Home for the Holidays

Different.... That is how I would explain my trip home, all in one word. I know this sounds very cliche but everything is exactly the same, but I see everything differently. Let me start from the beginning. December was a crazy month in Yap. The typhoon came in the beginning of the month, followed by the local dance performance followed by countless hours working with the youth group on their Christmas program. I was always busy, and never home. This was good because it didn't give me a lot of time to think about coming home. I knew that it was slowly approaching. It is really hard to explain my feelings on this topic. Of course I was beyond excited to go home, see my family whom I have miss so much words can't even explain it. I was excited to sleep in my big comfortable bed. I was excited to wear pants and not sweat. I was excited for SNOW(which normally I hate). With all this excitement came nerves. I was nervous that it would be extremely difficult to go back to Yap after being home. I was sad that I spent all this time helping my students prepair for the Christmas program, yet I would not be able to see them sing. Finally, I was anxious about how different things would be at home. I have traveled quite a bit, but this is the longest I have been away from home my whole life. Seven months, I mean, a lot could change in seven months, that is almost long enough for a child to be born. So, I had all this anxiety and all these nerves with no idea what to expect. I mean, people try to prepair you for reverse culture shock, but no matter how many people tell you, you just have to feel it for yourself. I thought I was prepaired.

    Affer a last minute flight change, I began my journey back home for the holidays on December 21st, 2014. I flew from Yap to Guam, Guam to Tokyo, Tokyo to Denver. Thanks to a little help from a glass of wine I was able to sleep the whole flight from Tokyo to Denver. After going through customs I finally walked through the glass doors to the greeting area. Here I instantly found my parents and sister. They were still looking for me in the crowed. I could tell they were tired. They had waited over 2 hours for me   (we can thank customs for that, or the wonderfull airline I flew on, take your pick) This is the type of moment you see in movies. You never really appreciate this moment until you live it. My mom was the first to see me, she screamed! She then came running toward me, arms wide, followed by my sister, and then my dad (who was video taping this whole incounter). This moment was exactly how I had pictured it to be. We then told stories and smiled and hugged all the way to the car. We continued talking all the way to Chilli's, where I finally ate chips and salsa and a salad (two things I missed desperatly). I was not prepaired for the effects this rich food would have on my stomach. Let's just say that my stomach hasn't been the same since being home. All food here is too rich for me. We spent the night talking and showing pictures. I explained the culture of Yap, talked about my wonderful students and went to bed early. The next day, jet legged, I woke up at 4am with no ability to go back to bed. Since I was awake, I decided to have my first cup of REAL coffee, not instant coffee. This was amazing! After the first day, I started to notice how things had changed. Correction, things at home were exactly the same, exaclty! I had changed. Physically a little bit (10lbs heavier to be exact) but mentally a lot! I am not used to wearing make-up or doing my hair. I always felt beautiful like this in Yap. At home, I found myself doing my hair and makeup for days I spent in the house. Why did I feel the need to conform to society. I still don't know the answer to this. I also noticed a change when I went to the gym for the first time. I can not believe what some girls wear to the gym! You are there to workout not find a boyfriend. Then I began to notice the little things in life that are senseless that people care so much about. Yes, having a new car is nice, and having the new I phone is cool. And yes, getting dressed up and going out with friends is still fun! But, after going through everything that I have been in the past seven months... I am different. I think listening to my students sing is nice. I think decorating the local church for Christmas is cool, and I think putting on my long loose skirt with no make up and hair in a bun and teaching my students is fun. Now, don't worry.. I still love being home, but now I am not worried about wanting to go back. I alone am the only person that knows the hardships I have faced while on this journey, but I also know now that I will come out of this whole experience with strength to do anything I want. Even though, I am not worried about my return to Yap, I do desperately wish I could take my mom, dad, and sister with me.  Well, I am going to enjoy the rest of my vacation at home, I will write again once I return to Yap! 'Till then!

Typhoon damage

Local dance practice

Typhoon

As you have all noticed my blogs have become less and less! This is because my life has gotten busier and busier. Paddling ended and I thought things would die down a bit. I was wrong. One week after paddling finished I was asked to join a local dance, which we would be performing in 2 weeks. I told them yes but I was really unsure if I was going to be able to learn this dance in time. It began to consume my life. I was practicing during all of my breaks, before school and after school. Not only was the dance moves making me nervous, but also the fact that the local dances are performed topless! We also started planning the Christmas program for the youth and we had a radio skit to do. Life as a Peace Corps became very unpeaceful. I had simple said yes to too many things and I was extremly stressed out. Then at the begining of the week there was talk about a possible typhoon headed our way. I didnt pay much attention to it because in such a small island people make a big deal about small things. However, this was not a small thing. The typhoon started heading right for us! The Peace Corps activated the emergency action plan and all volunteers were evacuated from our homes and put into a hotel. Many of the volunteers were happy to be able to get a warm shower and sleep in a real bed. I however, was not ver excited. It was very hard for me to leave my village. It was a very weird feeling saying good bye to my host family, kind of like I was abandoning them. The typhoon came and went and at the nice secure hotel we were in I could barley tell any bad weather was happening outside. The next morning when the sun came out I took a walk around town to see the damage. I saw whole trees tipped over with roots out of the ground. I saw roofs ripped off houses and I saw a lot of sea weed all over the roads. There were a couple pipes broken so extra water flooded some roads. I wanted to get back to my village to see the damage there, but I had to wait for the clear from Peace Corps. This was extremly hard for me. I sat around all day and waited and waited while I could have been helping clean my village or helping at the school (which was also a shelter) evenually at 4pm I was able to go home, but then came the trouble of finding a way home. All taxi and buses werent running. I finally found a ride from a friend. The village was a mess! Trees all over the roads! Phone lines and power lines ripped down, it was very sad to see. It is bow the night after the typhoon and the power is still out at my house. No one knows when it will be back on. Tomorrow is the offical dance and after this weekend things will die down again. Just in time for my vacation back home for Christmas! 

