Belize Quest

2010-03-27T19:25:00.027-06:00

For our family this experience has been a stretching one. We have spent so much time together as a family I think we are good for at least ten. :) This was taken as a Christmas picture. Thanks to all you who have been praying for us.

We have not seen these wild picks (peckary) for a number of months now. They move along or are hunted by the wild cats or jaguars - or hunters. The meat apparently is terrible if it is not prepared correctly after you shoot it. This was taken just below our house down the hill. About 300 feet away.

This is a typical home in Belize. Many people live in this kind of raised house. I think it is a traditional thing. Where we live the houses are not on stilts. The laundry also (you can see it in the picture) is hung dry. One of the biggest chores for us is to hang our laundry. Not too stressful, but it does take time.

In the middle of the country are huge orange groves. Miles and miles of trees. This truck is loaded with oranges which are taken and made into juices or various kinds. This was taken at the beginning of January. The orange season ends by the beginning of March.

In Placencia. We stayed here for four nights. We took some time at Christmas to go to the beach with Lill and Bruce who came to visit. There are miles and miles of beach. We were dissappointed there were so few shells on the beach. It was too far from the coral reef. There were very many shells when we were on the islands.

Bruce catching fish when we went fishing with a guide. He caught supper and supper and supper... The fish were big and very good. Austin and I each caught one and Bruce caught the rest. This fish is called a Jack. Our guide was very memorable.
Family picture at the Blue Hole in central Belize. You can go swimming here. The water comes from under the mountain. Travels about 300 feet above ground and returns underground. It is a little freaky swimming where the water comes up as it is very deep. The water is a blue color, hence the name. Very refreshing swim on a hot day.
Nurse sharks. They are harmless. This is the spot where we jumped in and snorkeled with sting rays and nurse sharks. The water is about 5 feet deep. If you ever get a chance to snorkel on a coral reef it is a spectacular experience, don't pass it up. Renee may say otherwise, but I think she is glad she tried it.
We are waiting for the water taxi to take us to Caye Caulker. Greg and his fiance (Melissa) accompanied us on this trip. They are getting married in July in Washington State.
Christmas break in Cancun with Earl and his family. Who could pass up a free round of golf through our hotel. All the boys went for a round. As I remember it was quite hot. It was a par 3 course. Seems to me we lost a few golf balls, and almost hit some cars in parking lots, but a good time was had by all.
Games night at our place. We try and do this once a week on the weekend. These are teachers who have joined us for the evening. We play things like spoons, Dutch Blitz, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride. Everyone bring a little bit of a snack and we have a good time visting and relaxing. No TV so we make our own entertainment. Raena, Austin and Noah are a little bummed we don't have a TV, although I am sure they will thank us when they get older. Maybe.
At a wildlife park. The fawn was born within a day of this picture. It could already stand and run around a little.
A praying mantis on our front porch. At least this bad boy didn't get into the house. I think the cats took care of him in the end.
A scooter that many people use here. I think this one is 100 CC. It belongs to Greg, the grade 7 teacher and is for sale. He wants to sell it when he leaves.
This is a picture of us in Herman's Cave. We went with Wally and Paula when they were out to visit. It was a cool experience, except it would have been better if we had all had our own flashlights. We had wanted to rent some, but not much was available at that time. So we five shared one flashlight, so it was a little hard to trust your next step. It was neat though, and we would highly recommend it.
We also traveled to the Belize Zoo with Wally and Paula. This is a picture of the male harpy eagle. We are kind of excited about this bird, as Blue Creek got to host the release of one of these endangered birds while we were here, and Austin and Jerry were lucky to be a part of that event. Only a few got to go, and they saw the release and everything. It is a gorgeous BIG bird. So that was a cool experience.
This is also a picture of us at the Zoo. The foliage is awesome there. The jungle is all around you, and they have just cut away growth to make paths and the pens look mostly natural. There is wire mesh, but the inside of the pen looks like their natural jungle environment. Very fun to see, especially now on the second time as we have heard more about the animals and have even gotten to see some of them in the wild.
This is a picture taken in Indian Church, just outside of the Lamanai ruins. This would be quite a common sight in Shipyard, a town not far from us where the older colony Mennonites live.
Our February company! We had a great time with Wally and Paula Rude. Jerry went to Bible School with Wally at Capernwray in Sweden (a few years ago :) ) and then they both went to University in Edmonton and lived together at Wally's Aunt's house. Wally stood up for Jerry when we got married. So it was exciting when we heard that they were coming to visit for about 4 days, as well as going on a little trip of their own afterward. They left their kids at home this time, but we are looking forward to our next meeting where our kids will get to meet each other too. They took great interest in our kids and the kids grew to love them a lot. This picture is of breakfast - omelets thanks to Jerry.
Jerry relaxing in our hammock. You wouldn't catch me (Renee) in that thing ever again as yes, as luck would have it, the one end gave way and I landed quite soundly on my bottom. Thankfully it was feet first. But that cement sure is hard!!!! It was one of my first tries in it too, and I had witnessed Jerry relaxing in there many times already. Let's not talk about all the weight I have gained back. :(
Raena trying some stuff with her camera. This is a black and white of her brother acting silly. I think that worked out well

