Swearing In

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe that it is 2010! In case you are wondering, my New Years resolution is to live in Kenya...

Secondly, it's finally official! I am a United States Peace Corps Volunteer! After the intense application process, 9 weeks of training, passing my Kiswahili language proficiency exam and more or less acclimating to life in Kenya, I was finally officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer today, along with the other 24 men and women from my training class. Our training class is a first for Peace Corps Kenya, with all 25 of us passing our language exam and all of us being sworn in as volunteers! We feel very lucky that none of us have needed to go home due to medical complications, nor were any of us sent home for administrative problems, or for not meeting the training requirements! We are awesome!

Our swearing in ceremony also marked the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps working here in Kenya, so the ceremony was held at the US Ambassador's residence and was more elaborate than usual. We listened to speeches from the PC country director, our training manager, the ambassador and the associate PC director of education. Three members of our training class also gave a speech in English, Kiswahili and Kenyan Sign Language. We took our oath of service and were presented with certificates of completion of training... and NOW WE ARE VOLUNTEERS! We are no longer to be referred to as trainees!

After the ceremony we ate cake and other treats, mingled on the gorgeous grounds, and were entertained by Kenyan traditional songs and dancing. Many of the counterparts and newest volunteers joined in dancing, and it was a really fun day! It is kind if surreal to be done with training and officially be a volunteer! I am so excited to start doing the work that I came here to do!

For the last 4 days we have been in Nairobi attending a number of workshops with our counterparts from our respective schools. (On a side note, there was a matatu strike in Nairobi, so we have been forced to use taxis exclusively to get around... which makes this more expensive, but has also allowed us to sing "Hakuna Matatu!"...) At our workshops we have talked about Peace Corps expectations, our expectations and our counterparts expectations, and from those, came up with our job descriptions for when we get to site. With my counterpart, Hellen, we decided that I will be teaching a form 1 biology class, a form 2 biology class, a form 1 chemistry class as well as life skills to both the form 1 and 2 classes. This will make for a total of 16 lessons per week, which I think will be a good load to begin with. I will also be helping coach volleyball at my school, and will possibly start a health club at my school. The main focus for the first term though, is definitely integrating into the community. I want to improve my Dholuo skills, and get a feel for what my schools and communities needs are, before I decide what other projects I may be interested in many a secondary project. I really like my counterpart and am looking forward to working with her and the other teachers at the school for the next two years!

Tomorrow morning we all head out to our respective sites. The girls at my school arrived today, and they will be taking opening exams next week, so I will have a little bit of time to acclimate and purchase the essentials for my house. I will be living on the school compound, and just found out that my school is a almost totally boarding school, and there are also other teachers that live on the compound, so that made me excited!

So, tonight is our last night together as a training class until April when we will get back together for In-Service Training (IST). We have gotten really close as a group, and though it will be hard to leave, we are all excited to get to our sites and get to work! So, tonight we are going out, to celebrate being sworn in, and also to celebrate Jenny's 23rd birthday! And, possibly take advantage of some non-Kenyan food while we are here in Nairobi (I had sushi two nights ago, and it was AMAZING!). I will try and write an update on my school, house and community as soon as I get the chance, and hopefully can include some pictures! I did post a number of pictures on facebook, because I have been able to get free internet here in Nairobi (the following link should allow you to see the pictures, even if you don't have facebook, I hope it works: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045872&id=27501679&l=02d9df7ee7 I included the picture of Charlie and his host mom that I had promised earlier...). Thanks again for all the love and support from home!