Moving to Belize Guide, Part 3

For those interested in leaving the rat race behind and settling in Belize, here is part 3 of my "Moving to Belize Guide"

Being humble

So you’re planning to leave western civilization and move to a developing country like Belize. Depending on your current social & financial status, you may be fooled in to believing that the developing country will be awaiting you with open arms, happy to receive your financial and professional input. Though this may be the case in some isolated instances, overall I can assure you of a rather rude awakening.

Most likely, the locals will be utterly unimpressed with who you’ve been “back home”. All they see right now is a foreigner who doesn’t understand the local way of life. Europeans, Canadians and especially Americans are generally regarded as arrogant. We talk too loud, we try to rush people and we usually think that our way is the better way (or at least a more efficient way).

We often come to developing countries with huge dreams and expectations; we will build an enormous resort, a hospital, a 300-seater restaurant, a water park, a crocodile park, a research center, the list goes on. We will be providing work and income for the local community & therefore expect the locals to be as excited as we are about our dreams.

We also may believe that we have found the “gap in the market”, like the man who opened the shoe shop on Placencia after noticing that no one had any shoes there. He invested his money, opened his store & then discovered that no one was actually interested in owning any shoes (there aren’t any roads on Placencia, only sandy beaches)

Then there was the man who decided to start the first fly-fishing business on Aruba (I won’t mention any names, but it’s someone very close to me). He paid someone to set up his “www.FlyFishingAruba.com” website & then discovered that no one actually offers fly-fishing in Aruba because it is too windy there.

So, take it easy. Do your research. Start slowly. Get to know the local customs. Don’t rush in flapping your dollars in the air. Be humble. Observe. Then proceed, following the local customs as much as you can. Even if none of it makes sense to you. You are in their country, so you owe the locals a certain amount of respect. They may do things a certain way because it makes more sense in a small country or because it fits with their particular view of life. Who are we to say that theirs is an inferior way?

We always seem to think that we are so much more efficient, yet occasionally we will surprised by how quickly something can get done in a developing country. It just always looks like things move slowly. Mainly because no one rushes around the way we are used to. People chitchat more, take long lunch breaks, most paper work still gets done by hand, women file their nails whilst they are working and often they’ll just sit in silence, without jumping up to help the next customer.

That’s another thing we needed to get used to when we first came to Belize, the silences. We used to fill up “uncomfortable silence” with words, any words, as long as the silence got broken. Now we realize that silence is not regarded as uncomfortable in Belize. In Europe, if a silence continues too long, it means that it is time to move on (we all get that hint, right?) Not so in Belize. Here, silence can be many things. It can simply be a form of togetherness. People will come and visit you even if they have nothing to tell you. They will quite happily sit with you in silence for half an hour before they move on or say the next sentence.

Silence is also a form of negotiation, probably one of the strongest. If you are unhappy with what someone has just told you in a meeting, don’t argue with them, just sit there silently (maybe hum and hah a little & look a tat worried). After a while the other party will come with a new suggestion. Continue this process until you both come to an agreement. It’s an unusual way of doing business for most of us, but much more effective (in a country like Belize) than raising your voice or trying to persuade someone that you are right. And I’m sure it’s better for your heart too, in the long run.

Andy has become a master at “out-silencing” people. I still get uncomfortable. But then, for years I used to get paid to talk. It is my first line of defense when I’m scared. Maybe I’ll get used to it one day.

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Trying to move

Wow, it's been enjoyable to hear from the other veejays. But I still have so many to track down though. If anyone out there knows where any of them are today, please let me know.

Andy and I, by the way, have been trying to move into our new rental house for the last few days. See, we now have a country house (the Belize Jungle Dome) and a town house in Belmopan. The town house is the one we run to when things get too crazy at the Dome. But the last few days we've not had much luck getting in. First I brought the wrong keys (pregnancy brain!) & then it turned out that the pad lock on the gate got jammed. So even with the right keys we can't get in. How annoying.

Today I'll go back and try to get the stupid thing off, as I really need a quiet place to go to. My head is pounding and there simply are too many people at the resort at the moment.

By the way, been watching the coolest documentary series lately, called: "The Century of the Self" and "The Power of Nightmares" by Adam Curtis. They are absolutely incredible and will change the way you view modern society forever! They can be downloaded from: http://www.archive.org/ . Go check it out!

Oh, and if my headache clears up, I'll post another instalment of the "Moving to Belize guide" later.

Groetjes trouwens aan iedereen die hier via: http://www.antiroos.com/ is gekomen. Prettig Sinterklaas alvast. Ik vind het jammer dat ik mijn zoontje Lucas niet naar Nederland kan brengen voor Sinterklaas (Ik ben te zwanger om nog zo'n eind te vliegen, vind ik zelf). Helemaal jammer dat hij dit jaar weer de kans niet krijgt om sneeuw te zien. Nouja, volgende keer dan maar. Adios!

Rebecca De Ruvo

Mini-update from ex-MTV veejay Rebecca de Ruvo

Hey Simone,
It is so nice to see and hear how well you and your family are doing..I became a mother to Alfonso 3 months ago and I absolutely love it! I attach a pic.. I would really like to come out and visit you and stay in your resort someday! I dont know if you remember but I love horse riding!I am still in my band The vitamins and we have a single out in January, the video stars the actress Samantha Morton, I was 9 months pregnant and simply refused to be in it! She is fantastic.. We have a web page but it is very basic, it is being redesigned. I would write more but Fonsie ( his nickname ) is crying the little bugger!!
xxxxxsxxxxx

One month to Christmas!

It’s getting “cold” in Belize (17 degrees Celsius this morning) and we’re all loving it. Shuffling past each other in wooly jumpers and slippers, checking whose hands are the coldest. Funny how perception of temperature changes when you live in the tropics.

Our crazy little Lucas, by the way, is ever the jungle boy. He refuses to wear anything on his feet “I don’t wear shoes!” even when we go to the supermarket & even when our tiled floors are as cold as they are today. I look at his bare feet and get cold for him. Still, he’s a little radiator. It simply doesn’t bother him.

