Friday, September 5, 2008

Rollercoaster Experience

My buddy Zach and me after Swear in Ceremony
With Hailey during the swear in party wearing our sick clothes.

The days when I used to go to the madrassa for my Hassaniya language class in Mbalal; playing soccer in the sandy field with my Mauritanian friends; the GEE tech sessions at Rosso; eating camel burgers in the Mauritanian” McDonalds” with my friends; but even most importantly, the days when I was called a Peace Corps Trainee are finally over. The truth is that so much has happened in my life during the last week of Stage that it feels like if I’m riding a rollercoaster without an end.

So just for a fast recap, after leaving Mbalal I headed back to the Peace Corps Center back at Rosso to prepare myself to swear in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. To achieve this, I had three days to take a language proficiency test in Hassaniya, elaborate an essay on my cultural exchange during Pre Service Training and another one on the GEE Tech sessions that we had during the last month. If I failed to realize one of these duties, my Swear In process would be delayed for another two weeks or so. However with the help of God and some studying time, everything went pretty smoothly and without a hassle.

So after finishing this series of formalities, I had basically two days to rest and enjoy all my friends for the last time in the next 4 months, I had to get ready for swear in ceremony and party, and last but not least, prepare myself for my next assignment: being a Girls Empowerment and Education Agent in the city of Guerou.

The Swear In Ceremony was tremendous. Although it was kind of a low key ceremony due to some Peace Corps budget restraints, we had the honor to count with the Ambassador of the US to Mauritania Mr. Mark Boulware and his wife Ms. Boulware; the PC Director in Mauritania: Obie Shaw and other important PC officials such as Damien and David Salomon; and a great number of current PCV which were so helpful and supportive during the past two months. During the ceremony, all the trainees sat down and listened to an encouraging dialogue from Obie, three speeches in local languages by some trainees and, at the end, the Ambassador formalized our status as Peace Corps Volunteers making us swear-as in a presidential inaugural ceremony- to fulfill the objectives and mission of the Peace Corps.!! WHAT GREAT MOMENT WAS THAT!! I felt like all this happiness, joy and energy rushing through my veins waiting to get liberated; and it was a great timing for that desire, because up next was the Swear in Party.

So once the night arrived and we finally finished cooking all the food for the party (by the way Mexican Style food) we all headed to the Hotel Chemama in the PC trucks and joined all the current Peace Corps Volunteers to have this big party “the American style”: dancing to hip hop music, drinking smuggled alcohol from Senegal, people dressed up in silly outfits (including me as you can see in the picture) and all the rest of the things that can happen in a place filled with 100 Americans in a foreign country. It was a blast for us and a nightmare for our security officers – who had to take care of the needed, if you get what I’m saying- and the Mauritanians that lived near the hotel. I know that describing the party and looking at all the pictures may make us think that we are the classic dumb Americans that like to party without limits the “spring break” style and not the ideal and humble Peace Corps Volunteer that’s not interested in such juvenile recreations. This could maybe be true, but believe me and in at our defense, after two months of learning a new language, living in a conservative country and struggling with an extreme weather, environment and, for some people, sickness, I think we needed a really good break and the swear in party gave us exactly that.

So after all this, it was time for me to get ready to leave for my final site: Guerrou. Although I have only been in Mauritania with the PC people for two months, I really felt a sad saying good bye to every person. It was during the time of hugs and kisses and waving good bye when I felt that the exciting, challenging and transformative part of our PC experience was finally going to start. Of course, the past two months where challenging and difficult but we always had the option of going back to the Center and interacting with people of our same culture if we felt bad or lonely. But this next phase is not going to be like that anymore, and that is good. Going to your new site, meeting new people, integrating into the community and making them accepting you because of who you are, working in your sector and learning the culture and language without the help of PC facilitator is what Peace Corps is all about.

So all this happened in less than a week and I can already feel that I’m not the same person that I was 5 days ago. The first part of my Peace Corps service is finally over and I would say that it ended “con broche de oro”. Now, it’s time to start another episode full of challenges and emotions in Guerou. Thinking about it and retaking what I wrote at the end of the first paragraph, this is really a Roller Coaster that I’m riding in; and the name of the ride is called “The Peace Corps experience”.

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