Hunter Gregory Calcaterra

Peace Corps Baby?

We miss you Kristen, Justin, and Sweet Baby Hunter!!!!

Hugs and kisses from Belize!

Halloween and More

Leatherman to the Rescue

If you know my husband at all you know of his addiction. He is addicted to his Leatherman. I was not surprised to see that there were about 5 other guys in our group with a similar affliction; proudly parading around with their multi tools shining from their cases on their belts. But, I think Greg’s case is most dire; taking out his leather man for the slightest of needs (a stray strand on a shirt, plucking eyebrows, or to pick up bugs). However, after the events two nights ago I can no longer sigh or roll my eyes when he is quick to his hip for the Leatherman…for with it, he saved a life.

I slept through the whole thing due to the Benadryl I took for my insistently itching bug bites. So I will tell you what Greg told me. Here is his account…

I was sitting out in our living room (because I couldn’t sleep) when I heard the dogs making all sorts of noise (we have 3 big dogs and two puppies that are always at our house). When I stuck my head out the door I caught all of the dogs attacking Happy (the sweet big black lab who is quite obviously the omega). As soon as they heard me the two other adults rushed up to me and all of the dogs stopped making noise. Since there seemed to be nothing the matter I gave them a pet and went back inside. Almost immediately it started up again with horrible whimpering and whining from Happy. I grabbed the crank flashlight (which of course I pre-cranked earlier) this time and went outside to check things out more thoroughly. I shined the light in the garage and saw the brown puppy just lying under the hammock not moving. All the others immediately got quiet again as I got closer and I could then hear the faint whimpering and wheezing of the puppy. I rushed over and knelt by the puppy. I quickly saw that he had entangled himself in the hammock. I tried to shove my fingers between the strings and its neck but it was too tight. Grabbing my Leatherman I held the puppy down and swiftly cut him free. The puppy was a little dazed and I started to pet and soothe him. As soon as the puppy regained his strength and started to walk away all three adults came over and began eagerly licking my face in silence.

(Dictated but not read)

Greg

From this we learned three things:

1. The omega in truly the scapegoat

2. Hammocks can be deadly

3. ALWAYS carry your Leatherman

The lucky pup and the Omega...happy

So You’re a Teacher Trainer

Early on in the application process for Peace Corps I stumbled upon the Peace Corps Journals website and began to eagerly search for ‘teacher trainer’ to try to get an idea of what my life might be like. Sure, I had the one page summary from Peace Corps saying that really my job could be anything and everything within a school. But, needless to say, I was still left without a real clue as to what I might be doing. This is for you; all those out there who want to know what life might be like as a teacher trainer. I have only been one officially for one week but I will tell you what I’ve done so far and try to regularly post what life is like in the school and not only all the wildly crazy happenings of life in a village. So here goes…

The first two weeks I was in my school it was technically still my ‘training.’ I was to observe and, well, observe some more. I met with the faculty my second morning to let them know why I was doing this. I explaining that Peace Corps provides human resources and I will be observing to learn how they teach here in Belize. I will be watching the different ways they instruct their students, the physical space of the classroom and how it’s used, how students are responding and keeping in mind things I could start to expand or enhance through workshops, model teaching, team teaching and the like. So after I gave my little spiel each teacher had their own responses to my being in their room. Some wanted an immediate break down of what they did wrong, others wanted to tell me what supplies they needed (I would just have to reiterate that Peace Corps doesn’t bring any money only human resources) and some had me take half the class out to read to me. All the teachers were very respectful to me and my principal is so motivated to make our school the best it can be.

