It's Official!

I'm finally a real Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)! I'm serving with NEPT (Negril area Environmental Protection Trust) in Negril which is all the way on the westernmost tip of the island. When I applied to Peace Corps I never expectedI would be nominated to Jamaica. When I was invited to Jamaica I never I would be assigned to a site in a beautiful resort area like Negril. Now that I'm assigned to work in Negril I've decided that I should give up my expectations! I spent three days in Negril two weeks ago, and then returned to Kingston last week for the remainder of training which mostly consisted of playing in the pool and saying goodbye to other Peace Corps Trainees (PCT).

Yesterday Peace Corps Group 81 graduated from training and became real volunteers! The ceremony took place at the U.S. embassy and was overseen by the chargé d'affaires because an ambassador is not currently assigned to Jamaica. We were featured in an article in today's Observer (the main newspaper in Jamaica). After two months of training and looking forward to finally being a PCV instead of a PCT, the actual swear in ceremony was a little anticlimactic. I returned to my site last night and I'm ready to get started!