One Week

One week. It's a very interesting time to consider for us volunteers. I've only been down here for a week. This week will be busy with planning and more workshops. School starts in one week. 

One week.

And yet the weird time warp effect has also taken place and it feels like I couldn't possibly have lived in Benque for a week already. At the same time, it's hard to imagine that I was out at dinner with my family not too long ago. It's pretty easy to settle into life here. Then again, it's only been a week. 

I'll fill you in on last week though most of it was spent sitting in uncomfortable chairs doing teacher workshops that make you want to cry from boredom. We always finished around 4 though so we had some downtime before dinner and the rest of the evenings were completely free which really allowed for us to hang out and get to know each other a little bit more. Friday however was a great day. Our principal took us to visit the Mayan ruins which were about 15-20 minutes away from us at Xunantunich. I'm no historian and have no interest in being one, but allow me to share a little with you: what makes these ruins so distinct is that Xunantunich started flourishing when the rest of the Mayan civilizations were steadily declining. Intriguing, yes? It's at least worth pondering.

This is Kelley, my roommate, after we climbed up and back down the ruins. Did I mention it was raining the entire time we were climbing? Just to explain why we're a little...damp. It kept the temperature down though, and I had my trusty Chacos to ensure I didn't fall on my butt. It was beautiful though, especially at the top from which we could see our little town of Benque Viejo and right into Guatemala. It was a good morning to just explore the area and get out into Belize, and naturally it was concluded with lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Classic.

There's another part of Belizean life I find myself falling into quite easily: chocobananas. What's a chocobanana? I'm glad you asked. It's a frozen banana covered in chocolate covered with peanuts (if you want) all on a stick. They're sold all over town, but they are available right across the street from school. Danger. Sweet, sweet danger.

Michael, Joe, Jack, and Kelley all very happy to have their chocobananas

And just when life couldn't get any better, Saturday happened. That was the day (or the evening rather) when Katie and Elisabeth came back to Belize. Needless to say, Saturday night was spent hanging out, them catching up with everyone they had missed for the past 2 months, me mostly just staring at them in jubilant disbelief that we were all in Belize together. Seeing them here is a lot like being here in a way: it's so weird yet so natural. 

 

I've also managed to fall in love. A little 6 year old girl named Joana has stolen my heart. She loves the volunteers and always sits with us at meals and Mass and always calls out, "Miss Melissa! Hi!!" The best. And the worst. I'm already anticipating problems of my broken heart when I go back home. 

I think that's all I have to share in this little update. I will try to have another post before the week's end since we'll be up here everyday for our exhilarating workshops. And goodness knows that I will be swamped once I'm swimming in the chaos of school. 

Thank you for each little prayer that has been offered for us! I could never express my gratitude. The fact that we have a little tarantula that lives right outside our front door and I still use our front door is evidence is that big time graces are moving in my life.

And have no fear! It turns out the stores have a plentiful supply of hair gel.

Jesus wasn't messing around when he said, "Ask and you shall receive."

Just kidding. I didn't buy that giant tub. There was a little one already at our house, plus another volunteer has hair longer and curlier than mine. She's only staying until October and had a brand new bottle of non-crunchy gel, so she gave it to me. I know this was the most pressing question on all of your inquisitive minds since last Tuesday, so I figured I would put you all at rest. 

But for real now, it's been exciting, humbling, and every degree of the word interesting living here. More than anything though, a current of assurance runs underneath everything and for that I am truly grateful.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Totus Tuus, Maria.