Birthdays Galore!

In a community of 23 people, more than a few of them are bound to have their birthdays during the semester.  Accordingly, the past two weeks have brought us opportunities to celebrate 3 awesome gals in 3 very different but equally ridiculous and enjoyable ways. 

Catie (Hope College) is our enthusiastic, animal loving cross-country runner.  So naturally, we celebrated her birth by hosting the 2012 Gammon Animal Invitational at a nearby track field (i.e. a local village’s soccer field).  With representatives from 3 different teams, there were crabs racing, dogs throwing the discus, ducks running hurdles, kangaroos throwing the javelin, gorillas racing, elephants throwing the shot-put, and frogs doing the long-jump.  It was an intense meet, but Catie’s team managed to gain the most points for the overall win!

Jenny the kangaroo, Justin the crab, Carissa the frog, Catie the gorilla, Curtis the
elephant, Dana the duck, and Amber the dog.  Winners.

Our next birthday girl was Dana (Messiah College), who has a deep love and appreciation for donuts.  She has been missing them down here in Central America, so we thought we could help fix that problem.  Thankfully Connie (Eastern University) knew how to make some delicious dough and fry it perfectly. 

Amber (Biola) and Jenny (Messiah) showcase some of Connie's masterpieces.

Four different teams then worked to shape, fill, ice, decorate, and create the best possible donut experience for Dana.  In addition to the donut itself, crafting such an experience of course includes the presentation of the donut.  Teams got incredibly creative in this area, ranging from simple and refined, to shocking and surprising (using cow skulls, lighting the rim of the plate on fire, etc), to plain old entertaining (five full-character hillbillies presenting a pig-shaped donut).

Team 1's presentation of Dana's favorite: a boston cream donut
(Picture by Danielle Northuis)

Team 2's chocolate-filled donut.  Most of the cow skull omitted
from the picture.  (Picture by Danielle Northuis)

Team 3 chose to augment their donut with a hot drink
(Picture by Danielle Northuis)

Team 4's creation, entitled "Now That's Something To Oink About!"
(Picture by Danielle Northuis)

Factoring in the delectability of each of the donuts, Dana had quite a difficult job choosing a winner.

A grand time was had by all as we enjoyed sampling the donuts, and celebrating Dana's twentieth year as the sweet, hilarious, inimitable gal that she is.

Last in the October lineup was Amber, our only female Biola University representative.  Besides having a love for the garden, Amber also enjoys music and arts & crafts.  In her honor, we hosted a "greenhouse" - a coffeehouse in the garden.  Unfortunately the rain wanted to join the party, so we ended up moving inside (making it more of a "classroomhouse").  Keeping our spirits up, we pulled out all the stops to make sure Amber knew how glad we are that she was born and that she chose to join our CCSP community this semester.  Accompanied by refreshments that catered to Amber's tastes, acts included live-art creations:

Program Directors Jeff and Brindley brave the rain to paint an Amber-inspired
work of art. (Photo by Danielle Northuis)

...cow-themed dances to prep Amber for her upcoming agricultural internship:

Sallie (Messiah), Carissa (Wheaton), Dana (Messiah), Mikayla (George Fox),
Stacie (Messiah) and Mara (Hope) impressed us all with their choreography
(Photo by Danielle Northuis)

...musical acts:

Justin A (Biola), Justin T (Eastern), and Nick (Messiah) sing a rendition of "The Lion
Sleeps Tonight," led by Justin T's commanding falsetto.
(Photo by Danielle Northuis)

Gellie (staff member) and Jenny (Messiah) rewrite the 311 song "Amber"
(Photo by Danielle Northuis)

...craft demonstrations, improv acts, and more!  Everyone did their part to delight in Amber and her day of birth.  No one even noticed that the classroom was not actually the garden.

Thank you, Catie, Dana, and Amber for choosing to spend your birthdays with us here in Belize!  We hope that our efforts expressed how much we love getting to know you all and having you as part of our Belize family.  Happy Birthdays!