So I am officially a Peace Corps volunteer! The last couple weeks of training were pretty much like finals week. Cramming for the exams.  Then on our last day in the training village we threw our host families a party. The Peace Corps calls it Cultural Day because we cook American style dishes for the families.

The final language test was pretty nerve-racking especially because I had a case of Mr. D the day before and the day of the test. It is an oral exam where you have a conversation for about 40 minutes with the tester, it is recorded and multiple testers listen to your conversation and rate you. We had a practice exam the week before and I got a passing score of intermediate mid. The tester did tell me, that during my final I need to make sure I am speaking clearly because if the recorder doesn’t pick my voice up I’ll have to take the test again and “it will cause me much stress”.  It is good to find out that I cannot speak clearly in any language, it is important to be consistent in life.

The day of the language test I had three goals 1. To not poop myself because of Mr. D 2. To speak clearly 3. To pass the exam. I’m very happy to announce I accomplished all of my goals! We also had test over fish farming, safety and security, bike maintenance, and medical.  Even though there were a couple people who did not pass the language portion of the test they still are letting everyone get posted to site. Which was really exciting to hear that we all get to go through the posting process together.

Culture Day was really fun. We got dressed up and did a little performance for our host families. All the host families got dressed to the nines too, it was really fun to see. Then we exchanged gifts, as the host families gave us our gifts they sang for us. Which was very sweet and emotional.

After the performance we served the families food. Everyone had a station. Condiments aren’t really a thing here, so we eventually had to put someone on the condiment station after seeing Zambians put mustard on their mashed potatoes.

It was really hard to say goodbye to my host family but I was one of the luck few whose host families were picked to come to swear-in.

After Cultural Day we were taken back to the same motel we stayed at when we first flew into Zambia. After a day of sessions we were ready to be sworn in the next morning. The morning of swear-

With my host family at swear-in

The Sam’s at Cultural Day

Some of my host family

in Peace Corps still did not get the memo on when I like to wake up. Even though the ceremony didn’t start until 10 they decided to have another session before swear in. We had to be at the Peace Corps office by 6:30 which meant we had to be all ready to go by 6.

For swear in everyone had outfits made out of chitenge, a traditional fabric. Everyone looked great in their bright outfits. At the swear in, we had Zambian government officials, the Chiefs from the two different training areas, plus the US ambassador. Straight after the ceremony we were taken to a mall in Lusaka and given about an hour and a half to shop for items that are harder to find outside the capital. It was really rushed especially because after we are posted we have community entry and are not allowed to leave our district for three months.

Now I’m sitting in the Central Provincial house waiting to be posted. Every province that Peace Corps is located in has its own provincial house. It’s a place to hangout, have wifi, do research, and have providential meetings. I am a little nervous to be posted and to be without any fellow Americans. Hopefully community entry goes well and I can integrate into the community.