Vincy-versary!

Kudos to everyone in the EC78 group that came together this time last year in Miami, FL and are here to celebrate our first year in the Peace Corps. This time last year, many of us were big-eyed and full of hope for change and ideology. Lol, some of us still are. After a couple day crash course in a Welcome to the Peace Corps in Miami, we hopped a flight to Saint Lucia where we engaged in another 3-day Peace Corps 'boot camp' of shots, what-to-expect workshops, and paperwork. From there, we hopped to our respective islands to begin our pre-service training and meet the host families that we would live with for the next 7 weeks. So we've already hit one year since leaving home and this Friday will mark our 1 year anniversary of living on our islands. We won't hit our official volunteer anniversary until late October, but I think to many of us this milestone seems a bit more tangible.

Already many of the 'older' volunteers from EC77 have begun to leave SVG. Some finished their service early and a few are still here till their separation date in September. One of them is getting married to a Vincentian right after his close of service. I'll be in a suit and standing at the wedding! On Monday, the new batch (EC80) of volunteers will be arriving. I suppose this makes our crew of EC78 the 'senior' group and will be doing a bit of mentoring for the newbies during their pre-service training. The Eastern Caribbean post has been doing some experimenting with their training programs and schedules over the past few groups--EC78 certainly got it's share of guinea pig time. I wonder what will hold in store for this new batch.

So what now? We are nearing the top of the hill. Most of us are working on the projects and efforts that will take us down the rest of the hill. Some of my fellows work in the schools and they are gearing up for the next upcoming term in 2 weeks. I'm keeping busy with the village action council and the tourism group--as I try to focus my efforts onto these organizations. I've still got a few side items, but I'm not dedicating as much time to them now. I don't know if I will be tutoring kids after school or how much drumming/dance I'll be doing--the voice just can't handle it. Sadly, I don't think the kids realize that when they ask me repeatedly and wonder why I have to pause when trying to talk to them.

Thinking about how difficult it is for me to communicate verbally, I sometimes wonder just if I'll be here to see the Vincy-versary round 2. Right now, with any sort of moderate noise--like a passing car--you would not be able to hear me. This is becoming rather troublesome and I'm not sure what the next few months will hold. Perhaps if I can make it past the hurdle of December like this, then I'll know a bit better how things will pan out. Time will tell.

Either way! It's good times for now as we celebrate our Peace Corps anniversary!!! ^_^

Stay safe and happy
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn