- 1.You will be able to go pee in just about anything.
This one, I am sure, seems a bit nutty, but it’s true. In some countries, your toilet is outside so it is very common either to not be allowed outside after dark or to just not want to go outside because its dark. And your toilet doesn’t have a light so you’ll get a bucket to go to the bathroom instead. Or sometimes you don’t have what is called a night bucket (the bucket you go pee in at night), and you are forced to find whatever is in your room to use to go to the bathroom. Especially when you get stuck in your room and can’t get out. So you pee in a Pringles can, Ziploc bag, just a plastic bag, or anything else you can possibly find in your room. I mean when you have to pee you have to pee. - 2.You will get way to use to talking about poop.
Naturally, after moving to a foreign country, your eating habits change, which means your bowel movements also change. Sometimes you poop way too often other times you only poop once every two or three days. Either way, you're bound to talk to your friends about it because most likely they are also going through similar situations. And your bowel movements change so often that it becomes a common topic among you and your cohort because you want to know how often they go or don’t go. - 3.You will read more books than you ever thought you would.
With the power constantly going out your only source of entertainment eventually becomes books. I mean some people will just put in more work, but you eventually will need a break and you your books will be there to keep you entertained. I know there have been some weeks when I read two or three books in between all of my lesson planning and other Peace Corps responsibilities. - 4.You will either love cooking or absolutely hate it.
When it comes to cooking, it’s very different than it is in America. You cook on a gas stove or a sigiri which is a charcoal stove. Your gas stove doesn’t always work, the sigiri takes forever to light, the gas stove runs out of gas, and sometimes you are forced to cook in the dark. All of those factors make it very easy to hate cooking. However, you are cooking in another country where the foods that you are eating you are not entirely used too, but also you have the same classic food that you are used to. This gives you a lot of time to experiment and figure out how to make new delicious dishes. It’s truly incredible all the foods that you never thought could go together that actually go quite well together. All the experimenting makes you love cooking and become so excited about the creations you are going to make next. Cooking and I have an absolute love-hate relationship. - 5. You will spend a lot of time picking ants out of your food.
Name a food: peanut butter, normal butter, bread, basically any kind of food, and you will most likely find ants in them at some point during your Peace Corps service. At first, you throw the food away because you are so grossed out over the ants. Eventually, you come to two realizations: they are just ants and you are wasting too much food. So you begin to just remove the ants from the food and continue eating. I mean there isn’t really much else you can do because you don’t want to continue throwing away money. - 6.You will probably cook the same exact meal for weeks at a time.
Now Peace Corps life is a lot of hard work. You have a lot of things that you have to get done so meals become the least of your worries. Thus you begin to just make the same thing over and over because that’s what you are used to, you like it, and it’s what you have time to make. By doing this, you can continue on in your abundance of work that is due the next day for your school, NGO, or for the Peace Corps. Don’t worry you get used to the same food day in and day out. You'll even begin to enjoy it. - 7.You may never look at rice and beans the same way.
No matter what country you end up in, beans and rice are usually the easiest food that you will make at home, that your school will make for lunch for you and the other teachers to eat. It's probably the easiest food to buy anywhere in the country. Needless to say, you will eat a lot of beans and rice. Now beans and rice are good, but eating them every day for two years leaves you with a desire to never look at beans and rice again. - 8.You will be able to bucket bathe out of anything that can hold water.
Now for those of you that don’t know what a bucket bath is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. You poor water into a bucket and you splash water on yourself, lather yourself with soap, and then splash on more water to remove the soap; and that’s how you get clean. You bucket bathe one to two times a day, so you become very accustomed to bucket baths, and you obviously get very good at them so when you see a bucket or anything that holds water no matter the size or shape, you just know that they can help you get clean and you can bucket bathe out of that. - 9.Your daily workout will be fetching water.
Depending on where you live fetching water is no easy task. The borehole might be very far away and jerry cans full of water are very heavy so while carrying the water back to your house is quite the work out. And depending on what you have going on that day, doing laundry, washing your hair, and doing lots of dishes, you might have to fetch water more than once a day. Not to mention you are so busy you don’t have much time to do any other form of a work out. So that daily water fetching becomes your workout. - 10.You will get used to people shouting Muzungu (or whatever the term for white person is in the local language) at you everywhere you go.
Now this sounds like a very negative thing but honestly people are just so excited to see a Muzungu and they don’t know what else to call you so they show their excitement while shouting Muzungu. At first this is a shock because you aren’t used to people shouting at you on the street and people being so excited to see you. It really becomes quite endearing. - 11.You will realize that no matter how well you think you dance the host country nationals will always dance better.
