Kaylyssa: Round 2
December 22-January 4th
*Mrs. Cecilia mumbles in Ketchi
“My mom says Kaylyssa looks more thin than last time.” –Lynette
“Yes Keveen. Maybe too much study?” –Mrs. Cecilia
Christmas eve:
On Christmas eve we had a busy day. We were invited to eat lunch at the Baptist church. Everyone commented on how ‘saq’ or white kaylyssa was and they stood quietly as we ate our beans. Kaylyssa unfortunately had to walk by a freshly slaughtered pig on this trip but handled it well. It was raining and cold and it was nice to eat warm spicy beans with the fire hearth crackling. We stopped to visit the pastor’s preemie baby. Even getting to hold the little (by then 5 pound) baby, who is doing well and growing bigger every day.
We watched the Grinch at the library during the holiday hours. Mrs. Venessa made holiday hats for the kids with leftover streamer from the inauguration. The children made bookmarks out of the scraps of poster board leftover from printing the report cards.
In the afternoon we headed over to George’s house. We were immediately served coke and cake, as we sat talking about the olden days with two of my teachers. We dabbled in a little ‘day-light dancing’ until the speakers blew. We ate tamales; kaylyssa would eat the corn meal part then hand the lump of meat over to me. She started to tear up when she realized as I uncovered one piece that she had been eating around a foot.
Attempts were made at singing karaoke on the small speakers but alas, George was not satisfied and repeatedly reminisced on how loud and good the new ones were. For dinner we got baked chicken with mashed potatoes! Kaylyssa got a huge bowl of potatoes and a huge bowl of cucumber salad!
“I have 800 songs…in English and Spanish. Now…they are only dreams.” –George over the busted speakers and consequently the lack of karaoke.
“Oh! Oh! And we got that movie…you know, ‘the bells, the bells, oooooh the bells.’” –Me
“It’s a wonderful life?” –Kaylyssa
Lazy day of watching movies on Christmas. We didn’t have then energy to go where we were invited so we just laid about watching movies into the night. We opened our presents in the morning and all tried some of kaylyssa’s salami looking plum circles I found in Chinese shop in Belize. Lots of kids came over and at night we watched ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and made popcorn and had a little mini sleepover!
Top 5 Reasons to Love a Belizean Christmas
5. Children will sit in silence watching your Christmas tree
4. Family and food rule the season! (If gifts are given they are practical; clothes, soap, shoes)
3. Mr. and MRS! Clause have full face, abominable snow man beards
2. Santa comes to the village each Christmas eve with an exercise book for every child (Santa being a man raised in Silver Creek who has done well for himself and has no children of his own)
1. The song, ‘Laughing Santa’ the entire song of jingle bells done just with santa laughing.
We went on a visiting walk one day just stopping at houses as we saw fit, holding babies and passing out pictures kaylyssa got printed in the states. We were having such a great day, and the weather was so nice that we decided to keep walking all the way to Big Falls and eat our lunch at the one restaurant there…Coleman’s! As we were walking out of the village each house would echo with calls of, “bye miss kevina, bye Mr. Greg” Over and over until we passed out of site. As we passed one house the boys called out, “Bye Greg! Bye Miss Kevina!.....Bye…SISTER!” We laughed so hard.
The day after Christmas I couldn’t take it anymore. I texted letticia that we wanted to meet with her father about Barsi (Dobby). Dobby was their dog, a hunting dog, and she’s been effectively ours for some time. Anyway… she said her father wasn’t home but that we could meet with her mother. We went over and the feeling was quite formal. After an awkward moment, after greg and I were brought chairs and given bowls of coffee, I began.
“It looks like Greg really loves Barsi,” I said.
“Oooh, uh huh.” They replied.
“He even wants to carry Barsi home when we go back to the states.” I venture.
“UH huh?” their faces displaying shock, most likely thinking who would go through all this trouble for a Belizean ‘pot licker.’
“We were wondering if you would let us have her, we want to give a lee stipend for she.” There I said it.
“Oh I don’t know Keveen, maybe it’s okay keveen.” Mrs. Florintina replied.
After some more convincing the deal was finally agreed upon. Barsi was bought for 20 bucks (10 USD) and her first born son. After it was settled Greg showed them how she can sit and shake. They were delighted and said how Barsi is getting smart and that Greg must have too much time. After making her perform her tricks (to the giggles and hoots of the onlookers) one last time we walked home with our dog, big smiles on the faces of both parties. The transaction was a success! Barsi (AKA Dobby) was now officially ours. We henceforth christen her:
Barsi Dobby Choco-Casaletto
This leads me to a top 5 countdown…top 5 names for a dog in the village:
Top 5 Dog Names
5. Max
4. Browny
3. Whity
2. Blacky
1. Spotty
This time in the village it was decided, for the most part, that we, “do not favor each other.” Although interestingly last trip the first thing out of peoples mouths when we visited was, “but you favor each other!” Perhaps I’m becoming too Indian?
On the bus kaylyssa saw a boy crying. A woman sitting across from him without looking just handed him a grape (a rare delicacy here since they are about 12 dollars a pound). The boy instantly stopped crying and began to slowly nibble at the unexpected treat.
On our second leg of the vacation, the tourist leg, we got invited to an ‘outdoor whisper party’ by a couple of Irishmen, went snorkeling (kaylyssa’s first time), and got addicted to a TV show called…oddly enough, ‘My Strange Addiction.” We came in third place two times at trivia winning 30 dollars off our tabs, and had a 4 hour dinner on the beach, Fran’s Fast Food.
We’ll end with one more Top 5.
Top 5 Best Play on Words
5. UnBELIZEable
4. You better BELIZE it!
3. I can’t BELIZE my eyes!
2. BELIZE it or not!
1. Don’t stop BELIZEan!