This is a sepia of her mom acting silly. I guess that worked out too.
What a beautiful picture. This is Raena with her friend Karen. Karen has been a very good friend to her, and they have spent a lot of time together. On one of her visits to our house, we stopped by another teacher's house to see their new baby lambs. They were so cute, and the kids got to hold them and name some too. It was a really neat experience. There were tons of baby lambs - maybe 20 or 30. It was fun to see.
Papaya! Looks really good, but we haven't quite acquired the taste for this fruit yet. Don't think we will this trip. Although one of Austin's teachers has told his class that it is a wonderful solution to irregularity.
Noah's 6th birthday party. We invited his whole class to come over - 12 kids. We had some snacks and played some games at our house and down at the park. They also got to do a craft of coloring some race cars. The birthday party was "supplied" by dear Auntie Shelly. Treat bags, decorations, plates, tablecloth, birthday candle,etc. Thanks so much, sister! It was a fun time for Noah.
This is the view from our front windows one morning. These are the wild pigs, called pecaries. There was even a baby one. Quite neat to see them outside of the zoo, and in our front yard! They are not very large and up close they are very stinky. But I guess they are pigs.
This is a picture of our favorite restaurant here, Three Flags Restaurant. Okay maybe it doesn't look like much in this shot, but it is really a cool place. Our favorite items there are chicken fingers or deep fried shrimp. It is a favorite spot for many people to go after church on Sundays. Prices are pretty cheap.
This is a picture taken in Shipyard, where the old colony Mennonites live. The roads are a little bumpy in that neck of the woods, but it is very interesting to see the horses and buggies driving along the road and the people in their unique dress passing us.
A family photo at the Lamanai ruins. The jungle walk is a wonderful experience - cool and peaceful and beautiful.
In December, Bruce and Lill came to visit. They came for the last two weeks of our Christmas holidays. We had an awesome time with them, spending a few days at our house and then traveling with them to the island of Caye Caulker for 3 nights and then on to Placencia for four nights. The kids really bonded with them and once again it was hard for us to say goodbye.
Here is a picture of us all picking oranges during their visit. Noah, Jerry, Renee, Lill
During the first week of our Christmas vacation, we had booked an all inclusive in Cancun and were blessed to spend the week there with Earl and Shelly and family. Here we see Austin with his best buddy Ethan and Noah building a sand sculpture at the seashore. Austin had missed Ethan a ton, so he was very excited to spend this time with him.
Reunited. Our first meal the first evening we got there. Brett was really shocked to see us :) . Jerry is way too busy talking with his long lost buddy to pose. But I always have time :) . It was so nice to see my sister. We had a special week with them, relaxing and catching up. We have said many times, that each set of company has been so SPECIAL. We have shared unique adventures with each of them and enjoyed each visit thoroughly. We have been so blessed! We said too, that we felt that we had bonded more in some ways than we would have had we stayed at home. I feel my kids have interacted more with their Aunts and Uncles, their grandparents and other adults that have come to visit, which is cool to see. At home they would generally run off with the cousins, so although they miss that, it has been special to see the bonding happening.
Okay, so the joke here is that the mosquito is the national bird of Canada. Well, we always joked back that at least you see our national bird. We had many here quite a few months and not seen theirs yet :) But finally we looked in the right place, I guess. Yes, here is a toucan. He doesn't look quite like the one on the fruit loops box, but he is a gorgeous creature. I still can't quite get over seeing one. I watch it till it is out of sight. We hear and see (pretty much every single day since we have been here) parrots. They like to sit in the tree right outside our front door. Although we don't usually see them in the tree, but flying away from the tree. Beautiful birds. Just part of the awesome experiences we are having out here. Unforgettable!
I am pretty sure that all of these pictures are in backwards, so sorry! First you have to wait for months and then everything is mixed up. But we did have a lot to catch up. Our kids were pestering Jerry about updating our blog saying that if we didn't people were going to stop praying for us. So that got action. From both of us. Anyway, thanks for continuing to check up on us. We are using a different computer now, and the speed is sometimes lacking a little. But we will do the best we can. Take care! See you in about two months or less. Cannot believe this experience is almost over. Where has the time gone. We miss home a lot, but we know we will miss this place and the people we have met too.

