One last blog post...

The Beyond Boston Blogging program actually concluded last week... but I'm aware there are some people following along with my blog and I feel like I have an obligation for one last blog post to wrap things up.

I'm heading back to Boston on Monday after more than 6 months of living in Belize. This has been the most incredible opportunity of my life and I am incredibly grateful for the endless inspiration, countless learning experiences, and most of al, the love of my Belizean family. I won't soon forget the blue water around the docks of Caye Caulker, or the lemon meringue pie from Boiton's, or the way the rainy season breeze cuts through the humid rainforest air.

I'm not ready to go back-I'm not sure that I would ever necessarily be "ready" to return to the states. I am glad to at least be able to continue my art back at home and return to the rock climbing gym where I work part time. I have quite a few projects I'm already working on that I'm excited to share with friends and family:

These last few days are going by at warp speed and I just want to stop for a moment to soak it all in. One thing is for sure though- I will be back in Belize some day.

Travel Journal: A weekend in Antigua

Today I have 12 days left in Belize. I'm in complete denial, so this week's blog post will be reminiscing a trip I took early on in my co-op placement- a weekend in Antigua, Guatemala. 

It's been on my life dream to climb a volcano. So I set off to Guatemala for the weekend to check it off the bucket list. Base camp? Antigua. Honestly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I think it falls second only to Caye Caulker. The colors were unreal. Whether it was 5am before the fog rolled in, or late in the afternoon when the sun casted a glow off the historical buildings, the scenery never failed to disappoint.

Santa Catalina Arch

Volcan Agua at Sunrise

Craft Market

Even the buildings were perfectly coordinated

I decided to just go on a day hike to Pacaya, one of the smaller volcanoes, so I could have time to visit with some friends that were also traveling through Antigua. Several of the other volcanoes required a multiple day commitment, and I didn't bring enough warm clothes to Central America with me to properly camp at altitude.

Although it is "small", Pacaya did not disappoint. The hike was understandably foggy. The heat coming off of the volcanic ash combined with the cool mountain air makes for a pretty humid climate up there. But we still got a good couple of glimpses at the peak.

The best part of the whole thing was OBVIOUSLY the marshmallows. Although Pacaya isn't violently spewing lava everywhere, it's still an active volcano. Dig a just a foot down into the rubble and you'll have rocks hot enough to make a decent enough s'more! This also means that you can't stand in one place for too long- your shoes will start to stick to the rocks.

There she is!

Pacaya disappeared behind the fog again

Not your average marshmallow

The whole experience has inspired quite a few painting ideas- but I'll be honest I haven't had time to carry them out. Here's a few samples of the sketches so far:

Putting My Graphic Design Class to Use

 Last fall I took my first (and so far, only) graphic design course with Professor John Kane. As hard as that class was, it was a complete game changer. I'm by no means a professional- in fact I'm still learning new things about Adobe Creative Cloud programs every day. One of the best parts of my co-op in Belize has been the opportunity to do some more graphic design and continue learning more about design.

One of my goals over the course of this co-op was to create more transparency and clarity about the connections between our volunteer recruitment company and our community development projects. To do this, I've slightly edited some logos, and entirely redesigned others, in an effort to create a cohesive look.

Previous NM Productions Logo

Improved NM Productions Logo

NM Productions Belize is our study abroad/ service-learning program/ volunteer recruitment company. We use NM Productions to recruit university groups to come experience Belize and participate in some of our community development projects. This was the first project I worked on (in terms of design). The old logo had been created by another designer, and no one really disliked it, but the Navy blue and dark pink didn't really represent the vibrancy of Belize. We decided to keep the design, but I changed around the colors.

Previous Nancy Marin Youth Foundation Logo

Improved Nancy Marin Youth Foundation Logo

The Nancy Marin Youth Foundation is the overarching non-profit organization that I work for on co-op. This organization has started community development projects in the San Ignacio community- including Barzakh Falah & Camp Elevate. Again, there wasn't really anything wrong with the original logo, but I wanted to alter it slightly to better fit with the color scheme of the rest of our projects. I also wanted to pick a slightly more playful font- since this is a project for the kids.

Another old logo for the Nancy Marin Youth Foundation

Brand new Camp Elevate Logo

Camp Elevate is one of the community development projects created by the Nancy Marin Youth Foundation. This camp happens annually, depending on the availability of sponsors. The camp invites at-risk youth to experience educational & adventure activities, at no cost, for one week during their summer break. This old logo for the Nancy Marin Youth Foundation was actually borrowed from another youth foundation- so that had to be changed immediately. However, we really liked the idea of having humans help each other rising up, so I designed this logo from scratch. Again, using the same colors as the new NM Youth Foundation logo.

really really really really old Barzakh Falah logo

Barzakh Falah New Logo

This was definitely the biggest redesign project. I had nothing to go off of, since the old "logo" was not even a logo... and definitely more confusing than anything else. Basically all I knew was that I still wanted to keep the colors going of the other logo projects. I chose the silhouette of the rain tree because these are the trees that have been planted that will provide shade over the courtyards of the living areas at Barzkah Falah. The young girl underneath the tree symbolizes both the children and young women that will be sheltered at Barzakh Falah. The whole idea also ties into the national motto of Belize- "Sub Umbra Floreo" or "Under the shade, I flourish". I still have some really mixed feelings about the yellow color, but everyone else on the staff team loves it, so it's there to stay (at least for now).


