Training so far.

The view of the island from the plane

The beach right where i am staying

The sunset from the directors house

our training group getting ready to drink kava

Our Trainers, Kevin and Elinda

So i've been keeping a journal but i feel like it is very wordy and i'll be trying to keep the updates to the important stuff. I've been here now since sunday and already been having some great adventures. I found out that the locals who are our language trainers like playing volleyball so we've gone down to the beach and played with them. Also my card tricks have been a huge hit with one of the older trainers named George and he's been teaching me the language a lot while trying to explain the card tricks. Also, the machete i brought was a big hit and everyone wanted me to get down a coconut and chop it up on the first day so i obliged and ended up getting stung by a hornet cause there was a nest in the tree haha. It stung quite bad but luckily i'm not allergic.  Kava was a different experience, it tasted like mowed grass to me but the effect was quite unique. The area is beautiful but soon we'll be moving out of the orientation site and headed to the training village. Island life is definitely slower moving nothing is quite on time but as most people know me that works out quite well. Looking forward to whats to come and ill try to keep it updated.

The Start

This time it really is the start and its still hard to imagine being gone for two years. I dont feel as if i made any proper good byes because i couldnt imagine not talking to or seeing my friends in the next month or so. Now sitting in LA waiting for my busy day of orientation to start i cant help but think about all the people i just left because im finally going so i'm not just looking forward to my departure anymore. Today has certainly been a harder day for me than any day leading up to this point. So much emotion and so much anticipation.
I hope i can manage to fall asleep tonight!

Mailing address

I'm about to be going and couldn't be more excited!
My mailing address for the next 3 months is:
Nic Thiltges, PCV
Peace Corps
Private Mail Bag 9097
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Ph.# (678) 26-160 


i'd love to get mail and i will certainly do my best to write everyone back! it will depend a lot on how busy i am and how available the resources to write the letters are :)

The Start?

I leave a question mark because I feel that this really isn't the start to my adventure but simply the start to me finally making a blog for people to follow. The start to my Peace Corps experience began in august of 2009 and after what felt like hundreds of trips to the doctors office and a lot of back and for with the Peace Corps I was all set and waiting for my invitation to go to Africa as a secondary education science teacher. A month before my proposed leave date I got a phone call that my program had been cancelled and I was going to receive another nomination. As I received my nomination I was slightly disheartened as I anticipated another long segment of waiting before finding any new information out. To my pleasant surprise while camping in the Redwoods I received a voice mail from the Peace Corps Pacific desk notifying me that my invitation was in the mail. A full two months later and here I sit, finally starting my blog and beginning to realize that I will be leaving soon for a full 27 months. Sometimes I still feel as if it isn't really happening yet, so for now I'll leave the question mark on this post's title.