Talking of Lucas, I think he’s gone through a “testosterone release” recently. He suddenly started walking with a male swagger and wouldn’t play with girls anymore, virtually overnight. The girls dislike him too these days. He just rides his tricycle in to them, pushes them around, throws sand in their eyes (wondering why they are upset with him), etc. The boys that he plays with have the same sense of humor as him and find all that stuff rather funny. Of course, the girls hate it. I have tried to explain it to him, but Lucas just doesn’t seem to “get girls” anymore. And, like most men, he probably won’t “get them” anymore for the rest of his life. Yep, that door has shut, I’m afraid.

Back in the days when boys and girls were still able to play together in a cardboard box

Toby Amies update, part 2

As part of my "where are they now?" postings, the latest instalment from another old MTV collegue of mine, the very unique, funny and talented Toby Amies:

Since being back in the UK I have done quite a lot of directing for tv, made a few pop videos, been presenting for Film Four and am on my third series for Lonely Planet TV.Also more and more people are asking me to make strange films for them. I have just done one about a Victorian seance that went horribly wrong, shown in a festival here with a live score.

Best of all though has been the photography which is a perfect way for me to make sense of what I experience, I find it too difficult to write that much and too inept to paint properly, but my pictures are the best way I have found to grab hold of time that flies by now and to see some more of life for what it is. I have had some exhibitions here by the sea and am getting published in magazines quite widely. I also make bits and pieces of art for group shows and so on and my piece "The Museum of Unfinished Projects" was in this year's Sussex Open.

With that in mind, I want to use the behind the camera work I do to train my storytelling skills to the point where I can make a really good feature film, in about 5 years time ideally.

Otherwise I am increasingly content, have a wonderful woman who has a delightful daughter, love to cycle and worry about climate change, totalitarian religions and oppressive governments, the principle concerns of champagne anarchists.

Don't smoke fags no more.
I still dress funny.
Still got back fat and some side fat too.
Still don't eat meat.
Still dance.
Still hate the man.
The best thing about me is my friends.

Mad love to you and anyone who knows me.
Toby.

Oh, how I love my little boy....

Moving to Belize Guide, part 2

For those considering a move to Belize...my personal "how to" series.

Getting to know the country

Before settling in a certain part of Belize, ask yourself what you are actually looking for.

How much inconvenience can you truly handle? It’s great finding a beautiful little waterfall in the middle of the jungle or a private island, miles away from civilization, but could you really live there? Try to net get too idyllic about this. Be overly practical. How will you get your shopping? What happens in a medical emergency? What will the place look like in torrential rains or when hit by a hurricane? How accessible is it? How much will it cost you to make the place more accessible? (Always double your estimate, for a more realistic financial picture) How long will it take you to build your dream house/resort, etc. (Again, double your estimate) Where will you find builders, plumbers, electricians, etc? And, most importantly, how will you fund your chosen lifestyle long-term?

Life in Belize is most likely to be very different from the life that you are used to. Right now, if you need a plumber, you probably just grab the yellow pages and find one that way. Right now, you buy all the food you need in one supermarket (confident that everything you purchase is within its sell-by date), you pay your bills online, your garbage gets collected every week, any house you’ve bought came with running water and electricity, when your car breaks down you get it fixed at your local garage (Access to car parts is usually not a huge problem in the States or Europe) & when your house is on fire, you phone the fire brigade and expect them to be there within the next 20 minutes or so. None of these things are as simple in Belize (I will share some stories in the coming days highlighting these inconveniences)

Also, you know what how to play by the rules. So whenever you deal with any legality, you’ll find out what’s expected of you and follow the clear instructions given to you. There are very few gray areas when dealing with legalities in most of Western Civilization.

When moving to Belize, or any other developing country, you have to pretty much relearn how you do everything. There are no clear-cut rules, it often seems. Just rules that are rather fluid and move around a tat every time you look (I’ll go into this more in part 3 of my “Moving to Belize Guide”, when talking about the need to be humble)

So, to start with:

1. Keep your money in your pocket if possible & spend some time in your chosen town or community. Make friends there and find your way around. Because, even though the communities are so small, it takes a long time to discover what is where. Small businesses often have no signs and the best fish (for instance) can be bought from a person’s shed somewhere. Also, talk to other expats in the area. They will have a wealth of information and are usually happy to assist newcomers.
2. Next, get very clear with yourself (and your partner?) about what it is that you want. What lifestyle do you want and how can you achieve that?
3. Get very clear as well about what you don’t want or can’t put up with. If you hate bugs, stay out of the jungle, if you become a nervous wreck whenever a hurricane comes near, stay away from the coastal properties & if you want convenience at all times...stay out of Belize.
4. You may come to Belize with some savings, expecting them to last you a long time (The “but things are so cheap here” trap). I can tell you now that your money will disappear much faster than you anticipate. So plan how to make ends meet long-term
   

And finally, when deciding to make the leap, be prepared for a simple life of beauty, mixed in with moments of utter despair. You will often wonder: (or shout out to the heavens) “What have I done????” Know that this is normal and that this too shall pass. The only way to succeed in relocating to a place like Belize is to not throw in the towel too quick. Good luck my friend! May patience be on your side…..

Moving to Belize guide, part 1

People often ask Andy and me for advice on moving to Belize. It seems that many are planning to leave the rat race and are hoping for a more peaceful and fulfilling life. Sadly, not many people succeed in building this idyllic lifestyle for themselves once they get here. The whole country shows the signs of these failed dreams, usually in the shape of deserted hotels, restaurants and lodges, build with all the best intentions, but often over-ambitious and not thought through enough.

So how does one succeed in a country like this? I’m sure that there are many different opinions on this, but my personal advice is the following:

1. Get to know the country
2. Be humble
3. Plan cautiously & take your time
4. Don’t rely on others too much (beware of starting businesses with friends, etc.)
5. Think ahead of time! (Make sure you do your marketing early & be aware of what lifestyle you actually are building for yourself)
   
   
   

Many people fail to ask themselves some basic questions, like: Does running a 20-room resort really provide me with the relaxed lifestyle that I crave? And can I really live in a place without theatres, cafes, shopping streets, cinemas, certain social scenes, family, etc.

