Easter Weekend

After a whirlwind 24 hours in Texas, followed by a week of sessions in Belmopan on everything from diarrhea to development, I finally arrive at my home for the next 5 1/12 weeks. I was one of three PCTs assigned to learn Maya Mopan, one of the dialects of the Maya Indians, which is primary spoken in villages around the Toledo District, the southernmost district of Belize. I have heard that is a hard language to learn, as it does not share many similarities to English in pronunciation or grammar, but what the hell, it means Ill be going to rural Toledo, and it will be cool to learn a language that only about 20,000 people in the whole world speak.
As far as host families go, I think I hit the jackpot. I am in a small village not far from Belmopan, but worlds apart. My host mom is very funny and welcoming, always telling me to feel at home. My host dad is from El Salvador and therefore wants to teach me Spanish. They are married by common law and have one seven year old boy and a 14 year old girl who are both shy but wonderful. My host grandfather is a wise old man that walks with a cane and spends the entirety of his days laying in his hammock, taking every opportunity to speak with me in Mayan. I sit at night with my notebook on a stool next to him, scribbling as fast as I can to write all of the words he tells me. Repeating them back to him until he he finally says "Aha!" in a satisfied voice, and then I know that I have pronounced the word correctly. My host great grandmother also lives here. She is a great shy old women, who is constantly working on preparing food or doing launddry all day until she falls asleep on the couch at night. She was embarrassed beyond belief when the silly gringo (me) was hanging her dresses on the line to dry after the wash. My host grandmother is a strong Mayan women who is as good at making perfectly round tortillas as she is at effortlessly breaking a chickens neck for caldo. She is always teaching me about the old ways of the Mayans, what they ate when there was no meat, how to wrap a fish in a certain leaf and then how long to but it in the fire and ect. My favorite time of the day may be sitting with the old women at the fire heart (Mayan stove) and stumbling through my words as they correct all my attempts to name the things I see around me. My 14 year old host uncle is a smart, polite young man that takes me on walking tours of the village and informs me of where to avoid the drunks and gangsters in town.
Children are always coming and going, and even they enjoy asking me what I am doing or what my name is in Mayan so they can giggle and correct my broken speech, but they obey instantly when one of the women lets lose with a deep growl of words that I hope I never understand. There is no questioning who is in charge in this house. Life is constantly moving, but in a wonderful relaxed manner. Everyone is so warm and kind, after just a few days a feel right at home. They make me promise that after I move down south I will come see them whenever I make it to Belmopan, as if I could ever pass up a free meal so close to town.
Seemingly advanced for some of the houses in the area, we enjoy electricity, running water (meaning a pipe in the yard that you don't have to pump) and even wireless internet, that we get from the University of Belize, that is directly behind the house. Even the latrine is much better than I was expecting, although I have to hunch over and turn sideways to get through the door because I seem to be about 2 feet taller than most Mayans. I have a nice room that locks, because as my host mom is always telling me "you can not trust anyone out there!"
This weekend was the Easter Holiday, so my first weekend here we all just hung out, cooked, ate, and talked. When I get tired I lay in the hammock in the open air side room and recite the few words I know in my head until I fall asleep. To be awaken by either the sounds of children playing or being called for a meal. It has been a great way to start training.
Today, our language professor was kind enough to take out for a relaxing day of swimming in then sun. Mallory, Dan and I all piled in the back of his truck and headed southwest along the stunningly beautiful Hummingbird highway. None of us were sure where we were going, but the sun was shining and the dense, jungle covered hills wrapped around us, soaking us in its moist heat, so no questions where asked. As we speed along the winding road I was in awe of how perfect life can be at times, and how lucky I am to be doing what I am, when there is so much pain in the world. It was a moment when everything makes sense, and is at peace. Just like in Ghana, and New Orleans, my mind is at peace, and I am more than ready to get to work.
This gave way to our arrival at the river. A large river with a high bridge passing over it. There were people doing laundry, bathing, and playing in the cool water all around. We were surrounded by high hills and lush green jungle. We swam up stream and rested at a shallow point where a stream met the larger river, watching people lives go on in front of us. Taking in the this snapshot of life in Belize
On the way back home we stopped at Blue Hole National Park. A small limestone sinkhole in the middle of the bush. We rested and snaked on the wah that my host grandmother prepared for me. She wrapped them in a large leaf, saying that this is how the Mayan would transport food for lunch long ago when out in the fields all day, and that now that I am Mayan this is what I will do. We then swam in the pristine still waters of the Blue Hole, which gives off an eerie blue glow at the spot that sinks down so deep that I could not dive to the bottom. I floated on my back and gazed up at the sun peaking through the think canopy and felt the stillness and oneness of the world. A painful sunburn on my face and neck are my souvenirs of the day, but it was well worth it.
Classes Start early tomorrow morning, and then it will a long, hard haul of language and technical training until swearing in at the end of May. All of the things on the schedule seem really interesting though, and I am anxious to begin, and to be one step closer being a PCV.