In the home stretch

We're about to board to Boston. Still scheduled for 10:45pm arrival. See everyone soon!

We landed

We just landed in Newark! About to get off the plane and head to customs

Day 8--Leaders of the Day: Kelsey, Alex, Andy

             Today was our last day in Belize. We had a fun time snorkeling near the Barrier Reef of the Cayes. We went snorkeling four times today, three times during the day, and one time at night! We saw huge Barracudas, eels, octopi, sting rays, and lionfish. We were lucky enough to be able to throw Ms. Schultheis into the sea, with MANY conditions; no complaining, no whining, and we can’t be loud. If we break any of these rules, we will have to buy her breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the airport. If Ms. Schultheis has to correct us, we all have to buy her coffee everyday until June!

            We also visited Carrie Bow Caye, which is leased by the Smithsonian Institute and scientists often come and perform experiments at the field station there. The station manager of the island told us that the island is shrinking overtime because of the hurricanes. We learned that the sand on the islands is actually made of parrotfish poop. We had a tour around the island, exploring the different labs.

            Since today was our last day, we had a closing ceremony. We went around the group explaining our own leadership stories and what we learned and took away from this meaningful trip. Throughout this trip, we made strong bonds not only with the local kids in Maya Center, but also within our entire group. When we get back home, we will bring what we have learned in Belize to our own communities and pass it on to others. Special thanks to all of the leaders and parents that helped make this trip possible!

See you all tomorrow!!!!!!!

           

Kelsey, Andy and Alex

P.S.  Our internet continues to be slow here on the island.  We will share pictures with you when we get home tomorrow!

Day 7--Leaders of the Day: Isabelle, Sylvia, & Laila

Day 7 – Isabelle, Sylvia, Laila

            Today was our last morning at Maya Center. Once again, some students woke up early to go bird watching and help cook breakfast. After, we all listened to Javier and Juan (our guides)’s life leadership stories and brainstormed our own.  After saying goodbye to Maya Center, we hopped onto a bus and had a quick ride to Dangriga, a city on the coast. From there we took boats to the beautiful Tobacco Caye.

            We arrived to the stunning island and had lunch soon after. We put our bags in our room and put our bathing suits on. Matil, one of the island managers, took us on a tour of the island and gave a presentation on snorkeling safety. Eighteen excited students ran down to the awaiting crystal waters and hopped in with their snorkel gear. Before witnessing the coral reef (the 2^nd largest great barrier reef in the world!), we practiced our snorkel skillz!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then, we threw ourselves into the sparkling turquoise waters on the other side of the island and (VERY SAFELY) swam out with Matil, an experienced snorkeler.

            After we got out of the water, we took showers and had some free time to experience the life changing view of the palm-treed, jewel-watered, white-sanded beauty. Hanging on beach hammocks were the relaxed BB&N students. We ate a delicious dinner and hung on hammocks some more. We had no idea what was coming next…

            “Singing competition!” Ms. Schultheis yelled. We split into two teams and got out pens and paper. Ms. Schultheis gave us a word and we had to come up with as many songs as we could in a specific amount of time that had the word in it. Once the time was up, we had to go back and forth singing the songs on our paper until we had no more songs. WE COULD NOT REPEAT ANY SONGZ!!!! After a few rounds, it was a… TIE! The tie breaker was a choreographed song including the word d-a-y. Ten minutes later, the two teams ran upstairs with wide grins. Team 2 (Laila, Isabelle, Sam, Stanley, Eli, Aidan, Ryan, Zoe, and Max) went first. They sang happy birthday to the birthday boi Stanleyyyyy!! Team 1 went second (Sylvia, TJD, Kaley, Luis, Adrianna, Kelsey, Andy, Alex, and Ranch) singing Beautiful by Christina Agulaira. After some intense competition with a few raps in between, the winning team was… TEAM 2! Team 1 did end up with the MVP of the intense competition.

            So that ended our fantastic first day on the spectacular island. We are tired and want to sleep now, so goodnight to all. We miss you parentsL.

Ya faves,

Laila, Isabelle, and Sylvia

P.S. The internet is a little slow here and we won't be able to upload as many pictures.  Maybe we can upload some tomorrow?

Day 6--Leaders of the Day: Sam & Stanley

 Day 6:

            At 6 in the morning, while most people (including me…) were snoring off in bed, some people woke up early for bird watching sessions, as well as helping the cooks make Fry Jacks, which are fried biscuits.

            Today was an incredibly hot day, however, the students managed to pull through an excruciating 15-minute game with the St. Jude’s local soccer team, ending with a loss of 1-0 St. Judes. Presented by the leaders of the day (Sam and Stanley), jerseys were given to the soccer team, to wear during competitions and games. BBN badges were also presented to six local students who helped the BBN community with a few local activities. We said our final goodbyes to the students of the St. Jude School and also shared ice cream with community  members later in the afternoon.

