It has officially happened. I am now a sworn in Peace Corps Volunteer. It has finally happened. After 10 long weeks of training here in the Tanga region, I am off to a whole new part of the country! This all happened several weeks ago. Almost 6 full weeks I believe which is almost as long as I was in Pre-Service Training. Here is a recount I wrote on the day of swearing in!
I wanted to take a second to thank each and every one of you, kila moja, for following me along on this journey and being so supportive and kind. You have made being so far from the US so much easier. Writing to you all and knowing that you care about what I am doing gives me a sense of purpose and accountability to write out my thoughts and feelings about this adventure that I am on to remember it and look back on.
Today was absolutely amazing. We had a wonderful ceremony with a kick-butt performance by us cool PCTs. Two of our wonderful cohort members read a speech we wrote to an audience filled of proud host parents, Peace Corps employees, government officials, and community members. It was a wonderful day filled with food and friends. While it was a good day, what I really want to do is thank a lot of you all.
Hey Girl Scouts! Y’all have been such a great support system over the past few years. You all are so smart and driven, and you leave me in awe with your ambition and spunk. You all know what you deserve and you won’t settle for less. You are creative in so many ways, and you follow those creative endeavors. Some of y’all are athletic as hell and that is the bomb diggity. I strive to be like each of you, because damn you all are truely amazing. Our friendship has meant the world to me and I don’t think I would be halfway around the world right now if I didn’t know you all had my back.
I wanted to call out some other friends- you know who you are- the ones that I get to chat with on the phone now and again. That have fantastic snap chat group chats where I hear the latest neighbor drama. The friends who moved to a new city and hang out with each other, then talk about how they miss me (next thing I know I get a flurry of texts all at once from 4 different people at 11:30 after I go to bed). The friends off on new adventures around the world from New York to France, from Germany to Japan. The friends who are very young, to those that are young at heart. To all these people in my life, I want you to know that I love you dearly and that having these little connections, even if they are few and far between, even if you are busy making it big and don’t always have time to reach out, you have still helped me make it to where I am today.
To my new friends here, so many of you here are so wonderful. I never feel like I am left out. I am not generally the first to reach out, and so when you do, it makes me feel so comfortable. I am so happy to see so many people forming such strong bonds and solid relationships. You all are such wonderful people and you deserve to have amazing friends. I will miss you all a bunch when we disperse tomorrow, but I know you have my back when I need you.
If you need me, let me know and I’ll be around, if there’s a spider in your choo, if you’re feeling down.
For family, I will start with my host family, I loved living with you all! I learned so much from you though this expereince. Listening to the host familes’ speeches today, it seemed like you learned from me too. I wouldn’t be able to survive in this country without the skills I learned from you. I know you won’t read this, but just know that I did know how to sweep before coming here. The rest was new, but I did know how to sweep.
Grandma and Grandpa, you have been my amazing cheerleaders. I miss you more than you know! I love hearing about all of your little adventures in your life, and I want you to know that I am thinking about you every single day while I am out here. You have instilled in me the importance of traveling and seeing the world, not just as a tourist, but a part of the culture as well. I am doing it!
And of course my mom, dad, and brother. I love you all so much. I could write a 20 page paper on how you have shaped me into the kind of person who wants to go out into the world and learn and grow. So instead, I just want to say this. You have made every day an adventure in some way. You have supported me through all of my crazy ideas. I love you. I miss you. I thank you. For everything!
BioAbroad 
Ah Carly, you never disappoint!! Loved seeing and talking to you the other day thanks to your Dad who accepts we old folk are technologically uninformed…not only do we enjoy your blogs but send them to various people you don’t even know who are loving them!! We are off to Heather’s graduation from Marine Boot Camp and we’ll keep you posted as to her whereabouts – she is hoping to be assigned to the Far East as she has been studying Japanese on her own for 5 months and wants to use it…so not only are we learning a little Swahili, but maybe another language in the future… we’ll see… Katie and Nate doing well and looking forward to visiting everyone at xmas — if . you guys weren[t living these exotic lives we would’nt be vicariously loving life because of you all!!!
Much Love, Grandma
LikeLike
Hi Carly–We love your blogs. Grandma and I are amazed at all your wonderful experiences–and insights–about Tanzania and the whole Peace Corps experience. Keep ’em coming! Off on Wednesday to Parris Island SC, to see Heather become a Marine ! We’ll take pics of it all and send them to you via your Mom and Dad. They are looking forward soooo much to their visit over Xmas !!
With a big hug,
Grandpa.
LikeLike