Commencement: Random Pics: Swear In, a Birthday Party and a Wedding

For the first three months of a Peace Corps Volunteer's stay in the country where they will serve, they are trainees. Each training group goes through 12 weeks of technical training (learning how to do their job, getting resources, ideas and peer training), language training in small groups of 4-5, culture training and immersion through host-family living and health training (to ensure each one knows local health risks, necessary precautions and preventitive measures).

FINALLY after three LONG months arrives Swear In. After the ceremony the trainees are offically Peace Corps volunteers and shortly after all split up and go to their assigned sites.

Here are a few pictures from the January 2010 Guatemala training class Swear In.

The girls from my training group with our host families. The families were so kind...treated us like their own children they did.

Someone from every training town!

Everyone was all gussied up!

Here are the girls from my training town.

The first pic of the Olintepeque/San Francisco La Union duo (aka me and my work partner Cristina).

The hotel where they had the ceremony was beautiful!

During training one of the girls in my training group (5 of us lived in the same town) had a birthday. Her host family generously invited us all over to celebrate!

There was a pinata! Her little host brother was the first to take a swing.

It's a lot harder than it looks! Especially if people give you wrong directions!

We played musical chairs and did the limbo. I won the limbo despite being relatively enormous. My friend's host mom is so short she walked right under the bar for the first 5 rounds! Too bad I can't find the picture of her breezing under : /

There were firecrackers (a Guatemalan tradition) and whiskey toast!

The wedding:

Here comes the flower girl and the ring bearer followed by the bridesmaids.

And there's the bride!!

On her way out with the groom...you can tell I didn't care as much about him as I did about her dress because I failed to include his head in the picture....but I got the dress!