Side note on my school:

My counterpart (the principal) comes into school singing everyday and I often hear his class laughing throughout the day as he often uses humor to teach his lessons. My school was much more than I expected since there had never been a Peace Corps volunteer there prior to my arrival. In much of Belize corporal punishment, or ‘lashings,’ are very much a reality. It’s not uncommon to hear ‘I’m a lash you boy!’ And I was very nervous about what if anything I could do to change it, should it be the case in my new site. However, my school does not lash; and there are very, very few behavior problems. I immediately recognized that I have a very talented bunch of teachers who are eagerly integrating the researched based techniques TFABB has taught them thus far. My first week I observed a perfect interactive read aloud! But I digress…back to what life is like as a teacher trainer:

By the middle of my first week I put up a computer class signup sheet for teachers next to the sign in book. Much to my delight two names were on it the next morning. One person, under previous experience, put ‘never on-ed a computer’ so I was really excited to begin. I started computer class for the infant I and II teachers after their kids are dismissed at 2:30 until school is out at 3:30. I work with my counterpart during lunch and when I move to my village I will work with the two teachers who live there afterschool. The only teacher who did not sign up is already very computer literate and therefore it is not a need.

I also began to feel quite overwhelmed quite quickly. Where do I begin when there is so much to do?! As I was walking around I began to notice a huge range of ability within the classes. I decided to show my principal the diagnostic reading test and see if it was alright if I began testing some of the low students identified by the teachers. He thought this was a great idea and loved the fact that there were comprehension questions too. The diagnostic reading test I used is a Caribbean one and the stories are all relevant to experiences these children are familiar with. After I tested the low students my principal wanted me to test his whole class. This then lead to me asking to test the whole school. My thought being I could then use that information to see the greatest need and let that guide me towards workshops. After doing this it became extremely apparent that these children (for the most part) can read on or above grade level, but their deficit is unquestionably in their comprehension. Next week I am doing a workshop on comprehension strategies which I am very excited about.

I also work with a special needs student 15 minutes each day. I have taught standard 5 and 6 when my principal went to a workshop and the response was great. The students had never used any sort of graphic organizer for writing so with that we all wrote a scary story. I was impressed by the word choice and creativity and responded to each paper with a post-it they got to keep. So sometimes teacher training… is just teaching. The training then comes in when I show my principal how to use that graphic organizer so it can continue.

Lastly, if you are lucky enough to be a TFABB school you will be opened up to a whole new world of opportunity. TFABB is an organization of teachers in the states that fundraise all year to donate books and supplies to schools in the ‘forgotten district’ of Toledo and to be able to fly here a few times a year for workshops. I am in one of two ‘model schools’ where they will be holding workshops for administrators, teachers, and also for me (the teacher trainers)! I met with two members and I am very excited about working with them. They came with a videographer who interviewed several students, the principal, and myself...for future reference I am not very good at giving interviews; I may, or may not, have ended by saying ‘my village is the greatest’ with a fist pump and a meek ‘wooo.’

Our Standard VI boys mowing the school yard.

So those potential teacher trainers out there…you won’t just be thrown to the wolves. If you are at a total loss of what to do Peace Corps also has this packet of ‘outcome indexes’ which are measurable, observable traits to asses in your teachers. There are 72 specific outcomes and you can just simply start by working with the teachers on the areas that scored the lowest. This outcome index is also what you use when you do your reporting back to Peace Corps. I had no idea you had to file reports with Peace Corps at set intervals, but you do and they’re all on the computer and very easy to fill out. You report the number and types or workshops, the total number of people you’ve worked with, and tell your ‘story’ of what your work has entailed in the previous months. To those of you not looking at this as a potential teacher trainer….sorry it was probably pretty boring…NEXT!

They're working on the library!!

My First Halloween

Halloween at a Roman Catholic school in a small village in Belize was a unique experience to say the least. I was told only that we would have a half day and there would be some sort of celebration. So after lunch I was eagerly watching for the masks that everyone was telling me about. I saw the first two when the group of kids near me rushed over to the side of the building and started yelling and speaking quickly in Ketchi. I thought this must be it! I saw across the field two kids dressed in black from head to toe and what looked to be a werewolf face…YESSSS YESSSS! It only got better from there. The kids were running around and the teachers began to set up a sound system and microphone on desks the kids brought out on the veranda. The students were then instructed to bring all the benches to the field in front of the main veranda and the reggae music began. One More Night played on loop a few times (please look up this song so you can get an idea of what plays all day everyday from every house from every background in Belize). My principal starts singing on the mic and the awesomenesss begins. All the children in costumes (20somthing) come up to the veranda and proceed to dance to Punta, reggae, and Spanish music for almost two hours strait. They danced first for the top three best dancers. Then they danced as we selected the top three most original. Next, they danced while we chose the three ugliest, then the three prettiest. Then they all just danced some more. We had to stop after the first hour for a water break. The Chess guru and his Peace Corps volunteer, Kristen were there for the whole thing (along with TFABB and their videographer for the first part). This had to be on the top 5 list for best Halloweens.

