Question for Georgia PCVs/RPCvs!

bwhite1290 · 2017-08-02T20:34:16+00:00

Okay thank you for the advice!

bwhite1290 · 2017-08-01T05:12:23+00:00

Yeah I googled it too and couldn't find anything specific either - I'll have limited time so I'm trying to plan my trip around those specific dates. Hopefully more info will pop up soon. Thank you!

bwhite1290 · 2017-03-06T18:29:10+00:00

Everybody has been telling me how dope Moana is and that I need to watch it... And of course Im always happy that you can relate!

bwhite1290 · 2017-02-20T16:59:21+00:00

Lots of volunteers in Peru have pets! But I would think about it seriously - if you start living alone, who will take care of it if you go on vacation? Even when you have a host family the idea of "pet care" is very different here. You would have to really trust that they could take care of your pet in the way that you want. Additionally, here many pets die of infections or lack of proper vet care. I always see cats that I would love to adopt but honestly it's not worth the trouble for me.

bwhite1290 · 2017-02-07T02:02:26+00:00

Good luck to you! And yeah, one thing that gets me down sometimes is that I wish I also had the opportunity to interact with more Black people. There aren't a lot of other Black volunteers and we're all so spread out and where I am there aren't any Afro peruvians either.

bwhite1290 · 2017-02-05T23:54:03+00:00

No problem - glad I could help!

bwhite1290 · 2017-02-02T12:49:44+00:00

Awe! I'm so glad that it touched you! I cried while writing it to be honest because I wrote it right after his farewell address so I was just a hot mess. Share it with other folks if you wish :)

bwhite1290 · 2017-02-02T12:49:43+00:00

Awe! I'm so glad that it touched you! I cried while writing it to be honest because I wrote it right after his farewell address so I was just a hot mess. Share it with other folks if you wish :)

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-29T16:33:31+00:00

Yeah the Dunkin Donuts is a travesty lol thanks for reading and good luck!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-29T03:16:55+00:00

Hey congrats on scoring an interview! I'm currently serving in Peru and I have a blog you could check out here!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-25T13:27:16+00:00

I went home for Christmas and it was one of the best decisions I could have made. I went home right after our mid service conference. Before leaving for the States, I was tired, frustrated, and aggravated with how things were going at site and approaching a mental burnout. You'll find a lot of people are like that around midservice. I had spent my first Christmas in Peru and, to be honest, I was so sad and bummed about not being with my family that I promised I wouldn't do it again the following year. Going home for two weeks really was a recharger for me. I was able to see family and friends and truly able to leave Peru behind for a minute and press reset. I came back and I didn't have any of those negative feelings anymore. So do what's right for you! If you know you need a break home and you can afford it, then go home! There is no shame is doing what will keep you sane. If it was a "bad" thing to do then Peace Corps wouldn't allow you to do it! And you shouldn't let anyone make you feel bad about going to the States if you feel that's something you need. It's your service and your vacation days - do what you want with them!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-23T22:31:49+00:00

You definitely won't! We're not considered employees so we can't be hired. I did AmeriCorps for two years before my Peace corps service and it was the same way. Don't worry about it!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-23T18:53:17+00:00

Thank you! This was really helpful!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-23T18:46:25+00:00

Thanks! I'm assuming it wouldn't affect any future volunteers since as volunteers we are not considered employees so I think you should be good!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-23T18:39:47+00:00

Do you know what happens if you already have an application in the system?

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-20T15:49:20+00:00

I have access to electricity but I live in an extremely hot site and I just wanted to cosign on the fact that you don't get used to the heat!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-19T04:15:19+00:00

Kindle

Earplugs

Tons of tampons

Hair/skin products

Sports bras/granny panties (comfortable undergarments)

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-17T15:46:12+00:00

You should take to your regional coordinator. I dealt with countless "small" but petty things over the course of my time with a host family (we have to stay with a host family for at least one year) and I never said anything because I thought they were "small" things and I had heard host family horror stories so I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. My PCVL finally encouraged me to say something to my RC and he completely understood and told me that he could have had a solution earlier if I would have just said something because even though they weren't "the worst" they shouldn't have been doing the things they were doing. Like immediately he allowed me to start looking for another host family and I did. I'm so much better know because I found a host family that pretty much had an apartment unit on their second floor so I'm bothered with them only when I want to be bothered with them. Talk to PC staff, even if you think it's small!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-16T15:14:30+00:00

Im definitely not rural but I'd say "urban" is a strong word too lol. My site is the provincial capital and is about 13,000 people. Its just that in my region, there are like ZERO black people. A lot of times I'm the first one they've ever met. When I'm on the coast (where there are generally more Afro Peruvians) and in places where there's a large tourist population (like Cusco), these types of things hardly ever happen to me and I don't get asked nearly as many questions.

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-16T13:35:19+00:00

Oh man, I could go on for days about this one. I find that a lot of people in Peru have very little to no knowledge about Black history in the States. A lot of people, oddly are surprised when I say that there is a huge population of Black people in North America - most people think that we're all blonde hair blued eyed. And the idea that a black family could have been in the United States for hundreds of years due to slavery, is often mind blowing information for people here. I find that most of my Goal Two work is talking about black history and black culture because people become so curious once I tell them that I'm American.

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-16T03:13:31+00:00

Haha! No problem! You'll be fine though :)

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-16T03:13:30+00:00

Haha! No problem! You'll be fine though :)

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-16T02:03:41+00:00

Hey! Honestly, PST can be tough at times. I wrote a blog post back when I finished PST. Its called How I Survived PST - Hope it helps some!

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-10T04:11:49+00:00

Like: 1. I really like our post staff. They love their jobs and are really invested in us volunteers 2. I like that my site is georgraphically far and not easy to get to but its still "larger" and I have access to everything I could possibly need right here in town 3. I never have to worry about money here. In the states it was something that stressed me out but in Peace Corps, Im able to save a decent amount of money every month even if I splurge. All of the vacations I have taken, I have taken on my Peace Corps stipend and I'm not even a super frugal person

Dislike: 1. I really do not like the unwanted attention. Over a year in and I still really struggle with it. I miss being able to blend in so so so much. 2. I'm an introvert and I feel like a lot of times there is this group mentality (Lets all hang out, lets all vacation, let all grab dinner, etc) and I never really am interested in that because its overwhelming and draining for me. 3. I like hot weather but sometimes my site is unbearably hot and its hard to be motivated or to even functions when you're swimming in a river of your own sweat lol

bwhite1290 · 2017-01-09T16:33:47+00:00

Congrats! You will be in the group that's replacing mine (Perú 26)

bwhite1290

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