All you need is....

So in a few days time it will be Valentines Day. Many people will be wondering what to do or what to buy for their significant other, whilst I’m only wondering whether or not to bake a cake for Aidan’s first birthday, our little Valentines baby.

You know, I’m actually starting to think that maybe I’m not all that romantic. I mean, Andy and I both forgot our first wedding anniversary last December. My mother-in-law asked us afterwards what we did on the day and we both just laughed as neither of us had thought about it at all. And I don’t think we ever do much on Valentines Day either. We’ve been together for about 11 years (again, neither of us are sure how long exactly) and I can’t remember if we’ve ever celebrated Valentines Day in any shape or form. And to be honest, I don’t care. I’m just happy that Andy and I have crafted this incredible life together and that after all this time we still enjoy each other’s company as much as we do.

I actually believe that Andy and I have a better relationship than most couples we know. We always show love and respect to one another and are we’re still very much in love, but we’re just not all that soppy.

Also, when my children were born I didn’t cry. Neither did Andy. Especially Lucas’ birth was this weird anti-climax in a way. I had been watching all these TV shows in which women gave birth and where the minute the baby arrived the violins would start playing and everybody in the room would cry. When Lucas arrived the room was silent. There were no violins and we all just looked at him, going ‘That’s him? That’s our child? How bizarre’. I had also imagined that there would be this instant recognition, but there wasn’t. I had to get to know him and fall in love with him over the following days and the same was true for Aidan.




I also wonder when I hear people say that they have never known a love like the one they feel for their children, that they somehow love their children more than they’ve ever loved anybody else, because I don’t feel like that. When I love someone, I love someone. There is no hierarchy for me when it comes to love. Of course, I would do anything for my children and I am totally responsible for them, whereas I do not feel like that towards my friends or other family members. But it doesn’t mean that I therefore love my children more than my husband or that I love them more than I love my parents or my other siblings. They are simply two more souls that I am intertwined with for (as I am concerned) eternity. And right now they are my main priority in life, because that’s what being a parent is in my eyes. But my love for them is no more and no less magical than my love for all the other amazing souls on my life’s path.

As the Beatles once said: ‘In my life, I loved them all’

Anyway, happy Valentines Day everybody and I wish for you all as much love in your life as you are willing to give (and that’s usually as much love as we are getting anyway)



Here is just a small selection of those that I love (in no particular order)....

I've been meaning to upload this for a while now...

My favorite thing about living in Belize is moments like this. The simple joys of an outdoor lifestyle.

And my least favorite thing about living in Belize is how all electronic equipment gets destroyed by the humidity. My camera has now died on me. That's another $900 down the drain. I loved that camera. The colours were so crisp, the video was great on it...oh, I will miss it so much. I don't think I'll ever buy anything that flash again. It just isn't worth it here.

Oh, and Karen won the bike race (for those of you that don't read her blog)
And obviously, we're very proud of our champion!

To hell and back (biking the muddy road to Caracol)

Well, Karen's made it through those hard days. We saw her race through Roaring Creek today and she was third when we saw her (out of everyone!)

We'll see her again tomorrow at Caves Branch.

Sorry, I have to leave it at that right now. May blog more later with pics.

Karen's most challenging day yet.

Today will be tough for Karen. She has to bike from Jaguar Paw to the temples of Caracol up in the Mountain Pine Ridge. Most of the way will be uphill on a road that has turned into an extreme mud bath. To drive to Caracol takes over 2 hours and is hard to do on days like these, when the road has turned to slush from days of rain. So how they will manage on bikes, only God knows. I wouldn't be surprised if no one manages to make it till the end.

Still, our crazy Karen is determined to finish this race and not only that, but to actually win it! (at least from the women)

We went to see her yesterday afternoon and this is what she told me:

On day one she came first. She beat both the men and the women, although the reason she beat the men was that they missed a turn and biked the wrong way for 1 mile. Karen even raced passed this guy who is apparently this famous biker (leave it to me to forget his name). Anyway, not only is this guy famous, Karen's bike is even named after him. So she beat him on a bike that carries his own name. Isn't that funny? I'm so proud of that tough little cookie of ours.

Yesterday, apparently, was horrendous. They biked through mud for most of the day and felt like they weren't getting anywhere. Many of the bikers have decided that the race is just too tough and have either pulled out (even one of the serious Belizean cyclists has packed it in and has decided to stick to road biking from now on), whilst others have chosen to just ride part of the race each day and to get into the support cars after lunch. Karen says that she can't even imagine quitting, no matter how hard it gets. She is in agony though and would give anything for a more comfortable saddle, but of course there isn't much that we can buy here in Belize so she'll have to just 'sit it out' (poor girl)

Once she gets through today, she (and the others) will be fine. The rest of the race is much more bearable. So everyone....send her your thoughts, prayers, psychic energy, whatever you can...'cause she will need it today.

Also, does anyone want to up their sponsorship pledge if she manages to actually win this thing?
Let me know. Of course, it's all going to a good cause, The Jaden Foundation. This money will help keep this year's sponsored children in both the private school and the public schools (with the private school being the biggest financial stretch, of course)

There are several ways to donate, just send me an email if you're interested in doing so.

Thank you all for your support.

Karen is doing great!!!!!

Just got a call from Karen & she says that the race is going really well. Not only is she doing the tour, she's actually racing it to win. Right now, she's leading the women and is even beating some of the men. You go girl! There were 23 people in the group to start with and one has given up already. We'll go and see Karen tomorrow afternoon. This is all so exciting!

Some more Aruba pictures that I nicked of my sister's blog

No news yet from Karen. We'll try and phone her again later...

Karen's bike race starts tomorrow!

Isn't funny how it's always so great to be traveling, yet it's just as great be home again at the end of it all?

Yep, we're back and I am so happy to be sleeping in my own bed again. I had become a bit of an insomniac those last few days in Aruba, which started with AC problems in our bedroom and then just became a general 'not able to sleep' problem. So annoying! But anyway, last night I slept wonderfully again. Shame that the baby woke up at quarter to five though.