There is so much to say on the subject that I will break it down into a series of postings.
Starting tomorrow with point number one: Getting to know the country

Update from my old MTV collegue Toby Amies

Simone,
how nice to hear from you, it sounds like you have an extremely interesting life, I'd like to come and visit. Congratulations on the breeding and the blog!

He's handsome that Silvestrin isn't he?

So as far as VJ's reunited goes:
After being such an arrogant angry fuck at MTV Europe I moved to NYC to work at the Deathstar as we dubbed it, had a fairly unpleasant time at MTV US and in the process figured out that fame was not really my main interest in life, but being creative was.

Someone I met in a nightclub there was going to interview Martha Quinn, one of the first veejays ever and they asked me what question would be good and I said "Ask them if they think a person can ever be bigger than a brand?"

That said I must say the first year in NYC as "the British guy" was quite spectacular and there was more sex, drugs and rock and roll available than I had imagined and my appetite was already large on departure from London.

As well as doing a fair bit of deejaying I started a band, Genius Steals, your basic Gothic funk 2-piece supergroup, we made some records including one with New Jersey House legend Romanthony [the voice on Daft Punk's "One More Time"] and played some gigs to varying levels of acclaim, very much enjoyed it though. The band split due to "emotional differences" and together with comic genius Darry Logan I started doing the US Top 20 for MTV international in a punk rock style from my own studio, Sinister Construction, a chained-up shed in Brooklyn, in many ways though the music was pretty dreadful, this was some of my best work for the channel and props to Richard Godfrey for giving us the freedom to do what we thought best.

Darry and I also made some films and one won the Dali Award at the 1999 International Surrealist Film Festival.

I started work for Film Four and began to take photography seriously as my main creative focus. I lived in a Hassidic neighbourhood in Brooklyn and my landlord used to call me "the Picturemaker" and that pretty well sums up what I was doing and still do.

Pot smoking, a windowless environment, American capitalist immorality, Bush-led conservatism, a torn heart and the vile horror of September the 11th encouraged me to leave the States and come to Brighton, retirement community for ex-rock stars, London fugitives and lazy artists.

To be continued (part 2 coming soon)....

Mud bath!

Belize Jungle Dome staff picture

Chef Bart and "his girls"

Belmopan, here we come!

Our house is like an ants nest these days, with people everywhere. We are currently sharing our home with 3 other people (Karen, Bart & Mooch), making the total: 5 adults & 1 child. Our open-plan kitchen is being used for chef training and our “office” (a sectioned off part of our front room, which includes our dining table as a work desk) is being shared by the four of us, with Richie working on our new website.

On top of this, all our rental units are full. So there are those people to deal with as well. And the children of our guests, plus the local children spend a fair amount of time inside our house to play with Lucas’ toys. What I’m trying to say is that this place is pretty chaotic at the moment, fun, but chaotic.

So today we have signed a rental contract for a house in Belmopan, which is our nearest “town” & the smallest capital of the world, with less than 10,000 inhabitants. We will rent that house for the coming 6 months, starting from the first of December, whilst slowly converting part of the Jungle Dome into more rental rooms (beginning with our old bedroom and kitchen).

Our new business partners, Tom & Marge, should be arriving in Belize in early 2006. They will move into the Jungle Dome for a while and share the space with Karen. We will simply come to work every day and whenever we want to “get away from it all” retreat to our house in Belmopan. I am so looking forward to it!

It will be interesting though, as Andy, Lucas and I have always shared our home with other people. But I think that we’re ready to “just be a family” now. Especially with baby number 2 coming soon.

Anyway, until that time, I’ll enjoy the craziness that is part of Jungle Dome living & make good use of the large amount of unofficial “baby-sitters” here.

Andy trying to take a day-time nap, with children playing around him and cooking lessons going on behind him.

Ex-MTV veejay Kimsy's update part 2

Tracking down the other old MTV Europe Veejays is turning out to be great fun, like having our own little online reunion. As part of this "pet-project' of mine, here is the second instalment of Kimsy's update. Coming soon...Tobie Amies!

Kimsy:
In 2003 family circumstances required me to move back to Germany.See, we have this castle, that has been in our family since 1453 and my parents were getting somewhat on in age, so my sister and I decided to move back and evaluate our options. I was hesitant to move back, especially move back home. I mean we're in this tiny tiny village of 980 people - a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan streets:

compared to this:

I've been back here for 13 months now and have had a great time. I don't know how long I'll actually stay right here, as the place as well as my parents don't really require us to be there all the time.There's a good possibility that I'll move to Berlin in the forseeable future. I've had some auditions for TV Shows, got a small part in a film and am scheduled to be in two other films that are still in the financial planning phase. It's such an exciting time.

Right now though, I'm anxiously awaiting the return of my husband. Yep. Got hitched 43 days ago, but we've actually only spent 3 of those days together. Marcus, my husband, is currently on tour in the states and working on his own music in the studio.

We had been going out for 6 years and after getting engaged, never could quite figure out how we would want to get married. No idea ever really materialized and so we decided , to the shock of our parents, to plan a wedding in 6 days. quite a task, considering we wanted to get married in New York.Hearing horror stories of Bridezillas, over-anxious mothers and general wedding planer disasters, I highly recommend such a wedding to anybody. It was simply beautiful and about us and what we feel for eachother, rather than about creating the biggest event in history and not even having the time to enjoy it.

So, enough of me now. Simone's stories of jungle paradise are so much more exciting. For old time's sake, I looked through some foto albums on the attic and found some snaps.Much Love to all of you out there!!! XXX Kimsy XXX

Update from ex-MTV veejay Enrico Silverstrin

Received an email from the lovely Enrico Silverstrin. It sounds like he is doing well these days:

Ciao Simone, Ciao Kimsy, Ciao James, Ciao Everyone!!!

God it's such a pleasure to find out we still have an interest in each other's lives: I hate to think that after years of no matter how intense life-sharing with other people, everibody tend to simply fade out. So here I am. After my 3 years in London I moved back to Rome where I lived for 4 years, then off to Milan for 2, and now been back in Rome for about 3 years.

I have been acting for the past 8 years in movies (both cinema and tv) and I am starting to see some very interesting results which make me very proud. Also I have been dj'ing electro house in clubs all over Italy, and made quite a name for myself in this country. By the way James Hyman, u've always been an inspiration for me, so thanx because If I am a deejay today is also because of you!

