't got any post yet and won't for another week but then hopefully there'll be lots.

Take care
Meg xxx

March 12 2007

I am going to attempt to keep this short since I am sleepy and quite want to continue reading 'The Secret River' which is an awesome book. Am sending this with my previous entry, which I meant to send with Ed, but forgot because I was on admin that day and was making bacon sarnies for everyone. (Best tasting bacon ever!)

Today Joani, our woodman, almost on a 5 foot fer-de-lance walking back to the ranger station in the dark. Instead he chopped its head off and Luke brough it back for all to see. one of our benches is now covered in blood. Discovered that even beheaded a snake may still move slightly, which is both gruesome and fascinating all at once.

Last few days have been WET. Was cloudy for a few days then it rained a lot. I think I took the whole concept of 'inside' for granted way too much. the only dry place was lying in my hammock! We didn't even have a palapa since we pulled it down to build a new one. (New palapa has a frame and thatching at the gable ends but no roof as yet)

It's amazing how quickly one gets cabin fever in this environment - we are all greatly anticipating our trip to Hopkins Bay on Wednesady when we shal indulge in REAL FOOD and INTERNET! Civilisation is awesome.

Things I appreciate here:
Sudocream
Anti-histamine pills (Best sleeping tablet ever)
Fried Jacks
Ketchup
Tiger Balm
Foot powder
The table under my hammock
garlic powder
The rare smell of washing powder
milo
my stash of green tea
my stash of Jasmine tea

I do wonder how long it might be before people go stir crazy here.

Spent a day doing local transects yesterday - tree measuring mostly. Remeber those goegraphy field trips you had at school?! But we did find a mayan mound and named a strem, which was fun.

Hope you are all fabulous etc.

Love Meg xxx

[Meg's letter ends there but obviously in the jungle everything is used to the limit so here is what was on the back of the letter...]

Please excuse this...it's the food I had to carry when I was on the Chicabul trek.

FOOD FOR TREK

Noodles x 10
Strawberry Jam x 1
Milk powder
porridge
Sugar
Pineapple chunks x 2 tins
Mackerel x 4
Chick peas x 3
Tomato paste x 2
Kidney beans x 1
5 raisins
5 tunnocks
2 chewy
1 peanut

Internet Cafe in Belize City...

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:56:26 GMT

Soon to follow will be two entries for March that were sent a couple of weeks ago. I am writing this from an internet cafe in Belize City, having now left Davis Falls on completetion of our project.

In the last couple of weeks we built footbridges, found some Mayan ruins and climbed to the top of Davis Falls. Sitting on the edge of a rock 350ft above a waterfall was AWESOME.

Tonight we have our final party, with both our project group and those who did Rio Frio. This should be totally exciting! Tomorrow we have all day to recover and then on Saturday it's off to Guatemala for a month to learn Spanish.

I'm going to write more soon with lots of stuff about the last 2 weeks, but now I have to go to get my stuff sorted for our party tonight.

Things I already miss about Davis Falls:

The Waterfall
The wash site
Hartfield
Our Palapa
Picking Oranges off trees and eating them
Waking up and seeing trees

Things I do not miss:

Corned Beef and Spam
The smell of the Latrine
The smell of me
Pissing in a hole in the ground
The Rain (Which hardly stopped in the last 2 weeks!)

Take care and will update soon
Meg
xx

(In which meg hijacks her own journal again...)

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:44:59 GMT

So, you know how I said I wouldn't have any internet until two weeks from now...

Today we have a day off, and have taken a day trip to Hopkins Bay, which is by the SEA. Caribbean sea is so stunning and it is like swimming in a warm bath. Have been drinking cocktails and eating REAL FOOD (Scrambled Eggs and Waffles!) and generally having a good time. Project is going well -- there ought to be two entries in the post from the last couple of weeks. For reference the spelling of the trek I did was either "chicabul" or "chiqabul" though I wasn't sure which. Two weeks left on Project - we have finished building our palapa and clearing trails (YAY! Most boring job ever... !)

Tomorrow it's right back to work -- we have to lug a load of sand and cement to build the foundations of a bridge.

