On Integration

You may or may not know this, but the Peace Corps has three goals: 1) To meet the technical needs of a country through qualified volunteers; 2) To allow the host country to learn about US culture through the volunteer; 3) To share the culture of the host country with others in the US once the volunteer returns.  That means that 66.667% of what I am doing here in Belize has nothing to do with how many meetings I hold, how many grant applications I assist with, or how many business and computer training classes I conduct.  I just have to make friends, be myself, and bring a little of Belize back to the good ole USA.  No problem, I'm on it.

In Peace Corps lingo, goals 2 and 3 are roughly translated into the favored buzzword "integration."  So that is my job, integration.  This week, as I hone in on month 7 (can you believe it, seven months?!?), I started to think of all the ways that I am integrating.  Here is a rough list:

• Tortilla making - While I don't/can't grow or grind my own corn, I did recently discover that I can buy fresh ground corn at the corn mill (go figure, right?) which has greatly improved the quality of my tortillas.  I was using corn flour to make the masa, but fresh is oh so much better. For some reason the women here are genuinely shocked when I tell them that I make tortillas, as if all white people are incapable of preparing food, which makes sense since most of the tourists they see are not in a hurry to prepare their own meals. Fact for the day: A corn tortilla is nothing more than dried corn, boiled, ground with water and pounded into a circle.  It is placed on hot comal and cooked without any oil.  You know it is done when after flipping it twice, it puffs up in the middle.
  
• Insects - I remember when I first arrived in Belize looking at the current volunteer's legs and noticing how very few bug bites they seemed to have. My legs, on the other hand, looked like a before picture on a acne medicine infomercial.  Everyone assured us newbies that eventually we would get used to the bugs and heat.  Well, as I glance down at my bite-free legs today, I am can see how far I have come. I don't even think it is that the bugs have stopped biting, I'm sure they are still feasting away, I think it is that my body has stopped reacting.  Great, I'll take it, but I'm warning those who are planning on visiting, you WILL get bit and you WILL stare in jealously at my legs and wonder why the bugs don't like me.  And I will laugh at how cool and integrated I have become.
  
• Language - OK, I will admit, I am not even close to accomplished at any of the many languages you can find here in Belize.  My Mopan and K'etchi are limited to about 25 combined words, my Spanish is conversational, my Garifuna exactly nil, and my Kriol is at a barely eavesdropping capability. But I am learning, and am less scared to try everyday, so if you need me to pass the tortilla's in a Maya village or cuss out a sexual harasser in Belize City, I'm your woman.
  
• Children - Once the bane of my existence, I am learning to embrace these small, pestering beings as the key to my success here in Belize. My first day of teaching was maybe the worst day in Belize, but each time I work with the kids, the more I get to know them, their strengths, personalities, and games, I feel better about my place here.  They like to tease me, which is understandable, but they also like to learn about me.  I have all but given up on change through the adults, it's hard to change thousands of years of tradition and hierarchy, but the kids here are eager to learn and bring positive change to their community.  But Mom, don't think this means I am going to be bringing any of them home with me. 
  

Integration has not come without challenges.  I have certainly been laughed at, teased, and have done culturally inappropriate things left and right.  But I have learned, and will keep on learning. It's a humbling process, and one that is certainly worth the challenge.