That´s me being sworn in as an offical Peace Corps volunteer. The ceremony was at the U.S. ambassador´s house, but unfortunately he couldn´t make it. Still, nice of him to offer us the place. He´s got a pool, tennis courts, and LOTS of bedrooms and bathrooms. The swearing is was really nice. All the volunteers cleaned up pretty well, and the host families and all the staff came. We sang the Costa Rican and US national anthems, then a bunch of people gave speeches in Spanish, included one trainee rep from each program, then we got called up one by one and got certificates and smiled for pictures. Much like any graduation, except this time we´re not really done but only beginning.
We spent the rest of the day that turned into a night of partying in San Pedro, the college town in San Jose that had really fun bars that served more than three types of beer, a falafel place AND a serve yourself frozen yogurt place. Needless to say, it was a wonderful celebration. The night before swearing in, the families in Tarbaca had a little goodbye party for us and gave us handmade gifts to remind us of them and Tarbaca, which was really sweet. So I said one more goodbye to everyone on Saturday morning and then was off.
I got into Quebradas last night (the trip always takes longer than you hope) and settled into my new room, which now has a Winnie the Pooh comforter. Today I spent the morning helping my host mom and her sisters in law prepare food for the 75th birthday party of their mother. My host father has 12 siblings, many of whom live here with spouses and children, so it was a BIG party. Okay my time just ran out at the Internet cafe, will write more later. As of now, I have two years with no real plans!
No comments:
Post a Comment