Made it.

Part 1: Welcome home
Last Saturday, on the 17th, I said goodbye to my host family, and moved into my own apartment. It really wasn't "goodbye", since they just live down the road from me, and I walk by them every time I go to school. My host Mom drove me over to my new place, helped me get my bags into the apartment, chatted for a bit, then I was on my own. I was quite content. For the first time in my life, I am living on my own. No roommates and no parents or siblings, I could walk around naked if I wanted (if only the mosquitoes weren't so bad). I spent the rest of the day unpacking my belongings, moving stuff around until I was comfortable, and scrubbing the kitchen and the floors.
Patty and I went to town to do our first grocery shopping trip. Food here is extremely expensive (at least on a Peace Corps budget) and I very quickly went over the $250 mark, when I was expecting to spend less than $200. When I got home and put the groceries away, you could hardly tell I went shopping.
I am very happy with my apartment. I would say that it's in a quiet location, but the wind and the surf are very loud (I'm not bragging, Patty). As I sit here right now I can hear the ocean and wind roaring on the coast. My backyard goes right up to a cliff by the sea. There is a fence and several trees separating the yard from the ocean, so I won't fall in. The view is absolutely beautiful. On the right side I can see part of Black Rocks, and on the left side I can see the cliffs by Saddlers, and in the distance I can see other islands. I would not, and could not have asked for a more beautiful location. It is not the Peace Corps experience I was expecting, but I am loving it.
Some pictures of my apartment.
Hallway. On the left is my bedroom. On the right at the end is the closet and spared bedroom, then on the end is the bathroom.

The kitchen is very large. I have no need for so much space.

Yes, the living room/dining room is messy here. It's not always that way. really.

My bedroom is usually kept clean as well.

The view from my back yard

Part 2: NOW I've arrived.
I remember when we first arrived in St. Lucia a fellow member of EC80 said that they wouln't say they've arrived until they are sworn in. I liked that thinking because it's true. The real work doesn't begin until now. Last Monday October 19th, EC80 (St. Kitts) was officially sworn in. We met at Manhattan Gardens restaurant for the ceremony. Most of our host families attended, as well as the Governor General and Deputy Prime Minister. You can see what happened based on the pictures of the bulletin.


After all the speeches were made, we were offically sworn in. All volunteers take the same oath that all Government officials take, all the way up to the Vice President I believe. One we said it, we were officially sworn in. We received a certificate marking our completion of service, as well as a nice Peace Corps patch and Eastern Caribbean Pin.

Taking the oath



Holding my certificate. Maggie is jealous even though hers is exactly the same.

Once we were sworn in, we had one last task: To sing three Kittitian songs which our cross cultural trainer, Pencheon, taught us. Saira, Pencheon, and I played the guitar while everyone else sang. Everyone did a nice job.


Officially Peace Corps volunteers. EC80 of St. Kitts and Nevis

After the ceremony Saira, Julie Ann, Kelsey, Alisa, our friend Laurent, and myself drove into town to celebrate by getting some ice cream. We met up with a few others there, some dispersed, and some of us ended up at the Ferry to grab a beer with Kim, Geoff, and Chris.

Part 3: DON'T SEND NICE STUFF!
Many of you know that I like photography a lot, and that I have a fair amount of photography equipment. Unfortunately it was too heavy and bulky to bring with me on the airplane, so my parents had it shipped down to me a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, because it is Technological equipment, St. Kitts customs decided to hold it hostage. Peace Corps has a deal with the Government here that volunteers can receive packages without taxes for three months after they arrive. This is true, however it is not easy to do with camera equipment.
My first step was to get a permissions letter from someone in the ministry of finance saying I could receive the package duty free. Michelle (our PCMO) was kind of enough to drive me to the airport to pick up the package. Unfortunately it wasn't there. They recently changed it so packages are picked up at the customs and excise office in Bird Rock (too far to walk). Michelle drove me there, and I took my invoice and official letter in. I was then told that I couldn't get it yet, because I needed to have some sort of broker papers documenting what I was receiving, and they were to be filled out and stamped by a broker (which costs $25 EC to do). After finally getting the papers, we had to take them back to the ministry offices to be signed and stamped again. A couple hours later they were all completed, and we headed back to the Customs office. Of course they wouldn't let me have it so easy, and sent me next door to another office for some more stamps of approval. After finally getting all the stamps and signatures I needed, I took the papers in to get the package, and was told I now had to wait. About 25 minutes later they told us that it was taking so long because they normally require a 24 hour wait period for the paper work to be processed (now they tell us). After about 45 minutes to an hour, they tell me I can get the package after I paid $850 (plus $100 for the swine flu vaccines that Michelle picked up the day before, since I was helping her turn in her paper work) in fees. After explaining to them that our letter from the ministry clearly excused us from any taxes, they let us know that the letter only excused me from two of the three taxes. That $850 EC was only 1/3 of the taxes I would have had to pay! It would have probably been cheaper to buy a plane ticket to the U.S., pick up the camera, then fly back. Apparently whomever wrote the letter accidentally forgot to write off all three taxes, so we called her, and she eventually faxed over a new letter. Four hours after I expected to get the package, I finally got.
The moral of the story is that if you want to send me something really nice, please be sure to ask me first. It's not easy to receive packages of technology here.

There is more to tell, such as the trip to Caribelle Batik, and a Hash House Harriers event. But I'm too tired now, and I will update again later this week.