Now I am sure that you are a very good dancer, I am by no means saying you aren’t. I mean I have always been told that I am a pretty good dancer but getting to my country of service I couldn’t believe how much better the host country nationals are at dancing than all of us. No matter how often you practice or how many years you have danced previously host country nationals are going to be better dancers, but they will love you if you dance with them and they will teach you all they know. Watching host country nationals dance is one of the most incredible things. - 12.You will learn way too many acronyms your brain will hurt.
Peace Corps is full of acronyms. You’ve got your PSN (Peer Support Network), SPT (School Profile Tool), VRF (Volunteer Reporting Form), SGRI (small group reading intervention), WCRI (whole class reading intervention), PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Office), EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) and so many more. It’s nice to have a shorter way to write things but having all of the acronyms to keep straight is hard and makes your brain hurt often. I think it took all of PST (Pre Service Training) for us then PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) now PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) to remember all the acronyms which was about three months. - 13. You will get used to living days without power.
Your power goes out often sometimes for a few minutes or, an hour or two, or it will be out for anywhere from a day to a week. You never know why it goes out or how long is its going to be out you just know that it is out. You admittedly wonder if your electronics are charged enough, you hope your solar lamp was recently charged, you do your work while it is still light out, and then you pull your book out and you read until the power turns on or you fall asleep. - 14.You will learn a new language faster than you ever imagined.
Every Peace Corps Volunteer learns the local language in order to better integrate into the community.You learn the language during PST which is only three months, and depending on your country of service you might only have three to four weeks to learn the language instead of the three months and by golly you do it and it will surprise you to no end how easy you pick the language up. Your desire to learn the language is so huge and you use it so often that you learn the language well. - 15. You will gain a new set of skills that you never thought you needed.
Some of the skills you will pick up you might not think you need. You will learn how to cross the street while cars and motorcycles are rushing by, you will be able to wash laundry by hand like a pro or you’ll get really good at faking it, you will get really good at talking people into lower prices, and you will be able to navigate public transportation in a foreign country like you’ve lived there for years. However, some of the skills are a bit more professional related you will gain knowledge on teaching, you will learn how to navigate a new culture, you will be able to write grants, you will learn amazing communication skills, and you will be able to organize and put together camps. I know some of the skills are very silly but many of them are things you can put on an application that will help set you apart from other applicants. - 16.You will work harder at your job than you could ever imagine.
There is so much to do when you are in the Peace Corps. The kind of work you do depends on the sector that you are in but every Peace Corps Volunteer does so much for their school, NGO, community, or whatever it is that they are involved in. You write lessons, plant gardens, hold workshops, teach lessons, run camps, whatever it is that you could imagine will be done. Every volunteer wants to do a good job for their community so they do as much work as they possibly can in order to do that. - 17.You will have some of the hardest most emotional days but every second will be worth it.
Now think about it, you are living alone in a foreign country, you are meeting new people every single day, and you are constantly going through cultural shock. You are bound to go through many emotions, some happy, some sad, some confusing, and some overwhelming. You laugh, you cry, you get frustrated, and this is all just one day. But every emotion is honestly worth everything being able to make new friends and do what you love in a country that you love. - 18.You gain more family members and friends than you’ll ever truly imagine.
During language training you live with a host family and they become your family. They take care of you the entire time that you are living in their house and you will surly miss them once you move to your site. You will also gain friends in your community, at your work, and anywhere you go often and they too will become like family. It’s incredible all of the random friends and family that you will gain through this experience. - 19.You will more than likely meet the best friends of your life.
Each Peace Corps sector has a cohort of people that they travel to their country of service with, together they go through training after training, they learn the language together and these people become your best friends. When you go into the Peace Corps you don’t expect to make some of the best friends you’ll ever have in your life but you do. They become the people you call on bad days, on good days, when you have successes, when you fail, and all the times you just need to talk. - 20.You will love this job more than you could have ever imagined.
Despite all the craziness and the hardships that you may encounter the Peace Corps is the best job you will ever have. Waking up each day and being able to live in a beautiful country for two years will be something that you will forever remember and never regret. Peace Corps is a beautiful opportunity that will leave you never wanting to leave your country of service. Once you finally COS (Close of Service), you will never be a former Peace Corps Volunteer but instead a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, because no matter where you head next or what you do next once a PCV always a PCV just with the returned in front, and from then on your heart will always be in two places.
