Life is sooo GOOD!!!

Dear Blog Readers…
So sorry that I am not on top of this blog- there is just so much going on I never know what to write so I’m going to just try to write a short blog any time that I am able to get on the internet!

**So these past few weeks we have had much happen. Last week we had our new wavers come in. There are currently seventeen of us living in our house!! There are four single men, a married couple and the rest are girls! I’m not the youngest anymore- there is a girl who is 18 (she just graduated high school, which seems so weird) Everyone is so shocked when they learn that I am only 19. I take that as a compliment. They all guess between 21-24 years old. Not just looks, but because of my maturity :) I have implemented a new chore chart that seems to be working…ishly! But it has only been a week so I can’t judge it yet. I’m gaining much patience and am not so picky about things being completely organized- at least if it isn’t my stuff..my stuff is all very organized and I’m doing organization sessions with my fellow team members if they want them. I helped Calvin and then we check up on each other every night…A few others have expressed interest but we’ve been pretty busy.

**My computer classes are going fantastic!! It is so exciting for me to see the improvement of these two ladies. One could barely even control the mouse on the first day and now she is typing without looking at her fingers. On Tuesday’s I teach typing and on Thursday we do specific skills such as: business cards, business letters, powerpoint, specific programs, etc. Pretty much whatever the ladies want to learn.
I haven’t been doing very much with the woman’s group because I’ve been actively working with the Soilet. But the woman are working with a cook and will be learning how to cook something next week and then selling stuff at the market.
**The Soilet is going great! We have all the walls up and the lids were put on today. We’ve been digging and drilling and such and it is so fun. .. I guess I need to clarify! First, I don’t think that I have actually explained what the Soilet is. The soilet is an eco-friendly toilet. We make a box out of cement and the waste drains into this box. The solids stay in the box and are eaten by worms and microbes while the liquid drains through to a gravel pit where it gets filtered through the gravel and goes into the soil. It doesn’t smell and the worms reach equilibrium with the amount of waste that is going through the soilet so it is never full or smelly. We’ve been doing construction but I work more with the business side of things. I attended many meeting in the beginning and will now be doing a lot more work like that as well. Marissa and Ben are the married couple and they were brought here partially to help with the Soilet. Ben does microbiology and will be getting his MBA in the next couple of years. Marissa just graduated with her MBA and I’m super excited to work with her.

** Piano lessons are kinda not working out. I’m not entirely surprised; but a little bit sad it isn’t working out. I think next week things will pick up though because kids are out of school and they won’t have some of the conflicts that they currently have. If it isn’t working out in the next two weeks then I will not be teaching anymore. I have other projects that I can be putting a lot more time into and I’m much more interested in these other ones…So we’ll just see.

** My eye is so much better! I finally put my contacts back in for the first time since the incident. It is great to actually see (I haven’t been wearing my glasses either)
But I have been trying so hard not to be hurt or sick-but I fail! This last week was “WEEK 6” and injury #6 :) I will explain: The week after my eye injury I pulled a tendon in the bottom of my foot. It hurt so bad…I tried to push through and just work, but I couldn’t!! That lasted for about four days…but by day two and a half I just started hopping around everywhere because I can’t just sit around! Then this past week…I was lightly shoveling and I stopped so I wouldn’t hurt my back..but it still hurt a lot the next day- So I am now the official supervisor!! NO physical labor- but then I later in the week I wanted to do some drilling…one of the screws wasn’t going in- we had to try a few times, once I got it in, I touched it to make sure it was flush with the wood-but it was EXTREMELY hot!!! In short- I branded my thumb! It instantly blistered and there was a super cool design (the star type shape from the end of the screw). It hurt soo bad. Now it doesn’t look that bad but there is probably going to be a scar. Everyone calls me Cap’n Cyd because of my eye..but now since I’ve hurt my foot-I qualify for my wooden leg- and I hurt my had so I can have the hook…I have completed my injuries for my pirate status. I just need to get a parrot.

**Those are the basic-I will write another blog post that will update you on the other projects I’m starting.
Thanks for reading!! Please comment….I love hearing from people! Also check out the team blog at www.help-belize.blogspot.com there are pictures and other posts about what we are doing.

Update on my Eye and the past week!

