Comeback Blog!

Well, well, we meet again. Looking back, I realize it has been more than a month since the last blog post. For that I am sorry, both for myself and for you. I have been feeling like I have been in a funk for a while now. I didn’t know if it was finally culture shock or just something else. I didn’t know what to do. I fasted for a few days. Ran a lot. Stopped running. Laid awake for hours. Slept for hours more. Nothing seemed to work. Then I thought of the blog. I hadn’t really thought of it in a while. I think I saw it as a growing forum for my writing. It was more a place to display my skills (or lack there of) than a place for me to share my life. It had been a place for me to process my weeks in Belize, even more so than a way to share myself with you. It became something healthy for me, even if no one even read these entries. I have found my camera lying forgotten, my eyes closed to the beauty of Belize around me. I need to open up my eyes again and start writing my life. This is a thank you blog. Thank you for those who read. Thank you for those who comment. For those who ask for more. For those who encourage me and make me feel like my time here isn’t a waste. Thank you for thinking the blog of a 23 year old is somehow worth your time in reading.

Storm cloud a' raging


What has been going on these past weeks, you wonder? Well, that is a fine question.

Immediately after coming back from Nicaragua, I found myself in Hopkins. Hopkins is a mostly Garifuna village about halfway between Punta Gorda and Belize City, right on the water.

Hopkins.




There are wonderful sandy beaches in Hopkins, something I often wish Punta Gorda had. I suppose that would draw more tourists, so I guess our lack of beaches is good in that sense. We were in Hopkins for a week for Reo-Orientation/Dis-Orientation (Re-O/Dis-O). For this retreat, our wonderful staff from DC, Daniel and Margaret, came down. It was a great week of reflecting on the past year here, as well as getting to spend some quality time with the second years who are soon departing. I also spent a long time lying on glorious hammocks by the sea. We also found our prior to the retreat that Father Jeff, our in-country coordinator, Jesuit Provincial, and most excellent friend, will be leaving Belize in a few weeks to be reassigned in Denver. It was great to spend some time with him before we say farewell (which was on Friday for me).

Starting school after two weeks of Easter vacation then a week long retreat was a bit odd, especially since I had a site visit by the ol’ bosses the first day back. While I was a tad stressed out at having boss people visit me, I didn’t have much to worry about. It turns out my worksite is a whole lot less stressful than the other PG volunteers, so my visit was a breeze. It was great being back at school and seeing all the kids, some of whom were concerned that I had left for good. Never fear, small children, there is a good twelve months before that happens.

This coming week will be the fourth straight week during which I will have had a service group from the US in the library. While the company is nice, I haven’t been able to work with my reading groups, which isn’t ideal. They had been going fairly poorly, as the kids have really stopped caring about what they were doing, but it was good having them in the library and hanging out, no matter the headaches they cause. I’ve spent time indexing my National Geographics, memorizing the world map, reading Max Weber, and going some serious thumb twiddling. I’m getting really good.

I suffered a bizarre injury the other week. While removing my shirt on a particularly hot Sunday night, my hand came down upon a pair of sunglasses, shattering them. A large shard lodged itself into my hand, causing immense pain. I quickly wrapped up my hand in a Fairfield shirt (the one that had conveniently just been removed) and quickly walked over to our nurse friends’ house. They drove me to their clinic, opened it up, and gave me five stitches. My first stitches ever! The wound healed nicely, until Friday night, when I tripped over Baxter walking down the stairs, which caused me to tumble head first down a number of steps. Apart from some cuts and bruises on my arms, legs, kneecaps, and side, I tore open the cut again. Once again, my hand is wrapped up, hopefully to help it heal sometime in the near future.

Ouch.


Other events include a teachers’ weekend, where I got to go on a trip to San Ignatio and Guatemala with my staff. During said trip, I won $150 in blackjack at a casino. Solid. Barbara and Zarko (aunt and uncle of moi) visited briefly but twas a great visit.

On a sad note, Matthew Wooters, glorious community mate of Jeremy, leaves tomorrow morning after two years of service in Belize. We had a party for him this weekend, which was a whole lot of fun. He will be dearly missed and the room next to mine will be empty for a few months. However, we have two guys coming on August 1 to start their two years, so the arrival of John and Greg is being looked forward to already.

Matt's Party Goers


More party.


I shall miss you Matt.



Well, this felt great. Hopefully the next blog will be in the next week, perhaps two. If it isn’t, I expect someone, perhaps you, to call me out. Please! It’s for my own good. Thanks for reading.

checking out the sea.