Off to see the Wizard!

Chelsea will need to have a "special teacher's license"  and  volunteer work permit to interpret at St. Peter's and extend her one month VISA.  To that end we are trying to obtain all of the necessary papers, signatures, photos, document copies, letters, and the police check. It feels like a lot of hurdles with the threat that when we present it all to the "Wizard" and powers that be in the Office of Labor and the Ministry of Ed, they will say..."you need one more thing".  Today we went to Belmopan to get the police check taken care of.  It's about a 2 hour and 20 minute drive.  We had to arrive before 9:30 so we were up early.  When we arrived the clerk said that Chelsea had not been here long enough to process the police check. So we went home empty handed. :-(    Hmmm. Although that makes sense, I really wanted to get this all day trip out of the way before school started so we would not need to miss a day of school.  We're hoping that maybe a US police check will suffice. (?)

After seeing the clerk, Chelsea, looking for the positive side, returned to the van saying, "Well, we can go home when we want since we don't have to wait til 4:00 to pick up the completed form."

We did some sight-seeing.   Here are Sulmi and Chelsea at the top of the steps to the House of Parliament.  We even got a short inside tour.

 This is the view of Independence Plaza from the House of Parliament.  The sculpture is a gift from Mexico and the Bible verse was placed by a Christian organization called John 3:16.com

From here we went to see the mercado.  Next stop: the US Embassy where an officer hailed our van and stopped us to take Chelsea's passport and write some information in his book. What had we done wrong?  Chelsea took some pictures of the US Embassy through the window of the van...I guess its illegal (???).  Per the officer's request she erased the photos.  He seemed nice and smiled the whole time (?) ...I breathed easier once he had given Chelsea her passport back.   Next we went to the George Price Centre for Peace and Development (which always brings a lump to my throat to read the stories about George Price).  We did a quick drive past the University of Belize, and then to Pasquales for pizza for lunch, yummm!

On the way home we stopped at the Art Box to see some Belizean made crafts.

Chelsea seems interested in everything we show her.  She's soaking it all in.  I'm so glad she is here.