Jesus & Lizards......

Do you know what a Jesus Lizard is?   I just found out,  it’s a lizard that walks on it’s two hind legs and since it moves so fast that when it walks across puddles they look like they are walking on water.  You can see them all over the place here, I see them skittering across the road when I am driving down it.  They are cute, and I do mean cute cause I am one of those women who hate snakes but don’t mind Lizards.  We have a sizeable one in the back yard.  Every time I walk outside he is there and greets me and I swear there is some intelligence in his eyes and the way he cocks his head as if in answer to my questions….He’s got some pretty markings on his back in a kind of lime green color and some places he has the typical dark green of his kind….

The reason we have seen so many lizards is because it’s been rainy season and they are skittering around to find food.  The water by the ferry has caused a major mud plane with about 6 holes around 20 feet wide and about 8 to 12 inches deep, I only know cause when I step out of the truck you can see the muck left behind on the side step, it’s pretty covered.  Here there are car washes that clean out UNDER the car and then oils the bottoms down.  Because during the rainy season there are muddy roads, lots of holes and “puddles” (I call them mini Lakes).  We’ve had some major work on the car because of the roads, things like the break lines get caked in mud and then they break and we have to replace them.  Most important person when you come to Belize is a good mechanic, we are lucky to have one!

The weather is starting to get cooler finally.  It should normally been in the 80’s but it’s been in the 90’s.  We are finally getting some eastern winds instead of the northern winds that were holding the higher temps up there.  It’s still hard to believe that it’s Halloween and we are waiting for some of the village kids to come around for trick or treating.  I was told they would but haven’t seen any yet.  CJ wanted to go out and about but he’s been sick today and complained that he just didn’t feel well, I think the change in temperature has affected him cause he sounds nasally…..hmm.    Still doesn’t feel much like Halloween and I think that’s because there was a pumpkin shortage.  Normally the Belizian’s get their pumpkins from Mexico but this year none.  I wish I had thought creatively like my friend Lynn who used watermelons, I love to eat water melons and it would have been something to have CJ carve one.   Oh, Well, there’s always next year!

My days have been getting shorter to me…I have so many projects I want to complete but I don’t seem to find myself focusing on the projects as much as I would want.  What would you do with a wandering mind????

Stones

So, here I am horizontal and whining cause there is nothing I can do from this position when my husband comes in to give me a wake up call..He is right.  Part of the reason, and only part, whether some people believe it or not is that it was my health that was one of the deciding factors and the other factor was something altogether different and  the family (not all but some) doesn't get.  But that's his story, not mine to tell but here's what the wake up call was about.  "Honey, when we were in the states what would you do if you were passing stones on both sides?"
Truth is I would have dragged my miserable butt into the office and felt so sick I could weep but didn't have any choice cause I would want the office to succeed for one more week, why? Cause that's what needed to be done.
I've been riddled with kidney stones for years.  After going to more doctor appointments than my mother I've been told there isn't anything they can do for me. Not a thing....just keep myself hydrated and try to stay away from a list of possibilities..an endless list.
"Stars in the skies" said Doctor Lee, "if we take out all the stones you have no kidney"  I am already down one kidney due to all the scar tissue and the lack of use, I only have 59% use over all and can function for years on that but I am now allergic to every antibiotic known to man and so there isn't much more they could have done for me in the hospital. So I would have gone to work and worked through the pain cause I'm a "OOOHHHRRRAAAA" Marine where pain is good for you and it's a matter of mind over matter. Charlie would have been miserable the whole time I was there cause he would know I was in pain.  Instead I'm in bed....yeah, sure bored to tears but I am getting the rest I need and guess what....my husband is pushing the water down my throat every half hour and making sure I get the motrim to keep the fever down and keeping me company...things I wouldn't have had before.
Yes, there are reasons to coming to Belize....Have you done something lately cause you felt like you HAD to do it?  Are you tired of being a big fish in a tiny pond?

Lord, I am so grateful for all you have given me...even the stones..............

Mosquitoes (aka skeeters)

Finally I got something done in Belize!  The Belkin guy stopped by.  For those of you who don't know, Belikin is the beer company here, and it also is the Coco Cola Company ( they have the original recipe and make it here so Coke is relatively cheap, Pepsi on the other hand, is none existent!) and the Crystal water company.  Now, why is it so important to get the belikin guy to stop by?  Well, think of it this way, this week we had a small issue with the truck, and it's in the shop.  I can go to all the local stores and pretty much get immediate necessities, but water, which is essential, comes in big water jugs of about 5 gallons a piece....heavy carrying!  So to me, I can get by around here without the vehicle, there are buses that come and go from here to everywhere, even as far as Belize City!  And I can carry my big shopping basket and get things back ok, but I can't get one of those water jugs on the bus and carry it home.  Hence the need for the guy to know where you are.  It's simply a matter of survival.  But then I want to add that the water truck only comes once a week, and it's on Wednesdays, Beer gets delivered Tuesdays, thursdays and Saturdays....you can't say Belizians don't have their priorities right!!!