2009-12-10T19:06:00.007-06:00

This is an update that didn't work at the beginning of December. Renee Mom and Dad and sister Gayle came to visit for just over a week. We had a wonderful time and had a variety of activities planned for them. The first picture is of Gayle at Chan Chich lodge. It is a beautiful eco lodge in the heart of the Belize Jungle. It is about an hour from our place and needed a 4x4 to get there. We used our van. Still made it. 36 miles is one hour. You do the math. Slow going. There is a coffee plantation there and the lodge as well as other farming components to the area. It is a self contained community. Costs $250 US per night-way out of our price range. We had lunch there - very good experience.

Mom and Dad at the lodge as well. I think they felt Belize was a great experience, although it was a little hot and humid for them. It was +30 to +35 for a few days.

One of Dad's highlights to pick oranges. Our landlord gave us permission to pick a bag from their orchard.

There is a Mexican town across the river from us called The Union. We go there to shop and get some groceries since it is a little cheaper there. Specifically Pepsi in 2.5 L bottles. Belize does not have Pepsi - only Coke. There is a good story behind that one. The boat ride is given by a Mexican and takes there and back when we are ready. It cost $1US per person for the ride.
Renee and I stop by this fruit stand in Belize City whenever we get a chance. Lots of fruit variety for reasonable prices. We got watermelon, pineapple, bananas on this trip.
We went to San Pedro for two nights and stayed a resort called Captain Morgan's. The place was really nice and we had a good time there with Renee's family. The pictures below are from the lodge or the town which was about a mile away.
Raena collecting seashells. I am not sure why she needs more! The kids have a big collection already. I guess they are quite hard to find in Manitoba, so this is very new for them.

The lodge we stayed in. We were in the top part of this building. thatched roof and all. Two bedrooms with a loft and pull out couches. Very comfortable and unique place to stay.

Gayle, Mom and Dad, Thanks for coming to visit us! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed showing you a little of where we are living for the year.

Update...

2009-11-21T11:52:00.007-06:00

Now I know why we don't post very often. Our internet connection is at times slower than dial-up and freezes often. Very frusterating when a 15 minute post takes over an hour! Good thing I have that kind of time out here : ).

We took family pictures with a local photographer - she does a great job. She is Raena's tacher and does the photography stuff on the side.

The kids (and Renee) are dressed up for clash day at school. We had limited options, but gave it our best try. The van's air conditioning went last week. Luckily we are getting a replacement part flown in from Canada this week. Much cheaper and shorter option than waiting for who knows how long for a part in Belize. We had the brakes fixed at a local mechanic (replaced the brake pads). Charged $50 BZ. This is $25 US. I should get Rosenort Motors to look at his rate book. Maybe they could adopt some of the rates he is charging.

Noah is having fun climbing a tree in our back yard. He is about 15 feet off the ground. Renee doesn't know about this and I am not going to tell her : ) The kids have a tree fort in the back yard and we managed to build a ladder for it today. The roof project is next. It is cooling off outside these days so it is a little easier to work out there. It is down to 31 degrees Celsius on sunny days.

Tree playform. Austin in the tree with Raena sitting on the platform. We get lumber from the mill below our house from thier junk pile. The kids go and haul some up once in a while when they need it.

Renee's parents and sister Gayle are coming on Nov. 26th and staying for a little over a week. We are so looking forward to this. We are going to take them to the cayes and spend a few days shopping, swimming, and eating seafood. Should be a good time. We will post in a few weeks about their stay.
Jerry

2009-11-01T17:27:00.002-06:00

These pictures were taken at Lamanai - a large Mayan ruin. The kids, Jerry and Greg climbed to the top, and Renee had to look the other way as they looked as though they were way too close to the edge! It started to rain while we were there.
The ladies after a successful climb up and down one of the lower ruins.

The grounds at Lamanai were gorgeous. It was a nice hot day, but started raining near the end of our walk. There were three little souvenier shops, and we had a good time looking around and making a few little purchases.
Happy to be there. It was not a very long drive, but the road was fairly bumpy. We invited two of the teachers to come with us, Greg (Gr.7) and Desiree (Gr.6) and it was nice to spend time with them. We had a picnic lunch under a thatched roof shelter, and the rain was pouring down outside. It was a very beautiful place and we had a really fun time.

