Only 9 days to go until I leave my home for 27 months. It's so hard to believe, I don't think it's truly hit me yet about the distance, nor about the length of time. I just finished a call with the country director, Dale, and we talked for a bit about some minor details. One of the biggest things was that Samoa is considering changing from a 3-term school year to a 4-term one. This will affect the vacation times that I have. Not that it matters particularly to me, but if any of you are wanting to come out to visit, double check when my vacations are!
I've already laid out so many things in Kiersten's room. I guess it's easier to stage if I don't have to trip over everything in my own room. I'm so worried that I'll forget something!! Mailing takes forever so it'd be several weeks if I do forget something. Aaaaah I'm sure I'm just over thinking things.
9 days to go!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
28 Days and Counting
Only 28 days to go until I leave! So much has happened in this last month since I've updated. I've connected with 7 out of 14 people in my group and they're all really sweet people. One of them started a Facebook group for Samoa group 84 so we are slowly but surely congregating. It's been wonderful to begin talking with the people that I'll be serving the next 27 months with and to share our fears and questions with each other.
I also received my introductory CD in the mail. Included in this is my first language lesson, my teaching homework, pamphlets on grammer and teaching, and an introductory slideshow on Samoa. It was funny looking through the slideshow because some of the pictures had people in them from blogs that I'd remembered reading. The language is definitely different from what I've learned in the past. It was a whole bunch of vowels and repeating sounds in the words. For instance, fa'amolemole is please and "O ai lou igoa?" is "what is your name?" Love it! It's definitely fun learning something new like this. Though I have to admit, I'm slightly worried about living with the first host family with a limited vocabulary.
My flight to LA is all booked. I'm leaving on October 4th, at 11am. All the Samoan Peace Corps volunteers'll be meeting in LA for two introductory days then straight onto Samoa. It's so hard to believe that the time is coming up, and yet it also seems so far away. I'm ready to begin this next part of my life but I'm also sad that I'll be away from my family for so long. The Peace Corps is something that I've wanted to do for a very long time, but that doesn't mean that I won't miss my family and friends.
This next month will involve me trying to memorize as many introductory words as possible, finish buying items to bring with me, and spending as much time with my family and friends as possible. I have a feeling that this time will fly.
28 days until I depart!
I also received my introductory CD in the mail. Included in this is my first language lesson, my teaching homework, pamphlets on grammer and teaching, and an introductory slideshow on Samoa. It was funny looking through the slideshow because some of the pictures had people in them from blogs that I'd remembered reading. The language is definitely different from what I've learned in the past. It was a whole bunch of vowels and repeating sounds in the words. For instance, fa'amolemole is please and "O ai lou igoa?" is "what is your name?" Love it! It's definitely fun learning something new like this. Though I have to admit, I'm slightly worried about living with the first host family with a limited vocabulary.
My flight to LA is all booked. I'm leaving on October 4th, at 11am. All the Samoan Peace Corps volunteers'll be meeting in LA for two introductory days then straight onto Samoa. It's so hard to believe that the time is coming up, and yet it also seems so far away. I'm ready to begin this next part of my life but I'm also sad that I'll be away from my family for so long. The Peace Corps is something that I've wanted to do for a very long time, but that doesn't mean that I won't miss my family and friends.
This next month will involve me trying to memorize as many introductory words as possible, finish buying items to bring with me, and spending as much time with my family and friends as possible. I have a feeling that this time will fly.
28 days until I depart!
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