Countdown - 34, 33, 32!

In 32 days, March 22nd we will leave Chapel Hill to fly to Dallas. In 33 days we'll have our Peace Corps staging (pre-departure orientation) meeting, about a half-day of meeting the other volunteers headed for Belize and preparation for our project. In just 34 days, we fly out at the crack of dawn to Belize!

We have received several letters and emails from Belize PC management, just chock full of information. Here's what we know:

• Our training class consists of 17 Business and Organizational Strengthening (“BusOrg”) trainees, 11 Healthy Environments trainees (that's us), and 10 Education trainees. 
• We'll spend one week in Belmopan, the capital, meeting with Programming and Training Staff and with the Medical, Safety, and Administrative Staff as well.
• Ha! We'll be learning either Kriol or Spanish - so maybe I should have stuck with the Spanish study ...
• After one week, we head with our Healthy Environments counterparts to the Community-Based Training (CBT), and we won't know where that is till the day before or so. The furthest distance we'll be from Belmopan is 1.5 hours (by bus), so worst case scenario, we'll have to travel that far to get to the Internet. I'm thinking it's likely we'll have local access.
• We'll move in with our host families (don't know if Steve and I will be with the same family - probably not). We can take only one suitcase and a backpack. Other luggage will stay at the PC office in Belmopan.  OK - FIRST hardship.  
• CBT lasts two months and we will learn language, culture, project content (they call it project technical training) and interact like crazy with the local people, especially our host families. Once a week we head back for one day in Belmopan for safety and health, volunteer policy, stuff that affects all of us.
• After CBT, assuming we "pass," we'll be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers and receive our assignments.
• We move to the location of the assignment and move in with a NEW host family (now here I really gotta hope that Steve and I get to share!) with whom we will stay for 2 more months.

That's what we know so far from their letters, as far as the sequence of things goes. I believe that they keep a lot of information back, especially location-type info, for safety reasons.  

Actually the letters have given us very detailed information on many topics, but I'm just listing these few things.  I'm trying to think of what questions I've had while going through this process.  I figure it might help someone else who's interested.

We have also received information for mail, telephone, and other communication opportunities which I will share with family and friends through email.  

Suffice it to say, we are shifting gears and ramping up for the big exodus. Steve is really busy making those lists and carrying out the to-dos on the lists. Once in awhile he hands me something to do, but he's been great about thinking through all the what-ifs and scenarios so we don't forget something - well, so we don't forget too much.  

We're EXCITED!

Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day.  Since we're planning to leave our wedding rings in storage while we're gone, we knew that we wanted to get new inexpensive rings so we still look married!  We thought that today would be a good day to make the purchase.

Two old geezers with new rings

These are silver.  Maybe once we're in Belize, we'll get rings like the Belizeans wear or some that are handmade by a Belizean.

No flies (or mosquitoes) on me!

We carried most of the clothes that we intend to wear in Belize over to Greensboro yesterday, gave them to a friend from high school, Pell.  Pell is arranging with his friend, Richard, to have them treated with "permanent" insect repellent.  Richard's business has clients like LL Bean, Orvis, etc., and he's fitting in our lot of clothing between runs for those big customers.

Permethrin (for all you chemistry nerds out there)

The product used is Permethrin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin, and you can buy it to spray on your clothing from WalMart and other places.  Treated that way it will last only a little while.

http://www.insectshield.com/OurTechnology/TechnologyContent.aspx

Richard invented a way to heat set the Permethrin into the fabric permanently (sorta - lasts maybe 70 washings or so).  Check out his website, link above, and consider buying products treated with Insect Shield.  It's good stuff!

We are SO grateful!  Thank you, Pell and Richard :--)

Great Resources

'Tis the last day of January, and we have spent the month trying to learn as much as we can about our assignment and the country of Belize.  How did we ever function without the Internet and email??  Here are a few of the sources we were lucky enough to find.

Mallory's Blog - Belize It or Not - mallorybegley.blogspot.com
Mallory is a PCV in Belize right now.  She arrived last March, so she's one year ahead of us.  Her blog is an excellent read, lots of information about the lifestyle of a (young) PCV, the food, the outdoors recreation opportunities, the hazards (lots of critters - rats, big biting lizards, roaches, spiders, bats).  If you take the time to read some entries, you'll really get to know her and you'll feel like you're right there beside her in all her adventures. VERY descriptive and energetic writing style.