This is a picture from Austin's birthday party on October 16, Friday. He invited all of the boys from his class and one from Grade 5. They were a very well-behaved bunch. They started by playing volleyball down at the park below, then came up for pizza and chips. vegies and cake. They watched a movie for a bit and then played a shorter version of the game Risk. Austin enjoyed his day.

The pizza!

2009-10-11T16:39:00.006-06:00

Raena took a picture of her teacher Miss Dyck and most of the girls in her class. Their names are Destinee, Tammy, Karen, Stephanie, and Steph. Missing are Casey and Raena.

The kids got two kittens today, Sunday. They have been playing with them outside quite a bit. They are a bit skinny, so we are hoping they will help us out with the mouse and gecko problems, just to fatten up a bit. They have named one cat Buddy, and the other has no name as of this time.

On Friday, we had a day off of school. We took the opportunity to go to Bacab Eco Resort. It was a very beautiful spot. While there were plenty of other things to do, like horseback riding and boating and stuff, we decided to enjoy the pool for the day. It was gorgeous there. The following pictures are all of our time there.

I finally had a camera with me when I saw this beautiful flower, and now the picture is turned on its side :( Trust me, it looks even better right side up.

I believe this is Blaine and Kayla and Melissa and Melissa's brother, Jerry Rempel. They along with Giesela and Justin, and a fellow teacher Greg, all joined us at Bacab for the day. It was a very relaxing day. We had the place all to ourselves, as it was a school holiday for us, but not a national holiday, so all the other kids were in school and people were working as usual. It was awesome!

This is Raena and Noah, and the Gr. 7 teacher Greg, who came with us to Bacab. The kids love to hang out with him. We do too. He is from Tacoma, Washington.

This is back at our house. Jerry and I were really hungry for a barbeque, so he began to collect items to make this little setup. He found a tire rim, some gravel, some briquettes, borrowed a grill from someone, and Voila! We have a barbeque that we have decided we will save for the weekends, as it takes a little while to get it hot. But it works great!

This is Jerry's tomato garden. It now has a small tomato on the plant. We are hoping to have tomatoes before our company starts arriving in late November. We are hoping to make ceviche and salsa and all sorts of stuff.

We are enjoying fresh cucumbers. Generally the boys have them picked and are eating them before any of the rest of us gets a chance to check, but at least the snacking is healthy.

The kids sitting on our front steps. A lot of times this is where Austin and Noah have set up their ant killing factory. I guess they are trying to control the ant population in Belize, but I think they have a ways to go. There are fire ants, tickle ants, black ants, cutter ants plus many more. Lots of ants!

This is me cooking. I'm not sure why I am looking so grim. Maybe I am wishing for my kitchen at home? Cooking has been a bit of an issue for me here; somehow I like to cook where I have all of my own stuff and know where to get the groceries I need. But I am learning. I have finally mastered some cookies and some banana muffins, and we've had some really good soup and biscuits too.

Belize Independence Day

2009-09-26T18:15:00.004-06:00

Just as Canada is a former British Colony, Belize was as well. On September 21st, 1981 Belize gained its independence. The community of Blue Creek celebrated the 28th birthday for the country of Belize with a festival in the park. The festivities started at 2:00 with a parade by the Linda Vista School. There was a comminuty supper and a program in the evening. We all had to sing the national anthem. If you want to know about the history of Belize read the lyrics to their anthem. Whereas the Canadian anthem is about the beauty of the country the Belize national anthem is about history and the struggle it went through to become the country that it is.

The top picture is of the new stage at the park, beside the volleyball courts in the foreground.

Renee in the Parade with other teachers as well as her class right behind her. Noah is enjoying the parade marching to the national anthem.
The Pastors holding up a banner. An especially elegant banner that was made by Renee with Permanent markers. Took her a long time.

A shot of the park and the parade. This is a view from our house on the hill above the park.

