Training

Still alive, still well. I had the sudden realization that training is almost over though. This year, peace corps split training into two phases. I am almost finished with phase I, then I will go to my permanent site until after new years. Then, we will all come back together for three more weeks of training before the new school year starts. But it's crazy because we swear in after phase I, which ends around thanksgiving. I can't believe how fast things have started moving. I find out my permanent site! I am so anxious! But also excited! I have very few expectations about my placement because it really could be anything, but I just hope it winds up being a good fit!

Chickengunya free

Quick check in!
I'm still alive! I hurt my ankle when I fell down the stairs in the rain. But it is healing quickly. There has been an outbreak of chickengunya in my village. My host sister and nephew got it but I think I have been spared. It's a disease transferred by mosquitoes and gives rashes, fever and achey bones. A couple other volunteers got it and they were miserable!

Training is going well. Language learning is frustrating but I wouldn't expect less.  I have to give a presentation in Samoan tomorrow, and I am nervous. But staff has been great! They planned events like a sports day and a campfire with scary stories. That wad fun because it was the weirdest mix of American and Samoan. The language instructors would tell a story and sing a song and maybe do a dance.  Then we took turns telling stories. I told Popo's story about the old lady pulling legs and it was great to have a new audience for that one! Then we all sang all star by smash mouth while one of the volunteers danced with her LED hulahoop.

On Monday I go visit a current volunteer and I am really looking forward to it! Hopefully I will let you know how that goes.

Love and miss a lot of people but enjoying myself none the less.

I am alive! I'm working on my phone, so I will try to keep it short.  Samoa is beautiful and my host family is awesome!  I love my fellow trainees, and it is safe to say I am definitely in the honeymoon period. Learning the language is hard but i love it.  I just try to be patient with myself. My favourite thing so far is coming home and sitting outside on a night like this is

.  The breeze feels amazing, the sound of the ocean and the wind in the palm fronds plus the salty smell is the best way to end the night. I will try to post more photos about life here but for now I will leave you with these.

FAQs

I can’t believe I leave home in less than two days!

Every time I talk to someone, I have the same conversation, so I thought I would fill some frequently asked questions.

1.      Are you so excited?

Absolutely! It’ll be amazing!

2.      Are you nervous?

Yeah, I am. It’s kind of a big deal.

3.      Aren’t you scared?

This is kind of like the last one, but sure I am. Don’t plan on letting that stop me though.

4.      But aren’t you SO excited?

Yes. I am. Thank you for asking… again.

5.      You’re going to lose a lot of weight, aren’t you?

I honestly don’t know. They say women typically gain weight in the Peace Corps, but with the sudden loss of Chipotle, Buffalo Wild Wings and McDonalds from my diet, anything is possible.

More importantly, is it weird that I’m slightly offended people keep asking me about this?

6.      I hear the men are gorgeous. Is that true?

At this point, I haven’t actually ever been there, but I’ve heard the same rumors and done the same Google searches as you J

7.      You must be really, really, really excited. You are, aren’t you?

So excited! For the 400^th time today, I’m excited. Can you not tell? I’m screaming at the top of my lungs, clearly excited! Now stop asking, people!

8.      Think you’re going to cry when you leave?

Think that’s kind of a weird question (I even had a stranger ask me this)? Besides, it’s too late. I blame my ten year old cousin, Dylan, and his rib crushing bear hugs.

9.      I wish I would have done that when I was younger, or I could never do that.

I know these aren’t questions, but they are a pretty common point of conversation that I still don’t know how to answer. I could say, sorry I’m living you’re dream, or yeah I’m living the life you wish you could if it weren’t for kids, bills, careers, etc. When someone says, “I could never do that,” I feel like the translation for that is, “Girl, you don’t even realize how crazy you seem right now.” I just don’t know a polite way to respond.

10.   How long are you going to be gone?

27 months. I realize some of my friends and family members aren’t so good at math because I had several people answer, “What? That’s got to be like… 3 years!” And I realize maybe I shouldn’t leave because my services as a teacher might be more needed here.

The last four months has been a never ending cycle of these questions, and I can’t believe I’m done answering them and I’m really, truly, undoubtedly going on Wednesday! 

Medical Clearance (or Fingers in Funny Places)

Coming in to the application process for the Peace Corps, the part that scared me the most was getting medical and dental clearance. When I read blogs from other volunteers, it was a subject that seemed woefully under addressed, and I didn’t know what I was getting into. It’s not like I have any pre existing conditions that I thought could prevent me from serving. In fact, I had no medical history at all. I never had a physical or a dental check up.  I didn’t need one. Those things can be expensive, and since I’ve always been healthy, I never bothered. However, as soon as I accepted my invitation, I was rushing to navigate my way through scheduled appointments and trying to figure out how to pay for all of it.

