All good things must come to an end, and sadly so has this practicum.
Although it was sad to leave, all of grades we taught in the school put on a surprise goodbye show for us which was the perfect way to say goodbye. Students read letters and poems, played music and sang, and there were a number of dances performed. One of which was a traditional Garifuna dance to drumming which ended with us being brought on stage to show off our dance moves (which my students sure got a big kick out of!). Cliché it may be, but it’s been an adventure of a lifetime and one which I shall never forget. Thanks Claret, Std. IV, St. Peter Claver, and PG!

I not only returned to PG with a sun tan, but the joys of pink eye. I was sent home from teaching for the week, but tried to make the most of it and embraced a Belizean week of relaxing. My eyes cleared up enough by Friday, which was the school’s Sport’s Day. A fun day for the kids, but it sure took a lot out of us being in the heat. A group of the younger teachers cooled off after school enjoying a few Belikin’s next to the ocean. The local teachers had never had chili, so we put our cooking skills to the test and had the gang back to our place for dinner. It was a chili feast, with 4 different pots going. It is definitely going to be hard to leave PG and all the great people we have met.

Congrats Big Brudder and Welcome to the Family Frenchie!

I met up with my family in Tulum, Mexico for my brother and Frenchie’s wedding. There were 28 of us in all, and I don’t think it could have been with a better group of people. The resort live was sure a switch from backpacking Guatemala, and it was sure a treat! I think I could get used to the all-inclusive life! The actual wedding really was like a dream wedding and I can’t imagine anything better. Lots of fun was had by all during the week, but unfortunately, what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico!

I parted ways with my ladies, as I was off to meet my family in Mexico for my brother’s wedding. Before leaving Guatemala I was able to make a quick pit-stop to see Tikal, which is known as the grand-daddy of all Mayan Ruins. The site of the ruins was huge, and I felt like I was rushing running through the jungle to take it all in. I definitely got a workout climbing up and down the numerous ruins. Although I enjoyed the ruins, it was the wildlife that I really loved. I had countless encounters with spider monkeys, toucans, parrots, and peacocks. As I was leaving the site on one of the pathways, I was greeted by a group of about 20 coatimundies (looked like monkeys to me) that played for quite a few minutes before disappearing up into the trees.

We spent the next leg of our journey in Antigua. Although Antigua is located in the middle of Guatemala, the cobble stone streets and architecture gave it a very European feel (okay, so I have never actually been to Europe, but that’s what we imagined). We were there for the Easter weekend, which is the busiest time of the year and the biggest celebration in all of Central America. The streets were flooded with people and there were countless processions throughout the town. Hundreds would dress in ropes to proceed through the streets and carrying heavy ‘floats’ on their shoulders. As part of the celebrations, ‘carpets’ were made to line the streets. These colourful works of art were made from coloured sawdust and flowers and were quite the sight (although their later destiny was to be walked over by the processions). The most spectacular of the processions was held during the night in the central park just outside the main church. Thousands gathered to take in the occasion. A shame the pictures just don’t do it justice.
And although I am not a religious person, I was mesmerized by the events. A special thanks to Trisha for being my Catholic translator!

Happy Birthday Melissio!
It couldn’t have worked out better that all three of us had our birthdays while we are here, and all celebrated our birthdays in different towns. We wanted to do something special for Melissio’s big day, and what could be better than hiking up an active volcano! We were thankful to have bought sticks from Guatemalan children at the bottom, as the hike was tricky at times going over the lava rock formations and often hot and razor sharp rocks. Never thought that I would get to be so close to lava! We had some fun at the hostel that night and it wouldn’t be a birthday party without a giant piñata and a game of musical chairs (which I was the proud winner of!) Hope you had a great day Missy!

SKURFS UP!
My favourite part of our stay at Luza Azul in San Pedro was ‘skurfing’!! What’s skurfing you say? Well, it’s basically surfing, but instead of surfing waves, you are pulled behind a boat. It was a lot like wakeboarding, but without the bindings, so it was a little trickier. All of us girls represented and were pretty pumped as we all got up first try! We were even able to get two people up at once (ya Melissio and Alex!). I must admit that it was quite a strange feeling to be doing a water sport in such a poor country, as here we were cruising behind a local’s boat, while some Guatemalans were at the edge of the lake to wash their laundry and bathe. We couldn’t get enough of it, and I’m now determined to get my hands on a surf board and bring skurfing to Lake of the Woods. Days don’t get much better when they start with a good skurf on Lake Atitlan!

