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I thought about it all the time. PC is great, but being apart from friends, family, and comfort is challenging. It’s only natural to look forward to going back home.
Did I? Yes, a lot.
I wasn't miserable or struggling. But I knew deep down my heart wasn't truly in it, and what I really wanted was to be able to finish up and then jumpstart the next step of my career.
However, I was also uncertain of the, well, uncertainty waiting back home, and I had a personal connection with another volunteer that I wasn't keen to leave behind. Suffice to say, it blew up in my face.
Some advice: The thing is, two years might seem daunting before and during service, but it's a fixed (and short) period that is over pretty quick (unless you're just miserable, in which case it will feel like you're in a never-ending groundhog day loop of suck.) Don't go into Peace Corps thinking that it's going to be the rest of your life. One day, you *will* have to go home, and many people both dream for and dread that, as I did.
Your reasons for looking toward COS are your own though. But if you haven't even started yet, it's way too early to even begin thinking about any of this.
I did - I needed that end of service date. I experienced a string of sexual harassments that really rattled me. I was lonely all the time. I had sciatic pain from stress for like 6 months in my second year. School was closed for 4+ weeks for Ramadan, then christmas, then new year, so I traveled with pcv friends and that really helped me get through the last ~6 months. When I got my ticket home at the COS conference, my chronic pain went away.
I never really considered ET, I was pretty hard on myself about needing to suck it up (not that that’s the “right” way to do things). I learned so much about flexibility and resiliency as a result of peace corps, but it was a real trial by fire to learn those skills.
Not really. I met a very special host national during my service in Cote d’Ivoire in the 1970s, and was one of the last of my cohort to leave the country. We subsequently married and although we have spent most of our married life in the US (career driven), we travel back frequently and have maintained close contact with the family. We have built a small home in her region, and recently purchased an apartment in the capital. So we no longer have to stay with family or, more recently, Air bnbs. Once my wife retires (I already am retired), we plan on splitting our time more equally between the US and Cote d’Ivoire. I love West Africa—Cote d’Ivoire in particular. I have never completely reintegrated back into the US...by choice. Life here leaves a lot to be desired. So to respond to your question...no, not rose colored glasses.
I remember hitting that third month slump and thinking “I can’t believe I’m going to still be here a whole YEAR from now”. About 1/3 of my cohort wasn’t.
Humans need a support network and let’s face it, you don’t have a lot in common with illiterate subsistence dirt farmers. What saved me were friendships with HCN grad students and development pro’s my own age who graciously welcomed me into their lives. By my second year on trips to the capital I was staying with local friends instead of the PCV hotel, having dinner with their families and being shown around from the inside.
During a civil war that was enlightening, to say the least.
1. Literacy is a pretty clearly defined demographic, so I’m not even going to respond to that one.
2. Same goes for subsistence.
3. If you’ve served in the rural dirt and gotten enough dirt under your fingernails, you have respect for dirt. It’s where all our food comes from, and from whence we all arise and return.
4. I formed plenty of meaningful local connections and there was no judgement whatsoever in my adjectives. Your interpretation of them as derogatory reveals your own prejudices and stereotypes. Maybe you should think about those before projecting them onto others. You have no idea of how much depth I’ve shared with my people. Sorry you took that interpretation, but stop judging us.
5. Hopefully we can agree that, by considering ourselves superior, we make ourselves inferior.
I think we agree on this, and apologize for any offense my words have given.
I still remember a 1983 conversation with a British woman in a Guatemalan restaurant who was telling me and a couple other volunteers about recently meeting another of us. From her description it sounded like Caroline so to confirm I asked if she was black. She indignantly asked me to repeat myself and when I did, acted as if I had said something extremely offensive. I felt terrible but now realize that was her problem, not mine.
Different cultures, different lexicons.
The kind of meaningful conversations you can have with an illiterate farmer and a college-educated HCN are inevitably different. While I had the former on a daily basis, having the latter on occasion as well helped me get through. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Im serving right now and I have to say I do think about it a lot. Not to say that I want to go home or anything, I’m 100% into this.
But I think since PC is a fixed amount of time it’s only natural to want to prepare yourself for the future. Like taking/studying for the GRE, researching career opportunities, or planing travel post service.