STRESSED

Well, one of the teachers has to leave the island for health reasons, so for the next 2 weeks we are down a teacher, the school was already down one before he left! So I offered my only off period to teach health to the 7th graders. I did this because I don't want the students running around and I want them to have a structured class, but the more I think about it the more steessed I get. I am also going to help with the kids paddling practice on Mondays. All of a sudden I have no time to lesson plan or even breath it feels like! I do best when I am busy and I know these next few weeks will fly by! It's only Tuesday and I cant wait for Friday already! I am however excited to teach health, I think I have a lot to offer the kids on the subject! Maybe the first thing I will teach is that being stressed is unhealthy 😉 

Funny little things

, Well what an interesting day I had. Let me first start by saying that last night on our way home from paddling practice the truck broke down, so the team got an unexpected workout walking home. It was only about a 30 min. Walk, but of course it broke down on the day that I had a package from home, so I had extra baggage one would say. This morning I woke up to find that ants had found a new home around my food. Ants are everywhere here and I have grown to ignore most of them, or kill them with my bare hand. But them making a new home in my food drawer really started my day off bad. When I arrived at school the internet had turned off, something that happens often, but I have learned to deal with. Well this morning, weither it was my extra walk the night before, the ants, the internet or my premenstral state, I was quite irritated. After my first class I cooled down a little bit. I am so used to formality and order that going with the flow doesn't come easy for me. Being here I have learned to go with the flow, and it is mornings like this morning that it is really important to go with the flow. After school I went for a nice run and did a workout with my host brother. After that I felt 100% better. I ate dinner (tuna and taro). After that I helped the group that works with the youth on developing a radio skit to prevent underage drinking. It was fun and I might even get to be in the skit, then I will be on the radio here! I will be famous! At least Yap famous! I am really happy to get involved with this group, and drinking in general is a huge problem here in Yap. After this I took a shower. My host mom loves to talk, and I love to talk to her and listen, but she finds the oddest times to talk to me. Like tonight for instance, after my shower, while in my towel and soking wet she stops me to have a full on conversation. It is moments like this that I smile, because looking over my day, all the way to that moment, I had to just laugh and kept the conversation going. These are the funny little things in life that people live for. 

Busy Bee

Sorry I have not posted in a while, I have been a very busy bee! Like I said in my last post, I joined the paddling team so I have something to do almost every night of the week, which really make the weeks go by fast! I am told that being a busy peace corps volunteer is much better then being a bored one, so for that I am thankful, but sometimes I wish I could have a little break. I really like paddling, and we have 34 days until the canoe festival. That is where we will be competing against the other municipalities. This is only the second year that Gagil (my municipality) has had a team and last year they took third. At the festival there will also be swimming races and local sailing. They will also have shows with local dancing! I am very excited to see the festival and even more excited to be involved in it. Last weekend I was sick, and man did that suck! I had a bad cold and it made my busy schedule seem unattainable, but somehow i managed to get through it and the sickness only lasted for about four days. And lucky for me it waa over a weekend so it didnt effect school for me much. That weekend Gagil had a Walk-a-thon where the community wakes up at 5:30am on a Saturday walks to the beach(about two miles) plays games, watches the sunrise then on the walk back they pick up trash along the road. The kids loved it, and even though I was sick, I had a great time. My Sundays are completely full now. I wait for a phone call from my parents at 8:30am then go to church at 10am then leave for paddling practice at 12:30 and we dont normally come back until around 7-8pm! They are quite the days! My students are doing well in my classes, I still struggle sometimes with lesson planning and at what level my students are at, but overall it is going well. I really like my students. I am getting closer with they other teachers too, which is nice. My host family is great. I tried betelnut because it is part of the culture here, and the locals love it when I "have a chew" with them. have found that I actually like it, and I now limit myself to only a couple a week. This past weekend we got more books delivered to the library. At the end of the day the library is a mess. I used to get upset about it, but now it doesn't bother me, it means the students are actually looking at the books. I talked to the director of youth sports, we are going to aet up a boxing club, but we are going to wait until after the new year because that is when all the new equipment is going tobe  coming in. I am happy to announce that I will be coming hone for Christmas. I didn't announce this before becauseIwanted to surprise Emily( my sister) but my loving mother let the cat out of the bag, but it doesnt take any excitement away from me coming home, I still cant wait! October had been kind of a hard month for me because i love fall time in Colorado, and the weather is exactly the same here. I got really homesick. It would be nice to sleep one noght without worrying if a spider will crawl over my face, or have one meal without ants getting into my food. But, at the end of the day these are all minor things, i can get past them, but I do miss my family more than I was expecting, but being away really shows you who is important and what is important. With having the internet, it has been easier to stay in touch and I am very thankful for that. The internet at my school is off and on though, somedays it works, others it doesn't. I have noticed on the days it doesnt work, I get a lot of work done in the library, so there are pluses and minuses to every situation, the key to mental survival is finding the pluses and thinking only about them. I think I am very good at doing this and that is why I am having a good time through this experience. I have noticed that I am very adaptable. Also since my last post, my bed broke, so now the wooden frame is being held up by one of my suitcases, it actually works quite well! Who knew I could be so handy! I got a great care package from my mom today filled with yummy food. I will sleep good tonight because we spent the afternoon paddling and when I wake up let's pray the ants haven't gotten to all that yummy food! That's all for now! 'Till next time!

Getting the ball rolling

I finally feel like I am adjusting to my new life here in Yap, it has taken about a month but I feel like I am starting to feel like I am home. I have developed a plan for the year with where I want my students to be. Teaching is not easy! We just got internet at the school so I am able to do more research and stay in better touch with my family! I am getting used to the food,  I actually like taro now. My weekends are never boring. This past weekend I went on a fun boating/fishing trip. I was able to do great snorkling! There are so many beautiful fish in the sea! I joined the Gagil paddeling team! We practice every mon. Wed. Fri. And Sun. So I have a very busy schedule which is just how I like it! My principal wants me to work on getting a school year book started. Something I know very little about but I told him I would look into it. He also wants the kids to work on a school newspaper, another great idea, yet something I know very little about. Now that I have internet I will be able to look it up! Also we keep getting books donated to the library, which is great! Yet very exhausting! I have a great little office in the library and the set up is very nice! I am making friends, although I still feel like I can't be 100% me around them, I am sure that will come with time! Well thats all for now, till next time! 

The famous stone money that Yap is known for. 

First week with the kids

Well, teaching is not as easy as I thought, to all you teachers out there, way to go!! This first week was very exhasting yet rewarding too. My students need a lot of help, but I guess that is why I am here! I am having trouble with lesson planning, but every day gets a little easier. This weekend is my birthday weekend and my host mom is taking me to a cook out on the beach! I am very excited! I do wish my family at home could be there too. Miss you all! 