And last, I still work as a presenter even if i consider it a side job. I still do occasional work for MTV!! Just got back from Lisbon where I co-hosted the Red Carpet at the EMA's...

Anyways, I bought myself a flat, I spend hours working on my Mac, so I am almost constantly online, and I am single! Been single for a while now, but perhaps I have suffered the mammoth-previous relationship factor!!

I also have a blog, although it's all in Italian. Maybe I should start posting articles in English then!

And if you wanna listen to the stuff that I do on turntables you can download my free Compilations on my ftp site. They're named Vicious (like my club night) and you can find a text file too with all tracklistings. There's only 2 posted so it's quite easy!

Don't know what else to write.Oh yes I do: love ya all!!!

Latest from the Belize Jungle Dome

Andy’s Escribbler blog has gone through the roof! Not only did he get 585 visitors yesterday, but he also was contacted by Sky Sports (they want to film some stuff about his life here in Belize) and appeared in a Guardian Newspaper article about retired footballers with the strangest current careers (never knew we were that strange)

In the meantime, Richie has been working hard on our new website for the Belize Jungle Dome. It’s still going to be a little while, but I think it looks great already.

And just as we were starting to relax last night, Lucas surprised us all by sticking his head down the toilet. John, Richie, Bart and Mooch nearly pissed themselves laughing, making it rather hard for me to tell him off with a straight face (this happens a lot these days, as Lucas keeps doing things that are just so bloody funny)

I also managed to get hold of Till Lasmann (the illustrator) over the last week or so & he has agreed to make drawings to one of my children’s picture book stories, probably to “City Head”, which I’ve re-written completely in the last few days.

And finally, my mum is coming to Belize for a week in early December! I’m so looking forward to it. Andy & I may even get married when my mum is here, as we have been planning to do it one of these days anyway. I just hope that all our other family/friends won’t be too upset about not being here.

Blogging right back at you!

I just love how blogs work! I've just started posting updates from the various ex-Veejays & already there are some other ex-MTVers writing their own postings about it on their blogs.

Have a look at todays listings on the following blogs:

• James Hyman
• Thomas Markerttt

Big up to both of you!

Ex-MTV veejay Kimsy's update

Good news! I've already received a wonderful update from Kimsy (Which I'll bring to you in two parts) and just got an email from Rebbeca DeRuvo. It's great to see what colorful lifes all the ex-veejays are living. Kimsy, for instance, is running the family's castle these days. How wild is that? Anyway, enjoy Kimsy's update part one:

Kimsy: This is just great. I was reading my friend Thomas' awesome blog about his experiences in New York and all over the world. He mentioned Simone's blog and that's how after 7 (SEVEN!!!) years i found myself emailing my dear former colleague in far away tropical Belize.

I was a VJ for 3 years before deciding to move to New York and study acting at Mike Nichols school. I got accepted for the 2-year training program and had the most incredible time. The school prides itself in being very open to new and different methods of teaching, which had us incorporate everything from Feldenkrais to NLP into acting excercises.
I finished in 2000 and did three short stints for VH-1 Germany, hosting their segments of big events, like the VH-1 Fashion Awards or Divas Live. It was interesting having been out of the VJ loop for a while and returning to it with some emotional distance.

In the following 4 years I immersed myself in the fab world of being an actor in New York looking for work. In true clichee style I had the smallest apartment on this planet, waited tables, auditioned for Sex and the City, worked as an Extra and did numerous off-off-broadway plays and some indie flicks.

My first real part was playing a model/terrorist in Sam Seder's "A Bad Situationist" . My character joins a group of radical jewish orthodox postal workers and threatens to blow up a theatre. A brilliant fully improvised film that unfortunately never quite made it. Anywhere.
As hard as it was at times, I did enjoy myself throughly and I had the chance to grow as a person without being in the spotlight of international superstar VJ-dom.

Part 2 of Kimsy's update coming soon.....

Where have all the veejays gone?

Those of you who used to watch MTV Europe during the 80's and 90's may be interested in what has happened to all the old Veejays. I often wonder about that myself & have decided to track some ex-Veejays down for you.

I have fired off emails asking for updates from:

• Kimsy
• Rebbeca DeRuvo
• Enrico Silverstrin
• Steve Blame

So far, I have got news from Steve Blame (see next posting) and am waiting for a promised update from Kimsy. I hope to receive more email adresses soon & will try to get as many blog postings of them all as possible.

I do have to say that it is great to hear about Steve Blame's life. I have always loved and admired him. He is such a talented person & used to be my favorite "partner in crime". Steve and I were pretty wild in the old MTV days. One day I'll write about some of our insane adventures. It is actually amazing we never got fired for the trouble we used to get in to. Anyway, enjoy his update...

Update from ex-MTV news presenter Steve Blame

Like all of you, I have been fascinated by Simone’s tales of the jungle over the past few years. I have the utmost respect for her, uprooting herself from the comfort of London and living out her dream in Belize. It’s not so easy to change country even if it’s just to a European destination. I left MTV in the winter of 1994 to live in Germany, a country I first despised and now have grown to have the deepest love and respect for. Whenever I hear from Simone I think of MTV. It’s such a long time ago but what memories remain are of wonderful, crazy, interesting and puerile experiences. It’s difficult to identify myself with what I was doing those days. I enjoyed it immensely but would not want that life today. I found my niche on this planet some time ago and have been enjoying it ever since.

Cologne is a great city to live, and although there are other places on the planet I would like to experience, it suits me fine. I have a TV format company which continues to grow. In the past few years my business partner and I have built up a successful portfolio of formats. That keeps me fed and has allowed me to pursue another goal.

I always wanted to be a writer, even before my time at MTV. Like most people I started reading every book about it instead of writing. Eventually I took the plunge and with my first two attempts at writing sitcoms had them both optioned. Neither of them ever made it to the screen, and I felt that although they were good they could have been better. So in March of this year I applied to go back to University and study once more.

The last time I was at University was at Exeter over 26 years ago and the degree subject could not have been more different, Mathematics and Physics. This time I am studying for a Masters Degree in Screenwriting at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. At 46, I am again a student. I live in postgraduate accommodation in town with two other guys, each of them a quarter of a century younger than me.

