One third through Eastern Caribbean training

Same and different

It has been 27 days since deployment and I have 26 days remaining in this phase of the training on St. Lucia.  I’m glad to have a chance to reflect and share how things are going so far.  I have about 8 more weeks of training and I don’t expect to be able to post weekly until after I get sworn in, but I’ll post when I can.  (As you will see in the pictures below it is not all work work work.  I'm trying to adjust to living on a beautiful island.)

Going away party
Samantha, Daniel, and I (and Sam's mother-in-law photo bombing) at the end of the going away party - great send off

Samantha planned a nice going away party the day before departure and gave me a going away gift (she has an Etsy story for such things https://www.etsy.com/shop/SleepyPandaPieces  – just saying).


My key chain with the name "24601" - bonus points for the reference

   

Staging and departure
We had staging in Miami.  A day of training and "are you all sure you really want to do this?", before flying out the next day.
Staging in Miami and my last meal on American soil for a bit

Initial training


 After arrival we had about a week training before moving in with the homestay families.  This is typical as it helps orient the trainees in the new country and eases the transition into the new culture.
Exiting the plane - wheels down on St. Lucia - home for at least 8 weeks

Bus ride to training center

Luggage for 2 years for 36 people can take up a fair amount of space.

The Eastern Caribbean needs to adjust training compared to most other countries.  Most countries have the full 12 weeks training with a single host family.  During this time there is a “site visit” – a couple of days to see the site that will be home for 2 years before finishing up training.  Since Eastern Caribbean is composed of four island countries – travel is a little more involved and costly so they split the training into the first 8 weeks on St. Lucia and then you either stay on St. Lucia or travel to your island of service.  In either case you will move to your site community and live with a different host family for the last 4 weeks of training.  After swear in most volunteers move into their own house – something I plan to do.

I'm currently living in a very nice house with a nice couple who are taking good care of me.
Porch of my homestay family - they are an older couple on a pension from England

My homestay bedroom is nice.

Training


Of course I had 12 weeks of training in Ghana in 2014 and my memory is not that bad so I still remember it.  However, this has not been an issue for several reasons.  First, the training has a large portion of country specific information and the technical training is slightly different – teaching early literacy (grades 1-3) versus teaching math and computers at the junior high level.  Finally, the Peace Corps is continually evolving their training of core elements so there are new things that are taught in every country.  So I'm not bored.  Of course there are some things that are the same.  I try to keep silent about most of these things or add in some clarification if I think there may be some confusion – such as using an acronym without describing it.

All in all I’m enjoying training and the easier pattern of life with homestay meals and relatively easy travel – life will get more complicated soon enough once we get to site - but I can hardly wait for that....
At post - St. Lucia

First practice teaching class at a local school


Sightseeing


I’m spending most of my time in training and with my homestay family – but I have gotten out a little.

Visit to Rodney Bay

Visit to Sulfur Springs for a beauty treatment with other trainees and homestay families.  (It didn't help me)
Love always,

John

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