Neighborhood Watch

I was kind of nervous about reading my monotonously typed minutes from the previous meeting. However, only 15 people came, we rescheduled. They had two parts to the meeting, one for business owners and one for the villagers. I came for the village session and they didn’t make me read the minutes. I gave them to the chairman afterwards and he seemed pretty impressed with the four typed pages of notes and now I may or may not have to go to all the different village zone meetings to take the minutes because, “this is what we need!” Also, the entire meeting was in Kriol.

The Simple Pleasures

-Seeing a dog running across the yard carrying half a coconut

-Watching a horse being walked through the village with bags of corn on its flanks

-Kids with their ‘slippers’ on their arms so they can run and play without losing their shoes

-Women with their babies in a sheet (picture how a stork would carry one) at their back with the loop around their forehead

-Men walking with machetes (I just always love seeing this)

-Barefoot kids running to school (yes running…and not because they’re late either)

-Boys playing marbles

-Dogs on the verandas

-People lying in hammocks (all the time and everywhere)

-Women washing in every creek and river

-Hearing Ketchi during every break…and often in the classroom

Oh and of course that Carib Sea

Sweet Sweet Beach Cruisers

We are no longer prisoners to our yard and our immediate surroundings. No longer forced to submit to the whims of flat tires of old bikes…for we are, at long last, BIKE OWNERS! We ordered our sweet bikes from our host mom’s shop and they came in just three days straight from Belize city in their beautiful boxes. Greg went out that night to put together his bike, I was excited but not THAT excited so I went into finish my book Stiff which is about cadavers. As I was reading I could hear Greg fending off babies right and left, “no baby don’t touch that,” “okay, give me the wrench,” “NO NO NO baby don’t hit the bike!” After an hour and a half of chuckling to myself, he came in and announced that not only his bike, but mine…thanks to Angel (pronounced An-hell) were set up! Since then we’ve been an unstoppable cycling team and we see lots of people through our rides. Greg even rides his to school in the morning.

Our bike boxes in the shop...everyone was excited. Greg and Angel riding to school.

Internet ‘Connection’

I was having a little panic attack about not being able to contact TFABB so we walked to Greg’s school one night for internet. We introduced ourselves to the manager he immediately told us that he’d heard of Greg and that Greg was the one who brought three of their computers back to life. They quickly went off talking about IT stuff and flitting from one computer to the next while I eagerly typed. As this is going on who should walk in…the Chairman, Greg’s Principal, and three partners from the European Union. They are here with an internet program where they have set up 23 different internet labs throughout the country. They are visiting all the sites because they need to make sure the labs are all up and running before the initiative ends in 2010. Greg was introduced as the man who got internet working in the neighboring village. The EU people had heard of him…or course. So they began to talk and ended up giving Greg their card and getting our number. They want Greg to go to Grace’s village next and see if he can get their computers working and then hopefully get the internet working. They also said they wanted their IT guy to train greg so that when they leave he can check in on the villages perhaps training others in each village in IT! Greg is enthusiastic about this new development as am I!!!

Peace Corps Class of 2009

This week has been a whirlwind of final sessions, paperwork, and survival skills. We've been here for two months and in that time we've become lifetime friends. We're a special group of volunteers...only one has left. When we come back to the office you can feel the love and excitement. Two months ago we were all strangers...with our new clothes, ideas, and hopes. Now I feel like there isn't one person in the group I couldn't go to or that doesn't bring something to the table. Roger said it best, we are all very different but our core beliefs are so closely aligned that it has caused us to become this force...this instant family. Kristen also had a good point about reflecting on our impact...we're not one drop in the bucket anymore... we're a united force of 40, a whole bucket of drops! We can create real change. I love this group...