The work begins

I took my first week off to explore the island and after a couple of days I felt like I could find my way around easy enough. I was eager to meet my principal, he is going to be my boss for the next two years so I was anxious to meet him and talk about his expectations for the upcoming years. My host mom is sisters with my principal so she said that on Sunday after church we could go to his house and meet him. So Sunday morning I got up, we went to church, which was beautiful. The church overlooks a beach and the view of the ocean is breath taking. The preist is from Indonesia, so the mass was half in English and half in Yapese. After church we got ice cream and hung out at the little store so my host mom could show me off to all the people in the village. We then went to the pricipals house, and his wife informed me he had gone fishing for the day. UGH is all I could think! Why doesnt the principal want to meet me? So on Monday at 8:00am I went to the school, all of the teachers had to be there because registration was happening. I met all of the 8 teachers that work at my small school. I just waited and got to know them a little. Around 11 the principal came in! Yay! I finally get to meet him. He is very nice and is happy to have me. He gave me a key to the library and told me if I had time to clean it up. Well, let me tell you something about this library, it has awesome potential, but it hadnt been used for the past 5 years, the dust and spider webs were enough to send someone into a coma! There was a huge beautiful map on the back wall that was created by a former Peace Corps member... But no one could see it because there were shelves and books everywhere! Soo many books and no one was reading them! Now, I am not a huge reader myself, but what a shame! I immediately got to work! Hair up, basketball shorts on, dust pan in hand, i was determined to make this library run by the time school started, which was a little under a week away. I worked all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. From 8:30-3 with a lunch break for about 20 min. I went home exhausted, and so dirty! But in those three days I turned a storage room into a beautiful library. School starts on Monday and I cant wait to show the kids it. I will also be running the library, which I dont know a lot about, but I am doing research. I also found our that I will be teaching 6,7 and 8th grade. My day will start at 8:30-10:00 with the 8th graders then I have a break from 10:00-11:00 where I will be fixing up the library or maybe I will start working on the computer lab ( they have 10 very nice computers that arent being used!!) then from 11:00-12:30 I will have my 7th grade students then lunch from 12:00-1:00. I will end the day with the 6th grade class from 1:00-2:30. Then I will have 2:30-4:00 to lesson plan for the next day. I think it will all work out. I am excited to start teaching, the first day is Monday! Oh, I almost forgot, there is no where in my village to use internet, so I have to go into town to use it, I will try to do this about once a week so you all can stay informed! I will say everything seems to be working out, but I cant shake the feeling of having no friends, I am still new and no one really talks to me. The other Peace Corps members live in town or far from me. I also feel like I am losing touch with my friends back home, leaving me feeling like I have no friends. Dont forget about me! I still miss you all so much! I talk to my host mom a lot, but sometimes I have no idea what she is saying to me. So we watch old episodes of desperate housewives and bond over that. Well thats all for now, next time I write I will have news about my first week of teaching!

First week in Yap

Well, as you all read, my last post was a little down, so I thought I should let you all know I am doing much better. Yesterday I caught the bus into town, which picks me up right in front of my house ( how nice is that) and it is only $1 to get into town. A taxi on the other hand is $5.75 one way. Because of this I am going to take the bus as much as I can into town. But, heres the catch, it only runs Mon.-Fri. 6:30 it picks up and 4:45 it takes you back to the village from town. So when school starts that could become harder to do. I spent my first day unpacking, because I am a nut when everything is cooped up in my bags! My room is very nice, I have a bed and a closet and a night stand. I bought a fan because there is no way I could sleep through the night without one, for one because it is so hot and for two I can't stand the sound of the bugs. My house is also very nice, there is a kitchen with a sink with water that is purified! So I now don't have to worry about boiling my water.(which I never worried about at my last house either because my host mom or sister would already have it boiled any time I needed water - I was their little princess, ugh! I miss them) We have an indoor shower, and although it doesnt have hot water it is very nice! We also have an indoor bathroom, but it doesn't work :(, so I have to use the one across the street at the laundry mat. Yeah! You hear right! We have a laundry mat across the street!! I did laundry today and it is the first time I have been able to dry my clothes since being here and man, that was nice! I am living with an older women (65) and her grandson (11). My host mom is very funny and nice, she loves to talk to me although comunication can be a little hard considering her english is not very good. But somehow through broken English and my broken Yapese we figure eachother out. On my second day here i walked to the very nice sports complex with Anderson (the 11 year old grandson) he doesn't talk much, but the silence was nice. It is about a 35 min. Walk to the sports complex from my house. Here they have a full court indoor basketball and volleyball court, a full outdoor track with a soccer feild in the middle, a baseball feild and a full weight room, with a boxing bag!! 😍 I met the guy who runs it and he is an ex peace corps who got married and stayed on the island. He is very nice and I told him I was willing to help in anyway possible. Hopefully later on I will be able to coach or even play some sports myself! The Yap games are going on now, which is a competition between all the villages in all of the youth sports, so later that night I walked back to the sports complex with Anderson and we watched girls volleyball all night long. We got a ride home from a women in our village who knew Anderson. She asked me if anyone had shown me around Gagil, which is the village I live in, and I said no. So she then said "tomorrow I will show you around" The next day, sure enough, she showed up at my house and we walked all morning. She took me to the beach where we watched her kids (she has two little girls ages 4 and 6) play in the ocean and we drank coconuts under the trees. It was really nice to have someone show me around who was around my age. She had a cell phone so we exchanged numbers. The next day I wanted to go explore Colonia, the town. I wanted to see how easy the bus was and find things like the bank and post office and where the grocery stores were. I was about to explore all of town in less then half a day. It is very very small. Infact the whole island of Yap is very small. I got grocerys, went to the public library got some lunch and some wifi at lunch. Which it turns out that there are not a lot of places that have internet except for the one resturant I ate lunch at. Good thing the food is good, I bet I will be back. I also met with one of our response team members and he introduced me to some other volunteers on the island. They are going to be teaching at the high school and are going through a program with their church. They all live together, there are 5 of them, but I only met 2, hopefully in the upcoming weeks I will be able to meet them all. I still have not met my principal, but he is my host moms brother, she has scheduled us to meet on Sunday after church.( my host mom found out I was catholic and was so happy, she can't wait to take me to church) school doesnt start untill Sept. 1st so I still have time to get adjusted. I am going back into town tomorrow to get some tape and meet with another Peace Corps Volunteer. I ate lobster for lunch! Thats right, lobster! The food here on Yap is much better, there are much more freah veggies and fruit ready to be eaten. I even found brown rice and wheat bread. I already feel healthier. I am feeling much better then I did before, but I am still adjusting.

New home

I have made it safely to my new home in Yap. I am feeling exactly the way I knew that I would feel, alone. We stayed in a hotel the night before our flight so I left my Pohnpein family on Friday. On Thursday they through a huge fest for me. They even killed and roasted a whole  pig just for me! It was amazing and it really showed how much they cared about me. They also spent all day sewing me 3 new skirts! They are absolutely beautiful! I realized that day that I was really a part of the family... And it was going to be so hard to leave them! Friday we spent the night in a hotel, then we left at noon on Saturday to the airport. At the airport my host family was waiting for me to send me off. This just shows how great they were. We flew all day Saturday, Pohnpei to Chuuk, Chuuk to Guam and Guam to Yap. In Yap we were greeted by a traditionally dressed women, so yes she was topless. We got our luggage, and were off to the hotel for the night. The hotel was very nice! We had a meeting on Sunday morning, then my new host mother came to pick me up. I am now living with just a 65 year old women and her 11 year old grandson. Which is very different from the last host family I was in. I spent the day unpacking and organizing what will be my new room for the next two years. Transitioning to knew places is always hard for me, but this time I find myself home sick times two. One for my family back in the states and one for my family back in Pohnpei. I will never forget them. As I start my new journey here in Yap I must remember that I was very homesick in the beginning in Pohnpei and so it is normal to be while in Yap too. The village I am living in is very small, one store, one school and thats about it. My host mom doesn't have a car so getting into town could be hard, even though it is doable, I dont know how much I will actually do it. The bugs are worse here then they were on Pohnpei, but I will just continue killing the ants as the walk across my arm, chest or legs. Today was not an easy day for me, but I have to believe it will be better. 

