A Legendary Weekend

My first weekend in Belize was unbelievably eventful. Friday afternoon all the high school teachers went to a meeting at San Pedro High to meet with their new partnership teachers and get an idea of what they would be teaching on Tuesday. I will be teaching Belizean literature with Mr. Kirk Lainfiesta. I have just finished reading some of the short stories that the class has already finished and they were very difficult for me to understand because all the dialogue was written in Creole. Mr. Kirk wants me to read the next story out loud to the class on Tuesday which I am a little nervous about. I also found out that the school will be holding the 2010 Miss San Pedro beauty pageant while we are here and I have been asked to be a guest judge! I can’t wait to see all the beautiful Belizean girls dressed up in their fancy gowns walking across the stage (some of them might even be in my classes). Apparently this pageant is a pretty big deal on the island and I may even get my picture taken for the local paper!
Later that night a big group of us went to this tiny hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant for dinner. The portions were huge and the food was very good. After dinner six of us decided to walk to a place called Legends where there was a band playing. Tess, Ashlyn, Anna, Jean, Jeanne, Natalie, and I walked for probably five miles to get there. We walked all the way through town, past the high school, over the toll bridge, on to another neighboring island, and in to a random house which we thought was the restaurant. The house that we walked in to had a live band playing, tiki torches lit, and tons of friendly people walking around inviting us to come in even though they had no idea who we were. We went in for only about 5 minutes and took a few pictures of the experience and then made our way out – totally embarrassed. We continued walking for another ½ mile and finally made it to Legends and enjoyed the music and the people who we met there. It was without a doubt one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had.
Saturday morning everyone slept in until it was time to go to the San Pedro High school fundraiser barbeque. When we came back Anna, Natalie, Jeanne and I all decided to go lay out on the beach. I came back around 4:00 to get ready for our dinner at Michelle’s house who is a science teacher at San Pedro. When we got there she had prepared for us rice and beans, roasted chicken, and chick peas with pigs tail. I was a little hesitant to try the pigs tail but it ended up being pretty good; it tasted a lot like ham but you had to bite around the bone. Michelle’s son Cory was there and we all really enjoyed playing with him! We got to her house around 7:00 that night and didn’t leave until 11:00. Talking with the teachers that we would be working with was really entertaining and made me feel welcome.
Sunday morning I woke up early and went with Natalie, Jeanne, and Anna to Living Word church which is just up the road from Pedro’s Inn. We could hear the service from the street. The four of us went in 15 minutes late. The service consisted of an hour of worship music and then another hour of preaching plus announcements and offering prayers. It was probably the longest service that I’ve ever sat through. The worship songs were familiar for the most part. His sermon was solely on spousal abuse which is apparently very prevalent in Belize. He showed a power point and related all of his points to scripture. His sermon was much different than anything else that I’ve heard. Once we finally finished with the service the four of us went to eat lunch together. When we got back from lunch around 3:00 the power was out. There was no internet connection, no power, and no water for over five hours. While the power was out I read by the pool but once it started to get dark Natalie, Jeanne, Anna, and I sat in a dark room and told funny stories to each other! The most brilliant idea of the night though was going in to town in the pitch black night to get something for dinner. Once we got there we realized that almost nothing was opened and there were no street lights on. We finally found a little lady on the side of the road making pupusas over a gas grill for $1.50. Pupusas are fluffy tortillas filled with meat, cheese, and beans. We covered them with hot sauce when we got back to the hotel and they were delicious! The walk back to the hotel at 7:00 at night was probably the scariest thing that I’ve ever experienced. We luckily ran in to two boys that were also staying at Pedro’s who agreed to walk us back. The four of us had our flashlights out walking down the street and we were holding each others hands and practically sprinting down the street. Finally the power came back on at about 8:00 and we were all so relieved to find each other back at the hotel safe and sound! The weekend was absolutely legendary.