Road to Belize
Nicole Nocera of Butler found her three-month trip to Belize this spring to be filled with white sand and blackboards.
Nocera, who lived in Belize from March to May, taught in a Belizean school to earn teaching certification through Robert Morris University's study abroad program.
But during weekends and school vacations, Nocera, often in the company of two other student teachers from the United States, explored the Central American nation, including an island and a seaside village.
Nocera taught English in Belmopan, the capital of Belize.
“I would compare it to Butler in the size of land and the population,” said Nocera describing Belmopan.
She added that the former capital, Belize City, reminded her of Pittsburgh.
Nocera said she taught at a comprehensive school, the equivalent of an American high school. She taught first, second and fourth forms, which were the equivalent to ninth, 10th and 12th grades, respectively. She taught three classes some days and five classes others.
“It was mixed boys and girls. All the students did wear uniforms, even though it was a public school,” said Nocera.
“It wasn't much different from a public high school here. The curriculum was a little different, but it wasn't any easier,” Nocera said.
“I taught only English. Their native language is English, but most of them speak Creole, which is a mix of English words and African sounds,” she said.
“It made it harder for them to speak proper English because the rules for Creole were so different,” she said. “There really aren't any rules for Creole, come to think of it.”
“They understood me, but I did have a hard time at times when they spoke quickly. I would be thrown off guard,” Nocera said.
Nocera lived with a host family, Marta Castillo and her children, Leon and Leanne. Another Robert Morris student teacher, Ally Vigone, shared a room in the house which was a 10- minute walk to the school.
When she wasn't in the classroom, Nocera used her days off to travel around Belize.
She, Vigone and a third RMU student teacher, Steph Seretti, traveled to Caye Caulker, a small limestone coral island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean Sea.
They liked it so much, the beaches and the sea, that a planned five-day stay turned into eight, she said.
“I swam with sharks and stingrays. I went to the Big Blue Hole, a huge, blue hole in the middle of the sea where you can go scuba diving and snorkeling,” Nocera said.
Although the sharks she swam with were the relatively harmless nurse sharks, Nocera said, “I won't lie, I was terrified, but by the end I felt I had overcome one of my biggest fears because I am terrified of sharks.”
She said Caye Caulker was filled with people and a lot of strange activities including greased pole climbing and chicken poop bingo.“I did not want to leave there,” Nocera said.Another seaside town the three visited was Placencia, a former fishing village of 450 featuring such tourist attractions as kayaking, snorkeling, diving and saltwater fly fishing, as well as numerous restaurants and a local art gallery.“The beaches were nice,” she said. “To be honest, we relaxed, unwound and spent time on the beach.”Nocera said this was her first time out of the country (not counting an earlier trip to Canada) and she wanted to see as much as possible.She went cave-tubing in Jaguar Paw National Park where she rode an innertube down a river that flowed through a cave.She also went spelunking in St. Herman's Cave on the outskirts of Belmopan.“I always wanted to do that,” she said. “You could just tour for hours and hours.” Although, eventually the areas of the cave accessible to non-equipped visitors ended.She also visited Mayan ruins an hour's drive north of Belmopan outside the village of San Ignacio.The Xunantunich site is close to the border with Guatemala which Nocera said could be seen from the top of the Mayan pyramid.Nocera said she traveled the country by bus. In Belize a lot of people don't have cars, using bicycles, walking or riding buses to get about.She said gas is about $12 a gallon in Belizean money, which is about $6 in American currency.“It was the first time I took a public bus. They are like old school buses that have been donated or bought from the United States,” she said.Despite being hot and frequently crowded, Nocera pronounced the buses in Belize “a pretty excellent transportation system.”They were very inexpensive and consistently on time, she said.She also pronounced the Belizean cuisine as also excellent, although that took a little longer.She said she was sick for the first two weeks in Belize, a malady she blames on either the unfamiliar spices used in the cooking or the stress of being out of her comfort zone.
She said the national dish of Belize is stewed chicken with rice and beans, and that Belizeans are huge fans of barbecuing, including “some of the best barbecue I ever had.”“Their cooking, everything is homemade. You don't have McDonald's. You don't have fast food down there. It tasted so good,” she said.“I would say it was the best, most enlightening experience I ever had,” said Nocera of her time in Belize.“I really learned what it felt like to be an outsider and adjusting to a completely different way of living and culture,” she said.For instance, she characterized the Belizean people as very laid back.“Time is not the same down there as it is here,” she said, adding there was normal time and Belize time.She said the people she met in Belize were naturally happy and thankful.She said there was not hostility between the different cultures represented at her school: the Native Americans or Mayans, the African-Americans and the Mennonites.Nocera said she was surprised to find a sizable Mennonite population living in Belize.She said you would see them in long-sleeved shirts, hats and long beards selling watermelons along the sides of roads.“Everywhere you go, you would find something stunning that you just don't see around here,” she said.“I think that's why I felt like such an outsider. And now I know exactly how it feels when someone moves to the United States and is in an American classroom,” she said.“I look back and I still don't know how it's over,” she said.Belize has a lifelong fan in her.“I needed to do it,” she said of her trip. “I really wanted to make myself a better teacher. I needed to see something different, experience something different.”Nocera said she wants to stay in contact with her host family and would travel to Belize again.“Absolutely, I want to make a yearly trip of it if I can,” she said.
Sharing her snapshots is Nicole Nocera of Butler, who traveled to the Central American country of Belize from March through May through Robert Morris University's study abroad program. In order to earn certifications to teach high school, Nocera student-taught in the Belizean capital of Belmopan.She is a tutor in English, communications and Spanish at Butler County Community College and substitute teaches while seeking a permanent position.
Belize, a Central American country bordering the Caribbean Sea between Guatemala and Mexico, was the site of several Mayan city states until their decline at the end of the first millennium A.D.The British and Spanish disputed the region in the 17th and 18th centuries; it formally became the colony of British Honduras in 1854.Territorial disputes between the United Kingdom and Guatemala delayed the independence of Belize until 1981. Guatemala refused to recognize the new nation until 1992, and the two countries are involved in an ongoing border dispute.Guatemala and Belize plan to hold a simultaneous referendum to determine if this dispute will go before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, though they have not yet set a date.• Belize's government is a parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm. The chief of state is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, represented by a governor general. The head of government is a prime minister.A cabinet is appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister from the elected General Assembly.• Current concerns include the country's heavy foreign debt burden, high unemployment, growing involvement in the Mexican and South American drug trade, high crime rates, and one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in Central America.Tourism is the number one foreign exchange earner in this small economy, followed by exports of marine products, citrus, cane sugar, bananas, and garments.• The government's expansionary monetary and fiscal policies, initiated in September 1998, led to gross domestic product growth averaging nearly 4 percent in 1999-2007. Oil discoveries in 2006 bolstered this growth. Exploration efforts have continued and production has increased a small amount.• Although Belize has the second highest per capita income in Central America, the average income figure masks a huge income disparity between rich and poor. The 2010 poverty assessment shows that more than 4 out of 10 people live in poverty. The sizable trade deficit and heavy foreign debt burden continue to be major concerns.SOURCE: CIA WORLD FACT BOOK
