To the Village I Go!

I am off to the villages for training!  Today Group 83 splits into four groups, each headed to a different village to their own host family.  I am going to Fusi, which is located on the south part of the island and will be staying with Esa Bell and Caroline Bell.  We will be in the village for seven weeks, so I will be without the internet!!!  On Fridays all of the groups meet up in Apia for group training, which will be something to look forward to.

Sorry for such a short post, my mind is a little preoccupied with trying to figure out how I’m going to communicate with my host family, adjust to living with 10 people, and the Samoan diet.  On the flip side, I’m really excited to experience a new and different part of Samoa, start learning the language, and new running routes!

Hope all is well back home!

One Week Down

I have been here for one week already, but it seems like I have been here for much longer.  During the week, we have all sorts of sessions to attend about safety and security, TESL, medical, and language.  While the sessions can be a bit dry at times, the information is necessary and important.  The most exciting part of training this past week happened on the first day when the current volunteers hosted an Ava ceremony for Group 83.  At an Ava ceremony the hosts give their guests welcome, safety, and protection throughout their stay.  We all sat on the floor, listened as the language leaders spoke, and then participated in drinking kava.  Afterwards we were able to chat with a few of the PCV’s that attended. 

The weekends are where the real fun is.  This past Saturday 10/9/2010 a big group of us took a long taxi ride to the beach, tafa tafa.  We spent the entire day lounging around, swimming, walking, and even a little bit of snorkeling.  We rented a fale (little hut) to play cards under and take naps.  It was the perfect medicine to a busy week.  The beach looked exactly like the picture I posted on my first blog post.

On Sunday we participated in White Sunday (aka kid’s church) where the children sang and danced.  After church, all the kids go home and get whatever they want for the rest of the day.  Which means that the kids eat way too much.  As a result of poor school attendance the day after White Sunday, the government made the following Monday a holiday.  I think we all really enjoyed watching the kids act out skits.

Monday was the perfect day.  We were able to sleep in before our bus took us to the ‘water safety’ site.  We spent the afternoon snorkeling, jumping off the side of the boat, and getting pulled behind the boat.  We saw some pretty cool stuff in the water including a blue starfish, octopus, and a school of tiny squid. 

I hope you all are doing well and I think about everyone back home often.  I love getting letters and emails about life back home, so feel to write when you have time.  Internet is quite expensive, so I will try my best to update my blog once a week!   And for those of you who know how much I dislike rice, I have been able to avoid it completely!   

For some reason I can't upload pictures, so stay tuned.  Just know that I'm taking lots of pics!

Day 1

After too many tears, I waited to the last minute to board my plane to LAX.  I had such a great last few days at home with the family and the Ginge, that I really wanted to freeze time. 

My last few days at home were spent going to dinner with a really great group of girlfriends, heading up to Estes to listen to the Elks bugle, and carving Halloween pumpkins. 

 

I'm about to start staging; a day filled with icebreakers, info, and paperwork.   Then at 6pm we will head to LAX to catch an 11pm flight.  I definetly did not get enough sleep required for such a busy day!  Miss you all!