and so it begins

well i'm finally here! it is absolutely UNREAL! i can't believe i'm actually staying living here for three months. long story short:
got to belize. went through customs, etc. met 7 of the other girls outside (yes there are boys-but only two-they are married and here with their wives).  fell in love with this place immediately. it is so gorgeous. all my nervousness flew out the window as i took it all in.  we all hopped into a ghetto van-no seats, we just sat on the floor-with our new trusty friend tim...the taxi driver and long-time friend of HELP. he took us to a fruit stand where i purchased the most amazing cantaloupe i've ever tasted. we also bought mango's and pineapple (i've never been a fan of pineapple...until now). fruit here = heaven.

so we jumped back on the van and headed to our bus stop. and yes, i do stick out like a sore thumb...no surprise there. we all do, but hello tall, blond, pale girl in a sea of nothing but, well, black people (which by the way is awesome. call me ignorant but i didn't really know what to expect.  i was thinking something like....latino? but that is definitely not the case. and i love it.) we were getting stared down and tim left us to go back to the airport. a little nerve-racking but we survived. we hopped on the bus for our two hour ride [luckily we caught the express, otherwise it would have been 3 hours] to san ignasio were we are living. finally got here and oh my gosh. it is amazing. we stopped at a small restaurant for dinner: beans, rice, chicken, and coleslaw. oh, and a fried banana. it was delicious...or maybe i was just hungry from having nothing but some almost an entire cantaloupe for lunch.

we then headed up to our house to get settled. our house...way better than what i had imagined. 4 stories, each room painted a different bright color (just like the houses in town), and the most amazing view from our rooftop.  seven girls to a bedroom, mattresses lining the floor until we get beds, yep. but so much fun. it's like the sleepover that never ends. there are surprisingly not very many bugs...yet. well, minus the huge cockroach we found in our living room...which we promptly smashed with a shoe. the cold showers...aren't cold! they are warm....best news of my life. the weather is awesome high eighties and humid...i will look like a poodle for the next three months. i'm totally okay with that.  the people are nice for the most part. we get lots of cat calls which is to be expected.  we get stared at all the time, of course. group of crazy american girls...we don't really blend in to so the least. last night while taking a tour of the town dogs kept multiplying around us.  they seemed calm enough, but when some guys started to approach us they freaked out. apparently they have designated themselves as our guard dogs. let's just hope that they a. don't have rabies (although i did get my shot) and b. don't turn on us.

we then went home and slept for who knows how many blissful hours. woke up to the sun around 6:00 am and dani and i went with our leader kyle to the market to get fruit, tortillas, and eggs for breakfast. we went back and cooked it and showered (insert hallelujah chorus chorus here) and had a short team meeting. then i headed here to this precious slightly creepy little internet cafe with some of the girls to write this post for well...probably just my mom. i'm assuming you're the only one reading this so...hey mom! i'm just fine. loving it and mostly...uh totally safe and sound. not to worry.

on a side note-quick little story: things started out interestingly enough. i hadn't even left the good city of boise id when i met the first of what i'm sure will be many interesting characters.  let me introduce you to michelle:

• career: military flight dispatcher.
• current resident of sitka alaska (as in the movie "the proposal") i refrained from making a joke about the movie or the beloved ryan renolds as i was sure she had grown weary of that constant response from many others.
• girlfriend of commercial fisherman.
• possibly the next reality tv star of a yet to be named show about the lives of fishermen's wives...or in her case, girlfriends. sort of a deadliest catch meets army wives. can't wait for that one to premier. 
• passionate mormon hater. yes, i was wearing my BYU sweatshirt. no, i/m not sure if she saw what my shirt actually said and no, i didn't tell her i was in fact a mormon. i considered it, but then decided against it seeing as she could have taken me in a fight any day. i sort of wish i had though.

yet, during this interesting flight while trying to read "eat, pray, love" (which so far, i highly recommend-especially while traveling to a foreign country for an extended stay, really helps you get in the spirit of things) i found myself really enjoying getting to know this crazy lady.  it's true that we really can learn something from everyone if we just take the time to stop judging them and get to know them.  then and there i committed to make a greater effort to stop judging people so quickly and try to discover what i can learn from them.  president dieter f. uchtdorf gave a great talk about looking for the good in people.  he taught that if you look for the good you'll find it, and if you look for the bad you'll find that too. it's up to you.  so here's to trying to look for the good in people from here on out.

if you did read all of this...um i'm impressed. i think i stopped reading halfway through myself so congrats. and thanks for caring. hope everyone back in the states is doing great. i miss everyone and...send my love (that sounds stupid) but i'm not sure how else to end this rambling. so there it is. until next time...

p.s. pictures coming soon!