the being stared at. all the time. everywhere. being "famous" is NOT all it is cracked up to be. you'll see. :) maybe. but every single pcv experiance is different. and there are big cities in africa- lots of volunteers picture mud huts for 2 years and land in a ghetto apartment on min. wage teaching ungrateful and unruly city kids and eating at KFC for lunch. You NEVER know! but really- the staring rarely stops in africa. :) but ... i have to say - one of my greatest friends - she was in a very rual area- had dreads and a very down to earth way about her- she didn't so much get treated any better- but maybe due to her nature as well- she was just blending and connecting better than some other PCV's.

shutting yourself in at night- i have heard some cultures are definate about certain practices after dark. lots of superstition with night and lots of interesting do's and don'ts in most any culture. (durring aparthied they had curfew and so the aftermath of that in my area was just a long standing habit of Not going out at night- but i'm trying NOT to overgeneralize. its a big place... a BIG BIG place... areas differ drastically)

One thing I have to mention that kindof makes me laugh a bit and wonder in a way- the friends a PCV makes... what that group is composed of... how integrated ARE some volunteers. I use to think there were kindof 3 kinds of volunteers:
* The ones that have ONLY friends that are PCV's and just kinda "know" the folks in the village.- they are in the capitol ever weekend or hanging out at their friend's village. They like to be on every committee and group so that they have a chance to see more americans. They are dating the VSO in the village over. Mostly they have a lot of hang ups about the folks they work with such as, "They have no idea what i gave up to come here!" "They don't really want me or know what I can Do for Them!?" Also a bit co-dependant on PC and whine about the situation quite a lot. lots of avoidance behaviors. sometimes alcoholism.

* The ones that have ONLY "host country nationals" as their friends. They kindof know the names of the other volunteers in the area but you never see them. ever. maybe at a meeting. When you do run into them in the capitol and they are chilling with their very cool and definately "cultural" friends - (who are curious about you and not disinterested in having you join the conversation...but...) The culurally elite shun you after hello's or even look at you like, "Who do you think You are- I am Being Cultural! Do Not Inturrupt me while I'm communing and absorbing culture." They also try to do EVERYTHING on their own. (thus failing at really getting big things done cuz they spend 2 years recreating things other volunteers have already done, failed, succeeded at or worked the kinks out of.- NEVER just jump into a project. always find out if someone tried that before- and find out why it did or didn't work... make it BETTER. don't Make the SAME MISTAKES! - ok off that soap box.)

*The PCV's who have a bit of both worlds. They have lots of PCV friends, go to all the meetings, invite others to their village to hang out and see their family (or in my case- my house was the vacation spot! it was the shit. still rual but i really had a great set up- cable tv, running water, phone, internet, wildlife, a great bar and pool table, hikable tourist spots, access to groceries and a post office and a clinic. etc... so ya- LOTS and LOTS of PCV's landed - (sometimes stranded) into my village and the local people of Kamanjab would just bring them to my house. would assume they would come stay with me. I met a lot of really awesome people this way as well!- not always PCV's. - throw a rock in some areas of Africa and you'll hit a volunteer.
--- The PCV's that integrate into the local culture will be able to go out into the "ghetto" At NIGHT and be totally safe because they have a group of friends to aid support and acknowledgement that - this person is "one of them" - a PCV that is integrated makes friends so closely with the teachers that they will come to her/him and confide things you would never expect- BECAUSE you are not just a volunteer but a Friend.

HIV / Aids teaching is NOT something you can do without being Friends and being a Peer that is listened to and respected. You just can't expect people to open up with questions about sex with someone who is so very different and disconnected from them.

I just wanted to interject this somewhere because it is definately something that struck me as the core of a successful or unsuccessful volunteer. How they relate to people as JUST People without all the Peace Corps "stuff". (cuz you are being trained by the US government to go "develop" a nation. just think about that a min and how we really define "development". )

Just- GO- have fun! (firstly! cuz its a grand adventure- all of it... life in general- peace corps is just a bump in time compaired to everything but its some really intense and sometimes borring time... take books...) AND- go meet people, go connect, go help where you can and don't cause more harm. You will have a GREAT TIME!

AND - if Peace Corps- starts Dicking you around- cuz it is the US Gov't. - IF they really start to f- with you and don't listen- MAKE THEM! they DO have some accountability and don't think that you can't demand some things if they really f you up- (cuz really- the most negitive things i've ever heard - are because of Peace Corps buracracy and upper management decisions.- you can deal with it though. be Savy girl! be smart- talk the talk- pay attention to the rules - so you know how to break and which ones to break and when and you know how to protect yourself and what you can expect from them. READ YOUR PC MANUAL! REALLY READ that Guide Book! seriously! i used mine quite a lot- many of us did.)

ok... i actually have a real job that i'm not doing right now so i better stop dreaming and teaching about pc life.

(folks might wonder why i'm being such a "know it all" - i trained more than 15 groups. I also was called on to solve a lot of PCV problems both durring and after PC. I was also able to see more than 200 volunteers come and go because i was living there for years after PC. SO... i kindof got to know the PC way of life pretty well. :) - loved a lot of it!)

I just met a pcv that is leaving next week for the Gambia. he works in one of my houses that i manage now. Its been exciting helping him prepare! (so i guess i'm just all a-buzz with that for the moment.)

1 luv, trish