Voyage to Belize

This week has been great so far. I have been continuing my routine of waking up to watch the sunrise, meditate and reflect. I did sleep in on Tuesday and I might tomorrow only because we do not have to be at school until 9am instead of 7:50. It is Drug Awareness Week at the school and we are promoting the phrase, "Put a Cap on Drugs". We have little red ribbons to wear, we had a school assembly, door decorating contest, skits, presentations and tomorrow is a short marathon run in the morning tomorrow. I have attached some photos of some of the festivities. I have been teaching my lessons this week and I have started to get to know each of the classes more personally. The students are really enjoying my presence I believe. They have been pretty receptive to my teaching and hopefully when they are assessed Friday and Tuesday of next week I will know how much they have really learned. There is no school on Monday due to testing of the primary school students who are using the ...

Friday's science fair was very impressive. I was so surprised by the thoughtfulness and relevancy that the students showed in their work. Most all of the projects were related to the ecology of Belize and based upon problems that are prevalent in San Pedro. A lot was based around renewable energy and utilizing the resources abundant in San Pedro to potentially solve those problems. I have attached many pictures of the experiments that I loved the most. The students provide snacks and treats for the visitors and probed with the many questions that I asked gave me immediate, well thought out responses. They clearly were very prepared for this event. Some of them even provide samples of some of what they created and showed us parts of their actual experiment. San Pedro High School takes great pride in this fair every year and we learned a bit about how the fair has grown, developed and changed in previous years. The students have great pride in this event and they call off classes f...

The last few days of working at the school has been wonderful. There is a lot going on and I can only imagine how I will fit in here with all the activities and holidays. I am just offering my help at every opportunity. The teacher that I am working with is a young Belizean named Fransisco. All the students call us 'Miss' and 'Sir', but I have introduced myself as Erin thus far. It is taking them a little while to get used to me. There are 190 students total that I will be working with, the entire Form One grade, or our equivalent to 9th grade. Glad that I am used to the typical behavior of 13, 14 and 15 year old's because they are exactly the same! It is incredible to me how similar teenagers are no matter where in the world they may live. So throughout the day I will teach either 4,5 or 6 classes, depending on the schedule, which I have accepted I will never memorize. Each class has an average of 30+ students. It will be the ultimate challenge to learn their names...

Today began at 5 am Belize time. I set my alarm to wake me up at 7 am but unfortunately the clock on my phone has not changed to Belize time so I got up and going before my roommate politely mentioned the time to me,...5:30. Thankfully I was wide awake and ready to begin my day so I biked down to the beach and watched the sunrise, read my book, Surfing the Himalayas and meditated for a bit before biking around. I want to familiarize myself with San Pedro has quickly as I can and biking seems to be the best way. While many roads are unpaved and quite rocky, I can maneuver down most alleyways and back roads fairly quickly and easily via beach cruiser. It was a beautiful morning and I got to see San Pedro wake up and open up shop. The trees, plants and animals are some of the things I love the most about traveling to a new place and I must say the flora and fauna here is unlike anything I have ever seen. I have attached some great photographs at the bottom of what I have seen so far. Up...

Here in San Pedro, Belize just exploring the landscape in a fog, or daze, whatever comes from traveling all day and night and it is beautiful. I am getting right to work tomorrow morning at the High School whose location is still a mystery to me, however all will work out just fine. In the next five weeks, I hope to have numerous experiences that I have not had at home in Wilmington, NC. I want to get to know this new set of students and build relationships that will be just as meaningful as those from home. I want to learn about the culture and the values that surround education and the high school community here in Belize. I would love to expand my horizons and develop the necessary skills to be able to continue my goal to teach abroad for the next few years. I believe that this will be an excellent jumping off point. Making those meaningful connections, not just with the greater world of education abroad, but the actual students and staff at the schools here will be an important...