Someone asked us recently how things are going for us here. I would answer it this way. There are times when things are great and times that we struggle being here with the different challenges that we face. Renee found saw a mouse in the house the other day - needless to say she was not impressed. We set the traps but so far our trap line has been unable to catch our quarry. There has been a tremendous amount of rain this past week. I would say about 6 inches worth. It is supposed to be the rainy season and the previous three weeks have yielded little rain and oppressive heat - 90 in the shade. This last week it cooled off with temperatures hovering at the 25 degrees Celsius mark. Our roof has a few minor leaks and I have attempted to fix these with caulking. Not sure how long that will last. As well getting our van up our driveway to the top of the hill is a challenge. We take a big speed and hope for the best. When it is wet the rock is quite slippery and the van doesn't have very good grip. I need those all season radials with the extra grip-or snow chains. We picked our first cucumbers from our mini-garden. I expect we will have them fresh for the entire time we will be here as we can just keep planting new plants. The tomatoes are a litle slower off the mark. They are just beginning to flower. Hopefully we can start picking ripe ones by the time Renee's sister and mom and dad come to visit at the end of November. They are coming for about 10 days. There are times we miss our family and friends tremdously. Austin and I are also lamenting the fact that hockey season started at home and he won't be a part of it this year. To me that is the biggest sacrifice that I have made coming here. Not seeing my boys get to play hockey this season. Soccer is just not the same....

Caye Caulker Trip

2009-09-15T16:07:00.006-06:00

When we first started thinking about coming to Belize, one of things I wanted to do with our family is go to one of the islands off the coast of Belize for a vacation with our family. Caye Caulker (Caye is pronounced "key") is a laid back tourist destination that was recommended to us by some people. It was everything I thought it would be and way more. Typical Belize in its rustic form greeted us as we stepped off the boat after a 45 minute ride from Belize City. We stayed in a new hotel on the island - with Air Conditioning (it was very hot on the weekend 90+ in the shade). The AC was very welcomed by us as we had a chance to cool off for a few days.

We took time to take a snorkling tour at the reef (the second largest in the world). It was cool to see all the marine life. After the kids got used to the snorkeling gear they settled in and had a great time. We went to Shark-Ray alley - the sharks had moved on about 6 months ago so we only snorkeled with 3-4 foot manta rays.
A restaurant - took a long time to get our food, but it was worth it. The eating places were mostly open air like this one - with a roof over head to block out the sun.
The main strip of Caye Caulker has many dive/snorkeling shops as well as souvenir shops, restaurants, and various kinds of accommodations.
A pier where we got picked up to go snorkeling.

On our last night we decided to try some of the fresh lobsters at this resaurant. A very cool experience. We picked the one we wanted and they grilled at street level while we sat in th table in the restaurant just above the grill. Tasted very good - we ordered way too much food though. The lobster meal was $12.50.
Rose's Bar and Grill where we ate the lobster meal.
Along the main street. No vehicles here besides golf carts. The island is quite small and only takes 20 minutes or so to walk from one end to the other.

This trip was a huge highlight for us as a family. It was good to take a break from teaching and get away and relax. The kids had a good time collecting and cleaning sea shells and conch shells that they found on the beach. Our next trip away will likely be in November when Renee's sister Gayle and Renee's Mom and Dad come to visit. We are looking forward to having them come!

Tarantula alert

2009-09-04T18:15:00.002-06:00

Walking down our hill to check on our tangerine tree this past week we almost stumbled on this big fellow. He was about 3-4 inches long. After further investigation though (a bit of poking with a small stick) we found that he was dead. It was impressive nonetheless. The second picture is of a small hole in the ground about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. This type of hole is where these spiders make their homes. We were told you can flush them out by pouring water down their hole. We have tried this with a few holes close to our house, but with no success. Nobody home I guess.

Renee is settling in to her teaching and is starting evaluations with her students. Her class hasgrown to 12 students from the original 9. She had a very good day today to end off the week. She is doing great for a first year teacher.

On the high school front my students have been finishing off chapters this past week and have been writing tests. The Geometry and Pre-Cal classes did quite well on the tests. We also had PE today - in the scorching sun - about 90 degrees in the shade. We played Prisoner's base and instead of flags each team had 5 coconuts on their side. Worked quite well except for the heat. In two weeks we are swimming at the Bravo (local river). There is a dam there and the water is very clear and comfortable. The crocodiles stay away from this area - at least we have been told this and have not seen any there. Our family went swimming there after school to cool off a little.

Renee is now on facebook. She prefers emails though if you want to contact her.

Well the kids want to watch a movie and I need to get off this thing. The laptop is our main DVD player - when it works!

Raena's Pictures

2009-08-28T17:31:00.007-06:00

Raena has been busy taking pictures. Here are some samples....

1. A fort that the kids made out of palm branches. It was invaded by fire ants (they bite and it hurts!) a few days after they finished.

relaxing inside the fort.

Some of the collecting got a little out of hand with some sideline palm branch fighting breaking out. Noah won and is doing a victory dance.
Blaine getting a coconut from our palm tree.
Kayla Dueck (Blaine and Melissa little girl). She is turning 1 his week and is almost walking. The youngest two love playing with her.
Raena showing off her photography skills. Austin relaxing on the couch.
The pet deer at the local restaurant. No they do not serve deer!
Our little princess who turned 8 last week. She is now in charge of taking pictures for the family. She got a camera for her birthday.

