Everybody's Got SOME Baggage

We're trying out something new - Video!

Can't Stop This Train - Don't Want To

Hi, this is Steve here.  Cathy's usually our scribe, but I enjoy writing, too.

The excitement continues to build. I am afraid we may not be able to sleep for the last few nights before we finally set foot on tropical soil. Yesterday we made our travel reservations to get to our staging event. We get frequent emails with additional details. It is comforting for our families here to know how detailed the program is with respect to  care of the volunteers by the Peace Corps. In some ways it is a little restrictive.

We got the information on our luggage allowance. We certainly want to bring the right clothes but not too much clothing or forget something necessary. In our first six months I am certain that we will have a list of what we wished we had or had not brought. For our “maybe list”, the plan is to box those items to be shipped later if they are needed.

We have plans to see all of our first-degree relatives on both sides of the family prior to departure. Also our local friends have been gracious with dinner get-togethers, but I am not sure we are very good company since all we talk about is the deployment.

Our sparsely furnished apartment gets more empty every week as we walk around and designate things to give away and things to put in the storage locker. Initially I thought we would never get everything in it, but now it looks promising since the “everything” seems to be diminishing. Our last night may be in a hotel bed rather than on the floor of our apartment, although the latter might be good training for what lies ahead.

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!