Anyway, we did have a fantastic holiday in Aruba. The place is actually starting to grow on me. And of course I love being with my mum and my sister. And I love seeing them interact with Lucas and Aidan. It's only now that I have my own children that I fully realize how important family is. If only we could be nearer to all our family (those in Aruba, England and Holland). But for that to happen, we'd have to pull continents together. Got some muscle anybody?

So, as the title of this posting already said, Karen's Temple to Temple bike race starts tomorrow. David is driving her to Placencia this very moment for the start of the race.

Karen has actually become a tat nervous about it all. Especially as so many people are sponsoring her (with the proceeds going to the Jaden Foundation). She is scared that either she or her bike may not make it. I'll try and blog in the coming days how she's doing. Wish her well!

What are we up to these days?

Well, Andy & Hans have been playing their daily round of golf, we’ve been shopping and hung out on the beach for a while…so a normal day for us all here in Aruba. The kids tire us out of course, but apart from chasing them, life is pretty chilled (actually, it couldn’t be more chilled if we tried)

Last night we had dinner at a new Irish pub (Laurenz is very disappointed that they are still waiting for the Guinness to arrive) and the day before we all went to the Palm Island waterpark, which was amazing! Both the kids loved it and, to be honest, so did the adults ; )

Oh, and I’ve even had a few heavenly ‘moments for mom’ (moments without children). I had a facial and I’ve taken my first windsurf lesson, which I really enjoyed, so I may go for another one tomorrow.
We’ve put our flights back for two days so we can stay till Friday. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Karen’s bike race starts this weekend, we would have stayed even longer. Oh well…we will be back soon, I’m sure.

Lovely Aruba

I really can't be bothered to blog, but that's a good sign. It means that I'm too busy having fun.

Love to you all from sunny Aruba!!!!

Chochos

I just learned a new trick. Every time I prepared chochos, my hands ended up looking like they were covered in glue and for days after my skin peeled off my fingers (like a sunburn)

Well, after 3 years of being here I have finally discovered the secret to peeling and chopping chochos! You rub salt all over your hands before touching them. It's that simple.

I thought I should share this tidbit of knowledge with those of you that have recently moved to Belize or that are about to move here. No more flaky hands my friends!

Bon appetit!

Lucas' debut as camera man

What a nice lazy weekend. Andy is playing golf and I'm chilling with my children. It's so much better being back at the Dome than living in Belmopan and jetting backwards and forwards. And I'm starting to feel more and more at home in our 'half-a-house'.

Also, my piano is now finally in a nice inspiring location (overlooking the horses in the field and the river behind it) and it really makes me want to play more. In the house in Belmopan it was stashed away in an un-used room, facing a wall. It's amazing what a difference that makes. So throughout the day I now spent time on the piano. It's so enjoyable. I wonder how much I'll be able to improve without having any more lessons. See, Miss Bonny is too busy these days as a science teacher and with running her music school for children to be giving piano lessons to adults. So I won't get lessons from her until the summer.

Anyway, here are two little clips of the kids. One of which was filmed by Lucas. He is very proud of his achievement as a camera man/director.








By the way, Lucas' eye is okay again. He got a stung on his eye lid and the rubbing had caused swelling around the eye. So I just wanted to make sure that the grandparents don't end up worrying about him ; )

Biking across Belize

My sincere apologies for my blogging slackness lately, but the holidays, moving house, etc. have just been too distracting. In the meantime we’ve moved in to our new house, even though only half of it has been built. So I still feel like we’re camping a bit.

Our stuff is spread out all over the place; the house in Belmopan, the Dome and now our Riverside Cottage (the new house). There is building work going on all around us & we have no telephone, Internet or even a fridge yet.

Still, soon we’ll be over this chaotic phase. And already it’s so much better to be back on the Jungle Dome grounds, that in it self already feels calmer.

Now, I don’t know if you guys have been following Andy or Karen’s blogs recently, but in case you haven’t, Karen is going to do this crazy bike race around Belize at the end of January, called the ‘Temple to Temple’ tour, for which she has to bike 750 km. in 7 days!!!!

So Karen is out training a lot these days, but even for her standards, this will be a major challenge & achievement (we assume she’ll manage to do it)

Now obviously, this is a great thing for people to sponsor. And Karen has kindly offered to donate all the proceeds to the Jaden Foundation. Hopefully all the children that we got into the private school (BCA) this year will be able to continue their education there next year. We also buy schoolbooks for children in the public schools, but the private school is by far our biggest expense (well worth it though). This year we’ve sponsored about 25 public primary school children, 2 high school kids and 7 children to go to the private school. On top of this we pay for medical emergencies, school transport and occasionally support other local charities.

If you are interested in sponsoring Karen contact me and/or Karen and we'll let you know how to go about it(The donations can also be made tax deductible)

Adios my friends, I hope 2007 has been treating you well so far!

A moment of Zen

Well, I can finally relax again. The rooms are ready, the guests have moved in them for the next 4 days, Christmas is over (and I am one year older) and all is well. I can tell you now from experience, working on deadlines in Belize is NOT the way to go! And anyway, that's what we wanted to get away from when we left Europe. So for now, peace has returned and it's very pleasant.

Just a few pictures to get you up to date on what's happened here:

On Christmas eve we gave all the local kids presents (many of which were donated by Ros Grieve and the Coutts family. Thank you guys!)

The kids were delighted and are still very busy with the gifs, especially the 'outdoor' ones like the kits.

And then there's 'The House'. After 10 months of hard work we've managed to get half of it build. We've put up a temporary wall so the work can continue on the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the guest bedroom, whilst the other rooms can already be used.

Guest bathroom with Mayan carved basin ( a bit hard to see in this picture)

Master bathroom with sunken bath and (unfinished) private courtyard

Shelf unit in Master bedroom

Our new King-sized bed (I'll be able to waive to Andy from my side of the bed), complete with reading lights and build-in bookshelves.

