Another Surprise Revealed!

As Healthy Schools volunteers, the majority of us (35 trainees) will be paired off and placed in order to cover larger districts with up to 30+ schools. Since we discovered this, we have been obsessing over who our pairs would be. One person remarked, “When you look back at your service, that person will be there.” A bit intimidating! We filled out questionnaires, did speed dating, and then left the decision in the hands of our Program Director, Sergio, who would decide partners with the help of our language teachers, trainers, and Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders (PCVLs).

Yesterday was the day. We waited until 9:30 when Sergio finally entered the room and announced that eight of us would be solo. Once they announced my friend, Jenn, as one of the solo people, I realized that I would be solo as well. The two of us had spent our Field Based Training together and had spent a lot of time talking with our trainer, Marta, about our expectations for service. Everyone seemed concerned about how I felt about being placed alone, but I’m really excited and comfortable with it. I could have gone either way quite honestly. It’s funny because the whole time, I was hoping for my partner to be my new best friend, someone to challenge me, someone to learn from and grow with. It turns out that someone is me! I’m up for the challenge though. This is what my initial idea of Peace Corps was anyway. I feel as though having a partner would possibly hinder my integration into the community since I would always have the possibility of just hanging out with them instead. Possibly. Who knows? Either way, I’m excited about it and looking forward to finding out my site at the end of March.

Later on that day, we voted on who would be our speaker at the Swear-In Ceremony. Whoever was elected would have to carry on the duty of giving speaches at our mid-service meeting and our Close-of-Service (COS) ceremony. I was nominated by two of my peers and ended up being the run-off candidate though a Sustainable EcoTourism trainee, will be doing it--she's great! Nonetheless, I felt deeply honored to have been nominated to represent our group at such formal and significant occasions.