Officially a PCV

I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)! I have completed training, and on Friday I will move in to my site/village. I’m looking forward to moving in so that I can unpack all of my junk and get everything organized. Living out of a bag is fun for a while, but after a few months it becomes a hassle, especially when you continue to accumulate more and more junk.

Here are some pictures from the Swearing In ceremony at the US Ambassador's home near Lilongwe:

While we were waiting for things to start, the Ambassador's dog, Atlas, provided some entertainment.

Next, we have (from left to right) the Peace Corps Malawi Country Director Dale Mosier (he will be ending his service as CD of Malawi in the next few days after six(?) years hear in Malawi), yours truely, and the US Ambassador to Malawi Peter Bodde. That tie of mine probably deserves an explanation. To start, you must know that short, fat ties are very fashionable here in Malawi. Wanting to fit in, I went to the market one day trying to find one. After digging through some piles of clothes and asking around, I found this lovely tie for under 1USD.

This is my language class with our trainer, Matthews, looking confused.

Last, here is the always entertaining Harry (our trusty driver whom will be delivering me and all of my belongings to site) and myself.
I have never been one to get very excited about ceremonies, but this was nice, and at the end of it I felt proud to be a new member of the Peace Corps. I shouldn't forget to mention that the food afterwards was fantastic. I ate way too much, but I felt that it was neccessary for me to take advantage of the situation since I will be diving into the village lifestyle soon I village lifestyle where quantity of food is more important than variety and quality.

On a different note, I am starting to miss some of the comforts of home, but at the same time I am thrilled to be here and everyday provides new excitement. The next few months (the beginning of service), are what most PCVs call the hardest so I’m trying to get mentally prepared for that. It will be a huge social change for me once I get to site since I have been living closely with 21 other trainees for the past few months. We have developed good relationships with each other, and I think it will be a huge shock for us all once we are alone at our respective sites.

Nevertheless, we are making plans for Christmas so that a bunch of us can get back together and share our horror stories from the first few weeks at site. Right now it looks like we’re going to head over to the lake for a few days of relaxation on the beach. I expect the homesickness will really set in once I get to site with Christmas coming up, and thus it will be nice to reconnect with some other Americans for a few days.

To anyone that is reading this: feel free to contact me. The easiest way would be through email. Notice that I have now posted my phone number; texting is fairly cheap, and it is free for me to receive your phone calls. Also, notice that you can post comments on this blog and . Finally, please tell me what you want to hear about on this blog. Right now I’m just rambling on about what I think is interesting, but if ya’ll want some other details just let me know.