This week was Community Service week. We all need to complete 20 hours of community service however we would like. I have been doing a little bit of everything. I painted an elementary school, walked dogs for the SAGA Humane Society, and helped out with an Easter Camp at San Pedro Library. My main Community Service project is to create a High School math book. Not like an algebra book or geometry book. Emily, Sarah, and I are creating a book about fractions that is intended for high school students. Unlike a normal math textbook, our book has a story and a plot. We are almost done with it and Dr. C is going to work with us to publish the book and give it out to the schools here in Belize and America.
We are leaving on Monday for our inland trip! I can not wait to see more of Belize and its culture. We will be doing the ATM tour, visiting the Mayan Ruins, zip lining, exploring caves, visiting the Belize zoo and much more.

Beautiful Caye Caulker

What an amazing weekend! I don't think I will be able to capture it all in words but I will try and I will add pictures too. This weekend we went by catamaran boat to Caye Caulker, a beautiful island off of Belize. It was about a 45-60 minute boat ride. On the way to Caye Caulker, we stopped at two different spots to snorkel. The first was called Hol Chan and I saw all types of crazy looking fish and sting rays. I even saw a sea turtle, it was so beautiful. What a feeling it is to be swimming with the marine life. It is so quiet and peaceful. The next stop was Shark Ray Alley, and yes there were sharks there. Not only did I see and swim with the sharks but I touched one too. I also touched and swam under the water with a huge sting ray, what an experience. After we snorkeled at those two spots, we went to Caye Caulker and walked around there for 2 hours. What a beautiful island. All the people there are very friendly and laid back. I got 2 beautiful pairs of conch shell earrings. While walking, I saw so much delicious food that I wanted to try: barracuda steak, conch fritters, shrimp sticks. I got a coconut that the guy cut the top off right in front of me and stuck a straw in it and I had coconut water right out of the coconut! I love seeing and experiencing all these new opportunities. Yesterday is most definitely one of the best days of my life that I will never forget.
This week we are all working on our service projects. This morning I went to paint an elementary school for 2 hours. I'm going to be working on a children's math book to give to the elementary schools and high school for the students. I am loving my time here in Belize and am so thankful for this opportunity and experience.
Hol Chan:

 Hol Chan:

 Barracuda Steaks:

 Caye Caulker:

 Community Service Painting:

First day at the school

I have finally done my first 2 days at San Pedro High School and oh what an experience it has been. I am going to try to explain as best I can my experiences and observations, but words can not put into picture exactly what life is like here. First off, we bike to and from school everyday right on the beach. We get to the school around 7:40ish and all the teachers arrive whenever they would like pretty much. My teacher that I am with is Mrs. Iris. She is such a sweet teacher. I observed her the first day, and had no idea what to expect. The first thing I noted was that students do not raise their hand. They call out answers whenever they want to and they want to be heard the loudest. “MISS, MISS, MISS...” and they will repeat that until they know you hear them and respond to them. Students are always joking around with a smile on their face and I can’t help but laugh at times. Students all wear uniforms, which I actually like because it differentiates the students from the teachers. The girls also wear colored ties, which tells which grade they are in. A green tie is freshmen, yellow tie is sophomore, blue tie is junior, and red tie is senior. Instead of 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade like we call it in America, here they have Form 1(9), Form 2(10), Form 3(11), Form 4(12). Students also can not miss more than 21 days, which is a lot! At Topsail, students can not miss more than 9 days! Doors are open and windows are open and you can hear the other classrooms through the walls and from outdoors. I feel like in America that would distract every single person in my classroom. With the littlest bit of noise outside my classroom at Topsail, students would turn and get distracted and off topic. But here, it does not faze the students. The daily schedule is also very different. There are 8 45 minutes classes with one 15-minute break after 1/3 of the day and a 45-minute lunch after 2/3 of the day. During lunch, there is a cantina in the campus where students can get food and there is also these 2 women who make delicious smoothies for you for only 2 Belize dollars, which is 1 American dollar. There is also this man that is outside the gates of the school and sells chocolate covered bananas through the gate to students. It sounds sketchy, but I have gotten it and it is absolutely delicious. The students also do not move to different classes, instead the teachers move around to the classrooms and the student’s stay in the same classroom all day with the same students besides the break and lunch. Therefore, teachers do not have their own desk in the classrooms. Instead, they have a huge staff room that all the teachers’ desks are clumped together. When first walking into the staff room, it looks like pure chaos. But after being around it for a while, I noticed that it is organized in their own way. Everything here is so different, yet similar in many ways. Students have their notebooks and pencils and calculators. Students are answering questions and participating and asking questions. Student’s here are learning and collaborating and participating. Although the methods and the way the material being taught is different, the same thing is getting accomplished: an education. One thing I was surprised about was today in Mrs. Iris lesson she focused on one problem from a testing booklet that was very similar to the Common Core Testing back in North Carolina. It was similar because one problem had several different parts and for each part, the students got a certain “mark” (also known in America as point) depending on how much of the problem they got correct. This is exactly how it was done on the Common Core Testing the past semester for Geometry. I was surprised at how aligned and similar their testing was.