We finally found the church in Copper Bank.  Yes, there is a church and by the way, Belizians are not good on directions, they may point south but what they means is easternly.  It took us awhile but the teacher at CJ's school explained that it is hidden behind the health building and to the right of the community library.  (The community library was donated by an organization that runs it, I think it's a political one but I will get into that another time!)  The only time they have services here are on Sunday nights at 5.  Unfortunately it's over run with school kids and very few parents, mainly because the kids are required to go because the school is catholic.  The services are in Spanish.  After talking for quite a while about it we decided we would go to two masses on Sundays, the morning one in Corozol is in English and then we can hear the readings and figure out what we will be learning in Spanish that night.

Still have no word on our stuff leaving Houston,  it's hard to believe it was almost a month ago that we dropped it off!  But they still haven't shipped it yet and I am still living without furniture.  I am finding myself in this challenge of living and enjoying.  You really have to learn to overlook the bad things in life when you have this beautiful world just outside your door, no matter where you are!  Unfortunately I am having a hard time overlooking the mosquitoes since they seem to like me so much.  It's funny, Charlie, CJ, Jen and Bill laugh about it but they could be sitting right there with no skeeters and I've got six or seven eating me up alive.....I wonder if it's a chemical makeup thing?  How would you handle it if this was you?

Chickens, beer delivery and water........

Did you ever wonder what ended the days of delivery?  I think I might have that one down....I've called Belikan  which not only makes beer but water and Coke products too and asked for a delivery.  I know they come out to the village to deliver and I've been wanting to have the big jugs of water delivered as well as some soda.  Not that we go through alot but enough to make it worth their while to have it delivered to us...Imagine not having an "address"  I am the 2nd to last road next to the lagoon and the beige colored house next to the peach house and the house with the bad man who went to prison on the other side....could you find me?  Yet the person I spoke to at Belikan said their delivery person could find us...Hmmm, well, it seems not yet.

That means one more day of going into Corozol or Orange Walk for me.  I want to make life easier so I am going to call Belikan one more time, maybe if I told them the yard with all the Roosters in it they would believe me?  And yes, it's not my imagination but I am having all kinds of chickens and roosters come through the yard, simply because the woman who owns them lives two doors down....and they like my rice? 

We decided that we would make lunch our big meal of the day since CJ does come home during the lunch time for 1 and a half hours and then we could make the house cooler at night by having no stove going on during the evening.  It makes sense to us, so after  CJ leaves to go back to school I do the dishes out side, the old campfire way with two basins and a drainer on a table that has a coconut grinder attached to it (it looks like war out there, I am telling ya!) and when I am done with the wash water I just throw it on the ground like everyone else here.  The chickens come running to see what particles of food were in the wash water.  Not exactly the best feed but at least it's clean, right?  Something to wonder about the next time I have chicken!The lagoon that we live near has croc's (or so I've been told) so I keep an eye out on the chickens, if they start running I know that I should too, how's that for liking a breed?

