A couple of days ago, there was a Peace Corps discussion panel in Barnes Hall. It was purely coincidental that I heard about it, through an ad in the Sun. I had a lot of work that day, but since I just recently got my official nomination to the Peace Corps (not an acceptance, unfortunately) a day before, I couldn't really pass the opportunity up.
The panel was a long desk in front, six different Peace Corps alumni, two of them being married. Let's start with those. The married couple served in the 60's in Afghanistan. The guy was a doctor and is now an orthopedic surgeon, and the woman kind of just tagged along and took care of their two young sons. The woman was extremely enthusiastic about the experience, and you could tell because of how widely she smiled and kind of laughed to herself as she recalled different aspects of the adventure. She made a great friend and ally over there, an Afghan neighbor, who showed her the ropes with the language(s) by translating and also bringing her to cultural events, like tea parties and book club meetings or something. The guy was a little more subdued, but he's the kind of person you know has some crazy stories up his sleeve. He told us that when a messenger rang his doorbell at midnight, he would hop on his bike and bicycle to the E.R. That is crazy-- I can't even imagine. You're bicycling to save someone's life! And then he bicycled back-- so he bicycled even if he just saw someone die! Jesus.
A Cornell Grad '06 or something went to Peru for business consulting. The reasons she applied to the Peace Corps were very interesting. She went to Chile her fall semester senior year after getting a job offer from Boeing, and when she was down there backpacking, she saw the devastating effect a paper company had on the environment she was walking in. She knew that this company should hold a lot more accountability for their actions, and thus she went for business consulting in latin america. She said it was extremely cold there because of the elevation. All the time. 24/7
A blond bubbly chick (no, I'm not saying blondes are dumb-- she seemed very smart) basically blurted out how tough it was in Mauritania (which does not have any Peace Corps volunteers at this time). She said a year in, A Year In, was the first time she could communicate with locals (ask them their opinion or advice) and do something with her hands simultaneously. She said that she could hitchhike 5 hours to a city to see other Americans, but that she was very isolated.
This guy from the audience asked the panel if they ever thought of quitting, and this girl said that she just felt like she had to do what she said she would do... but she did know of other people who quit (one guy 16 hours in, he just said It was too Hot). That was crazy-- on the plane the next day. Since my nomination is for Sub-Saharan Africa, these things kind of scare me but kind of excite me. The Mauritania-based volunteers called the other countries Posh Corp.
The fifth speaker was a woman who went to Guatemala.
The sixth speaker was a lady who served in the Phillipines during the eighties. She came at us with a different attitude, saying, "This is the only way you, straight out of college, can go to a third world country and get paid and have this kind of experience for two years."
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I've also been listening a bit to this singer-songwriter named Juliana Richer Daily. She's in my year and quite a hit on youtube. She has a very beautiful voice and she's pretty handy with an acoustic guitar. Oddly, I haven't listened too much to her originals, but her covers of Wake Up (Arcade Fire), My Boy Builds Coffins (Florence and the Machine) and Bad Romance (Lady Gaga) are really good. I think she's going to release her covers for free, and make an EP available on itunes at some point. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/julianaeveryday
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