Ambergris Caye Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Sonia Marsh

Is blogging messing with your mind?

February 28, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

For once, I’m determined to get my posts ready for the week. It’s Sunday afternoon and I’ve been glued to my office chair, staring at my computer for several hours. What the hell am I doing? the sun is shining and I’m inside my kitchen writing. (No need to tell me I’m crazy, I already realize that thank you.)

Fortunately, I find a blog post that resonates with what I’m thinking today and it’s called: “5 ways fear can mess up your blog,” by Tess Marshall from The Bold Life.

Tess points out “5 ways fear steals your joy and what action you can take in order to enjoy life and the blogging process.” Please hop over to read her great advice.

1. You obsess about the competition.
2. Your content Lacks pizzazz.
3. You Doubt Yourself.
4. You’re unmotivated and stuck.
5. You want to give up and quit.

“Become aware of how many times in one day you wish for a better and bigger blog and all that goes with it?

Now estimate how many times a day you say to yourself,’My life is great just the way it is today!'”

Of course Tess is right, but once you get bitten by the blogger bug, it’s very difficult to erase it from your mind; especially when you’ve been asked to join a panel and speak about “Beyond Blogging” at the Orange County Branch of the California Writers Club.

A romantic dinner at home.

Last night I set a romantic table next to our fireplace. I had candles, roses in a vase, and champagne flutes ready for our dinner. With the kids gone, my husband and I can finally have romantic dinners at home. As we sip our champagne with some smoked salmon appetizers, I ask him, “Do you think I’d spend as many hours in front of my computer if we moved back to Ambergris Caye? (Photo at the top is from Ambergris Caye where we lived from 2004-2005. This is Victoria House, a beautiful resort on the island.) Before he has time to answer, I say, “I’m sure I’d blog and spend hours on my laptop.” In a way I’m scared Gutsy enough to admit that blogging and writing is my obsession, but since statistics show that women outnumber men in the social media world, perhaps society has created a new female disease that requires a new form of treatment.

So my question to you is: “Is blogging messing with your mind?” If so, in what way?
This question is for men too. Please ask your friends and share.

BELIZE BUZZ Wednesdays-GOSSIPING RESULTS

May 6, 2009 by Sonia Marsh

I discovered from all of your wonderful comments that we need to distinguish between two types of GOSSIP: GOOD GOSSIP and NASTY GOSSIP. Or as AspiringWriter said, “There’s always gossip in small communities – some healthy, some not so healthy.”

We don’t seem to mind the good kind. It’s the NASTY GOSSIP that we want to avoid and not participate in.

Please excuse me if your name isn’t linked, as I had to copy and paste each link with the before and after code, manually. My blogger link button was on strike today. I apologize if I didn’t place a link to your comment.

LadyFi commented
“I find it interesting that it was the ex-pats that liked gossiping in Belize… I would have thought that it would be the locals gossiping about you. Or did they do that too? ”
Your’re right. Everyone gossiped, expats and locals. I’ve had time to reflect on your comments, and perhaps GOSSIP isn’t the right word. You see, when I talk about friends and what they’re doing, it isn’t considered gossip here in California. Whereas if I did the same on Ambergris Caye, it might be twisted around and distorted into gossip later.

Brenda pointed this out clearly when she said, “Is it gossip? Or is it just a way of understanding our world?” She continues to point out another difference, “When I first moved to Latin America I found the gossip a little suffocating, but then I came to understand that it was not harmful, it was a necessary part of community living.”

Caroline also brings up the same valid point, ” I feel that there are different types of gossip. There’s the conversational gossip (which happens a lot in the village I come from in Norway) and then there’s nasty/catty gossip which I have witnessed a lot where I lived in SA. I guess many of us, including me, uses the term GOSSIP, as NASTY and CATTY, like Caroline said. Maybe that’s a mistake on my part.

Also Pearl believes that GOSSIP happens in small rural towns, which is the same as living on an island with a small population.

Miss Footloose said, “Gossip can be dangerous, of course, but I have been surprised that among the expat women I knew in Armenia and Ghana there was so little of it, at least not the nasty kind.” See there again, we’re talking about good vs. nasty gossip.