Sunshine is awesome -- It's rained on us all week but yesterday and today were sunny!!!

Must be off -- more internet things to check........
Hope you're all well and having fun,

Meg xx

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:59:30 GMT

A verbatim transcription of Meg’s latest epistle

February 23 2004
[Sic - Not only has Meg gone to the other side of the planet it would appear that she has also travelled back in time!]

Greetings from DAVIS FALLS! We finally made it onto our project site on Monday following a meal in a house in Sylvester Village on Friday night (they had a TV! – we watched some ‘Friends’ which was awesome) and a massive piss-up to mark the official end of jungle training. Don’t remember much about that. I recall eating egg banjos for breakfast on Saturday morning at 6am, all ready to leave for 7am. Coach (old American school bus without a door!) and trucks didn’t arrive until 3pm so we all lay in the sunshine feeling slightly ill. I managed to get myself burnt rather badly, which hurt quite a bit. Next time I wore sun cream!

Stayed at the BDF camp in San Ignacio, where we had INTERNET! Stayed in a hurricane shelter half way between San Ignacio and Davis Falls on Sunday night and went by tractor to project on Monday…And I realise that was the most boring page of writing ever!

Davis Falls itself is about 750m away from our base camp, which makes it quite convenient for those odd afternoons off, so far I have been there twice. It’s pretty incredible – the water is perfectly clear and cascades rather neatly off a 350foot cliff. Today I washed in it – you can swim anywhere in it and dive in the plunge pool which is AWESOME.

Base camp consists of a Palapa that is falling down, a fire table made by David (a local guy), a bio-gas latrine in which to poo (no trenches thankfully! – still got to pee in a hole in the ground though). And of course HAMMOCKS. I have named mine Hartfield, after the book I am reading. Not the most original but I rather like it.

Haven’t got myself too settled in yet since I’m upping sticks tomorrow to go on trek. For anyone that saw Jack Osborne’s Adrenaline Junkie where he did a jungle trek – that’s the exact same trek I am doing. Except we won’t get all our water brought in by helicopter J Should be awesome fun and exciting.

Sentences from everyday I’ve been here (from my diary!)

Monday: Fresh oranges are available all the time. Picked many on our way here – utterly lush. I adore oranges.

Tuesday: Base camp is looking pretty good now- much more homely and comfy.

Wednesday: Tonight we begin our game of ‘murder’… (This is like Cludo but for real ;))
[Transcriber's interjection: I hope she doesn’t mean really for real!]

Thursday: I don’t think I mentioned – saw my first snake on Wednesday – coral snake (baby) – V. deadly.

Friday: Ate flapjack and custard and washed in Davis Falls again. Lush.

Hope everyone is good. I’m going to stop now – can’t keep my eyes open much more!

Love Meg xxx

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:48:15 GMT

We have just received these two entries from Meg...

Feb 11th 2007

Hi!

I am writing this entry in the appalling light of my head torch (which is about as bright as a dark thing in a dark place :) I have a hammock…
At this point the headlight died utterly and I gave up. Entry continues on Feb 12th from the floor of the longhouse in Sylvester village.

I realise that my last entry was rather sketchy and didn’t tell much of what I’m doing. I can’t actually remember what I wrote last time so sorry if I repeat anything.

Wednesday brought the selection of projects – I’m on the Davis Falls project, which involves a combination of refurbishing work done by previous projects, building a long wooden hut called a palapa (sp?) and exploratory transects into land that hasn’t been seen since the Mayan times. I’m not sure yet what trek I’ll be on, but am hoping for the Checkabull (sp?) trek. [Note from the maternal transcriber: I think that is the word she wrote.] That is the same trek as that one that Jack Osborne did, finishing at Caracol.

On Thursday we trekked properly into the jungle for the first time and went to Puma Camp, where we stayed for the first time in a hammock. First jungle home was Wisteria Lane. Washed in a river that was apparently home to a couple of crocs. Jungle training continued, with the help of two locals and 2 BDF people. Saturday brought about a change of home to Ossalot Camp and Beverley Hills (new hammock home).

