A day in the life of . . .
Thought many of you would enjoy knowing what we do (so far) on a daily basis, but realize some of you may find this quite boring (feel free to skip this one):
5:30 am – Awakened by the obnoxious rooster outside our bedroom window.
5:31 am – Awakened again by our rooster friend—let me clarify that we didn’t realize until recently that roosters crow all day. We had this idea that they do it once, wake you up, and are done for the day. So, this continues for a while and we begin to understand how people can actually come to terms with ringing their necks (sorry, Jenny).
6:30 am – Finally get up b/c we might as well (been awake since 5:30).
7:00 am – Breakfast consists of toast and p.b. or a bowl of granola and fruit.
7:30 am – Say morning prayer (from the Book of Common Prayer) together.
7:45 am – Ginger walks to school (about one mile) with all the cute little kiddos. Tim has been helping out on a construction site down the street, trying to learn Spanish and common construction methods used here.
8:30 am – School starts. Ginger works at the Catholic Elementary School in the mornings, rotating between all the classes to assist teachers and help students with speaking, reading, and writing English fluently.
11:30 am – Catholic school breaks for lunch for 1 1/2 hours—very common here b/c lunch is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day, so most kids walk home to eat. The school has a lunch program for students who live too far away to walk home at lunch, and they have kindly offered to feed both of us also as a thank-you for volunteering. This is our best meal of the day—usually chicken and rice; rice and beans; beans, eggs and tortillas, or some combination of those ingredients. Since we had some money in our budget set aside for our lunches already, we’ve decided to use this money to sponsor a few students at the school who live too far away and can’t afford to pay for school lunch.
1:00 pm – Ginger walks to the Christian Elementary School (not saying the Catholics aren’t Christians—that’s just what they call the two elementary schools here: Catholic and Christian). Ginger works here in the afternoons, primarily helping the principal with his class so that he can have some time in his office, but also helping with other classes (with English) as needed. Tim may either go back to the construction site or spend the afternoon talking with people and brainstorming ideas for the VOP Partnership.
2:30 pm – Christian School is out. Some days Ginger walks back to the Catholic School to assist b/c classes there don’t end until 3:30. Then she walks home.
4:00 pm - We usually shower in the afternoon (it's a bit of a necessity after sweating all day). Also, it's nice to take a cold shower during the hottest part of the day.
4:30 pm – If able, walk up to the high school behind our house to use the Internet and email, or make a phone call.
5:30 pm – Cook Dinner. Since we get a big meal at lunch, we’ve tried to adjust to eating a smaller meal at dinner, but it’s challenging to find something other than what we’ve already eaten that day (more info in “Already tired of rice and beans” blog—coming soon). There are a few little houses around here that make and sell food in the evenings (mini-restaurants). It’s nice sometimes to get dinner there—they offer burritos, empanadas, pupusas (an El Salvadorian treat!), and, of course, rice and beans.
6:30 pm – Clean up, close up the house (all windows and doors) or else the mosquitoes will eat us up. Usually after dinner we enjoy our hammocks on the porch, or sit inside and read or watch a DVD. Occasionally, we’ve had visitors that like to sit and talk.
10:00 pm – Crawl into our mosquito-netted bed and pray against the spiders, then to sleep!
Once we get a vehicle (fingers crossed), we’ll be driving into Belmopan after school probably one day each week to shop for groceries, get money out of the bank, and use the Internet. For now, Tim’s been taking the bus in to do this (it’s quite a challenge to lug an ice chest all over town and back on the bus, but we’re pretty determined to get real milk—no powdered stuff).
On Saturdays, we’ve been doing our laundry—a friend is letting us use her washing machine, but that means lugging our wet laundry back on foot across the entire village. Still, the alternative is washing every piece by hand on the concrete slab behind our house. We hang it out to line dry. We also clean (sweep and mop) the house on Saturday and bleach our dishes (only have cold water to wash with, so try to disinfect them regularly). We need to mow our lawn but have no equipment . . . considering paying someone to do that (some people actually mow their lawns with a machete here, but some do have mowers and weed eaters).
