It's official!

Well, we were sworn in yesterday officially as volunteers. We all got up early in the morning, and got dressed in fancy dresses and suits and ties, and went to the US Embassy for a swearing in ceremony.

The ceremony reminded me a little bit of college graduation. There were various speakers, and each volunteer got a chance to introduce themselves, and say what project they were working with. The speeches were actually very inspiring. They weren't the cheesy college graduation speeches you get that seem to repeat the same idea over and over again "go out and change the world!" "You are all going to inspire the people you are around!" I guess those speeches were always just hard for me to swallow one after another, especially when I knew in my mind that most of these people didn't even really have any idea what their next step in life was, let alone were beginning to have ideas about changing the world. I suppose that is one of the reasons these speeches were so inspiring this time around. Because we really are getting ready to go out and change the world, but with a realistic attitude that the changes might not be so big.

The ceremony was followed by a delicious lunch, and an afternoon at the mansion of the Ambassador. His mansion consisted of a pool, tennis courts, a volleyball court and basketball court. So we definatly took advantage of the time, and had a great afternoon as new volunteers! Today, I am taking advantage of the fact that I'm a vounteer and sitting in their computer lounge at the Peace Corps office, using free internet (something we weren't able to do as trainees). I have been spending the day getting small errands done, and I am off tomorrow! I will probably not be able to get to the internet for a while, so if you don't hear from me, that would be why. So long friends, and I will talk to you the next time I emerge from my mountain......