At long last...

This is our last week of pre-service training. Let that soak in. Okay, I still don’t think you understand. This is our last week of pre-service training!!!

This means a few things:

1)   All my friends are coming back together after a month apart for language training

2)    Hot showers

3)   This week I will swear in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer

4)   Hot showers

5)   At the end of the week, all my friends have to leave each other again to go to our sites

6)   Hot showers

Our swearing in ceremony was at the Scott DeLisi’s, United States Ambassador to Uganda, home. He and his wife graciously opened their doors to us, our future site supervisors, our trainers, and other various guests.

We quickly got seated and the program started! I have some news that will shock those of you who know me best…

I sang the national anthem in a quartet.

Yes you read that correctly. I sang in front of people for real. I’d like to thank my mom for singing to me during bath time when I was little. I’d also like to thank C Dash for bearing with me in the car as we belted out “Wide Awake”. I’d like to thank my siblings for always encouraging me to sing…

That last one is a joke. They groan when I sing. I don’t blame them. Despite my complete lack of faith in my own voice, my friend Marvin swore my voice was perfect for the quartet. Honestly, I think that the other three (Marvin, Emily, and Matt) just beautifully drowned me out. I love them for making me feel good about it, though. Me singing the national anthem was not the highlight. There were many speakers. Then we were recognized and stood together to repeat an oath that swore us in as OFFICIAL VOLUNTEERS! My favorite part, however, came after the swearing in.

One person from our group is actually a returned Peace Corps Volunteer. I believe he served with his wife in the 70’s because his service was interrupted by political unrest. He has talked about how he was excited to come back to Uganda because he felt he didn’t really get to finish his work before.  Nonetheless, we asked Carl Muhlhausen to speak because he had a beautiful story to tell.

Carl reached the podium and talked a little of his history with the Peace Corps. He then went on to speak about his time in training. During our training, we had to go to our soon to be sites for a future site visit to make sure we knew our supervisors, saw our schools, and checked our housing. Carl made his way to a National Teacher’s College (NTC) in Kabale district in the southern part of Uganda.

When he arrived at his school, the principal greeted him and had to leave, handing Carl over to the Deputy Principal. It’s tough for Ugandans to say Muhlhausen so Carl, on the tour around the school, introduced himself as Mr. M. The Deputy Principal and Carl got to talking and it came up that when the Deputy Principal was in school, he had two white teachers. Believe you me, they don’t forget the white people they meet in Uganda. Anyway, Carl asked who they were, on the off chance that they had crossed paths while he was living in Uganda before. The Deputy Principal replied,

“Mrs. Muhlhausen taught English and Mr. Muhlhausen taught Chemistry.”

Carl, a little stunned, asked him to repeat what he had just said and the Deputy Principal replied the same way.

“Mrs. Muhlhausen taught English and Mr. Muhlhausen taught Chemistry.”

Carl said he jumped up and yelled,

“I’m Mr. Muhlhausen!”

The Deputy Prinicpal then took him back through the school tour introducing him this time as “Mr. Muhlhausen, my Chemistry teacher”. My favorite part of this story is hearing Carl say that now, after only a few months here, he could leave feeling like his work is done because he met one person that said he had made a difference.

Isn’t that the best story?

Another beautiful part about swearing in is that they served awesome food on skewers. We are talking marinated meat. Not the stringy, tough stuff you usually find stuck in your teeth a week after eating it. And…

There were brownies.

Brownies and friends, singing and speeches. Overall, I’d say swearing in was a success.