Last Day in Belize--finishing up

This final Belize post is out of order as I did not have the photos when I was writing the last entry whilst waiting in the Houston airport for my flight to Memphis Friday evening.  These are from my day Thursday, before my adios dinner at My Secret Deli.

"Tinkerbell" was one of the many cats that came for breakfast and supper on our patio.  They were all adept at getting out of the rain whilst waiting for their meal.  It rained most of the last day there, so there were cats all over the patio, much to Kim's chagrin. :)  She is not really a cat person since she is allergic to them.
I went back to San Pedrito Thursday morning, but took a little detour down to the docks as I had not been there.  This is across the lagoon, but I have no idea what or exactly where those buildings are.
Could these be San Pedro's version of the Aleutian Island's crab cages?  They reminded me of seeing all the stacks and stacks of crab cages and pots when I was in St. Paul and Dutch Harbor.
San Pedrito across the lagoon.  
Jane has docked her boat a long way from Dutch Harbor, Unalaska.  I fear for her long journey home across several oceans.
I went to pick up Kim Thursday as it was pouring rain when school let out.  This is my final view of San Mateo, across from the Holy Cross school.
Behind Ms. Rosalie's kitchen at the school, where the day's kitchen laundry was no drier than when she hung it, due to all the rain that day.  Ms. Rosalie does an incredible job of feeding over 500 children twice a day, not to mention the staff and volunteers.  She washes all those dishes by hand.  Her flan and bread pudding are the best ever, and I loved her staples: fish, rice and beans, and stewed chicken.
School is out and the children began to walk home across the plank bridges of San Mateo.  The only way one can access those houses is on foot, or by bicycle.

So, now that I am back in Taylor, Mississippi, the island off the Belize mainland seems almost a distant memory, rather like when I left St. Paul Island after 5 weeks out there last summer.  I find that South Africa has been much on my mind since coming home for reasons I cannot yet fathom.

I have been sick since arriving home, and have spent most of my time in bed or on the couch, other than doing two loads of laundry and cleaning the kitchen.  My diet since arriving has consisted of chicken soup and Sprite, though I was able to eat oatmeal this morning and am about to have a cup of tea.  However, the sun is shining and the sky is blue here today, and it is warming up to the mid-50s, so I am feeling better not only in body, but in spirit.

I am about to start a new semester on Wednesday, and will be teaching a graduate class on family and group, in addition to my regular undergraduate groups class.  I have no idea what the semester will bring, of course, but I know it will be the usual experience: some good, some not so good, but with opportunities cleverly disguised as problems.  

My travel plans are pretty much done for the year except for the trip to Natchez in March for my last board meeting as treasurer of NASW/MS and where I will be presenting an advanced workshop on using experiential group work.  I will be beginning a community project in Sardis, MS, and also beginning a new research project that will take me to other Mississippi areas and meeting new people and new communities.

I hope you will check in now and then and see what new Mississippi place I have discovered in the course of the coming semester.  In the meantime, here is wishing all of you a happy new year, a wonderful and productive Martin Luther King day tomorrow, and joining with you in the hopes of a nation as we see Barack Obama become the next President of the United States.