Freaky

One of the major reasons we enjoy living abroad is of course: the sun. It is just easier to wake up in the mornings when the sun peeks through your curtains, when you can wear cute sandals without having to worry about socks and when your face is tanned.

Of course we sometimes complain that it is too hot but I am careful with what I wish for. However, there is one serious down side to the hot tropical climates we have been living in for the past fifteen years. With heat comes humidity, and with that comes…bugs. Roaches, mosquitos, flies, fleas, ants whatever... I thought I was used to it by now. Until…

…on the very first day we stayed in our newly rented house, we had two ladies giving it a good clean up. They found a tiny bright green frog in the store room, screamed and then ran away from it. They said it was a poisonous frog and that it could spit in your eyes and make you blind. I found that hard to imagine from such a tiny thing that looked like a Haribo gummi candy. But am I going to disbelieve these Belizean women? No way, so we took it seriously and approached the empty room with utmost care.

Later that day my guy wanted to see if froggy was still there and he found a black spider keeping it company. Now this was getting interesting. A frog and a spider in an otherwise totally empty room? Is this a new fable of La Fontaine? Later that evening he took another peek into the store room, and to his big surprise the frog and spider had been joined by a scorpion! Really true, all on the same day in the same room! What is this? Some kind of plot to say that we are (not) welcome in this house? A scorpion? I have never had those in my house… those fellows are a little dangerous aren’t they?

We have baptized that store room the Freaky Room. I will forever be careful when I go in there, and will never go near it with bare feet. We’re still enjoying the sun but have yet to learn to accept all creatures that come along with it. If you decide to visit us I promise you you won’t have to sleep in the Freaky Room. Unless you like scorpions…

Viva Mexico?

We’re going to Mexico! Michel has to go for work to Orange Walk and Corozal, two cities in the sugar belt of Belize close to the Mexican border. We’re going to do some shopping in Chetumal, where many Belizians go because it is much cheaper. Belize is an expensive country…a small bottle of beer in the supermarket costs 3,50 Belizian dollars (or 1,75 USD) and a loaf of brown bread is 2,50 USD. Buy anything slightly luxurious and we pay through the nose like 5,50 USD for 10 slices of turkey ham, 6 American dollars for half a liter of plain yoghurt or for a bottle of shampoo.

I am excited to see Mexico and am even wearing a dress for the occasion. And a pair of high heels! I imagine Mexico to be a little more urbanized and stylish than Belmopan, where everyone always wears jeans and plastic slippers. Belmopan is very dusty and low-key and nobody seems to care much about looks. In a way that’s cool, but sometimes I just miss dressing up and hearing the clickety-clack of my heels on the street.

Upon exiting Belize we have to pay an exit tax. Ridiculous. Arriving at the Mexican border the border officers just keep waiving us through. Before we know it we have crossed the border and are on a 4-lane high way to Chetumal. Shouldn’t we have registered ourselves to get an entry stamp in our passports? Too late. Around 6 pm on Friday we drive into Chetumal, and because I am expecting (or hoping) to see Latin or Spanish looking buildings with white verandahs and lovely small plaza’s with orange trees, I am disappointed. It is not pretty… just like Belize's towns…low, square shoe-box type houses, electricity cables hanging everywhere and plenty of Chinese shops with cheap clothes. The city centre is comprisesd of one street and the beach boulevard is dark and deserted. The first thing I do at the hotel is exchange my dress for a pair of jeans. We find a restaurant that serves excellent steak and Margaritas so at least we feel a bit like being abroad.

The next morning we go the shopping mall where shops are good (especially the Liverpool department store) and prices are cheap, compared to Belize. We resist Soleine’s begging to go to MacDonalds and enjoy a small restaurant with local food. Then I start feeling sick, my stomach is upset and I am weak in the knees.