In four days we'll be moving in!!!!!!!

Wishing you a merry Christmas!

Dear all.

I wish you the very best for this Christmas season and let's hope that 2007 will be a year of new beginnings. A year where peace returns to earth and where we all learn to take better care of the environment and each other (I guess that means that I'd like to see George Bush booted out or silenced by the American majority)

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us, above us only sky

Imagine there's no country
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
and no religion too"




And now for something completely different...we will be getting those rooms ready in time. We had to switch to a 'plan B' to manage it, but that's just how it is. I'm just happy we can breath again.

6 months to build a house in Belize? I think not!

It's been pretty crazy here the last few days. We are still finishing off rooms in the new house that we're renting out just after Christmas. It's all becoming a mad rush, with several 'plan B's' thrown in to get the project done in time.

Anyway, I'm too tired to blog about it. But here are a few pictures of what's going on:

What we have to teach our children

Most people teach their children things like 'Watch both ways before you cross the road' and 'Don't accept sweets from strangers'. Here at the Belize Jungle Dome the main lessons are 'Don't walk through high grass, there might be snakes' and today's one was 'Don't tease the tarantula, it can be deadly'.

Yes, there was a tarantula on the tree next to the swing this afternoon and Lucas and his friend were throwing pebbles at it. Andy took the tarantula and, whilst it was in the bucket, we gave the kids a little lesson on these spiders. About how the red hairs on their back can be shot at you, how they are poisonous, how they don't like to be teased, etc.

Yep, this is jungle living at its finest!

Our happy baby

Isn't he the most delightful little thing ever? I could just eat him!

How a 4-year-old can make your heart melt

Lucas often surprises me with the things he says. This morning he was being rather moody for a while in the car, when suddenly he turned to me and said:

'You are like my sunshine, mum. Because you are always so nice to me.'

I definitely didn't see that one coming. It put the biggest smile ever on my face! You've got to love 4-year-olds; they drive you crazy and make you fall in love with them from one second to the next.

By the way...

I'm so happy with my new Ipod. After blogging about my busted Ipod a while ago I received several emails of people offering to bring me a new one. Oh, the amazing power of the Internet!

Karen bought a Fifth Generation Ipod in Canada for me & I have to say, it is fantastic! Love the video and photo option too. And it keeps Lucas entertained on long boring car journeys ; )

A day on the ranch

After almost 3 weeks of being in Belize my mum has gone back to Aruba. It seems like she was only here for only a few days, probably because we didn't manage to do too much, we were so busy nursing my flu-infected boys (they are better now, thank God)

One thing we did do was a little day trip to Green Acre Ranch on the Hummingbird Highway, a beautiful part of Belize.

The surroundings are so stunning. Shame the sun didn't co-operate much that day...

Oh, and look how big Aidan is getting. I bet he'll be walking soon, although I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Because that's when life really gets crazy! I would be quite happy if he waited until we moved into our new house. Still, it's not up to me, is it? And of course I'm a proud mum with each little milestone.

Learning the lingo

I really have to learn better Spanish. One of our new cleaning/kitchen staff at the Jungle Dome just doesn't understand me. Her English is too poor and so is my Spanish. It's getting quite frustrating. We've been living at the Dome recently and as soon as as any of our clothes are not folded and in the cupboard where they belong, she's grabbed them and will be cleaning them in a bucket full of Clorox. She's already managed to get a cream colored T-shirt of Lucas to be brilliant white (a color I never intended it to be) and my beautiful Karen Millen skirt is not so beautiful anymore since she's had her hands on it. I keep asking her not to touch my washing, but she either just loves washing or she simply doesn't understand me. I think it's the latter as we experience constant misunderstandings.

Anyway, it's just reinforced what I have known for ages; that I need to learn better Spanish. Andy, the kids and I will have to go back to Antigua, Guatemala and do one of those intense Spanish courses one day. I could learn at home with Cd's, online courses, etc. But nothing is better than one on one tuition.

I've had private German tuition before and it really helped a lot. I actually came across the following clip of an old interview of mine the other day and was quite proud as to how good my German had become. Surely, if I can do this in German I can do it in Spanish too?

By the way, I normally place clips on just one of my two blogs, but with this clip I wasn't sure if it belonged on my music blog or my personal blog, so I put it on both : )

I’d like to share one of our many memorable ‘Belize moments’:

Ball foot

A few years ago we bought a lovely Arab/Quarter horse from a man called Walter Friesen, who is the spiritual leader of a strict Mennonite community in Belize.

This Mennonite community is very ‘Little house on the prairie’. They have no electricity, no cars, no telephones & they don’t even have mirrors for everyday use (only small ones that can be used for ‘non-vain purposes’, for instance when something gets stuck in your eye). The Mennonites are very similar to the Amish. I believe they’ve branched off from the same original group and religion. But please don’t hold me to that, as I’m no expert on the matter.

Anyway, as we strolled away from his farm Walter Friesen asked:

“Do you want to take the horse now or shall we bring it in the coming days?”
Obviously, we couldn’t take the horse. We’d come to Barton Creek by car (over an hour’s drive) and had no trailer with us.
“Bring it please,” I answered.
“And just give us a call before you set off”
The moment those words flew out my mouth, I knew I’d said something stupid. “I’m sorry, you don’t have a phone. Do you?”
Walter simply smiled.
“We’ll bring it on Thursday morning”
And that was that, the arrangement was made.

It was only when we got back home that it dawned on me: Mennonites don’t have trailers. Christ, they don’t even have cars.
“Oh shoot!” I cried “How on earth is he going to get this horse to us?”
That hadn’t occurred to Andy yet either
“Hmm, maybe he’ll ride it here? Or maybe he has some kind of Arc and will be floating it downstream?”
“Haha, very funny Andy”
I actually got quite worried for the old man. Surely he wasn’t really going to ride it all this way? Again, if Mennonites had phones, it would have been easy to find out what he had in mind. But as it stood, we just had to wait and see.

