A papaya a day keeps the doctor away

Can't Belize the first week is already behind us (ha ha ha see what I did there???). The Primary crew (Sierra, Sam and Bianca) and our awesome Program Director Laura had an amazing first week settling into Corozal, which will be our home for the next couple weeks, and teaching at Paraiso Government School and Conception Roman Catholic School. We are super excited for the fifth member of our team, Lindsay to arrive tonight and can't wait to walk to the airport to pick her up. We have all rediscovered our love of fruit and have been eating pineapples, papayas and bananas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We have all had a great time trying many other Belizean foods, including - rice and beans, beans and rice (which is entirely different from rice and beans), plantains, tamales, empanadas, stew chicken, mango with chilli powder and ideals (the Belizean version of freezies)!After a whole week in Belize, our bodies are finally getting used to the heat, although we are all still sweating 24 hours a day, every day. Sam and Sierra have been teaching at Paraiso government school and have had an amazing first week! Their school is about a half hour walk away so they enjoy walking there every morning (even though it is super hot by that time already!) They have taught Peer influence, stress, abuse and healthy relationships and puberty to the Standard 4 and 5 classes (grade 6 and 7) and peer influence, bullying, healthy active living, puberty and hygiene and illness to the Standard 3 class. The Standard 6 students were writing standardized tests this week so they will start teaching them next week. They had an awesome time running races, playing soccer (or football as they call it here) and playing 'rabbit rabbit find a hole' with the kids during recess. They also had the opportunity to teach a gym class to the Standard 1 class, which was super fun (but pretty crazy). On Friday, they played a game of Jeopardy with the Standard 4 and 5 classes to go over everything they taught that week which both Sam, Sierra and the kids really enjoyed. Overall, it was an awesome week and they can't wait to get back to teaching and hanging out with the kids next week! Bianca and Laura taught in Concepcion Roman Catholic school. The school is approximately 16 kilometres from Corozal so they taxi there and back everyday. They school itself is small with 5 teachers and less than 100 students. They taught Peer Influence, Self-Esteem, Stress and Bullying to the Standard 3/4 and 5/6 classes. On Thursday, they got the opportunity to participate in the infant 2 (kindergarten) religion class and on Friday, they got to attend weekly chapel service with the whole school. It was a great first week with Concepcion and they can't wait to have Lindsay here and experience the joys of teaching.   Bianca reading through the teaching manual outside Conception RC school[wpvideo YF7jLzva]Sierra and Sam's Standard 5 class enjoying a game of potholes during their lesson on Stress  Sierra and Sam's  Standard 3 class!   FUN FACT: Paraiso means Paradise in Spanish  Sierra and Sam at the Belize Ministry of Education looking nervous, sweaty and excited before their first day of teaching! It has been a super week in Corozal and we can't wait to go pick up Lindsay from the airport this afternoon and show her the ropes and introduce her to all the new foods we have tried this week! We are super sad to be saying goodbye to Laura tomorrow when she heads back to Canada! We are all going to miss her so much! We'll be back next Sunday with more updates but until then we hope everyone has an awesome week :) Signing off,Bianca, Laura, Sam and Sierra (and soon Lindsay)