It's official... I'm a PCV!!!

Last evening, in front of the Director of PC and the US Ambassador to The Gambia, all 15 of us swore in. All of the girls wore matching outfits. I really thought that the whole thing would look really lame, but we all ended up looking really good!!! Most groups just sort of pull together any random outfit that they can find, but our group really put the time into making sure that we looked really nice. Our performance went really well. All day long we all have been told that we did a really good job, and that the whole thing was really cool. It's great because we all come out looking like stars, and really all we did was create a program for the Dir because the PC forced us to do so. The best part of the whole thing was the giant feast that followed!!! There was so much food, and we all really made pigs of ourselves. Swearing in really reminded me a lot of graduation. We had to walk up to the front and shake hands with everyone, and we even recieved a certificate with a patch and pin. As I was shaking hands with a Sec of something in The Gambia, he asked me if I played basketball. I was like um I used to, and then everyone around me started to laugh. The stage was really small, so my picture with the director probably turned out really bad because I couldn't figure out where the photographer was standing. The whole thing took place at the Ambassador's house, and let me tell you it was a really nice place!!! It was located on the beach, and everything was super nice. We all took turns using the bathroom, and it was like being back in the US for a few minutes. I felt really special when we were kicked out of the place because the Ambassador had ANOTHER event later in the evening. After that we all attended a Jul-Brew party that sort of acted as a welcome party.

Today was my big day with the PC worldwide director. I had to meet every early for the trip (which is not fun after a night of socializing). We picked up the dir, his personal asst, and the director of Africa for PC, and we were on our way. I ended up riding with the Africa Dir, and she told me all about the election. She was that McCain has it for the Republicans, and then went on to describe how things are going crazy for the Democrats. Sounds like things are really interesting back in the States. The presentation for the Dir was really supposed to be all about the Women's group and what they are doing, but it sort of turned into a appreciation thing for the girl that I am replacing. I felt really weird at first, and then they mentioned me and said that they are very excited that I am coming to live there. The director looked really uncomfortable the whole time, and it made me really think about how the little things do not bother me any more. Watching him look nervous around the random people that would scream, and just do weird, every day things, made me realize that nothing bothers me any more. Most of the time I never even remember that I am in Africa, and then I have these random moments where I am like "oh wow, I really do live in Africa." When the program was over, the director really needed to use the restroom, so he had to use my pit latrine. My host family was working on raising the wall (currently I am taller than the thing), and everyone had to be called from what they were doing so the dir could use the restroom. It was pretty funny. We took a group pic, and then it was time for the dir and his posse to move on. I thanked him for coming, and then I had a random little conversation with him that ended with him telling me "thanks for serving." It was pretty random, and I was just like thanks.
So tomorrow I move to my new home for two years!!! It felt really nice to visit today and have everyone remember me from last week and be really excited to see me. The village is really nice, and everyone there seems to be really cool. I plan on going back to GPI right now, and downloading some pictures and then coming back tonight and downloading them. Talk to my mom about getting pictures. I found out from one of the girls in my group that our moms have been talking and that my mom got some pics from her mom. I have a lot to do tonight, but I would really like to be able to put some pics up. I think that they are all pretty random, but there are some from swearing in that are pretty nice.