The BIG move: Swearing-In

            So last week I posted the pictures of Swearing-In, an event that turned out to be a big deal. The day before Swearing-In we went to the Embassy where in the morning we had a tour of the Embassy which is a huge compound with multiple check points, huge air conditioned buildings, pools and mansions. The tour included bagels and cream cheese, possibly more coveted by the volunteers than the air conditioning. We were the first group invited to the Embassy before Swearing-In and it was nice to see the digs and meet with random ex-PCVs working for the Embassy now. The most exciting part of the visit was definitely in the afternoon when we met with the Ambassador for a couple of hours. The visit was special because he was really open about everything from his personal life to the problems that the US government has with the Nicaraguan government and Ortega in particular. As a very small example, Ortega’s wife erected a HUGE billboard of “Christian, Socialist, Solidarity” right in front of the US Embassy, so the workers pretty much have to walk underneath it between the security building to their offices. Obviously this is a very very small power display in a long history of fighting, violence, and overall differences in ideologies.

One of the most interesting things that the Ambassador told us was that we only give Nica $50 million dollars every year; money that has all sorts of strings attached. On the other hand Chavez gives Ortega $550 million with no strings attached. With that sort of monetary support, there is little that the US can do to quell the overall love for Chavez. Also, the Ambassador told us that Nicaragua really doesn’t mean much to anyone anymore, but that it matters for the fact that it matters to Chavez and Chavez matters to us. The Ambassador has also been making headlines for denouncing mayors in a couple of cities because of the fraudulent elections that took place. Thus the Ambassador has been called persona non grata in these cities, although as far as I can tell, he is still going there. It all calls into question what will happen in the general elections for the president in 2011. Right now there are riots in Managua (we currently aren’t allowed to travel to, or near, Managua) because the opposition party is meeting to work on a plan to get enough power to fight against the Sandinistas in 2011 and to fight against the constitutional change (which I think has already happened) allowing Ortega to run again for another term. Changing constitutions is generally looked down on.  

            The day of swearing in we all got ready at the hotel (yeah, it’s got to be something special if we have hot water and air conditioning) and headed to the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Managua. Our host families were there to be with us, which made it particularly special. Mamacita and Papa came, but my host brother Cristian couldn’t because only 2 members of every family were invited. We had an opening ceremony for the families where my training town best, Neil, gave a nice speech and we gave our host moms certificates. After a short break the Ambassador, the country director of the Peace Corps and the 2^nd to the Minister of Health arrived and we started the grand ceremony as our families sat in the back to watch the magic happen. There were speeches from all of the important people in the room and we said our Promise to Service in English and in Spanish. The ceremony lasted 3 or 4 hours and at the end we finally became full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteers! Now, if you ask me, we have been Volunteers since the moment we stepped foot into Nicaragua, but in the Peace Corps mind, it wasn’t until this moment. The weekend was spent in the hotel in Managua and on Sunday I packed up all of my worldly belongings and moved to San Carlos! As a good friend described it, we are finally of the training teat.

I am writing this post incredibly late and have been in Site for the past 2 weeks and it is just as awkward as I pictured it. Its not that it’s bad, it’s just awkward, especially with my non-fluent language ability. What makes it worse is that the first three months here I am supposed to be getting a hold of the town, the health center and learning more Spanish and not doing any real work. Which in the long run will be good, but for the moment I feel like an intern. For now I am doing what is asked of me, but I am making a running list of projects and other things I want to do when I take the training wheels off for good.