Look out St. Lucia- I'VE ARRIVED!

Where to begin! It's been five days since I left Boston to serve with the Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean, and I've already had so many experiences! I'll be keeping it short so I don't bore you, but here's a super quick overview of what's happened so far...

I arrived in Miami for an afternoon of "staging" feeling very sad about leaving my old life behind and very anxious about my new one. My biggest concern was being able to make friends, which became even more concerning when I arrived at my hotel and realized a lot of people had already arrived and had started making friends. Playing catch up is never fun! Luckily, as I waited in line to register for staging, a group of fellow trainees adopted me and it's been smooth sailing ever since. When you get down to it we are all here because we share a common goal and we are all crazy enough to be signing up for this, so it's really very easy for us all to get along. I feel very lucky to be part of a tight knit group that includes and embraces everyone, regardless of their differences.

Upon our arrival in St. Lucia the following day we were greeted by PC staff, who helped us get through customs and brought us to our first home- the Benedictine Abbey. My two 49lb (of the 50lbs/bag allowed!) suitcases both made it perfectly in tact! Lucky for me there were plenty of strapping young men willing to carry them for me :) They were also there to help my roommate and I with our leaky toilet and finicky air conditioner (at least we had AC!!!).

The abbey was more than I had really expected- wifi, AC, delicious food, and beautiful views of St. Lucia! It was a great environment for us to continue getting to know one another through walk abouts, card games, group meals, and of course the FIFA World Cup. We stayed here for the weekend and got an introduction to our program, its staff, and medical training. Basically we learned we are all going to get Dengue and/or Chikingunya, parasites, diarrhea, and fungal infections. Yay!

On Sunday we transferred to Babonneau, where we met our homestay families for the first time. My homestay mom is a primary school principle, and she has a daughter a few years younger than me and a 7 year old granddaughter. My room in her house is very nice, with a private bathroom and balcony with the view of the ocean! My first night she taught me to cook rice with lentils, and tuna seasoned with peppers, onion, and parsley from her garden. We also took a trip to her school to get water because her house has not had water in 4 weeks due to the serious drought affecting Babonneau and other regions of St. Lucia. I had my first bucket bath! It's definitely a good thing that I learn how to do daily activities without running water because on St. Lucia you never know when a drought or storm will take away your water supply.

Today was our first official day of training. I was lucky to have a meager 7 minute walk to the training site, when others had to take a 45 minute bus ride! However, I was brought to a whole new level of sweat and stink between the steep hill I had to climb, hot sun, and lack of breeze inside the training center! I'm really hoping my body gets used to this heat! And we were stuck together from 8:30-5! PEE-EEEW! Sorry guys!

For the next 7 weeks I will be hanging out here in Babonneau, and living with my homestay mom. Over the next several weeks will will receive language training for Kweyol, education and literacy instruction training, cultural training, safety/security training, and a few other things. Stay tuned!

View from the abbey

A disturbingly green pond

You can tell there's been a draught!

My room was the second balcony on the top floor!