Wednesday, June 29, 2011

working on our new house!








message from Danny

June 25, 2011

Things are moving along in Blue Creek!  Tumul K'in has been a very welcoming community and we are excited to be here for the next two years.  Our counterparts are amazing and have been giving us lots of ideas to work with regarding capacity building and board development.  It is an exciting time to get to work with an NGO like this in Belize.

Living with a host family is coming to a close, and we will miss them terribly.  Between cooking and eating with the family of 12, watching movies and telling stories under the star-filled night sky has been a wonderful way to spend the evenings.  The Choco family has become a very special part of our lives.

Homesickness comes and goes, but our amazing families have been very supportive and sent wonderful packages (to our new address, listed above, *hint, hint*, and by the way, I love Starburst, ground Italian Roast Starbucks coffee, and letters from friends). 

We are so grateful to be a part of the Peace Corps in Belize and we hope to do great things here.  The friends we have made here are going to be lifelong, and we trust that the work that they do will be just as enduring.  I promise to get better at updating this blog, and as soon as things settle down in our new home (moving next week!) I'll try to get into the habit.  We are officially in "Peace Corps Blogs," so I don't want to let down our many fans.  Thanks for reading Mom!

Best,

Danny

Saturday, June 11, 2011

New Address

Our new address is:
Breezie and Daniel O'Neill
General Delivery
Punta Gorda Town
Belize, Central America

It's expensive to send things down, but a little card from home is always a nice surprise!

Thank you everyone for your support and love! We miss you all.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Bridge to Service

Sorry for not posting for so long!!!

Danny and I found out that we will be living in Blue Creek Village in the Toledo district of Belize. It is a rural..and I do mean RURAL.. village. There are about 500 people in Blue Creek, the village itself is beautiful. I could never come close to describing the way it feels to take a shower outside and look up to see the stars shining bright. Nor can I explain the the way the mountains look in the morning as the fog lifts off the palm trees. We are very blessed.

We will both work at the Tumil Kin Center for Learning. Tumil Kin is a school that teaches kids Maya values in addition to traditional curriculum. I will support their board of directors, council of elders, and PTA. Danny will work with the Food Processing Unit to help them develop business skills.

One major transition for me is living 45 minutes away from a market or grocery store. We also live without refrigeration. It forces me to think in advance and plan ahead. Back in the states I never really thought ahead about my food and kind of lived day to day. I hope this transition will help me learn better planning!