What is it like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer?

A month ago, I swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and moved to my site. Now that I have been here for a month, I have started reflecting on what I have experienced so far in my Peace Corps service, and thinking about what the Peace Corps experience is like for other Volunteers. Which leads me to the question:

What is it like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer?

It's a very good question, without a single answer. Because each country where Peace Corps Volunteers serve is different, and each community in each country is different, and each Peace Corps program within each country is different.

During our Peace Corps training here in Moldova we talked about the danger of the "Single Story." The linked TED talk is great, and made me think about not only how I view the country I live in, but also how people view Peace Corps Volunteers. When I first told a close friend that I was considering joining the Peace Corps, her response was, "But you like to shower..." That's true! I definitely do like to shower. And it's also true that there are Peace Corps posts where it might be might challenging to bathe, but it's also true that there are posts where it's possible to shower every day. This is even true from site to site within one country.

My blog captures my experience in my town, but every other Volunteer will have a different experience. If you'd like to learn about what life is like for other Volunteers, you can check out the blogroll on the sidebar. Last week, I started watching videos on YouTube about different PCVs' experiences of living in their host countries. There is so much variety! Here are a few that I have enjoyed watching:

Mongolia

Azarbaijan

Jamaica 
(this one made my day because she has Sounders stuff up on her wall! at this very moment I am wearing the Sounders MLS Cup Champions shirt my dad mailed to me :) ).

Armenia

This week, two of my Peace Corps colleagues who live in the same region of the country visited my town. One of them came with his librarian partner to attend a Novateca event that my library hosted. The other, who lives in a very small village, came to purchase some items from the supermarket in our town that he isn't able to buy in his village. Talking with both of them made it clear that our experiences in our sites have been very different.

For example, one lives in a town that is a bit smaller, but almost exclusively Russian-speaking. The other lives in a village of about 5,000. I live in a town of around 30,000 people. People speak Romanian, but also Russian. There are restaurants and supermarkets here. There is a also university, and I have heard English spoken around town a few times. There are two other PCVs posted here, which is not common; most PCVs are the only American in their village. However, my site mates' experiences are different, too. Both are educators, but they teach different subjects at different schools. One lives in an apartment. They each have a retired host mom, but I live with a family where the parents work and the son who lives at home attends university. So even in one town, our experiences are quite different.

All this to say, I hope that my blog give you some insight about Moldova, and some insight about being a Peace Corps Volunteer, but it's only one little glimpse! And I've only been in-country for 4 months, and at site for 1 month. So there is a lot more that I will discover while I am here!