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.

Staging in Miami

Until today, I had never been to Florida ever in my life. And much to my suprise, I really like Miami (or at least the small portion that I saw). The traffic was a little crazy around the airport, but I think that is to be expected in any city.

Once I arrived, I took a cab to the hotel where the Peace Corps made reservations for our staging group and again was pleasantly surprised to see that they were putting us up in this really nice hotel.

It was really great to get to know all of my fellow trainees at this event. I didn't really know what to expect (about what the other volunteers were going to be like), but everyone is our group seems to have their hearts in the right place, and I am looking forward to being able to work with them. It was very welcoming to be able to meet people who all shared my same passion for service and had been going through the same things that I have been experiencing lately. As I left the airport to head to staging this morning, I realized that I had never felt so alone in my entire life, but it was a great feeling to get here and meet my new "family" that I will be spending the next 2 years of my life with.

We are leaving in the morning for our first stop in the Caribbean, St. Lucia, where we will have the begining of our training all together. After a week there, our group will seperate to our individual islands for training and begin our official 7 week training.

After going through staging today, I feel more prepared and even more excited about leaving tomorrow! Wish me luck!

The Next Chapter

This is the first and last blog entry I will be writing before I leave for the Peace Corps. I am headed to Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean and will be there until April 2011.

In the final weeks before I attend my staging event in Miami, I have been getting more and more excited/anxious about the experience I am about to embark upon. I have started having dreams about what I think things will be like. I still can't believe that I was picked to become a Peace Corps Volunteer and am very thankful for the opportunity.

I have been trying to wrap up all loose ends before I depart, but the most important has been trying spend as much time as possible with family and friends. There are some people, I sure you know who you are, that I just can't imagine what it will be like to be away from for 2 years. It will be a very challenging experience, but I hope that my relationships grow stonger because of it.

I keep counting days the days until I leave....I just can't wait!