My First Few Days

I was very excited to arrive in Belize Saturday evening and begin to learn about the culture here. It is not much different than I imagined, with it being very busy and touristy in some areas like Dr. Catapano had mentioned. I was excited to see all of the beautiful scenery by the beach and begin exploring around the island. Since arriving, the people here have made me feel very welcome and have been very nice and helpful. This made me feel better since I have never traveled outside of the country before. I have also noticed that there are parts of the island that are more modern than I originally thought. It is interesting to me that the island is so modern in some aspects but not in others. For example, several places around the island have wifi, but others may not even have air conditioning or be able to flush the toilet paper. Although some things in Belize are different than in America, I don't feel like being in Belize has been a complete culture shock. Since everyone on the island speaks English and there are things that we also have back home, I think it will get easier for me to adjust to life here.

On our first day, we began venturing outside of our hotel and Dr. Catapano took us on a tour through the island, I began to see that the island was much more busy than I originally thought. There are people on bikes, cars, and golf carts, everywhere! At some moments, it is difficult to maneuver through the traffic to get to your destination. Everyone here seems so care free that they don't seem to mind it though. I enjoy the freedom that I sense around the island, where things aren't quite so stressful and little things don't seem to mean as much. 

The only concern I have at this point is smoothly riding my bike around the island. :P I haven't ridden a bike in years and the first time I tried to ride it to our school it was not so smooth. Maybe it's just the heavy traffic at that time in the morning that stresses me out, but with practice it will get better. I can't wait to meet our first group of students tomorrow and get to learn more about what the education system here is like. It is also exciting to be showing the other teachers on the island a new method of teaching that neither they nor the students have ever seen before. 

Overall, I am still very optimistic about the trip and making the decision to come to Belize. :) I am slowly beginning to adapt to their way of life and am learning new things every day. I can't wait to see what else I'll learn while I am here. 

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