The Honeymoon is over

Part 1: The honeymoon is over.
Maybe that title sounds a little extreme, however it is pretty accurate. Traveling is almost always fun because you are experience new and exciting things. Living in a new country is pretty fun too, especially when you first move there. After a while culture shock usually kicks in. Once new and exciting, things are starting to seem more real here. Of course it's not the perfect dream land that a lot of people expect it to be. People from home always told me that I was lucky to be coming here and it would be like a vacation for two years. Ha! Of course I never believed that, when people would say it to me I would just smile and laugh. After all, people vacation to Chicago, right? Do they really think that people who live in Chicago are on constant vacation? Are native Kittitians on vacation their entire lives? Hopefully everyone who said that to me was joking.

Things aren't always easy here. While I do love it, I am certainly not as comfortable as I almost always was back at home. There are a lot of things that make me uncomfortable here, and many of them are just cultural norms that I will have to get used to. I'm not used to saying "good morning/afternoon/evening/night" to almost everyone I see (whether or not I know them). I'm not used to riding on a small bus every day. I'm not used to living with a host family. The diet is different, and I can't drink out of the tap (or at least I'm not supposed to). If I want a snack at night, I can't run down to the nearest gas station and grab something. I'm not used to being unable to understand people a lot of the time. I'm not used to looking different from 98% of the population. I'm not complaining about these things, they are just traits of living in a foreign country that I'm going to have to get used to... and I'm sure I will get used to them eventually.

Culture shock has affected probably everyone in our group so far, some more than others. With culture shock you have highs and lows. The lows usually consist of "ugh. I'm stuck on this tiny island still and won't be leaving it for a long long time." or "I love my host family but I really really can't wait to move into my own house." or "I really really don't want to use the energy to try and follow the conversation right now." I feel as if my lows have been pretty mild. Other volunteers I'm sure have experienced things that are much more difficult to get used to. Usually we are able to let those small (or large) things that get to us roll right off our backs. After a while though, they end up building and building and start to get under our skin. Some volunteers have experienced several racist remarks. Usually the remarks are created from ignorance and really are not meant to be personal, but after hearing them so many times it can cause a person a lot of stress. In this way our honeymoon is over. The ideal life of living in the sun, sand and sea has come to an end, and we are mostly experiencing a culture for what it's really worth. I'm sure that it will get worse at points, and eventually we will adjust to those things also, but for now can be difficult at times to come to terms with our reality as residents on this island. Don't worry though. We'll adjust.

We lost another member of EC80 this week. Evie went home, which is really too bad. Evie was our oldest member in her upper 70's, and really was an inspiration for all of us. This means that there are now only 9 of us left. We have made promises to each other that we will stay for the full two years. I don't think anyone else will be going home.

part 2: "A drinking club with a running problem"
Yesterday David, Saira, Tiffany, Patty, and myself joined the famed group "The Hash House Harriers". They are basically a running club that is very wild. Hash House Harriers have groups all over the world, and probably in most countries. The idea of the group is to go on a difficult/dangerous run or walk and then drink. I was pretty excited to join and looked up information online. In some groups they take a break halfway through the run to have a couple drinks, and then they finish up then run and drink some more. That sounded a little extreme to me, but it also sounded fun. Fortunately (for my liver) The St. Kitts chapter is more focused on the exercise than the drinking aspect.

The group meets once every three weeks in some spot on the island where they are going to hold their race. This week it was in Verchilds. I showed up with the others in EC80, and we met up with Geoff and Mike, who are in EC78. There was probably 30-40 people who participated. It was a pretty diverse group consisting of expats, Ross students, and locals. The course was kind of explained to us, and then we were sent off. The runners went one way while us walkers went another. In no way was this a casual stroll on the beach. We started off walking at a nice easy pace, but then we picked up significantly. We started heading south towards town, and then took some country road up a really really really big hill. I used up my water in the first five minutes, so I wasn't too sure how I was going to be able to finish without passing out. Once we made it to the top of the hill, we appeared to be in some overgrown sugar cane farm. The "road" we were on was overgrown with lots of thorny plants and thorny trees and thorny underbrush. It was not easy. But I loved it! I felt like I was in extreme cross country. Perhaps in the next few meetings I'll try the running. We eventually made it back safely to the point where we started. Once everyone was back they opened up the coolers and started grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. I drank a pop and a beer and expected that people would start heading out. No way. They had certain ceremonies they had to perform before people could leave. The first one was bringing out the two people who created the trail we followed. They were made to sit in an ice cold pot of water, insulted about how terrible their course was, insulted a little more (all in good fun of course), and then were told to chug a beer. Whatever was left of the beer they did not drink went on their heads. They did this for a few more people who did noteworthy things (such as taking phone calls or getting lost). Next, they asked everyone who was there for the first time to come forward and kneel. uh oh. We were the virgins of the group. They handed a beer (or pop if you didn't drink beer) to each of us. Then one man walked down the line and asked us our names (we had to shout our names) and then baptised us with beer. I was pretty smelly from sweat as it was, I'm sure the beer didn't help anything. After everyone was baptised they sang their beer chugging song, and we had to all finish off our drinks (or pour them on our heads. No way I'm wasting a beer!). Then to top it off, ice cold water was poured over our heads. A nice initiation.

All that said, I am very much looking forward to the next race.

I'll hopefully have pictures of all this sometime soon.