This week was crazy! We had Host Family Appreciation Day on
Sunday and then wrapped up training throughout the week. We had our task force
presentations and learned the Colombian “Himno
Nacional”. We took our final LPIs and reviewed the Volunteer Handbook. We
met our new Country Director and my host family had a going away dinner for me
with my whole extended host family there. Our Swearing In Ceremony went
wonderfully and we listened to speeches from our Country Director, the
ambassador, and the mayor. We took the oath and are now officially Peace Corps
Volunteers! That night, we celebrated our last night together (for now) by
taking a chiva around town and dancing and having a good time with all our
CII-6 friends.
- Sunday – Today, we celebrated Family Appreciation Day in a
side room of a church in Santa Domingo. Before the event, we had sent in happy
memories with our host families and those memories were written on hearts that
decorated the room. We also had a bunch of performances by talented volunteers,
from singing to playing guitar to reading poetry to anything. We played a game
with baby pictures where families had to guess which one was their “baby” and
at the end, we all sang “Home” and thanked our families for everything.
- Monday – Our housing coordinator talked to us about switching
host families and we gave our task force presentations. I’m on the 4 Skills
task force and I think our presentation went pretty well. During Spanish in the
afternoon, we had our final LPIs and talked about the movies we had watched as
homework over the weekend. After we all had our tests and got through a brief
discussion, our LCF decided we were distracted and stressed and should probably
have the rest of the afternoon off, so we went to Buena Vista for ice cream and
more talking about the LPI before heading home.
- Tuesday – Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all the men and
women who have served and are serving our country. Today, we had a full day of
Spanish classes. We started by learning about Colombian patriotic symbols and
then practiced the “Himno Nacional”
of Colombia. We also found out that a volunteer had to be medevaced (evacuated
for medical reasons) to the United States. We hope he’ll feel better soon and
be able to come back and join us again.
- Wednesday – After a full day of Spanish yesterday, today
we had a full day of CORE training. We played Jeopardy to review the Volunteer
Handbook and met our new Country Director, who seems nice. We also had a guest
speaker who taught us about the Colombian political and economic systems. This
evening, my family had a going away dinner for me. I was definitely surprised
to walk into the dining room and see a beautiful white tablecloth set out and I
was even more surprised when my whole extended host family came to join us.
They all told me how much they love me and that I’ll always have a home and
family with them. I love them very much, too, and I hope I will always feel at
home when I’m with them.
- Thursday – Today is our last day of training, so we went
over a lot of site-specific topics, including our questions and a few things on
water safety, since we’re all on the coast and some of us even live on islands.
In Spanish, we continued practicing the “Himno
Nacional” and then, we presented our technical trainers, LCFs, and
Resiliency facilitator with gifts and cards to say, “thank you.” We found out
who our new host families will be and gave our Commitment to Service speeches,
which was powerful and emotional for all of us. After classes, we all went to
Hotel Caribe 79 for a pre-Swear In celebration. Hanging out with everyone was
wonderful, as was hearing a repeat of a wonderful performance of “Hallelujah”
from Sunday.
- Friday – Happy Swear-In! We are officially Peace Corps
Volunteers!!! Congratulations CII-6! This morning, we had our Swearing In Ceremony
at la Universidad del Norte, with speeches from our Country Director, the
United States Ambassador to Colombia, and the Mayor of Barranquilla, among
others. We watched a dance group in which one of the CII-5 volunteers
participates perform traditional Colombian dances. We listened to one of our CII-6
volunteers sing the U.S. National Anthem and then we all sang the Colombian “Himno Nacional”. We said the oath to
make us official Peace Corps Volunteers and took lots of pictures afterward.
That evening, we all met again to take a chiva around town to different clubs.
There was a Colombian band on the chiva and the clubs were neat – I definitely
danced quite a bit before heading home. I’m so excited we finally made it!
- Saturday – This has been a busy week, so relaxing today
was great. A group of us went to see Interstellar, which was excellent. “Do not
go quietly into that good night.”
- Task forces are groups of trainees who are experts in a
specific area. Each trainee is on a task force (or, at least, that’s how it
went for our PST). We had task forces for the 4 Skills (reading, writing,
listening, and speaking), Classroom Management, and Youth Development, among
others. Each task force meets several times during PST to create resources for
other trainees on their topic and then presents what they have made at the end
of training.
- I may have mentioned this already, but LCF stands for
Language and Culture Facilitator. They’re the awesome Colombians who help you
learn Spanish and how to function around Barranquilla and in Colombian culture.
- The Volunteer Handbook is your big resource of everything.
Before you struggle asking a million people in the office who you should ask
about whatever question you may have, check the handbook. Not everything in the
handbook will make sense during training, but all that information you don’t understand
now will be very helpful during your service.
- “Do not walk behind me – I may not lead. Do not walk in
front of me – I may not follow. Walk beside me and be my friend.”
- “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far,
go together.”
- Like the “Star Spangled Banner,” the “Himno Nacional” is much longer than what Colombians sing as their
national anthem. Usually, they sing the chorus twice, first stanza, and chorus
twice again, though I’ve heard it sung just the chorus twice and then the first
stanza.
Himno Nacional, Letra: Rafael Núñez, Música: Oreste Sindici
Coro:
¡Oh gloria inmarcesible!
¡Oh júbilo inmortal!
¡En surcos de dolores
El bien germina ya
El bien germina ya
Cesó
la horrible noche
La libertad sublime
Derrama las auroras
De su invencible luz.
La humanidad entera,
Que entre cadenas gime,
Comprende las palabras
Del que murió en la cruz
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