Life in the Peace Corps: Our last free trip to St. Lucia

Since the Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean is spread out over 6 island nations, they flew all the EC 77 volunteers (the 77th group in the Eastern Caribbean) to St. Lucia one last time for our Close of Service Conference. The purpose was to have a time of reflection and prepare to return home, which I initially thought was premature since we aren't leaving til August, but I didn't realize how much there is to think about: wrapping up our projects, giving constructive feedback to the directors, if our projects have been successful, saying goodbye, re-adjusting to life in the U.S., relaying our experience to people back home, and most importantly, how to gain medical clearance to leave (a very lengthy process that involves 3 stool samples). It was quite a whirlwind of emotions. I don't know how I'm going to say goodbye to half the people I know. And I hadn't even begun to think about how to tell my story when I go home, especially to the people who just want a one-sentence answer, because how do you sum up 2 years in a foreign country? I know I keep this blog, but the highlights I write about here sometimes skip over the day-to-day details that make up my experience here.

This trip was also our last time to have fun together as the group we came in as...or what's left of us since only 51 out of the original 70+ survived (and you thought the Caribbean was paradise). Team Grenada took this opportunity to show the other islands how superior we are, and the only island not to lose any volunteers from our group! "The family that plays together, stays together."

Team Grenada!

Everyone that survived

The Fabulous Four of St. Vincent & Grenada

I also visited my homestay family in Mon Repos (Mo Po), whom I lived with for 3 weeks during pre-service training. It's crazy how much the little girls have grown and really shows you the time that's passed! Mikayla & Tremahni were just as adorable as I remembered them. I also had a great time with my mom Brenda and my older sisters Sharalee, Shara, and Emily, and feel like I got to know them better than when I was living in their house. It's actually neat to see how much more comfortable I felt all-around. To see what a difference 2 years makes not only on the relationships I've built with their family, but also how much more in-tune I feel with the cultural norms. Of course they still speak French Creole/Patois (the 2nd language on St. Lucia) when they want to talk about me without me understanding. :)

There was one instance where there was a huge communication gap though. We spent the afternoon driving around and running errands, and then stopped at the house of their friend. She welcomed us in, offered us drinks, and we sat down. After a few minutes, more people started trickling in and sitting in the living room as well. I turned to my sister Shara and asked her if this woman was expecting a lot of company or something, and she replied "Rachel...this is a WAKE. I thought you knew." :) Anyway, all this to say that I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my Lucian family again and getting to say a proper goodbye to Mo Po...my first Caribbean home.

My homestay sister Mikayla