St. Lucia

Hello all! I'm writing you from beautiful St. Lucia, where we've been staying for the past 2 days (after 30 minutes spent trying to connect to the FREE wireless). We flew in yesterday afternoon at about 3 pm and after a 2 hour, slightly nauseating bus-ride, we made it to Pre-Service-Training (PST). So far, we've gone over everything from hurricane preparedness (yes, there is a plan) to how to brush and floss our teeth...with much more to come tomorrow (our last day of PST). AND, we got some very exciting news today...our assignments! I will be in a city called Mesopotamia (like the Fertile Crescent), which is on the southeastern side of the island and I will be working at a high school assisting with remedial reading, IT and building a library system. So, pretty cool. I haven't really gotten a chance to research much more than that (plus, with this internet connection, it may take me all night just to find a map!), but I'm sure you will all look it up as soon as you read this, so, let me know! When we get to St. Vincent on Saturday, we'll go immediately to our host families to get settled in, so I may be able to call (or at least e-mail) that day. I'm pretty sure that we're looking into cell phones next week, so I'll let you know how that goes as well. But at least they gave us some information (finally!!) and now, you can all really confuse your friends when you tell them I'm in Mesopotamia (you mean, like the Middle East?). :)
Tonight, we are hoping to catch Obama's speech before the dining hall closes. The food here has been really good and there is TONS of it. Each day, we eat big breakfasts, lunches and dinners (with an ice cream dessert), plus 2 snacks. Our days pretty much revolve around eating. But the best part is, we get to try all the local foods. For example, the first night we ate something that I could have sworn was potato salad...except it was made with a green banana, which they call a fig. We also ate something that looks like a blue potato, avocados with red skin and tons of fresh fish. Today during training, we learned all about the local foods, including many things we absolutely cannot eat (including the Manchineel fruit, which is so poisonous, rainwater dripping from the tree will cause your skin to blister). Good things to know.
Another thing about this place is that it is HOT! We have no air-conditioning in our rooms (and only one mosquito net, even though two people share a room...knock on wood, because so far, the mosquitoes have been kind to me). Our first major accomplishment in the EC involved a chair, a hanger and the "on" button of a fan hung 8 feet in the air. It was our shining moment. I actually didn't even mind getting up at 6:30 this morning because it was COOL! Nights are nearly unbearable, though, even after a cold shower! I hope we adjust soon, because I think St. Vincent is even hotter than St. Lucia (I also hope we get our regulation mosquito nets soon, because some people here look like they have chicken pox and it's only a matter of time before the mosquitoes discover my roomie and I)!

Staging

Hello again! We get free wireless internet in our very posh hotel, so I can write all about my staging experiences.
Yesterday, we had about 6 hours of "training" (not our real training, but the training for our real training). We met everyone in the group (about 38?) and did some ice-breakers, which were fun. I also met my roommate, Kelly, who is really nice, but not going to my island, so we only have a few days to hang-out. :( I did meet all the people going to St. Vincent and they are all so cool! We are going to have such a good time together. Last night, a bunch of us went to dinner at a Cuban restaurant called Versailles. The food was delicious, but it took us 40 minutes to walk there (instead of the nice 20-minute stroll they told us it would be!), so we took a cab back! Then, a few of us played a game called Cribbage back at the hotel, which I am pretty terrible at, so thanks to my partner for continuing to play with me.
Today was a pretty long day. We went from 8:30 - 5:30, with about an hour for lunch and one 5 minute restroom break! We learned a lot about what to expect in the next few days and then once we get to our site. The staging directors really like using large sheets of paper to write/draw our feelings on, which creates kind of a Kindergarten atmosphere, only without the nap! We also did a fun exercise in which we went over the Peace Corps expectation using singing and interpretive dance. Pretty awesome. Tonight, we have to re-pack and inventory our stuff (just in case) and prepare for our 6 am (oh, that's right) check-out tomorrow morning. Hopefully the wake-up-call we order actually happens, because this morning, it definately didn't.
I think we are all a bit scared and really anxious to depart. We can't believe that after nearly a year in preparation, this is actually happening. I won't be able to write for maybe a couple of days, but I will try to update as soon as I get "settled" in St. Lucia (for 3 days...).

Pre-Staging

Hi everyone! I'm in Miami right now, visiting friends from school and waiting for staging to begin (it starts tomorrow!). We'll have two days of staging, where I will meet all the other volunteers from the Eastern Caribbean and finish the mounds of paperwork they gave us. Then, we leave Wednesday morning and fly to St. Lucia for a few days before making our final trip to St. Vincent. Now, I'm just savoring my last moments of free time (not sure how much of that I can expect for a couple of years!) and looking forward to meeting my fellow volunteers tomorrow. I will try to post as often as I can to let everyone know what I am doing and how my experience is going.