On Sundays, we’ve been resting and trying to visit all of the local churches, especially ones that are members of the VOP Partnership.
That seems like a lot—if you’ve made it this far, thanks for being interested in our lives! Hopefully you’ve read into this ways that you can pray for us. We daily need energy (the heat really affects you) and wisdom(we’re bombarded with ways to use our time and money). We’re also a bit homesick. But we realize how easy we really do have it and thank God for that, considering that most of the world is still living at or below our standards here.
Que Dios le bendiga (God bless you).
5:30 am – Awakened by the obnoxious rooster outside our bedroom window.
5:31 am – Awakened again by our rooster friend—let me clarify that we didn’t realize until recently that roosters crow all day. We had this idea that they do it once, wake you up, and are done for the day. So, this continues for a while and we begin to understand how people can actually come to terms with ringing their necks (sorry, Jenny).
6:30 am – Finally get up b/c we might as well (been awake since 5:30).
7:00 am – Breakfast consists of toast and p.b. or a bowl of granola and fruit.
7:30 am – Say morning prayer (from the Book of Common Prayer) together.
7:45 am – Ginger walks to school (about one mile) with all the cute little kiddos. Tim has been helping out on a construction site down the street, trying to learn Spanish and common construction methods used here.
8:30 am – School starts. Ginger works at the Catholic Elementary School in the mornings, rotating between all the classes to assist teachers and help students with speaking, reading, and writing English fluently.
11:30 am – Catholic school breaks for lunch for 1 1/2 hours—very common here b/c lunch is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day, so most kids walk home to eat. The school has a lunch program for students who live too far away to walk home at lunch, and they have kindly offered to feed both of us also as a thank-you for volunteering. This is our best meal of the day—usually chicken and rice; rice and beans; beans, eggs and tortillas, or some combination of those ingredients. Since we had some money in our budget set aside for our lunches already, we’ve decided to use this money to sponsor a few students at the school who live too far away and can’t afford to pay for school lunch.
1:00 pm – Ginger walks to the Christian Elementary School (not saying the Catholics aren’t Christians—that’s just what they call the two elementary schools here: Catholic and Christian). Ginger works here in the afternoons, primarily helping the principal with his class so that he can have some time in his office, but also helping with other classes (with English) as needed. Tim may either go back to the construction site or spend the afternoon talking with people and brainstorming ideas for the VOP Partnership.
2:30 pm – Christian School is out. Some days Ginger walks back to the Catholic School to assist b/c classes there don’t end until 3:30. Then she walks home.
4:00 pm - We usually shower in the afternoon (it's a bit of a necessity after sweating all day). Also, it's nice to take a cold shower during the hottest part of the day.
4:30 pm – If able, walk up to the high school behind our house to use the Internet and email, or make a phone call.
5:30 pm – Cook Dinner. Since we get a big meal at lunch, we’ve tried to adjust to eating a smaller meal at dinner, but it’s challenging to find something other than what we’ve already eaten that day (more info in “Already tired of rice and beans” blog—coming soon). There are a few little houses around here that make and sell food in the evenings (mini-restaurants). It’s nice sometimes to get dinner there—they offer burritos, empanadas, pupusas (an El Salvadorian treat!), and, of course, rice and beans.
6:30 pm – Clean up, close up the house (all windows and doors) or else the mosquitoes will eat us up. Usually after dinner we enjoy our hammocks on the porch, or sit inside and read or watch a DVD. Occasionally, we’ve had visitors that like to sit and talk.
10:00 pm – Crawl into our mosquito-netted bed and pray against the spiders, then to sleep!
Once we get a vehicle (fingers crossed), we’ll be driving into Belmopan after school probably one day each week to shop for groceries, get money out of the bank, and use the Internet. For now, Tim’s been taking the bus in to do this (it’s quite a challenge to lug an ice chest all over town and back on the bus, but we’re pretty determined to get real milk—no powdered stuff).
