by Tiffany Kelly, 6-month Caribbean Immersion team member
Five months down and 1 to go, the 6-month Caribbean Immersion team is finishing up their journey in the small Caribbean-coasted country of Belize.
We arrived safely in Belize about four weeks ago! Our time here will be split between a small village called Seven Miles and a larger town called San Ignacio.
A snapshot so far of life in Seven Miles:
- We attend church five days a week...and twice on Sundays. All in Spanish.
- We run into our host sisters on the street and join the soccer game they've been playing with a dried coconut shell.
- We catalog/organize books for the library. The students think we're translating them into Spanish.
- We stop at "the shop" for some Coke where it is promptly taken from the bottle and poured into a bag with a straw for our walking convenience.
- We eat three meals a day, where there is never a shortage of tortillas or frijoles.
- We yell "chucho" to random dogs and see how many follow us.
- We hike for three hours in the Mayan mountains to see the 1,000 foot waterfall. We barely make it crawling up rocks while my host sisters do it barefoot.
- We learn how to make (and break) hammocks.
- We scream when our family's turkey comes near us but someone always runs to the rescue and chases it away.
My host family is originally from Guatemala but moved here about ten years ago. Spanish is mostly spoken, but they teach English in school, so most school-aged children know English. Which is convenient because I have ten siblings ranging from two to twenty-four and my host parents don't speak English.
Understandably, meal times are pretty hectic for our family of twelve (fourteen including Emma and I). Often more times than not something gets spilled or Mariela is upset because she doesn't like beans. If Cesia, who is younger, gets her food before Flora then there is a major problem. Emma and I may drink all of the juice before Elvia, Lucia, Juan or Marlon get some which may result in us lovingly being called pigs. Samuel, the baby, always samples off of everyone's plate and if Daniel isn't feeling extremely generous with the portions then there is sure to be tears. But every time, host mom shakes her head with a huge smile on her face, laughing at the beautiful chaos that is our family. She knows that Rosario can only eat one tortilla. Rosario might cry and cry begging for another one, but mama knows best. We may beg and beg and beg Jesus to provide things we think we need or remove us out of situations we think we don't belong in, but He knows best.
Final thought: At first I thought my host siblings were joking when they told me about "tigers" because obviously there are no tigers in Central America. However, Belize is one of the last remaining natural habitats of Jaguars, commonly known to the locals as "tigers." ...thankfully haven't run into one yet.
LEARN MORE | Apply now to join an IMMERSION team this fall or in 2016!
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