Greg in his new shirt! Learning how to use a machete and hook up a gas tank/ light a gas oven!

We went on Monday to visit with them and it was such a happy reunion. Alberta had a sweater and long pants on (we have had a bit of a cold snap...low 60s). We shared stories and caught up. They fed us our favorite dinner, tortillas, eggs and pear with ginger tea! I missed them so much! We played a family card game and then we had to leave.

Bryan missed Greg!

Swearing in:

We officially swore in as Peace Corps Volunteers at the Governor General of Belize's under a tent. We were all dressed up...we even dried our hair (all sharing Taylor's since she brought one). Many of us wore makeup for the first time in two months, and I must say...we all cleaned up quite well. This event had the air of a wedding. Big huge tents, white chairs, good smelling people and a LOT of pictures. The new American Ambassador for Belize gave a wonderful speech and then administered the official oath to us. Four of the volunteers gave speeches; three language vote of thanks and then the final speech by Roger. Greg gave the Ketchi speech...there were many Maya families that were nodding along with the speech! There was also a Spanish and Kriol speech, but the funniest had to be the Kriol. Peter did an amazing job and really wowed all of us! Everyone was laughing at his sweet Kriol jokes! Fransico, our host dad came too! No one else from our family could come because it was during the day on a weekday.

All 40 of us!

With the Country Director...we'll miss him

After swearing in we had a first year vs. second year football game (soccer). The second years were pretty intimidating, what with their real uniforms... and one guy Zander who was so assimilated he played without shoes! Anway, we put up a good fight but lost 5 to 1. It was a lot of fun and has inspired me to start playing with the kids in my village. Football is pretty hard, and is a whole bunch of running. I already had shin splints due to my pathetically short and slow jog with Cali and Amy. I am so out of shape, can't wait to get our own bikes!

Everyone went back and showered for the second time (some even got hot or luke warm water!) and redressed in our outfits to go to the Ambasators house! He invited us for dinner and welcomed us into his beautiful home. His son is in the process of joining the Peace Corps so he is very supportive of us. It was delightful how he and his wife circulated and talked to everyone it seemed. We gave a going away present to our Country Director who is leaving to work for Washington next month:( Superlatives were given out and we watched a slide show of our first two months. Before we actually got off the bus to go through security we had a little briefing...we were reminded to behave, told to stay downstairs, and then the greatest part. That if we break a plate or anything that they all have to be inventoried and we CAN NOT hide or just clean it up. They are state plates. And they were fancy. Everything had the US Government seal on it.

With the American Ambassador to Belize!

Best Blogger, Best Storyteller, and Most Likely to Make a Peace Corps Baby!

Today we disburse all over the country to our respective sites. We will be able to see everyone again in a month but until then it is time for some real work...as VOLUNTEERS!

Short Stories from our Short Site Visit

First Week in our Future Site:
We have definitely stepped through the looking glass here in Belize. So as you already know it started in training. My host sister is Alyssa and my real sister is Kaylyssa. My host mom is Alberta and my real father in law is Albert. Get ready for this…my new host sister is named RAVINA! Ravina is a little younger than Kaylyssa and has two very cute boys with her husband Ovidio. Oh and one last thing, my new host niece turned 10 the day after Alyssa! Through the looking glass I tell you!


Our sweet mini house we have all to ourselves...a typical breakfast in mini america.

Host

Greg usually beats me home from school and one afternoon he was waiting for me with 4 young kids with eager faces. Huh. He started to call to me immediately to check out the cows. What could cows possibly be doing to cause such frenzy in Greg, and most of all the kids who have grown up with the cows? As I started to walk closer Greg got that look on his face he always gets when he tells me a lie, or I am falling for one. I began to get skeptical and around that time I noticed all the kids are not looking into the field but the ground. Where I quickly notice a huge abnormality…a 7 FOOT BOA CONSTRICTOR!!!!! The snake has been killed and there is a notable bulge in its midsection…most likely a chicken. We all stand around, hands on our hips (even the little kids) admiring the huge snake right out of the movies. Later the crowd grows as we drag it up the yard for futre transport. Everyone mainly stands around…a few toes cautiously tap at the large bulge as we discuss how rare it is to see one of this size let alone at all here in Belize. Apparently boas are not that common here and it is quite the conversation starter. After about 20 minutes Ovidio picks it up by the rope and coils it into a large bucket to take it away for disposal. And that was our first encounter with a reptile (other than the copious lizards of course).

