Hi everybody!

After about 24 hours on planes, and a few more hours of waiting around airports, and meeting and pretty much becoming really attached to people I only met on Wednesday, we've all made it to Vanuatu! It seems in some ways that it has been a long time since I was in Michigan, but it also seems like yesterday. Plus, I've had the greatest Friday the 13th ever because we all completely skipped it. My group left Los Angeles on Thursday, and crossed the International Date Line right into Saturday. Things seem to be happening pretty fast. It feels as if I've known my group a lot longer than four days, and I've had several new experiences (coconut milk right out of the coconut, exploring Port Vila, my first encounter with kava...) When we landed in Port Vila today, we were met by the country director, most of the PC staff, and several volunteers that were near the area. Attached are three pictures that were taken of us - I'm somewhere in the middle holding my coconut and loving the warm weather here. It doesn't feel real to me yet; I'm not sure when it will sink in that I'm living in a foreign country, but it certainly feels very surreal still. And just in case you are wondering who the other 23 people are that I'm with, here's some names to go with the faces in the picture:On the bottom row, there's Randi from Seattle with the red hair, Krissy, Dominique, Julie, Sandra (with the glasses), next to Sandra is Erin, and in front of Erin is Amanda (who, ironically is as much a Canadian citizen as an American one - she has black hair), then there's Jennifer from Atlanta, myself (I like to form my own rows), another Amanda, and Jarrod. In the back row, there is Sarah from Alaska, Adam, Javier, Noah, Matt, Julie, Seth, Tim, Nathan, Kristina, Chris, and finally, Jessica. The other health volunteers in the group are Krissy and Javier (who are married), the Canadian Amanda, and Jessica, as well as myself. Missing from the second picture is David - the oldest at 65 (he's on the far right in the third picture). I'm the youngest volunteer at 22, and also the only one from Michigan. I didn't think I was the youngest, but after surveying everyone, we figured out that I am. Most of the other people are 23, but several are even in their late 20s and early 30s.

At the airport, our luggage was thrown mercilessly onto a truck (all 50 some bags together - mine were at the bottom), and we were herded into two buses (which are really vans). We toured Port Vila, with narrations of the sights by current volunteers. After the tour, we arrived at our hotel, got a little lecture on safety and security, then moved our stuff into our rooms. Soon after, the current volunteers took us to a nakamo, where kava is served (sort of the equivalent of an American bar). There we sat around and "storied", or talked about things. As trainees, all of us have tons of questions, and this gave us the opportunity to talk to current volunteers about their assignments, what they do for food, how they adjusted to life here. At about 6:30 p.m., the sun set, and the whole area became completely dark. That happens all year round here - and people get very used to walking around ruts and on paths in the dark.Our biggest problem so far happened in New Zealand. Our flight from LA landed shortly at 6a.m., and despite being told that we could check our bags all the way to Vanuatu, that's not what actually happened. We all had to collect them in New Zealand, and since we had gone out of the secure area, we had to go through customs. This was an ordeal, because we weren't expecting to go through customs. So, all of us hurridly filled out the customs forms, and several of us (not me) forgot to declare simple things, like our hiking boots (apparently, NZ is very concerned about non-native seeds being tracked in in the treads). Then, when they X-Rayed the bags, they saw the boots, and we all had to take them out of our bags to be inspected. Seth, who had forgotten to declare his, was fined $200 for having dirt on his boots in his luggage. Finally, after we all cleared customs, we went upstairs to check back in. This flight was different from all the rest because there were very specific weight limits that needed to be followed... and none of us were within the guidelines. So, we had to frantically switch around our luggage while in the check-in line to come in under the weight limits for both our checked and carry-on bags. I ended up carrying an extra carry-on with some of my stuff and that of two other people. But, we all made it here safely, and so did all of our belongings.

Tomorrow, all of us have a free day. There's some people that are going to go exploring in the town, and I heard rumors of a swimming trip in the afternoon. Then on Monday, we start our formal training in country, and a week from Sunday, we move to the village of Emua on the northern part of Efate for our host family stays. I might have email access the rest of this week, so please email me back with any comments or questions! And write real letters:

Stephanie Oegema
Peace Corps/Vanuatu
PMB 9097
Port Vila
Republic of Vanuatu

Love!

PS to Jenna and Meagan - I haven't met anyone named Scott yet!