I know I said that I would only be sending a monthly e-newsletter, but there is so much to tell you that I just had to write another email.

I wish you all could walk down the street in my village. Most of the houses are made entirely out of concrete with a few made with wood. The concrete houses are cooler in the hot summer months and will withstand a hurricane if need be. Most of the houses do not have beds; they have hammocks hanging up and that's where everyone sleeps. In fact, all the concrete houses are constructed with hammock hooks built right in. We have one in our house, but I have yet to muster up the courage to try it out. Upon my debut of a hammock sleeper, I will write and tell you all about it of course. At any given moment you may see a pig running through your front yard followed by four or five little piglets. They roam free along with the dogs, cats, chickens, iguanas, and the occasional rabbit. I have seen no squirrels, so I am forced to conclude that Belize ran out of them before I got here. If you look out the front door, you may also notice someone cutting their grass not with the lawn-mower that we have in the states, but with a macheti. Yes, the same tool used to cut the sugar cane is used to cut the grass. Now, imagine a little old lady in a dress cutting the grass with a macheti. No kidding!

Our house is very small for three Americans to be living in. My bedroom is 10X8 and Carla's bedroom is only 10X10. We are living like sardines with all our stuff right up on top of everything else. We are trying to figure out how to get three people to live here without tripping over each other. I do have in-door plumbing and hot showers, which is nice at the end of a long day. The shower is electric, so I have to be careful not to touch the shower head while bathing or I'll get a quick little ZAP! We do not have airconditioning because no one in the villages has it. We do however have four ceiling fans, including one in the bathroom, and four stand-alone fans for two Gringos at the moment. Its a little excesive, but our house is very hot. Sometimes it gets up to 97 degrees in my bedroom, so you can't do anything without sitting in front of a fan.

Belizians are short! for the first and last time in my life, I'm tall. They are all short. The women are very petite and almost always wear dresses or skirts. The men and older boys never wear shorts; only long pants. I mean, when it is 107 degrees out, they are wearing jeans. I don't get it, but I guess its a cultural thing. I actually met a girl from El Salvador who is a redhead. She works at a restaurant where we went to eat one night while I was with the St. Matt's team. I talked to her for a while, and she told me that her grandmother has red hair and fair skin, but that her parents both has the customary dark hair, dark skin. Then, about a week later, I got mistaken for her at an educational workshop I was helping with. It was wild. I also hear that there is a couple f natural redheads in the village of Pachacan. I will seek them out and get pictures taken with them for proof of course. I know some of you think I'm pulling your leg, but I'm serious.

I spoke with my mom yesterday and she said that Lauren is doing better. She's been moved out of the intensive care unit, but still in the hospital. Her kidneys and liver are all functioning better now, and they think she may even be able to start college soon. The doctors found out that she had the same thing the rest of the team had, she just didn't want to drink gatorade which resulted in a sodium deficiency which caused her body to shut down, and thus, the coma. Anyway, she is better now, so thank you for all your prayers.

I was not feeling great on Saturday and was scared I was coming down with what the West End team had, but I spoke with a nurse and she told me it was probably just my system getting used to the change of everything- the weather, the water (I use it to brish my teeth), the time change, etc. I was feeling much better yesterday, and am fine today, so that little bout of sickness is over.

I went shopping for the first time on Friday and had a great time. Luckily, we only had to go to one place to get everything we needed, and then we had some extra time, so we went to a little market and got some fruit. Fresh fruit is very hard to come by here so I got all that I could which was only two bananas and a few apple-bananas. I'm not sure of their real name, but they taste like a cross between an apple and a banana so that's what's I'll call them. They look like short little bananas and litterally taste like apple and a banana mixed. they are quite tasty and when I can't get fresh apples, peaches or anything else, they will have to do. I found out that we have a mango tree in the backyard, but unfortunately, they are all gone. But, I did buy some mango juice at the market.

OK I think I have rambled on for long enough.

Have a great week, and I'll write more later.

Love, Kate ><>

PS -- thank you to all of you who have sent me mail. It has been a blessing to read your cards and letters.

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