Swear-In

Well, I am officially a PCV!! Hard to believe. I get installed at my site on Wednesday and commence 2 years of service to two nations: my own and my new home, Guinea.

The swear-in ceremony was fun. Lots of people we didn't know, lots of fancy outfits, bissap juice and the recitation of the same oath Joe Biden took when he became Vice President of the United States a couple weeks ago. Our country director quoted our new President in his speech and it brought tears to many of our eyes. We are proud to be serving Barack and have a real sense of purpose. OH and I bought a big poster of Barack from a kid on the street yesterday. He's everywhere in this country!

We gave speeches in Susu, Pular, Malinke and French. Katie did Susu (it went over really well!), Sasha did Pular and Mike did Malinke. I gave the French speech which was only a little bit nerve-wracking and I have to say the best part was when I got halfway up to the podium, remembered I had gum in my mouth and stopped to slap it onto my program. I'm high-class.

Thursday night my APCD Kristine had AgFo and SED over for a Mexican feast. I about died. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! THERE WAS SOUR CREAM! I was like WHERE DID YOU GET THIS??? Apparently there is one store here in Conakry that sells it. It's not real sour cream, it's called creme fraiche, but it sure as heck tastes like sour cream and DEFINITELY hit the spot. We all entered a food coma directly after consumption. I will definitely be purchasing creme fraiche and making myself a nice Mexican meal every time I make it to Conakry. Thanks Kristine!

Yesterday we went swimming in Dan's (country director) pool and it was REFRESHING. Today he is having a barbeque for us with hamburgers! That means a lot to some of us but being a vegetarian the novelty is a bit lost on me. However, I did eat real pizza last night at the beach bar!! It was AWESOME!!! And today Corinna, Scott and I made the bombest guacamole ever for breakfast with the most flavorful avocados I have ever had...ok maybe not ever, but they were DELICIOUS.

So basically what I'm saying is that I think I have probably gained back 5 of my lost pounds just from swear-in week.

What an awesome week.