God's earth and Michaela's birth!

What have we been up to lately at CCSP Belize?  Lots of great stuff, as usual.  The students recently completed their first week of classes with a course called God & Nature (part 1).  We welcomed professor Uko Zylstra (Calvin College) to our campus as he led us through scriptural views of the earth and humans' relationship to it; the significance of how our food is grown and where it comes from; and many other complicated but important questions.  Also, it certainly doesn't hurt to be living in such a beautiful place while learning about the beauty of God's earth.

Just one of the amazing Lepidoptera we encounter on a daily basis

Apart from class time, we have also had some celebration time.  One of our youngest community members, Michaela (Messiah College), turned 20 years old while in Belize!  Since Michaela loves soccer, we hosted a tournament in her honor: the Horst Cup.  With two teams competing fiercely in three different versions of soccer throughout the day, we had a blast celebrating Michaela, and even discovered some hidden talents (for example, Lindsay [Redeemer University] claimed to be a "weaker" player, and then proceeded to blow everyone away with her mad defensive skills.  Well played, Lindsay.  Well played...).  We also got a good, sweaty workout.

A blurry representation of the fast-paced Mini Soccer

Alex (Messiah College) tangled up during Crab Soccer

Most recently, we made some new friends at Sacred Heart College, a local school in our district.  They have a program that allows some of their students to receive lunch at a discounted price if they need assistance; but unfortunately they've been a little too busy lately to keep up the garden that helps source that program.  We offered a few hours of our time one morning to help weed,

turn soil, spread rich new soil from the vermiculture,

Lindsay (Redeemer University) loves worm waste

clear pathways, and plant seeds.

Becca (George Fox University) planting carrots

We had a great time helping our new friends, and hopefully their garden is on its way to flourishing!

Welcome To Belize!

We knew this was going to be a great semester when each one of the students stepped off the plane eager and excited to learn about Belize (except for the part where they all fell asleep on the first drive back to campus...).  Well their curiosities are being sated with each passing day as the CCSP staff does their best to show a few introductory highlights of this beautiful country.  From meandering atop Mayan ruins, to tubing down a major river, to working amongst native flora, to meeting native fauna, there's hardly time to rest during Orientation Week!  Thankfully we managed to capture some photographic evidence of the students' first encounters with their new home:

Making the climb to the top of El Castillo, the tallest structure at the ancient
Maya city of Xunantunich

 

Mixed reactions to being on top of El Castillo

This giant caterpillar at the Belize Botanic Garden enjoyed thrashing about

Dorothy (Dordt College) making friends with the boa constrictor at the Belize Zoo

The Belize Zoo only accepts animals who would not survive in the wild.

Orientation Week concluded with a travel weekend, where we sent the girls off to discover a bit more of Belize for themselves.  Have fun, intrepid explorers!

Many great adventures have begun at bus stops...