During our PC training session this morning our small group had to write a haiku poem pertaining to international development theory----and one fellow PC trainee wrote this:

Each person works hard
improving outcomes for all
helping, holding, hope.

Her haiku resonated with me in terms of what we will be doing once we are finished with training, so I am sharing it here. So far our training has been very informative and interesting, with enough inter-active exercises to keep it pretty lively.

Yesterday we all took a bus to the local PC office--the headquarters for Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean--we toured the offices--then took a bus (in small groups) to Castries--the island capitol city (pop 10,634) and explored and shopped as we completed the scavenger hunt they assigned to us...this was interesting and fun. The highlights for me was a bookstore!!!!! and the library and the gorgeous Cathedral in the center of town. 

We learned that in 1948 a fire wiped out most of Castries except the lovely Carnegie library building and the Cathedral. We finished up with yummy ice cream from a local ice cream outdoor shop--a nice treat in the hot and humid climate.

Carnegie Library in Castries

Oh! also saw a "sewing store" right by the PC office---and they had crochet cotton and yarn!!!! too bad they were not open.....so could not see how much the yarn cost...will have to go back..;-) I bought a nice straw hat for sun protection at the market and citronella "petroleum jelly" at a drugstore. Citronella petroleum jelly is now my new perfume....since the locals say it will help keep all bugs off.

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Wonderful St Lucia !

After 2 days of journey and one day of Peace Corps orientation in Miami, I am now safely ensconced on the Island of St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean with 24 other Peace Corps trainees. Ah! lovely hot humid lush green St. Lucia!! I wish I could post some pics but I (darn it anyway!!!) left my camera @ my daughter's in Kirkland...so no photos till I can get it sent to me--argh! at least ones by me---the other trainees will share with me ;-) so I will be able to post a few.

Today we have a Sunday off from training, so a group of us are heading to the beach nearby for a swim. We are all staying--rather dorm style--in group housing for the first week. Then we move to another community on the island and all go to stay with host families while we continue training. We will be on St. Lucia for another 4 weeks, then split up to go to various islands to live with hosts families there and continue training. We have small groups going to Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, and one groups stays here on St. Lucia. I am ultimately going to Dominica Island with 5 other Peace Corps volunteers.

Yesterday we had some training around health issues here in the Carribean and then we all got some immunizations. I am now immunized for hep A & B, and the flu--next week we get typhoid shots then that is all over. I am very impressed by the health care available to us here---much better than the factory-like Group Health I had in Seattle!

 

this is the view from our  front porch with the town in background (photo by fellow PC trainee Abby--thanks Abby!)

Island impressions: I am sitting in a nice breezy doorway while the humidity and heat swirls around me, listening to the jungle trees whisper in the wind and a rooster crowing in the distance.....the sky is moody overcast clouds ---and it feel like it might rain. (I got soaked in a rain shower yesterday and was dry again in about 1/2 hour ;-) I gecko lazily crawls up the stucco wall and a small wren-like bird flies around in inside.... just another lazy day on St. Lucia.....

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