One of the most important things we learned from her blog is that we will probably NOT be using Spanish down there.  We WILL be learning Kriol (their spelling), and it's pretty easy 'cause it's English Creole, not French.  If we go to the southern part of the country, we will learn some dialect of Mayan.  So I've stopped my Spanish lessons; Steve continues because he doesn't have as much of a background as I do.

We wrote to Mallory to say hello and strike up an email connection.  She was SO very nice and generous with her information.  One of the most important things she said is that it's fine to explore and research Belize, but that we'll have a better experience if we don't show up with a lot of expectations.  She suggested that we might be able to buy things we need from the volunteers who will be leaving in June.

We'll be meeting her in March when we arrive.  ALL the current PCVs in Belize  are together for a couple of days when the newbies arrive.  Looking forward to meeting her.  It's possible she's doing the same thing we will be doing - but I don't have any expectations about that, right?   ;--)

Rachel by telephone 

A friend from my Zumba class referred us to her friend Rachel, a volunteer in Belize in the late 90s.  Rachel generously talked with us a LONG time to fill us in on her extensive knowledge of life as a PCV in Belize.  She still visits Belize every year or so, and owns a home there with her father!  She talked about her family there, meaning her host family, with whom she stays very close.  

Her information was very succinct and practical.  She could not say enough about how friendly and helpful the people are.  She suggested that we should take "nice" clothes and keep them neat and ironed (yikes), because that is the way that the people there will expect us to dress, just like them.  I had heard that before about people in Latin America, that they want to look crisp and neat (to "defy" the heat, I guess.  "See, I still look good even though I'm frying!").  Well, assuming that we have electricity, I say "go for it."

Rachel agreed about not arriving with a lot of expectations, just take things as they come.  As a side note, the Peace Corps brochures, interviewers, and employees ALL talk about being flexible, so these ideas gibe.  Rachel said some PCVs who had done tons of research were incorrectly perceived by the Belizeans as "know-it-alls."  

Rachel also sent us links to newspapers websites, and email addresses of retired PCVs.  WOW - what a wealth of information.

Newspapers in Belize (the first 2 are the ones  most circulated in the country, and though "nonpartisan" tend to sometimes print articles that appear to have political slant)...
Amandala: founded in 1969    http://www.amandala.com.bz/
The Reporter: founded in 1967  http://www.reporter.bz/
The Belize Times: political paper of the PUP - Peoples United Party (blue party)    http://www.belizetimes.bz/
The Guardian: political paper of the UDP - United Democratic Party (red party)  http://www.guardian.bz/

YouTube videos

Holy smokes - I can't believe we didn't check this out earlier.  Just type in "Peace Corps" "Belize" and step back.  Here are a few of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIgzlCf7vqA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIOl-NPwuBQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7KNsEkAosQ (kinda old but covers a lot)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJVD11dajzc

Norman from Puerto Rico

Norman is a returned PCV who has served THREE tours with the Peace Corps.  I know his mom and two sisters from Zumba class.  They have been telling us about Norman for about a year now, but he's been most recently in Vanuatu (coincidentally on the same island as some other friends of mine in the Peace Corps, Alex and Lucas, and he knows them).  OK, so he finally came home, but we haven't been able to connect yet.  He's originally from Puerto Rico, so we went down there right after Christmas and will return in February.  

You'll notice I didn't describe him as a "retired" PCV.  That's because I think he's planning to go back for a fourth tour of duty later in 2011!  I do think that we'll be able to learn a LOT once we connect.

Other blogs we like

http://catriona76.blogspot.com/ - A PCV who served in Belize.  Her blog includes a lot of info on her work there, and lots of pictures.

http://ourantarctica.blogspot.com/ - Alex and Lucas are in Vanuatu with the Peace Corps.  They married about three (?) years ago, went to work in Antarctica for 6 months, traveled around the world for another six months, and then went to Vanuatu.  Lucas does a great job of describing what Peace Corps volunteers do and their day-to-day lives.  They don't have easy access to the Internet, so it looks like there are gaps in the time, but he's pretty disciplined about getting a good description of what going on all the time.

