I'm in Miami; the orientation phase of training is done. Tonight we pack, check out of the hotel, and try to get some sleep before the 3am wakeup call and flight to St. Lucia. From here on out, we ride the wave. Getting here however, was a whole other matter…

I can honestly say that the past few weeks have been by far the greatest sustained level of stress I have ever experienced. People expected me to be excited. I expected to be excited. But "excited" was just not in my emotional repertoire. 6 weeks is just not enough time to prepare when there are so many logistics to work out – perhaps it is enough for someone straight out of college, living with their parents with minimal obligations, but not for someone like myself with a home, a car, a pet, a job… I never strayed from the belief that everything would work out, but I couldn't find peace in that knowledge when 4 days before I was scheduled to fly to Miami, I still didn't have anyone to take care of my dog or renters for my home. Thinking about what would become of my precious Kenai brought me to tears many times over the last few days. On Thursday I received the email from Joe and Mark in La Quinta – they own 3 Huskies and welcomed the opportunity to bring Kenai into their home. Two strangers out in the California desert, I didn't even know the woman who they said had sent them the email, but through something they wrote I was able to figure out how it had gotten to them. I spent about an hour that morning on the phone with Joe and I knew they would care for her like their own. But the question still remained about how she would get along with the other dogs. Nicely put, Kenai does not like all dogs. In fact, she is quite alpha and will fight when challenged. It was a huge risk. I said that I could drive her out on the weekend and Joe offered that he could come down sometime during the next week to meet her. I explained that I was leaving on Monday and he replied, "Well then, this will work". Indeed.

So while still in Miami, I've been calling to check on her, even got to talk to her on the phone. She has surprised me. The Princess is integrating into her new home and becoming part of the pack. It pains me so much to leave her behind. It has been the hardest part of the entire process. I wish I had some way to explain to her what and why in a way that she could understand.

During introductions our trainer drew 5 emoticon-type faces on a flip chart and asked us, after telling our names and where we were from, to point to which of the faces best described us. While a large number chose the smiley face, the majority chose the frantic, stressed out face as either their primary descriptor or one of several that they were feeling. I am not alone. Most have no idea what they are getting into, most are a bit nervous, tired, stressed, and have a lot of the same concerns. It seems to me that the Peace Corps offers so many resources to current and returned volunteers, but almost nothing for applicants, nominees, and invitees. I relied on friends to excess. I am blessed to have so many wonderful and generous people in my life, but it would have made the process so much less stressful if I had other official resources to tap into. I see this as a real need that begs to be addressed.

I need to organize my suitcases. The next weeks will be spent with host families, first on St. Lucia, then in my country of service. I will be glad when I finally have a place to call home.

Finally arrived in St. Lucia after a full day of traveling. The connecting flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico was grounded due to a mechanical problem with the cargo door. After a long wait on the hot tarmac they cancelled the flight and had us get off the plane, but not before warning us to exit only 3 rows at a time to prevent the plane from tipping over! The airlines gave us meal vouchers for the Normandie Hotel, so we had a nice meal and got to walk around the beach and see a little of San Juan, but didn't take off for the 2 hour flight to St. Lucia until 10:15pm (we'd been up since 3am that morning). We heard the next day that the first group of volunteers (we split into 2 groups) was greeted Friday afternoon at the St. Lucia airport by applause from the other volunteers on the island. We were greeted in the middle of the night, in the rain by grumpy customs agents. Checked into the Cara Suites hotel in Castries, then in the morning I got my first view of the island from my hotel balcony… just beautiful!

We had a morning of training on medical issues and logistics and then met our host families in the afternoon. I'm staying with a woman named Marilyn Bailey and 2 of her 4 children, Bradley and Gabby. We're in Babonneau, inland and up the hill from Castries. Our house is a short walk from the school where we'll be going for pre-service training for the next 3 weeks. Gabby has a computer and Internet so I have email access during my stay here. We have electricity, running water (cold only), and cable TV.

There are 41 in our group called EC 71 (the 71st class of Peace Corps Volunteers, PCV's in the Eastern Caribbean). 21 are male, 20 female. This isn't typical; The Peace Corps population is more like 30% men, 70% female. We have 2 married couples, the youngest trainees are in their 20's, the oldest in her 60's.

The heat here is overwhelming. The slightest activity causes me to become drenched in sweat. Marilyn tried to tell me that you get used to it, so I reminded her that she's been complaining about the heat all day, so even she isn't used to it! Apparently it's been unusually hot here lately.

So far I've washed my laundry by hand, ate fresh coconut, sugar cane, breadfruit, and the sweetest mango I've ever tasted. Marilyn doesn't drive, so she asked a friend Michell to take us around. We went for an evening drive up around the hills above Castries and saw the island lights by night. Stopped at a war memorial and heard the story of the 14 battles between the British and the French. Drove up to the tourist area and watched a steel drum band play.

It is very community based here. Everyone knows everyone and families tend to congregate in the same area. Marilyn's mother, some of her siblings and children live just across the street. It's very common to hang out on the front porch, greet everyone who passes by, people come and go, park right on the street because there's no where else, and stop in for a visit.