Okay the story of my eye: I woke up multiple times through the night (last Wednesday night) with my eye watering and stinging. My nose was super runny and I had a pretty bad headache. When I got up Thursday morning, my head was killing and I couldn't open my eye. It was very sensitive to light and quite painful. Jacob (a pre-med student that we have dubbed Team Doctor) and Raymon (a Country Director) did what they could for my eye. They gave me a blessing as well! I love the priesthood! I ended up staying home for most of Thursday since I couldn't see. I wore an eye patch and everyone called my Captain Cyd and said that I needed to get a parrot.It seemed to be getting worse. All through the night I was groaning and holding my head as if that would stop the severe pain I was feeling. Multiple times I almost woke up the boys to take me to the hospital. Around 5:30 am I was so exhausted I finally fell asleep but ended up waking two more times before 7:00. I finally went out to see if the boys were up yet. They had just gotten up and I expressed the extreme pain I was feeling. They looked at my eye and took me straight to the hospital. We went to the public hospital in San Ignacio- we had to wait for hours but the visit, ointment, and my antibiotic were all free. We had to go to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription pain killer, but the costs were low. The nurse put ointment in my eye and I was in so much pain! I just started crying- Raymon did his best to comfort me :) The boys got me home quickly and I pretty mush slept for the next two days. I wandered blindly around the house. We did get to go out for ice cream- but Jake held my arm and had his other arm on my back to lead me because it was too painful to keep my other eye open. I also missed the Saturday vacation day- everyone went on this cool hike and swimming in a cool river. I was sad I missed it...Jake has just been putting ointment in my eye every eight hours and I'm at about 90% now!!! I'm so happy!! I can open my eye and kind of see- everyone keeps complimenting me on how pretty my eyes are and that I'm smiling. I told them that I smiled while my eye hurt but they said it was a sad smile...they can see that i am actually happy. :) SO...you got the basic overview of what I had been working on. Now for this week: Monday was a national holiday (Queen Elizabeth's Birthday) we went tubing down a river with this guy named Marcus. He is from the states but moved down here with his wife and started a small resort. It isn't luxurious- it is the back woods or we would say jungles..very chill and fun place. On the river there were spots to rope swing and cliff jump. Everyone in the group did it- except me- I didn't want anything to get in my eye or set me back anymore so I took some sweet photos instead. After tubing everyone except Wendy danced in our living room. I taught Calvin the cha cha and then we did the salsa and one other dance- we switched partners and just partied it up!! :) On Tuesday I taught my first computer class. There were two ladies who showed up ad we did the basic overview of the computer parts, practiced using the mouse, and started an intro to "Word". I had them type up what they want to learn/ get out of the class so I can implement that to my lesson plans. Later on Tuesday night I taught my first piano lesson in Belize. I was suppose to have 8 students. Only the branch president showed up. He told me he was learning though so I did a lesson with him and I'm now teaching him privately before the other students come. I'm excited. It is so much easier to teach one-on-one and he learns fast so this is going to be great. Tuesday was a big day for firsts for our team...Jake and Raymon are teaching an institute class. Jake will teach on Tuesday's and Raymon on Thursdays. Jake taught and it was amazing..I learned so much and can't wait to learn more from him. I'm going to take advantage of living with him and try to study scriptures or something to learn as much as possible- he is so smart. Later that night Jake, Melissa, Dominique and I went on a walk. They wanted to wander around some Myan ruins but I thought that would be illegal because during the day you have to pay- they argued that there are no signs or fences, but I still didn't feel comfortable breaking in- I convinced them to just hang outside and we played 20 questions for about 45 minutes instead..Believe me I wanted to go exploring but I'd rather not get kicked out of Belize! After we got home Calvin chilled on my bed and we talked with Wendy until about 12:45am...I love my team! Wednesday was very interesting. I was going and going through the entire day but didn't feel like I accomplished anything. We were suppose to be meeting with some villages to assess for the Soilet but the guy who was taking us (Alfonso) thought that we had a car and that turned into a mess so we cancelled. We went out to Bullet Tree to meet with another man about the soilet and it ended up pouring and slightly flooding so we were stuck there for a couple of hours. We ended up hitchhiking back home. Then we were trying to find a car rental place that was decently cheap but there is no such thing...each car was about BL$170 per day plus you had to pay for gas which is BL$10 per gallon!!! We just couldn't afford it- so we had to cancel our appointments for Thursday also. It was pouring rain when we woke up on Thursday and Raymon came to my bed and we talked with Wendy also (Wendy is my roommate as of right now...)we talked for quite a while trying to figure out Plan B for the day. Collet (the guy from Belize City that we helped at the Health Fairs with) came up for thursday to show Jake and Calvin around to all the hospitals and clinics. We decided to just go with them and hang out with Collet because he is the coolest. We rode around in his truck all day- super fun!!! We got to hang out at the Guatemalan border because Collet had to run an errand. We just played games in the gravel for about an hour while we waited. We had institute again later that night (oh I had to cancel my piano lessons and computer class for thursday- so we could be introduced to hospitals) Raymon taught and it was just as good as Jake's lesson. I love this gospel~!!! This morning I taught the computer class. I did an intro to word, we went through all the menus and she practiced changing the font and making lists. Then I had Aleida start on some typing exercises. We are planning our weekend- We found a hook up and might go stay at a beach house down in Placencia. I will let you know what is going on when we find out. Hope everyone is doing well. Send me emails! I want to hear from everyone.. cydnee_1@juno.com
Love you all!!

