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!

A Farm's-eye View of Sustainability

            Last week Professor David Unander of Eastern University joined us in Belize to teach about sustainable community development. It was a farm-filled week as students learned about the agricultural side of development, and we toured several farms in our area that are moving towards their own unique visions of sustainability.

            We began by visiting the farm of a local friend, Santiago. There he shared some of his insights on what it takes to make something sustainable, and showed us what his farm is doing to achieve this. We were able to see how he worked with nature instead of against it, and got a look at some new crops he is experimenting with.

Staff member Gellie tries a bite of Moringa with Curtis.

            Next we visited the organic Maya Farm of Chaa Creek. Here we met the local workers and saw the fruit of their experiments with composting, vermiculture, and other organic farming techniques. They even showed us their ‘goatel’ (goat hotel), the raised stables they keep their goats in, and let us pet the 6 week old kids.

Dana pets baby goats in the 'goatel.'

            Finally we ended our tour of local farms at Central Farm, a Taiwanese funded Development project of the Belize Government. Here we saw first-hand how they experiment with new farming techniques, find new uses for waste and rejected crops, and equip local Belizeans with free lessons and technology to put these ideas into practice. We were blown away with their generosity, and even received free dried fruit, pineapple cakes, and delicious pitahaya (dragon fruit)!

We all eagerly received our pink, flame-shaped pitahayas.

The sweet, juicy insides of this dragon fruit tasted about as good as it looked!  

            It was certainly a week to remember, and a great way to get ourselves thinking about sustainable development as our students head off to their own internships next week. 

Frogs, Foxes & Forests

The CCSP Belize team was joined by professor Erik Lindquist from Messiah the other week to lead us on all sorts of jungle adventures. Our Forest Ecology course began with 2 nights down at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Belize, where we swam in waterfalls, watched exotic birds, and went on night hikes through the jaguar preserve. We saw a lot of wildlife including some gray foxes, king vultures, and a kinkajou (an adorable arboreal mammal).

Students volunteer to eat wild termites (no extra credit was given).
(Photo by Danielle Northuis)

Later in the week we continued our adventures at our home base in Cayo, where students continued their nights hikes and birding expeditions, visited a Mayan ruin, and each participated in research projects here in the rain forest. We all learned a lot about tropical forest ecosystems, and shared many unforgettable experiences. One night we even saw a margay (a small, spotted jungle cat) right here on our own campus!

Erik shows off the dewlap on an anole to students at the Mayan ruin of El Pilar.
(Photo by Danielle Northuis) 

The week ended with students presenting their research projects (with plenty of refreshments of course), and a visit to a local pond to search for tree frogs. There we found three species of tree frogs, including the red-eyed tree frog, and a Mexican parrot snake!

The iconic Red-Eyed Tree Frog clings to Mark's thumb after an eventful evening. 

 It was an unforgettable week to be sure, and we all look forward to the rest of the adventures that Belize has waiting for us.

Adventures and Re-imagining

The past few weeks have been full of new adventures, new places, and new ways of thinking.  Students had a week free of structured classes in order to read a healthy dose of future class material.  Many of them chose to travel to other parts of Belize and Central America to read in some new environments.  Also scheduled in there were trips to caves, horseback riding, and more.

The Actun Tunichil Muknal (also known as the ATM) is a cave system here in Belize that is enshrouded in a bit of mystery.  Reportedly a breathtaking excursion through Mayan archaeological caverns filled with skeletons, pottery and other artifacts, the ATM experience is one that only a small number of tour guides in Belize are licensed to lead.  The group of our students that went on this tour were far from disappointed, many citing it as one of the most amazing things they had ever done in their entire lives.  Wow.  However, as no pictures are allowed to be taken inside the caves, all we can offer you, readers, is this shot of our intrepid but good-looking explorers:

A few of us also found an opportunity to go horseback riding through the countryside, which may be slightly less thrilling (although that is arguable if you ask Jenny) but still involves helmets.

A good view of Jimmy, the notoriously but contentedly slowest horse.  Photo
by Daniell Northuis

After Reading Week, we spent a week with professor Drew Ward learning about environmental texts - how they shape our imaginations and the ways in which we see or understand our world.  We also did some work recognizing and challenging different ways that our world has been imagined for us (perhaps falsely in some cases), and how we can reshape our imaginations to be more in line with the mind of God.  To remind us of how amazing God's imagination is, we took a field trip to one of Drew's favorite places in Belize, Big Rock Falls.

Photo by Danielle Northuis

A good time was had by all swimming in the pool at the base, scaling the rocks on either side of the falls, trying to stand underneath the falls, and trying to sit in the mini-falls at the edge of the pool.

Carissa (Wheaton), Stacie (Messiah), Catie (Hope), and Lauren (Hope)
enjoying the rush of the mini-falls.  Photo by Danielle Northuis

The week was brought to a sensational close as all 17 students came together to plan a worship service for our community on Saturday morning.  The service engaged our eyes, ears, tastes, touch, voices, and meditative thoughts, and was a very imaginative and meaningful way for us to worship our creator together.

Photo by Stacie Martin

Love Thy Downstream Neighbor

Last week we were joined by Professor Bill Deutsch, from Auburn University, for our course in Stream Ecology.

This is what Chemistry in Belize looks like.

While visiting local streams we learned all about different types of streams, had the opportunity to test their chemical and physical properties, and collected all sorts of macro invertebrates. Most importantly, we learned about the interconnectedness of streams, and how important it is to take care of our local streams and thus our downstream neighbors.

