SWEARING IN

So I am an OFFICIAL peace corps volunteer now, I’m not longer a trainee. That was a really exciting day. It has been a very intense 10 weeks of cramming in all the practical stuff as to how we are going to do our work in our new communities. Plus, very long and exhausting hours of Spanish class. I was mostly nervous about my Spanish, because I’ve been in the lowest level Spanish class for awhile, but fortunately, I improved enough to move up to the Intermediate Medium group which allowed me to “graduate”!! So I was very excited!!

Swearing in was a really nice day. On the morning of November 26th we went to the other training center. Which I may have mentioned before, I am a part of Peru 16, I am in the health program, but along with the health program there is water and sanitation and environmental groups that make up the 72 of us in Peru 16. The other 2 groups train at a center about a half hour away from where I’ve been training. Their center is beautiful, it’s all open, very tropical, you feel like your in the jungle. It was a beautiful place for our swearing in. That day we got Peruvian tacos which were delicious and we did a few last minute odds and ends. And of course we got all dressed up! And in the afternoon I swore in.

The US Ambassador for Peru came, and she was the person who read our oath. The oath is the same oath that the US military takes as well as federal government employees. It made me feel really official. All of the important Peace Corps people who have helped us along the way were there, as well as the Peru Peace Corps director, and even our host families. The entire day was very surreal, it is so hard to believe how far I have come, and some days it’s hard to believe I am even here. So I was very proud to have made it this far, and to be a part of something so huge.

The rest of the day was filled with crazy emotions. Swearing in isn’t only the passage way into the Peace Corp, it is also the door that closes a chapter of this journey. All of us volunteers were congratulating each other but also starting to say our goodbye because we are all being scattered across the country, and it could be months to a year that we are going to see each other again.

The festivities weren’t over with the swearing in, later that night after running home and trying to get myself packed, I went out with the other volunteers in Chosica. There was a little cantina with an second floor that had decent music so most of Peru 16 was there enjoying our last night together. Which my host Mom explained to me later that cantina’s in Peru are known for alcoholic men sitting and drinking their sorrows away, and discotecas are for dancing. So there really isn’t an in-between here, so us Americans turned that little cantina in our own bar/club. It was my first time going out with everyone since I’ve been here….it was also my first time enjoying a BOX of sangria. We danced a lot, some drank a lot, but it was a really great last night. Again, the end was the hardest we all had to say our real goodbyes and there were lots of tears….which could have been contributed to the drinking, but all in all it was difficult.

The following day, Saturday, meant it was time to get packed and at 6:00 I had a bus that was going to be taking me to Piura. So decided to spend the day with my host family, we watched a video they had made of my little host sisters birthday party I attended my second week here. It was funny and embarrassing to watch me try and speak Spanish back then. They also had their first volunteer call me (she just finished up her 2 years) and she gave me some encouraging words as I was about to start my service. We also went to visit all of their relatives in the neighborhood and they give me little gifts and nice words to send me off. It was so sweet!

Later that day the taxi came to take me away and that was really difficult for me. I have gotten so attached to that family. They have become such a huge part of my life, and when I came to this country and didn’t know a thing or how to communicate with anyone they helped me with it all. Plus, I believe they generally really cared about me too, I have been told the door is always open and to call all the time. Plus….the asked me to be the godmother for their son’s first holy communion next November and I am REALLY excited about that, so I will be going back many times to visit them. So I am happy to know that I will be seeing them again, but at the same time I wish I could have taken them with me and lived with them for the next to years. So when I gave my final goodbyes I was very very teary.

Later that night, we got on the bus to go to Piura, the Peace Corps splurged on our last bus trip from Lima, we got the 180 beds, which means we all had our little cubicles in pairs with a TV and very very comfy chairs that turn into beds. However, stupid me and the guy I was sitting with didn’t realize that the part where our feet rested raised up to make the bed, so the next morning when we discovered that we were pissed!! That would have been a way better 16 hour bus ride with our feet up!