as a caterpillar becomes a butterfly....

I'm back in Panama City, staying in the same place where we started when we arrived in country and attending a few last sessions of information as a trainee. That's right. Tomorrow is our Swear-In ceremony, which will be at the Ambassador's house. The Ambassador, as well as world director of Peace Corps will be at the ceremony. This is where we change from aspirantes (trainees) to voluntarios (volunteers). Then, a couple of days at the beach as a last hurrah, and then off into the real world of our sites. Hanging out with the other 45 volunteers will be coming to an end, and the trial by fire of speaking Spanish all the time and trying to integrate into my new community will begin.
We've been having our final interviews and final assessments. I got to Advanced High level of Spanish (very generous grading in my opinion). Really, I'm ready to go. I've enjoyed training a lot, I've gotten to see lots of the country, learn lots of new techniques, and meet so many cool people (American and Panamanian). But, I'm ready to go. It's time to start putting everything to work and get the feet on the ground. It's intimidating, but I want to get started.
It was hard leaving my host family in the training community. We got a long really well. They told me (didn't ask) that I was going to come visit them, and they're still convinced that I will marry their nephew and stay in the family (likelihood, very low). I know its going to be hard to say goodbye to the other volunteers, also. Tomorrow will be the last time we'll all be together. Enough of that, these are happy times...