Discloser

To who it may concern, 

The thoughts on this blog are that only of me, Jennifer Caquelin, and do not reflect the views or thoughts of the Peace Corps. 

The end of PST

As we get closer to the end of PST ( Peace Corps Training) everything is winding down. We are done with model school and now only have one week left t of training. We will continue with our language training.  The following week we will sware in as Peace Corps Voulnteers. Then I am off to Yap to begin my two year journey. I can only imagin how much i will grow in the next two years because I have already grown so much in the past 3 months. I will lose internet starting August 1st. And I won't get it back until I get to Yap, so if you don't hear from me, that is why. Just know I am always thinking about you all at home!! Also, if you want to brighten my day and send a letter, my new address in Yap will be: 

Jennifer Caquelin

Peace Corps Volunteer 

P.O. Box 190 

Colonia, Yap 

FSM 96943

The end of PST

As we get closer to the end of PST ( Peace Corps Training) everything is winding down. We are done with model school and now only have one week left t of training. We will continue with our language training.  The following week we will sware in as Peaceyiiiiynh Corps Voulnteers. Then I am off to Yap to begin my two year journey. I can only imagin how much i will grow in the next two years because I have already grown so much in the past 3 months. I will lose internet starting August 1st. And I won't get it back until I get to Yap, so if you don't hear from me, that is why. Just know I am always thinking about you all at home!! Also, if you want to brighten my day and send a letter, my new address in Yap will be: 

Jennifer Caquelin

Peace Corps Volunteer 

P.O. Box 190 

Colonia, Yap 

FSM 96943

Water falls

This week went super fast, with model school and both went great, except one of my students, who is 11, found me on Facebook, which is a little concerning. Two days this week we went to Kolonia to watch the Microgames. These are Micronesian Olympics. It was amazing, the first day we went we didn't have a lot of time so I didn't get to see a lot of sports, just track and field warm up. The 2nd day we went there I was able to watch a full volleyball game, Pohnpei Vs. The Marshal Islands. Pohnpei won! I also got a chance to talk to the volleyball team from Yap. This gave me a good opportunity to practice my Yappese and Network a little. It turns out that there is a huge sports complex right outside the village I will be living in Yap. I talked to some people about possibly coaching, refing or even playing in some of the volleyball, basketball, and soccer leagues. This made me so excited because watching the games really made me miss boxing and just sports in general. I am very excited to go to Yap. This weekend we were going to try to do The 6 waterfall hike, which is a huge hike here on Pohnpei for tourists. It's about a 6-7 hour hike up and down the mountains of Pohnpei. There are 6 waterfalls that make the shape of a heart. About 10 of us wanted to do the hike, so we found a ride and a guide, however they say if it is raining then you should not do the hike. Well it was pouring on Saturday morning when I woke up, so I just got ready as if we were going to go. We ended up not being able to do it because of the rain, so we are going to try again next weekend, but we did do a shorter "easier" hike to the Twin Waterfalls. Now, I haven't done a lot of hiking, so I really have no comparison. But I would be willing to bet this was a more advanced hike. There were points on the hike that we were walking through rivers, doing vertical climbs with a rope, while it was raining! It was a nice reminder on why I like to have muscles. These waterfalls were absolutly beautiful, unfortunatly I have no pictures because it was pouring rain, and we had to walk through a river, so I decided not to take any electrical devices. Mom, I know you will be upset, but I have mental pictures, and I am very willing to describe them :) also, mom, when you come visit, maybe we can make  a trip to Pohnpei and do the hike so you can see for yourself. I will say that although it was raining, the hike was awesome, but very very cold. This is the first time since I have been here that I have been this uncomfortably cold before. Once I was home I took a quick freezing cold bucket shower then got into the warmest clothes I brought. I ate lunch then spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping in the living room while the kids watched Disney movies. I spent my night drinking a bottle of wine instead of Sakaw. It was great because I got to be with my family, and also drink something I enjoy. It was a lovely day. On Sunday we were going to go back to the pretty place we went swimming last weekend, but surprise, it was raining again all day. I already finished my book, so I knew the day would be long. It actually went pretty fast. I went for a run down to where our training is so I could get some wifi, but then the power went out because it was raining so hard, so I only got wifi for about 30 min. I then ran home in the pouring rain. Once I was home I took a shower and just relaxed, I fell asleep watching Disney movies again with the kids. It was a very peaceful rainy Sunday. My host sister and cousin spent the afternoon braiding my hair, I now have 10 beautiful braids in my hair. The only problem I have about the day is that for breakfast, lunch and dinner I was served the exact same dish, brown rice with pork, very very fatty pork. I couldn't eat the pork so I ended up eating mostly just brown rice, I snacked on some peanut butter m&ms so I got a little protein :-). Off for another week, it's our last week of model school! Man time is flying! 

Winding down

Now that we have started Model School, time is going fast. I only have 2 more weekends with my host family. Because of this I am trying to spend as much time with them as possible. Friday night I drank Sakaw with them. My host sister and I had a great conversation on this night about relationships. Here on Pohnpei, relationship are kept behind closed doors until the couple is ready to get married. This means everything is done secretive behind their parents and siblings back, but this is seen as respectful. Very different from in the US. I love my host sister, I would consider her one of my best friends here. Yesterday, she, along with my 2 host cousins took me to a place to go swimming. We left in kind of a rush so I forgot my camera, which I am so upset about because it might have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. First, we had to walk down a very steep and muddy, hill. Once we got there we were completly surrounded by huge trees, we were In the middle of the jungle. The water area was small, maybe the size of a small swimming pool, but it was deep. Because of this we were able to jump of the clif into it. It was so much fun! They told me not to worry because we can come back next weekend and I can bring my camera. The only bad part about the day was I got water in both my ears. It was very painful and nothing I did seemed to help. Thankfully when I woke up the next day it was gone. Back to school tomorrow, my class is being observed, wish me luck! 