Sure enough, late that Thursday morning we heard the sound of hoofs coming towards our house. And there he was, Walter Friesen walking next to our horse and a bewildered Mennonite teenager on the horse’s back. Walter had walked for over 4 hours in the Belizean heat to get to us! And he must surely be in his fifties or sixties, which made it even more astounding. I felt so bad. This poor man had walked all this way, because I (by being so thoughtless) had actually asked him to do so. Dumb, dumb, dumb, Simone!

I tried to invite them in for a drink and some food. But Walter and his son wouldn’t move; they just stared at our house.
“What is this place?” Walter sighed
“A Geodesic Dome,” I answered, “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of them?”
Walter shook his head. The boy, who turned out to be his 16-year-old son, was trying to keep his head low whilst secretly darting glances up at the Dome’s enormous structure.

I have to admit, our house is unusual even by Western standards and, apart from looking like a big wooden egg in the middle of the jungle, it’s also pretty huge.

“Is this where you live?” Walter gasped
“Yes, it is”
“And how many other people live here?”
“Er…just me and my husband. Just the two of us.” I was a bit embarrassed to admit this. The house could easily accommodate 10 times as many people (that’s why we ended up turning it into a resort)

“Hello Mr. Friesen, how are you? I turned around and saw Andy appearing from his vegetable garden.
“Thanks for bringing the horse. You didn’t walk all this way though, did you?”
“Yes I did, Mr. Hunt. And my boy here rode the horse, which has been a great experience for him as he has never before left our community”
“But tell me, Mr. Hunt, how have you been able to buy a house of this size? It must have been very expensive”
“Well, I used to be a professional football player back in the UK”
“What was that you said? Ball foot? You played ball foot?”
“Football. Soccer.”
Andy scanned Walter Friesen’s face, but there wasn’t a hint of recognition.
“No, never heard of this ball foot. We don’t have games in our community. But people used to pay you money for throwing a ball?”
“Well, for kicking it. Yes they did. They actually paid me a lot of money for it. Footballers earn more money than doctors, teachers or even politicians”
“Well, well, isn’t that strange?” Walter murmured.
“Yes, Mr. Friesen. It sure is”

We later found out that the Barton Creek Mennonites not only are unfamiliar with games, but also with soft furnishing. Walter’s son sat down on our sofa (once we finally got them inside) and acted like someone had thrown him on to a flying carpet, hands levitating in front of him, swaying from left to right and looking both shocked & pleasantly surprised by the experience (we quickly turned off our wide screen television, surely that would have caused the poor boy’s head to explode)

We talked for hours and were once again mesmerized by the cultural diversity of Belize. That such a tiny country can have so many different social groups with such diverse ways of life. And, thinking about the money my husband and I used to earn as an entertainer and as a professional sportsman, it again made us wonder: which society is really the strange one here?

Snotty noses and sleepless nights

Wow, life just grinds to a halt when you have sick children. Lucas and Aidan have a horrible cold/flu & for the last 5 days or so they've wanted me to hold them almost non-stop. It's so sad to see them like this.

I haven't been able to exercise, blog, play the piano or do anything really. All I've done is nurse my two boys. Lucas seems to be getting a bit better, Aidan is still trying to fight off a bad cold. I hope they're over it soon.

I better go. Duty calls....

Surprise, surprise!

Hans (my mum's boyfriend) decided to surprise her today. He flew out to Belize from Aruba without telling her. And what a surprise it was!

Both my mum and Hans were shaking, it was so sweet. It's nice to have them here together again.

Off to Chetumal

This weekend should be good fun. My mum, the kids and I are going to Mexico with a friend from Belmopan and her daughter who's in Lucas' class at school. Lucas' teacher and her mum will be in Chetumal too, so we're all trying to meet up there.

I'm looking forward to it.

Adios amigos!

Andy's quote of the day

"It's great, isn't it?"

"What is?" I asked him

"Everything!"

: )

The loves of my life!

One of the many cool stories on Ecorazzi

I just love the Ecorazzi website. It's one of my faves at the moment. This article is a good reason why....

Bling H20 Rewrites The Book On Foolish Celebrity Purchases

Give the world another 50 years, and I can understand a bottle of water costing $40-$50; but now? In what can only be described as a brilliant play on the wallets of the rich and famous, Kevin Boyd has created a bottle of water called Bling H20 (taken from a spring in Tennessee. IN TENNESSEE!) that costs about $36 in the U.S. and $46 in Australia.

From the article, “Mr Boyd, a writer and producer, said he arrived at the inspiration for Bling H2O working on film-studio lots. He said that, in Hollywood, bottled water was a fashion accessory and people chose a brand that reflected their personality. To capitalise on the market, he produced a glass bottle studded with Swarovski crystals, filled it with spring water and encouraged celebrities he knew to drink it.”

Careful celebrities….we’re watching you on this one. Already, it’s been reported that Paris Hilton bought as case of this stuff for $550. Mariah Carey and Shaquille O’Neal have also lapped it up.
What’s next? Pre-packaged ice-cubes made from spring water?

Forced to upgrade

The downside of living in Central America is the humidity and how it messes up all electronic equipment. It's the weirdest thing, one minute something works fine, the next minute it displays some bizarre behaviour (often stuff that's not even listed in the 'trouble shooting' section of the manual) & some days or weeks later it may work fine again.

I don't even want to start listing all the equipment we've lost over the last 5 years. But the latest victim has been my beloved Ipod. It's busted. I've tried everything. And I have little faith in any resurrection. I am absolutely gutted!

So I'll have to invest in a new one, as I just can't live without an Ipod. Nor can my kids for that matter. All their lullabies are in there, so the bedroom is freakily quiet now at bedtime.

The upside is that the new 5th generation Ipods have video too, so I'll end up with something better than I had before.

