Swearing In.

Swearing In .

A fun perk of being a PCT in Nicaragua, as of 2010, is that you get to go the embassy and meet the ambassador. The ambassador swears in every group of Nicaraguan Peace Corps Volunteers but, previously trainees haven’t been invited to meet him before swearing in. Obviously we were all excited about this change of pace. Really excited.

Ambassador Callaghan is really just capitvating. An Irish Catholic from Chicago, Callaghan is direct. In a county like Nicaragua where the people are incredibly generous and will offend no one willingly (unless it is about your weight and that is just fair game here), Callaghan is seen as somewhat odd.

Basically, we loved him. It was the first time anyone had sat us down and explained in depth Nicaraguan History. Here the Liberalista/Sandanista divide is strong, the wars were very recent, and an important possibly unconstitutional presidential election is coming up. You can imagine why it might be hard to learn about all the nuances of recent Nicaraguan History.

Anyway, it was pretty exciting and fascinating to meet Ambassador Callaghan and hear all he had to say.

After our embassy visit we became real Peace Corps Volunteers! Finally. Unfortunately, I came down with Giardia. If you don’t know what that is it basically means you want to live on the toilet. Super fun. I made it through swearing in though. My Nicaraguan host family came, and it ended up being a really nice ceremony considering.


My Nica host family!

So . . . now I’m a PCV!

Swearing in- MINSA Official

Swearing in- George Baldino, Country Director Peace Corps