On the way out of Mexico we have to pay tourist tax which we did not pay when entering, and we have a car accident because some Rasta-man, totally stoned and wasted, decides to pull up out right in front of us on the high way in his jeep. We damage our car and the man is very apologetic: he tells us at least 25 times how sorry he is and that he loves us. The police arrive, surprisingly fast, and they ask us if we want the Rasta man (who introduces himself as Mr. Too Tall from Crooked Tree, can you believe it) to be taken to station for alcohol testing. We just want to get a police report for the insurance and get out of there. Back home the swine-flu thing is all over the news and I am even thinking I might have caught something as my body feels weird returning from Mexico. What a trip! I don’t think we’ll go back to Chetumal again. Okay, shopping may be much cheaper but add up the cost of the trip, the exit tax, the entry tax, the hotel and the car accident and the Swine flu stress and I don’t think we have saved any money on turkey ham or beer. And what is the point if nobody wears a dress and clickety-clack shoes anyway?

Stuff

Our container has arrived in the port of Belize city. Yeah yeah yeah! After traveling at sea for almost three months - from Colombo to Singapore to Hongkong to Panama to Jamaica – our 88 boxes should arrive in our new house in Belmopan TODAY!

Everyone who has ever shipped stuff must know this feeling… I always consider it the best day since arriving the new country. Knowing Belize as an easy-going country, we’re expecting the container to be released and brought to our house the same day. But, from experience we also know not have expectations and to apply the ‘first see then believe’ principle.

Funny enough, I have half forgotten what’s in it. Apart from two princess dresses of which my daughter constantly reminds me, my newly acquired mega-painting from Sanjeewa Kumara and my salad spinner I can’t say I miss much. Having been here for three months, I have bought all there is to buy in Belmopan, which includes essentials such as beds and plates but of course not books, CDs, toys nor pictures, just to name a few items.

But, I must say it is actually kind of nice to have a tidy house without clutter. For the first time in my expat life I wonder if it is worth it to constantly travel with all your stuff and to pay large sums of money for the shipments (which, mind you, we have to pay ourselves).

Eventually, the container came four days after its arrival in the country. A customs officer was present at our house when we unsealed it. Out came our 88 boxes with the forgotten items – according to what the Sri Lankan packers had written on them, such as: cresmas deceracion, helmuts, ormanents, pientings and ladies axeceseres. Add to that Soleine’s books in three languages, family photos, pretty bed sheets and my Abba CDs and the answer to the question: is it worth the time and money to take your personal stuff when you regularly travel half the world, becomes easy:- without a doubt!

Belmopan Slide Show

Belmopan has been the capital of Belize since 20 years or so. Before it was Belize city, which makes more sense because it is much bigger though still small. The Belize government and many of the embassies shifted to Belmopan because of the hurricanes and floads affecting Belize city. Belmopan basically consist of one road, named the ring road. There are 12,000 inhabitants in this town...it's even smaller than my home town in the Netherlands which I managed to escape on the day I turned 18. Sorry to say but Belmopan is boring and dusty. And I mean that literally and figuratively. There are no shops (unless you consider Chinese supermarkets as shops), no good restaurants, there is no cinema or theatre. Being in Belmopan feels like living back in the fifties. The good part is that the people are really friendly, strangers greet eachother when they pass in their cars, you can leave your car unlocked with the key in it. I find it hard to preserve my good habits of locking doors and putting seat belts. It is easy to do your shopping here because you simply buy what is available. Having limited choice is acutally convenient I have noticed.

Apart from a few colorful trees such as the Flamboyants, Golden shower and Jakaranda's there isn't much beauty in Belmopan. Nobody makes any effort to please the eye here. Restaurants and bars consist of wooden picnic tables and tasteless overdue Christmas decorations. You will understand that we have to make all the fun ourselves here in this hole. But we're pretty good at that...

Women's Fun

Fresh in Belmopan, I learn that there is such a thing as the ‘Belmopan International Women’s Group’. There happens to be a meeting at the Mexican Embassy the first week of my arrival. I go and I am surprised by the number of 50 or so women present. It was a lunch meeting and everyone had brought a dish so the large table was full with sandwiches, dips, cakes and what not. Each woman is wearing a name tag, the American way. I sit down, look around and listen. There are announcements about how to register as a member, about how to attract visitors the website (suggestion: putting recipes!), how money has been spent for a sick child and then there is a draw. You can buy a ticket and win a lamp made by one of the women. Then everyone attacks the lunch table and leaves.

I am not impressed but have learned not to judge too quickly. After all, there is very little to do here in Belmopan so every initiative should be supported.