Pat from Chapel Hill

I met Pat at one of my Zumba classes - surprise.  She and her husband go most years to Belize as health volunteers as a part of Project Belize.  They conduct medical clinics in villages for a week or so.  There are about 25 people who participate, some repeaters like Pat. She filled me up with great stories about her visits and the people there.  She warned about Belize City, the crime there, but loved talking about the nice, loving people.  Hmmm - seems to be a theme here.  

Pat also gave us some great ideas for host family gifts and "handouts" for people who come to our training sessions.  I think I will talk about those in a later entry.  If you've made it this far down, you must be taking NODOZ.

Summing up 2010 - A Year of Waiting

We were getting in the car to go to the gym for one last workout in 2010.  Steve said, "Well, it's the end of a decade."  To which I replied, "Well, every year is the end of a decade, right?"  Smart mouth.

What 2010 was for us, however, was a year of waiting, hoping, anticipating, and feeling frustration, too.  Anyone who reads this post trying to learn about applying to the Peace Corps should be aware that it is always a long process, but is especially so for married couples.

At the end of 2009, we had had our initial interview with the Peace Corps recruiter, Step 2 of the PC application process. (Step 1 is filling out the written application - about an 8-hour exercise.)  She assured us that we were PC material and would soon receive a nomination - Step 3.

So we waited.  We finally heard from her in March that they were extending a nomination for a volunteer position in English-speaking Africa, and that we would most likely leave between October and December.  So we got busy gathering all the medical and dental information they needed.  We also got REALLY busy trying to sell our house.

In August, we learned that our assigned projects in Africa had been cancelled and that the earliest we would deploy would be January.  Back on hold.  Sold the house and moved to a tiny apartment early September.

Mid-October - the CALL!  The Peace Corps extended the invitation (Step 4) to our assignment in Belize, but we wouldn't deploy until late March.  It's NOT typical to get an invitation with so much lead time.  I think it's more usual to learn 6-8 weeks before deployment.

We believe this is really going to happen! We have now started making lists, so we can make timelines (which lead to more lists).  I'm mentally counting down the weeks.

There were some pretty wonderful things that happened this year, too.

• Top of our list - my son Jeff's marriage to his adorable wife, Stephanie! 
• Steve attended his 45th high school reunion (UMS-Wright School in Mobile, Alabama).  Drove down with his two sisters and saw all the places where they had lived from 1953-1965.
• We sold the house in about 6 months, and we didn't lose (too much) on the sale.
• Steve finished up the last nine months at his practice, and retired at the end of September.
• My Zumba classes have been very popular, and I'm in the best shape of my life.
• Our fundraiser Zumbathon raised $3300 for hungry kids in North Carolina.  People are still talking about how much fun it was.
• We were able to spend one more holiday season with our family.  And we had a white Christmas!

ZUMBA!!!

I think our last entry was made right after we learned about our assignment to Belize.  I managed to think about Peace Corps obligations for about a minute and a half before I had to focus on a project I started WAY back in the summer.  By the time we got the news about the Peace Corps assignment, things were in full swing for the Zumbathon, and there was no slowin' down that train.

Earlier in the year, late July, several of the Zumba instructors in the area decided we wanted to hold a Zumbathon.  We met several times, decided on our "cause" and an approximate time for the event.  We wanted to raise money for the Kids Programs of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina (rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?). We thought November would be a good time - before the holidays monopolized everybody's time.

Several people were instrumental in putting our fundraiser together, including yours truly.  Some stuff was easy, like asking people for money.  Other facets of the work were more difficult, such as finding the right venue, getting instructors to commit, and getting the Zumba legal department to approve our event.

I put together most of the marketing stuff - brochures to use when talking with sponsors, posters and reminder handouts for instructors to give their class attendees, print and on-air publicity, and a website where people could donate online.  Here's an example of one of the posters:

We had four teams of three instructors each. We all had to nail down what music to use and rehearse, figure out what our Zumbathon would look like, and round up some reliable volunteers.  We got all that done and more.  In fact, we even had a Stage Manager.  Is that professional or what?

The event was held at the Morrisvillle Outlet Mall near RDU Airport on Sunday afternoon, November 21.  We spent several hours on Saturday afternoon setting up.  Here's a picture of the stage on Saturday afternoon.  That big round thing above the stage is the Zumba logo, and STEVE MADE IT!!  He is SO good,  just looked at a picture and figured out how to make it.

