I was a bit of a failure when it comes to updating in January. Which is sad because for the most part it was a pretty good month :). So I will do some highlights for you and hopefully add some pictures here soon!
New Years at Caye Caulker
So I went on my first little vacation at New Years. I spent 2 nights on Caye Caulker. It is about an hour in a boat from Belize City. It was like being in a different world from where I am living. It was a beautiful island, nice view of the ocean, nice beach. It was a lot of fun to just relax and hang out with some of the other volunteers. The best part was definitely snorkeling. We spent a whole day on a boat in the Caribbean getting to snorkel. The first stop was just to get used to snorkeling (those fins were trickier than I expected hehe) and see some of the reef/fish for about an hour. Then we sailed a bit further to shark alley and got to snorkel with a lot of nurse sharks, some huge sting rays and some cool fish. It was amazing! The last stop was through a really pretty part of the reef. We saw some sea turtles and in some parts the water was only a few feet deep then suddenly there would be a huge drop off. It was beautiful. Definitely a fun and much needed break. (soon I will put up some pictures from the underwater camera we had I hope!)
House Visits
My village Alcalde went with me to visit all 30 houses in the village. It happened over about 8-9 hours on a few different Sundays. It was a lot of fun. A lot of the families don't speak any English, especially the women. The ladies got a huge kick out of me speaking K'ekchi. There was one lady that was so much fun! Our visit went a little like this:
Me: Anih ak'aba? (what is your name?)
Her: hahahahahahahahaha...
Me: ummm.... anih ak'aba?
Her: hehehehehe.... something in K'ekchi to the alcalde
Alcalde: She is just thinks it is funny to see a white person speaking K'ekchi
Me: ohhh... Anih ak'aba?
Finally she answered me and the rest of my questions I could get out in K'ekchi. When I ran out of conversation I was good at she started teaching me random words...
she points to her ear... xik (I repeat, she giggles)
she points to her hair... ismal (I repeat, she giggles)
she mimicks washing clothes... putch'uk (I repeat, she giggles)
It continued that way for a good half an hour. Lots of good laughter :)
I feel like I need to follow up that story with a note on the fact that I did finish out the month with K'ekchi in-service language training, so I am doing much better :) I can now count to 100 in k'ekchi... too bad most of them use English numbers. I can completely understand why, I mean thirty-eight or waqxaqlaju xkak'aal. Which sounds easier to you?
New Years at Caye Caulker
So I went on my first little vacation at New Years. I spent 2 nights on Caye Caulker. It is about an hour in a boat from Belize City. It was like being in a different world from where I am living. It was a beautiful island, nice view of the ocean, nice beach. It was a lot of fun to just relax and hang out with some of the other volunteers. The best part was definitely snorkeling. We spent a whole day on a boat in the Caribbean getting to snorkel. The first stop was just to get used to snorkeling (those fins were trickier than I expected hehe) and see some of the reef/fish for about an hour. Then we sailed a bit further to shark alley and got to snorkel with a lot of nurse sharks, some huge sting rays and some cool fish. It was amazing! The last stop was through a really pretty part of the reef. We saw some sea turtles and in some parts the water was only a few feet deep then suddenly there would be a huge drop off. It was beautiful. Definitely a fun and much needed break. (soon I will put up some pictures from the underwater camera we had I hope!)
House Visits
My village Alcalde went with me to visit all 30 houses in the village. It happened over about 8-9 hours on a few different Sundays. It was a lot of fun. A lot of the families don't speak any English, especially the women. The ladies got a huge kick out of me speaking K'ekchi. There was one lady that was so much fun! Our visit went a little like this:
Me: Anih ak'aba? (what is your name?)
Her: hahahahahahahahaha...
Me: ummm.... anih ak'aba?
Her: hehehehehe.... something in K'ekchi to the alcalde
Alcalde: She is just thinks it is funny to see a white person speaking K'ekchi
Me: ohhh... Anih ak'aba?
Finally she answered me and the rest of my questions I could get out in K'ekchi. When I ran out of conversation I was good at she started teaching me random words...
she points to her ear... xik (I repeat, she giggles)
she points to her hair... ismal (I repeat, she giggles)
she mimicks washing clothes... putch'uk (I repeat, she giggles)
It continued that way for a good half an hour. Lots of good laughter :)
I feel like I need to follow up that story with a note on the fact that I did finish out the month with K'ekchi in-service language training, so I am doing much better :) I can now count to 100 in k'ekchi... too bad most of them use English numbers. I can completely understand why, I mean thirty-eight or waqxaqlaju xkak'aal. Which sounds easier to you?
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