If I don't laugh, I'll cry

While I have done both this week, I am reminded by my wonderful, and extremely supportive family and friends that laughing is the better option. An incident happened last week that triggered "culture shock" to hit full force. I didn't think I was going to experience culture shock, as I have been fortunate enough to travel and experience different cultures quite a bit in my life. It wasn't until I went to the San Ignacio Resort last weekend, that made me realize why this trip felt so different, and a possible explanation for some of my shock. When I walked into the resort, it was air conditioned, had beautiful tile floors, was very clean, had a large swimming pool with beautiful lush trees surrounding it, I heard and saw other Americans, the list goes on and on. I think what I'm trying to say is I saw luxury, which not to sound like a snob, reminds me of the vacations I have taken in the past. While the place I'm living is nice, it's quite different than any other experience I have ever had. I am living like a local in a third world country--and to be frank, it's for the birds! But, for the time being I have to become a bird, and will have to learn to fly with the set of wings I've been given. = )

So, back to incident that led to my day from hell. I believe in my last post I mentioned that the kids were a bit rowdy. In fact, I think they should rename recess to who can hit who the hardest and the quickest. It was the end of the day, class had been dismissed. I had stayed after to speak with my Collaborating Teacher about some of the frustrations I was having both behaviorally and academically with this challenging class I have been assigned to. We were in the middle of a conversation when a little girl came running over to us saying, "my brother, my brother" and pointed to the door. My teacher rushed over and I was right behind her. Before I could see what was wrong, she told me to go back to the desk and get water and lots of paper towels. When I met her back at the doorway I saw a group of students surrounding a little boy who was crying, trembling with fear, with blood spewing from his head. A wave of nausea quickly came over me, so before I passed out I decided to run to the Principal's office to get some help. He rushed back to the class with me, looked at the boy and calmly said, "OK, we will need to call his mom". I was thinking the ambulance would have been more appropriate, but I later learned they will only call the ambulance if it is fatal. I worked on shooing the kids away from the little boy, while my teacher continued to try and stop the bleeding from the boy's head. After about 5 minutes, the bleeding slowed down, and my teacher had his sister (who is in my class and the reason he was waiting outside our classroom) hold towels on his head while he laid down to wait for his mom. My teacher went off to figure out how this incident happened, while I sat with the little boy and rubbed his back and tried to be of some comfort to him until his mom arrived. We found out a girl from our class was playing one of their after school favorites "stoning". Yes, it is what it sounds like. Picking up stones and chucking them at each other. She was aiming for another boy in my class, but missed him and hit this poor little boy right on the side of his head not far from his temple. The Principal spoke with her briefly, asked that her mom come to speak with him in the morning and then sent her home. That was the extent of her punishment, I thought it was a little light. I asked the Principal if they ever suspended students but he told me they only suspend students for more serious things like drinking on campus or robbing classrooms. While this same thing could have happened in the States, I think what was so strange and what bothered me so much was the lack of urgency and how unimportant this situation was made to seem. I was told that Belize had that Central American, laid-back attitude, apparently it applies to everything. So, that was my day from hell and what jump started my culture shock. Thankfully, the little boy was fine. He had to get a few stitches, but was back to school after the weekend.

Sweet boy who was hurt, and his sister who is in my class

I have had to give myself a bit of a slap in the face, and realize that I am going to experience and see things that I wouldn't usually see for the next 4 months, and that if I don't learn to love the good AND the bad, I'm not going to make it. So, since I can't change anything that has or will happen, I've decided to change the one thing I can, my attitude. (Attitude is everything, right Mom?!)
Here are a few examples of times I've cried/cringed/wanted to pack my bags laughed:

*When a lizard crawled out of the teachers bathroom (which is a glorified outhouse) as I was walking in

*When a boy came crying to my teacher pointing to a boy in our class who had just locked him in the bathroom stall until someone else came to his rescue a half hour later-- this one's probably my personal favorite, I had to look to the back of the room so the kids wouldn't see me laughing

*When I walked up to a group of giggling students during church service, a boy in their pew had caught a fly by its wings and was swirling it around the other students' heads

*When I turned around in the middle of a lesson to see not one, but two students with pencils up both of their nostrils (sound familiar Grandma??)

