Hi all! ... am going to cut and paste the blog spots I have been keeping up with here ... just want to let you all know that we should have internet up and running soon (3 weeks I think) ... then I will be more up to date ... right now need to beg service from the missionary couple here ... not sure what I sent before, so if it is redundant, sorry ... talk to y'all real soon!

November 18, 2012

So, cultural differences came into play today.  One of Myrtle and Jason’s granddaughters is continually the target of displeasure as it appears to Zane and me.  It is difficult to remain quiet and allow them as parents to discipline in their own manner, but we do.  I was accused of thinking they were doing wrong by her and that I don’t know how “bad” she is and that if she is given an inch of positive reinforcement, she will take a mile.  I mentioned to one of them this morning the idea of self fulfilling prophesy and how that this child continually hears (for they complain within her earshot) how bad and evil she is and that it is her hormones and that she must be continually punished to “break” her of her bad habits of lying, theft and sexual evil.  (she is 6!).  I must keep  my peace, because, even though the village supposedly “respects their elders” I am apparently not included in that respect with regards to knowledge and whatnot. 

This afternoon and evening we are going to Dangriga, which the locals call Stann Creek, which is the name of the district that Dangriga is in.  There is a national celebration day today for something I will find out later the name of. 

Millie brought her sewing machine by today and Zane got it running for us.  So, we will have two machines to use for the sewing (adult) group at least.

I practiced some more on my motorcycle ... did okay, but still stall it a bit.  time with help with that.  Today is Sunday, so the kids and Jason went to church ... I listened to my spiritual music so as to compensate for the overload of heavy duty pushing of that spiritual practice.  As in the States, there is a real push to push that spiritual agenda on those of us who have a different path.  It is sad, in a way, that people feel the need to push their religion and politics on others rather than looking at the similarities of values and morals and standards that we all tend to live by.  I do miss my spiritual community being available by phone to touch base with, but I will rise above it and preserver, I know

November 19,2012

This is the actual 19^th of November ... last night was the gathering for the celebration.  The celebration is Garyfunna Settlement Day.  It is the day that the settlers of Belize (then to be British Honduras) found the land.  Kind of like our "fourth". 

All four children plus all four of us were inside Jay’s truck plus there were 6 more adults in the bed of the truck to go into Dangriga for the drumming and celebration.  For those of you who have been with me to Dragonfest, the drumming was much like that. ... very good rhythm and much movement and dancing. We stayed till almost 11 and then all the kids slept on the way home ... it was in the low 70’s and chilly in the truck b/c Jay’s driver seat window won’t go up.

So, we went to the beach this evening for a little while ... not your picture perfect Caribbean beach by any means!  It was very garbage polluted which is sad, but it is all the wash-up for out in the ocean and, really no one but locals go there and no one really takes pride in the appearance ... but, the ocean was quiet, some jelly fish and rays ... kids played in the water a bit, I waded ... Myrtle fished and ritual bathed and so did Sherrill ... Sherylan and Zane sat on the beach and watched ... Jay scrounged and ran and waded too.  The one jelly fish we saw had 2 ½ to 3 foot long tentacles!

Zane & Jay are off @ Gentles Breezy Spot to rehydrate ... nice time for them to chat and bond some more.  Doctored Sticky's foot again tonight ... hard to tell if it's okay, b/c it is a deep puncture. 

November 20,2012

Went to Stann Creek today to get Jay's insurance renewed, to try to get the licenses for the motorcycles, but couldn't do that ... we need to take the bikes in tomorrow ... should be  interesting for me to ride all the way there and back ... but, I will do it ... I have the sewing group in the afternoon, so must go and come in the AM.

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving (in two days) ... am baking the pies I guess in an outdoor fire hearth oven ... we'll see how that goes ...

11/21/12

So, I just was able to sent all  the blogs done so far today by going to the Missionary's home ... he is going to order the cable that we need to connect our antenna to the USB thingy that we have for the internet.  So, till that happens, we will keep in touch here and then I will publish again later. 

Tomorrow is Turkey Day and Zane and I are going to ride the motorcycles into Stann Creek to get them license plates.  We might also get ourselves a phone. 

Instead of a $50-60 turkey for Thanksgiving, we are having Gibbnut and chicken ....  gibbnut is know around here as the "royal rat" because it was fed to the Queen when she visited and she liked it ... Zane and I LOVE it ... it is soooooo good.  For those of you in the family, it is similar to groundhog ... kinda like a good roast beef.  We already had one meal of it and will have the rest tomorrow. 

So, hope by the time y'all get this you will have had a safe and happy Thanksgiving ... we are so thankful for all the friends and family here and back in the States and hope that you all are as grateful as we are for our blessings in this life.

11/22/12

Thanksgiving!!!  Spent the morning in Stann Creek, getting the motorcycles licensed and picking up "mud" for Jason to drywall the rest of his house since Sticky is still laid up with a bad foot. 

Zane got a ticket today ... didn't know there was a helmet law and was riding the bike from one store to another in Stann Creek and was caught in reverse racial profiling here in Belize ... anyway, lesson learned ... cost him $50 Belize for the fine. 