On the hunt for some macro invertebrates.

One of our more memorable trips in the week was to Mountain Pine Ridge. Here we got a firsthand look at one of Belize’s many unique ecosystems, where granite bedrock has resulted in a largely pine ecosystem. We were able to see just how this affected the streams and what lived in them.

Justin examines the geology of this stream. 

God & Nature + Local Homestays

Recently we spent two weeks in a row with Dr. Uko Zylstra (Calvin College) for our God & Nature course.  We read, learned about and discussed such topics as the practice and importance of knowing our place, how we ought to regard and relate to the rest of God's creation, and challenging issues concerning water, food, agriculture, and economy.  We also looked at what the Bible has to say on such matters, and how or why to read the Bible as an agrarian text.  It's pretty great to learn more about relating to God's creation in a place with such new and different creatures.

Fulgora laternaria - also known as a Peanut-Headed Bug - on the side of our house

After completing our God & Nature courses, the students spent the weekend with some local Belizean families in the nearby village of San Jose Succotz.  Here are some words from a few of them regarding their experiences:

Jenny McCarty (Messiah College) writes...
"My homestay in Succotz was quite eventful, of 'fiestaful' for a better word.  I went to three fiestas in the short two days that I was there.  To say the least, I ate a lot of delicious food and cake.  Beyond the food, I was able to experience the kindness and generosity within the family that I stayed with.  Even though I had never met any of the extended family of my host mom, Marisol, I was automatically invited to their birthday parties.  Unlike many families in the USA, Marisol's entire family lives within blocks of her house.  They mostly spoke Spanish and by the second day, almost all of our conversations were in Spanish (or me trying to speak Spanish and failing).  For example, Marisol's mother was trying to tell me that I looked young when I thought she was telling me that my younger brother is 19.  Despite sometimes being confused with the language, I was able to learn a great deal about family culture in Succotz, cook Belizean/Creole cuisine, and enjoy wonderful conversations over coffee and food."

Jenny by her host family's abode

Liz Vincent (Calvin College) and Lauren Madison (Hope College) write...
"Our weekend spent in Succotz was an incredibly rewarding experience.  Upon arriving at our host family's home, we quickly realized that the language barrier was more substantial that we had initially anticipated.  Though at times embarrassing, this confusion ultimately proved to be something of a blessing, as it provided opportunities for awkward laughter and a crash course in basic Spanish.
One of the first things we did with our host grandmother was to "help" her make tortillas for lunch.  The word "helping" might be a bit of a stretch.  In reality, we fumbled our way through forming some semblance of an amoeba-shaped mass of fried maize that crumbled at the touch of our inept, gringa (white girl) fingers.  But our host grandmother took our bungling, clumsy attempts in stride, graciously allowing us to try again.  We let her take over after round two.
The next day, our host family took us to the ancient Mayan city at Xunantunich.  There, we climbed ancient ruins, took some epic pictures, and caught a bird's eye glimpse of nearby Guatemala.  But the highlight of this adventure had nothing to do with history or archaeology.  After descending the tallest temple, we re-joined our host family, who had opted out of the steep climb.  They sat at picnic tables, conversing in Spanish with members of the Belizean military posted at the ruins.  Before we knew it, we were following this troupe of Belizeans, led by three AK-47-toting military men, on a thirty-minute hike through the jungle.  The trail, largely overgrown and barely discernible, eventually led to a small but beautiful watering hole.  Stepping out onto the rocks jutting out of the cool, clear water, we gushed about how refreshing it felt.  It was a hot day, and we were sweating buckets.  The water looked so tempting, but none of us had brought bathing suits or a change of clothes.  Yet after a few moments of deliberation, we decided to take the plunge, jumping into the water in our clothes.  After splashing about and reveling in the experience for a few minutes, we pressured our new Belizean friends into joining us - even the military men.  After enjoying the pool for a few more minutes, we climbed out in our soaking clothes and trekked back to the parking lot.
We headed back to Succotz where we spent our last hours in the village eating copious amounts of well-made tortillas, laughing (less awkwardly) with our host family, and watching a local futbol match. We returned to campus around dinner time, relishing in the memory of adventure we had and the friends we made."

A view from Succotz.  Photo by Catie Gammon

Thank you, families of Succotz, for being so hospitable to all our students!!

Justin's Birthday Fishing Expedition

This is Justin.

Justin likes to fish.  Justin likes to film things (all photos in this blog post brought to you by Justin's durable little video camera).  Justin was born on September 10th.  Here at CCSP, we consider it a very serious matter to properly celebrate anniversaries of each others' births.  Therefore, we took Justin on a very serious Deep Sea Fishing Tour for his birthday.

From the comfort of our own upper deck on campus, he saw schools of colorful fish, and even caught a few for himself.

Stacie (Messiah), Terra the dog, and Dana (Messiah) swimming gracefully beside the boat.

Before too long, he was struck by a fierce, 30-second storm (all pictures after this were too affected by sea moisture for adequate viewing quality).

Justin braves the ocean spray as Captain Mark provides a little wind.

Undeterred by the weather, Justin continued on his expedition to befriend a loyal, banana-loving dolphin, capture a perilously persistent mermaid, defeat 3 greedy & menacing pirates, and even save the whole ship from a particularly destructive sea monster.  What a tour; what a guy!

We love having you here with us this semester, Justin, and we hope this celebration sufficiently expressed how great we all think you are!  Happy Birthday!!