Bonjour!!

Bonjour from St. Lucia!! While that might sound French, in St. Lucia they speak Patois. Patois is a French based Creole language and the language that I get to learn while in the Caribbean! WELLL, I am sooo happy to finally blog to you. I have been spending the past days in all day training sessions covering things like safety, travel, home stay arrangements, job assignments and the like. Tomorrow I get to meet my host family that I will be staying with for the next 7 weeks, after which I will move into my own housing.

The people here have all been really nice thus far and I am excited to get into my 7 week Pre Service Training. Half of the week I will be in training and the other half in an internship, shadowing another PCV and meeting people in the community. I will be living half way between Castries (the capital city of St. Lucia, pop. 60,000) and Gros Islet right next to a locals beach. What that means is NO TOURIST on my beach, woo woo!!! I will be working in two secondary schools in Castries working to help develop groups for at-risk boys and girls, helping with parenting programs…. And helping with some other things that I don’t remember… more on that later!

OK, SO, St. Lucia is absolutely GORGEOUS!! It is soooo lush, green, and mountainous. I have taken tones of pictures… looks like I might need to you to send me a back-up computer battery dad!! I will post them soon but I don’t have my card reader near by right now. Well… blog is short because we are doing a celebratory BBQ tonight then going to get a drink down the street. 2/3 of the group goes to their prospective islands in the morning.

I love you and more to come soon!

Preperation and Packing List

Well, the final week countdown begins! I have less than one week and 11 hours until I leave for what will possibly become a couple of the most memorable and profound years of my life. On the 25th I will fly out to Miami where I will participate in what is called my 'staging event'; it is pre-service orientation. Then on the 27th I fly out to St. Lucia and begin my 7 weeks of pre-service training! I found out today that every 1 in 10 PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) make it through pre-service training. 10% decide to go home before ever getting sworn in. Maybe this number wouldn't be so high if they let us know a little bit more about what to expect! I still have no idea what those 7 weeks will look like... shoot, they still haven't told me where on the island i will be stationed. Nonetheless, it is nice to see the Peace Corps come through in transportation. All I had to do is call SATO Travel, let them know I am ready to set up my departure flights and they took care of everything. It was more like a confirmation call. I then got an email informing me of my flight information for Miami and St. Lucia.

I am getting pretty excited and frantically trying to figure out how to make my packing list weight under the 80lb and fit into 107 inches (l+w+h) of luggage! BUT, no need to fret, as I am The Puzzle Queen!! Just so you get an idea of what I am working with, here is my packing list:

My Packing List

• 3 sun dress
• 2 fancier dresses
• Jean skirt
• 2 other skirts
• 7 nice shirt
• 5 casual t-shirts
• 4 tank tops
• 1 light sweater
• 3 warmer shirts
• 1 rain jacket
• 2 long shorts
• 1 board shorts
• 2 jeans
• 2 capris
• 3 dress pants
• 14 pair underwear
• 5 regular bras
• 3 sports bras
• 14 pair socks (dress, casual, work-out)
• 3 pair work-out shorts
• 3 work-out shirts
• 4 pair cool pjs
• 2 pair warm pjs
• 3 head bands
• 3 belts (black, brown, fun)
• Tevas
• Hiking sandals
• Simple Shoes
• Adidas
• Black heels
• Black dress shoes
• Brown heeled sandals
• 2 pair flats
• boots
• 2 swim suits
• Hat
• 2 pairs earrings, 2 necklaces, 3 rings, anklet

Miscellaneous

• 1 set sheets
• Pillow
• Fuzzy blanket
• 3 towels
• 1 swim towel
• 2 hand towels
• Wattage converter/plug adapter
• Flashlight
• Battery operated radio
• Batteries
• Surege protector
• Camera
• Laptop
• Portable hard drive
• Water bottle
• Pocket knife
• Scissors
• Photos of family and friends
• Tapestry that Jason gave me
• Back pack
• ‘forever’ US postage stamps
• Books
• 4 small 4 large plastic storage bags
• 2 journals
• Goggles
• Frisbee
• Cards
• 3 pens
• 1 pencil w/ led
• Lock box
• Incense and holder
• Spiritual expression and grounding items (stones, dream box, totem statue, books, Buddha box, etc.)
• Heating pad
• Head phones with mic.
  

Bathroom Items

• 2 pairs glasses and case
• Extra contacts
• Contact solution
• Cotton balls
• Face wash
• Hand soap
• Witch hazel
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Dental Floss
• Shampoo & Conditioner
• Brush
• 3 hair clips
• hair ties
• Loofah
• Body wash
• Extra razors
• Moisturizer
• Sun block
• Lip balm
• Make-up
• Medication
• Coca-butter/Aloe
• Q-tips
• Nail file and clippers
• Bathroom bag

Well... that's what I have so far. I have spent some time trying to perfect this list. Let me know if you think I might be forgetting something or need to do without something!! I'll update on how packing went at a later date!!