Swear In!

It’s official! On Thursday, the 22nd of April, in the shade of a tent erected on the beautiful lawn of the US Ambassador to Ecuador’s home, I became a Peace Corps volunteer. Leading up to today were two months of intense, consuming training, but they’re done and my 52 fellow Omnibus 103 trainees are now the 103rd group of volunteers to serve in Ecuador! On Friday we dispersed to the far corners of Ecuador, but on Thursday we celebrated our new (not-at-all lucrative) jobs.

The swearing-in ceremony took place in the morning and Ross, a Texan and one of my fellow Cangahuans, gave a hilarious speech on behalf of the Natural Resources folks that began, “Qué tal y’all?” The ceremony was followed by a breakfast of bagels from a Quito shop owned by former PCVs. Most of the gentlemen of Omnibus 103 (and Cara, by means of a skillfully drawn fingerstache) sported 70’s porn-star/pedophile mustaches for the event. They convinced Parmer, the Country Director of Peace Corps Ecuador, to join them. On my facebook page are great group shots of the ‘staches, but the picture to the right is closer-up and really does the mustaches justice. I enjoyed dressing up for the ceremony, as it was my first non-REI clothes event since arriving. It’s nice, but odd to have such a casual job after months of business clothes in the McNamara building. High fashion among PCVs is limited to ‘Patagucci’ and ‘Arc’teryx and Gabbana’.

Volunteers from other Omnibuses (Omnibi?) organized a barbeque for us at the Peace Corps office after events at the ambassador’s and served us delightfully American delicacies like cheeseburgers, veggie kebabs and s’mores. Yumm…. In the evening, everyone set-out for Quito’s Mariscal District, a fantastic place to eat, drink and be merry (though the petty criminals have noticed the abundance of semi-intoxicated gringos and wealthy Ecuadorians who frequent the area – the Embassy now bans official Americans from the area between 2am and 6am. We didn’t have any issues, though J). If you’ve seen any of the photos I’m tagged in on facebook from that night, you already know that a good time was had by all. I really should write to thank the Black-Eyed Peas for writing “I Gotta a Feeling” because it is a wonderful (if overplayed) way to get the dance floor going.

Before swearing in were a few days of final medical, safety, and language tests and evenings of great Indian food in the Mariscal. If anyone has a good recipe for Chicken Masala or Vindallo, please send it to me! I fell in love with both dishes at The Last Great Indian Restaurant, Quito. We also did a little sight seeing in Old Quito. The photo to the right is me in one of the churches visited.

Next up: life in the campo.

Alli