It’s refreshing to know that University hasn’t changed. The line up of artists playing this term reads like something directly from 1979. Debbie Harry and Bob Geldof for example! The drinks don’t change either, everyone seems to drink snakebite and the corridors stink from dope. But this time around is very different for me. I am that swat you all hated when you studied. I was up at 8 am this morning, Sunday, straight onto the computer, its now 10 pm and I have just finished writing and re-writing for today. The process will begin again in the morning.

The whole experience has been a shock, but I know that at the end of this I will have written that movie I was always destined to. I just hope that someone buys it!

Lazy days on San Pedro

We’re having a quick break before our high season kicks in. Starting from about the second week of November, we’ll be extremely busy at the Jungle Dome. On days like these, it’s so great to have the islands nearby. We simply drive to Belize City (one hour drive), hop on a plane for 15 minutes and that’s it! Get your cozies on…we’re on the beach.

One of the perks of being in the travel industry is working with the beach resorts, as they give us free accommodation whenever we want a break (obviously, we send them many clients, so they are happy to see us). This time we are staying at a place called Banana Beach. It’s a wonderful resort to come to with children. They have two pools, a private beach, a great restaurant and self-contained apartments. We’re in one of their beachfront villas.

It’s so great staying here, I open the back door and the kids run out to the beach or I open the front door and the kids run out to the courtyard swimming pool. And where ever they go, they have other children to play with. There are a lot of young families here at the moment.

We’ve taken little Jimmy (Tella’s grandson) along with us. He has never seen the sea or been a plane before, so it’s a big deal for him. I think it’s especially good for him to be exposed to these things, as he is the only Mayan kid at Banana Bank who goes to a private school (sponsored). He shares his classroom with the children of Ambassadors, Politicians and Businessmen. So it is nice that he too has done the kind of things that they do on their weekends off.

Yesterday we celebrated Lucas’ third birthday. It’s amazing how time flies (sorry to state such a cliché, but it’s only once you have children that you fully realize the truth of that statement). Especially his birth seems like it was yesterday. Yet life before Lucas seems like forever ago. I can barely remember what on earth I used to do with my time. Now, 90% of it is spent on Lucas related things.

It's funny to see what a domesticated mum I have become. I notice it even more on this trip, with the two children around. Spending large parts of my time tidying up the apartment, folding up clothes, reminding the boys to brush their teeth, helping them with their dinners, etc. Whenever we’ve gone out to a restaurant (with Karen and her dad, who are here too) I seem to end up on the children’s side of the table, covered in ketchup and barely able to follow the grown-up’s conversations. Oh well, I guess that’s just part and parcel of being a mother. I’m sure that one day I’ll be allowed back on the grown-ups side of the table.

Off on another adventure!

The courtyard pool at Banana Beach

Making friends on the beach

Happy 3rd Birthday Lucas!

Bart is here!

“Wow, Lucas is just such a happy child,” Bart commented last night
“I noticed that when I met him as a baby & he still seems to be consistently happy. What a brilliant kid!”
I smiled just about the biggest smile my face was capable of holding. It means so much to me to hear that. People have always commented on Lucas’ happy nature, but like I said recently, he had not been himself since we tried to take him to pre-school. I had been worried that he would stay fearful and obnoxious for a long time, but he is pretty much back to how he’s always been. I guess this means that the dramas of pre-school have not left any permanent scars.

So Bart and his brother Mooch are going to be staying with us for a few weeks. They lived with us for a while in the past & we are delighted to have them back. Bart is a very talented chef and is here to train Tella and Nora. The women already make wonderful food, but could do with expanding their range of dishes. Also, we have to set up the resort’s new kitchen & wanted Bart’s help in that.

It was so funny to see Bart at work in our old kitchen last night. He was making a carrot cake for desert (perfect food for pregnancy cravings) & kept shouting out: “Simone, do you have…” and the answer was “no” every time. I couldn’t believe that he actually managed to make the cake, as we missed many of the main ingredients. The result wasn’t your usual carrot cake and it didn’t look the way it should have, but boy was it good! I’ve just gone out and bought tons of baking ingredients, as I want to encourage Bart to keep making these tasty deserts. I don’t normally have a sweet tooth, apart from when I’m pregnant. I definatelly am turning into a food monster & will probably be huge by the time Bart leaves again! But I’m loving it.

Horse riding in Belize

Just seen some guests off on a jungle horse riding trip. I would have loved to have joined them, but it just wouldn't have been safe with my big pregnant belly. It's crazy to think that during my last pregnancy I was still caring for our own horses (we had 3 at that time). My God, that was hard work. Especially as one of our mares kept trying to attack me. She had had a miscarriage & for a while had lost all will to live. She slowly recovered, but as soon as I got pregnant she turned on me. Horses are pretty incredible like that, the are very intuitive (I'm sure that anyone who has ever kept horses will agree with me on this)


Anyway, towards the end of my pregnancy with Lucas she kept trying to kick me in the stomach. That was when we decided to give our horses to the equestrian center next door. It would have been too much work to look after them once Lucas was born anyhow.

They still live hapily with our next door neighbors and wander over to the edge of our swimming pool every now and then to say "hi". And our jealous mare did end up having a foal after all. Although it was eventually stolen from the ranch before they had a chance to wean it. Poor girl, she has not been very lucky when it comes to her offspring.

Andy has just put a new all-inclusive horseback riding package together. Belize is a brilliant place to discover on horseback. You can ride through the jungle, the open farm land, to waterfalls, Mayan temples and ancient caves. All beautiful locations.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can go riding again. By that time, Lucas should be old enough to go on his own horse too. He will be our little cowboy. Yeeha!

Cucumber beach, a new place to hang out in Belize. Whenever we have to go to Belize City these days we stop off for a swim, have a bite of lunch & talk about how wonderful our life is.

We had the whole beach (including the free canoes) for ourselves yesterday

Being a resort owner in the tropics is hard work!

Bouncing fun

The best way to excel at something is to do it consistently.

