It's Official

*Check out my new pictures from my swearing in ceremony.
Click on Photo Album on the right.

I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer!!!

After two months of intensive training, banging my head against a wall, eating massive amounts of food, late night studying, parties, and serving kava; I have made it. With all this under my belt, I have only just begun. I fly on Wednesday to Vava'u where I will be doing homestay for an undetermined amount of time. This is due to the Tongan Way of slow pace life that has led to my house not being completed. I was expecting this to some degree so I'm not too disappointed. I am hoping that I will be able to move into my house in about two weeks to a month. I'm not sure if I'm setting my sights to high, but I am eager to unpack my bags.

The swearing in ceremony was lovely and I hope to have a few pictures up shortly. We listened to prayers, wonderful speeches, and then more prayers before eating a delicious meal of Tongan delights. The food is growing on me although I can't wait to start cooking for myself. We as trainees had to raise our right hand and swear an official oath. We were then presented a certificate and a Peace Corps pin. I heard that with the humidity here that the pins fall apart pretty quickly. The night ended with a slide show of pictures from training and some music and dancing entertainment. We had a Noble in attendance to welcome us to work in Tonga and I was shocked at how many rules there are in regards to being in his presence. I know I will make many cultural mistakes over these two years.

It started pouring rain in the middle of the night. As I left the guest house, that I'm presently staying in, this morning the streets were flooded. I had to circle around several extra blocks to get to the Peace Corps office. I then got splashed from a huge puddle by a passing truck. I made it to the office soaking wet and laughing at myself.

Love you all,
Adrianne