Took forever to bake the pies for dessert, pumpkin and banana cream.  We had gibbnut, chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, dinner rolls, a slaw type salad, and then the pies for dessert.  All in all a nice day ... baked a small apple pie for the missionaries who helped with the internet.  Apples are 1.45$ Belize each!  So, only 4 granny smiths were in the pie ...

Zane was a bit overwhelmed today and is having some thoughts of not making a move here ... hopefully that is only the chaos of the day talking rather than his real thoughts.

It was a pleasant 75° here this morning with a nice breeze ... got to about 82° but is cooling down nicely tonight.  The house where we are staying has difficulty cooling down ... no screens, so must shut the shutters at night ... so, Zane is having difficulty sleeping as well, which is usual for him anyway.

November 24, 2012

Saturday morning ... a very pleasant 74° as 8:45 AM ... Zane is very happy with that ... I woke earlier, just as he left for his walk and had to pull the quilt I made as a bed spread for here over me ... it was cool and just a sheet wasn't enough.  The village folks were to be out and about early today to chop the road was ... they use machete's and chop back the plants and grasses, the women rake into piles and then later it is burned.  No lawn mowers here.  Some folks have weed whackers, but they are rare.  It is strange to me that with some there is a great deal of pride in home appearance and with others, no pride ... want to start a recycling program, but need to wait till I have internet to connect with the recycling places in Stann Creek or Belize City to find where to take what I collect ... also need to get large trash bags ... containers here, plastic of any sort are VERY expensive really cost prohibitive, so that needs to be a priority for me before I can start collecting anything.   Also people rationalize that the cans and containers floating around are ok, because the village dogs lick them out for food.

I spent the greater part of yesterday morning washing clothes for just Zane and me in buckets with a big piece of PVC pipe for an agitator.  And then several rinse buckets later, wringing them out and hanging.  The is currently water, but the electricity it takes to run the washer in this house is not powerful enough ... it blows all the circuits, so thus the need to do wash by hand instead ... until we help to get the house that Jay and Zane are working on done, we will need to do wash this way.  I am doubly missing the dry heat of NM when it comes to drying clothes!  I left some hanging overnight and still they are damp ... shades of living on the east coast of the States, huh?

Thanks to all of you who acknowledged that you were glad we made it here safely ... I tried to answer that email the other day briefly to let y'all know I got it.  Hopefully, before too long the cable we need to connect will arrive and then we can be up and running on the internet before Yule/Christmas ... then, perhaps we can even try to Skype with some of you.

Life here is the village is always an adventure...lots of sounds, nature and otherwise ... smells, nature and otherwise (lol)  and many friendly folks.  Need to try to find a space where I can meet with the sewing girls ... will try today to see if we can meet in the community center, because I don't want to loose their interest.

Well, gonna close this for now and get moving into the day.

11/25/12

Today is Nigel's birthday...he is 29 ... he is our oldest grandson, Myrtle's son.  We gave him a bag of cement last week as part of his present ... he is trying to finish his bathroom in his house and needed the cement for that ... also, we bought an assortment of beads in Dangriga which we will give to him later ... he makes necklaces to sell.

Today is Sunday ... I am sitting on the front (others call it the back) veranda ... for me it is the front because it faces the street and west, but others say the east veranda is the front because it faces the lagoon ... anyway, I am here, listening to my cd's that I downloaded onto the media player before I left (thanks to Jesse) and am typing the blog entry to hopefully send sometime soon, when I connect to the internet again. 

I want to totally thank my kids for the wonderful ipod they got me for Christmas ... now I can have music on the go too!!!  Anyway, I guess I didn't realize that I could have it all on the computer as well, so, thanks again y'all!.

Yesterday I met with the sewing group ... Myrtle, however invited ALL the young women in the village and I was nearly overwhelmed by too many.  They are enthusiastic however and so, I think I must form several groups until we get more sewing machines ... I again would like to request that if people are so inclined, that they donate $ toward us buying more machines for the village ... they are about $150-$175 US for a decent machine like I bought the last time I was here.  There is one woman in the village who also has a machine and if I can get here permission, we will use that as well.

I am also making baskets from the local grass ... some of which is called 'fever grass' and smells lemony ... very nice.  I brought sweet grass seeds (I forgot the plant I dug) and have put them into a refrigerator for 3 months as instructed on the package ... then in February, we will take them our and set them into a warm but not direct sunny place to germinate...then plant them to hopefully spread

Today again, started out at 74° inside the house, so probably cooler outside (Zane and Jay said they tested it and it was 69° outside this AM ... funny ... Nigel was wearing a light winter coat ... I did have a fleece jacket on, but everyone else was cold! ... now, this afternoon the kids are all going to go swimming in the lagoon out from the house where Jason and Zane are working to finish off .

For our midday meal today we had peccary (wild pig) it was very yummy and tender...we really liked it!  Myrtle also has an iguana (wish-willy) in the freezer ... not too sure I want to eat that, but will try it anyhow ... I just like iguanas, so not sure I want to eat one ... but then I like calves, pigs, chickens, so I guess it's really no difference.