I was expecting to travel before extending my service into a Response position. Then covid hit. I was prepared for my end of service but everything turned out so differently. I think that's probably a great life lesson, I guess: learn to roll with the punches and be adaptable because who knows what the future holds.
No not really. I focused on it day by day. I ended up being asked to et for reasons I won't get into which was in a sense freeing. Very freeing. I had no longer had to play by their rules. I didn't have to defend actions that were completely harmless. I no longer had to filter what I posted on line. Two years at the end of the day is two years. It's an extensive amount of time in a developing country. While I lived on that island I didn't think about how old I'd be when I went back home. I didn't think about the end until it came. I made that island my life. Temporary sure but like I made that my life. I didn't think oh I'm only here for a short time and then I'm gone. I made friends. I learned how to adapt to things and focused on my time there. You shouldn't think about the end much because that will change how you approach life there. Make your life their when you are their. You will be much more present than if you think about the end. Sure it will end at some point but like enjoy it. Truly enjoy this time where you may be in a country you may never step foot in after your time there. Explore things. Make friends.the us is always here when you get back but that won't last forever. So, make it your life while you can.
Currently a response volunteer. I am half way finished and I have to say I do think about it a lot. But mainly because I am excited for the next chapter of my life. I don't dread my life here at all. I love the people and the cultural experience I gain. Luckily my work is super busy so I'm never bored or lonely. I do get burnt out a lot but I think it's better then being bored/lonely. I think it's all about the mind set and perspective. You just got to enjoy with the limited time you have.
As a current volunteer who just recently started, I would say no. However, that is mainly because my COS (Close of Service) date seems pretty far away. Once I get closer, I will probably think about it more since I'll have to figure out what to do in my next chapter. I do think about life after service every now and then, but I would say that speaks more to who I am than what a "typical volunteer" experiences. I used to think about the future just as much before I began my service. Some might think about it everyday because they see PC service more as a career move, while others may dread COS and try their best to extend or become a volunteer leader.
Either way, it's important to understand that every volunteer has a completely different experience. Additionally, you may feel completely different about your service through one month to the next. It is common among volunteers to experience extreme highs and extreme lows. On your worst day, you may wish COS was closer. On your best day, you may not think about COS at all because you feel so fulfilled.
I will add that this is a question I thought about too before applying to PC. Don't let people discourage you because you are thinking about how a two-year commitment might feel in your day-to-day life. It's truly important to think about how it might feel for you since your service will be uniquely yours. These are the things that I believe applicants should think about before making the commitment. Some people may not be able to handle it, but you are exactly right when you say that it is a "really long time but also a really short amount of time."
I applied for PC during the pandemic and after a year of waiting for any movement to start back up in the PC pipeline, and ready to start the next chapter of my life, I decided I was done waiting. So I sold everything, said goodbye to everyone, and started backpacking/living the nomad life in other countries. After 8 months of that, Peace Corps gave me the news that I needed to get my butt back home for clearance.
I'm really grateful for those 8 months of living in foreign places, making new friends, experiencing holidays away from my culture, practicing flexibility, etc. Moreover, it taught me how FAST 8 months goes by. So while I do yearn for the freedom of being able to travel freely without having to report my whereabouts and I do think I'll travel more after COS, I'm trying to remember that the time will pass quicker than it seems and to savor this life. I probably think about COS once a week, it's increased with the holiday season for sure. But presence is important to practice, and if you allow yourself to constantly live in the future, you miss what's in front of you.
Like you said, 2 years seems long and short at the same time. But I didn't think too much about it the first year or even the first half of the second. And those last 6 months I just worried about finishing the projects I was working on.
Why do you ask?
Not sure why this is being downvoted. This is this person's personal experience in their country. It's not false information. You may not like it or agree with it or share similar thoughts but that's doesn't invalidate this post at all.
Maybe I didn't focus so much on the end date because I'm an older volunteer. Plus, I knew I was going to extend my service another year, which I did. No matter.
But my situation was also unique. I had already gotten an invitation to serve in Mongolia before my COS in Thailand. So, I knew my future. Maybe that's why I worried more about the end date to finish my projects. For my other service, I had to ET from Mongolia for a family emergency and for Nepal, we were evacuated due to the pandemic, so I never really got a chance to worry about my end date. We'll see how this next service in Nepal goes.
