Swearing In & Moving Out

This is my first post as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Our swearing-in ceremony was on Monday and all 13 of us decided to make the 2-year commitment! It was a really nice ceremony. It was held at the Kingstown Government Building and a bunch of representatives from the press came. We were on the SVG Evening News a few times and I'm pretty sure our picture came out in today's paper (I'm buying a few copies). We're practically famous. :)
Swearing-in begot moving out and most of us have left our home-stay lives behind and begun our official duties (a few are still in home-stay for an extra week or so). We are all enjoying being out on our own, although it gets pretty lonely at times. I have a cute house with a fantastic porch. It has two bedrooms, a living/dining room, a small kitchen and a bathroom (pictures are up). The porch has a hammock hook-up, so I'll have to buy one. The house is actually closer to my school than my homestay family's house - about a 15 minute walk. I live right across from a soccer playing-field where they play games Monday - Saturday. I haven't had a chance to go watch a game yet, but I hear they're pretty exciting. It is about a 15 - 20 minute walk to the grocery store, post office, police station and hospital. I have met a few of my neighbors and everyone seems really nice. Most of them were on good terms with the PCV before me, so I am already a more or less accepted member of the community. The nice thing about replacing a PCV is that you already have a set of friends waiting for you. The not-so-nice thing is that most people assume that you will be exactly like the volunteer you are replacing, which is rarely true.
My first week as an official PCV was pretty uneventful. The teachers in SVG were still on strike this week (from last week), so only about half of the Emmanual High School teachers came each day. We had official school on Tuesday and Wednesday, although the students spent most of their time alone in the classroom or running around the school grounds and school dismissed at lunch. On Thursday, we had an SVG Independence ceremony for a couple of hours, complete with a flag-raising ceremony and the national anthem. SVG Independence is on Monday, October 27th and all schools have a holiday on Friday and Monday. This year is the 29th year of SVG Independence. To celebrate on Monday, a couple of volunteers and I are going to Bequia, the nearest Grenadine to St. Vincent. It should be great fun.