Change of pace

This week we started Model School. It has been great so far. I started out the week with a class of 15 8th grade students. On the first day, 6 of them came to class, and 3 of them were over 45 minutes late. But, I guess that is the island way. The first day we just introduced ourselves and came up with class room rules. The second day I started teaching. We had one English class for an hour and a half and one science class for 45 minutes. We start everyday at 8:30 and end class by 11. This gives us one hour to plan lessons for the next day, then we continue on to lunch then 4 hours of language class. I am still learning Yapese, but please don't ask me to say anything because it is very hard and confusing. It is said to be the most difficult of all the islands. I am amazed I have energy to even write at the end of the day. The days are long, but rewarding. My 8th grade students were so smart on the first day. Our writing activity was to have the students write a creative letter to someone they miss. Most of them wrote to their mothers, which I thought was cute. I gave them an example of a letter from my sister (Emily you are famous here). For science we talked about limited resources and the kids blew me away again. They had to come up with ways to conserve limited resources. My favorite was "We can use a machete to cut the grass instead of the lawn mower which uses gas."  Or "We can unplug the refrigerator.... When there is no food in it." Very smart ideas, probable for Pohnpei, but not so much for the United States haha. Needless to say, I fell in love with my students on day one. Then came the curve ball. There were too many 6th grade students, so they needed to break it up into two classes. So all my 8th grade students got split up and put into other 8th grade classes, and we took over the class of 21 6th grade students. I am sure I will fall in love with them as I did with the 8th grade, I just need to get used to them. 

Also, the family car broke down, so I have added a 3 mile walk on to my exercise list every day. Luckily in the morning it is down hill so when I get to class I am not too sweaty. However, in the evening when I get home from school, I am either drenched in sweat from walking or water from the heavy afternoon rain falls, both very uncomfortable. I am just going to take this as an opportunity to eat more cookies, because I know I will be walking them off by the end of the day. My host family is great and the closer I get to moving to Yap, the more I think about how much I will miss them. Well I will write about my 6th graders soon enough, 'till then, hope all is well with you all. 

Change of pace

This week we started Model School. It has been great so far. I started out the week with a class of 15 8th grade students. On the first day, 6 of them came to class, and 3 of them were over 45 minutes late. But, I guess that is the island way. The first day we just introduced ourselves and came up with class room rules. The second day I started teaching. We had one English class for an hour and a half and one science class for 45 minutes. We start everyday at 8:30 and end class by 11. This gives us one hour to plan lessons for the next day, then we continue on to lunch then 4 hours of language class. I am still learning Yapese, but please don't ask me to say anything because it is very hard and confusing. It is said to be the most difficult of all the islands. I am amazed I have energy to even write at the end of the day. The days are long, but rewarding. My 8th grade students were so smart on the first day. Our writing activity was to have the students write a creative letter to someone they miss. Most of them wrote to their mothers, which I thought was cute. I gave them an example of a letter from my sister (Emily you are famous here). For science we talked about limited resources and the kids blew me away again. They had to come up with ways to conserve limited resources. My favorite was "We can use a machete to cut the grass instead of the lawn mower which uses gas."  Or "We can unplug the refrigerator.... When there is no food in it." Very smart ideas, probable for Pohnpei, but not so much for the United States haha. Needless to say, I fell in love with my students on day one. Then came the curve ball. There were too many 6th grade students, so they needed to break it up into two classes. So all my 8th grade students got split up and put into other 8th grade classes, and we took over the class of 21 6th grade students. I am sure I will fall in love with them as I did with the 8th grade, I just need to get used to them. 

Also, the family car broke down, so I have added a 3 mile walk on to my exercise list every day. Luckily in the morning it is down hill so when I get to class I am not too sweaty. However, in the evening when I get home from school, I am either drenched in sweat from walking or water from the heavy afternoon rain falls, both very uncomfortable. I am just going to take this as an opportunity to eat more cookies, because I know I will be walking them off by the end of the day. My host family is great and the closer I get to moving to Yap, the more I think about how much I will miss them. Well I will write about my 6th graders soon enough, 'till then, hope all is well with you all. 

Week in review

This week of training was our last before we start Model School. Model School is very similar to student teaching. I got very luck and I have an amazing local co-teacher. She already has experience working with Peace Corps Voulnteers, so working together seems very natural. Although the weekends are long and boring I was very excited for this weekend to come. Training this week took a lot out of me. I was exhausted everyday after and was in bed every night by 9. I have a nice routine during the week, which is why they go by so fast. I am so drained by the end of the day I enjoy coming coming to my host family. I have gained some weight, which is frustrating, but I have started eating brown rice instead of the white rice and I have cut back on the sweets. Hopefully this will help. It is hard with all the carbs the locals eat on a daily bases. Today, Saturday, I woke up early to do laundry. I woke up and realized I didn't have any more clean underwear! Something so simple yet so necessary! I worked out and even boxed a little bit with my host cousins. I went to another volunteers house in the afternoon to watch a movie. It was a nice way to pass the time, but I do feel guilty leaving my host family, they call that Peace Corps Guilt. It must be normal since they have a name for it. I am anxious to start Model School. Me, my co-teacher, another volunteer and her co-teacher have an 8th grade class that we will switch off every other day teaching. Two English classes and either a math or science class. Their are 15 students in the class. We got to see our class room on Friday and do a little clean up and rearranging. We made our lesson plan for Monday, and let me just say, lesson planning is very time consuming and I think it is safe to say it could be the hardest part about being a teacher. I am excited to see how the first week will go. Of course I will let you all know. I am feeling better from last week, I just miss home. I am still adjusting and probably always will be adjusting to life here, but it is starting to feel more like home. That's all for now, miss you all! 