The mosquitoes are having quite a feast on me. Today Kate suggested collecting $10 from everyone for a pool – the "winner" would be the 1st person to catch Dengue Fever and they'd get the whole $400 pot. Not really a competition, they're calling it a relief fund. It's also known as Bone Break Fever because it's so painful it feels like you've broken a bone.

Took a field trip to the Rastafarian Roots community north of Dennery in the Mabuya Valley. They live very simply, farming organically and living off the land. It was quite enlightening; I really had no idea what the Rastafarians were all about. I think there are a lot of misconceptions in general around the whole lifestyle and religion, even here. We had a beautiful tour of the island on the way there and it was such a pleasure to get out of the classroom for a change as I've been suffering from an acute case of island fever called, "the quarter mile of road from my house to the school fever"!

A number of us got together Saturday and rode the bus into Castries for shopping and Internet. Gabby's computer has been in the shop all week so I haven't been able to check email since the 1st day I arrived. Answered a few emails, paid a few lingering bills on line, then ran out of time as they closed at noon.

We started out the day with me, Cyndi, Elizabeth, Angela and Alex, met Tiffany in town, then lost Angela and Alex midway through. I bought a few clothes at one of the stores. We also walked through the street markets near the waterfront, but they obviously thought we were tourists because they were asking highly inflated prices. One lady wanted to charge Cyndi $50 EC for a dress almost identical to one I paid $15 EC for at the store.

Today is the PCT/Host family beach party up at the Pigeon Point National Park. It's apparently a big deal every year because I heard about it from the locals well before they brought it up in training. They weren't even going to have it, but so many of the families insisted, so it's back on.

The picnic was wonderful. Pigeon Point used to be an island, but they filled in the strip of land between there and St. Lucia, so now you can drive out to it. If you stand on the strip facing south and look to your right, you see the Caribbean; if you look to your left, you see the Atlantic. Fort Rodney is at the top of the hill and from there you see views of the town of Gros Islet and much of the shoreline further south. The sea was cooler than I expected, maybe 70's, but still much warmer than the cold southern California waters that I'm used to. No one wanted to get out! We only conceded because some of the local fisherman needed to pull in the net that was surrounding the area where we were swimming.

A storm came through this week and it rained most of Wednesday, then it rained again for quite awhile yesterday. No one minded though, because it cooled the place off. I got a bit wet on Wednesday and it was the first time that I've felt cold since I've been here. I enjoyed the feeling!

Still get a chuckle out of seeing the cows and goats tied up to a tree or pole, grazing on the grass alongside the road. No one bothers with them and no one but us seems to think it's unusual.

Here, in Babonneau at least, we're not the Americans, we're Peace Corps. I am referred to as Marilyn's Peace Corps. Neighborhood children use the formal version, calling me Miss Marilyn's Peace Corps. I'm her 6th Peace Corps.

Today 2 weeks of training will be completed, with 1 more remaining here in Babonneau. Tomorrow we have our Placement interviews and on Thursday they make the announcements of where we will be going. Everyone is very anxious to find out, although a little nervous about moving to new homestays; we'll be at those for 6 weeks before getting our own places.

What a nice day today – the morning started with my Placement Interview at 8am, then Elizabeth and I went into Castries to spend some time at the Internet Café and do a little shopping. I've got probably 20 different bags at home and somehow managed to get all the way here without a single one. Found a nice one in town for only $20EC – about $7.50US. I thought it was a great price. The secret seems to be to shop in the stores where the prices are fixed, because otherwise I get the "tourist" rate.

After a quick stop at the market, Elizabeth and I parted ways and I caught a bus to the beach, overshot my stop and had to walk back. I have such a short walk to school everyday (about 6 minutes), that it really felt nice to get out and stretch my legs. I was planning to meet some of the others at Choc Beach, but only a few locals were there when I arrived. Such a beautiful stretch of beach with palm trees and white sand and it was mostly deserted. I hung out for about an hour, went for a swim, changed back into my street clothes, then just as I was on my way out, Kate, Matt, and Micah showed up, so I changed back into my swim suit and headed back out into the water. A little while later Mike and JP arrived as well. There are no waves on the Caribbean side of the island; it's like swimming in a warm lake. I don't know what we did to get so lucky. I think we all appreciate that most PCVs don't have anything like this.

Back home, jump in the shower, then across the street to hang out in front of Sylvia's (Marilyn's mom) house. I brought my digital camera along and once the little neighbor girls saw the first photo on the LCD on the back of the camera, they couldn't get enough of it. Janell especially was such a little clown, she kept coming up with all sorts of new poses for me to take her picture then clamored to see the results on the screen. What fun. Janell's mom bought a couple of St. Lucia T-shirts for me. That was totally unexpected and such a nice gesture. Then when I got home, Gabby presented me with some Tamarind balls that she picked up for me because she knew I liked them. Christmas in August!

Sunday was probably the worst day on island to date. I was so bored – nothing to do, nowhere to go, the buses aren't running so I have no way to get anywhere and everything is shut down anyway. I felt trapped in the house and totally frustrated. I watched so much TV my head hurt. I can really see how people can start to feel hopeless in a place most of us regard as paradise and I vowed to never have a day like that again. I couldn't wait to get to school on Monday. I just hated the feeling.

We're all getting Senioritis – can't concentrate and our minds are elsewhere. Only 2 more days until they announce the island assignments.