Had some accidents

Hey everyone!
I am so sorry...I have had a few troubles over here and have not been able to keep up on anything. Last week I was out because of my back..and this week I became the first person from Team Belize to go the hospital. I can't see out of my left eye and it has been swollen and hurting for a few days..I probably shouldn't be on the computer now but I had to give an update. I am typing with my eyes closed and not really looking at this after so I hope there aren't too many mistakes. :) The first weekend I was here we helped with some Health Fairs all around Belize. It was a lot of fun and we got to do some traveling. Last week I helped with two main projects. We helped the Red Cross do a lot of sorting through old clothes so they can do a clothing sale- It was just like my job at Somebody's ATtic. I took charge of that and now their trailer looks like the basement of SA. We also helped the Red Cross go out to some villages and we worked on taking the safety census. I've been practicing my Spanish and am also learning sign language. Last week I was also able to start getting the Soilet project in to action. I met with some Colleges and Universities and other partner organizations to find contacts and get the soilet in motion. I will give more details about that later. This week I met with a few organizations about teaching business and computer classes. I will be working with a Woman's Group from the Cornerstone Foundation doing weekly activities with them as well as teaching two computer classes twice per week and supervising a third one that a CS volunteer will be teaching. It is going to be so much fun. I start teaching piano next week as well. I have 8-10 students and I will be teaching them all at the same time in the San Ignasio chapel. I've never taught that many kids at once- usually I do one-on-one, so we'll see what I can come up with! That's really all i can think of right now..plus my eye and head are killing :( I will catch ya later!!

Day 1

I'm in Belize. We are staying tonight in Belize City with the mission president and his wife. It is sooo green here. And all the buildings are very colorful- but the entire country is extremely poverty-striken, even more than I thought. I had my first meal of chicken, rice and beans. I also had part of a fried banana but I kinda gagged- I'll try it again another time. We have a training tonight with the local hospital. We are going to be teaching at a health fair tomorrow so we will learn what to teach. We are just getting right to work. It is so humid and hot. I haven't stopped sweating since our plane landed. Pretty much disgusting! Well..I have to go. I will catch you up more later!

I leave in 3 hours!!

Holy Cow! I am leaving for the airport at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning~that makes it 3 1/2 hours! I have now packed and repacked my suitcase about three times to get everything to fit. It is crazy. I've been saying goodbye to everyone and it is pretty sad but I'm ecstatic to be leaving. Thanks to EVERYBODY who has helped in anyway. I love you all. The last movie that I watched with Steph before I left my "White House" was Wedding Planer and Hitch. And I currently have "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days" playing...so I have my fill of Matthew McConaughey before I leave! My family took me out to Texas Roadhouse so I could have a really yummy steak! For lunch I was able to have Old Grist Mill :) Well I need to finish my last minute things. My next post will be from BELIZE!!! I hope you all keep in touch! Goodbye!!