Part of jungle life involves something called the buddy system, where you have a buddy you look out for and always know where they are. Admin duties are done in buddy pairs. My buddy is Ben, who seems quite awesome thus far. He probably doesn’t know what he is in for :)

Managed to fall out of my hammock yesterday afternoon. We had free time (first in days – everyone is quite tired feeling like school children) and I dropped my book, then tried to be clever and picked it up from my hammock. However I missed, span round and ended up caught in my mozzie net, which promptly broke. Oops ;)

Left Ossalot Camp this morning after porridge in the mud. (Rain makes everything muddy, including my boots – I don’t like dirty boots). Trekked back to Sylvester village. I feel quite lucky that I am one of the few people with good feet – I have good boots. Showered washed clothes with (gasp) WASHING POWDER and lazed in the burning sun. Lovely.

On our way back we stopped at Leguna Verde (Green Lagoon), an absolutely beautiful lake surrounded by fields of fat grass. Then got to watch the army demo a winch lift in a helicopter, which was pretty cool. Made me think of my awesome cadets and wonder how they all are ;)

I was quite amazed at how luxurious the long house seemed on our return. 4 days away and I was already excited about the RUNNING WATER and SHOWERS and TOILETS THAT AREN’T HOLES IN THE GROUND AND DON’T INVOLVE SQUATTING.

Today saw a spider monkey in a tree. This was more interesting than the various bugs, mozzies, spiders and scorpions that periodically fall from the roof.

Have been eaten alive by mozzies. Am trying to swap the deet for citronella to see what difference it makes. Tiger balm is awesome. I am sure the effect is psychological (but if you put on enough then it burns a lot so you can’t feel the itching.) Ugly red bumps are not a sexy look. :)

Tomorrow we leave to spend four days on transect looking for Mayan pillars that definitely exist but no-one quite knows where. Lots of trekking – which I’m looking forward to! On Saturday 17th we will begin transfer to our projects. Everyone is eager for this. Though useful, jungle training has been rather…oppressive. We’re all ready to move on I think.

I shall leave it there I think. Am so tired and must be up at 5.30am tomorrow to pack.

Feel a little as though I have been here forever and ever.

Love to everyone. Don’t forget to write or email – I have no idea what is going on in the outside world. If you check www.trekforceworldwide.com then you may find some project updates.

Goodnight from the jungle.

Meg xxx

16th February 2007

Quick entry today as I chomp my way through the biscuits I bought to save for my trek. Oops. But I shall be short of such luxuries for some time so I feel it is justified. ;)

Exploratory transects mentioned in previous entry did not quite go to plan, which meant that we returned to Sylvester village a day ahead of schedule. Today is therefore a free day. Lots of packing for project (we leave tomorrow!), and lots of people lazing around reading or writing letters.

Set out on transects on Tuesday all packed into a truck.

Transferred to tractors and trailers for a long uncomfortable journey. Had most of the jungle bugs and trees land on us! Trekked on to the next creek after we were dropped off at a place called ‘Booth’s River’ (small muddy stream). Discovered it was a swamp and small very, very muddy creek. Hacked down space between two trees with machete and put up hammock. Was eaten alive by mozzies and told to watch out for snakes.

Wednesday we attempted to trek to a place called Tiger Camp – which was near to where we originally aiming to camp on Tuesday. Set off at 7.30am – by midday had slowed to a pace of 1km per hour through deep mud and swamp and dense jungle – could only go at the pace the guides could clear a patch. Mud weighed everyone’s boots down and made feet look almost like bear feet. Saw jaguar tracks and heard howler monkeys for the first time – pretty awesome. Stopped for lunch and decision was made to turn back because terrain was so bad. Everyone hot sweaty and rather pissed off. Returned to the camp in the swamp. Spirits improved here – especially when we were told that we would return to Silvester on Thursday and not Friday! Had a ‘Blind Date’ to mark Valentine’s Day, had a jaguar in the camp at night (didn’t see it but heard it) and more howlers. And mozzies. Arms are looking better but legs are not :)

Returned to Silvester Thursday lunchtime and WASHED. (Did wash Wednesday in mud water, but nothing beats a clean shower!) Ate a yummy dish of rice and curry (amazing what you can do with corned beef, tinned vege, rice, turmeric and curry powder! And had BEER! Also saw photos of Davis Falls – looks awesome.