I'll just have to find someone who can buy it for me and bring it to Belize. Maybe Karen????

Oh, by the way, check out about Ipod flashmobbing on my music blog, it's just the funniest thing ever & something I would have loved to take part in.

Lucas is four! Happy Bday!

When you listen to the Universe whispering, it doesn't need to start shouting

I hate to say it but I've been taking on too much lately. I feel drained and clumsy & have done so for a while now. It might well be the reason why I crashed the car recently and why I do things like drive to the market with a car full of children when I was meant to drive these kids to school (which is nowhere near the market). I'm constantly losing things, getting annoyed with myself and/or the kids, etc.

I didn't fully realize how much I was doing until I took some 'time out' this morning & started to think things through. This is my recent list:

1. Raise a 4-year-old and an 8-month-old (including daily school runs)
2. Prepare the resort for the high season (upgrading the rooms, working on the new menu, bulk shopping, working out new strategies with the staff)
3. Running two blogs
4. Building a house (buying materials in different parts of the country, discussing plans with the architect, making decisions on finishings, landscaping, etc.)
5. Run the Jaden Foundation
6. Act as the second vice president for the Belmopan International Women's Group (organizing November's day trips)
7. Aqua-aerobics twice a week
8. Work out in the gym every day

So, too much. Unless you're wonder woman, which I'm not.

The Universe has been whispering this to me & I've finally decided to listen up. Because, let's face it, if we don't listen to the Universe whispering at us she will start to shout. And the Universe shouting at us is very unpleasant. It's when bad things happen to us. Often these big bad things could have been avoided if only we had learned to listen to the whispers. A good example of that is when you get a cold or the flu, it usually is a whisper to take it easy, to relax. You and your body need a rest. When you ignore this whisper, there's a chance that you will end up with something much more serious further down the line. Get what I mean? So this car crash, me losing my car keys, driving to the wrong place, etc. They are all clear messages: Slow down, focus, you're all over the place. Prioritize.

So anyway, that's what's happening for me right now.

I have therefor decided not to go to aqua-aerobics today and will cancel my gym membership with the Educogym. That gym is too regimented for me right now. You have to stick to a diet, always book sessions ahead of time, work on a schedule, etc. I really can't commit to that.

Instead, I'll just bounce on my mini-trampoline tonight. And the rest of the day I am going to read, watch TV and play with the kids.

My other blog

Make sure you check out my music blog from time to time too. Gracias!
http://simonesmusicblog.blogspot.com

Just a few clips of daily life here...

Look what came flying into our home yesterday. It whizzed passed Aidan's head on his way in. Thank God his beak just missed Aidan's little face. I'm sure he could have done some damage with that.

Just my little boy chilling with me (Andy's in the background discovering toucan poop on the floor).

And the final clip is of Lucas in his new favorite outfit. I don't think he's quite sure yet who he is, superman or tarzan : )

I've been meaning to upload these for ages

Andy has helped me figure out why I haven't been able to upload any photos for a while, the files were simply too large.

So anyway, here are some pictures of what's been happening here in last few weeks

First up, the kids getting ready for the Independence day parade. Several took Banana Bank horses along.

11-year-olds probably should not yet be left in charge of toddlers. Proof of that is this next picture of little Henry. Jessica made a right mess of him (it did make us all giggle though)

I've finished my 12-day introductory program at the new gym in Belmopan. I had to go and work out at the gym for 20 minutes every day & follow a diet. I didn't stick to the diet too well as I didn't really want to diet whilst I'm nursing. So anyway, I'm not sure that I got the full effect of it all, but that's okay with me. It's just nice to have gyms (yes, there are two now) in Belmopan.

And finally, John's living room has become rather crowded with this pool table in it. But he likes it!

The Jaden Foundation this year

There are many things that I should have done for the Jaden Foundation by now that I haven't yet. Amongst them are:

1. Updating the website
2. Adding pictures and stories of the new sponsors to the website
3. Visit all the sponsored families (several in remote villages) to update the children's information and to take pictures
4. Do the Jaden Foundation accounts
5. Visit the local schools to get a clearer view of what each school's needs are (mainly for the group from 'FAB' that will be coming from Rochester next spring) and also to find out what each school's privacy policy is with regards to the information we can share about the students online

So there you go. It's a fair list.

What I have managed to do is the following:

1. Buy and distribute school books to 19 Primary school students
2. The same for 2 High school students
3. Supply school uniforms and shoes to 5 students
4. Pay (weekly) for the school transport of 6 students
5. Sort out sponsorship for 6 children of low-income families that allows them to attend one of the country's most prestigious private schools
6. Support the 'Friends of Pediatrics' in Belize, to help finance an symposium on Developmental disorders such as: Attention Deficit Disorders (ADHD/ADD), autism, speech language disorders, mental retardation, hearing and visual disorders. The aim is the help people (doctors, teachers, parents) in identifying these at risk children at an early stage & to share information on how to best help and educate these children (I will add more on this in the coming days)

The reason why I haven't done as much as maybe I should have is because the Jaden Foundation is basically a one-woman show. Karen helps me a few times a year with the accounts, but apart from that it's just me doing everything. Something as easy as 'buying and distributing school books' takes many weeks of my time. Books only become available in drips and draps (so I have to visit the bookstore a few times a week), most the book lists that the children give me are impossible to read, some children are first told that they are in a certain grade and later find out that they are in a different grade, etc. It is incredibly annoying work. I also ask all the children to bring back last year's books to see which ones can be reused, so I have to go through piles of old books too.

Anyway, I do apologize to all of this year's sponsors. Sorry that I haven't been in contact with cute pictures, hand-written notes from the kids, etc. But please rest assured, 100% of your donated money has gone to helping children here in Belize. A big, big 'Thank you!' once again.

Weekly assembly

Lucas' school starts every Friday morning with assembly. I stayed and had a look this week.


The kids actually start every school day with the Belize national anthem. Lucas loves it. He sings the Belize national anthem all around the Jungle Dome, especially in the pool. It never fails to makes me laugh.

