10

Last couple days have been Belizian, in other words, plans change often and there is lots of waiting for the next thing to happen.  Example: today plan 1 was that we were to be picked up at 9 to go tutor & help build a bench.  Didn't happen.  Plan 2 was to help at a BBQ chicken fund raiser at the market.  Didn't happen.  Plan 3 was to deliver flour, shortening, beans, dried milk, crayons & coloring books to the needy family we'd met a couple days ago.  We did walk the mile traversing the mud holes & slippery clay carrying all the stuff to get to their home...but she wasn't there as she had taken her baby to the doctor.  The door was locked but Rog figured out how to open the wood shutter & we dropped the stuff on the bed under the opening.  Plan 4 was to attend the youth program led by Emmanuel & lead the games.  That happened as planned.  Yesterday we spent time showing Paula the curriculum that we use at our church's Sunday School classes...she was excited.  Also, Bekah sent me internet sites that Paula could show several of the young girls that she works with that could help them learn & read English.  Paula is eager to check them out.  I sat in on one of her sewing classes where she was teaching about 10 ladies how to use patterns.  My job was to check the battered pattern packages to see if they contained all the pieces.  Of the 5 I checked, one was complete, one was missing just one piece and the 3 others were missing lots.  I thought of all the ones I've seen at garage sales for 10 cents and wished I'd known to fill my suitcase with them.  We also worked with several kids on reading skills.  But between all these...we wait:  eating food we've purchased at the local grocery stores on our porch or at restaurants, walking around the market, watching TV, & talking about all the interesting people we meet and things we observe.  Belizian time gives your mind time to rest, think & enjoy tiny pleasures like watching a mother herd her 4 or 5 kids, street vendors peddling their wares, fans cheering on a local soccer team, a small entertaining themselves with stones while their parent works a stand or at a store, bird calls amidst the blare of a radio, girls with high heels loaded with rhinestones, the many ways you can braid hair, a group of young tourist just arriving with their eyes open wide as they try to take in all these sights and sounds, and a baby sleeping on his Dad shoulder in the middle of it all.  How much I miss at home when I am in my "efficient mode."