Got a lie in this morning (no 5.30 wake-up call YAY!). Am pretty happy! Only moments of doubt about all this craziness turned out to be pmt :)

Today I have eaten too much, tried (without success) to remove a little bit of bastard tree from my thumb and starting packing for the project. Also enjoyed reading Emma. Last night I actually saw the whole Orion constellation for the first time ever – I’ve never quite been able to make it out before.

Think that is all I have to say: so much for this being a quick entry J
Am still having awesome fun. Eaten too many biscuits! But yummy, so all ok.

Hope everyone is well.
Love to all
M xx

Greetings from a Belizean Army Barrack

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 03:50:43 GMT

Hello!

I am Hijacking my own journal for the briefest of moments to say HELLO!

On my way to project now -- staying in an Army Barrack somewhere in Belize. There are two more entries stuck somewhere in the mail between Here and England, so expect to see updates on that sometime in the next couple of weeks.
By the way, I am on the Davis Falls project and should be doing the same trek as Jack Osbourne did :)

Nothing more to say, really - it seems my mother has done a rather good job of maintaining this whole thing!

Write to me and stuff :)

Lots of love,

Meg

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:37:28 GMT

The trekkers had a helicopter demonstration showing first hand the evacuation skills of the Army Aircorps, who provide emergency support to all those (Belizeans and trekkers alike) in Belize.

Meg's first jungle entry

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:21:36 GMT

Hello we have received are first letter from Meg with her first jungle entry (see below)

We also have details of an old fashioned postal address if you want to send letters or extra supplies of Spam:

Trekforce Worldwide
PO Box 1789
Belize City
Belize

And you can also see more about the project on http://www.trekforce.blogspot.com/

Entry for Feb 6th 2007

Hi Guys!

I am doing my best to write neatly: I hope it remains legible.
I shall avoid descriptions of the 10 hour flight and plane food and the hotel at Houston. All was boring and non-descript.
Before I begin I want to say THANK YOU to those awesome friends of mine for their little messages and photos and book of fabness. I am keeping it nice and safe with my teaching clothes, along with the chocolate I am saving for Guatemala.
Everyone here seems nice enough: seem to be getting along OK with them. Several of the guys remind me of people back home. Strangely it is these people that I am most shy around – even though one of them reminds me of the person I would probably trust the most in the entire world (which is an over-dramatic statement for sure).
Weather is lovely. Have sunburnt ears, been eaten alive by mozzies and eaten spam (ick).
Thursday night will be the 1st in a hammock. At the moment we are on the floor under mozzie nets in the ‘longhouse’ – a long wooden hut with mostly open sides. First venture into the jungle was today. Jungle is awesomely beautiful, though I don’t yet feel as though I am far from home. Even when I wake up and have a rather fab view of trees.
I’m going to leave it there for now. Tomorrow we get machetes and will know which projects we are on.
I am looking forward to this so much, mostly because it’s the only thing I can do. I am coming to realise very quickly that my life had become very secure. In a way it is quite refreshing to be doing something so new, even if there are some things I will miss lots. But I really should go to be sociable and stuff.
Meg xx

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 16:47:45 GMT

Greetings!
It is Saturday 3rd February, I am Meg's Mum and I am following my idiot's guide to updating Meg's Journal.
As I write Meg is on a plane and is no doubt fighting off the boredom of a 10 hour flight with the inflight movie, her Spanish novel and copious amounts of airline food and drink.
We left her last night in the beautiful pre-tropical surroundings of the Gatwick Travelodge hotel - adequate, clean and totally impersonal - just the thing to make you want to leave the country for 6 months.
It may be some time before we hear from her but rest assured that when we do I will follow my instructions and update her journal.
In the words of the elves - farewell.