So I'm Really in Belize!

I still can't believe im here...its absolutely beautiful here! Its been pretty busy here. We arrived in Belize City on Thursday after a long day of traveling. Had a wonderful dinner then bused to out hotel for our first week of Pre-Service Training (PST). Sorta decieving when our hotel has AC, electricity, hot showers and I still can go do some running around town....I'm in the Peace Corps, right? We've already done alot it already feels like we have been here for 2 months, rather than only 5 days! I know you all want to see pictures of some things we have already done, so here there are!! ENJOY! :)

Belize city airpot and our welcome:

 Sleeping Man Mtn. on the way to Dangringa for Cultural Day. Went to a Garifuna Museum, Art Museum by a local artist, and then watched native Garifuna dancers in a Thatch hut right on the Carribean Sea and saw the making of natural mahogany drums. Oh and saw the making of Casava (like a hard tortilla/pita) at some womens local house. Below you can see the street and the kids who live at the house.

 Then next day, Sunday went to the Belize Zoo. Took the bus, quite an experience waited 2hrs to catch it and had to pay the gringo price bc we really had no idea where we were going! Then our friend Paul (local Belizien/runner) took us to this amazing restaurant on a hill over looking Belmopan.

 And of course, gotta have the hammock picture. FYI...in our technical training we have to learn the right way of how to put it up! How awesome is that!! And rumor on the street is we also have to know the ins and outs of using a machete! :)

I can't believe I've only been here not even a week and it already feels like I have been here for 3 weeks! The country is beautiful, the culture is just unbelievable with so many different cultures and influences. You have the latin culture, the mayans, the garifuna, and even the mennonites (german) who all call this beautiful country their home. Anyways, enjoy the pics...send this off to loved ones and friends to read. Talk to you soon. Leaving friday afternoon for my community based training. Wish me luck! :)

And It Begins!!.....

What a day! Up at 3:30AM headed off the LAX for a 7AM flight!!!....hold on...lets go back to last night!

Planned on video-chatting with my brother guy and figured my cool little new netbook was going to be perfect! Quickly I was wrong...i couldn't hear him! Ended up being on the phone with some HP till about 11pm last night fixing the problem. Just a little hiccup less than 5 hours before i was leaving.

So back to LAX....everything was good, i went off without a hitch! I quickly grabbed a cab to get to the hotel to start our Staging and meet 38 other wonderful Peace Corps Trainees! Alot of ice-breakers activities, and tons of paper work and the general questions: where are you from, what are you going to be doing in Belize, etc. The more and more we listened to each other and shared our thoughts and feelings of what we expected and what the peace corps expected of us I could see that everyone seemed to have the same anxieties and aspirations as me! I wasn't alone....thank goodness! :)

All this information was getting thrown at us...and mind you we all are on about 4 hours of sleep, and on empty stomachs! But, we got through it a little after 7pm. So, now I'm here in the hotel lobby, hanging out with some other soon to be volunteers just like ME and everyone typing and talking away with their loved ones.

With that all said....its been a loooooong day! Tomorrow we are off to Belmopan, the capital of Belize! I look forward to getting to know the lay of the land down there and embarking on this incredible journey. Love you all....talk to you soon! :) xoxo

Count Down!

Alright...so I only have 3 more days here in good ole Laguna Niguel and I can't believe it! First I'd like to say, this whole blog-thing I really wasn't to keen on the idea, but then I really thought about it, talked to some friends and of course family who really thought it would be a great idea to keep in touch with people foremost, but also have the memories forever and to educate people what the Peace Corps is, what I'm doing there, and just educate everyone about Belize, its people, culture, language, history, etc.

So here I am, my first blog. It has been a whirlwind the past few weeks getting everything in order. Buying new clothes, educating myself on water filters, reviewing the local language Kriol, and reading as much as I can about Belize. And of course the going-away party! Again THANK YOU SO MUCH everyone who came by to say hello and wish me well. It was absolutely wonderful seeing everyone and the continual support you all gave me.

Well, I hope you all enjoy this blog. I'm still trying to figure this whole blog thing out, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. I look forward to posting more things and pictures or course of everything that is going on with me in Belize. So ENJOY!

Lots of love,
nat.