We are finally at our site and ready to settle in, for real this time. We spent the last two weeks in the capital doing various things. The week before last we spent in a hotel, dialy receiving lectures on everything from HIV/AIDS to how our living allowance is broken down.
At the end of the week we had our "Swearing-In" Ceremony, which is an official event where we become volunteers, instead of lowly trainees. We sing the Nicaraguan national anthem, which we also spent time learning the week before. We say goodbye to our training host families. We receive cute little Peace Corps pins. We eat cake.
Last week we spent at another hotel for the "All Volunteer Conference". Here all the PC volunteers in Nicaragua convene to exchange ideas during the day and then have lots of fun during the night. We had an Olympics competition between the sectors (Env. Ed., Agriculture, Health, etc.) that consisted of the usual events (trivia, dodgball, etc.). Unfortunately we got last place.
We also got to grab some Thanksgiving dinner. Peace Corps does a great thing of hooking us up with either a PC or embassy staff member for some good old turkey, stuffing, and football. Kaitlyn and I had dinner at a foreign service person's house. Fascinating life, next year she'll spend learning Russian so she can serve in Moscow for the following three years.
The last few weeks have been great fun spent with the other volunteers. All are very fun and interesting people. Especially our group of course. However, it's going to be a rough transition back to living among Nicaraguans, no air conditioning, and speaking Spanish. It's astonishing how quickly a foreign language can deteriorate.
Hope all is well back home and everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We missed you all.
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