WE DID IT!!

So the big day finally happened, we were sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers!  Impressively, all 29 of us that started training together were sworn-in.  That doesn't usually happen, but we're a pretty awesome group.

The first step of the Swearing In ceremony was cleaning ourselves up.  We'd become a little dirty in our time here, but we had to look real nice in order to meet the ambassador!  We were told that we had to rise when the ambassador entered the room, could not eat before he ate, and were lectured in the appropriate way to address him.  You think with all of this warning, I would be ready to meet this VIP, but, alas, I found a way to embarass myself...

After saying taking the oath, we were each called up to get our certificate, and go have our picture taken with the ambassador.  I got my certificate, shook my Program Manager's hand, and headed over to the ambassador... where I proceeded to put my hand around his waist as if he was my best friend or my boyfriend.  Immediately, everyone started laughing and my face turned bright red upon realizing the error I had just committed.  Plus, I forgot to hold my certificate up because I was so distrated by the fact that I had just made an advance on the ambassador.  I haven't seen that picture yet, but I'm sure it's a doozy.

Anyway, all is well that ends well.  I appologized to the ambasador afterwards, and he was really cool about it, telling me, that everyone experiences "awkward advances" in Guatemala.  All in all, it was a great day!  We took lots of pictures of our cleaned up selves and had a lot of fun celebrating our accomplishment!