We don’t get cell phone reception in either of our villages. There is one way to get it however…by climbing the big hill and holding the phone straight up with speaker phone. This is exactly what we did after our first few days. It was really funny talking to my sister and mom and having to pause as the trucks went by since we were standing on the side of the highway after all. The view is spectacular…jungle as far as the eye can see in every direction. When we passed over the hill at night we found out that you can see the little clusters of light in the jungle that represents the different villages. They did build a huge beautiful new cell phone tower, but it is only for BTL and we have SMART so it is no good. We will probably buy a BTL phone soon though. They had a promotion where you could trade in you SMART phone and get 25 dollars credit in town and my host mom said the line was out into the street! This is the first time there has been reception in the village and it is changing the world here! Just a side note: there are NO cell phone ‘plans’ everyone buys phone cards and that is the only way to do it here in Belize. It is common to hear someone asking if someone has credit so they could make a quick call, or call me back because I’m almost out of credit!

Greg, or Greger as one kid calls him, came home with a funny story of a little girl. He was on the bus home and a little girl found a world map in her textbook (most classrooms in Belize only have a Belizean map…sort of like the Truman Show). So this little girl is looking at it and she points to Canada. She turns to Greg and says, “what village is here?”

Greg's school

We were supposed to go to this all day chess symposium our first weekend. There was a miscommunication and our ride came so late we had already gone back to bed. But I do want to tell you about our hour wait in the dark, in the rain. This is not a complaining story; I actually had a lot of fun. We got up at 3:30, dressed and put on our raincoats and got our umbrellas. There is a large fence around our shop and we had to go through the little person-sized gate by the old water pump. We walked in the quiet rain through the mud and clumsily unlocked the gate and ducked through. We took our time heading down the muddy hill and then set up camp along the side of the road. It was cold and rainy, which we were enjoying. We were both in a pretty giggly mood and Greg started talking some nonsense about, “wouldn’t it be crazy if there was an alternative universe where people wore their clothes wet, and they would quickly go hang them up when it started to rain?” I just stare and respond with hysterical laughter that, “yes Greg that would be crazy.” After about half an hour (our ride said he would be there between 4:15 and 4:30 and it is now 4:45) we start to get bored. We both find ourselves watching the refreshing stream of clear water flow by in the street. We start to push little pebbles into it with our toes admiring the new currents they create. Then without either of us really talking we silently start to make a little damn. We get quite into this, actually picking up the rocks to arrange them just so. We stand up and look at our mini creation…pleased. After another 20 minutes we both spy a dime sized green bug desperately climbing up the few blades of grass to get out of the water. Only to collapse back towards the water as his weight gets too heavy for the height. We quickly decide to build him a damn for him. After several, somewhat forceful attempts, to get him to use the damn Greg picks him up and takes him to the grass. It was 5:15…we conclude our ride is not coming and we go in slightly disappointed but still giggly.

Since we weren’t going to the chess symposium we decided to go to market in town. We proceeded to see every white person AKA all the volunteers and it was a great mini reunion. We ended up in a small restaurant that has $3 fried chicken plates with fries, talking about tortillas. Which were harder, the different ways to make them (on plastics or not) and the much talked about, finicky corn tortillas. I really liked hearing about everyone’s sites and what they’ve been doing. I bought a notebook and we left.