Welcome back
Sign in to comment to your favorite stories, participate in your community and interact with your friends
or
LOG IN WITH FACEBOOKNo account? Create one
Recommended for you
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Photo by Elizeu Dias on Unsplash
1. When you see each other after a hiatus it is like no time has passed.
Regardless of what you may have gone through, nothing can change the banter and personal communication you and your friends share. Nothing feels awkward or forced because you are having too much fun catching up!
2. You plan your outings around each other's schedules.
Your friend's work schedules or class schedules are memorized like the back of your hand. They are your priority, and you will do anything you can to get them to join you on adventures when it is convenient to do so.
3. You say 'I love you' on the phone.
Yes, you may say it in real life too, but saying it after a phone call means it has become a customary for you to validate your appreciate for one other. Like a significant other or family member, you feel the desire to express your love at the end of a conversation.
4. Nothing is boring when you are together.
No matter what you do together, you always have a good time. Why? Because your friends' company is all you need. With the right people, you can make any situation memorable.
5. You share weird inside jokes no one else understands.
And you would like to keep it that way. If you are anything like my friend group, we share a strange family dynamic that has lasted as a running joke forever. No matter what it is, your inside jokes and sly smirks will keep the spirits up for ages.
6. You plan to hang out for a couple hours but end up together the entire day.
So now you just expect it and prepare for a 24-hour long get-together. Naps are often a part of the agenda.
7. The hugs say a thousand words.
Perhaps you do it a little too much, but the hugs you share are always meaningful and comforting. Gotta love those group hugs especially!
8. You go on spontaneous adventures together.
It is where your favorite memories come from. Even though you might not be able to do them as much as you would like, you are always down for a trip, big or small, with the group.
9. You consider each other family.
Because you consider each other family, you treat each other like family. Constant love, constant support, and a tremendous amount of meals spent together.
10. They make you a better person.
It is not a special friend group unless you learn from one another. You had to be selective when choosing your friends and when you did, you felt like they could teach you a thing or two. Their actions influence who you are and you could not be more thankful.
11. You can't imagine life without them.
The very thought scares you and sends your heart racing. Thankfully, the ultimate friend group is right there with you so you never have to second-guess their loyalty. Instead, you can bask in the glory that is your ultimate friend group. #squadgoals.
Photo by Elizeu Dias on Unsplash
1. No school = no stress.
There are no essays to write, no books to read, and no deadlines to meet. The only worry in the world is keeping track of putting sunblock on.
2. Country music is more fun to listen to.
All true fans will listen to country music 365 days a year, but we all know that it's so much better in the summer when you can roll down the windows.
3. Your skin looks and feels better.
Even if you don't have the type of skin that tans, there is more color there than in the winter ... maybe. Freckles, tan lines, peeling burns and clear skin make for a happier camper. You'll forget all about the ghost version of yourself that was shedding dry skin like a snake over the winter.
4. Being barefoot 24/7 is an option.
Obviously wearing no shoes in the middle of a blizzard isn't acceptable. You know what is, though? Wearing no shoes in the summer ever because why not?
5. Ice cream is an acceptable snack.
For people like me who can't resist ice cream even on a 10 degree day, summer is a giant ice cream blessing. Not only does it taste like heaven, it's actually refreshing.
6. Minimal clothing is required.
Is there anything worse than having to put on layers in the wintertime only to sweat to death the minute you come back inside? No need for more than a tank top and shorts in the summertime.
7. Going to the beach daily isn't weird.
Now that it's hot, it's beach season. If you live near the ocean there is an excuse to drive there day or night, rain or shine. Staying there all day is an option for those who don't burn, and for those who do, you can always come back at night for a bonfire.
8. Cookouts.
Even when they lead to disaster, summertime cookouts are the best. Nothing completes a cookout more than watermelon and corn on the cob.
9. Night swimming.
Oh the thrill of jumping in freezing cold water in the middle of the night. Good thing the air becomes colder than the water, making the pool like a giant bathtub.
10. Spontaneous adventures.
Summertime gives you the freedom to wake up in the morning and decide to do something totally out of the blue that you've never done before. Hiking to a waterfall, rock climbing, going to a museum, or even road tripping are all great summer options.
Even if the heat isn't really your thing, it's undeniable to admit that life really is better in the summer. There's so much more free time, opportunity, excitement and sunshine. Only four months to go!
Trending Topics
Trending Stories
Best of Lifestyle![RBF]()
![12 Things To Do On A Snow Day]()
![a room with boxes and a window]()
