Real Life as a PCV

It hasn´t been that long since I last posted, but so much has happened that I don´t even know where to begin!

Swearing in was last Wednesday and a really nice ceremony. The training center was decorated nicely, everyone dressed up and was looking sharp, the US Charge d´affairs led the ceremony, and it was an all round great time! It was in the morning with speeches from the training manager, country director and charge d´affairs, along with a representative from each program. From there we all had to stand, raise our right hand, and take the official Peace Corps oath. Well, there was a lot of confusion about what was supposed to happen, etc, so our oath ended up being ´´I, Kerry Cavanaugh, so help me God.´´ It was quite hilarious, and a large group of us took the full oath together in town during lunch so that we actually felt like we were sworn in...

Wednesday was a day of goodbyes to the great new friends I´ve made and to the host family who was so kind to me during the first 11 weeks in country. We all hung out in town together, then I went home for some more pics with the host family, a banana cake they had made, and a few promises to visit in November. I then packed all of my stuff up (I somehow managed to gain a full other bag from when I first arrived, and still had to leave behind a few things...) and I left early Thursday morning. I got to ride with Orrin to Riobamba as we made a few last plans for visits and staying in touch, then he got off and I was on my own!

I spent Thursday night in Azogues with the volunteer Britney who is near me. We stayed in a hotel, but ended up hanging out with Lucy and her friends until late at night. We drove into Zhoray with Lucy on Friday, so I was able to drop off all my bags, see the Friday market, spend a few hours with the host family, etc before leaving with Lucy for the weekend. There had been confusion about whether my host family would be home then or not, so Lucy had already made plans for me.

We hung out with Lucy´s friends again on Friday night, sitting around with them singing and playing guitar with all the American songs they know. We then slept at Lucy´s house that night and left Saturday morning to go to La Troncal, a coastal town about 3.5 hours from Azogues that was in fiestas. There were 9 of us on the trip, the 4 guys in a band that competed at the huge battle of the bands competition in La Troncal that night. We hung out during the day, then went and listened to the bands from 9pm-3am. The band we were with won 2nd place, which was really excited, so we stayed up until about 4:30am hanging out and celebrating.

I was a little tired from there, so we spent Sunday travelling back and just relaxing at Lucy´s house in Azogues, then I went into Zhoray on Monday morning to actually start my life there. Everything has been going really well so far. It is SO nice to have MacKenzie, the current volunteer, still around because she is able to show me the ropes and tell me what is really going on in the town. I´ve been spending days at the subcentro, but there´s not a lot for me to do for now, so just hanging around and observing. I´ll try and start on the medicinal garden next week to keep a little more busy! I met with the director of the school and classes are starting soon, so I think I´ll be teaching English and helping in the school one morning a week, which will hopefully be fun! Other than that I´m just adjusting to my new life as best I can.

There is so much more that has happened, but the only other bus that goes into Zhoray is leaving in a few minutes and I still need to buy some fruit, some fabric to make curtains in my room, and then find the bus terminal. I´m going to try to keep a blog on my computer now so that I can share all the great new stories and just upload them when I get to internet, but it is probably not going to be too often - every 10 to 15 days or so because it is quite the trip in. Cell phone service is VERY limited, although it does exist in one windowsill in my house, the only place in 2.5 hrs from Azogues to have service (and only when it isn´t raining...). It is still there though, so that´s comforting and it was great to talk to dad last night!

I´m travelling again this weekend with my family to Santo Domingo, but hopefully after this it will settle down a little more and I´ll get more integrated into the tranquila life of Zhoray. I hope all is well in the states and that I hear from you all soon - I love getting all the notes and messages!

Besos,

Kerry