Rayar's 3rd Birthday

Lubantun ‘Archeological Site’ (formally known as Lubantun Ruins):
Greg’s Principal, Vice Principal, several teachers, and the Chairman and his wife took us to Lubantun archeological site. These are pretty well known in the world because one of the three crystal skulls was found here!! There were all sorts of articles about it, and how it has never been kept here in Belize since its discovery and now resides in Indiana of all places. It has a moveable jaw and was sculpted using sand and water only. The ruins were much different than the ones we saw the first week we were here. These were not as spread out, and the rocks were held together by nothing more than force. This site is being reconstructed which means they number all the stones and then dismantle and restack the stones neatly like it was all those years ago. They don’t know much about what was done at this site due to the lack of inscriptions or stellas depicting what went on. They have found lots of figurines and these little one tune flutes hypothesized to have been used for communication over far distances.
There had been a bad storm the night before; so bad that I woke Greg up because I was so scared. I usually never get scared but this thunder sounded like it was right on top of us. It was almost like it was bouncing off the mountains to make it extra loud. Unlike any storm I’ve been in before the thunder went on, back to back, for three hours! I just stared out my window for a half an hour at the light show. We noticed the effects as we passed over extremely swollen rivers and streams to get to the ruins and also when we discovered a huge fallen tree in the middle of one section of ruins! Oh and the newly turned on cell phone tower was no longer transmitting…2 days of glory. Around this area we saw a whole bunch of cahoon nuts. We found these at the other site also and Greg proceeded to try to crack one open. The ladies started laughing and wouldn’t tell us why. Finally the guide said it was due to a saying that when cracking the cahoon nut one must always watch out for the other ‘nut’. The cahoon is actually quite slippery when hit with a rock and has been known to shoot out when it’s struck…good to know.
After our tour we headed up to the Vice Principal’s farm. He had a newly thatched structure that had several hammocks hanging with a perpetually cool breeze. They immediately began macheting coconuts and we all drank and ate our coconuts while having a good time joking around. Then they brought out the most amazing BBQ, with beans, potato salad, coleslaw and lime juice to drink. We all devoured our food then we got cake and fruit as desert. We stayed far later than was expected and we only left when one teacher pleaded for all of us to go so that she wouldn’t miss her bus that was coming in a few minutes. It was really fun and Greg’s counterparts are very funny.

Monday was a holiday…Pan American Day (formally known as Columbus Day) and we spent the morning being taken around my village getting introduced to all the important people; the Chairman, the Alcalde, PTA chairman, leader of the Baptist church, leader of the Catholic church who is also the water board chairman, our host family, the main shops, and the other side roads and where they lead. It was a great morning and everyone was very nice. Several people were already ‘at plantation’ which means they’re working on the farm (think back to Greg’s story).
That evening we went in town to cheer on our host sister at her team’s first competitive game! They have played the other team before and lost 7 nil. We saw several people we know there and they all kind of did a double take since we walked in with a kid on both our hips and one following. The head of the Red Cross recognized us and was shocked that in one week we already had two kids! We were watching Ravina’s kids since she was playing and our host mom and brother were working the door. The game was very exciting, dogs would periodically run across the field, the wall was covered with kids watching the game for free and our team even scored a goal!! The final score was 5-1. I even saw the preschool teacher from my school with her husband and son. The next day at work she told my principal that she was ‘at the game with Peace Corps.’ In the villages we are not Peace Corps volunteers we are the Peace Corps. We are constantly introduced as, “hi, this is Kevina she is the Peace Corps” or “hi this is Greg he is the new Peace Corps.”

Xik
My second day at school I kept hearing the same Ketchi word, xik (pronounced shick). I would just kind of smile and go about my business hoping that they weren’t making fun of me or saying a rude comment. I came home and asked Greg if he knew what it meant but I forgot exactly what they were saying and got nowhere. The next day I heard it again. It is said over and over. I hear it being whispered as children would run or walk past me during break. Even the preschool kids would just stare at me with their big brown eyes and just say…”xik” while smiling. I go home determined; I wrote it down this time. Now I have heard and used this word before as in ‘xik que’ or ‘I am going’ but I could not see how it could make sense in this usage. The first thing I did when I got home was to run to my Ketchi language guide. I flip to the back where the Ketchi to English dictionary is (there is no English to Ketchi part…which would have been extremely helpful in more than one occasion). I quickly turn to the x page when I realize I grabbed my book which is missing a page of the dictionary. Only half of the last column of x’s was printed. Great where is Greg’s?
At last I find it…xik- to go, or ear/earring. It all becomes clear. I have been wearing my watermelon earrings and they were all talking about them! I come back the next day prepared. As soon as someone said it I quickly pointed to my earring and said ‘sentil’ xik’ or ‘watermelon earring’ and the kids became quite excited whispering to each other. Since then I’ve been throwing in the few ketchi words I’ve learned and they kids all get really excited when I do this and the ask me to, “speak ketchi again!”