Birthday celebration

2009-08-28T15:57:00.004-06:00

Our internet connection is quite slow-especially uploading and we have a flaky computer as of late. I have been trying to upload some pictures for a week now with limited success. The video I have ready will have to wait. Maybe Blaine will let me come over to his place and use his connection (if you are reading this Blaine - hint, hint).

It was Raena's birthday last week (8) and Renee turned 40 this past Wednesday. She doesn't look a day over 26. We celebrated with a homemade Pizza, Nachos, Pepsi and good health. Renee had many people wish her a happy birthday via email and phone calls.

Renee has settled in to teaching somewhat is becoming comfortable with the curriculum. I am very proud of her. She is doing great. The teaching for me is going quite well. I am enjoying the courses I am teaching. We had a baseball game in PE today. I have all the high school in the class (37 of them). Some of them chose an alternative activity. The game ended in an 18-18 tie. I think everyone enjoyed it - even with my modified rules.

We have eaten out at a local restaurant (3 flags) a few times and really enjoy he food. It is an open air place that the people of Blue Creek seem to like as well. We will definitely be going back again.

Update

2009-08-20T20:26:00.004-06:00

Well school has started for us and it has been a little stressful as it is with any new job. Renee has been sick (stomach) for a few days. She enjoyed her day today (thursday) very much. She felt things went much better than the previous two days. Thanks for those who are praying for her. Once she beats this sickness she will settle in quite nicely teaching kindergarten. Her classroom photos are above.

One of my students brought us some mangoes (the last of the season). They are soooo good. Austin and I have picked them as our favorite all time fruit. Sorry, but the ones in Canadian stores do not compare very well. I told the student he was sure to get some extra marks - I'll see how I can fit that in.

My classes (Physics, Algebra II, Chemistry, PE, Plane Geometry -as opposed to fancy : ), and pre-calculus courses are going quite well. Most of the stuff I have taught before. The courses are laid out very nice with the pacing of the course done for you! This is a huge help for any teacher. The quizes and tests are all prepared as well. I feel like I am living in teacher heaven. The prepping for the courses takes a bit of time, but so far it is managable.

The other pictures are from a night staying in Belize City at one of their nicer hotels. We were not too impressed with it, but there are not many options there. We also went to the Belize zoo - by far the best zoo we have ever visited. It is very authentic looking with only animals from Belize be housed there. We gave it a 9.5/10. It missed the .5 because it did not have batteries for our camera. Sorry no pictures.

Raena is standing with a bunch of bananas that were given too us by our neighbor. They are smaller and very good.

Cutter Ant Video

2009-08-17T13:15:00.005-06:00

We have seen strips of land cut be these little monsters. Usually 4-6 inch wide trails full of busy ants going to and from their home. The other end is typically a small tree being stripped of its leafy dignity. The video is of a large tree. I don't think the ants will manage to get all of these leaves.

Day Before School Starts

2009-08-17T12:44:00.003-06:00

Sorry we were offline for a week while our service provider went on holidays to Cancun. Because the potential power surges that occur during thunderstorms they wanted to turn off their satellite for the week. School starts tomorrow for Renee and I. If you can remember, especially Renee, in the next few weeks in your prayers that would be awesome. She will do a great job teaching, but with any new thing uncertainties creep in.
I would definitely say that I have a better handle on what culture shock is-in our case anyway. First it is a large part missing home - friends and family. Realizing that we will not likely see them for a while is a little unnerving. We have met some great people here and they have helped in the transition. Blaine and Melissa Dueck have been very good to us and are making sure we have or can find the stuff we need.
Secondly the culture shock comes in not so much from the people for me, but from the different ways things are done. Milk is bought from a farm, seeds for the tomato and cucumber garden come from a seed plant, water is bought from one store, while going over to Mexico across the river (a very cool experience we will video next time) gets us Pepsi in 2.5L bottles. Learning all this takes time and sometimes we have to ask many questions. I don't think Blaine and Melissa are getting too tired of this as they are still answering their phone when we call.
Finally, living in a new house and setting your home up and getting used to where everything is a big change. If you move from house to house in Canada you still have most of your stuff. Here we came with 9 pieces of luggage and were given much of the rest that we needed. Some of the smaller stuff we have bought. The difficulty this poses can be overcome, but it does take some getting used to. We hang all our laundry - not too long or it will fade in the hot sun, or get rained on by the quick rains that are here this time of year.

