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Ronald Spiers posted:I think it depends on the country... In Ethiopia, I've done occasional work with PCVs (briefings around their swearings-in mostly) but it is pretty rare. That said there's no ban on us hanging out (here, at least), other than the fact that we're in the capital and they're out in the field. In practice it basically never happens. I know there is a goon PCV here in Ethiopia but I've never been to his part of the country so it's unlikely I'll meet him. Leif. fucked around with this message at 10:38 on Mar 29, 2013 |
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Mar 29, 2013 10:35
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22 days left. I keep waiting for the nostalgia to kick in and tell me it hasn't been so bad and maybe it would be nice to stay... but it hasn't happened and I still can't wait to get the hell out of here.
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Mar 29, 2013 14:24
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Diplomaticus posted:In Ethiopia, I've done occasional work with PCVs (briefings around their swearings-in mostly) but it is pretty rare. That said there's no ban on us hanging out (here, at least), other than the fact that we're in the capital and they're out in the field. In practice it basically never happens. I know there is a goon PCV here in Ethiopia but I've never been to his part of the country so it's unlikely I'll meet him. Two, and soon to be three, actually. Also my offer still stands, just in case 
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Mar 29, 2013 15:47
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the shill posted:22 days left. I keep waiting for the nostalgia to kick in and tell me it hasn't been so bad and maybe it would be nice to stay... but it hasn't happened and I still can't wait to get the hell out of here. 93, and I was just asked to extend. Ha, tell that to my grad school acceptance, thanks.
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Mar 30, 2013 19:13
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You can defer for a year! But why would you want to? 
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Mar 30, 2013 19:49
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Almost done all the paperwork and this question popped up, along with my answer I've got right now.quote:1. Below are some common issues you may face in your community. Please note any concerns, and how you plan to deal with the issue. What do you guys think of this answer? For years I've wanted to become fluent in Spanish. I managed to get an internship in China for eight months and worked on Mandarin while there. I was always frustrated though because I would have preferred a Spanish speaking country because I would have been highly conversational by the time I finished. Now it's looking like there's a real possibility that I'll be placed into an indigenous area, where they don't speak Spanish.
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Apr 2, 2013 20:20
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Eh, even villages generally have a few people that speak the langua franca of your country, and those are typically the people you talk with the most anyways; the 'Big Men,' chief/politicians, teachers, etc. But it depends on the site, really. As to your response itself, its a good start. Kind of depends on what part of the process you are at, though. I'm assuming here this is before you get your actual invitation to a nation. But I would add in a couple parts. 1. What you would do if you WERE placed in an indigenous area. So how would you learn the local language and keep studying Spanish at the same time? This is good for you to know beforehand in case you ARE placed in an indigenous area and designing strategies beforehand is good. And it also shows PC your flexibility. 2. What are your professional goals attached to becoming fluent in Spanish? When I went through I put down that State Department/UN/Red Cross, etc were my dream jobs and fluency in French would be a huge booster for me. So if you are looking at applying to a company in South America, or which deals with immigrants, etc,. after you are out of PC- put it down. For the most part, PC attracts adventurous retirees who want to do stuff before they fade out and people just out of college, (oversimplified, but still pretty much true) so they know that they are partly considered a professional training experience for us Americans as well as a development organization. Tying in professional goals can't hurt and will probably help. Slaan fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Apr 3, 2013 |
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Apr 3, 2013 09:51
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Slaan posted:Eh, even villages generally have a few people that speak the langua franca of your country, and those are typically the people you talk with the most anyways; the 'Big Men,' chief/politicians, teachers, etc. But it depends on the site, really. I've been invited to Panama and this is just another set of questions they want me to fill out. I'm hoping it's the last one because I just want to be lazy and relax for the next two months before I fly out in June. Thanks for your suggestions, I'll get to working on my response.
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Apr 3, 2013 14:16
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Fuschia tude posted:Two, and soon to be three, actually. Also my offer still stands, just in case I forget what the offer was, but whatever it is, it's only good through early June, after that I'm back in the US.