I am pretty lucky I came across some useful resources. The first thing I did was get my dental exam. There is a group of dentists out there in the wide world who all agreed to offer free exams for future volunteers (http://www.usa-icd.org/projects/peace-corps/CO.html). I expected an office that is offering any free services to be busy, and most likely understaffed. To my surprise, they fit me in right away, and it was one of the nicest offices I’ve ever been in. The staff was also very friendly, but a little confused about me. You tell a dentist (or even a receptionist at a dentist’s office) that you’ve never seen a dentist before, and they don’t know how to respond. They approach you like a child who was raised by wolves. Like at any second I could bite off his fingers. Luckily, despite my horrific neglect, my teeth were fine.

I even came across a clinic with employees who helped me figure out how to apply for Medicaid. I was so blessed to suddenly be able to afford most of the other medical assignments.

Peace Corps required I get a ton of vaccinations (Peace Corps doesn’t require you get a lot of travel vaccines, but they require that you prove you are up to date on childhood vaccines; I wasn’t). They also asked for about half a dozen blood tests, a PAP smear and an eye exam. I had to get one of my blood tests redone because my platelets were high, but apparently they are always high. Then I was done. :) 

I wanted to discuss the whole medical clearance process for anyone out there getting ready to start, but I realize my view is a little skewed because of my total lack of experience with health care. Overall, I just feel exhausted by the whole thing. I’ve had a stranger’s fingers in basically every hole in my body. I’ve been stabbed by needles over 30 times (now I know that I have hard to find veins, and I was shamefully behind on my vaccines). My insurance constantly surprised me by what it did cover and what it did not. Mostly, I was just stressed and embarrassed because I had no idea what I was doing at any point. I didn’t even realize I was going to need to pee in a cup at the physical! It all just felt awkward and foreign.

As strange as it all was, I’m DONE! The last obstacle to my service has been knocked down. I have 28 days until I leave Denver for staging, and then Samoa!

Crazy!

Hobbit-Likeness

58 days until I leave Colorado and join the Peace Corps. It’s been all excitement and annoyance about the medical tasks up until this point; that was until the countdown app showed that I had less than sixty days left to get my life in order, pack up all my belongings, and spend quality time with my friends and family. What is this new emotion? Am I actually… nervous?

Yeah. A little.

To distract myself, I wanted to try rereading some of my old favorite books. I picked up The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, and I couldn’t stop laughing after I read this paragraph:

“what is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes, because their feet grow natural leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the stuff on their heads (which is curly); have long clever brown fingers, good-natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they can get it).”

It’s official. I’m Bilbo Baggins. Based on this description, I’m a hobbit. I’m little, have no beard or magic, dressed in bright colors with no shoes, curly brown hair, and a big laugh after my second dinner. My dad laughed way too hard at this for my liking.

Anyway, the story is about a hobbit who goes on an adventure and calls his story, “There and Back Again.” I know it is cliché, but I most definitely feel like I’m preparing for an adventure. I am moving to a country none of my friends and family ever heard of after all.

Standard conversation with my brother:

Brother: When are you going to Somalia, again?

Me: Ummm… Never?

Brother: You’re quitting Peace Corps already?

Me: Did you mean Samoa?

Brother: Yeah, where is that?

Me: In the middle of the South Pacific.

Brother: Cool. Where is that?

I’m going to title this blog “Where? And Back Again,” to honor my hobbit-likeness and my family’s lack of geography skills. 

When one door closes...

A couple weeks ago, I got a call from Washington DC, and I was pretty excited. Any news from Peace Corps about my service must be exciting, right? WRONG-O.  They mean it when they say “no news is good news.”

Turns out, there have been some major safety concerns in Kenya lately, and because of this, they are no longer accepting the new training group. I will be given priority in finding a new country… I should be prepared to not find a placement until January… We appreciate your flexibility… Blah…. Blah… blah…

I’m ashamed to say, I’ve been more emotional about the whole thing than I would care to admit. It didn’t help that my family’s response was “oh praise God.” I know everyone was worried, but supportive, they were not.

But now it’s my turn to say, “oh praise God,” because I just got my new invitation in my inbox! Come October, I will be an “English Literacy Resource Person” in Samoa. I checked it at work, and for some reason my big kids couldn’t care less, but my kindergarteners (who had no idea what I was talking about) were really excited for me. I tried to show it to my kiddos on our world map, but it’s so small that it doesn’t even show up. Now my five year olds think I will be living in the ocean.

 As sad as I am to miss out on teaching Deaf Education (since I am now a Special Education teacher), I am more than stoked to join the beach corps. Seriously, do Google images search of this country!

The only question for now is: who is coming to visit me in paradise?