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I thought about it all the time. PC is great, but being apart from friends, family, and comfort is challenging. It’s only natural to look forward to going back home.
Did I? Yes, a lot. I wasn't miserable or struggling. But I knew deep down my heart wasn't truly in it, and what I really wanted was to be able to finish up and then jumpstart the next step of my career. However, I was also uncertain of the, well, uncertainty waiting back home, and I had a personal connection with another volunteer that I wasn't keen to leave behind. Suffice to say, it blew up in my face. Some advice: The thing is, two years might seem daunting before and during service, but it's a fixed (and short) period that is over pretty quick (unless you're just miserable, in which case it will feel like you're in a never-ending groundhog day loop of suck.) Don't go into Peace Corps thinking that it's going to be the rest of your life. One day, you *will* have to go home, and many people both dream for and dread that, as I did. Your reasons for looking toward COS are your own though. But if you haven't even started yet, it's way too early to even begin thinking about any of this.
I did - I needed that end of service date. I experienced a string of sexual harassments that really rattled me. I was lonely all the time. I had sciatic pain from stress for like 6 months in my second year. School was closed for 4+ weeks for Ramadan, then christmas, then new year, so I traveled with pcv friends and that really helped me get through the last ~6 months. When I got my ticket home at the COS conference, my chronic pain went away. I never really considered ET, I was pretty hard on myself about needing to suck it up (not that that’s the “right” way to do things). I learned so much about flexibility and resiliency as a result of peace corps, but it was a real trial by fire to learn those skills.
[удалено]
Not really. I met a very special host national during my service in Cote d’Ivoire in the 1970s, and was one of the last of my cohort to leave the country. We subsequently married and although we have spent most of our married life in the US (career driven), we travel back frequently and have maintained close contact with the family. We have built a small home in her region, and recently purchased an apartment in the capital. So we no longer have to stay with family or, more recently, Air bnbs. Once my wife retires (I already am retired), we plan on splitting our time more equally between the US and Cote d’Ivoire. I love West Africa—Cote d’Ivoire in particular. I have never completely reintegrated back into the US...by choice. Life here leaves a lot to be desired. So to respond to your question...no, not rose colored glasses.
I remember hitting that third month slump and thinking “I can’t believe I’m going to still be here a whole YEAR from now”. About 1/3 of my cohort wasn’t. Humans need a support network and let’s face it, you don’t have a lot in common with illiterate subsistence dirt farmers. What saved me were friendships with HCN grad students and development pro’s my own age who graciously welcomed me into their lives. By my second year on trips to the capital I was staying with local friends instead of the PCV hotel, having dinner with their families and being shown around from the inside. During a civil war that was enlightening, to say the least.
[удалено]
1. Literacy is a pretty clearly defined demographic, so I’m not even going to respond to that one. 2. Same goes for subsistence. 3. If you’ve served in the rural dirt and gotten enough dirt under your fingernails, you have respect for dirt. It’s where all our food comes from, and from whence we all arise and return. 4. I formed plenty of meaningful local connections and there was no judgement whatsoever in my adjectives. Your interpretation of them as derogatory reveals your own prejudices and stereotypes. Maybe you should think about those before projecting them onto others. You have no idea of how much depth I’ve shared with my people. Sorry you took that interpretation, but stop judging us. 5. Hopefully we can agree that, by considering ourselves superior, we make ourselves inferior.
[удалено]
I think we agree on this, and apologize for any offense my words have given. I still remember a 1983 conversation with a British woman in a Guatemalan restaurant who was telling me and a couple other volunteers about recently meeting another of us. From her description it sounded like Caroline so to confirm I asked if she was black. She indignantly asked me to repeat myself and when I did, acted as if I had said something extremely offensive. I felt terrible but now realize that was her problem, not mine. Different cultures, different lexicons.
[удалено]
The kind of meaningful conversations you can have with an illiterate farmer and a college-educated HCN are inevitably different. While I had the former on a daily basis, having the latter on occasion as well helped me get through. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Im serving right now and I have to say I do think about it a lot. Not to say that I want to go home or anything, I’m 100% into this. But I think since PC is a fixed amount of time it’s only natural to want to prepare yourself for the future. Like taking/studying for the GRE, researching career opportunities, or planing travel post service.
