Change that mailing address to PCV!

I am officially a volunteer! Yesterday there was a ceremony with lots of important guests, and we read the oath and now are officially Peace Corps Volunteers. We had the pleasure of hearing speeches from the U.S. Ambassador in Guinea, and Tom Gallagher who in the very FIRST group of Peace Corps Volunteers. He gave an inspiring and moving speech that brought some of us to tears. He even mentioned that he and his group of volunteers still get together for reunions and have been doing so for 20 years! We can only hope that G 15 is albe to keep up. Our Country Director Steve gave a moving speech, and he even shed some tears. Steve is leaving Guinea after being here for 5 years sometime later in the year, he cares very much about this country and the future of Peace Corps here. It was nice to see how much he cares about all of us as well. After the ceremony we mixed and mingled and ate lots and lots of finger foods because we won't be eating like that for a long long time. Then we enjoyed some swimming, and headed to the beach bar to start the celebration which lasted well into the early hours of the morning.

Tomorrow some of us head off to our respective sites to await installation. Installation is just a fancy word for taking us around to meet the important people in town so that they know we are there... like they wouldn't be able to tell. However its very important in Guinea to always introduce yourself to the officials and stop in regularly, relationships = extremely important. Then after that we move into our respective homes and begin our service. I will officially serve from feb 8, 2008 to feb 8, 2010. Let the countdown begin. I am nervous and excited, mostly nervous to start work and leave all the other volunteers. But we should be able to stay in touch regularly and have an In-service training in May where we'll spend 2 weeks going over our first 3 months of service and the like. It will certainly be a challange. Well I will leave you with this for now. Just wanted to post a quick update. But do check out the video I posted of the Ambassador getting ready to swear us in and I posted some pics as well.




a nice little re-enactment.

The February Birthday Girls!

Zach, Me and Adam before swearing in.

Josh (my APCD), Me and Steve, the Country Director

The Guinean Flag on the Beach.