Swearing In

Last Friday we swore in and now we are officially full-fledged U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers. Woohoo!

The ceremony took place at the U.S. Embassy and was quite a formal affair. The American ambassador to the Philippines swore us in and we got all dressed up and had a reception afterwards.

Since then, my buddies and I have been enjoying the weekend in Manila. We've been eating lots of fancy food and seeing some of the sites. The first day we went to the nearest shopping center. Malls in Manila are plentiful, busy, and much larger than my needs call for, but they provided me with a good place to eat things like hard scoop ice cream, brewed coffee, pizza, and fancy sandwiches. Yum.

It was a good idea to go exploring too. We went to Intramuros, the old city, which is walled in and contains the oldest stone church in the Philippines. If you go walking there, guys on horse-drawn carriages will follow you around and insist that you pay them for a ride. Rizal Park is beautifully kept and the site of where the national hero was executed for inciting revolution.

It's been nice to get a chance to relax and eat good food and spend time with other volunteers before we all depart for our sites. Tomorrow I am getting on a plane to move to Albay province, and then it really begins! Although right now I am excited to finally plant my feet on the ground and get all settled in, I think I will be in for quite a shock. With no other Americans just a few doors down the street, it will be completely different from the last three months in a way that I don't think has really sunk in yet. I'm sure it will be hard, especially at the very beginning, but I'm a tough cookie and I'm up for the challenge. I suppose I remain excited to settle in to my new home.