The World Has 51 New Volunteers

It’s official. We are no longer PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) and now we hold the illustrious title of PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). We’re really in this crazy club now. On Wednesday, all 51 trainees got dressed in our snazziest clothes, went to a cultural hall and swore in with the Ambassador from the States. Before the ceremony, I went to have lunch at the Gaya (the restaurant pictured in the previous post) with some of my favorite girls here. It was a lot of fun. We got "salads" and "French fries," in quotes for obvious reasons. Bonnie practiced her speech a little bit. She was chosen to present a speech in Azeri and another woman (Tor, who happens to be from Portland) did a speech in English. Anyway, it was fun and we left.

We got to the cultural hall and went inside. Now, I just have to say that when I joined PC, I was picturing being dirty and sloppy for about 2 years. I didn’t feel like this was a place where PCVs should swear in. It was a beautiful building with huge columns in the front. Inside was very ornate. Plush chairs, ceiling moldings, curtains, red carpets. Not only that, all of us soon to be PCVs were very sharp looking. The men were supposed to wear jackets and ties and the women dresses or suits. I even went to the show bazaar to buy some dressy shoes, since I didn’t bring any.

I think this deserves its own paragraph: Our site mate, Nate is one of those guys that funny things just happen to. While we were visiting Mingachevir last month he was sitting in his room when he heard a crash outside his house. He went outside and a car was upside down in front of his gate. The driver climbed out, totally unhurt. Soon the police were there and their solution was to get a bunch of guys together, turn over the car, tie it to another and tow it away. I digress. The day of swearing in, Nate had gotten dressed and went out to his living room. His family decided he wasn’t dressed well enough and proceeded to give him a white double breasted blazer, white leather shoes, a "diamond" ring, pocket handkerchief, and style his hair. They insisted that he kept the whole ensemble.

We all sat down in our seats and the ceremony began. There were at least 6 news cameras filming the whole thing. They played both national anthems and I must admit that I got a little choked up when the Star Spangled Banner was played. People from different ministries spoke. As did our Country Director Zoltan, our training officer Shams and the Ambassador. When she was done, we stood up, raised our right hands and swore in. I have to say, I had been feeling very strange since the night before. I have wanted to do Peace Corps for so long that I couldn’t believe I was swearing in officially. Also, training was so hard that I couldn’t believe that we had made it and were actually going to become VOLUNTEERS. It was very surreal. It still is. I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer. Crazy!

After the ceremony we went down to the "Dove" and did some culturally appropriate celebrating. We popped a bottle of Azerbaijan’s best champagne and spent some good time with the rest of the AZ-5 group (the 5th group of PCVs in Azerbaijan). It was hard saying goodbye that night, because we have become so close over the past couple months. It will be weird not seeing people everyday, not hanging out at the Dove and eating at the Gaya.
And thus ends training and begins service.

Pictures: 1. The ambassador administering the oath to us. 2. Donny, Carolyn and Jesse looking very snazzy. 3. Introducing the one-and-only NATE SPARKS everyone!!! 4. Jesse shaking hands with Zoltan, country director. 5. Jesse’s training group in Tug Zavod from left: Dwight, Bev, Mahira, Jesse, Brian. 6. Bonnie, from Carolyn’s cluster being interviewed on Azeri TV with her host mother. 7. Woo WOOOOO! Champagne for everyone! From left: Bonnie, Kelsey, Carolyn, Jesse. 8. Carolyn, Jen and Anais (just barely) IN the dove. 9. Sally with some random English in Sumgayit. 10. Leaving Sumgayit (most likely for good.)