Boredom

Boredom consumes my weekends. Hours feel like days and one day feels longer than the whole week before. Maybe I am just bored because I am supposed to be camping right now with my host family, but things did not go as planned. Let me back up to this past week. All week we have been working with local teachers on lesson planning. I love my partner. She is very smart, and always brings good ideas to the table. I hope I am lucky enough to have co-teacher like her in Yap. During the week the days are long, but the week goes by very fast. This week I got over my heat rashes, have stopped having diarrhea, but I developed a UTI. It is my first UTI ever, and let me tell you, it's not fun having one in the middle of Pohnpei, Micronesia. Luckily our PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) is absolutly amazing. She started me on antibiotics the next day, and if am already feeling better. Yesterday was the 4th of July. This is one of my most favorite holidays. We went to the U.S. Embassy to celebrate with the other Americans living in Pohnpei. The ambassador spoke, along I with many other people. I am happy to say I participated in eating 2 hamburgers and a hot dog along with some yummy fruit and a delicious pasta salad, all topped off with a red, white, and blue cake! Over load on food for sure, but worth it! It was a great way to spend the 4th of July, but I must admit I am envious of my friends and family at home. The 4th of July isn't the same without a beer and some fireworks. And, although I am becoming quite close to the other volunteers, I miss you all back home. I know this is only the first of many holidays that I will spend here without you all, but I truly hope it gets easier. We had some free time in Kolonia, which is the main town on Pohnpei, and also where the embassy is located. I took this free time to go to the grocery store and buy some veggies and fruite. I also bought some brown rice for my family, so they could try it, and they loved it! But we will see if they buy it from now on or not. Today we had a nutrition day at school. In groups we all created a recipe with common found foods here in Micronesia. My group made veggie suey. It was good! The idea of today was to show us that we can have some control on what we eat here, it's a nice thought, but when I came home with a bag of veggies, fruite, and brown rice, my host family looked at me like I was crazy. Plus, who am I to come into their house and change up their diet. It is frustrating to say the least. I was supposed to go camping with my host sisters today, but they had to leave during high tide to get to the other  island, so by the time I got done with school, they were already gone. Very disappointing because I had my bags packed and I was ready to go. Just another miscommunication with me and my host family. My host mom is sick with a common cold, but shehas asthma, so my host dad took her to Kolonia to the hospital. So this means I had the whole afternoon with the house to myself with absolutly nothing to do. Not to mention, I live so far from the other volunteers there is no way I could meet up with any of them. So I worked out for a second time today, cleaned my room, this included the ant trail across my bed, took a nap and did some reading. It was a fine afternoon, just very boring, and I couldn't stop thinking about all the fun everyone was having back the the States for the 4th. I almost forgot to mention the newest member of my host family. A little kitten, who lives in the attic above my room. She nearly scared me to death when I first heard her. Now that I know it is her, I am relieved, hopefully she will eat all the spiders at try to get into my room. To bad she probably has fleas, I wouldn't mind a cuddling buddy. Lonelyness and boredom are the two things that makes it so hard to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. All the other things I can adapt to, but these two will take time and effort to get over. This weekend they are getting the best of me.  

On Sunday we went to the beach, it's not the sandy beach you are all familiar with it is more of a volcanic rock type of beach, but a beach no the less. We picnicked there. We had BBQ chicken and rice and fruit.  It was a lot of fun, but I got sunburned and I still felt lonely. Even though I was with my host family, they were all talking in Pohnpein and laughing and I had no idea what they were saying. Every now and then I would hear my name or Peace Corps, so I knew they were talking about me, but I had no idea what they were saying. Not a good feeling! Also, I got sunburned. The water was beautiful and it was a nice breezy day, but I couldn't get past the feeling of being alone. At least the day passed fast, back to school on Monday! 'Till next time! 

New Found Talents

I haven't blogged in a while, and honestly that is because not much has changed. My host sister was gone for about 5 days in the town, so I was extremly bored. She is really the only one I can talk to and she understands 100% what I say. I took this as an opportunity to explore new things. Last week I started doing yoga with a fellow volunteer. I love it, except I am not very good at it. I am not using it as a substitue for running, just an addition to keep me busy in the afternoons after training. Training has been good, I feel like we are finally doing things that could be useful. We started TESL training and meet with local teachers to help. In two weeks we will be conducting a model school, which will be like student teaching for us. We will be teaching summer school to the middle schoolers here. In the afternoon we do language training. Yapess is extremly hard, and I leave everyday with a head ach. We had fried chicken one night for dinner and I was so hungry that I ate it all, and so my host family took this as a hint to make it for me every night for dinner. It is tasty, but my stomach hates me! I am going to continue doing yoga and run, hopfully that will help my body out with all this fried food! Water ran out at our house yesterday, so i showered in the river, with an eel, creepy!  I think my host family might be getting sick of the fried chicken because tonight we had chicken soup. Very yummy, but very salty. M host dad went to the high school today and borrowed the boxing punching bag for the summer! So now I have yet another way to work off the fried chicken. I see new wild life everyday, yesterday I saw a frog in the outhouse, and today a chicken run into our classroom, totally disrupting class. Hilarious things that get us through the days. I am feeling much more at home with my host family as my personality is able to show more. I have developed a routine and I am sticking to it, which makes the days go by faster. I always have something to look forward to. My favorite time of my day is having morning coffee. It tastes so good here, maybe because my host mom puts 5 scoops of sugar in it. It always gives me a chance to look out side and think to myself. Sometimes I still can't believe I am here. Thats all for now, 'till next time!   

Water safety day/the weekend

Today we had water saftey day, which was awesome. We finally got to get in the water. It was kind of a sick joke the Peace Corps played on us, sending us to an island surrounded by beautifully blue water and telling us we can't get in the water until water saftey day. But after 2 long weeks we finally had water saftey day. They day was very fun, but also very interesting. We learned about currents and tides and the importance of not panicing. Plus we got to go into town, which meant I could buy m&ms!! This always highlights my week. Of course one bag is $2.40, but so worth it! I am eating my last m&m as I type this, and let me say this, if I had another bag, I would eat the whole things again, with no regrets! I loved being in the water today. It brought me happiness. I got a tinny sun burned, nothing to worry about, but enough for my host family to mention. They think it is so funny when us White people sun burn. I miss all my friends back home! I know we can't talk daily, but I want you all to know I miss you like crazy and would love to get some e-mails/snail mail.

To touch base a little on my post yesterday, I am going to Yap Proper in August. That will be my site for the next two years. Yap is a state in Micronesia, Yap Proper just means I will be on the main island and not the outter islands. The name of my town is Gagil. I am not sure how big the town is yet, or how big the school is that I will be teaching at. I don't know what exact age group I will be teaching, but I know the school is grades 1-8. Yap is the furthest island in Micronesia from the United States. It is also the most traditional. On the outter islands of Yap the women are topless and the men wear loin clothes. From what I understand, on the main island tops for women are optional. I have heard that the cell service and internet is pretty good on the main island, so I should be able to keep up my blog. Okay, I am off to bed, 10pm on a Friday night and I am stoked about falling asleep, I guess the sun took a lot out of me today! Good Night! 

They say that the hardest part about being in the Peace Corps is the weekends. Well they, whoever they may be, are right. The weeks go by fast, but the weeks are so long. This is mostly because here on the islands, they believe in island time. This means that most of the day on Saturday and Sunday are spent relaxing and laying around. I can't stand this. I always like to be on the go, and when I do have free time, I like to binge watch Sex in the City or Dexter. Neither which I can do here. So I find myself reading and thinking a lot on the weekends. The thinking is the part that makes this time so hard. Thinking about what life will be at in Yap, or when my vacations will be, or what the hell I am going to do with my life after the Peace Corps. Or, the hardest thing to think about is what my friends and family are doing back home. My sister is probably going to the pool, then Chipotle, both sound amazing. My mom and dad are working, but spending thier evenings together, watching t.v. or having a fire pit. Me, I am watching people sleep, unable to sleep myslef because I am thinking just too much. Yesterday, Saturday, I spent all morning reading, I finished half my book. I took a nap, gave my family a call, ate chicken and rice for all three of my meals, yet still went to be hungry. Today was a little better, I read some more, then went to the waterfall to swim. Of cource, they told me to get ready, I got ready in 5 min., and we left 30 min later. Island time is real! I am learning to be patient, but it is hard. I spent the afternoon swimming at the waterfall with the fish. I saw a volunteer there and we talked almost the whole time, sometimes talking to another American makes everything seem a little better. Someone else is going through the same things as me, and suddenly I don't feel so alone. I have been able to run everyday and  enjoy my workout time, it's me time that no one can take away. Plus, it helps with all the rice I am eating. Back to training tomorrow, I am excited, it feels good to be back in a classroom setting. 'Till next time,

Jenny 

Site Announcements

This is going to be a short blog today, but I have to share this information! Today in training we talked to many former and current volunteers about their experiences. It was great, but we have to remember that every site is different. I found out today that starting in August, I will be teaching at an elementary school in Gagil, Yap. Yap is one of the four states of Micronesia, and Gagil is a town in Yap. I am very excited about this news and starting Monday I will start classes to learn Yapese, which is the local language spoken on the island. Tomorrow we have water saftey day, then off for the weekend! Love you all!  