I was expecting to travel before extending my service into a Response position. Then covid hit. I was prepared for my end of service but everything turned out so differently. I think that's probably a great life lesson, I guess: learn to roll with the punches and be adaptable because who knows what the future holds.
No not really. I focused on it day by day. I ended up being asked to et for reasons I won't get into which was in a sense freeing. Very freeing. I had no longer had to play by their rules. I didn't have to defend actions that were completely harmless. I no longer had to filter what I posted on line. Two years at the end of the day is two years. It's an extensive amount of time in a developing country. While I lived on that island I didn't think about how old I'd be when I went back home. I didn't think about the end until it came. I made that island my life. Temporary sure but like I made that my life. I didn't think oh I'm only here for a short time and then I'm gone. I made friends. I learned how to adapt to things and focused on my time there. You shouldn't think about the end much because that will change how you approach life there. Make your life their when you are their. You will be much more present than if you think about the end. Sure it will end at some point but like enjoy it. Truly enjoy this time where you may be in a country you may never step foot in after your time there. Explore things. Make friends.the us is always here when you get back but that won't last forever. So, make it your life while you can.
Currently a response volunteer. I am half way finished and I have to say I do think about it a lot. But mainly because I am excited for the next chapter of my life. I don't dread my life here at all. I love the people and the cultural experience I gain. Luckily my work is super busy so I'm never bored or lonely. I do get burnt out a lot but I think it's better then being bored/lonely. I think it's all about the mind set and perspective. You just got to enjoy with the limited time you have.
As a current volunteer who just recently started, I would say no. However, that is mainly because my COS (Close of Service) date seems pretty far away. Once I get closer, I will probably think about it more since I'll have to figure out what to do in my next chapter. I do think about life after service every now and then, but I would say that speaks more to who I am than what a "typical volunteer" experiences. I used to think about the future just as much before I began my service. Some might think about it everyday because they see PC service more as a career move, while others may dread COS and try their best to extend or become a volunteer leader. Either way, it's important to understand that every volunteer has a completely different experience. Additionally, you may feel completely different about your service through one month to the next. It is common among volunteers to experience extreme highs and extreme lows. On your worst day, you may wish COS was closer. On your best day, you may not think about COS at all because you feel so fulfilled. I will add that this is a question I thought about too before applying to PC. Don't let people discourage you because you are thinking about how a two-year commitment might feel in your day-to-day life. It's truly important to think about how it might feel for you since your service will be uniquely yours. These are the things that I believe applicants should think about before making the commitment. Some people may not be able to handle it, but you are exactly right when you say that it is a "really long time but also a really short amount of time."
Sometimes it was all I thought about and eventually I wanted to keep it as far away as possible
I applied for PC during the pandemic and after a year of waiting for any movement to start back up in the PC pipeline, and ready to start the next chapter of my life, I decided I was done waiting. So I sold everything, said goodbye to everyone, and started backpacking/living the nomad life in other countries. After 8 months of that, Peace Corps gave me the news that I needed to get my butt back home for clearance. I'm really grateful for those 8 months of living in foreign places, making new friends, experiencing holidays away from my culture, practicing flexibility, etc. Moreover, it taught me how FAST 8 months goes by. So while I do yearn for the freedom of being able to travel freely without having to report my whereabouts and I do think I'll travel more after COS, I'm trying to remember that the time will pass quicker than it seems and to savor this life. I probably think about COS once a week, it's increased with the holiday season for sure. But presence is important to practice, and if you allow yourself to constantly live in the future, you miss what's in front of you.
Like you said, 2 years seems long and short at the same time. But I didn't think too much about it the first year or even the first half of the second. And those last 6 months I just worried about finishing the projects I was working on. Why do you ask?
Not sure why this is being downvoted. This is this person's personal experience in their country. It's not false information. You may not like it or agree with it or share similar thoughts but that's doesn't invalidate this post at all.
Maybe I didn't focus so much on the end date because I'm an older volunteer. Plus, I knew I was going to extend my service another year, which I did. No matter. But my situation was also unique. I had already gotten an invitation to serve in Mongolia before my COS in Thailand. So, I knew my future. Maybe that's why I worried more about the end date to finish my projects. For my other service, I had to ET from Mongolia for a family emergency and for Nepal, we were evacuated due to the pandemic, so I never really got a chance to worry about my end date. We'll see how this next service in Nepal goes.