We kinda had the whole family involved.  In addition to all Steve did before the event, he was also the videographer and in charge of first aid (thank goodness we didn't need it).  My son, Jeff, was the DJ, his wife, Stephanie, was a volunteer at the registration desk, and my dad and his wife attended to be recognized as "big donors."

Everything came off without a hitch - really!  When the music for the first team started, the crowd was so excited and energized it gave me goosebumps! For two full hours, people were dancing/exercising, jumping and clapping, cheering.  It's all on video (YAY!) and we're making DVDs to give to all who were involved.

Here's a picture of us after it was all over.  Maybe looking a little bedraggled, but happy!

When all the money was counted, including our online donations, we had raised about $3300. We were definitely pleased, considering it all started as an excuse to teach Zumba to a big crowd of people.  We took it from that little seed of an idea to reality.  Cool, huh?

So now, back to the real world - Spanish lessons, holidays and shopping, preparation for departure . . . .

Passports, Spanish lessons and other stuff

We have lots of work to do to prepare for our work in Belize.  First off, we applied for new Peace Corps passports.  Same application form as anybody, BUT we don't have to pay.  They hold onto our current passports.  We did have to make new pictures.  Since we did our own snaps before, we tried it again. Not too hard - 2 X 2 inches, white or light background.  Here they are:

Of course, what you can't really see very well is Steve's day-old beard and my glitter.  I was dressed to teach my Zumba class, and it was the day before Halloween.  So of course I had to dress up.  Here's the "whole" me.

Yes, I was dressed as a California Gurl and was very generous with the glitter :--)  How 'bout those fishnet tights?

The official language in Belize is English; however, only about 3% of the population speak it as their first language.  Most speak Spanish or Creole (I've also seen it written as Kriol).  Naturally, Steve and I want to brush up (HA - rescue) our Spanish-speaking skills.

Steve is going the Rosetta Stone route.  He bought the first 3 levels for $516 (including tax).  For that amount, you get about a dozen discs and earphones and microphone.  Steve has loaded about 5 of the software discs.  Don't know whether he's supposed to print out any materials or not.  The software will evaluate and give feedback on his pronunciation.  I'll let him write about how it's working.  We just bought it two days ago, so too soon to tell.

I have lots of old materials I can use - from Durham Tech (equivalent to beginning Spanish in High School), from UNC (two semesters' worth, Spanish I and II), from Chicle, a local language school here in Carrboro (only one session), and from the UNC School of Public Health (an intermediate course which I started and dropped out).  After all those classes, I still felt very uncomfortable in a conversational setting.

Gael, a woman from the Zumba class I teach at the UNC Wellness Center, told me about an organization offering free Spanish instruction to those who qualify.  She sent me the link to the Claro Initiative, http://speakspanish.com/claro/, offered by SpeakSpanish.com.  The company is part of Bilingual America.com, and they mainly market to businesses, a competitor of products like Rosetta Stone.  For free, they offer the lessons to health care professionals, ministers, social workers, volunteer organizations, anyone involved in a social needs position who works with the Spanish-speaking community.  I wasn't sure if I would qualify, since my work won't be in the United States, but I applied anyway.

Well, they did approve me, and so now I've started their course.  The training materials are online, and I have to print them out myself.  There are also lots of videos and audio work.  I decided to purchase a once-a-week tutoring session (via telephone) so I'd have a real person to practice with and learn from.  They recommend telephone tutoring over face-to-face (of course they would) because there won't be any visual cues.  We shall see.  I had a short conversation with Yvette this afternoon to set up my first session.

Of course, Steve and I are not being competitive.  We're starting from two different places (Steve took the Durham Tech course, too, but nothing else), and I have tried to speak the occasional conversation.  He, on the other hand, is much quicker to pick up and retain language.

But I still bet I'll "win" ;;--)

Almost done with this harkey-malarkey.  We have to update our resume in the context of what we'll be doing in Belize.  The country manager and perhaps some government officials will use the information for placement and training.  We also have to write an "Aspiration Statement." I almost gagged when I saw that. They are looking for "expectations about your Peace Corps service and assigned project, your strategies for adapting to a new culture, and how you expect your service to further your personal and professional goals."

I know BS when I hear about it.  Maybe I'll change my mind over time.  More later.