A Mossback in Moldova: Swearing In!

I have lived in my town for a whole week now! Time seems to have both compressed and expanded. It's hard to describe, but somehow days seem both short and long. On one hand, it seems like forever ago that I swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and moved to my town, but on the other hand I feel like I haven't done anything here yet and still don't know anyone. Partly that is because I haven't done much yet because my partner has been on vacation. So I have been in limbo a little bit, resting (hurray! I needed it after PST!) and reading all the papers I collected from Peace Corps during training, and just sort of "being" in the library and around town. It has been good; I have a better idea of where things are in my town, and have been able to talk to a few people in shops and things. And I know things will speed up as soon as my partner comes back, the school years starts (in about a week), and clubs and projects get rolling. In the meantime, let me back up a bit to last week when I finally became an official Peace Corps Volunteer!

We were told to have our bags ready to go by 7:30 am, so I did. By around 7:45 am, my mama gazda had to leave for work, but she told me she would come to the Swearing In ceremony for an hour. That was a surprise because she hadn't mentioned it before and I thought she would have to be at work! By 8:00 am I started messaging other trainees in my town to see if anyone else had been picked up yet. No one had. By 8:30, most people had been picked up, but I was still loitering in front of my family's house. Finally at 8:34 am, the rutiera arrived! I was the last to be picked up, and clearly the rutiera was running late because it was racing through Chisinau to get us to the ceremony location in time. We had to be there early to do some preparation (some trainees had to get dressed in traditional Moldovan attire for their dance performance, and some of us had to warm up and practice to sing the national anthem during the ceremony). It turned out that we were there in plenty of time.

The ceremony was really nice. A Moldovan singing group sang the Moldovan national anthem, and then we sang the Star Spangled Banner. Our Country Director spoke, and so did some Moldovan officials. Then the U.S. Ambassador to Moldova spoke and we took our oath. When he announced that we were now Peace Corps Volunteers, a cheer went up from all of us on stage! Then those who had learned the Moldovan dances performed. They did such a great job!! After the ceremony, delicious Moldovan food was provided, and I saw my mama gazda. I'm so glad I got to see her again before I moved away. I really appreciated her hospitality during training. I hope to be able to visit her in the future. She told me she would like that.

When it was all over, each of us gathered our luggage and were taken to our permanent sites. It was so strange splitting up after being with each other for 2 months! I'm thankful that there are 2 other PCVs in my town, especially because we are so far from the capital. Although each day of training felt long, and it seemed like training would never end, I was surprised how quickly it did end. One day I was in language classes, and suddenly we had our Language Proficiency Interview, and then we were sworn in, and now I am a Peace Corps Volunteer! It has been a very long process to get here; I initially applied in April 2016. I'm so thankful to have finally made it to being a PCV and I am excited for what is to come in my town in the next couple of years!

I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer!!