Officially a PCV...

Today was our swearing in ceremony at Joni Ranch.  We visited Joni Ranch one weekend about mid-way through training.  We walked there when we went the last time, but this time we had a bus ride.  The road to Joni Ranch is very steep and we weren't entirely sure the bus was going to make it, but it did.  Joni Ranch has horses and other animals, but we did not have time to visit the horses and other animals once we arrived.   We had a practice with Carolyne Siganda, the country director for PC Kosovo.  Then we had enough time for coffee, while we waited for the US Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, to arrive in order to have our photos taken with him.  Along with the ambassador, the Kosovar Minister of Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Arbërie Nagavci, was at the swearing in ceremony.

  

Breakfast on the terrace before we left our host family

Peace Corps cupcakes at the luncheon

The ceremony took about an half hour with speeches from the Peace Corps training manager, the country director, the mayor of Kamenice, the minister, the ambassador, and two volunteers that we selected from our group.  Then there were more photos before we had one more lunch with our host families and all the guests.  Then there were a few more photos as they herded us new volunteers to the bus for our ride to Prishtine, where we then catch buses to our sites.  The ceremony was very nice, the lunch was good, and everyone gave us a good send off to our sites.

The view of the mountains as we head to Kacanik

We arrived in KaÇanik around 5:30 and walked with the rest of our luggage to our apartment.  We fortunately got the elevator up and unpacked.  We met the two neighbor kids at the elevator on the ground floor.  They walked up the stairs and stood outside are door while we were getting our luggage in.  One is a boy and the other is a girl.  They don't speak much English, but they both seem nice.  After, unpacking most of our luggage, we walked to grocery to get a few things for dinner.  

Tomorrow, I will start my first day as a volunteer at the Gymnasium high school.  Then I believe Wednesday is a holiday and there will be no school.  I am excited to get started.