I’ve been thinking about that quote over the last few days & realize that the only things that I consistently do are the following:

1. Be a mum
2. Do the day-to-day running of the resort
3. Play/practice the piano
4. Write

So surely, if I continue to write (and read) on a daily basis, I will eventually become good at it. So, instead of fretting about what to possibly do with the rest of my life, I’ll just continue to write. I enjoy doing it anyway. Maybe I can turn it into a profession eventually & even if that doesn’t happen, I will have created some entertainment for myself for when I’m old and gray. I’ll be at the old people’s home giggling as I re-read my stories, baffled by how little I knew and by the mistakes I made along the way.

So that’s it. You shouldn’t hear me thinking aloud again about “what to possibly do with my life”. I’m just going to get on with it. End of story! (or…beginning of it, depending on how you look at it)

Oh, and guess what? It turns out that, years ago, someone drew some pictures for my “City Head” poem. It’s just that I was never told about it. John’s brother Richie had shown the poem to a college friend, an illustrator called Till Lassmann. He made some very cool drawings, but Richie forgot to ever pass them on to me. So anyway, I was only given them yesterday. I emailed Till straight away to see if he’s still up for joining forces. I’ll let you know what he says.

Iris & Miriam. My beautiful sisters are both in Aruba right now, I wish I was there with them. They are just the greatest!

My love

When I first met Andy I instantly liked and trusted him. He seemed like a no-nonsense man, wholesome and healthy, like a loaf of home baked bread, an all-round nice guy. We decided to see each other again and each time we did, I would go back to my friends afterwards and say “You know, he’s a really nice guy,” and the next time I’d come back saying “He’s a really, really nice guy”. I kept placing more “really, really, really’s” in front of the “nice guy”. And that’s how I slowly fell in love with him.

Up to that point, I had always thought what most people think and what the media constantly tells us, namely that love followed lust. This whole notion of “love at first sight” and butterflies in your stomach when you meet someone. Yes, I’m sure that you can have those butterflies and end up loving that person in the long run too, but quite often the love flutters off as soon as the butterflies do.

My butterflies for Andy crept in slowly, but have never stopped creeping in. I love him more now than last year and more today than yesterday. Over the years he has become the person that I always knew he could be, strong, courageous, incredibly intelligent and with a fiercely independent mind.

When we first met we were both young and often stupid. He reminded me of a puppy dog, bouncing all over the place, getting drunk and silly & often just not acting “cool”. Being “cool” was something that was very important to me at the time (I told you we were both young and rather stupid), but for some reason I always turned a blind eye to Andy’s silly behaviour, because I could see what was underneath it all. He must have been able to look through my silliness too or we wouldn’t have stuck together all this time.

I once read a quote by a woman who’d been married for over 70 years. When she was asked how they did it, she said: “The trick is to never fall out of love at the same time.” What a wonderful piece of advise and how true it is. Andy and I have been together for nearly ten years now and I have to admit, I don’t always love him. There are days, even weeks when I’m not in love at all. It’s not that I don’t like him during those times, but I’m just not “in love”. Still, like the ebb and the flow and the waxing and the waning of the moon, the loving feelings always come back, stronger and deeper than before.

Oh, and next to loving him, can I just say how proud I am of him too? In this last year, he has taught himself how to do search engine optimization. And he is now, without a doubt, one of the best Webmasters in the world. Our site Greendragonbelize.com has become front page (generally top 5) on Google, MSN & Yahoo. Just type in “Family Adventure travel” or “Belize Vacation” or “Belize Holidays” etc. and you’ll see how well we’ve done. For instance, for the search “All-inclusive family travel” there are more than 102,000,000 pages on the web & our site is ranked at number 4.

I guess I’m just lucky, the man that I have fallen in love with over the years has managed to find his own genius yet again. He was a genius on the football field and now he is a genius computer geek (You know that geeks rule the world these days, right?) And on top of all this, he is a great dad too.

So girls, don’t overlook the nice guys out there. They really are the ones to go for. Don’t believe the hype of the media. True love grows slowly and lasts. At least ours has for almost a decade and I expect it to continue to do so.

happy family at Niagara Falls

Andy and Lucas on San Pedro

Belize, Belize, Belize

I just realized that I hardly ever write about Belize these days, which probably seems strange as my blog is called Simone’s Belize Blog. I guess it’s because life here is becoming more and more easy and comfortable as time goes by. This is good for us, but doesn’t make for interesting stories. Also, I’m getting so used to seeing snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, monkey, iguanas, toucans, etc. that I forget to report on them. Anyway, I’ll try and add more tropical jungle stories over the coming months.

The mistakes we make

Last night was a nice enough evening, but I have to say that performing does not excite me anymore the way it used to do.

So I'm getting more and more confused as to what to do with the rest my life. How bloody annoying! Even the one thing that I always loved to do, I don't love anymore.

The irony is that I have always hated people who couldn't make their minds up & now I am one of them.


Maybe I'll look at some online study courses today. I should use my time at home with the kid(s) to learn more skills than just changing nappies. Actually, that's a bit unfair. It's incredibly difficult to be a parent. You constantly agonize about what decisions to make for your kids & sometimes you make the wrong ones.

For instance, starting pre-school so early (Lucas will be 3 in November) was a miscalculation on our behalf. Lucas has always been so confident around other people and so quick to pick up new concepts, so we assumed he would be ready for pre-school. I now realize that his confidence came from the fact that he felt so secure in us as a family. He always knew that we were nearby when needed us. That confidence has now been a lost.

He was in distress several times at school and we did not come to help him. On some days we sneaked off and on other days we let the teachers rip him off us when he clung on hysterically. In hindsight, I regret going against our own principles. We have never been the kind of parents who would let him "cry it out". But I guess that society often presurizes us into attitudes like that.

"It's normal. They all cry on the first day. Just walk away" The teacher would say to us. I didn't want to seem pathetic, so I left my little boy behind, whilst he screamed and begged "Don't go mummy, don't go!" It was absolutely heart breaking.

But often when we picked him up, he seemed happy enough. So we would take him again the next morning and the whole scenario would start all over.

Lucas has become a lot more fearful now. He doesn't want to go anywhere without me. Even when his good friends are over to play, he stays very close to me. I am not going to fight it anymore. I want him to start trusting me again, which I am sure will take a little time. I just want our confident and happy little boy back & expect that to happen once he feels secure in us again.

