Here We Go!

Only a few more days before I head off! I’ll be flying to Honolulu for staging/orientation on the 6^th, and less than 48 hours later the whole gang leaves for Micronesia!

The most common question I’ve gotten for the past two months has been, “Micronesia? Where’s that?” So here is a map for reference:

The Federated States of Micronesia have a total land area of 702 km2 (to put that in perspective, Rhode Island is 3,140 km2), but the islands are spread out over an expanse of the Pacific Ocean about as big as the United States. Crazy.

We’ll have six weeks of training on the island of Pohnpei, and then volunteers will be divided up to serve in Kosrae, the Chuuk islands, the Republic of Palau, or Pohnpei for two years of service. Since each group of islands has its own language, we won’t know what language to start learning until several weeks in! (According to the Peace Corps website, volunteers learn either Chuukese, Kosraean, Mortlockeese, Mwoakilese, Palauan, Pingelapese, Pohnpeian, Sapwuahfik, Ulithian, or Yapese -  whew!)

At whatever site I end up, I'll be working as an English teacher and a community development worker. The community development side of things is pretty vague - it's going to depend a lot on where I end up and what the specific needs of that community are. 

I’ll do my best to keep this blog updated, but I don’t know how often I’ll be able to get internet access – it varies a lot depending on the island! We'll see if I even have electricity!

But even if I can't keep in touch through the internet, here's a great perk of serving in Micronesia - because of arrangements between the two countries, mailing a letter to Micronesia is only 45 cents! That's right - for the same price as mailing a letter to your next-door neighbor, you can send one to a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 15,000 miles away! (Of course, it does take several weeks to arrive...) You can reach me at:

Mia Neidhardt
Peace Corps/Micronesia
PO Box 9
Kolonia, Pohnpei, FM 96941

Here’s hoping for a good adventure ahead!