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Apr 3, 2013 15:23
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Just finished my interview an it went okay. Any opening would be until January-March of next year. If i wanted to stay with business development all positions have a language requirement of French or Spanish. I would have to pass one of the tests with a 50 or above in the next month for those or end up waiting til a spring 2014 departure. I also have the option which I'm probably going to take and just go with the teaching route, which opens up a lot more opportunities. So it's off to find a ESL tutoring thing in NYC, does anyone have any experience with doing that here? For anyone stressing like I was about the interview don't worry too much about it. The example questions from the wiki and the ones sent out with my interview confirmation letter were exactly what he asked. Be sure to have ready examples for the things like: times you had to teach someone, times you had to follow a rule you disagreed with, how you relax and how you can turn that from a solo thing into something potentially beneficial to the community. There is also a relationship form thing that if you have a significant other go through with them because my interviewer asked to recall a specific one of the scenarios on the form. It's also been said before and I should have listened that the earlier you start to get volunteer hours/ language learning the better.
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Apr 3, 2013 20:54
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So, for anyone who was/is serving in PC China: how generous was the reimbursement/allowance for tutoring? As in, how many tutoring sessions did it afford you each week? I know it's site dependent, but was it generally easy to find a good and effective tutor? And did you have control over which materials to use in your studying? I'd like to continue using the same textbooks my university uses, so I'm trying to figure out if I should pick anything up and bring it with me this June. Super special China visa med exam next Friday! I get to find out for the third time in the past year that I do not, in fact, have HIV or TB. I don't have to do this again in China, do I? Getting that poo poo done for my residence permit last summer was... an experience to remember.
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Apr 5, 2013 03:20
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I've now been to my university's medical center so many times the receptionist didn't ask for my ID number just said 'huhu go upstairs to the second floor waiting room.' The Cheers theme song is now playing in my head.
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Apr 5, 2013 14:59
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Monkey Fury posted:So, for anyone who was/is serving in PC China: how generous was the reimbursement/allowance for tutoring? As in, how many tutoring sessions did it afford you each week? I know it's site dependent, but was it generally easy to find a good and effective tutor? And did you have control over which materials to use in your studying? I'd like to continue using the same textbooks my university uses, so I'm trying to figure out if I should pick anything up and bring it with me this June. 500 RMB a month for tutoring is provided. The rest of the answers to your questions are "it depends..." I'm sure you can find an enthusiastic local citizen or even a co-worker to be a tutor, or even a student. Jokingly, my site-mate and I suggested we tutor each other and get the 500 RMB reimbursement because we have the best Chinese in PC China... PC China's resource center has a bunch of textbooks for studying Chinese including the HSK. What text are you using from your uni? PC China has a 4th year Chinese textbook that my university uses.
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Apr 5, 2013 17:13
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huhu posted:I've now been to my university's medical center so many times the receptionist didn't ask for my ID number just said 'huhu go upstairs to the second floor waiting room.' Ha! I had to come back to my university health center to get a form signed about 8 months after my physical, and the nurse at the front desk still remembered me as "that nice Peace Corps kid." Ronald Spiers posted:500 RMB a month for tutoring is provided. Thank you... I figured "it depends" would be the answer to that particular question. I'm on Integrated Chinese Level 2 Part 2 right now, and am moving into the All Things Considered/Anything Goes... books from Princeton after this. I can use my Chinese to live and survive, but improving my grammar and vocabulary to function at the workplace and talk like an educated person are where I want to go next.
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Apr 5, 2013 19:59
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The PC Office has those Princeton books, in fact I'm using Anything Goes currently. You can save lugging it around across the world if you want and just check it out in the PC Office.
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Apr 6, 2013 04:44
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Books are really heavy and a pain to carry around, so that's awesome to hear. And textbooks aren't cheap, so even better.
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Apr 6, 2013 07:40
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Diplomaticus posted:I forget what the offer was, but whatever it is, it's only good through early June, after that I'm back in the US. Yeah, I'm leaving soon after. It was just if you do manage to come down here I offered to host you.