Patience....and homework

So, I screwed up.  I asked the laundry lady (Maria) for the village how much she charged and asked her to be more specific about what a "unit" is.  It cost us $35 Bz to get the laundry done about two weeks ago, and then we handed her another load this past week.  She had used up ALL the laundry detergent and fabric softener I had given her and I was suspecting foul play.  She told me when I asked her these questions that she was getting sick (I had heard the rumors, it was either cancer or low vitamins...) and she would be unable to do our laundry.  I am now washing our clothes by hand.  I have to say that with a scrub board (YES they have them here!) between my legs and scrubbing and wringing and taking a moment for the sweat to pour down you back, that I am definitely getting my exercise. I've learned to not question the laundry lady, just walk away when you feel like your being taken (the way most Belizians are) and that there is a sense of satisfaction at looking at the clean clothes on the line and knowing you really did work at it.....LOL
Patience has never been my virtue and it's really harder when you sit on hard chairs.  We have been waiting for our shipment to come in, waiting for the furniture I ordered from Hummingbird Furnishings, and waiting for the cabinets and the bed we  "special" ordered from Lydia (I wanted white not mahogany black) and I wanted CJ's bed to be full on the bottom and twin on the top.  I was told 3 weeks ago that it was 2 weeks and Charlie checked with her today and some of them will be done maybe this Friday (true to Belizian time).  We have been sitting on the hard chairs for the table that I want to make cushions for (it's a beautifully made table and 4, ladder back chairs made by Mennonite's that only cost us $215 Bz and you couldn't beat that deal) I have one small pot and one small frypan and 4 cups, 3 plates, one big bowl and a colander to get us buy.  Cooking meals is a work of art and I am learning to be satisfied with "edible".
I am learning the words "when" only spell lack of patience on my part and that I need to not worry because things will happen when they do, it's the Belizian way...hmm
So far CJ has had it pretty easy in school until tonight.  He was loving school until today when he got homework for the first time.  The last two weeks of school has been Holiday's here and Belizian's love their holidays.  They took time off for the St. George's Caye and for Independence day and today CJ was given homework...he wasn't happy but I was.  I've been watching his work carefully to see if it meets the standards of NY as far as educationally and I think it may be a little behind but homework is a habit I didn't want him to loose.....I had a discussion with his teacher and she told me that homework would be starting this week and it was an unexpected fail for CJ.....me, I am happy!
We went to Corozol last week to try and get mail on Thursday before the post office closed.  An example of the peoples ability to party, we had to wait in line for the 5th time the ferry came back, there were 28 coches  (cars) in line to get to Corozol, a normally 1/2 hr trip took us 2 hours....by the time I got to the post office it was closed, 1/2 hour before I got there....yes, I am learning patience!
I painted a Jaguar in 2 days.....I was inpatient!  LOL I love how it came out and I love the fact that every time I paint something I am feeling more confident in my work...and I really need that confidence!
I am afraid though that I may run out of things and I've been thinking of ways to get them, like canvases.  I asked my neighbor if he could build me some frames so I could get some canvas and stretch it across to make more and that took me back that I had to show him how a painter paints on canvas and explain why the material is stretched, he thought all this time that painters only painted on wooden boards, which I think if I didn't know better I probably would have too.....
THINGS I worry about, burnt sienna, getting turpentine and brush cleaner like I got at home, running out of rags and where do I get linseed oil here?   Silly me!  This is mahogany land..I think I can find those things!

Doctor flies

So here's the thing, where we live is near the lagoon and the bay and when it rains all kinds of insects come out, red ants, spiders, mosquitos, and doctor flies.  Now Belizian's have this great way of naming things.  There is a village that most of the other villages take their garbage to, it's called Dump.  There is a village called Crooked Tree, cause there is this big old tree in the center of town and it's crooked.  And there is a fly called a Doctor fly cause you get bit by it enough you gotta go to the doctor.  Now the Doctor fly just loves me. There is something about me that it just seems to come running too.  Bill, Jen and Charlie all noticed it last week when we were sitting on the porch and they were swarming me, I was used as bait and they had fun trying their general techniques on killing Doctor flies on me.  Woohooo, it was so much fun!
Anyways the really kewl thing about Doctor flies is that when they die all the ants come rushing in to take the doctor fly away.  I was amazed and amused for about 20 minutes watching this group of ants take this doctor fly off of our porch this morning, they even carried the fly vertical and got it down the steps.  How unique is that to have this group of insects working together to do this incredible feat.....
Is the heat getting to me?  No, I just think there is so much fascinating going on around me.  Like how the yellow bird comes out and sits by the front porch waiting for me to talk to it.....There's a set of Toucans across the bend and they hang out on the electric wire.  I saw a huge geico crawling up a post in the house next door and then there are the humans....good for watching!
Tomorrow is Belizian Independence Celebration and the whole village is all acting up.  The school is decorated and CJ decorated his bike for the parade in the morning around the village, then there is a parade and carnival in Corozol and something called a beach party.  The village doesn't ask you to go, they assume you know about it and expect you to be there so I am going to attempt to keep up...wish me luck!
Have you had time to watch the ants lately?

Patience.........

I've been thinking alot lately about some things and I don't have my Bridget to sound things off of.   It seems my blog has been skimming the surface waiting for me to have some time to formulate some of my thoughts.  The biggest issue I had had recently is my brother in law's vicious attack on me when I left and how it really bothered me.  He said I was running away and I am still trying to figure out what he meant by that.  Running away from what?   In New York we had a pretty good life.  I got up every day and went to work and I did have a small sense of satisfaction that I was helping people. 