1st weekend

This weekend has been good, however it just keeps dragging on. The days are so long. Yesterday (saturday) I played cards all morning, then took a walk to call my family. It was really nice to talk to them, however the service is not too good, so that got a little frustrating. I tried out my water purifier, I am not sure if it was that water, or the boiled water, but today I was sick! dehydradted and weak! After a couple trips to the bathroom, I ate some bananas which seemed to back things up a bit. Our morning project was using the lice shampoo on Kay, my 7 year old sister. No wonder that girl was always iching her head, there had to be at least 100 lice we killed and took out. I am going to get checked again. I am trying to install so health tips into my everyday conversation. Like for instance, if you share Kay's hair brush, you will get lice too. My 'cousin' wants to learn how to box, so I told him I would teach him what I know. I spent the day in bed and drinking so gatorade, I feel better now. Let's hope it lasts! Happy Father's Day!! 

Field trip

Today we took a field trip into town. This is about an hour ride, but the bus was air conditioned so no one cared. It is funny how the small things become big ones. Also, I don't think I will ever get used to seeing chickens and pigs walking on the streets. I just want to say now, if I haven't already, that the group of Americans that I am training with are absolutly amazing. I laughed so hard I cried at least three times today. They help every bad situation seem a little bit better. It is always nice to laugh about your misfortunes with others going through the same things. We talk about poop a lot, and our showering situation. Mine is quite interesting. Like for instance, in my host family, we shower outside with a bucket . It is closed in on the sides, but there is a huge opening that everyone in the kitchen area can see. I had a shower dress to shower in so that my naked body wasn't showing everywhere, but for some reasoned the shower dress has disappeared, maybe it is getting washed, ironically. So my last two shower have been completely naked facing the house. I have given up, and I now officially don't care if anyone sees me naked. Today when we were in town, we visited a garden. Here I got to husk a coconut. This is quit difficult, buying one on the streets for .50 cents seems much easier. But at least I know that if I was ever lost on an island, I could survive on coconuts. We also had a chance to buy some of the locally grown food. I bought some avocados and cucumbers for my host family. I also bought a local skirt. When I showed my host family the skirt, they asked why I bought it, and asked if I didn't like the skirt that was given to mr by them. I told them that I loved the skirt given to me by them, I just needed more skirts. Then they all talked to each other in Pohnpein. After a discussion that I have no idea what was said, my host dad told me to not buy any more skirts and that instead my host mom will make me skirts. I hope I didn't offend anyone, but I do really like my new skirt! We played more uno tonight, they absolutly love it. I get kind of bored with it, but at least I am spending time with my host family. Also, my host sister gave me a bucket so if I have to pee in the middle of the night I don't have to leave my room. I am so excited about this, like I said, it is the little things :) I am getting heat rash prettying much all over my body, but besides this, nothing else is really new. I am still learning everyday, I can't wait to see what this weekend has to bring. 

First week of training

As I become more adjusted and used to life here, my blogs might become less routine, because less happens to me that is blog worthy. I don't think you want to hear about every adventure I have in the shower, because let me tell you, every shower is quite the adventrue, or every time I use the outhouse, which has become more frequent because my stomach is still getting used to the food. For now, water hasn't been an issue because we have purified water at training, and we are in training from 8:30am to 5pm every day. I will say that I have never thought about how much water I drink until now. I am constantly thinking if I have enough water to last the day, or to stay hydrated, because I am still sweating constantaly. I never feel clean because once I get done showering, I start sweating again. They say I will get used to the heat, I hope that happens sooner rather than later. In our training we are learnin about health saftey along with general saftey tips. My host family does have lice, but I was checked and I do not have it, yet. ;) We are going to learn how to garden to promote a healthier lifestyle on the island. I am so exicted about this, because like water, I constantly worry about the amout of veggies I eat. Something I never worried about in the States. Next week we find out our final sites. I do know that I will be on a main island, which island, I don't know. I am at a much better place emotionally, I feel accepted by my host family and I know I am here for a reason. I am going to try to post once a week, but don't hold me to it. There is not a lot of wifi here, and when I do connect, it is extremely slow. So slow that I can only post one picture at a time, and sometimes I have to retry 5 times before it uploads. I also can not see anyones pictures on facebook, or read a lot of the statuses. So I have no idea what is going on at home, so write me letters! 

 Today we visited a school. One of the current voluneers serves there now. We sat in on a class that she taught and it was amazing! She was a music major, so she taught enghlish and music. The class sang for us, and it was so beautiful. They sang Lean On Me and it gave me chills. I took a video, however there is not way it will load with this internet, but I will try to upload it on my facebook! We have a gardening class later this afternoon with some more health and safety courses. Training is going great! Tomorrrow we are taking a field trip to town to observe a local garden and market, I am very excited about that, I NEED VEGGIES!! Last night I played uno with my host sister, it was so much fun! I learned how to say blue, green, red and yellow in Pohnpein. I love my host family! I had some diarrhea this morning so I took some anti-diarrhea medication and ate 4 small, very small, bananas, so now I will probably be uncomfortably constipated for a couple days, haha, I can't decide which is worse. Sorry I am talking about my poop on here, but it is the reality of my situation. Many of the trainees have gotten really sick, so I consider myself lucky!   

First day with my host family

Hello,

Today we met our host family. I was so nervous. I had so many questions and no idea what to expect. Well I defiantly felt the culture shock today. Man am I thankful for what I have in the U.S. I am so grateful for the hospitality I have been given because I know they went out of my way to make me feel more at home. I sweated more today then I ever have, but I have a fan to sleep with, which I am so happy about! I now have a 7 year old sister, a father who works for the department of education and a mother that makes the best skirts in the town. They served me dinner of crab, chicken, rice and breadfruit, along with their traditional drink "sakow" they spell ohm might be wrong on that. 