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Apr 14, 2013 14:08
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Just wanted to check in and say that I'm currently going through training in the Dominican Republic, if anyone has questions. For all of the talk in need background in Spanish to qualify for Latin America, there are plenty of people in our cohort who entered with Level 1 Spanish, which is to say, they didn't even know how to say "hola." I'm guessing that they tried to fit people according to their language and experience, but when the deadline is close they fill the remaining slots with who they can, regardless of their language background. There are also a few people in our group who are native Spanish speakers, for what it's worth. I actually feel sort of bad for them, because they don't get to learn a new language here (unless they get a chance to work with speakers of Haitian Kreyol). It hardly matters anyways, because Dominicans speak the craziest Spanish I've ever heard. Even some of the native speakers get really confused here. My wife and I can't wait to get done with training and be living on our own. ~1 month left of training and then 3 months with a host family at site...
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Apr 15, 2013 22:35
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Thought this day would never come.  quote:Congratulations! You have received your final medical and dental clearance for Peace Corps service. Thesaurus posted:Just wanted to check in and say that I'm currently going through training in the Dominican Republic, if anyone has questions. huhu fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Apr 19, 2013 |
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Apr 19, 2013 15:42
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Hello everyone, new PCV here. I was sworn in about three weeks ago and have been working on site for two weeks. I live & work in the rural part of the country but my community is still well developed in relation to some of the other parts of the world that the PC serves. This is not what I had in mind when I started the application process one and a half years ago but I am happy to be here nonetheless!
grenada fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Oct 28, 2014 |
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Apr 21, 2013 20:26
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the shill posted:22 days left. I keep waiting for the nostalgia to kick in and tell me it hasn't been so bad and maybe it would be nice to stay... but it hasn't happened and I still can't wait to get the hell out of here. I have a question for you- you're listed in the OP as the only person in this thread doing agriculture, and in your blog you mentioned beekeeping but it didn't seem like you were focusing much on it. Do you have any idea what the odds are of getting a placement that is focused on beekeeping?
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Apr 22, 2013 16:46
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I'm also in agriculture so I'll take a stab at the question (West Africa). So here in Benin there are two posts out of ~25 agricultural sites that have established beekeeping groups. Posts that have already established a good group of beekeepers are relatively rare, at least here. So it might be hard to get one unless you push your APCD to place you with one. Easier, of course, if you already have experience in the field. A lot of organizations are pushing beekeeping as a way to broaden dietary diversity, income generation and increased agricultural yields. Peace Corps is among them. I just returned from my 6th-month in service training, where we had 2 days of Apiculture training. Its a very good project to start at your post for several reasons: 1. It's cheap. Once you build the hives and make the suits the bees do everything for you. 2. Increased agricultural yields nearby 3. Easy to teach and not too much effort. Just 2-3 honey harvests a year, and catching swarms once a year. 4. High income generation once you have the practical experience to not kill your hives off during harvests 5. Peace Corps has some VERY good documentation they can share with you regarding apiculture. So even if you don't get placed in a beekeeping post, go ahead and start one. vvv Dawwww, new volunteers what with their pristine teeth, clean clothes and lack of dirty feet. Makes you  on the inside. The next training group coming in to Benin arrives in just a couple months... but I won't meet them until September because I live ~15 hours away from the training site. 
Slaan fucked around with this message at 12:09 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 23, 2013 10:19
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I'd just like to say I know that Georgia doesn't even HAVE an agriculture sector but we've had two education volunteers set up beekeeping projects because honey is a huge deal here. So...even non-agro vols can do it as a secondary project. 68 days! I met my replacement group at the airport today. They're so cute and clean!
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Apr 24, 2013 11:51
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Hey does anyone know of a site that serves a similar purpose as peacecorpsjournals.com used to serve? They went down recently and I've been dying for a convenient portal to find and view new(ish) blogs from volunteers.
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Apr 25, 2013 23:11
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I'm flying out to Guyana tomorrow! Feel free to add me to the OP (13-15). Eat my dust America.
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Apr 29, 2013 18:30
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I got one month left in Indonesia and it's really exciting to see it all coming to an end. When you look back on it it's just amazing that you made it 2 years where most people I know wouldn't stay a night.
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Apr 30, 2013 06:54
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So I'm entering into the mid-service ohgodwhatgetmeoutofherewhereismyvacation blues right now. But some days make it all worth it. My cat had a little of three kittens. I cooked American food (care package) for my friends in village, to great success. And a project the volunteer I replaced applied for got approved by the FAO, so now I get to work with them to build some wells in my village, for basically no effort on my part. Woot! And, finally, today I translated Reste contre moi, quand tu n'est pas forte/ Je serai ton ami et t'aide continuer~ Second Goal, attained. 
