September in Belize: An Intern in Belize Reflections

I have now been in Belize for almost 8 weeks! I can’t believe how fast time has flown by since I have arrived here. I have been growing and learning a lot since my time arriving here. Many things I have to adjust to, one being the weather. The post September in Belize: An Intern in Belize Reflections appeared first on Toucan Education Programs Belize Blog.

I have now been in Belize for almost 8 weeks!

I can’t believe how fast time has flown by since I have arrived here.

I have been growing and learning a lot since my time arriving here.

Many things I have to adjust to, one being the weather. The climate here is often in the high 80s or 90s, and very humid! The humidity is what has been so hard for me to adjust to. Back in Indiana, it is usually in the 80s during the hottest time of the year with a low humidity. I’ve had to constantly drink water to keep myself hydrated. I also have noticed that many Belizeans will actually walk around with umbrellas when it isn’t raining just to block the sun. This I don’t see happen in Indiana, people only use umbrellas when it is raining. Instead people tend to stick to wearing hats.

I have been living in a home for the last two months, and some conflict can arise when living with people for so long, especially from a different culture. In Belizean culture, especially with the Creoles, respect isn’t earned, but expected from anyone who is older than you. A forty year old is expected to listen to a seventy year old person, and likewise a twenty-two year old (me) is expected to listen to a fifty year old (my host who runs the B&B I am staying out) with no questions asked.

As an American who has been living on my own since I was 18, this can be sometimes frustrating. In the U.S. I was still taught to respect my elders, and I am someone who avoids conflict generally; what has been difficult is that this culture is so set in stone that you listen to your elders that they in turn don’t care about being respectful back to you, which is where I have struggled. Often I end up spending the evenings in my bedroom when I am at the house to avoid my host. My host often is condescending and rude to me, but from her viewpoint she is housing me so she has that right, even though I am paying to stay here. I have on multiple occasions bitten my tongue because I know that any confrontation I could have would be pointless because she was raised differently than me and wouldn’t understand; I just have to try my best to let go of my pride to give her the respect that the culture demands.

For the month of September there were a lot of celebrations that were happening countrywide.

One of the festivals that I went to was Carnival in Belize City. When I went, I was thinking it would be more like a fair, which is what I think of when I hear the word carnival.

Instead, Carnival was a parade where children, women, and a few men danced down the street for several hours wearing very little clothing.

The costumes were of bright and pretty colors, and each person in the front of each group had a big float of sort on wheels that they carried on their back of some sort of animal or theme.

Belizean children participating in the September Celebrations Carnival Road March.

I had a hard time enjoying it because the people around me were very, very drunk, and they kept trying to dance on me. They also would jump into the parade and dance on the members who were participating in it. I ended up talking to someone I knew who was in it at a later point, and she told me that the place I had ended up standing at was the worst part and that there were more peaceful people watching further down the street.

There were some pretty cool floats; a few had drummers that were playing steel drums on the float, which was pretty awesome!

I love how one instrument, in this case the drum, can sound and look so different between different cultures.

Another September event that I attended was a Chronixx concert, again in Belize City. When I first got the ticket, I had an American concert in my head.

A concert where it was done by one at the latest, and had chairs as an option to sit down. I was way off base! The first live band didn’t come out until 1:30 AM, and the headlining band didn’t come out until 4:00! I got back to Belmopan around 6:00, the sun was already high in the sky. I slept all day after that! The group I went with was a lot of fun, but I have to admit it was really hard for me to stay awake. My favorite part was when it rained, for the dance floor cleared and my friends and I had a blast taking over it.

At my internship, September meant that we didn’t do a whole lot with people who have disabilities, but rather put together a couple of youth rallies and a parade. There were three big rallies I remember being done. Two involved literacy, and one involved celebrating Belizean Independence (they only achieved Independence in 1981)! One of the literacy rallies happened in the park where the students put on skits, sang songs, and read about literacy. Then afterward we all marched around Belmopan in a parade. Instead of marching, I rode in the back of a truck and ate an ideal (also known as a freezer pop in the US).

It was so fun; they played a song about reading to the tune of The Black Eyed Pea’s song ‘I Gotta Feeling’.

Belizean school children participating in September Celebrations Rally.

Literacy promotion during September Celebrations in Belize.

The kids were so tired and hot at the end of it though, the sun was shining brightly. The second event they had the kids gather at a basketball court to be read to by different prominent people in Belmopan. They had the town mayor, Miss Belmopan (pageants are quite a big deal here), the youth officers, and a couple of policemen read to different groups of primary school children. It was really cute to watch!

And lastly, they had an event in University of Belize’s gym. This event incorporated again kids singing, dancing, and putting on skits for Belizean Independence. Then they had an Olympian volleyball player come and give a talk to the kids. It was really cute, but I had a massive earache after it because the microphone was turned way too loud and the kids were screaming into it. Belizeans like things to be loud, but I don’t think they understand the damage that can be done to your ears from the noise.

Belizean children at rally that promotes patriotism in schools.

It was a lot of fun. In the U.S., different schools might put on similar rallies and parades, but usually it isn’t district wide. This is often because the schools in the U.S. (depending on the location and whether it’s public or private) are bigger than the schools here in Belize. But it’s still pretty neat to see different schools from different districts come together to celebrate International Literacy Day or Independence Day.