The Beginning of Week 2

Well, we've made it a whole week with no major issues and, actually, not very many minor issues either! I'm truly thankful for such an amazing first week here!

See Mom, aren't you glad you bought these cute sandals for me?!? I love them, and they're super comfortable!

This dresser is the newest addition to our place. Ms. Stelle gave it to us so we don't have to live out of our suitcases for the next 4 months. She's been so helpful!

We had our first experience with some of the natural inhabitants of Belize last night... Just before we fell asleep Jessica started yelling as she jumped out of her bed. She was yelling that there was something on the outside of her mosquito net and that it wasn't a mosquito. Since I wasn't completely wrapped up in my net yet I went to examine the "thing", and saw that it was a little, orange, baby frog. Earlier that night it had started raining outside, so we grabbed all the towels we had drying outside on the line and brought them in. We think that the frog was probably hanging out on one of the towels and got brought in that way. After I finally got a hold of the frog with a paper towel and escorted it outside, Jessica calmed down and started Goolgle-ing " orange frogs in Belize". Wouldn't you know that the first thing that popped up was some kind of poisonous, deadly frog?!? lol. However, you'll be happy to know that Ms. Lara (the lady next door) confirmed that there are no dangerous frogs in this area... thank goodness!!! Too bad we didn't take a picture of it.

I was a little disappointed to wake up early to the usual sounds of barking dogs and people passing on the street rather than the beautiful organ music like last Sunday. I'm thinking that some churches here have services every other week. Later on in the morning we did walk past a church later that was having a service filled with music like "God Is So Good". Hopefully we can figure out the church schedules by next Sunday. I did talk to Josh through email this afternoon and he said that all of y'all at Rock Springs had a good service... I already miss my church family! I can't wait to be home in May and see our new church building!

This is a wall surrounding a church. It's the crucifixion in the orange/red scene, Jesus rising in the air in the far left of the blue part, and then a band of angels standing on the right. It was really pretty. Hopefully I can get some better pictures of it sometime. 

Since we had gorgeous weather today (not to hot and with a cool breeze) we walked to the Sav U which is a regular looking grocery store that carries pretty much everything you could need and most items found in the States. We were in need of getting some groceries for the rest of this week, so this was definitely the place to go. Plus, it's only about a 15-20 minute walk from our apartment.

 Too bad the Chips Ahoy cookies are about $5, and the Oreos are about $7. I couldn't bear to spend that much on something I could probably eat in one night! lol

This aisle was even worse... I want a cake or some brownies! Too bad we don't have an oven. Maybe this trip will help weaken my sweet tooth.

This is the round-about and central landmark of Belize City. It's right outside of Sav U. I'm not sure what all the posts and the horseshoe object represent, but it's kind of a cute area.

On the way back from Sav U we stopped for lunch at the only American chain restaurant in Belize... Subway! Since most businesses are closed here on Sundays, it was one of our only options. It turned out to be pretty good !

I had the kids meal, since it was the cheapest! It did come with a really good pineapple/coconut juice drink though! 

This cute little Pediactric Center was across the street from the Subway.It looks pretty kid-friendly.

We also stopped at the fruit stand to pick up some bananas, grapefruit, and a pineapple. The fruit here is so fresh and cheap compared to any places back home. I already know that I'll miss stopping by the local fruit stands when I get home. It just won't be the same! However I will say that the walk back to our place was a bit more tired as we carried all of our goods... we're just trying to stay positive about it by saying we're just getting our workout for the day by walking around and carrying things everywhere!

This is K-Park. It's the little supermarket that's literally just around the corner from our apartment. We get our water jugs and cokes here, but they don't always have the freshest food.

This is the ice cream shop and bakery that we just discovered right down the street from K-Park. We met the owner and his family and will definitely be stopping in soon for a cinnamon roll or scoop of ice cream! 

I have to say that we had quite an experience trying to make a salad for the rest of the week when we got back. Since we don't have an actual kitchen, Rachel and I used the dining table/library of kids books area of our room to chop the lettuce and veggies. Did I mention we don't have a vegetable peeler? Yeah, we don't, so I peeled the veggies with a knife. Meanwhile, Jessica used the bathroom sink to wash all the veggies and other foods before we chopped since everything has to be washed before eating it. The difficult part about this is that we've been told not to wash our food with the water here, so Jessica used a basket as a strainer as she washed the food with our bottled water. It was more work than I've ever put into making a salad. We took a little video to showcase our talents in the "kitchen", so hopefully I can get a hold of that soon!