Next week I'll try to take him to a playgroup where the parents stay with their children. That should be a much gentler transition for him.

Bunny is a Bonnie

It turns out that my piano teacher’s name is Miss Bonnie and not Miss Bunny, like I always thought (Such a shame, I enjoyed calling her Miss Bunny. It’s such a funny name).

In most of the Caribbean including Belize, people like to put Miss or Mister in front of everyone’s first name. Calling people by their first name is not polite enough and using their last name is often considered too formal. So they’ve come up with an in-between version, you simply add Miss or Mister to any first name. I think it’s rather cute.

Anyway, tonight I’ll be singing at the George Price Center in Belmopan with Miss Bonnie. There is some kind of variety show on and we were asked to perform a song as well. Should be fun. I haven’t been on a stage for over 4 years now, so I’m looking forward to it. Sadly no one can come with me. Andy has to work, Karen is in Canada, John is San Ignacio & Lynwen has gone to Mexico with the Belize rescue team (I hope there won’t be too many casualties of the hurricane). So it will just be Miss Bonnie and me tonight.

Making my mind up

The downside of having spent most of my working life in television is that I never developed skills that can be used in other professions.

See, I was 16 years old I packed my bags and left for the UK in the hope of getting into “showbiz”. I never finished school. And after two years of humiliating rejections, I finally succeeded in my quest. I was given a record deal and a job as an MTV Veejay (in that order).

The skills that I did learn along the way were the following:

Presenting/hosting TV shows
Writing and recording music
Interviewing people (I especially enjoyed asking questions that I was told not to ask)
Talking to large crowds (this included silly things like quickly finding out where the feedback was on stage, insanely fast costume changes, coming up with time fillers whilst the stage was being rebuild, talking my way out of little disasters like parts of the stage collapsing, etc.)

So does anyone have any suggestions as to where these skills can come in handy? Apart from going back to what I did before? I can’t think of what to do next.

See, Andy and I are at a point in our lives where we may face another “retirement” soon. This will be our second “retirement”, with the first being the time we left our old careers and settled in the Belizean jungle.

Soon Tom & Marge are joining us in our Jungle Dome venture (if all goes according to plan). And of course Karen is part of the resort’s management too, so there will be 5 of us running this place. Such a large team is not needed for a small resort, so Andy and I will need to find other passions again and maybe even consider new “careers”.

Andy already knows what he’ll be doing; he’ll be spending even more time on the computer. He loves being a Webmaster and has an incredibly talent for it.

I feel blinded by the millions of options that are out there. Shall I go back to school? If so, what would I like to study? What am I passionate about?

If I were to start a business online, Andy’s Webmaster skills would move my site up to the top ranks of the Search engines in no time. But what business, if any, would I like to have? I keep looking back at what I have done before and try to figure out if I can use my old skills for anything, but I keep drawing blanks.


It seems that I am not the only woman who faces this problem. According to Oprah Magazine, many women in their thirties share this confusion with me. They want to reinvent themselves, but are unsure of what direction to take next. They want a career, but don’t want to make big sacrifices when it comes to their family. Their career has to fit around their home life and not the other way round.

And that’s where I am at right now. Confused, but also excited by what may come next. I’ll just continue with my piano and music theory lessons for the time being (loving it!) & will keep looking for that flash of inspiration and direction.

Latest on Wilma

Still no landfall for hurricane Wilma, but her winds and rain are already battering the Cancun area. Here in Belize (Belmopan) we feel nothing of it. We keep expecting bad weather, but apart from a short rain burst yesterday, it has been lovely here.

So many hurricanes have brushed past our little family this season. We have been on storm watch whilst in Miami, Aruba, on our way to Houston & twice in Belize, yet none of these places ended up getting hit. We must have a guardian angel traveling with us.

Hurricane Wilma

The air is surprisingly calm here. At this point, we are only expecting to get the tail-end of Hurricane Wilma & are awaiting its arrival. A direct hit on Belize doesn't seem that likely anymore, She is already too far North for that. Although, according to the Wunderground storm watch website, there still is a 10% chance. So we're not in the clear just yet.

Let's just hope that this erratic hurricane is going to fizzle out, because the last thing this world needs right now is another disaster.

Pregnancy annoyances

I tell you, we women get the weirdest physical problems when we're pregnant. I won't go into too many details, as it might frighten those of you who've never had a baby into never wanting one. But I can say that it could possibly cause things like losing our hair, getting weird pigment on your face (called a birthmask), spider veins, cracked nipples, etc. All very unpleasant.

Anyway, I'm dealing with my own pregnancy annoyances at the moment. No, I do not look like a rackoon and my nipples do not resemble the sahara desert. But whatever my problems are....they really are a pest. First I am told not to exercise, but to sit and lie down as much as possible. Now it turns out that I should not be sitting down or standing still, but that I should be doing light exercise after all. Anyway, whatever I do these days I'm uncomfortable. That's all I will share about that for now. Just wanted you to know that I'm rather fed up at the moment.

What else is going on here? Well, Lucas has been changing his mind about pre-school rather frequently these days. He's now at the point where he hates it when he has to go by himself (up to the point where we are unable to leave him there, as he cries the whole morning), but loves it when he goes with his little friend Emelda. That could prove to be a problem in itself as Emelda was crying like hell today at pre-school and was hitting the head teacher. So God knows if she still wants to continue going. Oh well.... we will see. Toddlers are simply unpredictable creatures.

By the way, if any of you out there are parents.....check out the book "How to talk so kids will listen and how to listen so kids will talk". It is brilliant! I read it once before and thought that the authors came up with some interesting ideas and suggestions about parenting. But now that Lucas is getting older, I have been able to read it again and put some of those "interesting" suggestions actually into practice. And it is amazing how effective they are.