*When I bit (here they don't peel oranges, you bite it and suck the juice out) into an orange my teacher had just purchased for me, and to my surprise had some SPICY pepper sprinkled on top-- we both got a good laugh from my reaction

*During health class the teacher asked class for a list of "other animals eaten by humans" some of the responses were: sheep, iguana, crocodile eggs, turtle, and armadillo -- hopefully none of these things have been slipped into my meals that I thought were so delicious!

I could go on and on, but I'll stop there for now.

Since my last post I have been on a few adventures. Last weekend we went to a Maya site (we learned it is incorrect to call them Mayan ruins) it was fascinating but also terrifying, as it was a very steep and narrow climb. A fear of heights is just one of the many wonderful traits I inherited from the Schaedel side. But hey, no sense in being a Schaedel if you don't show it! We went to the casino this weekend at one of the resorts, very nice and it has air conditioning, so I plan to go back! And, last night we attended my host mom's Grandmother's 100th birthday party. The party was an all day event, started at 3pm at a church where there was a service given in Spanish. Aside from me not understanding any of it, the other difference I noticed was that they had steel drums and xylophones apposed to an organ. It sounded beautiful though.

Xunantunich (shoo-NAHN-too-nich)

The Centurion with the Priest

Strange looking thing that a man got inside of and danced around in at the party

I have and I am continuing to learn a lot since I've been here. One thing I've learned is how it feels to be the "outsider" in someone else's country. I can now have some understanding of how kids must feel when they move to the States and are expected to adapt so quickly. It is hard, and takes time, and I have it easy because I am in an English speaking country. While this is an English speaking country, Creole is what is spoken most often. I am understanding the accent/phrases more and more each day. Here are a few examples of some of the sayings:
*A full stop = a period
*Every Friday is called rags, kids can come dressed out of their uniforms and have to pay $.50

*I've been told by a little girl, "The barbie from the cartoons...you look like she"

*A folder sheet = a plain piece of notebook paper
*There are several types of chicken here: fry chicken, bake chicken or stew chicken

*The "th" sound is replaced with "ch", three = chree
*"Right now" can mean right this very second, or in five minutes you never know
*Is is out of respect that kids call their teacher, "Miss". I would be willing to bet I hear it close to 500 times a day. Miss is used before, during and after a child is speaking to the teacher. Other teachers even call each other miss. When students are referring to their teacher they say "my miss", cutest thing ever! One of my favorites (of course teacher's don't have those!) offered to show me a place my teacher recommended I have lunch. I thought I was going to get get my food to go, but when we got there he told the cook, "I brought my miss to eat lunch with me". My heart melted just a little, and we sat at the little hut and ate lunch together.

Love this! Got a little teary eyed the first time I heard them recite it

The classroom sink

A little bit more on the people of Belize while we are on that subject. There is not one race or ethnicity here in Belize. It seems like most people are a mix of some sort. White, or lighter skinned people are referred to as "clear". While I am sure it exists, racism doesn't seem to be an issue here. My teacher gave me the run down on the different groups of people who live here:
*Creoles- a mix of African and any other race
*Mestizo- a mix of Spanish and Maya blood
*Garifunas- people of African decent
*East Indians- people who descended from India
There is also a large Mennonite and Asian population here, most of the convenience stores are run by Asian people.

One last thing: dogs should be banned from this country!! There are stray dogs everywhere and they feel very comfortable with my discomfort, whether it's walking with me on the street, or attempting to join me at a sit down restaurant. 

This is Rocky, the dog that stays outside of the house where I am living and enjoys barking at all hours of the night. Needless to say, I have learned to love sleeping with my iPod in. We also have Piegons that keep us company in the walls surrounding us in the attic. Fun times!

Now that I have taken up half of your day reading this, I will let you all go. I will try to post more often so I don't have so much to write all at once. Take care until then.