On Saturdays, we’ve been doing our laundry—a friend is letting us use her washing machine, but that means lugging our wet laundry back on foot across the entire village. Still, the alternative is washing every piece by hand on the concrete slab behind our house. We hang it out to line dry. We also clean (sweep and mop) the house on Saturday and bleach our dishes (only have cold water to wash with, so try to disinfect them regularly). We need to mow our lawn but have no equipment . . . considering paying someone to do that (some people actually mow their lawns with a machete here, but some do have mowers and weed eaters).
On Sundays, we’ve been resting and trying to visit all of the local churches, especially ones that are members of the VOP Partnership.
That seems like a lot—if you’ve made it this far, thanks for being interested in our lives! Hopefully you’ve read into this ways that you can pray for us. We daily need energy (the heat really affects you) and wisdom(we’re bombarded with ways to use our time and money). We’re also a bit homesick. But we realize how easy we really do have it and thank God for that, considering that most of the world is still living at or below our standards here.
Que Dios le bendiga (God bless you).
posted by Tim+Ginger at 4:38 PM
7 Comments:
That 5:30 rooster thing... that's pretty tough.
The evening in the hammock sounds nice though.
It does sound like you are settling in a little bit. I'm glad for that.
I love the cute picture of the two of you on the front porch of your house. Very cute.
And, I can't wait to see the "Already tired of rice and beans" blog.
-- funny, funny
Have a great week.
Love,
Angie
oh good you are still alive. i was beginning to wonder if i needed to come down there. after reading your transportation situation i understand and will be patient. although now you know how to get us down there. i did some reading on the "valley of peace" just to get feel for where you guys are and who you are living with. very interesting . . . is it still el salvadorian refugee families or have they blended with the belizians? what exactly is your focus? (i now realize these comments would be better in an email)
love you guys.
Ooo I love all the details - thanks for that. Sounds like Ginger is doing lots of walking and both of you lots of hauling. Do you guys cram in that single bed every night?
i LOVE the details. keep em' coming. I am praying for you guys. inspiring, makes me think i should walk more....feeling a bit lazy now.
So glad to finally be on your blog!! (Haven't done much of that myself in about 3 months! although will try to get myself back in the routine now that I once again have a CAMERA :) and since I will be checking out your blog.)
So glad yall are doing this!!
Laughed outloud at the 6:30am "might as well get up since we've been awake since 5:30"
gotta love those roosters :)
I remember when we were little and Mamaw Gillespie's roosters used to crow all morning. Cristy's rooster crows a lot too.
I'm gonna go back to your blogpage now and continue reading to see what all I've missed.
much love,
Cindy
Just finished reading through all your posts....
lots of great info.
let's see...
if I understand this correctly, a care package should include:
several hundred cans of Bengal spider killing spray, multiple cases of whatever the strongest insecticide is that John has available on the farm, protective rubber head-to-toe clothing to help prevent any actual spider-to-human contact, some type of sealed/soundproof bedchamber (maybe something like Michael Jackson might sleep in), a BB gun for long-range exterminations if any cd-size spiders make it through the Bengal and insecticide fog...
and NO prepackaged boxes of Old Elpaso rice and beans.
:)
much love and prayers!
Cindy
Responding to Brian: The Valley of Peace is still majority El Salvadorian refugees, though there is a bit of a mix . . . you remember the Mennonites having a large presence in Belize, I'm sure. Well, some of them are around here. Also some native Belizeans who have married into the community. A few Canadians, and a few Islanders (Creole speakers). Also the Cache people (don't know much about their history, yet, but they don't speak English or Spanish.
To Katharine: No, we don't sleep on the twin bed next to the scary couch (which we now sit on b/c the spiders have gone). We have a double bed in a small room (with mosquito net) but I didn't include that picture.
To Cindy: I'd be curious to know how much it costs you to send us that care package!! Very funny!
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