The End of the Beginning

Meet the newest group fully fledged Peace Corps volunteers, Moz 17

After starting out with 53 acceptee's then 51 trainees, we have arrived at an even 50 volunteers. Yesterday was the last day of the last week of our training, and what a week it has been.

The beginning of the beginning of the end was the Feista de Familias last Saturday where all of the trainees and host families gathered at a local gazebo/empty pool/ soccer field/ cell phone tower area for an afternoon of speeches, songs, dances, food, drinks, cake, and partay! We even sang a song called "Tudo Bom Pra Nos" which was written, and accompanied on the Ukulele, by trainee Sean. It was a great and fun way to celebrate the time spent with and thank our host families.

Next was the final test of training, known as the LPI, which determines how well prepared we are for going to site. There were two parts: the language proficiency section and round robin. For language, we conducted a 20 min conversation with one of the language professors all in Portuguese. Based off of this, we were given a rating from basic/low to advanced/high, with an intermediate/high being the benchmark for going to site. Afterwards, the round robin was conducted as a series of questions from various PC staff members about health, safety, culture, education, and peace corps policies. Though it doesn't seem like there are any real consequences to a poor score, I wanted to do well for my own personal satisfaction.

On Tuesday was the last and final hub day, mostly involving packing and travel plans. Since most of us won't be able to see each other for the holidays, we had decided to end the day in a festive spirit. After a secret Santa gift swap, in which I got the sweet Turkey corral t-shrit from Jill (PHOTO), a few of us went to one of the Peace Corps buildings in town to do a little Hanukah celebration. Being that there are 5 actual jews, and several more honorary jews, making latkes was a must. Luckily, this delectable and fried jewish food requires 4 of the most common ingredients ever: potatoes, onions, oil, and eggs. So we went to a host mother's road side stand and bought all of the items, making it a convenient one stop latke shop (try saying that 3 times fast.

Wednesday we went to the Peace Corps office in Maputo so we could meet the staff, fill out more paperwork, and discuss plans for the swearing in ceremony. Though those were all important steps, the real reason we were all there was the subject of my favorite Mary Kate & Ashley movie song: pizza! I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the mound of boxes that was left behind after our group swarmed like locust over the surprisingly good pies, because we gorged ourselves.

This finally brings us to Thursday where my time as a PCV actually began with a swearing in ceremony at the Ambassador's house. After singing both the American and Mozambiquean national anthem, speeches by the Ambassador, Peace Corps director, head of the Ministry of Education, and our own PCV Mike, we took the Peace Corps oath. Little did I know that the oath that a PCV takes is the same as the President, so I have also sworn to "protect the Constitution from all enemy's foreign and domestic." Though it's cool that I swear to the same oath as the arguably most powerful person in the world, I'm not sure that it really applies to what the Peace Corps stands for. After we were sworn in, we snacked on tons of delicious finger food and mingled with the various dignitaries that had attended the ceremony. All and all, a fantastic end to the beginning.

After one final night together in Maputo, Moz 17 split up to go to our various parts of the country. Myself and 20 or so other volunteers are now up north in Nampula meeting with out supervisors and taking advantage of some fantastically fast internet before we head to site. Come Monday, I'll be in my new home for the next 2 years, Alto Molocue.

Ate logo ao sul, hole ao norte!

Ciencia, Matematica, Lingua Inglesa

Corpo da Paz, Corpo da Paz

Mocambique, tanta beleza

Corpo da Paz, Corpo da Paz

Maputo, Nampula, Gaza, Sofala

Corpo da Paz, Corpo da Paz

Exellentes amigos para todo a vida

Corpo da Paz, Corpo da Paz

Tudo bom, tudo bom, pra nos

Tudo bom, tudo bom, pra nos

Xima, Matapa, Coco, e Manga

Mocambique, Mocambique

Preta, 2M, Clara, Manica

Mocambique, Mocambique

Pria e bosque, cascadas e rios

Mocambique, Mocambique

Elefantes, peixes, giraffes, macacos

Mocambique, Mocambique

Tudo bom, tudo bom, pra nos

Tudo bom, tudo bom, pra nos

Tudo bom, tudo bom, pra nos

Tudo bom, tudo bom, pra nos

Tudo Bom Pra Nos, Moz 17 (Sean Croft)