So you are thinking about joining the Peace Corps?

I have been reading the book A life Inspired which consists of testimonies from Peace Corps volunteers from all around the world. Although I definitely see the shameless promotional spins of these stories for people to join the Peace Corps, I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. Okay so it might be that I am pmsing or because this was my strange sleep and sugar spiked evenings, but I just had to walk into my room to shed a few tears because this story that I just read was so inspiring. The short testimony written by Caroline Chambre who served in Burkina Faso basically just outlined how hard it was to say goodbye to her community and how her connection with the people of her community made such an impact on her. I just got to my community, I have been here for a 2 months and 2 weeks. But man this concept of having to say goodbye kind of hit me hard. Oh sure there have already been many times when I have thought wow what I would give to have a toilet seat, to be able to wake up and speak a language that I could adequately express myself, and to not eat a vivere or rice all day long, but these ideas are usually fleeting and the empty space is filled by often the simple pleasures or realizations that I have in my day. As I walk home, drenched in sweat in the evening as the sun is just nodding over the mountain tops, the way my little sisters Nicauri and Carla race to me screaming as loud as the can “Carolina, Carolina, como fue? (how did it go?)” is one of these simple pleasures as I return the call with an enthusiastic, Mis Amores (my loves) swallowing them up in dramatic hugs and flining them into the cooling evening air. The satifaction of women who when I first greeted them with the traditional kiss on the cheek they returned my warm smile with a stern look, squinting and scrunching their nose – scruntching your nose in the Dominican Republic is a signal that “I don’t understand” and when directed at me it is gawd you are speaking gibberish someone please translate this little American’s horrible accent”-when I tried to nervously speak to a very skeptical and cautious Dominican Dona. Following this type of viist I often start off nervous, my voice often falters making my Spanish infinitely worse promoting more nose scrunches. But after I am given my coffee, which she has made the moment she saw a visitor was coming down the road (even if it is a strange curious Americana), and I begin to feel a little more comfortable, we make small talk. Where am I from? Do I have children? Am I married? How old am I? Do I like living here? Do I eat well? Do you have a boyfriend? Are you going to marry a Dominican? 90% of my first interactions with a Dominican consist of these questions in this order. We talk we chat. I try to pull out of my little collection of jokes that usually make people laugh, tucked in with a few compliments such as, “I am definitely getting fat here! I love the food!”, “Before I arrived in the Dominican Republic I had never eaten or seen a “vivere” and I only ate rice less than once a month”, “I love to dance, but I am still learning”, “I do have a boyfriend and that is just enough, I could not handle another one, too much work”… The list goes on. By the end of drinking coffee sitting in plastic chairs and only talking for about an hour this Dona who made me so nervous at first is now warmly smiling and laughing, offering me juice and food. Saying I have to come back to her house soon for lunch and meet her family when they come. I leave the house with a warm embrace and kiss on the cheek, saying I will see you soon and wave enthusiastically as I wander off into the dirt street once again… with this thought “I would not trade this experience for anything!”.

Anyways this book I was reading made me think I should write a blog post about those thinking about joining the Peace Corps. When I first applied to the Peace Corps –July 1st, 2013 I can’t really say what motivated me to apply other than it just felt right. Unlike some of my fellow volunteers, I had not been dedicated to the Peace Corps since I was a young child dreaming of what I wanted to be. While I dreamed of being a doctor or a ballerina or a gymnast, some of my fellow volunteers were dreaming of working for the Peace Corps. One of my fellow volunteers placed in the DR recently worked tirelessly to get her citizenship with the inspiring motivation to the moment this was completed apply to the Peace Corps. Another of my fellow volunteers is now serving in her third Peace Corps service. My fellow volunteers have been inspired to serve, because of their mom, dad, aunt, or second cousin-once removed served and loved it; it was in God’s plan for them; the movie Walter Mitty; or the desire to travel for free and see a side of the world that could not be experienced unless you lived somewhere for two years.

When I told my college advisors that I was going to join the Peace Corps the following fall they told me, “Caroline, you are the perfect person to join the Peace Corps. You are always so optimistic, no matter what happens”. Two people who admire greatly gave me this blessing of my future plans and this meant the world to me. Seeing the miss-match of personalities around me serving I see there is never really a perfect person to serve in the Peace Corps. Every single Peace Corps experience is dramatically different, even in the same country. Despite the wide range of experiences and personalities that make up my Peace Corps family, one thing is for sure, though some of us hid it better than others, walking off that plane and taking our first steps onto the nation of the Dominican Republic I know every single one of us was wide eyed, likely extremely panicked, knowing nearly nothing of what this Peace Corps experience would hold for them and who they would be returning back on this plane to the United States once again. Some of the thoughts that ran through my mind were: -Shoot, whaaaaat was I thinking! This is a crazy idea! -I have been wanting this for so long. I can’t believe it is really here.- Will I be the same person as I left?. To any of those out there who are thinking about joining the Peace Corps or are in the process of the Peace Corps application please feel free to contact me! I know I only have one opinion and one experience of the Peace Corps, but I would love to help out in any way that I can.