not africa so much.....

As many of you may know, my dream was not only to join the Peace Corps, but to do so and go to Africa. Was I slightly disappointed when I got Belize? Yea you might say so. I quickly got over that when I realized that Belize is amazing. Now I won’t lie and say that since I arrived in country I never was disappointed that this isn’t Africa. I had long dreamed of living in a thatch with no water or electricity, hours away from other Americans. I now live in a really nice 2 bedroom cement house on the Caribbean sea in a extremely tourist village which is home to a number of other gringos. Not exactly what I expected but if there is one thing I’ve learned it’s you can’t have any expectations of life. Just go with the flow, and in doing so I have feel in love with this country. I’m so glad that I’m serving here and not anywhere else. What can I say today was an amazing day start to finish… let me run you through my day…
Today I needed to go to Belmopan for the day to take care of some bank issues and to pick up a backpack that I left there a few weeks ago. My day started by having water!!! Yes I have water and electricity but almost everyday (I’d say 9 out of 10) we lose water for the better part of the day, which makes indoor plumbing a issue! But this morning we had it, so I got to start my day off with a nice cool shower and a flush of the toilet! After all that good stuff I got on our bus and my host mom was in it! I’m always so happy when I get on the bus and know people, especially her. Once I got to Dangrigia (the town about an hour away where I catch a bus up to Belmopan) I had an hour to wait and decided to walk across the street to the small store to get some juice. On my way there I ran in to Kent. Kent was Laura’s host brother in Dangriga through training. And since I spent more waking hours with Laura than at my own host family I saw him often. He came over and gave me a hug and at first I thought he might have been confused and thought I was Laura (everyone here thinks we are sisters, if not twins). But confuse us he did not! He asked all about Hopkins and how things were going. It’s so cool that you don’t even realize the connections you’ve made until later! Next I got on the bus and ran in to another volunteer. We chatted our way to Belmopan and it made the ride so much faster. Once I got to Belmopan I had a few errors to run and went to the opposite side of town than the office. It was HOTTTT today. I’m not sure how HOT but one of the hottest days we’ve had in awhile. On my way walking to the office (which was about 30-40 mins, if not more) I was going to call a taxi and decided to walk it instead. About 10 min in to my walk my favorite taxi driver Jack pulls over (most of the volunteers use him in Belmopan and he has always been just a great day, peace corps gave us his number as a dependable taxi) over the past few months I have gotten to know Jack, so when he offered me a ride I jumped right in. I pulled out my wallet to get my money ready and he insisted that this one was on him, he appreciates everything we are here doing for this country and one taxi ride was the least he could do. This alone made my day. As we drove he was drinking a orange juice and commented that there was nothing better than a nice cold OJ on a hot day. When we pulled over at the store on the way to the office and he said he would just be a second I didn’t think twice about it. When he came out to the car I didn’t think twice about it. It wasn’t until he handed me the oj that I realized he stoped to buy me a orange juice! What a nice guy!
Once I got to the office I had some good chats with a lot of the staff and one of the other volunteers who lives in town and was hiding out at the office with AC for the day. That alone would have been enough to make my day.. but no it kept coming. On the way to the bus station I stopped at the bank and figured all that out. Once at the bus station I was standing infront of the gate which our bus to dangriga leaves from was waiting “inline” or rather the mass group that pushes to get on the bus and this women was next to me behind a counter selling drinks and food and such. She was singing and yelling and having a great time. Then I hear “Hello! Hello lady! Hello!” Now Belizeans don’t say hello to one another they great each other with the time of the day so when I hear Hello I usually look around cause they are 9/10 times talking to me. Sure enough I was right “are you Belizean??!” Some guy in front of my answers “NO! She’s Cuban!” I respond that no I’m not but I live here. “AHH I thought so you fit in, you don’t look like you’re from the states, you look like you belong here” Now I’m not entirely sure what I was doing or how I was acting to make her think that but it’s one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever gotten.
Next up was Grigia. I had an hour “lay over” so I ran around getting a few things done, first was the post office were they knew me and I got to pick up a letter from Sarah (thanks Sarah!!) than I stopped in to say hi to Ms. Donna. Ms. Donna owns and runs Val’s hostel, this is where Jenna, Cass, Laura and I spend 90% of our time that we weren’t sleeping or at class. She became sort of a second host mom to us all. I stopped in just to say hi and see how she was doing. I thought it was no big deal but you could tell it meant the world to her. Next on my list was the movie place, there is this guy who owns a movie/bike shop. He was one of the first people Laura and I meet in Dangrigia. He is also who I bought my bike from. Anyway I walked over to see if he could get me a movie (Eat, Pray, Love) and chatted with him. I was walking with my friend (another PCV) and he needed to head to the market. Once there even though I didn’t buy anything I chatted up my market guy and suddenly I realized how many people I knew and had relationships with in this country. As I walked back to eh bus station I had a seat than decided that I needed water ASAP, not in a hour at home so I was walking across the street when I guy (who lives in Hopkins) stopped to tell me that my bus was going to be there soon, so hurry up! Seriously this day was amazing. As I got off the bus I got three “Hello Ms. Kim!”’s and as I was walking along that Caribbean sea I saw tons of people I knew and stop to chat with a few of my favorite kids. As I sat down on my front veranda still smiling to enjoy and splurge in a big bowl (or 2) of lucky charms my amazing neighbor walks over with some hot, fresh of the fire, jonny cakes (kinda like denser bread about that size of a English muffin) which just happen to be my favorite. She also agreed to teach me how to make them next time she does!
Man I love this country!
So am I living in a hut in the middle of nowhere? No.. but I’m come to learn that, that is not what it’s all about. I’m learning about another culture (or two) and forming relationships that will be with me for the rest of my life. Is this what I expected? No.. it’s so much better.

Ps. Only a few will understand this but I for sure wrote packback the first time.
Pps. I’m sorry if this is long winded or boring! I can’t stop smiling and needed to tell someone about my day so I decided why not everyone!
Ppps. I think I ate too many jonny cakes
Pppps. Lost another 5 pounds 