I have only been in Belize for 5 days and in the schools so far for 2 days and I already have learned and experienced so much. I thing I do have to note is that the food here is so fresh and delicious. From banana juice, to freshly squeezed orange juice, to fresh local vendor tacos, to papusas, to local fish and seafood, to amazing coconut ice cream, and so much more. Not to mention the prices are on point and so much cheaper compared to American prices. I feel like I have so much to say but not enough words to describe this experience for someone to fully appreciate it.

Good Morning

Good morning! It is 6:12 am right now Belize time (8:12 am east coast time). I think i'm the only one up right now but I am sitting outside by the pool and just watched a beautiful sunrise. I can't get wifi in my room so i'll need to come out here whenever I need it. Yesterday's travel went pretty smoothly! My friend Cassie dropped me off at the airport at the crack of dawn (thanks so much Cas!!) and then I flew from Wilmington to Atlanta. And holy cow the Atlanta airport is huge. I had to take a terminal train type thing to another part of the airport for my flight from Atlanta to Belize City. That was about a 3 hour flight and I managed to sleep through a lot of it. Unfortunately I slept through the best part, where they give you drinks and a snack, but the nice guy next to me grabbed me a snack and drink while I was sleeping and had it waiting on my tray (Thanks nice guy!) That flight was neat because when we were flew over the Caribbean and then over parts of Belize. After we landed, going through Customs was a breeze and I had to schedule my flight from Belize City to San Pedro with Tropic Air and I only had to wait 45 minutes. Their procedures for scheduling flights is so casual and relaxed. They just put people on a small jet and send it out, with really no set time. I met a nice family while I was waiting and chatted with them for a while. Their little daughter was scared to get on the tiny plane so I was trying to make her not nervous or scared and she ended up wanting to sit next to me on the plane (keep in mind, seats are all along the windows of the plane and are meant for one person) so I let her and she kept squeezing my leg but she said she actually enjoyed it! This wasn't like any other plane. This was a tiny 8 passenger jet. But the view on the way over to the island was breathtaking. I actually couldn't believe where I was. It was clear, crystal blue waters and white sand islands all over. The flight was quick, only 15 minutes and the landing was smooth, although I have to admit I was extremely nervous. After landing in San Pedro, I got off the plane and walked to get my luggage. The San Pedro airport is extremely small. To pick up your luggage, you walk outside of the airport and all the luggage is just sitting outside. You hand the guy your luggage number and off you are. A taxi driver was waiting and asked if I needed a ride so I told him I was going to Pedro's Inn, which was only a 2 minute drive. My taxi driver, Felipe, was very nice! He was telling me all the places to go and not to go. I now know not to go to the grocery store on the corner near where I am staying because they will rip you off. Anyways, I got to Pedro's Inn, got my key and bike, and moved all my stuff in. The rooms are not bad at all! Me and Sarah have our own beds, a TV, bathroom, drawers, night table, lamp, fan. We only have essentials, but thats all we really need while we are here. Of course I brought my soft blanket from home so I slept with that last night and had a great sleep.

I finally met up with some girls that just got back from seeing the schools and Sarah and Emily finally arrived. So we all put our bathing suits on and walked over to the beach (only a 2 minute walk). It was absolutely breathtaking. I don't know how to put it into words. We jumped off a pier and hung out on the beach. It was a beautiful evening. We then had a meeting at 5 for about an hour and then a few of us went out to dinner to this place called Hurricane's. It was really cool, it was on a pier over the ocean. I got a Veggie Burrito and it was delicious.

I'm about to go for a run on the beach with Julia, Erika, and Lauren so I will post again in a few days. Today and tomorrow are free days, so today we are going to this beach where they have a big pier and inner tubes in the ocean. They say its a lot of fun so we are all going to check it out. I think were going out to dinner tonight as a big group too at this Caribbean restaurant.

I've been here for less than 24 hours and this experience is already eye-opening. I am meeting so many different people and seeing things that I haven't seen before. Monday we are finally going to the schools and I can not wait to see San Pedro High School and meet all the students!! I have been waiting so long for this opportunity. I can't wait to see what the next 5 weeks have in store.

Pre-Departure Meeting

This is my first post ever in a blog of any sorts. We are at our pre-departure meeting currently and everyone is setting up their blogs. This is very new to me because it's like a journal that I am sharing with the world, but I am open to this whole experience. I am beyond excited and also nervous to embark on this experience. I think it is time for me to get away and open my eyes to the world. I am anticipating this opportunity to experience education in Belize and am more than excited to expand my teaching horizons.