It's Official!

I am writing for the first time as an official volunteer. Two weeks ago, 45 of us swore in and committed ourselves for the next two years to the Peace Corps. Aside from saying goodbye to the family I have come to know and love over the past three months the swearing in process was fantastic. The picture is of me, my family and the ambassador.
After the ceremony the majority of the new volunteers made their way to Antigua where we pushed our regained independence to its limits. We spent the weekend enjoying ourselves and relaxing before the real work began.

I am currently in my permenant site in the department of Totonicapan. I couldn't be happier with my living situation and my site in general. I seriously lucked out. I have running water, electricity almost always, a hot shower, my own kitchen and internet. I am living like a PC queen! The picture is the view from my back window. I live in a little aldea right outside of a large city. Living this way gives me the best of both worlds which is fantastic. When I go into the city I have a small amount of anonymity and in my aldea everyone knows my name and saludars me. My biggest school is directly across the street from me so the street is always full of my students goofing around.

I have a really great site mate named Elizabeth. Her and I have been training for a 15k in September. We are also planning some camps together for winter vacation and basically she is going to be my saving grace when I am stressed. The person I can depend on to grab a glass of wine with me and BS about work, guys, and our considerable lack of privacy.

I started a dance group with the students from one of my schools. I am teaching them the dance to Thriller which we are going to perform at the feria in September. I didn't know how it would be received by the kids but they ROCKED it! I am so pumped. I have a lot of confianza in the jovenes and I hope that they have the ganas to get through it. Vamos a ver.

I want to also take a minute to give a HUGE thank you to those of you who attended my party in Spokane and donated. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. It is so wonderful to know that I have amazing family and friends that still support me even when I am thousands of miles of way. I cannot wait to say thank you in person at Christmas. You are all incredible, thank you so much.

This is for now, I will leave you guys with some pictures. Those seems to say way more than I ever can.