            Stanley’s 13^th birthday was celebrated by appointing him as GOD: god of the day, instead of the leader of the day. There was a cake with flowers. The BBN community was excited to learn that during our stay in Tobacco Caye, we will be able to wear shorts and flip flops/sandals.

            We completed our map activity, and had a lovely lunch with our homestays. Many students learned certain social facts about the Maya Center community; one even included the fact that the oldest living person in the community is 110 years old.

            Following the completion of the map activity, the BBN group had dinner with 5 different local leaders, asking questions and learning about Maya Center and Belize. All the leaders had interesting stories, including Ms. Victoria, who paid her way through college, without the support of her family.

            We finishing off the day (as we do all of our days) with a quick ANCHOR (Appreciation, News, Concerns, Hopes, Obscurities, and Reading) and local leader sharing activity, everyone is excited for Tobacco Caye. Our reading was about the 100 people in the world, with correct proportions. This enlightened the group about how fortunate we really are.

Potato,

Sam and Stanley

Making Fry Jacks in the morning. 

Playing Soccer with standard V and VI 

One of the homestay family

The Birthday Boy!

 Local Leader Dinner with Mr. Liberato.

Dinner with Ms. Johnson

Dinner with Ms. Victoria

Dinner with Ms. Rose

Dinner with Mr. Pop 

Day 5--Leaders of the Day: Ranch, Adriana, Aidan

Day 5

            Today was our final workday at the school and we concluded our work on the fence and painting the Dining Hall. We are all dreading the time tomorrow when we have to say a final goodbye to all of our new friends here. We will miss giving piggyback rides, playing tag, chasing our stuff around the school, and spending time with the school children.

            After the workday finished, we got to play a game with some of the local students. There were two teams the US and Belize (mixed with Belizean and American students on each team) and each one had to try and get across the other side. The challenging part was that the field was set up into squares from which we had to navigate a path without leaving a trail of our past attempts, one mess up and we needed to start all over. The game became really intense as the paths came closer to the end. We were all dead-set on winning although nobody ever said that there was a winner and a loser.

            After we had finished the game and had eaten another delicious lunch, the group that had gone to the river yesterday went to the chocolate factory, and the group that went to the chocolate factory went tubing. The tubing group had a wonderful time; they also ate termites like the last group and had a belly flop contest (the top scorers were Isabelle and Sam). The chocolate team made some excellent chocolate and it tasted even better because it was stone crushed and hand made, literally.

            In the evening it was evident that we are all still very jetlagged, because everyone was falling asleep at 8:30 Belize time. If only we fell asleep that early on school days. . .  amaright!?!?

Tomorrow is another day!

Sincerely,

Aidan, Adriana, and Ranch

Day 4--Leaders of the Day: Ryan & Max

Day 4:

            Today we made great progress on the fence. We finished stuccoing the chain link and poured the concrete and started to lay the cinder blocks. A few BBN students redecorated the play equipment with colorful designs. At break the local kids came out and we had piggyback races, soccer games and tag. After the break, we continued on our project to try to reach our goals. At different times throughout the day, we went into the classes and taught math and played baseball.

            Then, we did the true colors activity with some local students where we assessed different personality types. We split in half after that for afternoon activities. One group went tubing on a river. On the walk to the river, we saw ant paths and the hot lips plant. We saw a huge termite nest and some of us ate a few. They tasted like mints. On the river, we saw many parts of nature, such as:

mosquito-eating bats and lizards. We saw many birds, some examples are: the northern water thrush, the ringed king fisher, and the social fly-catcher.

            The second group went to the Chiel il chocolate factory located in Maya Center. There we took a tour around the farms that produced the cacao beans and toured the chocolate making facility. We even made our own chocolate. At the farm we learned about how the cacao beans are grown. We cracked open the cacao fruits and ate the beans inside raw. The raw beans are usually dried and fermented and that is what is used for chocolate.  In the factory we use a traditional Mayan grind stone to grind the chocolate and mix the ingredients. We filled molds and put them in the freezer. After 10 mins we had made our very own dark chocolate and FYI fresh hand made chocolate is heaven.

            In the evening we had our homestay dinners. We played games, talked, and learned about the Mayan culture. They were very inviting, provided a comfortable environment, and prepared great food.  We bonded over Disney Channel, UNO and amazing tortillas. These tortillas were amazing. They were warm and fresh off the fire. They were hand made and cooked to perfection. The soft fluffy tortillas mixed with red beans were some of the best food we have ever had.

Looking forward to tomorrow, sincerely Max and Ryan