Susanne in Belmopan: The Art of Waiting

The Curse of Belize

Belize is a stunningly beautiful country, but it has one curse. Can you guess?

◘ Mosquitos

◘ Humidity

◘ Traffic Jams

◘ Greenhouse gasses

◘ Botlas

The answer is 5) botlas, which is Creol for bottle-ass (don't ask me why). They are mega tiny little flies, you can't see, hear or feel them at the time. Only a day later you will notice the spots. They itch like the devil and only very slowly recede (between 7 and 10 days). They're everywhere in Belize; in sand, grass, near water and even the most hard-core repellents (Deep Woods) and long pants and sleeves will not fully protect. I use Benadryl gel to relieve the itch but mostly just wait and sit it out.

Pinky House

As any 4-year old, Soleine gets pretty bored when we travel long hours in the car. But now we have a game. The first one to spot a specific object gets points. As follows:
- a pink house = 10 points
- a horse = 5 points
- a tractor = 10 points
- a pair of shoes hanging from power line = 20 points

A regular trip from Belmopan to Belize can score about 100 points, to San Ignacio 150 points because more horses and tractors. Soleine usually wins. When we'll be in Belgium or Holland this summer we'll have to change the rules, There aren't many pinky houses (as Soleine calls them) there, right?

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Art of Waiting

Sigh!
Can you imagine, after the rush of packing, selling, throwing and giving away all our stuff in Belize, canceling all contracts and contacts, saying goodbye to all our wonderful friends, all in ONE BLOODY week, we are now still waiting to depart! Our new job was supposed to start June first.

It's the 11th of June now, and we're still in Belgium/Holland. Sigh again. We are 'preparing' ourselves for the stay in our new country....Madagascar. Happy as we are with our new posting, the 'preparation' time is way too long. Normally we just hop on the plane, as there usually is no time to sign contracts, no time to read about the history of whereabouts of the new country. This time we have more than 4 weeks to 'prepare'. Sigh. But what can you do to prepare? I've checked Google Earth to spot interesting neighborhoods in Antananarivo (I will take that house with that little blue spot!), I have watched Madagascar the movie several times, listened to a 2-hour lecture from a professor in Tropical Medicine about malaria and the risk of being bitten by a mad dog, or -Godforbid - a lemur!!, had my upper arms injected stiff with all kinds of tropical vaccines, I've sent my stool sample by mail (!- discretion guaranteed, unless the mailman knows what Biological Materials Category 2 are), have checked the United-Nations-in-Madagascar website and e-mailed the American School of Antananarivo. What else can I do? I am done with waiting, I want to take the plane and get settled. Find a house, purchase appliances, buy a car, make new friends, start a new hash and a new blog. I don't want to be here, I want to be there!