My libary...well soon to be. Below: the kids at break.

Greg saves the day:
Our first week in our new sites I am surprised to see another volunteer walk into my school! It’s Tracy from the neighboring village and she’s come to ask if I could look at their internet. They have a whole computer lab which recently had the internet reconnected and they can’t open a page. Sure I’ll look at it. So we all hop in the vehicle and I see the beautiful village about 4 miles past the end of mine and it is gorgeous. We pass over a huge river and there are rolling mountains covered in jungle. The town’s houses are sprinkled all over the little rolling hills. We pull up to the computer lab and I do what I know how to do. I try the simple repair, nope. I disconnect and reconnect the modem. I reenter the IP address. Nothing…I refer them to Greg, disappointed in myself. I forgot! I forgot the final step…RESTART THE COMPUTER. So after I was dropped off Greg was then picked up and lo and behold he just turns on the computer and the internet magically works. Everyone asked, “what you do??!” Greg allowed them to believe it was his magic touch and we was named the hero of town. He was treated to lunch, given fresh mango shake, and copious amounts of fruits to take home for saving the day. I’m not bitter. I’m not. Nope.

Neighborhood watch-Belize
I am the secretary for our neighborhood watch. Yup. So here’s how things went down:
There was a murder of a shop owner in our village last month. Since then the community has wanted to do something to make this the safe village it once was…hence neighborhood watch. We’ve seen the signs for it on the shop doors but we hadn’t heard anything until Wednesday when we found out there was going to be a meeting on Thursday! Oh man we’re there! Once at the community center we walk in to see the superintendent of police sitting at the table! The Chairman is also there along with the previous secretary. There are 56 people there, the center is packed and outside of each window (which is not actually a window but a hole with a wooden shutter that is closed when the building is not in use) there are 4 to 7 heads peering in. The minutes of the last meeting are read in depth and then right after the meeting begins the secretary puts the notepad in front of the chairman and goes to sit down. Okay, so who wants to be the new secretary? It is just like any classroom; everyone is adverting their eyes, or calling out names of others. My host mom is nominated, but she declines. Then the old secretary says, “what about peace corps?” There you have it.
The meeting was mainly about electing these special constables who will be trained(2 days) and sworn in from the community to serve as unpaid police. They get id badges, uniforms, and the right to arrest (with force when necessary). They will be patrolling the village until ‘all the bad men run out of town.’ The meeting went back and forth from English to Kriol and thank god I am starting to be able to understand most of it now. We concluded with a date set for the next meeting where the special constables will be sworn in and then we will discuss neighborhood watch. Also, I guess I will have to read the previous minutes…fun.

