Well, it looks like it's about that time to start a blog! For those of you who know me, you might've read "Sarah Goes Australian," documenting my time spent studying abroad. This felt like the perfect opportunity for a sequel! However, keep in mind that I was a math major in college and blogging is not my calling in life. This blog is also quite different because it is likely that future Peace Corps Volunteers will read it as they prepare for their journey. So, hello strangers and thanks for following along!
Anyways, I leave tomorrow morning to begin 27 months (yes, over two years!) as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa. I will be serving as a "Primary School English Literacy Resource Teacher," which is just a fancy way of saying I will be teaching English in a village in Samoa. Now you all are thinking to yourselves, "Where is Samoa?!" Samoa (not to be confused with American Samoa) is a tiny little group of islands located essentially in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
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| Good thing I like the ocean, I guess! |
There are two main islands of Samoa: Savai'i and Upolu. The first three months of my time will be spent training and learning the Samoan language and I'll be on Upolu for that. Those of you who know me just laughed out loud because I am horrendous with languages, so that'll be quite interesting. The Peace Corps has sent me some language material and the best thing I've learned so far is "'Ou te le malamalama," which means "I don't understand." I have a feeling I will be saying this a lot, which works out well because I love the word "malamalama."
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| The two main islands of Samoa. |
So, how does one exactly get to the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Well, it's quite the process, let me tell you. I leave tomorrow morning (September 30th, 2015) and fly from DC to Chicago to Honolulu, Hawaii. We have orientation in Honolulu (casual, I know). Then, all Peace Corps Samoa Volunteers fly together to Apia, which is the capital. We're there for about a week and then we move to Sa'anapu, which is a village on the Southwestern side of Upolu. I'm in that village for the three months of training.
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| How to get to the opposite side of the world! |
Well, now you have somewhat of an idea where I will be and what I'll be doing. I'm beyond grateful for the opportunity and can't wait to see what Samoa has to offer! My access to internet will not be constant, so updates to this blog are going to be very intermittent, but stay tuned. I won't have my American phone number, so I would love to receive letters and have many pen pals! My address for at least training is:
Sarah Brown, PCV
Peace Corps
Private Mail Bag
Apia, (Western) Samoa
South Pacific
Peace out, America... Sarah is going Samoan!
