Still Cool on Day 77!

My teacher tells me that we should be counting our blessings because the dry season has not yet hit in full force. So far, it’s stayed around 30 degrees and is quite tolerable. We’ve only had a couple days when we’ve been sweaty disasters. On those days the kids are so irritable and uncomfortable that it makes life miserable for everyone. Supposedly by now Belize is usually at least 10 degrees hotter. We’re thankful for the cool weather!

Last week on Friday we went to visit a small school in Punta Gorda called St. Benedicts. This school only has 3 classes in it: infant one, infant two, and standard one. These little guys were so cute and they absolutely loved all of the stories that we read to them. They were crazy about the Robert Munsch books that we brought, and their teachers confirmed that they’re quite the little bookworms. So at first it was great and we were having fun, but within a couple hours, Katie and I were extremely happy that we were not doing our practicum with the little ones. Wow do they ever have a lot of energy! They were constantly on the go and dealing with those children is a lot different than dealing with the age group that we have at St. Peter Claver. I feel like teachers at the lower level still talk to their students in what I would call a ‘baby voice’. I can only sustain that for so long. Anyways, it was a great learning experience and I can honestly say that the teachers at that school are inspiring. They work very hard for those kids and have the most patience I have ever seen! Melissa was quite keen on the little ones so who knows, maybe she’ll look for a kindergarten position once we graduate, but Katie and I will stick to the older ones! The above picture is the kids working in the garden that their school has built. The school only has about 75 students in it.

To the left is a picture of one of my physical education classes. The kids are rather hectic during these classes because they only get to have PE once a week. My class always wants football games to be boys against girls, and since there are many more boys than girls, I decided to help the girls out on this particular day. We still lost.

The picture to the right is actually one that I meant to put up last time, but forgot. It is the one of my class in their Charlotte spider caps that we made. They still enjoy attempting to wear them during class time.

The picture below is the sports complex where basketball games are played every Friday night. They aren't quite the same as the Pronghorns' games, but they do require police supervision because the crowd tends to get a little rowdy. It's usually not the men either. It's the women creating the ruckus!