Fajina (fa-hee-na)
It’s 6:30 and we’re finally on bikes (after a stressful morning trying to organize two bikes with non-flat tires) on our way to my village for the Fajina. This is when all the men come together and ‘chop’ all the community spaces to clean the village. Everyone must come or they pay a fine. My village is off the main highway and once you turn on the gravel road there are several hills before you start to see thatch houses and people. As we get closer we start to see more men walking with machetes in the road. In Belize we pronounce the word ‘ma-chet’ just so you know. We notice a large group of men gathered at the community center all taking different positions to best sharpen their machetes. We are sweating horribly from the bike ride and we awkwardly stand around debating whether or not to take out the machete from the bike, we decide to do so. Now, who should hold it? Greg should. We stand for a while and since everyone is sharpening I urge Greg to sharpen the machete too, you know to blend in. He starts to sharpen it and I am nervously looking around…now we just stand out more since Greg’s technique is…well…different. Now I ask him to stop. Finally a villager comes near us and we begin to talk. He thinks it is good that we’re here to help and we make some jokes about our dull machete and then we stand around some more. One of the teachers at my school shows up and we jump on the chance to stand with someone we know. We walk over and stand with him, there’s little small talk or any talking at all really so we all just stand around looking at our machetes. The Chairman and Alcalda (the village police) come over. At precisely 7:00, with the rhythmic metallic sound of 30 machetes being sharpened, the chairman silently gestures with his machete and the crowd begins to move.
This is perhaps my favorite part. It is very similar to the last performance in a musical where the main characters begin to sing in the street. Our main characters are the Chairman, the Alcalde and some of the elders of the village. They lead the way, and just like in any good musical as we pass each yard two or more men emerge from their yards to silently join in the machete musical. We have a crowd of about 40 by the time we get to the shop by my school where about 20 men are handing out with their machetes. We obviously sand out like sore thumbs, especially me being the only female. One of the men jokingly asks if I want to borrow a machete (Greg and I could only scrounge up one so we were just going to share). The little crowd starts to chuckle and everyone is staring at us. I stop and turn and excitingly and ask if he really has an extra. He is enthusiastic as he answers yes and I quickly say that yes I would love to borrow one. His eyes take on a skeptical look and he asks, with a cocked head, weather I’ve ever used a machete before. “I’ve practiced.” I lie. That is unless you count the one swing I took right before we left…how hard could it be? We walk over and he sends a girl to run and grab it. He introduces himself and we explain who we are and everyone seems to be pleased that we came. After a few more thank yous we rejoin the seemingly unending brigade of men with machetes.
The crowd is pretty quiet and when we reach the football field, which marks the end of the village, we see the chairman silently delegating zones with subtle swings of his machete. Very unceremoniously we take our first real swings with our machetes. I start with a patch of knee high grass. I swing and little has changed…the grass looks untouched, I swing a few more times, with my machete pounding the ground when I don’t get low to angle myself to deliver a horizontal swing. I stand up…my hand is shaking, my forearm is burning. I am reminded of the extreme joy I used to take in mowing the grass back in the states. When we had a yard I took great pleasure in mowing the yard, the monotonous labor with such neat and satisfying results. A slight panic overtakes me, “HOW DO THEY DO THIS!” Okay, some deep breaths and I’m back at it. I glance over at Greg to see the grass flying like everyone else. “I can do this” and I get back to work on the little section around me. There are about 6 men in our area around a shelter. As I keep going I start to get the feel of it. The trick is to swing it just like you’re serving in racket ball except with your back at a 45% angle. I get it right and now things are happening. I come out of my chopping trance to the realization that I am very near to a machete massacre! There are three other men hacking away in very close proximity to each other AND ME! I quickly retreat to the road. Greg joins me after there is no work left and we follow one man who is heading to another group of men further away. They are hacking at quite a large field of waist to chest high jungle. As we walk through the yards I hear “Kevina!” “Kevina!” “Miss Kevina!” from different houses. It is all the students and they are eagerly waving and saying good morning. Some are just staring at me with confused faces.

This is when things really start to happen. Greg and I are now taking down some serious jungle. The satisfying ‘shhhhik shhhhik shhhhik’ of machetes can be heard throughout the village. I get a new rhythm. I chop while pivoting slightly after each swing clearing a semi circle. Then I advance a step and take my semicircle out another two feet. I have a lovely circle of about 7 ft in diameter. No one is laughing at us; no one came up to give us pointers. And in less than an hour we’re done. We briefly visit with the woman we’ll be renting from when we move to my village and they we say our hurried goodbyes to go to the church in Greg’s village to help them board the kitchen they thatched last week. One bike has a blown tire so it is decided Greg will ride ahead (since it is ‘his’ village) and I will join whenever I walk the 3 miles back. About 40 minutes into my walk I see Greg. No one’s at the church and we find out from the chairman of Greg’s village that they will board the kitchen sometime after lunch…Thank god. We go home and proceed to sleep an unmoving sleep until lunchtime.