I have another video to post in the next few days. Austin has been busy putting together a cutter ant video.

Jerry

What is it?

2009-08-07T09:13:00.003-06:00

Hope you enjoy the video. I noticed that the last one was stretched. I will work on correcting the problem.
Also, our Internet connection will be down for one week. From Saturday, August 8th to August 16th. School starts on the 18th.

View from Our House

2009-08-05T19:15:00.003-06:00

The video is a 360 view of house in Belize. It still needs a little wildlife proofing, but it is very nice house for us.

2009-08-05T09:38:00.004-06:00

Sorry, we are still learning how to do this. Our pictures are in the wrong order, newest to oldest. Whoops! This is our kitchen and dining room. All of the floors except the entrance are in this hardwood. We have noticed that most people's homes have ceramic tile. Cooler, I guess.

This is one of our many new friends. I am thankful to see that this one is on the outside of my house. The first to see a gecko was me, Renee, on my bedroom wall as I was being shown around the house. Yay! Our room has also hosted a couple of frogs. Jerry has promised me that he will do some repairs on the windows to keep these unwanted guests out. Our windows seem to be the most "drafty".

Laundry day. And yes, this was my red load. Jerry has pitched in a lot with the household stuff, but I guess there isn't much else to do. No TV. The internet wasn't hooked up yet. We have a plan in place once school starts on how we will possibly get all of our laundry done. With the humidity it is hard to get things to dry. We'll see how we can be more efficient in this process.

We have been given many gifts - one was a gift of limes. We squeezed the fruit and made limeade. We have also squeezed a jar full of lemon juice for lemonade, been given some awesome mangos and the oranges are just beginning to ripen. The banana season is also starting. Haven't tasted those yet.

This is our 4-level house. It is quite huge. The first level is cement flooring - the entrance, washing machine, and bathroom and storage room. The next level is the first picture you saw, kitchen, dining, living room, and our computer area. The next level has a big open area and our three bedrooms. The 4th level is a loft where the kids have put what little toys we brought. Notice the white van parked out front. These are our new wheels. Jerry was able to get a temporary license, but we are still awaiting a plate, as these are rare in this neck of the woods. This picture doesn't show it, but we live WAY up on a hill. Quite the rocky driveway too.

We live right beside the park - it's just at the bottom of our hill. These two pictures are taken there on our second day out here. Although I am not on any of the pictures, please take my word for it that I am definitely here, too.

This is a picture of the park, going down our hill. You can see a picnic shelter, and the rest is a soccer field. Jerry and Austin were out there last night, playing soccer with mostly men and boys (one female) from the community. They had a good time. Although it gets dark at about 7 or so, they have big lights that they put on at the park so that they can play later on. They said there are some really good soccer players out here.

Austin and his coconut, Blaine and his drill. A good combination. Both are happy. Blaine and Melissa are very good to us out here. They have helped us get settled and shown us around. We are so thankful to have them here. For anyone that doesn't know them, Blaine grew up in Rosenort, and married a girl from out here. They were living in Canada and moved back a couple of months before us. Melissa's family is all here too. They have a little girl named Kayla and our kids just love her to pieces. She is almost one. Their highlight is having her chase them in her walker. All four of them were shrieking with laughter. Poor Kayla had a hard time settling down for night after that game.

This is Noah and Austin's room. It must be on the first night here, as it has not looked this neat since. Noah was excited for the John Deere blanket and Austin for his with geckos and frogs. Although they don't use the blankets. A sheet is too warm most of the night.

Ugh! This is one of the inch+ long frogs that was found in our bedroom. They are so yucky looking. But everyone else thought it was wonderful. It looks like it was born prematurely. Slippery and slimy and ucky.

Cancun. Lovely Cancun. We were so hot on arrival, the hotel's pool was such a blessing. The staff all seemed really nice too, after our shaky start at the airport with the taxi drivers. Blaine and Melissa's brother Jerry arrived later that night. They drove us to Belize the next day and got us through the borders and took care of us. We were in very good hands.

This is Noah at the airport in Minneapolis before we left. It must be all of 6:15 and the guy is smiling. Actually he smiled from the moment he got up. I told my Mom he must be a born missionary - in his element. All through the teary good-byes, he is smiling and hugging. He loves it out here. He had to share Raena's pink backpack and it is his frog Jacks sticking out of it.

