Finally had time to blog!

I made it to Grenada this past Monday...and everything is going pretty good so far.

I don't even know where to start. After staging, our training group spent a week in St. Lucia at a retreat center near the capital. It was a very pleasant experience. We had some time for us trainees to get to know each other and for us to have a little taste of what it was like to be living in the Eastern Caribbean. We had a very nice view and got to start experiencing the heat and the mosquitoes!! But we were pretty tucked away and pretty sheltered there. One day during the week we got to check out the Eastern Caribbean Peace Corps headquarters that is based in St. Lucia in the capital, Castries. We had a few more training sessions there and then were send out on our own (but in groups) to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the city. It was pretty fun getting to know a little about the city and to finally get the chance to interact with the locals. My overall experience in St. Lucia was pretty amazing, but very short lived.

Within the week we left to head to our island of assignment. Some of the trainees stayed on St. Lucia but the rest of us devided amongst Grenada, Dominica, and one to St. Vincent. We had a brief layover in Barbados and then we were off to Grenada. Once arriving in Grenada, we were greeted by a warm hello from the current PCVs living on the island. They had made us these pretty spice necklaces and had a banner and everything. They were all really welcoming and seemed geniually excited to finally meet all of us (that was quite conforting). We proceeded to take a bus ride into the capital, St. George's, where the Peace Corps office is at. We had some time to meet and chat with all the volunteers and staff and had lunch together. Shortly after that...the homestay families started showing up. I was pretty anxious at that point, but then my homestay mom arrived and we took off from there. I was one of the lucky ones that had all of my luggage arrive with us on the plane...so I had all my stuff with me to unpack that night.

My homestay is better than I would have ever expected. They have a beautiful home and they are all so very nice and welcoming to me. My room is quite nice too. They put a tv in there that even has cable. They had already put up my mosquito net above my bed. There is a full size bed, a huge closet and even some American plugs! And their computer even has internet (hense the reason how I am posting this now!)

This week has been quite and experience. In amongst the training, I have also been trying to adapt to living in a new home, learning the bus system, learning my way around town and my community that I live in, learning how to interact with the people, learning how to deal and cope with unwanted attention, adjusting to the different foods, testing out the drinking water here, adjusting to my body constantly sweating (even when I sleep), blisters on my feet from all the walking I have been doing, and the 3 0r 4 DOZEN (and counting) mosquito bites I have accumulated so far (those are to just name a few).

Every moment I have been trying to soak in as much as possible. With every step I take, there is something new to observe or learn about.

I am starting to get more and more comfortable with my new life here with everyday that does by.