Something else they do at his school every day is recide this pledge to Belize


Here's Lucas and his class mates right at the front.


He tries to take part in the songs and the dances, but doesn't totally get it yet.

A 'Feedblitz' oops!

For those of you who subscribe to my blog, my apologies. Those postings that you were sent today were not new postings, but old ones that I had added some labels to. I'm trying to label and categorize my postings so the blog will be easier to navigate in future.

So, the Jaden Foundation is not broke. We're okay. That was a while back. Anyway, I'll update on all the Jaden Foundation stuff on the weekend (much to talk about).

Have a nice day y'all...

Little crash

Yep, I had a crash. Nothing major though. I just drove into another car's bumper as I got out of the car park at the market square. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't. I just didn't see him coming.

Lucky enough, we're dealing with Belizeans here. So no shouting matches, no dramas, it was all dealt with in the most civilized way.

He followed me to my insurance company & the whole process took about 15 minutes of our time. A quick pictures of the damage, exchanging of information, we shook hands and that was that. He went on his way, the insurance company will cover the repairs bill and we, most likely, won't even lose our no-claims bonus (that's what I've been told anyway)

So, big up to Mrs. Pinto and Regents Insurance! They do a great job. We were once involved in another car crash (which wasn't our fault & which was a lot more serious). Regents Insurance paid us out at lightning speed & then battled with the other insurance company to get that money back. How's that for great service?

I just wished all insurance companies were like that....

Bloody ants

There are always some annoying critters around here. For a large part of the year it's mosquitoes nibbling at you (not now, thank God!), Sand flies and/or Doctor Flies (both dreadful creatures) & right now it's ants! Bloody millions of them. They are everywhere.

I have never seen so many sugar ants and fire ants in my life. The sugar ants crawl onto every plate, cup, spoon, anything you put down for more than 20 seconds. And as soon as you run the plate (or the cup or whatever) over to the sink, the little buggers are all the way up your arm and in to your neck. I absolutely hate that feeling. You could use that as torture on me.

You also have to check where you stand these days, as fire ants seem to have claimed much of Belize. It's crazy.

Anyway, all these critters come and go. It's a bit like avocados and mangoes here. They all 'come in season' for such a short period of time. But I'm sure another annoying insect will take their places again.

The Belmopan social scene

One of the hardest things about living in Belize (and Belmopan especially) has been the lack of a social life. It has always been hard to meet other women here. I mean, you see a lot of the same faces in town, but you hardly ever have a chance of meeting them. There are no fun little coffee shops to hang out in or nice bars, restaurants or clubs to go to. So where to meet each other?

The solution: An International Women's Group. I know, it sounds a bit crap, but it has been the best thing ever! It started about a month and a half ago & I believe that we already have about 40 or 50 members. It's great, because now when I see other women in town, I actually know them (it does mean that every little thing I do in town now takes twice as long, as I'm so busy chatting ; )

Anyway, it's a very vibrant group of women and lots of stuff is being set up by the group. For instance, water aerobic classes twice a week. I went yesterday and it was one of the best thing I've done in Belize for a long time. It was so much fun. The setting is heavenly, the women are all having a blast and...best of all...we end the morning with eating cake! Isn't that a wonderful contradiction?

Oh, and I have been given the title Second Vice President of the Women's Group. Which sounds very official, but all it means it that I'm in charge of organizing daytrips (weekday trips for women only and weekend daytrips for all the family), plus I will be the Poker instructor and host the first Poker night.

By the way, for those of you who'd like to read about other people's experiences in Belize, go check out the blogs of our dear friends Maya & Colette. They have settled on San Pedro and are living the beachy kind of lifestyle. So quite different again from ours. Their blogs are really funny. Have a read: http://exploringbelize.spaces.live.com/ & their animal shelter blog: http://nursemelly.blogspot.com/

The chase is on!

Yes, Aidan has started 'crawling'. Well, not actually crawling, but he's moving forwards. Guess life will get a bit more complicated now. Time to start child-proofing.

Typical expat culture shock

My husband Andy and I had only recently arrived from the UK to Belize, Central America and were trying to figure out how to make friends here. Inviting one or two local cowboys to a movie night seemed like a good way to us.

That evening, as Andy was putting some bowls of popcorn on the table, I was scanning our rather extensive DVD collection. All of our stuff had arrived from London a few days before and we were still getting to grips with how much stuff we actually had. As a matter of fact, the unpacking of the 20-foot container had been a rather embarrassing experience. All the Mayan families had gathered around our house to watch us unpack. With each item that was lifted out of the box, they let out a loud “Ooh!” and “Ah!” I had never felt ‘filthy rich' before, but I did then. Out of shame I ended up giving away quite a lot of things. The families grabbed anything we didn't want. Down to the boxes themselves, which they apparently turned into wardrobes.

“So babe, do you think they will like 5th Element or The Matrix? Or will those movies be too far out for them? We don't have any John Wayne movies, do we?” I just didn't know what DVD to pick.

But before Andy had a chance to answer, the cowboys arrived with a knock on the door. And they hadn't come alone; our deck was filled with what looked like a complete Mayan village. There were the cowboys, their wives, their wives' parents, their children (lots of them), their nieces and nephews, babies suckling young women's exposed breasts, even their dogs had come along. This surely wasn't what we had been expecting. And they all looked like they were going to a wedding, with the little girls in frilly white dresses and the little boys with shirt and pants and freshly washed hair, that their moms had glued to their heads in tight side-partings. Looking at these clean and proud Mayans, I felt like a total slob. To me, movie night always meant ‘T-Shirt, sweatpants and no make-up'. But obviously, things were slightly different here.