And while the majority of our clients were very nice some of those people felt "entitled" which is a sense of you owe me and it was hard at times to ignore the sometimes snotty attitude of people and just realize that with a basic sense of self that we did the best we could for everyone around us.  The last few years had been very hard on me since I had to come to terms with holding both my parents as they died in my arms within 6 months of each other.  The kids had grown up somewhat and I had felt I had done the best I could for them and I was proud (still am) of having raised some pretty good kids in a society I felt uncomfortable with.

I was a typical American.  I was upset with the way the country was run and confused on how to change the direction of our country.  Little by little I see basic freedoms being taken away in the "protection" of our nation.   I see government thinking that we don't know how to make good choices and little by little being told what I could or could not do as a course of law..

I had my own disillusion with the law.  I saw things in the field that I was working in that just didn't make sense.  I saw people struggling with trying to do the right thing when the law made it hard and I saw people slowly being so unhappy.  I felt out of touch with basic living.  I was too busy doing the "right" things, taekwondo, providing computers, games, electronic gadgets, going to meetings for community service and spending less time doing basics with the kids. Time seemed to be my enemy and now looking at it, it felt like a moving train that had no stop to it.

And then Rob said I was running away.   I have to thank him, because he made me stop and think about things that had happened before we left.  I did feel a big sense of fear coming here.  Yes, it was an adventure but heck, wasn't I secure already?  Did I have to rock the boat?  Was I crazy to leave the security I had knowing that the life I wanted was so much harder?  And then there was Charlie pulling at me.  Most people don't realize how much he pulled me to get us here, he knew my thoughts and he pushed me to come. But Belize called to me and Charlie like no other.   It's not an easy life....not at all.  Why did I want to come here?

My typical day here, spent working harder than I've ever worked before and trying to develop a sense of patience that would be like no other.   I wake up usually around 5:30 here.  The sun greets us and it's another day, busy beyond belief yet quiet, so very quiet compared to our old life.  We make beds, we get breakfast (usually whatever fruit we can cut up, watermelon, pineapple, banana or melon) get CJ off to school (it starts at 8 here but he rides his bike and needs to get there before so he usually leaves around 7:45.  Then I work until around 11 on painting.  It's best to do as much work as you can in the morning here since the afternoon is stifling hot and you don't want to move around that much.  We have been having our big meal of the day at the noon hour here.   It's usually something like rice and beans.  There are other meats available here (quite lean cuts) but you really see alot of chicken here.  After dinner we clean up, and a thorough cleaning.  Every day I wash the dishes outside just like the villagers (an old camping way of doing things) sweep and mop the floors ( you want it all gone otherwise the ants and mosquitos want to come in so cleaning really well makes it less likely to have alot of insects around.  I usually wash some clothes (by hand as well though we do hire out, there is a woman who does the laundry for $8 Bz a unit and I've brought things to her but I try to keep up on my own) and then work some more until CJ comes home.

Evenings are family time.  We spend the time over our lunch trying to learn Spanish, watching a movie on the computer or playing a game together.   Our internet works off hand, meaning when you have a hand it's not working....so we have to be self entertaining.  

When getting furniture in Belize there are several levels of furnishings.  The things you buy in the shops (over run rooms with jumbles of items and no sense to them at all!) are usually done by Menonite, and therefore, uncushioned, hard and a pain in the backside (literally!).   We have our table and chairs.  We bought a set of bunkbeds ( they are being made at Lydias) and it takes 2 weeks Bz time ( I will explain that in a moment) we ordered our kitchen cabinets from Lydia's too, same time frame (here the kitchens are empty rooms that you make up as you go) I am still waiting for our basics from NY, mattresses, sewing machines, TV's and kitchen goods so we are "making do" and I went to Belmopan to order our furniture from Hummingbird Highway, 2 weeks Bz time.

Now, what do I mean by Bz time?  Well, the American dollar is worth 2 times the amount that the Belizian dollar....so American time, 2 weeks is two weeks, BZ time, two weeks equals "right now" meaning maybe in six weeks..... we are camping out in our house.  It would try the patience of a saint!  I am still looking for the beds for the girls and Brian for christmas when they come and I am looking to try and get through each day patiently..so why did I "run away"?  hmmm....nothing can beat how I feel at night.   I am accomplished and connected and in love with this life.   Thanks to Charlie who pulled me here (almost kicking and screaming Andy!) I am in a good place.  Thank you Rob for you have taught me that my virtues here mean so much more!

I look out at the lagoon and I am at peace.  Thank you Lord for the day you made!