Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Almost There!!!!

Hello Everyone!!

      I have been in Miami, Florida the past 3 days for "staging." It is the preparation before we head to St. Lucia for Pre-service training. The past 2 days have been filled with group sessions where we have learned about Peace Corps Policies and procedures but not too much about our specific islands. Tonight we are all re-packing our luggage in hopes that it follows us to St. Lucia. We have to check out of the hotel at 6 A.M.!!  But the lack of sleep will be worth it when we arrive to St. Lucia. Upon arrival we are going to a hotel for 3 days of training and then on Saturday we all get to move in with our host families!! I will be staying on St. Lucia but other volunteers will be flying to their countries in the Caribbean. Most likely I won't have the internet for a few weeks so even though I don't have much to say, I am writing a quick update. I will also be losing cell phone coverage tomorrow morning :(

    There are a few interesting things I learned through-out the staging. #1 I will be learning Creole, (I think I said that in my last blog but I found out that only the St. Lucia volunteers learn Creole so I feel very lucky) #2 I am planning on getting a dog on the island!! Although the locals view animals as wild I have always wanted a dog and my biggest fear is being lonely, so this way I can have the best of both worlds. A dog and a companion!!! I am very excited. Alright, I have some serious packing to do so I am going to conclude with a quote from our staging workbook... "People cannot be developed: they can only develop themselves." -Jules Nyerere

Love,
Kelli

P.S. Usually I check all of my posts for grammar and the sort but I am too busy for that so please excuse my punctuation and grammar errors!!