Samoa the first week
Hello all Hope this finds you all well. First there are a couple slight changes to my address so check those below. Stagging went well in LA, or as well as sitting in a windowless room for two days can. It was a nice hotel and we got to know each other. The group of trainies is pretty broad which I think will definatly be an asset. So here is a quick run down.
The group is 16 trainees with an even split male to female and an age range of 21 to three retired members, including a married couple who served in Morrocco 25 years ago. 13 of us are in the village based development program(VBD) and three are Intercoastal Management(ICM). The backgrounds of the group cover a broad range including agriculture, business, economics, marine biology, politcal science, and theater. The group also covers the geographic spread of the US. More about folks as stories arise.
Since we arrived in country we have been in the capital Apia in a nice small hotel getting some initial training. We will head out to a village on the south shore of Upolu next weekend where the majority of our training will take place. Samoa is an incrfedibly beautiful place and I have been enjoying every minute that I've been here. Our days have been filled with a variety of activities and training sessions. We usually have four sessions a day broken up by tea or lunch. Language training has been wonderful and is about a third of our time. Other topics have been culture, an intro to some of the counterpart organizations, and medical which has included a few shots but all pretty basic ones. The training staff is wonderful and are all full time staff members which is a great asset.
Over the weekend I was lucky enough to spend both saturday and sunday afternoons on beaches relaxing. The water here is wonderful and very clear. Much of the island is reef protected and both beaches I was at had lots of fish and other aquatic life.
We have also been getting to know some of the current volunteers at various training and after hours events. They had a welcome pot luck and party for us saturday night. It seems like this will be a wonderful place to serve the next couple years. There is one volunteer here with a civil background and from talking to her seems like there are going to be lots of oppertunities to use my skills at levels ranging from village to national levels. She is leaveing next week so I hope to glean as much info as possible while she is still here.
Need to head back for the afternoon sessiions soon, but things here are great we're eating well and having some great times. More to come soon .
peace
tim
The group is 16 trainees with an even split male to female and an age range of 21 to three retired members, including a married couple who served in Morrocco 25 years ago. 13 of us are in the village based development program(VBD) and three are Intercoastal Management(ICM). The backgrounds of the group cover a broad range including agriculture, business, economics, marine biology, politcal science, and theater. The group also covers the geographic spread of the US. More about folks as stories arise.
Since we arrived in country we have been in the capital Apia in a nice small hotel getting some initial training. We will head out to a village on the south shore of Upolu next weekend where the majority of our training will take place. Samoa is an incrfedibly beautiful place and I have been enjoying every minute that I've been here. Our days have been filled with a variety of activities and training sessions. We usually have four sessions a day broken up by tea or lunch. Language training has been wonderful and is about a third of our time. Other topics have been culture, an intro to some of the counterpart organizations, and medical which has included a few shots but all pretty basic ones. The training staff is wonderful and are all full time staff members which is a great asset.
Over the weekend I was lucky enough to spend both saturday and sunday afternoons on beaches relaxing. The water here is wonderful and very clear. Much of the island is reef protected and both beaches I was at had lots of fish and other aquatic life.
We have also been getting to know some of the current volunteers at various training and after hours events. They had a welcome pot luck and party for us saturday night. It seems like this will be a wonderful place to serve the next couple years. There is one volunteer here with a civil background and from talking to her seems like there are going to be lots of oppertunities to use my skills at levels ranging from village to national levels. She is leaveing next week so I hope to glean as much info as possible while she is still here.
Need to head back for the afternoon sessiions soon, but things here are great we're eating well and having some great times. More to come soon .
peace
tim
posted by tim at 6:19 PM
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