Chapter 2: Corozal has it all

 Belize primary pre community games day!Labour day bike race    Lesson planning for our first week! Hey friends! Good morning from the sunny shores of Corozal! Belize primary spent our first week teaching at both Ranchito Government school and San Narcisso Roman Catholic school; both schools are just outside of corozal town. We are half an hour away from the Mexican border and we are staying right on the bay (the exact opposite of secondary) The local people here are very friendly and welcoming, we have met so many generous people. We even befriended a dog named greydog who lives at our hotel and follows us around every night. 

This week and the next Karina and Laura are teaching standards 4,5,6 at Ranchito government school. They have had an amazing first week with such welcoming students and staff. So far they have taught self esteem, stress, peer influence and healthy active living! The students were very engaged in learning about communication and ways to avoid negative influences and gain positive self esteem. The teaching went both ways as the students taught them a lot about Belize culture!! They even learned the national anthem of Belize!  On break they have been playing a lot of football (soccer) and learning a lot of brand new games! They are very excited to go back to school on Monday! 

10 miles from town Vlad and I (Laura M) have been travelling to San Narciso Roman Catholic school to teach standards 1 through 5. Mr. Moralez, the principle encouraged teaching about bullying as it is an important issue to address in every grade. We are teaching puberty and positive influence in our older classes. The teachers are very encouraging and excited to have us here, making our experience so much more rewarding. We have made a lot of new friends in the school and learned a bunch of Spanish words! Vlad and I are pumped to get back to the school come Monday. 

This past Friday was a holiday in Belize! (Labour day). There was a huge road bike race to the boarder or Mexico and back. As we all walked to Ranchito to our scheduled community day we got to walk past the start line! The whole community was out cheering on their friends. There was a parade, music and great food! Such a treat to see such an exciting event. 

About 30 kids came to the school to meet us. We played football, painted the girls nails and played a whole bunch of other games like "mingle, mingle, mingle"! The day went really well and the kids enjoyed making fun of us being so sweaty and  laughing at our awesome dance moves. 

So far we are really enjoying Corozal and the beautiful waterfront and cuisine it has to offer. We are slowly learning the ropes all thanks to our amazing program director Meg! She has the answers to all our many questions and encourages us to try new things! We are so thankful to have her with us! 

Things we have learned in Belize... 

1. Put on sunscreen even when it is cloudy

2. The Beliezean equivalent of a "snow day" is a "rain day"

3. WATERMELON JUICE IS AMAZING! 

4. Tides can be very misleading 

5. Freezies are called ideals and they are delicious!

6. Geckos are the squirrels of Belize 

7. Rice and beans are different from beans and rice...

8. The taxi drivers are super friendly and very helpful! 

9. It's really hot! 

10. We definitely need to work on our football/soccer skills! 

Talk to y'all soon! 

Love, The REAL dream team 

Laura^2, Karina, Vlad and Meg!