All together, I'm pretty happy with how the re-branding turned out. Hopefully it will help our organizations become more recognizably interrelated.

2017 Rebranding

23 days.

I'm not sure what to write this week because I've been typing furiously for a week straight. In light of some recent events I've been working on overhauling the volunteer & university relations policies for our non profit and study abroad programs. There's quite a bit to do and I'm increasingly thankful for my experience reviewing contracts in the Northeastern Alternative Spring Break Office. I might not have any political/ legal experience, but I've accumulated enough of a vocabulary to at least draft some policy. As a result of all this I haven't really done much except stare at my computer screen and drink instant coffee.

I have 23 days left in Belize. If we're being exact it's more like 22 days since it's almost 5PM and today is basically over. Whenever I talk to friends and family back home, they always ask if I'm excited to go home. I'm not really sure what to tell them, because honestly I am not excited to go back to Boston. But I can't really tell them that because then it sounds like I don't miss them at all or don't care about them- which I definitely do. I just feel like there is so much more to do here and I don't want to stop helping this organization that has become such a huge part of my life. 

My hesitations about returning home can be broken down into two categories: (1) anticipation of intense reverse culture shock and (2) feeling that my work here, in Belize, is unfinished. 

In terms of reverse culture shock- there's not much that can be done about that. A lot of it is that I'm really not ready to give up my $1US meals of tostadas, garnaches, tacos, and other street foods. I think I'll make it a challenge to see how low I can get my daily food budget back in Boston. Unfortunately there's not a lot I can bring back from Belize in terms of familiar snacks- everything is made by street vendors by hand. 

In terms of my work in Belize... well I've actually made the decision not to give that up. I'll continue to remotely maintain social media and some aspects of volunteer recruitment for Barzakh Falah and NM Productions Belize from Boston. I guess I'm just attached!

I am really really excited for a few things that are waiting for me back in Boston. One of which is my Etsy store! You might have noticed from a previous post that art is a huge part of my life. Last fall I started a small business selling prints of my watercolor paintings. It went pretty well and I sold out of everything I printed. I already have an appointment with the printer and I'm super excited to get round 2 rolling and make some new work! 

I've already started taking pre-orders for reprints of my first series of watercolor prints. You can stay more up to date on this project specifically by following my business Facebook page or my Instagram. Here are some photos from my first round of prints:

Bonus Family

This week has been all about getting back into my regular work "routine"- if you can even call it that. I haven't yet succeeded in doing this, mostly because I'm playing catch up with things that fell behind while I was helping to manage volunteers at Barzakh Falah. I'm feeling like the visible progress will start coming back in the next few days. 

In the meantime, we had another very momentous occasion to celebrate- Leo's Standard VI (Belizean 8th grade) Graduation. Super proud of my Belizean bonus brother. He graduated with honors and is continuing onto high school next year to pursue science. He also gave a wonderful speech at his graduation ceremony about first impressions, forgiveness, and the future. He's going places this one!

Leo's graduation is particularly important because not all Belizeans make it this far in their education. Although school is "mandatory," it also costs money. Fortunately this family has always been able to make it work for their 4 kids, but not everyone can. Leo's pursuit of his high school diploma will give him a world of opportunities that are out of reach for some Belizeans.

Leo tolerating hundreds of family photos

Post-graduation celebratory snack time

It feels like we've been doing a lot of family celebrating recently- since just last week, my youngest Belizean bonus sister, Yahzarrah, turned 7. And how else do you celebrate a super stars birthday other than a karaoke party? Although the most important activity was definitely the piñata, Jasmin and I had a pretty good time taking silly selfies.

Boop

One of the best "benefits" of my co-op has been being adopted into this family. I think that anyone who is thinking about an international co-op, or who has secured an international position, should thoroughly consider living with a host family. Yeah- it's not always a walk in the park. But when else are you going to have the opportunity to get to know people that closely? I think if I had worked this same co-op position, but lived in a rented single apartment, it would have been a completely different, and less fulfilling experience. 

