We’ve been in DOE training for the past three days. On Monday, I found out I will be teaching fourth grade! And then I met my principal and found out, nuh-uh, I will be teaching second grade! haha. So, unless it changes again, I will be a 2nd grade teacher at Faleasao Elementary this year. And I’ll only have nine students! So stoked! Most of the kids will not speak English well and some may not speak it at all. I’m really excited about being able to focus so much on TEFL! We also found out which house we’ll be living in today and that we are going to have a roommate. So much information!

Wes and I (and another outer-island volunteer) are staying in the village of Leone with 3 WorldTeach friends. Their house is fantastic. They have lime, lemon, coconut, papaya, and banana trees in the yard. They also have this cool little store right in front of their house so they don’t have to go too far to get the basics. If I were living on the mainland I’d totally want to live here. One of the girls, Quinn, and I walked down to sliding rock yesterday (photos later..) and explored the coast. This area is much more remote/rural than where we were and where most of the other volunteers are now. I definitely prefer this area, and that makes me feel pretty good about moving to Faleasao.

The other elementary volunteer and I are flying to Ta’u tomorrow. My flight leaves around 1pm. It’ll be weird getting to our house before Wes, but at least I’ll be able to see my classroom sooner than I thought.

I’ll try to post some more photos/updates after we get to Ta’u. Pray for safe flights for us! :)