Home, Sweet Home

It's only quarter to four now, but I've already had my fill of work today so I called it quitting time and retreated back to our little Belizean house. We've only been here two days after moving from our temporary apartment. Already it is beginning to feel like home.

It is a very typical house for these parts: thick concrete exterior walls, a single floor built on a concrete slab, thin interior walls of plywood or particle board, and a high exposed ceiling under a corrugated tin roof. The windows have neither glass nor screens, just wooden shutters which can be rotated to let in as much or as little breeze as you desire. There are two small bedrooms, with beds and wooden shelves the only furniture; a bathroom with a shower that drains directly outside (don't worry, the toilet does drain to a septic tank); and a connected living room and kitchen with enough room to cook a meal, eat it, and lounge around and relax afterward. A small refrigerator, an iron, three fans, and a single burner electric stove are the only appliances we have. There is a little yard with a coconut tree and a mango tree, though it seems like the neighborhood kids will get to all the good fruit long before we will.

I like it here a lot. It is quiet, safe, and peaceful. We are surrounded by families, and I've already met some of the kids from being involved in the schools. There are shops just a short walk away. People are polite and always say "hello" on the street. For as much as such a thing is possible, I feel like we're part of the community. For now, it feels like home.