This is us with our carry-ons at the Minneapolis airport. Some of us are tearier than others, thus I am taking the picture. We definitely have to change a few things regarding packing for the way home. Too much to carry. The kids were troopers though. They helped out a lot. An interesting thing that happened is that Jerry sat by a retired Christian Radio director on this first flight. He prayed with Jerry and blessed us on our adventure. That was a God-thing. Our flights were a little rough as Houston was having thunderstorms, but God was taking care of us. We made it in one piece without any throw-ups. Even the drive was amazing. Couldn't believe how good that turned out. 7 1/2 hours and the kids complained or argued very little. At least in our opinion. Blaine and Jerry might say differently. There was incredibly much to see. The country is so different. We are doing really well. The first few days for me were up and down. So much was good, but some stuff was so overwhelming as well. You learn where you are supposed to buy different things for cooking - one store has this, the other has that. It's not quite like home in that way, since you have to start from scratch. We are busy preparing - Jerry with his courses and me with decorating and arranging my class. I want to get done that today so that I can start with the lessons. The people here have been very welcoming and nice. A few kids have dropped in for a visit which has been very nice. It is very hot here, and humid. It doesn't cool off a whole lot at night. It is the rainy season, although it hasn't rained too much yet. Mostly just on Sunday when we were headed to our first church service out here. Lots of German spoken at church, and it was the English Sunday! I was pleased that I could understand most of it, but Noah thought that the one hour was too long. Thanks for your prayers. We feel that, and your support and encouragement is incredible. God has blessed us so much!

2009-08-01T19:42:00.003-06:00

Leaving on the 29th of July we embarked on a three day travel trip to Blue Creek, Belize. We definitely left with mixed emotions as we were leaving family and friends and leaving the familiar for the unfamiliar. We have many of you wishing us well and we appreciate the encouragement and prayers.

Day 1 (travelling to Minneapolis)
Leaving at 6:00am from Morris we headed for Minneapolis, stopping at Albertville to find some last minute deals on footwear. Mom and Dad Reimer and Gayle(Renee’s Sister) travelled in one vehicle as they were seeing us off in Minneapolis and then headed for a further trip into the US heartland. Using dad’s new GPS (LINDA!) proved to be a bit of a challenge as she choose some weird routes and made the .

Day 2 (flight to Cancun)
We got up at 3:45 to be at the airport at 5:00 for our 6:50 flight. Gayle helped us here tons and we eventually were on our way to Cancun, via Houston. The kids really enjoyed flying on he plane to Houston. It was Raena and Noah’s first flight. We landed at around 10:00 and had a two hour layover before going o Cancun. I can’t say I was overwhelmed with the hassles we got at the airport. I can say however, that persistence does pay off-we finally got someone to phone our hotel and send the hotel shuttle.

Day 3 (Driving from Cancun to Blue Creek, Belize)
7.5 hours. Road was good. The travel went really well-border crossing was rather uneventful. Coming up to Blue Creek the country is rather flat with much of the land used for growing sugar cane. Blue Creek is another world altogether. It is located in the hills with our house being on the top of one of those hills. The view is rather spectacular. We will post pictures soon!

We have been here for one night and other than thinking the howler monkeys in the jungle out back of our house were coming to visit we had a pretty good sleep. The kids have been fascinated with the geckos that are found in and out of the house. They are fast little suckers. We also found a tree frog in our house which we photographed and put outside. The generosity of our neighbors has been fantastic.

2009-07-27T20:05:00.002-06:00

Just two days before we leave. One last picture of our home in Canada and a look at some the luggage. We took some of our tips from travel gurus from around the world. If you would like to email Renee (rendlaw@gmail.com) or Jerry (jwaldner@rrvsd.ca) we will try and get back to you as soon as possible. We will try and post on our blog at least once a week. The kids are also excited about posting their experieinces...

Austin (rendlaw.waldner@gmail.com)- "I am really excited to go to Belize and I hope we can have a fun experience without missing our friends and family too much."

Raina (rendlaw2@gmail.com)- "I would like to see dolphins. I am excited to go, but will miss my friends."

Noah - "I hope to see a live aligator" - (He may even get to go hunting for them if mom lets!)

Three weeks to go....

2009-07-09T12:56:00.003-06:00

Living a dream (Jerry's anyway) our family is going to Blue Creek, Belize for the 2009-2010 school year. Renee will be teaching kindergarten (Her Dream) and Jerry will be teaching high school Math. Linda Vista School, a k-12 school with about 160 students, is the school we will be teaching at - Noah, Kindergarten - Raena, Grade 3 - Austin, Grade 6.

We will be using this blog to keep you, our friends and family, updated on the events of our adventure.

Departure date for us is July 29, 2009.