Many of you have asked me what it is exactly that I do here as an almost Peace Corps Volunteer (I graduate and swear-in in two days–woot woot). I know it might seem a bit confusing as for the past two and a half months we have been in training, and traveling to the four corners of Ecuador but before telling you what we do during training, I will start by telling you what we don’t do.
What people think we do as Peace Corps volunteers:
Save lives.
What we actually do during Pre Service Training:
- Talk about our bowel movements 90% of the time
- Make memes about our lives. In fact, we have an entire album of memes in our Facebook group.
- Complain if we have to spend more than 25 cents on transportation
- Avoid stray dogs or practice defence techniques for avoiding dog bites like picking up imaginary rocks.
- Carry rehydration packs, bug spray and ibuprofen with us at all times.
- Chisme. Chisme. Chisme. (Subtitles: Gossip. Gossip. Gossip.)
- Talk about how to get rid of the obscene amount of rice we have on our plates for each meal.
- Compare host families and observations we have about Ecuadorian culture
- Make plans to travel
- Sit in class all day
- Take overcrowded buses
- Play Russian roulette for two days of diarrhea
- Go looking for wifi
- Look for a place that is open and that sells something other than instant coffee
- Eat carbs on carbs on carbs
- Explain fifty times what vegetarianism is
- Take over karaoke bars and play gringo tunes
- Have a curfew
- Complain when receiving fifty cents in change in all pennies and nickels
- Going to the toilet for privacy because there is no way to get it anywhere else
- Pooping in bags
That about covers it folks.
But seriously, we do other stuff as well…
inklingsbyagirl 