It’s the Coast, baby!

Tuesday and Wednesday was two days that were polar opposites – I had a RPCV tell me a couple of years ago that my lows would be really low (much lower in comparison to my bad days in America), but that my highs would be outrageously high, I did not really understand her, but after last Tuesday and Wednesday, it made complete sense to me.

Tuesday was a bad day – a few of us were sent home; for various reasons, including one in our program. We lost one of our Deaf Eds, and that was tough for us all around – we grew to really like each other over eight weeks of KSL practice sessions and seeing everyone most everyday for eight weeks, and losing a person always sucked after such an intense training. There were a lot of other factors, I think being antsy about our sites, some confusion about Peace Corps expectations / policies, and a lot of cultural clashes had some of the other trainees upset, and it was just a very negative day for many of us.

I guess I have to thank my former place of employment for making me think about things and put things in perspective – whatever I encounter in Peace Corps, in its training, in everything I do at my school, I don't think it will ever be the same level of despair I felt when I worked with that former company.

Wednesday, on the other hand, we found out our sites and that sent us off on a rocket high. I am assigned to Kabarani School for the Deaf in Kilifi, 50 kilometers north of Mombasa, in between two volunteers from this year’s Deaf Ed group, and two volunteers from last year’s training class, so it bodes for a good experience and a support system in place. After finding out about our sites, a few of us went out to Carnivore to celebrate – and that was a lot of fun.

We were officially sworn in on Thursday, and we are now Peace Corps Volunteers.