“I'm sorry,” I said, as everybody poured through the door in near silence “We don't seem to have enough chairs for everyone”. But nobody seemed too bothered about the lack of chairs; they just squeezed as many people on the sofas as possible (nursing mums and grandparents on the comfortable seats, the kids sat down where ever). The grandmother looked ancient and dignified. I thought that she was at least 80 or 90, but found out later that she was in fact only 57. I guess the years of hard labor, the Guatemalan war and the many children she had, had taken it's toll.

Whilst I was attempting to be a host to the women and children, Andy and the guys had taken control of choosing of the night's movie. Pretty soon they reappeared with their choice of the night; “The Godfather”.

I blocked the guys from moving towards the DVD player, saying: “No way! We can't watch that. That's way too violent for these children.” Andy shrugged his shoulders “They said it was okay with them”.

”No, no, I'm not having that” I snatched the DVD out of Andy's hands and walked back to the rest of our collection, followed closely by the cowboys. “We don't mind. Our kids watch movies like this at home too.”

I wouldn't budge and asked them to choose again. They picked “Die Hard”. I said no. They picked “The end of days” I said no again. I picked “Peter Pan”. They said no. I picked “The Wizard of Ozz”. They didn't even answer me anymore.

Andy, in the meantime, was getting annoyed with me.
“Simone, what's your problem?”
“They don't care about their kids watching violent movies, so why do you?”

“Well, whatever the policy is in their house is their problem. I can't change the policies in my house. And my policies are no violent movies for young kids”

We eventually settled (grudgedly on my behalf) on Star Wars. They got their bits of violence & I hoped that the kids would at least enjoy the funny aliens.

So this was one of our first introductions into Central American culture & it taught us two important things:

First of all, be cautious when inviting people in Central America. In the US or Europe you may invite 200 people to a wedding and expect 100 of those to show up. In Belize you invite 50 and can expect 200. It's just the way things are here. Invitations are a kind of free for all & people love to bring their extended families along.

Secondly, even though the Maya community seems very friendly, innocent and peaceful, they do expose their young children to violent images and movies & the children's play often reflects that. They may run around with fake Ninja knifes and pretend to slash each other's throats. But even in the midst of their “throat slashing” sessions, they will waive at you and smile the sweetest, most innocent of smiles.

So, will we ever fully understand our local community? And will they ever fully understand us? Probably not. Still, this is what makes living in a different country and culture so interesting. We all look at each other, shake our heads and smile. And even the most mundane becomes interesting when done in such a different way from what we were used to.

Info gatherer

I've come across a very cool service recently. It's a site called Infogatherer & it's like having an online Life Coach or your own Genie in a bottle. What that means is that Infogatherer can help you achieve your goal/dreams. How? You tell them what you want to achieve. And this can be anything as random as finding a publisher for your book, getting your foot in the door at a radio station, finding a job in another country, setting up alliances with others in your field of expertise, etc.

You tell Infogatherer what your dream is and in 24 hours you'll be given tons of relevant websites that can help you achieve this dream. Obviously, you still have to take action yourself (like in Life Coaching), but at least you now know which way to turn. And what they come back with is much more than what you could ever Google by yourself.

Pascal from Infogatherer recently offered me the service free of charge & did an amazing job. I didn't quite understand what the service entailed to start with or what I was going to get back. But I am totally impressed. So even the usual fee of $4.95 is incredibly cheap if you consider what you get back for it.

So go ahead, dream! And then go make that dream come true. Have fun!!!!

Two blogs

My Belize blog has become so random lately that I feel like it is developing a multiple personality disorder. So to make things easier I am starting a second blog, called Simone's Music Blog. I know, not the most imaginative of names. But I believe that my mate Ferdie was right all those years ago; he said that it's best to have a crappy name for anything you do. Better a crap name and a clever pretentious one. His label was called 'Go Beat' (he was always embarrassed to say the name & people often misheard him, thinking he said 'Goby') & his good friend was/is Norman Cook, who of course is known under a rather stupid name himself, namely Fatboy Slim.

So...just for you Ferdie. Two blogs with crappy names: Simone's Belize Blog and Simone's Music Blog.

Simone's Music Blog is not properly set up yet, but my plan is to put all the MTV clips on there (with stories on each clip), republish the Veejay updates & add anything else that's connected to music. And my Belize Blog will feature my every day Belize adventures.

Guess I better get to work....

In the meantime, feel free to check it our already. Just keep in mind that it's still a work in progress: http://simonesmusicblog.blogspot.com

Backstage at the MTV Europe Music Awards

I had been working for hours at the MTV Europe Music Award, doing the countdown to the Awards, the Red Carpet and backstage interviews and all I wanted was to join my partying friends. But I was told that there was one more thing I had to do, I had to play 'Tabloid Journalist', going around finding gossip and make up some myself as well.

Of course, my gossip had to be rather far-fetched. But do you think anyone helped me come up with some good lines? Not a chance! I had to think of stuff myself. Problem was, I was exhausted at that point & couldn't think of anything.

My best attempt was 'Did you know that Kylie fancies you?'

I thought that that was far-fetched enough. I mean, every guy fancied her, but I assumed that these guys would all understand that she would never fancy them back. Still, I was wrong. It was taken seriously.

So a few weeks later my phone rang and it was Kylie Minogue. She was pretty pissed off with me. Aparently, my stupid gossip had got her into trouble with Jay Kay from Jamiroquai and his girlfriend (who turned out to be a friend of hers)

I apologized to her then, we issued a press-release & I believe (I hope) that I was forgiven.

Here's the clip:

MTV's Partyzone clips

We've finally got the old Partyzone clips digitized. Here are two short ones. The thing that makes all these 90's MTV interviews even more special is that most of the MTV Europe footage from that time got burned down at a fire at MTV's library. Guess we were the lucky ones...

So on this blog in the near future, expect the following clips:

1. The only ever Aphex Twin TV interview (with a rather shocking revelation)
2. The tape that got me in trouble with Kylie Minogue many years ago (I never meant to upset her and did apologize afterwards)
3. Shaun Rider on poisoning pigeons
4. Looking like a drag queen with Junior Vasquez
5. Moby unplugged, plus Moby and I cross-dressing
6. Our mate Justin getting stung with a stung gun (on his own request no less!)

