two week break, woo hoo! ... or not

Alright, so here's the deal so far: I finished up my first 3-week placement at the Mennonite school and left there feeling sort of bittersweet. I loved the family that I was living with and the kids at the school, but I was totally ready to move on and experience something different, including not having to wear a skirt every day. I promised the kids that I would come back to the school and visit before I left for Canada, though.
For our two week break, we spent the Monday and Tuesday working at the YWAM base and preparing for running a VBS the next week. Wednesday morning, we all packed onto the bus and left for Corozal, a town just south of the Mexican border. There, our team worked at a Christian high school just getting some general labour done. We ended up painting three houses, demolishing/taking down the back of one house and digging/cleaning up a trench that ran all across the school grounds. For the first two nights, we slept in classrooms in the school on foam mattresses, and I for one got eaten alive by mosquitoes. The last night, we slept at the home of the Zantingh's house. Mr. Zantingh is the principal of the Christian school and his lovely family accommodated us on several occasions for dinner, breakfast, and a roof to sleep on. They also delighted us with their presence the day after we slept on their roof when we went to visit the Mayan ruins. We returned to the base on Saturday night, but not before stopping at the one fast food restaurant in all of Belize: Subway, my favorite. It was heavenly.
On Sunday, we relaxed before starting another week of work on Monday. We prepped for VBS on Monday, and then began bright and early Tuesday morning. I was assigned to the group aged 8 to 10. The kids were a ton of fun and I was starting to establish relationships with them. But on Wednesday morning, the two girls who were running the ages 11 and up group were both sick, so I was transferred to that group with Nathaniel. This group was slightly less fun and upbeat, and it was difficult to get them interested in stuff, but I was full of energy and it was probably good that I was moved to that team, because the two girls who had been there before were less excitable. I stayed in that group on Wednesday and Thursday, and we finished it up then. I had made a good connection with a girl from the oldest group named Apreal, and I even shared email addresses with her. I think that like many families from the Roaring Creek area, she comes from a troubled home and was looking for a positive influence to connect with, so I’m excited to keep up correspondence with her. In the afternoons, after VBS, I joined a work crew that shipped off to the home of our neighbor, Ian. Ian, his wife and his three children are living on the base temporarily as he builds a home just a few streets over. We worked on filling the concrete foundation in with sand as well as smashing large rocks and bricks with a hammer. I got a few blisters, but only the infected ones are painful. I took a break on Thursday afternoon against my will for two reasons: I had what I think was a sprained ankle that I hadn’t been taking care of and it was pretty painful, and the second reason being that there was cow foot soup for lunch and I felt obliged to try a chunk of cow foot. Unfortunately, I almost hurled a couple of times that afternoon.
On Friday, we trucked off to the Belize zoo, which was pretty small, but really awesome. We saw howler monkeys and spider monkeys, toucans and even white-tailed deer. The highlight was definitely seeing the JAGUARS. There were two. One was spotted and one was black; the spotted one was sleeping in a tree and the black one was lying on the ground just a few feet away from the fence. It was AWESOME. We also swung by Princess Hotel & Casino in Belize City. Don’t worry, we didn’t go into the Casino, but it was pretty awesome anyway. There were two movie theatres and a bowling alley, and all of the girls from the team plan to go back there in a few weeks for a night. We’ll get a room, watch a movie, go swimming, get a massage, drink some virgin strawberry daiquiris, just the normal tourist thing.
Today (Saturday) we’re just taking a break. I suppose at some point today, I’ll meander out to the road to watch the national Belize bike race, which is a local attraction, but other than that, it’s just a day of rest. Finally.
On Monday, I’ll be heading out to my second placement, which is actually only two weeks long. I’ll have wireless internet there, so I’ll have plenty of time to update everyone on what I’m up to there. Look forward to some pictures!
P.S. Comment lots and feel free to email me.

Check these videos out:
Week 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTgYFv_X-eA
Week 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCTvDK_CIQ
Week 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ja0mrQh5mM
Week 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTDoMnlSxY4
Belize Faith Missions Promotional Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGw3CPyavXo