The second meeting takes place at the huge fancy house of one of the most important families in Belmopan. Again there is a good turn-out with a mixture of women in terms of age and nationality. I did not bring a name tag and learn that we have to pay a fine if without tag. A symbolic one but still..I am beginning to feel uncomfortable. The meetings starts and I feel even more uneasy. I decide not to buy a ticket for the monthly draw.

Why I am feeling so misplaced? Because I am one of the younger women? Because I consider myself a professional women and do not want to be part of housewives / spouse clubs? Then one woman stands up and complains that the meetings always take place during day time. ‘I am wórking you know...’ she says with such an air of ‘I am better than you’ that I feel like slapping her. I shamefully recall that I probably used to say the same thing when I was working in Sri Lanka…

There is also a men’s club in Belmopan. They go out on trips; kayaking in caves or diving in the blue hole. They have ideas for poker evenings, car rally’s and spicy dinner parties. They drink Belikin beer, talk shit and have fun. Like men do. Then I realize why I am not at ease with the ‘women’s thing. It has nothing to do with working or not…it’s about having fun. The women’s group just doesn’t have fun. Not my kind of fun at least.

Guests and Fresh Fish

We’re having visitors! I find it always exciting when people take the time and effort to come and see your new country. I realize it is not for everybody to just leave your life for a while and hop on a plane like we do all the time. Especially when it involves a journey of almost 2 days and multiple airplanes. So I was happy to welcome my brother in law and his wife and daughter from Belgium. Soleine was all excited to have a room mate, even though she did not remember her 10 year old cousin Sarah at all.

They arrived with 6 suitcases stuffed with children’s shoes, liver pate and Belgian chocolate. Seriously, at least 10 kilo’s of the finest Belgian Leonidas pralines have been ‘smuggled’ into Belize. Upon their return, the family exported 10 liters of hot pepper sauce for their friends in Belgium. That’s fair trade…don’t you think?

One of the nice things about having guest is that it’s a great opportunity to see the country. We all know that those who live in a country know it the least. How many French have climbed the Eiffel tower, how many Dutch have seen the colorful tulips in the Keukenhof or looked at Rembrandt’s Nachtwacht? How many Americans have climbed down the great Canyon or gone up the Empire State Building? Exactly!

For almost three weeks we explored Belize. And have not been disappointed. Creepy jungle trails ending in bright blue rock pools, climbing Maya temples to enjoy 360 degrees views, lazing in a hammock on Placencia beach…Belize is surely a beautiful place.

Good as it is to have guests, I am also always secretly happy when they leave. In Dutch we have a saying where we compare guests to fresh fish...you know what they have in common? The both only stay good for a few days, then they start smelling. Ouch…that is not a nice. My dear brother and sister in law…it was great having you. To all future visitors: don’t take it personally!

Happy Clappy School

Let me tell you a little about my daughter. She is four (going on ten). In Sri Lanka she used to go to a preschool named Stepping Stones, a great school for little people.

As soon as we arrived in Belmopan, I inquired about schools. Many people pointed to BCA, supposedly the best and only 'international' school in Belmopan. So, on our first Thursday we went to check it out..me being as excited as Soleine.

My first impression was okay from the outside. A dozen small wooden buildings on stilts, one for each class, painted white, looking like a cute holiday village. Inside though, the classroom was very small and not half as neat as Stepping Stones in Colombo. Old plastic toys, wobbly furniture and awfully dirty and ripped floor covers.

BCA stands for Belize Christian Academy. That was my second uneasiness. It is a very Christian school: with crucifixes in its logo, God in its overall objective and compulsory clapping to Jesus on Fridays. It's just not my thing. I find that schools should not be involved in preaching one single religion only. But according to the Belize government, all schools are required to have a religious affiliation.

To be very honest: I was disappointed. Was this the best school of Belmopan? Then I met Soleine's teacher. She is Chantelle, and she is a star. I respect anyone who can keep 14 toddlers busy from 8.30 to 15.30, but if you can keep them busy in a meaningful and fun way, you're a super star! So I asked myself: what is most important for a 4 year old: proper facilities or a proper facilitator? And, will the religious 'brain washing' have a permanent effect on her 4-year old psyche?

What do you believe?