And much, much more...

So let's get started. Let's go back to the old school!

Richard Branson rocks!

Wow, I can believe what I just heard on BBC Radio's Global Business show. Richard Branson is always full of surprises & this time he's topped it all (for me anyway). This guy really is serious about fighting global warming. In the 'Global Business' interview he explains why he is planning to invest 3 billion dollars (all the profits of the Virgin transport groups of the coming years) to fight climate change and describes his hopes for his newest venture, Virgin Fuels. Are we slowly reaching the tipping point with corporations now taking this problem seriously? (If only the world wasn't being held back by Bush and his buddies...)

Anyway, at the Belize Jungle Dome we've also been wondering what we can do to fight global warming & we are hoping to set up a partnership with a Belizean reforestation project soon. We are planning to offer our future guests Carbon Neutral Travel. What that means is that we will calculate how much carbon dioxide is being produced by our guests flying to Belize, us driving them up & down the country, their AC use, etc. & then to offset these greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing 'carbon offsets', in our case that will be trees planted as part of the reforestation projects and we also might get involved in the production of biofuel. We're having a meeting about it some time in the coming days. I'm so excited! My dream is that Belize will become the world's first Carbon Neutral travel destination.

To be continued....

Why do we love living in Belize?

“So why did you move to Belize?” It's the question that everybody asks when they come to our jungle lodge. The strange thing is that we haven't got a straight answer to that. We just had enough of living in London. After the worlds of television and football, we wanted a change.

But why we chose Belize I don't honestly know. It could as well had been New Zealand, South Africa, Costa Rica, or any of the other countries that we researched online. Belize just sounded attractive; it's the only English speaking country in Central America, only a 2-hour flight from Miami or Houston, politically stable & part of the Commonwealth as a former British colony (back then known as British Honduras)

By now, we have been living in Belize for 5 years and have moved from loving it, to hating it, to learning to like it, to loving it once again. Only now it's a much deeper and more sincere love.

You can compare it to a long-term relationship/marriage, as this usually goes through these same stages; first you fall in love, then you fall out of love, you learn to like each other again and eventually, if all is well, you end up truly loving each other. It's actually a shame that so many people never get beyond the ‘falling in love/falling out of love' stage. They seem to take it as a sign that this relationship isn't for them after all. What they often lose in the process is experiencing the deeper (if less fiery) type of love that's just beyond that phase.

So why this analogy? Because the same thing happens to so many who immigrate to a (developing) country like Belize. They never get beyond the first falling in love/falling out of love stage. As soon as the honeymoon period is over, they are on the next flight home or off on another exciting adventure. The locals have seen this over and over again, so they take everything newcomers say with a huge grain of salt. Only once you cross the 2-year-mark, do they begin to accept you and will consider to taking you seriously.

Why do we enjoy living in this funny little Central American/Caribbean country? (Belize has a minor identity crisis; it sees itself as a Caribbean nation, when truthfully it's Central American) Well there are many reasons. Mainly the sense of freedom that you feel when you live here, the fact that our children can play outside without us having to breath down their necks at all times, the unending supply of sunshine, the relaxed attitude of the locals, the astounding natural surroundings, the reef, the caves, the Mayan temples, the wildlife, the sweet and juicy fruits that readily drop from the trees, the fact that we can live like kings and queens on a reasonable budget and the simplicity of life that is a constant undercurrent in developing nations.

Once you've experienced life in a country that doesn't rush, you start to see the insanity of this very Western habit. Why do people in Europe and America rush all the time? Generally they are busy making money to buy stuff and to build ever bigger houses to put all their stuff in and then they end up with debts to pay for the upkeep of these houses and their stuff in it, so they have to work harder yet again & round and round it goes.

In Belize we get to enjoy the simple pleasures that don't cost anything or at least not much; like watching the sunrise and listening to the jungle awakening, climbing trees with our 3-year-old, taking him cave tubing & snorkeling, shining flashlights in the garden at night, catching frogs and tadpoles (big hit with young boys), enjoying fruits and vegetables from our own garden, etc. Stuff that many people in Western society just don't have time for anymore.

The funny thing is that we actually have managed to make a decent living for ourselves here whilst doing all this. Simply by sharing this lifestyle with others. We generally eat with the guests of our jungle lodge, their kids (when they have them) run around with ours and with all the local Mayan children, we all walk (on bare feet) to the edge of the garden to admire groups of howler monkeys, we enjoy the fresh produce from our gardens together, play board games, float in the pool at night whilst stargazing, etc.

It's wonderful that people actually pay us to experience this lifestyle with us for whatever period of time they are here, as this enables us to continue living like this. So it's another catch 22, but quite a pleasant one.

Still, as idyllic as this all sounds, life is far from perfect here. After years of trying to find perfect…(fill in the blanc) I have come to see that perfection is nothing but a trick of light, a mirage, like the end of the rainbow. It simply doesn't exist.

See, reality can also be harsh when you surround yourself with as much nature as we have. Mother Nature, in all her beauty, can be a rather fierce lady; you simply don't mess with her. When the river floods, it floods, when lightening decides to hit your house 3 times in as many years you deal with it, when biting insects attack, you get used to it as best you can, when it rains, it pours and when it's hot it can be unbearable.

So will we ever go back to Europe? Who knows? Right now I wouldn't want to give up the great life we have created here, but I know that nothing ever stays the same, so it's possible that one day we may want to. What I do know for sure is that living in Europe will never be like it was before. The world has already changed too much for that in the last 5 years. We emigrated from England to Belize on September 11th 2001, the day the world changed into the mess it seems to have become. I try to keep positive and to see the metaphor in it all. The world can never go back to being like it was before 9/11 and neither can we.

Just found this on Youtube

My Old Job!!!! How funny is this?

Clips of the Riverside Cottage (building site)

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