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May 9, 2013 20:27
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I am having so much trouble understanding the teachers and students at my work site. It is so embarrassing to ask a teacher to repeat themselves 3+ times when they can understand me perfectly. grenada fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Oct 28, 2014 |
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May 9, 2013 23:29
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I wanted to double check this, is it proper for Peace Corps to hold your personal/government passports until staging? I got a confirmation from Sato travel but I just want to double check here.
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May 13, 2013 15:21
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Yeah, they gave back ours the day before we left alongside our PC/Government passport. I think that as long as you make them aware of a need to travel outside the US before your staging they will try to get your passport back to you sooner. You should talk to your recruiter/country desk for that information though.
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May 13, 2013 19:23
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Slaan posted:Yeah, they gave back ours the day before we left alongside our PC/Government passport. I think that as long as you make them aware of a need to travel outside the US before your staging they will try to get your passport back to you sooner. You should talk to your recruiter/country desk for that information though. If you want to keep your normal passport, you have to fill out a separate passport application form; I believe it's the form that you fill out for your first passport. There should be instructions on the peace corps passport information sheet. If you can't find it, PM me, and I should have the info on my computer somewhere.
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May 14, 2013 06:15
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Don't plan on traveling out of country until I leave. Thanks though.
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May 14, 2013 16:28
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What are the thoughts on shaving during service? I read somewhere about diseases getting in through shaving cuts and now I'm a little bit paranoid about it.
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May 20, 2013 20:43
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Do you mean in terms of growing a beard? I don't think anyone is going to judge you for growing a beard no matter what your country. I am definitely going to attempt a beard at some point during my service. I have never followed through with a full beard while back in the U.S. since it grows in kind of weird. Maybe have your family send you some quality razor blades in a care package. I brought some mach 3 razor blades down with me and I very rarely ever cut myself. You should talk to your PCMO if it really bothers you so they can reassure you or provide some tips.
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May 20, 2013 22:21
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laxbro posted:Do you mean in terms of growing a beard? I don't think anyone is going to judge you for growing a beard no matter what your country. I am definitely going to attempt a beard at some point during my service. I have never followed through with a full beard while back in the U.S. since it grows in kind of weird. I had to fight quite a lot with our AO and PM over my beard because they considered it unprofessional for Cambodia. Cambodians don't grow them because they're unable to grow anything more than scraggly face pubes, and so there was this blanket policy of beards being against the rules. But I was stubborn and we were the first group in our country so we got away with a lot, so I managed to hold onto it for the entirety of service... but they definitely cracked down in later groups so I'd say it's certainly possible he could be judged for growing a beard.
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May 21, 2013 02:08
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Not really concerned about a beard just more concerned with infection.
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May 21, 2013 03:09
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Don't use dog poo poo for shaving cream then i guess? I dunno man people shave in the tropics every day all around the world and there isn't a spate of razor infections. Clean your stuff but more importantly don't worry about it. And you're probably gonna get a host of infections no matter what so just accept it and keep your PCMO on speed dial
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May 21, 2013 05:35
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Also you get a med kit with what amounts to Neosporin, so. In unrelated news, why does COSing suck so darn much. I have barely half of all my exit interviews done, and even though I finally did my DOS, I still have to fill out my last VRF. Ugh.
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May 21, 2013 20:15
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Peace Corps to allow same-sex couples to serve together So...how many countries will this be an option in?
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May 21, 2013 22:11
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Probably not any of Africa, Middle East, or Caribbean. Maybe parts of Latin America and E. Europe but probably only in the big cities. Good chance for some Asian countries like Thailand, Nepal and maybe Philippines. All speculation though! I think this is a good PR move by peace corps. This decision will be lauded by progressive supporters of peace corps and will offer no real downside. I doubt they will be able to place more than a handful of couples each year due to country/safety restrictions. I am sure the application process will take eons since it already takes 1.5+ years for a hetero couple.
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May 22, 2013 00:04
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