swearing-in ceremony

Hey all,

So yesterday, I became a Peace Corps volunteer for real! All 25 of us made it! We had a very nice swearing-in ceremony, held at the US Ambassador's residence (in a lovely location, right on the beach). Lots of speaches, blahty-blah, we took the oath of office, and sang a song all in Wolof. Here are some pics of me and the crew.

If you'll notice, we're all matchy-matchy in our clothing. its common for groups or clubs to go out and choose fabric together, and then wear it for special occasions. this is called asobi. All the heath volunteers are dressed in the brown and tan fabric with the sort of organic pattern. All the agro-forestry volunteers are in the blue geometric one. then you just take the fabric to a tailor, and have whatever you want made. i've got a fitted skirt and top and matching head-wrap (I can;t tie it well, so i didn;t wear it), the whole outfit is called a completo. i like the african style clothing enough, but i super love the fabrics, so i think i'm going to have lots of american style clothing made from them.

then later, we had a big barbecue with the other PCV's, then went out for karaoke.

this morning they took us all shopping for house stuff. its been a bit of a ridiculous day, and i'm zonked. i do finally have a bed and a gas stove, as well as some pots and pans. it was just a hassle being a bunch of americans all together in an open air market with everyone bustling around, trying to buy stuff and bargain enough not to get ripped off.

tomorrow morning, they are driving us all to our various sites, and dumping us off. this next portion is called Three Month Challenge, and we are asked to stay in our villages for the next three months without leaving for a significant amount of time. As in, day trips, but no overnight. We need to be working on our integration, language, and relationships with the village. I'm excited, but honest enough to know that i'm going to cry when they drive away. Time for some serious alone time.

I'm sure I'll be online sometime in the next couple of weeks, but probably not before then. Anyhoo, love you all!


Oh, and a few letters wouldn't hurt. I love the snail mail. I've been writing, but if for some reason I missed you, and you want a letter, send one! My address is at the top of this blog page!