Address Change and Important Mailing Information

We don't get much time online, so we haven't been able to put together a post yet for the September celebrations, but we will soon and will share our experiences and photos!

For now, we want to announce a new mailing address for letters (which we are still anxiously awaiting - get out your pens people) and packages (which we have greatly appreciated receiving, thanks so much for thinking of us!).

Mail will be sent to Ginnie's school, so you need to include her name on all the mailings - if it is specifically for Anthony, note that somewhere on the box please.

Virginia Gordon/Anthony Tarzia
Peace Corps Volunteers
Trinity Methodist School
#5 G Street Kings Park
Belize City
Belize
Central America

Also, please note the following important details for packages:
1) Please state the value as under $20 (due to taxes and duty) - maybe don't go so low if you are worried, but keep it under $50 if you can...
2) Please list any clothes or books as used
3) Please remove all price tags and stickers from items shipped
4) Mark books as education materials (or toss in some stickers and pencils to write education materials - though I don't want to risk too much with customs, so use your best judgment!)

Some school items we need:
1) Stickers (we can't get them here :( ) Staples sells books of motivation and praise stickers and Walmart and Target may as well
2) Construction Paper
3) I had crayons here, but turns out we found them for a good price, so we don't need them, plus they would probably melt!
4) Pencils and small erasers (that we can give to children)

It's a little disappointing, but these things are not readily available for teachers around here and you should see how excited the kids get just to have a sticker!

our other favorite surprises are noted on the mailing information section of the page, you know we enjoy receiving candy and can always use more insect repellant - we found the Off Family Clean Feel one that is blue and contains Picaridin is pretty good and a nice alternative to DEET. And Gold Bond body powder in the green bottle is nice too as an add in on any care packages if it fits:) If you do happen to send these things, please put them in ziploc bags in case they get banged around a lot and happen to come open.

Take care and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Close Call

Well, you may know from the news that Felix stayed in Honduras and Nicaragua and just hit the southern tip of Belize with rains. Although, we are getting some pretty heavy rains on and off today, but they seem to just be from outer bands. We were luky to avoid this one, but definitely feel for the people of Nicaragua and Honduras and have our thoughts with them.

Schools will open on Tuesday next week, after the Monday St. George's Caye Day Holiday. We are waiting to hear if Carnival is still on for Saturday and excited about the start of the September celebrations. We should have an update in a week or two with news from the celebrations and the start of school. Until then, feel free to write those letters:)

Hurricane Felix

It feels like deja vu as we sit in Belmopan for another consolidation, but unfortunately Felix is heading to Belize and expected to be here on Wednesday. If you've been watching the weather channel as we have, you will learn a lot about Felix and his projected path and strength (it was category 5 but went down to category 4 this morning, yet it also slowed down, so it could pick up winds speeds again... we have really learned a lot about hurricane tracking in the past few weeks) Don't worry about us since the Peace Corps is taking care of us, but please keep our Belizean families and friends in your thoughts and prayers as we are worried about all of them and hoping they are safe through the storm. All this global warming is wreaking havoc and it really is hard to watch how devastating it is for a country still growing. Dean did a lot of damage to the north and now this will just add so much - so please keep all of us in mind and do your part to conserve energy, resources, and stop the progress of global warming and these bigger storms and the crazy heat waves we hear about hitting the states - a PSA to help save the world!

Everyone has been told to evacuate the coast, and Belize City is expecting to be hit. We just flooded from a tropical wave on Wednesday and the ground is saturated there, so we anticipate a lot of flooding, and with the increased rainfall and winds and high tide, it could get messy - plus we are sitting slightly below sea level in parts of the city. We are thinking about our families, friends, schools and all the Belizeans preparing to protect their homes, families, and belongings.

You will not hear from us for several days since we will not have email access and it is likely our phone will not work. If you try to call us and can't get through, don't worry it probably just means the phone lines are down. Also, if there is some emergency, PC will directly contact emergency contacts for us, so no news is good news really :) After things settle down from the storm and we have a plan for returning to site and whatever steps are next, we will get to an internet site when we can and post an update.

We hope you are all well and send our love. Keep us and Belize in your thoughts.