Hello from the Cultural Capital of Belize!
Safe and sound in Belize!
We were greeted at the airport by longtime QHO supporters from the Smokin' Baläm Inn and driven into Belize City. All 10 of us explored the city a bit, enjoyed some local food, and planned for the week ahead. The next morning we travelled by bus to Belmopan and then said our farewells when we each took separate busses to the different locations. Primary headed to Dangriga and Secondary headed out to San Ignacio.
Now, we are safely settled in at the Chaleanor Inn in Dangriga. The town is right on the coast, and it is beautiful! The Ministry of Education contact, Marshall Mejia, was very helpful this morning. He took us on a short walking tour of Holy Ghost School and showed us the food program he has set up. He feeds 200 students a day at six schools!
Both schools that we are teaching at are within walking distance. Erica and Emily are teaching together this week and had a great time teaching our puberty lesson to a special education and to a standard two (about grade 4/5 level) classes and hygiene to an Infant One (kindergarten) class. Alex and Kathleen are teaching together at Zion 7th Day Adventist School, and taught the whole school day. They taught about stress management, bullying, substance abuse, and healthy active living. All the kids were full of energy and seemed receptive and excited to learn. They were incredibly welcoming and respectful. I think we could all get used to being called "miss" and "sir." We all can't wait to teach more tomorrow!
There is a holiday on Wednesday and Mr. Mejia said he would take us on a tour of the town, so we are looking forward to that. We're excited to get to know the students better throughout the week and see them all at the town soccer game on Friday! We can't wait for Secondary to join us at the end of the week, so we can show them around and share Dangriga with them!
Until next week,
Miss Emily, Miss Kathleen, Miss Erica, Sir Alex, and Miss Kayla (photographer extraordinaire)