We've started talking about the fact that I'm leaving in 4 weeks from today and I am completely unprepared to leave. I have so much more I want to do in terms of work- I will absolutely be continuing my work remotely from Boston. But I'm even having a hard time picturing myself back in my apartment in Jamaica Plain with my two quiet, adult roommates. In Belize, you can stuff yourself silly with street tacos, tostadas, burritos, and barbecue for less than $2.50 USD per meal. I'm also not quite ready to cope with my American-sized grocery bills. Whether I'm ready or not, that flight is coming closer every day- so I'm just trying to make the most of my remaining 31 days. 

Small Victories

The last two weeks have been a really difficult experience during my co-op, for reasons I cannot explain here. All you need to know is that not all volunteer groups come with good intentions.

But there have been lots of small victories as well.

Back in April, I started recruiting volunteers on three different platforms- WorkAway, HelpX, and WWOOFing. All of the sites work on a trade basis- a few hours of volunteer work, in exchange for free accommodations. Since we have a surplus of tents and spare mattresses, this arrangement works out quite well for us. Most of the people on these sites are already backpacking around the area and will occasionally stop to do some volunteer work to save money. I've already managed to recruit more than a dozen volunteers, who will all come to our project in the next two months.

And so far- they are absolutely wonderful. They are hard working, dedicated, and absolutely hilarious to work with. One of the volunteers has already extended his initial stay of 2 weeks to almost 2 months and has taken the initiative to come up with new ideas for projects around Barzakh Falah. Here he is working on a pathway & patio which he designed himself with rubble material from our old kitchen roof:

Toubi, our 1st long-term backpacking volunteer!

We also have two volunteers from Germany at the moment- Georg & Fanny. They've been doing a great job learning how to imitate all of the birds at Barzakh Falah- so they are a constant source of amusement. Just this week, we had a sheep give birth to two lambs- a boy and a girl. Georg and Fanny have declared they will be named Georg & Fanny.

Georg & Fanny

Georg 2.0 & Fanny 2.0 (with mom)

Even though these volunteers don't make a monetary contribution to the project, they have already proven to be invaluable. Despite our preoccupation with our troublesome university volunteer group, this small team of backpacking volunteers has continued to push forward with the progress at Barzakh Falah. This week they have learned how to fill earthbags and have already constructed one whole layer of bags on our girls dormitory- work that we did not expect to be able to achieve by the end of this month.

Georg & Fanny (Germany)  and Sam & Ben (Australia) learn how to earthbag

Sam, Ben, & Georg tackle their first earthbag

So despite the fact that the last two weeks have been a total nightmare, there are plenty of small victories. I feel really good about having been able to recruit these awesome volunteers just with the power of social media. It's awesome to know that my content for Barzakh Falah isn't just getting lost in the mess of the internet.

One last small victory: I got this picture of a tree frog that came to visit us while we filled earthbags:

One more month, one more hobby

Next Tuesday I will renew my visa for the 5th time and get ready for the last month of my co-op here in Belize. May has been a hectic month so far, with several WorkAway volunteers and university groups requiring supervision and guidance. It's really great to have the help with the physical labor at Barzakh Falah, but it definitely takes up more time out of my already busy co-op to-do-list.

This week we've had two universities visit, each with about 20 students. The students of Georgia College helped us with a particularly interesting project- building a solar dryer to make dried fruits and vegetables!

Georgia College working on the solar dryer

Go team!

It was really great getting to know all these students from Georgia College- it reminded me a lot of my Northeastern Alternative Spring Break teams that I brought to Belize in 2015 and 2016. The solar dryer they built is going to provide a unique way of providing a balanced diet for the girls living at Barzakh Falah. Because the growing seasons for certain fruits are particularly short in Belize, a solar dryer will allow the girls to preserve them for nutritional snacks all year round.

The completed solar dryer

After Georgia College built the solar dryer, I made it a personal project to test it out, along with one of our WorkAway volunteers, Toubi. So far we've tried pineapple, mango, banana, and cashew fruits.
(Cashew fruits are the fruits that grow at the bottom of the cashew nut- it's a culturally significant plant in Belize. The trees make HUGE amounts of fruits for a short period of time in the dry season, but are unavailable the rest of the year).

The hardest part of drying fruits in a solar dryer is probably resisting the temptation to eat all the fruit raw, so make sure you're not hungry if you try this at home. The design for our solar dryer was found online and only took 2 days to build with a small team of helpers.

So far, it seems to be working great, with a few kinks. For example, we sliced some of the fruit way too thin, and they became sealed to the wire racks with no signs of coming off any time soon. On the other hand, the fruit that was sliced too thick ended up rotting in the intense heat of the solar dryer before they actually became dried fruits. Our bananas all came out pretty good, but are a dark brown color, making them look pretty unappetizing. A quick google search has offered a possible solution- dunking the fruits in citrus juice before beginning the drying process. The acid helps preserve the color of the bananas & other starchy fruits.

There will be lots of experiments in the future! Really excited to have a little mini-hobby as I navigate the last month of co-op. I'm never one to pass up an opportunity for snacks either.

Samples from our first attempt!