Avina on CC island

My sister-ish Avina left the building the other day, and what’s left of her and our one month of adventures in Belize and Mexico are memories and a million photos, videos and mosquito bites. It was absolutely wonderful having her here, and I couldn’t be happier that I officially need a vacation after my rather intense Christmas “vacation”.

I will be sharing the photos gradually, and here’s the first batch from the first couple of days that Avina was here – the first thing we did was of course to take the boat over to Caye Caulker, dive and dance. Luc was with us the first days, and then hopped on a flight to celebrate Christmas on another island – so we continued on our own.

Enjoy!

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Things you learn

wpid-img_20141123_183741.jpgwpid-img_20141123_184023.jpg

I’ve made my place a bit more cozy for christmas.. I’m still on the hunt for picture frames so I can put some art on the walls but it’s really difficult to find nice wooden frames around here. I’ll wait for when I’m passing by Sweden and grab a bunch in a second hand store. :)

I know I haven’t shared anything personal on here since forever, so here’s a list of random things I’ve learnt about myself when living here, in no particular order:

– It takes me almost exactly 6 months to finish a tube of toothpaste.
– Taking out the garbage feels great, kind of like a fresh start.
– Plants don’t really like me. Which is understandable. Apparently I tend to kill them.
– I’m super mega vigilant and will jump straight out of bed in the middle of the night at the smallest sound. (Hey there, raccoon buddy..)
– The state of my apartment very much affects my mood. Or maybe it’s the other way around.
– I adore geckos to the extent that I tolerate that they poop on the walls. Anything that eats mosquitoes is my friend.
– Living alone makes it somehow magically possible to NOT EAT THE ENTIRE DARK CHOCOLATE BAR all at once. I’m amazed.
– I finally enjoy cooking. (This is a very big deal, seriously.)
– Learning how to stand on my head has seen the most entertaining random hobby ever.
– I love that I can have three kinds of shower gel and use them depending on the mood I’m in.
– Home is totally where the pants aren’t, and this is probably the best thing about living alone.
– Smoothies need to have blueberries in them.
– I have a thing for stocking up on stuff, particularly good pasta, coconut milk, toilet paper, canned chick peas, organic peanut butter, chocolate, wine and water.

In short: Zombie invasion ain’t got nothing on me! haha

That last point is also because Belize is a bit of a hit-or-miss place where you have to strike (buy five) when you see something you like.. this is particularly true for vegetables and fruits and it might take forever to see red tomatoes, avocados, mango, kale, okra or anything else interesting again.. we even have a thing with friends where we will write each other an alert on Whatsapp that a particular place has brought something in. I also buy boxes of nice pasta whenever I’m in Mexico. And wine. Wine is so expensive here in Belize! The choice is limited and you have to pay 20usd for a 10usd bottle that often hasn’t travelled very well. There is a 40% import tax on most things, so you can imagine how much cheaper things are in Mexico compared to here..! I’m happy that I’m mostly herbivorous here, veggies and fruits are cheap! You get a nice box of okra (that’s “good stuff”) for 1USD, or the classic: 8 bananas for 0.50USD.

And the Belizean peanut butter from Cayo is the world’s best ever!

wpid-20141113_213657.jpg

FYI a jar like this is 6USD, and we’re talking 100% natural deliciousness without any added sugar or other nasties. Worth it.

That’s another thing I’ve learnt about myself here. I had no idea how much I love peanut butter.

Celebrating 25 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Belize!

CRC@25 Event Belize City

We’ve had a couple of very busy weeks in the office! Everything has been about planning and preparing for the event we had this Monday. My task was to coordinate, produce material and make sure the venue looked the way we want to, ensure that people know what to say, and ensure that things flow smoothly. Despite testing everything a million times before the event I was nervous every time when clicking play on a new video and crossing my fingers that the projector wouldn’t suddenly explode, but it was a great success, not a single glitch! Lots and lots of fun.

We had speakers from the government, civil society and a video message from the EU Ambassador that we had filmed the week before, as the EU were our official partners in hosting this event.

CRC@25 Event Belize City

CRC@25 Event Belize City

CRC@25

The main highlight of the event was the launch of the CRC@25 video that we finalized just the week before. (read more about that, here).

I have been filming kids around the country the last couple of weeks, asking them three simple questions: “What do you love about Belize? What do you dislike about Belize? What do you want for the future?” We used these videos to mark out the different parts of the event, and guide the speakers – people loved them.

And in the end, we celebrated. Meet my UNICEF Belize Family!

CRC@25 Event Belize City

Thanks, all!

CRC@25 Event Belize City

CRC@25 Event Belize City

There will be a video summarizing the event, it is currently in production phase, cant wait to see it. :)

CRC@25 – UNICEF Belize video

It’s been quite busy over here.. :)

jump

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child with UNICEF Belize, we wanted to showcase past achievements and look forward in identifying the challenges and priorities for children in the country.

Our aim was to share the data and statistics available on the situation of children in Belize over the past 25 years – but to do so in a child-friendly, entertaining and captivating way. I created the concept and supervised the production of the below video, which was launched on November 17th in a high-level event, featured on National TV and disseminated internationally.

The video was produced by the New York-based creative agency Big Yellow Taxi.

Halloween 2014: The blue ninja was nowhere to be seen.

IMG_7147

I embraced my Halloween costume this year. I’m totally feeling the idea of cosplay and experiencing living a character for fun – I loved being a blue ninja! Jumping around in my sneakers and comfortable ninja-friendly outfit, I felt strong, fast, invincible and like I could battle all the monsters in there. In Belize, the Halloween party is said to be the biggest of the year apart from the carnival. And yes, people did go all in on their costumes and some were super cool, fun and creative, though there were maybe one too many “Officer Booty on Duty” girls in there..

By 1:30 am the party went bananas, the rain had started pouring down and people stood crammed by the bar instead of dancing since there was no space anywhere. People wanted to go home, so I dropped them off and went home to dance around in the house instead.

When I got home a friend had posted on twitter: “Went to a fancy dress party. My friend went as a ninja. Didn’t see her all night.” haha!

IMG_7088

IMG_7100

IMG_7129

IMG_7123IMG_7127

IMG_7134

IMG_7138

IMG_7142

IMG_7145

IMG_7146

IMG_7153

IMG_7163

IMG_7154

IMG_715510565154_779923912066172_1799648096438396618_n

IMG_7185

IMG_7166

IMG_7169

IMG_7171

IMG_7183

IMG_7184

IMG_7190

IMG_7195

IMG_7200

IMG_7205

IMG_7209

IMG_7210

IMG_7213

IMG_7215

IMG_7217