Talofa!

I am in Samoa...FINALLY!!! It has been a whirlwind the past couple of days. Talofa...means Hello here in Samoan. We got here at 5:30 am yesterday and we got our luggage and had some current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) meet us at the airport. It was really nice and pretty cool! Then we got on a bus to Apia, the capital, where we are staying at an air-conditioned hotel. very nice.

So we rested then had an Ava ceremony...a traditional Samoan ceremony. It was mostly done in Samoan, so i didn't understand what was going on, but it was TOUGH sitting cross-legged for 30 minutes. Near impossible. I thought my feet were going to fall off. But thankfully, for us girls, we can sit with our legs to the side, but guys can't. But still, my legs were going to fall off I thought. Then we had to say a line in Samona and then had to drink a cup of ava...or kava. This root that is grown here and is a popular drink here in Saamoa (that's how they say it here!) and in the South Pacific.

We got a tour of Apia then went out for some drinks with some PCVs. It was fun, but we were exhausted by 9pm. It was nice sleeping for 9 hours.

Today just a long day of training!! The weather isn't too hot here yet...but it's still hot. I'll really have to get used to it. We had cake for a fellow trainee today, Emilio since it is his birthday.

And now I better be off, I'll write again soon! I'll try and write more on my laptop and then upload it here.

I love you and miss you all!!!