We made our way to Lake Atitlan in the heartland of Guatemala and stayed in town of San Pedro. San Pedro was quite the sight to wakeup to the next morning as it is located on the shores of the lake and is surrounded by volcanoes. We ran into our far share of travelers who got stuck there and have made San Pedro home (don’t worry mom and dad, we eventually were able to leave). It was definitely a hippie’s paradise, and I don’t think I’ve ever been to a more relaxing place. It was easy for us to spend 3 nights here (at only $3 a night) and had fun checking out the tons of little restaurants and bars and exploring our way through the narrow, twisty-turny, and hilly cobble stone streets. One of the perks of Guatemala is that there is great food available all over the place and it’s dirt cheap. People are always selling food on the streets, buses, and even stop by where you are staying. Our favourite was most definitely the ‘cake lady’, as she would stop by our hostel every evening (just about the time we were all craving a sweet treat) with delicious chocolate cake.

Easter Break
We kicked off our 2 week Easter break with a morning stroll in the rain with our packs on headed for the boat across to Guatemala. After a little hiccup at Belize Immigration (turns out we had overstayed what our passports allowed and were illegal immigrants), we caught a bus to what we thought was the town of Rio Hondo. It turned out that we were dropped off a few miles from the actual town and were left on the road in the sweltering Guatemalan heat. We started trucking down the road, but it didn’t take long for us to realize there was no way we were making it to the town in the heat. After thankfully getting a ride to town, we used our very broken Spanish and charade skills to get beds for the night. We ended up having our own little building in a Guatemalan resort, complete with a huge pool to cool off in for a whooping $14 each. We ventured out in the town in search of dinner, and we quickly realized that all of the little restaurants lining the streets were cooking the exact same thing over a fire. We still don’t know what it was we ate, but it was sure tasty and was only a couple of bucks each. Despite a soggy and bumpy start, things were looking up in Guatemala.

As part of my professional development, I lead an after school reading program with some of the younger students in the school. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday after school and have fun reading together. I have a great group of kids, and they are always pumped and raring to read. I’ve even had a few students join in who weren’t originally part of the program but wanted to join in on the reading fun we were having.

Birthday Secret Service Agents (March 27)
Melissio and I have been busy beavers all week planning some secret birthday celebrations for Trisha (I think that we had a little too much fun in the process). T-Bum has always wanted to try fishing here, but we have yet to get our acts together to give it a try, so we planted some fishing line and hooks for an after school adventure. We couldn’t seem to locate any actual bait, so a can of mystery meat it was. Who woulda thought the fish wouldn’t take our bait? Turns out they didn’t go for our attempt at using chewed bubble gum either. We were quite the sight throwing our fishing lines off a dock into the wind, and provided a few good laughs for some of the locals. I guess we wouldn’t be having a fish birthday dinner after all. It seemed like we had half the town in on our sneakiness, with the local taxi driver playing the role as a cake delivery service. We capped off the day with a surprise gathering with a group of our PG friends at one of our favourite watering holes.

Miss Sport
Another one of the school’s extracurricular activities held was a 'Miss Sport' competition. Five girls were selected from the upper division, each one representing their given house within the school. One of my student’s was thrilled to get the chance to compete. The girls took part in several events including: a short welcoming speech, demonstrating their favourite sport, showing off a talent, modeling, and answering a sport’s trivia question. Definitely not something that would likely take place at a school back home, but the students here were pretty pumped about it.

After quite the buildup, the Governor General of Belize visited our school for the induction of the school’s Boy and Girls Scouts. The Scouts had been busy all week practicing for their big day and looked quite sharp in their new uniforms that they had been saving for and fundraising to buy. I was impressed with how well behaved my students were, especially since they were standing in the heat for over 2 hours (all students and teachers for that matter, were later rewarded with the afternoon off). At home it seems as though you could sign your kid up for every after school activity you could possibly think of, but that is simply not the case here, so an organization such as the Scouts has a huge impact on these children. It seems as though few children here have something to provide them with a sense of belonging and give them something to be proud of. Boredom seems to be a key ingredient as to why so many youth get into trouble here. Definitely sheds new light as to the importance of extracurricular activities.

