December?

It has been too long since I've communicated via the blog, so I shall reward your visit with lots of pictures.

Mmmm, breakfast. Orange, tea, homemade tortilla with bananas and peanut butter, and Dubliners, by James Joyce.


Somehow we have made it to December. Now, last year December came quickly, but this year it has used super stealth mode. We have been listening to many Christmas songs in the house and last night we made glorious Christmas cookies. I ate many. They also made for a nice breakfast. And lunch.

Evening from my abode


Since last time I wrote, there have been many happenings in PG.
There was culture day at school, so all the kids were dressed up in their cultural attire.

Mr. Kevin Zuniga teaching the students how to make hats from palm fronds.


Some cultural dancing.


The Belize National Anthem in Creole. Read it, I dare you.


So, the colors for the Garifuna people are black and yellow. This also happens to make them the best Bruins fans around. The B's also seem to be killing it right now, so the Garifuna people chose wisely.


Parading back from the landing.


That weekend was also Garifuna Settlement day, so everyone was up early on Saturday (or simply stayed away all night) to watch the reenactment of the first Garifuna settlers arriving in boats. My favorite part was the token white guy dressed in colonial attire playing the British governor who supposedly turned them away two times. Everyone booed him, including me. Darn Brits.

Garifuna Settlement Day


The week after that it was Thanksgiving! I rolled up to Belize City where some nuns had us over for tasty food. The next day all the Belize JVs headed out to Cayo for a retreat. It was freezing (65 degreesish), so we were all bundled up. It was nice to get away from PG and see the very pretty district up north.

Hanging (literally) in Cayo.


Early morning run with Jon.

Ah, sun rise over, wait, an oil well. Scenic.

Winded at the top of the hill.

Running through Cayo. Hopefully Runner's World enjoys this one and makes me famous.


Creepy crawler.


I liked these leaves.


Apart from that, not a whole lot is going on down here. I've been here for something like 16 months, which is a long time.
Matt, the brother of mine, will be arriving in a week and a half, so I am very excited about that.

New painting I finished in the library.


If anyone has a library stamp, one of those stamps where you can change the date, lying around, dying to be used, please send it my way. One was stolen from the library last year and another just broke, so I'm down to one, and the year on it is stuck at 2007. The kids have to return all their books three years ago.

School gets out next Friday, followed by a nice long break of three weeks. Thus, there might be time for another blog prior to Christmas, but if not, I hope you have a wonderful holiday and there's plenty of snow and cookies to appease the huge appetite of Santa.

The crab that lives in the downstairs bathroom. He's super excited Christmas is coming. His arms are raised in celebration.