     Today I had many feelings, I was very anxious all day, followed by a lot of homesickness and doubt. I found myself doubting myself on if I can make it 27 months, or even till the end of the day. As I walked to bed, I was treated by a HUGE spider, good thing it was leaving my room and not going in. My host brother, who I have not met, and might never meet because he is older, married, and moved far away, is an MMA fighter! Hearing that made me smile! My family is protisant, however they don't seem big on going to church. Tomorrow we might spend the day exploring, or maybe just sleeping. I would be okay with either. I will write again tomorrow to let you know how. My first full day went with my host family. For now I am exhausted and off to bed!! Night,

Jenny 

On Saturday night I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, of course I have to use the out house. I exit my room and see my whole family sleeping on the floor in front of my door. I try to tip toe around them to get to the out house. The mother wakes up and Insistes on coming out with my for protection.. This is very nice, but around 4a.m. Every morning I wake up to go pee. She is going to get really sick of me. I woke up this morning to two geckos running across my ceiling. I am sure much more will happen today that I will be sure to post. 

   Well today was quit eventful. I cried during breakfast as I showed my "family" my actual family from home. I was very homesick this morning, I sent a message to my mom telling her I wanted to come home. My host family has been very supportive and have done everything they can to help me not be so homesick. They took me to their grandfathers house so I could use the internet, which is when I told my mom I wanted to come home. After that we went and saw some haunted ruins. I slipped and fell into the water, which was a good laughing point. My whole back was socked, but it felt good after the hike up there. We had lunch there, picnic style. We ate left overs from breakfast and dinner. I really need to get used to rice and chicken. I didn't get a chance to run or workout today, but my host dad showed me where the closest track is, which is dirt, but it is like that in Humboldt, IA too ;). I talked to Brandon on the phone and he really helped me understand that is it going to be hard at first but it will get easier. After the ruins we went to a waterfall. It is absolutly beautiful!! Spending the day with my host sisters and cousin really helped me. I told them I was home sick and they understood. At the waterfalls I was able to talk to my sister on the phone. I loved hearing her voice. But I cried again. We got caught in the rain walking back from the waterfall, good thing my backpack is water risistant. Tomorrow we have training from 8:30-5. So that will keep me busy. At least when I am busy I don't think about home as much. Love you all! Be thankful for what you have! If I learn anything it is that! 

Jenny 

First official day of training

It's me again,

Today was the first day of training. We met with the director and our doctor. To all my nurse friends out there, and my mother, you will be happy to know the only vacination I needed was Typhoid, and I recieved it today! Meeting with the director went good as well, it was a simple get-to-know-you conversation. He asked if I had support from home, and I happily said yes. I am not feeling as homesick today, I am really trying to stay active and not think about you all at home, no offense. Thinking about you all makes me sad. I am learning to live as one with insects, still getting used to ants in my bags, but I am not squimish anymore. Tomrrow we meet our host families! I will spend the weekend with them, so I won't have internet until Monday. I will update you all then! All is good here! Still constantly sweating! Miss and love you all! Till next time! 

Jenny 

Arrived in Pohnpei

Today we finished our long legs of flights to finally arrive in Pohnpei, Micronesia. We were greeted at the airport by a group of wonderful Peace Corps staff. We all recieved a local head dress and got on the bus to our hotel. All was well, but let me tell you, it is HOT!!! and when I say HOT I mean every single one of us was sweeting visabley. But I will say it is not nearly as embarrasing sweeting when everyone else is doing it too. In a way, it brought the group together even more. We arrived at out hotels and I took a cold shower right away. It felt amazing, but the second I stepped out of the shower I was stemming hot again. I was able to get wifi from the hotel to contact my family back home and tell them I had arrived safley. We then went to a welcoming dinner. Here we drank from a coconut and ate the local food. The local food was fried fish, sushi with spam, different rice, fruit, fresh tuna, and a salad (with ranch dressing). It was very yummy, and the cocunt really helped with my hydration! Leaving dinner I had a bunch of different emotions, I love it here, it is absolutly beautiful, but the reality of living here for 2 years has set in. I am feeling home sick today, but I know I will have days like this. I did some yoga with my hotel room mate and I felt a lot better. I know that working out will be a struggle here, but I will make it work! Tomorrow we have individual meetings with the director, we will talk with him about our expectations and wants for the next two years. I am so used to having a set schedule that this transition has been hard, but I know once I get into a daily routine the days will fly by and I will start feeling more at home! Till next time,

Jenny 

Staging

Hello all, 

I am writing from L.A. California. Myself and 17 other volunteers spent the day at staging. Staging is a fancy name for meetings and introductions to the program and each other. I flew in from Denver and arrived around 10am, staging started at noon so I had plenty of time to get my luggage and catch a shuttle to the hotel where staging was held. I checked into the hotel, put my luggage in my room and was off to the meeting room. We went through registration and a handful of last minute details, which included a fax from home with my immunization form (I had to forget something, at least it was something that could be faxed) We continued the day with various meet and greet games and activities. I soon began to realize that I was not alone. Each one of the other 17 volunteers had similar feelings that I had. In the past week I have felt every emotion possible. Excitement, fear, anxiety, happiness, sadness, feelings of uncertainty and an emense amount of graditude. Sometimes all at the same time. It is an interesting feeling leaving for the Peace Corps. I was so sad to leave my life at home filled with amazing friends and an even better family, yet the anticipation and excitement of the adventure ahead kept me happy. I would be lying if I said I didn't cry. I did cry, a lot. Moving to another country for 27 months is not an easy thing to digest. I could tell that this group of young adults That I met today felt the same way, and it helped us connect. Tomorrow we fly to Hawaii then from Hawaii we have a 10 hour flight to Pohnpei, Micronesia. To all of you back home, know that I am thinking of you all the time. Yes this time is bitter sweet, but eventually it will be more sweet than bitter. In the words of Winnie the Pooh "How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard". Thank you all for all your loving words and support. More from me in Micronesia!

Jenny 

First time blogger

Hello everyone,

  This is the first time I have ever blogged, however I am very excited! I can't wait to share all of my experiences in Micronesia. I am currently still on U.S. soil, I leave my home in Colorado on June 2nd, 2014. I am very excited for the amazing opportunity that awaits. I will be teaching English to the local students. I am still unsure on how much internet I will have, so my blogging posts might be staggered. I will do my best to keep everyone at home informed about my journey. I am sure I will have low times, followed by many high times, either way, I will keep you all informed. I will be living with a host family, so I will be completely immersed in the local culture. I am currently crossing all my Ts and dotting all my Is here at home as I anxiously prepare for life in a new home. There are 22 other Americans that will be making this trip with me. I have not met any of them, but I will on June 2nd in L.A. For the summer I will spend time with all of them for intensive cultural and language training. At the end of the summer, we will all be placed in our communities where we will spend the remaining two years. I will post again after staging in L.A. on June 2nd.  

Until then,

Jenny