PCV!

Last Sunday Peace Corps swore us in as full volunteers and we couldn't be more excited. The 2008 group got pulled out of Georgia about 10 days before we were set to become volunteers and it looked for a while like we'd start, serve and end our PC commitment just as trainees. This was pretty depressing to think about naturally. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our staff here who arranged this, who believed that we had earned the right to be called volunteers and who made sure the event went through with typical Peace Corps style.

Someone is checking on this but we may be the only class to swear in in-exile. We held the ceremony in a soccer field behind the hotel, we're officially calling the post Peace Corps Georgia "South" for right now. There were some speeches by the staff, a couple by the trainees and (the event without which no Georgian gathering would be complete without) a toast to the future of the country.

It was probably the most bittersweet time of my life though. Everyone got pretty emotional when the"graduating" trainees sang the Georgian national anthem. I remember watching the scene in Casablanca when the expatriates sing the French national anthem, it was pretty much like that. We knew most of us would not be going back to Georgia anytime soon and its hard to describe the mix of emotions that brings up. You get invested in a country quickly in Peace Corps and it's not an easy thing to leave...

I think, with that thought in mind, a lot of effort was put into making this event about Peace Corps and the volunteers. We are all immensely proud of having made it this far and of the people that helped us get here. I thank the Georgia staff in every post now it seems so I'll put in a quick nod this time: you guys are the best.

Being a PCV also opens up a lot of options for us. They're allowing us to close our service (COS) successfully (see last post) and providing a lot of benefits that we might not have gotten otherwise. Peace Corps has been very understanding about our situation, evacuations don't happen often but there's been a few and the people in our ranks that have been through them have been extremely sympathetic. For many of us the experience was like completing 3 1/2 years of college and being in danger of not getting a diploma. Fortunately for us everyone in the organization understands the importance to us of being able to call yourself a Peace Corps Volunteer and we're very grateful we have that opportunity.