"Looks like we made it"

We made it! All 46 of us in the Health/EE Stage.

We were excited, what can I say?

It's official, I am no longer a Peace Corps trainee, but a Peace Corps Volunteer. Time for the real work to begin. The day started off early, I set my alarm for 5:30am took a shower and did my hair (the American way, I had just enough fancy hair products left for one day of controlled curls). The buses left for Dakar at 7am. Sadly, we did not get a police escort this year, as coincidentally, the President of Cote d'Ivoire was in Dakar the same day as our swear-in. I guess this means that I'm not as important as I thought. 


It took us about 2 hours to get to the Ambassador's house in Dakar, which is where the ceremony took place. Everyone looked fabulous in their Senegalese outfits (just look at the above photos if you need proof). The ceremony was very nice. Our country director, Chris Hendrik and the American Ambassador to Senegal gave very nice speeches and Etienne, our training manager looked like he was on the verge of tears for most of the occasion. After we stood up to take our swear-in oath (complete with the raising of our right hands) I felt like we should have had graduation caps to throw in the air, headwraps just don't give the same effect. To expand on that, I will say that swear-in felt like the most intense graduation ceremony I have ever taken part in. I wish I could remember the exact words of the oath that we had to repeat, just to give you a better idea. 


With the conclusion of the ceremony, we were invited to enjoy cocktails and hor d'oeuvres out on the Ambassador's patio in the backyard. After some lovely food (my first guacamole since being in country and possibly my last for the next 2 years) and many pictures, we were off to the American Club for the paperwork aspect of the day. We were given our bank cards (yay for no longer having to scrounge for CFA and being a poor PC trainee) and made to fill out some other miscellaneous paperwork, and with that, the process was complete. We had a few hours to enjoy ourselves around the pool at the American Club and at 4pm we were back on the buses and headed for Thies. (Sidenote: rush-hour traffic is not just an American thing. It took us a little over 3 hours to get back to Thies from Dakar. The ride was torturous.)


Today is a day for packing and last minute errands, not to mention other important things like laundry (although, I definitely think that I will be paying my homestay family to do mine for me. When I do it, I'm not really convinced that my clothes are really getting all that clean). I feel lucky that I have the whole day to get things in order. The people going to Kedougou left at 8:30 this morning, and those PC volunteers going to the regions of Kaolack, Linguere and St. Louis are leaving this afternoon at 2pm. Sunday looms bright and early for me, as I'm scheduled to leave at 6am! At least I'll have plenty of time to sleep during the 7-hour car ride. I just hope I don't forget any of my stuff here in Thies. I also hope that everything fits in the car. I'm sharing it with two other PCVs and between our bags, our bikes and other miscellaneous items, I think it might be a tight fit. Once I get to Tamba, I'll have until Wednesday afternoon to get all the stuff i will need for my hut (bed, mattress, buckets, etc.). Wednesday = Day Zero 


Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel

Me and Hailey

Me and Andrew

Kirsten, Me and Nic