The end of the beginning

I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer! I have completed training and will be posted to my site on tuesday! It is bittersweet I am going to miss my host family and friends and the ability to speak english and vent and the comfort of the known but I didn't sign up for the PC for that so now the real journey begins...

The past few weeks of training were pretty uneventful..I had more classes and lots and lots of tests which I am happy to say that I passed all of them. Our last day at our training site was cultural day in which the trainees (us) get to cook for our hosts.Many of them were not fond of the food. We had a cook out where there was hamburgers and sausage and a bunch of different salads. However, Zambians don't seem to enjoy when there is a bunch of things mixed together (i.e. most salads) or when things need to be chewed so I think that the Americans enjoyed the food more than the Zambians..but I suppose cross cultural exchange took place. I got a little teary eyed saying good bye to my family...they just did so much for me and really cared and took care of me when I was sick. Which I got pretty sick twice in the last few weeks of training with some explosive diarrhea for a few days.

I was also chosen to give a speech at the swear in ceremony in front of the ambassador and both Zambian and American government officials in kaonde that was being broadcast on the national television station...i dont like doing this sort of stuff and was not to pleased about not having a choice in the matter. I can't say I did a a great job, I definitely pronounced some words wrong, but it wasn't awful. It was a nice day and there were some great food.

Below is a link to all the pictures I have taken so far some are more relevant than others but I figured I would share:

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7361150008/a=53767593_53767593/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

I am excited to move to the village and not live out of a suitcase, eat what I want when I want, bathe when i want. I am a little anxious but starting anything is nerve wracking to me and i need to look forward to the many rewards that are coming in the future.

I know this was a quick to the point post so I apologize, I am borrowing someones computer to write this so I dont want to take too much time. I hope you all are doing well. Stay in touch!