I guess it can’t all be roses. It seems as though we have gotten a little too comfortable here at times and have let our guard down a little too much. Unfortunately T-Bum and I had our bikes stolen while working out at the gym one evening. So we are left with only Melissio’s bike, which also happens to be the smallest! After having breakfast one morning in Caye Caulker, the four of us each chipped in what we owed for the bill. We had put the small pile of money in the middle of the table, with intentions to pay our server. Being the chatterboxes that we are, we were chatting away when our server came and asked us to pay our bill before leaving. We were all shocked by this as they money that was right under our noses was now missing. Someone had been bold enough to take the money right from under us, with all of us thinking that the other had paid our server. Lessons learned and let’s hope that’s the end of things going missing. If that’s the worst that happens, then I think we have been pretty lucky.

San Pedro Visit
A fellow intern from the U of L has been completing her internship in San Pedro, Belize. We were lucky enough to get the chance to visit Laurie’s school and see how her experience in San Pedro compares to ours in PG. We started our ‘business’ trip with a visit back to Caye Caulker. My friend Steph met us there as she has come to Belize for a month to see the sights and visit. It was a little weird returning to where we spent our first few days in Belize, but it was good to see some familiar faces of some of the locals we had met there. We made sure to visit our favourite spots, one of which is the highest point on the island and the chairs are hanging swings. We then caught the water taxi over to the island called Ambergris Caye, where San Pedro is located. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we stepped off the boat as San Pedro is very touristy and quite developed in comparison to the rest of Belize. We went on a bit of a shopping spree, as San Pedro had many things that just aren’t available in PG. Bathing suites for example are nowhere to be found in PG as locals simply swim in their clothes. Another one of the differences was that almost everyone in San Pedro gets around via golf cart. We were shocked at the prices, as most places are geared towards American tourists. The hostel we stayed at reminded us all out of something from a horror movie and was next to the airport’s landing strip. It did the trick for a cheap place to stay and ended up being right next to the Laurie’s school. Island Academy is a private school started by a wealthy American woman who didn’t agree with teachers disciplining her children with corporal punishment in. It is the only school of its kind in the country and we had actually walked by it on several occasions before we realized that it was in fact a school. The vast majority of the students are those of North American families living in Belize, although there are a few of the wealthier Belizean children enrolled. All but two of the teachers are North American, and have dream class sizes of no more than 15 students. The school was a tight knit community of only 80 students, with a morning greeting and meeting held each morning under the school’s palapa. I got quite the chuckle out of the morning’s warning of not to play under the coconut trees as the coconuts had been falling off, and apparently more people die from falling coconuts than shark bites.
I don’t think Laurie’s and our experiences could be more polar opposites. Thanks for a great experience Laurie!

Food Fair
It was the town’s Food Fair on Friday, which was held at the local high school’s football field. It basically consisted of various food and educational booths. I was blown away with the variety of Belizean foods available and was continually turning to my students and teacher mentor to tell me what each strange looking item was. My kids seemed to enjoy the fieldtrip, although it was HOT that day (especially when my students decided it would be fun to run part of the way there).

Happy Birthday To Me
We kicked off my birthday weekend (which just happened to fall on a long weekend) by hitting up a local basketball game on Friday night. It was the league finals and was quite an exciting game with a controversial call with a second to go resulting in overtime. At the beginning of the game we had wondered about the police presence, but we could definitely understand why by the end of the game as the crowd was quite rowdy. On Saturday morning we treated ourselves by flying to our favourite get away spot - Placencia (a 15 minute flight over the bus is definitely the way to go!). The beach was flooded with children flying their kites, with one kid having to scale a palm tree to retrieve his kite. T-Bum and Melissio spoiled me on my birthday and got me a massage (and I thought I couldn’t get anymore relaxed in Belize). The local volleyball crew has it figured out that we come every two weeks and were waiting for us to get a game going. I was feeling like a princess after my massage, so I took the liberty of pulling up a beach chair, had a few birthday beverages and assumed the role of official game referee (although I don’t think I ever actually knew the score). We discovered the world’s greatest burger (sorry you Alberta beef lovers) and danced the night away to a live band playing outside next to the beach. We couldn’t resist flying home again on Monday, and felt like millionaires as we had the whole plane to ourselves. Melissio sat in the co-pilot’s chair and it didn’t take long before the captain was letting her steer the plane (yet another appropriate time for the ‘only in Belize’). I don’t think birthday weekends get much better.