FRIDAY I HAVE A GUEST/AUTHOR BLOGGER. PLEASE COME VISIT.

5) Monday is Belize Day-Gossiping, What Me?

May 4, 2009 by Sonia Marsh

“Be careful what you say to people, they will instantly judge you.” Those were my husband’s words of warning before we moved to Belize.

Gossiping in Belize is a way of life, and to some, a full-time job. I tried my best to stay away from it but soon realized, the mere act of opening my mouth qualified as gossiping. It was a major source of frustration. In a large city you could say what you wanted and get away with it, but not here. I guess living with the same small crowd, gossip became a form of entertainment.

During our first expat luncheon at a local restaurant, I accidentally critiqued a village close to our hut, stating that it wasn’t safe there because an elderly American lady had recently been attacked at gunpoint by a Belizean thug. An expat rolled her eyes, and in a tone of voice that brought me back to Miss McNulty, my Irish, spinster math teacher at boarding school, she said, “It’s just as safe in the village and for your information, that woman didn’t get robbed in the village.” For the first time since elementary school, I realized relationships were based on first words. They either liked you, or they crossed you off their list. Since being liked was important to me, I tried to make peace by saying, “I’ve only been here a week, so what would I know?”

I’d never lived in a small town before. Lagos, Paris, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Brussels and Orange County, California didn’t qualify as rural. My husband, Duke, said that it’s the same all over the world. As a child, he lived in a small rural village in Pennsylvania, where gossip spread like a virus.

Two weeks after we moved to the island of Ambergris Caye, I discovered that most women seemed to be doing lunch. Flattered when two English expats invited me, I realized that drinks and gossip were the purpose of these get-togethers. I sat between them feeling like an insect under a microscope. Into which species and sub-species would I be categorized? It reminded me of high school where you have to be analyzed and categorized, into a specific group. The “cool group,” the “drinking group,” the “non-drinking group,” the “geeky group,” the “she’s got money group,” or the, “she’s not a threat to us,” group.

I learned to be careful before I spoke. Trust was a word that came up frequently among expats. “It takes several years before you know whom you can trust?”

Do you hear lots of gossip where you live?

Any comments on trust, what it’s like to meet new people, or anything else you want to say?

Let’s exchange opinions. I shall answer you on Wednesday, BELIZE BUZZ day and thanks to Rob-bear for responding to what others said last week.

1) Monday is Belize Day and today is April Fool’s Day.

April 1, 2009 by Sonia Marsh

In May 2008, I visited an expat friend in Belize for a week. She had recently lost her spouse and I was there to comfort and listen to her as she felt lonely and unsure of whether she wanted to stay in Belize or move back to the U.S.

As I swayed in Becky’s hammock overlooking the Caribbean, I felt myself slip into a heavenly trance. This lasted only a few minutes when I heard a loud Belizean man’s voice,”F**k you.” In Belize you replace the “u” with an “o.” I can hear all of you enunciating it right now. I waited a few seconds then heard it again. Was this the start of another fight like the one I’d witnessed outside a vegetable shack when we lived on Ambergris Caye? My stomach churned as I heard, “F**k you,” coming closer. I swung my legs out of the hammock and followed the voice. Leaning over the balcony, I saw a stray cat but not a single person. I lifted the latch on the small wooden gate to the steps below and there I found the source. It was the beautiful parrot in the picture above.

Thanks for all your comments on my first post about our life in Belize. I’m going to try something new. I’ve decided to post 3 times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Mondays, will be a slice of our life in Belize. I’d love to hear from you with any questions or comments you may have on the topic I post. I know today isn’t Monday, but it’s April Fool’s.

Wednesdays, I shall answer your questions with links to your blog. Perhaps we can get a discussion going in the comments section. If no one asks any questions then I’ll think of something interesting, I hope.

Fridays, A general post, a speaker I heard and found interesting, a guest blogger, or something about writing.

We’ll see how it goes and I shall modify things if necessary.
I look forward to hearing from you.