Tuesday was the hottest day we've had here by far. The kids complained of the heat and most people were drenched in their own sweat by the end of the day. Tuesday was also the last day of weddings. Because there was no breeze and the sun was strong, the wedding was moved inside instead of on the beach. The wedding wasn't as intense as the one I went to last week, but here's a picture of one of the brides (there were two weddings during that class).
In Belize there are these black birds, they look like crows (maybe they are crows?) that sit on the wires or roof tops and look up and make these terrible bird noises. Apparently in Belizean culture, they are squawking up towards the sky and calling for rain. Those birds were all over the place on Tuesday and for the first time since we've been here, it actually rained. The rain stopped, but then Tuesday night it got super windy. We couldn't sit outside because the wind was so strong that you couldn't keep your eyes open because all of the sand/dust/dirt was blowing everywhere. Unfortunately, the crazy winds meant that we had to reschedule crocodile hunting until this Sunday. They said the water would have been really choppy so it wasn't worth it. When I woke up Wednesday morning, it was actually chilly (we're talking in the high 60s). Some of the teachers at school said they didn't remember it ever going into the 60s. It warmed up into the 80s, but the kids were all bundled up in sweatshirts and most of the classrooms kept the windows closed so they didn't get the breeze. It's been chillier than it had been, but I certainly wouldn't call it cold. I'm writing this in the shade wearing shorts and a tank top and I'm definitely not shivering.
I taught classes for the first time this week. I taught the students about commission which was interesting because it's not something that we typically cover as a topic in high school math classes. The students seemed to be generally surprised at how loud I was since I haven't said much to them and have really only been helping students one-on-one. I've impressed myself at how well I'm beginning to understand their accents. It's hard since I'm never sure which language they're speaking and if I know the language they're speaking, but it's definitely getting easier to decipher them.
Tomorrow is our last day of school before our two week Easter break! Kelsey and I are meeting teachers and students on Saturday morning to take the water taxi to the mainland to chaperone the students at the Track and Field Nationals. We interviewed Aliyah yesterday for our documentary and she's pretty incredible. She's #1 in every single one of her classes (they rank the kids in order for each subject). Not only is she really smart, but there isn't actually formal track practices for her to be training for nationals. She said that when she was 3 years old her parents used to take her to the park to run laps because she had so much energy that she couldn't sleep and she's been running ever since. We talked to her mom and she said that when Aliyah was in elementary school the kids didn't like playing with her because she was too fast that they could never catch her so she always used to have to run slower than she actually could so she wouldn't be left out of their games. I asked her what she does to practice and she said that she typically runs 3-5 laps around the school and then does laps up and down the stairs at school. I'm excited to watch her run at nationals and hopefully she comes back to San Pedro with gold medals!
On Sunday we are going crocodile hunting at night and then Monday morning we are leaving the island for a week to explore inland. We're starting our trip with a tour of a chocolate farm and then exploring all sorts of places inland before we return back here to start service projects. It's hard to believe how quickly the time is flying! I will be sure to post lots of pictures (sorry I've been slacking) from all my upcoming adventures!
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