For instance, when Lucas goes on and on about something that he wants (and that he can't have), I used to tell him why he couldn't have it. If he then started whining and/or started throwing a tantrum, I would fight with him and put him on "the naughty chair". The whole thing was one big struggle and we would both end up feeling angry and annoyed. The new technique that I have learned from this book is strangely simple (and surprisingly effective). We simply write a list of the things that Lucas wants and stick it on the fridge. The bizare thing is that that is all we need to do. Once the list is up there, he is happy. It's the same with sweets that he can't have right now. We simply write his name on the packaging so no one will take it and that's it. He'll then be happy to eat an apple instead (knowing that he can eat the sweets tomorrow, for instance). Anyway, that's just one example. The book is full with little suggestions like that.
Enough rammbling for today (sorry if I have bored non-parents with this posting)

Business meetings jungle style

Well, it’s been a while…..but then I sometimes enjoy a little procrastination.

Actually, we’ve had quite a full week last week. Tom & Marge (who are planning to become our new Belize Jungle Dome business partners) were here so we were doing all kinds of meetings, with lawyers, banks, shipping companies to help with their move, etc. And the four of us did quite a few board meetings in the pool (Obviously, the best place to do board meetings in the tropics)

Next to this we also had our rooms rented out for much of the week, John’s brothers are still over from Scotland and have been hanging out with us quite a bit, plus yesterday we hosted a football tournament on the football pitch next to our property. It's funny, this Slow season is turning out to not be so slow after all.

But anyhow, I’m trying to blog, even though Lucas has other plans for me. He really wants my attention. So I guess I’ll try again tomorrow…..

We went for a little swim at the mini-waterfalls at Gonzo's house the other day.

Our friend's little boy TJ is getting too old for many of his old toys so he's decided that they should all go to Lucas. This is Lucas in his new (hand-me-down) car. He really enjoyed playing in it with the children (Hanna & Alex) of some of our guests.

Current TV

The last week or so, we’ve been getting into watching a news channel called Current TV. It’s a station run by Al Gore of all people! With heavy links to Google (they run a show every half an hour, called Google Current). Current has got the same philosophy as the Internet. Basically, anybody can contribute to this station. People send in clips from all around the world.

It is by far the most exiting thing I have seen on television for ages. It reminds me of the early MTV Europe years. Back in the days when the station was still groundbreaking, young, political and had a slight feel of anarchy to it. Back then I loved working for MTV and was proud of working for them. Later, when it all became corporate, I lost much of my love for the station & was often even embarrassed of my work as a Veejay (guess I’m just not much of a corporate person).

Current TV is the kind of station that I would love to work for! They are so groundbreaking and funky. I love it.

The clips I’ve seen on Current so far range from Tokyo nightlife, Bodybuilding in Kabul, women running for parliament in Afghanistan, Graffiti artists turning into fashion designers, displaced students after hurricane Katrina, anti-war demonstrations, etc.

Whenever I watch these clips, I feel like I learn something genuine about a specific culture, country, ideology, etc. These clips do not always fit the stereotypes that we are fed by mainstream media.

Now, don’t get me wrong, not all these clips are fantastic. A lot are quite average. But they are real life & some times real life is just that, average. At least they are showing the truth.

So, big up to everyone at Current TV for being at the forefront of television! This is democracy at its best. You guys are rocking!!!!!

Children's picture books

How funny....I was just looking at some old stuff on my computer when I noticed all these little rhymes that I wrote a while back. I was thinking about writing children's stories, especially ones for picture books. But I don't know anyone who could do the illustrations. Anyone out there happen to know anyone? Let me give you some examples of some of the bits and pieces that I wrote (obviously, you need to use your imagination and imagine the pictures to go with it) :

Wrong-way-round world

In a wrong-way-round world:
Up would be down
Left would be right
and a square would be round

People would walk backwards
and grow smaller all the time
I'd bottle-feed my nanna
and what's yours would be mine

So let's just pretend
everything is wrong-way-round
Try to stand on your head
whilst your feet still touch the ground

Put your socks on your hands
and your trousers on your head
whistle whilst you're breathing in
point to blue and shout "That's red"

Brush your teeth before your dinner
shower whilst you're fully dressed
sit underneath your chair
point to east and say "That's west"

Eat your soup with a fork
and wear flip-flops in the snow
When I ask "How does a plant grow?"
Say "You reap, then grow, then sow"

Don't you think it's funny
to do things wrong-way-round?
Of all the funniest funny things it's the funniest thing I've found.


City head

Little Jimmy Brett
had a city on his head
It started as a village,
but grew and grew and grew
And though he tried to pull it off
it stuck to him like glue

The other children teased him
and called him City head
And it was really very tricky
to get comfortable in bed

One morning at the barber’s
he said, "Oh, could you please
rid me off this city?
Just the buildings, not the trees"

The barber tried his hardest
but his scissors were too small
He managed just to scrape the side of the city hall

So Jim went to a doctor
and asked for surgery
"Please take off as much you can,
city life just aint for me"

But the doctor said he couldn't
“Jimmy, you’re in perfect health”
The doc then even said
“I'd like a head like that myself”

Next up he tried the zoo
and offered them his head
Well, not the whole thing, of course
'cause then he would be dead

They were happy with his offer
and put him in a box
With the city sticking out on top
The kids came in for yuks

The children, how they loved it
to see a city, oh so small
But little Jimmy in his box
didn't like it much at all

That night at home, back in bed
he was sad as he'd ever been
Because the battle against this city
was one he couldn't win

But then the music started
Sweetest voices ever heard
On his head a giant party
what a rocking little world!

Oh yes, it was a grand fiesta!
And Jimmy felt so glad
To hear little people dancing
and laughing on his head

And so, our little Jimmy
did feel happy after all
Even when the city build a
brand new shopping mall.

Mini-update

What's been happening here? Well, nothing too earth shattering. Our new kitchen arrived, so did John's brother David, Karen emailed to say that all is well (but cold) in Prince Rupert and Lucas hates school these days! I think we rushed him in too soon after all our traveling and his operation, so I'm keeping him home for a few days to settle back into normal life again. Anyway, he may still be a bit too young for pre-school. I mean, he's not even 3 yet. But I'll discuss it with the teacher tonight at the first Parent/Teacher meeting.

Special picture for Ann Simpson: Your boys are doing well. I assume that David is as useless as John with regards to letting you know how he is. So here you are.....they are healthy and happy. Although, they are off the islands today, so they may be a bit less healthy for a few days, with a few more hangovers (still, I'm sure they've dealt with them before, right?)