And the sorting hat says...

The last few weeks have been very of busy for us trainees! After six weeks of waiting and worrying, we finally found out our placements for the next two years! Due to all of the nerves we have been experiencing one of the peace corps trainees suggested we find out our islands sorting hat style. So our country director, now known by me as "Dumbledoor," dressed up a party hat she happened to have and called us up to a chair one by one to be "sorted." When my name was called my hands started shaking and I kept repeating "please let me be with a friend, please et me be with a friend" over and over in my head. The sorting hat come down and our country director, shouted "GRENADA!"

I don't think I've ever been more relieved in my life! Grenada has been my top choice for a number of reasons, one of the biggest being the amount of special education work that has been done on the island and increased opportunities to utilize my skills for working with students with special needs as my secondary project. I'm also very happy that I have a great group of volunteers going with me and I won't have to worry about being completely isolated.

We had one final week of training, where we tried our best to spend a lot of time with our friends and host families before saying goodbye. Originally the plan was for us all to depart Saturday morning and to have a half day on Friday so that we could have some last hoorahs with everyone. Well, Tropical Storm Bertha wasn't having any of it. She decided to roll in on Friday, which led to us needing to be consolidated so that it would be easier to get to the airport in the wake of the storm. So instead of having that afternoon to hang out, we all had to rush home, pack, and meet at the consolidation point mid afternoon- leaving behind our host families and the volunteers assigned to St 
Lucia in a very teary goodbye.

Aside from being sad about missing out on Friday afternoon, consolidation actually was pretty great. My roommate and I got there really early and ordered a pizza, which made everyone super jealous. Sorry not sorry! We also went swimming in the pool, had a great buffet dinner, and had some quality time with the rest of the trainees. The. It was a 4am wake up call to depart for our respective islands.

Upon arrival in Grenada we were greeted by the current volunteers serving in Grenada, and some of the PC staff. We were given necklaces with different local spices on them since Grenada is called The Spice Isle.  I was very thankful for having something to cover up  whatever smells my clothes had acquired after a long morning of traveling. 

My host mom  picked me up from the Peace Corps office in St. George's, and drove me about 45 minutes though the mountains and rainforest to my new home just outside Grenville. Grenville is one of the bigger cities on Grenada, and my school is also very urban. Between a fire and a hurricane the original building was damaged so badly it couldn't be used. Several wooden buildings were put up, I'm told initially as a temporary solution, and are still being used today. Because of the way they were constructs there aren't actual classrooms, rather there are blackboards used to separate the space. I'm told there's lots of kids and I should expect quite a bit of noise. I'll find out for sure in about a month when I start working, but for now I'm just soaking it all in!

PST Week 1

I've successfully completed my first week of Pre-Service Training (PST)! Really, all that means is I was able to get myself out of bed in the morning and make the 5 minute walk to the training center every day. Nothing too intense. One time my homestay mom (let's call her Lanette... because why not!) even drove me to the training site because it was raining. She literally dropped me off at the door so when I stepped out of the car I was inside. Rough life. Sorry to everyone who had to wait in the rain for the bus!

But as easy as the week was, the weekend was even easier! In my mind the weekend started on Friday afternoon when we were all let loose on the town of Castries. We walked through the market, some square with a fountain, and walked by a church that was having a funeral service. We were supposed to be doing a scavenger hunt to familiarize ourselves with the town, but we ended up at Church's Chicken and Dominos. So I'm going to go ahead and say my team won. Don't hate the playas, hate the game.

On Saturday Lanette decided we should make "bakes" or "floats." It's similar to the fried dough you'd get at fairs in the US, but not as sweet and MUCH better. Basically you take about 3cups of flour (I'm completely guessing here because we didn't measure so you should probably look up a real recipe) and you mix it with a spoonful of salt, two spoonfuls of sugar, and a packet of yeast. Then you pile it up and make a big hole in the middle with a spoon, which you fill up with warm water. You then gently kneed it and adjust the water/flour so that it is not too sticky. Cover it with a dish cloth for about an hour to rise, and when it's done rising you pull off bits a little larger than a golf ball and flatten them like a mini pizza. You deep fry these until golden brown on each side. We added cheese to ours, but you can add whatever fillings you want, or eat it plain. I plan on having these every day for the rest of my life, because YOLO.

Me being a jerk to the octopus for the sake
of this shot

On Saturday I also finally had a chance to go to the beach!! Those of you who know me well can probably guess that I stayed in the water for roughly 2 hours. And it was GLORIOUS. The water was the perfect temperature and a beautiful blue-green color. While we were straight up chillin, someone from our group spotted a creature practically crawling out of the water like something out of a horror film. Turns out it was a Blanket Octopus, which are rarely sighted and typically live in the deeper waters. It was pretty majestic until we all crowded around it and she detached a limb in order to confuse us and escape. Sorry little friend!

Blanket Octopus

After feeling mighty sunburned we made our way back up to Babonneau. Feeling like a boss, I confidently led myself and my friend to the bus stop. After at least 15 minutes of no Babonneau buses some kind soul realized we actually had no idea what we were doing and pointed us in the direction of the REAL bus stop.  Well that wasn't exactly the right bus either because it only took us part of the way. After a somewhat awkward bus ride we still had to walk up the hill to our neighborhood, which is no 

fun when you're sunburned and its 85, humid, and sunny. 

Later on that night Lanette brought me out for food at a little bar owned by her friend, Sam (who also happens to be the guy who announces the obituaries on the radio for about an hour every morning). He had prepared blackfish, which supposedly helps men be more... manly? I was not willing to get my own serving, but I tried some of Lanette's. The fleshy part was ok, but then they made me eat the skin so they could see my reaction, and that was not so good. It was thick, chewy, and fishy. I probably should've seen it coming. I also didn't know until just a few minutes ago that blackfish is actually pilot whale fin, which makes me incredibly sad and I wish I had know that before trying it. 

On a happier note, I also got offered to be the first lady by some guy who kept buying us beers and was joking about what would happen if, for some reason, he were appointed Prime Minister. Probably never going to happen but I'll consider it. Trying to get that yacht! 

If you made it this far I thank you for sticking with it, and I bid you adieu. Until next time! Love always, the future first lady of St. Lucia.

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!