Swearing In and Starting Over

Group shot of Nica 61 with Country Directors and Volunteer Greeters

Last week already seems like so long ago; I spent most of the week in Managua with the rest of my training group. We had various training sessions, our Swearing-In Ceremony, and a day off on Saturday. The Swearing-In Ceremony was very official; there were speeches from the acting US ambassador, PC Country Director, and representatives from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health.
We also sang both the Nicaraguan and US National Anthems, and swore-in for our service in Spanish and English. All of our training host moms were at the ceremony and we had a separate ceremony to recognize them. The morning concluded with lots of group pictures and delicious cake.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at our hotel, swimming in the pool, enjoying air conditioned rooms, and eating lots of home-cooked American food. On Saturday we went to a movie and had sushi for lunch. All of this was a little bizarre because it felt like I was somewhere in Florida rather than in the Nicaragua that we have come to know. The weekend of comfort and luxury probably set us all up for a more difficult transition to our sites, but I think it was worth it.

I moved to my site last week and it was quite the move. I took the public buses across the country with all 5 of my bags and I’m happy to say I made it safe and sound as did all of my belongings. I’m now all moved into my house and I’m trying to create some normalcy in my life. I worked all this week in the health center, mostly just observing and talking to the staff. My first few tasks here are going to be conducting a Community Analysis Survey and giving a couple charlas (health talks) each week. Right now all of that seems pretty overwhelming along with getting my footing here. It was kind of a rough week with the move, the transition to speaking Spanish 100% of the time (and not understanding most of it), and being exhausted all week. I know just about everyone in my group is going through the same feelings and experiences with the transition, so I’m not too worried about it. I’m sure things will pick up soon.

One thing that I have gotten a lot of enjoyment over lately is telling people my middle name. In Nicaragua everyone has two first names and two last names. My two “first names” would be Allison Kay. I usually just tell people my first first name, but when they ask me for my second first name it’s always funny to see their reaction. In Spanish the word “Kay”, (actually spelled “Qué”) means “What?” So when people ask me for my second name and I say “Kay” it sounds like I don’t understand what they’re saying and they always repeat themselves. I usually let this go on for a few times and then explain that Kay is actually my middle name. It’s pretty funny and every time everyone gets a good laugh out of it.