Easy, Breezy, Belizey
We can't believe that the first week has come to a close! We have worked so hard throughout the year to come here and peer educate and we were all so excited to get into the classrooms. Our Primary team consists of Emma, Ali, Josh, Siobhan, Brittany and Vivian, as well as our program director Sierra who is here with us for the week.We all arrived safely in Belize City with our entire initiative and our amazing program directors Sierra and Kieran. Belize is everything we expected and more! On Sunday Primary took a bus up to Orange Walk where we are stationed for 3 weeks. Orange Walk is a small town in northern Belize. We are staying at a hostel and our host here is amazing. His name is Ricky and he is so helpful and kind, and has helped us settle in here nicely.Our week was busy. We all went into our schools on Monday and met with the principals/vice principals and talked about our teaching manuals and our schedules. We were then able to introduce ourselves to our students! We all had so much fun playing ice breakers and games to get to know them better. They were all really interested in knowing more about who we are, where we come from, and details about our family/pets. We all loved to get to know them too!
This week we also learned how many holidays they have! We all had Tuesday off and were able to experience the Belizian culture and the local ways to the fullest. Our host Ricky drove us to Honey Camp Lagoon where we were able to swim and relax. On the ride home we stopped at a fruit farm and got to try many new fruits. We picked and ate cashew fruits, golden plums, guaya and drank fresh coconut milk. Emma and Ali also had Friday off because the school had a workshop and students didn't come to school. On Saturday we took a bus up to Corozal and hung out by the ocean and swam in the ocean! We met two incredible locals, a father and his son. They showed us a great area to hangout by the ocean. He also brought us fresh ice cream that he had made and we were all able to taste it! It was rum and raisin and it was so good, especially on such a hot day. On that note, we are eagerly awaiting Vivian's arrival on Monday and can't wait for her to get here and start teaching with Siobhan.
And now an update from each teaching pair!Ali and Emma: We have arrived safe in Orange Walk, Belize and are quickly getting settled into a routine. In Orange Walk we are teaching at the Carmelita Government School in 2 standard 4 and 2 standard 5 classes. On Monday we went to the school and organized a schedule with the principle and got to introduce ourselves to each of the classes we will be teaching! Tuesday was a holiday so as a team we went to a lake for a fun swim to cool off from this heat. Wednesday and Thursday we were back into the classroom playing icebreakers, getting to know the students and teaching our peer influence and healthy active living lessons. The kids absolutely loved the interactive healthy active living lesson because we took them outside to do a fun obstacle course that brought lots of smiles and laughs to their faces. Friday was another holiday for our school so we enjoyed a day to relax, debrief, and start to plan our next week of lessons. We are really looking forward to a full week in the classroom next week!
Josh and Brittany: We finally arrived in Orange Walk and had a great week teaching at Trial Farm Government School. On Monday, we met with the principal and made a schedule to teach all the standard 4’s, 5’s and 6’s. On Wednesday, the school had an art festival that we were able to be apart of. Basically, it was a competition where all of the schools in Orange Walk performed a variety of art, music and drama performances. It really opened our eyes to the culture around Belize and how much the community in Orange Walk celebrates art through their culture. We helped run a concession stand with the parent council of Trial Farm and sold a variety of Belizean food including rice and beans, nachos, garnaches and bagged water and juice. We had a great time at the art festival and learned a lot about the students, teachers and Belizean culture. This week we taught peer influence and bullying to standard 4’s and 5’s. We quickly got used to working together as a teaching pair and got to do many fun activities with the students. The students had lots of fun learning about us and were extremely receptive toward the lessons we taught. We’re looking forward to the next 2 weeks of teaching at Trial Farm.
Siobhan and Sierra: Because our sixth and final member of the primary team was unable to join us in Belize this week, ourprogram director, Sierra, had the opportunity to teach with Siobhan in the community of San Pablo. We had a great introductory week, playing icebreakers and teaching Peer Influence, Self-Esteem and Stress. On Monday, we met with the principals of both San Jose and San Pablo government schools and organizing a teaching schedule for their Standard 4, 5 and 6 classes. We will be teaching at San Pablo in the mornings and San Jose in the afternoons most days of the week, making for a busy few weeks in Orange Walk. We also were able to teach two lessons to the Standard 4s at San Jose on the first day, which was a great introduction to teaching and getting to know the students. Wednesday, our second day of teaching was a full day comprised of six classes and ending with the opportunity to sit in on the girls leadership after school program known as Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) club. This program facilitated leadership opportunities for St. 4, 5 and 6 girls across Belize and funds a leadership camp for some of the girls in July. We really enjoyed playing games with the girls and helping them set up their vegetable garden, where they will be growing cilantro, lettuce, tomato, watermelon and okra. As the standard 6s were busy preparing for their finalstandardized exam on Friday, our classes were cancelled on Thursday morning and we had the chance to observe the other teaching pairs in their respective schools and eat lunch with Britt and Josh. We had one lesson in the afternoon so bussed to San Jose school to teach Peer Influence to one of the Standard 5 classrooms. Friday was another amazing day, and Sierra’s last day in the classroom. In the morning, we taught stress to the St. 4 and 5s at San Pablo in a combined class. Although it was a busy class, the students were super receptive to the material and loved the activities. At lunch, we stopped on our walk to San Jose at a local roadside food vendor for a classic Belizean meal. Our afternoon consisted of two St. 5 classrooms which also seemed to enjoy the stress lesson. It was a tough goodbye between Sierra and our students in the afternoon, but luckily Siobhan and Vivian will be back next week for many more lessons and laughs on school ground. We have already formed strong bonds with our students and can’t wait for two more weeks in this amazing community. 
