Learning

I feel as if I'm one of the "old guys." As in to say we just welcomed in a group of new PCVs which means I've officially been here for a year and in a couple of months will be the "oldest" PCVs here. Crazy! In some ways I feel like I've lived at least 5 years since I flew in last year, but in others I feel like it has only been a couple months! I think part of that is because of how busy I've kept with work, secondary projects, and with my social life; but most of all learning. I have learned so much in the last year about another culture, way of living, perspectives, way of cooking, coping, and most of all about myself. I know that this next year I am going to be learning a lot as well. I will be learning how to make this work go on after I leave. I will be learning more about computers so I can teach it to the children. I will be learning more about planning sporting activities in my community (I want to do an olympics this summer with a different sport every day during the olympics). I will learn more now than I can imagine. But learning is life, and I love living and love learning!

Getting back into the swing of things!

The school term is underway, computer club has start, prep for the next Serious Ting (PC EC magazine) is in full swing! It's been a busy month! The kids are still loving checking books out from the library! It's so much fun hearing about the books that they are reading and see what they like to check out! I have several different computer clubs through the week. They keep me busy in the evenings :) Next Friday we're welcoming in a new group of volunteers! It's crazy to think that a year ago that was me getting ready to leave.
Currently we have a group from Global Volunteers here. They're helping at both schools I'm at, the pre-schools and several other places in the community. They are a great help! Global Volunteers are sending several more groups this year and then next year even more! It's great to see all the good work that's going on here. Hopefully with the several groups through the year that they are sending the work they are doing can be sustainable.
Life is going great here! I'm loving my work and all that goes along with it. It makes the time go soo fast.

11 months and 3 days

No that's not a countdown for how much longer I have in PC (thankfully I have longer than that...but not much), or until my birthday, in fact it's not a countdown at all. 11 months and 3 days is the time between when I came to St. Lucia the first time (January 28, 2011) and the time I came back to St. Lucia from vacation (December 31, 2011). I never knew how much difference that little amount of time could make.

When I was first coming to St. Lucia last January, to put it bluntly, I was scared out of my mind. What did I do? Did I really just sign up to live in another country for 2 years? Who are these other Peace Corps people? What is this place like? Will I make any friends? Where am I going to be working? What will my host family be like? Will they feed me fish for dinner every night (btw I HATE fish)? These fears and more were going through my head.

11 months and 3 days later, instead of looking out of the airplane in fear, I was excited! Excited to get back to my life, my friends, my school, and my boyfriend! (Yes mom, I love you and had a lot of fun at home.) Instead of looking out the window in wonder of what did I get myself into, I was picking out the places that I know! (BTW the Pitons look super cool from the sky!)

And now, while we're getting ready to welcome a new group of volunteers to St. Lucia, I'm excited to encourage them to make this thier home for two years! There are struggles, with what good thing in life is there not? But it is worth it! The people in my village have welcomed me back, so have the teachers and staff at the school. I'm looking forward to this school term, working with the kids, getting to know them better, and getting beat like crazy in football (soccer) with the new ball my sister gave me for Christmas!