Week 9 was our last week of pre-service training. We had our last tests and interviews and said our last farewells. On the 14th we left for Kigali. The next day a total of 32 trainees, including myself, were officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers at the US ambassador’s house. Many people were there to congratulate us including some of our counterparts and returned PCV’s. National news reporters attended the event too and filmed and interviewed a couple of us. There is a picture on the Peace Corps website of our swear in. The next day we went to Lake Muhazi (north of Rwamagana) for a celebration. The lake is gorgeous and bigger than I thought. A couple people, including me, did some wake boarding. Unfortunately, at the end of my run I fell off but I let go of the rope a little too late. My life jacket brought me to the surface right away and I was nailed in the face by the wake board. It cut the bridge of my nose and my eyebrow. I had to get 2 stitches in my left eyebrow (the 7th time I have had stitches, all on my face) but my nose didn’t need stitches luckily. On the 18th, I departed to my site. Now the 2-year commitment begins. Kinyarwanda is coming along. People are impressed that we are learning Kinyarwanda because most people don’t put forth the effort to learn Kinyarwanda.
Every morning here at site it is very foggy and beautiful. Sometimes I am even lucky enough to hear the Muslim call to prayer.
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Hi My Darling! I'm so sorry to hear about your accident! Happy you're okay, but that must have been a bummer. Wish I could see the lake too. Could you try to email some pics? Congratulations on officially becoming a volunteer!!! You showed up better in the first pictures on the Peace Corps website about a week ago. Rebekah sent the link to all of us and I showed it to Grandad and Nana. They read the whole page and they're all caught up on your blog now too, but they don't know how to make a post to the blog. Seems everyone here is having trouble with that part.
ReplyDeleteI'm missing you very much, but I'm so happy that you're happy and enjoying your work. I can't imagine how difficult it is to learn the language, I'm very impressed. I'm sure the Rwandan people appreciate that. We love reading the cultural notes, it's always interesting to learn about the differences in our cultures. I would love to go there too and meet all the people you have met, they all sound so great!
I will email you soon. It's just been difficult to find time to sit here at the computer lately. I've been working out 5 days a week, determined to reach my weight and health goals by Christmas. Hopefully we can IM soon? I love you with all my heart and I think of you every single day!!! God bless you my love, Mom