Omar
Omar is a bastard who only makes fun of my toenails….actually he’s not but he is watching me type this so I thought I’d throw him a bone.
It is a completely different experience to be a Peace Corp Volunteer alone at your site as compared to being with another Peace Corp Volunteer.
After some initial headaches with Peace Corp staff Omar was “approved” to visit and help at my site. He showed up over the weekend and since then we’ve been “playing house.” For the majority of the week we’ve been working at Leakhale creating teaching schedules with the educators and developing science and math curriculum for the school. It was surprisingly exhausting, attempting to get so much work done in such a short span of time. Luckily for me, my school loved Omar and had our lunch catered for part of the week which was a nice change from my usual peanut butter and jelly consumption or peanuts and raisins.
Since there is not a lot to do around the village we have been entertaining ourselves in a variety of ways: playing a multitude of Scrabble, Perfection (which Omar is obsessed with), Blue’s Clues Memory, Catch Phrase, etc. In addition, we have been eating some really amazing pasta that has been stretched throughout the week.
The reaction of my community has been interesting. Everyone is really excited to find out where he’s from and to learn he’s also an American. I did have to explain to a few people that he is not my husband but this perception may help to curb males harassing me in my community if they think I’m taken so I don’t mind too much.
In the end, it’s been nice to have company and I feel like it has really gotten my teachers, especially at Leakhale, excited to use my help again. I do think for the rest of the year I will be busy at that particular school. For now I leave site for a week and a half for in service training in Polokwane. It’ll be nice to learn a lot of vital information and more importantly to hang out with 50 Americans.
It is a completely different experience to be a Peace Corp Volunteer alone at your site as compared to being with another Peace Corp Volunteer.
After some initial headaches with Peace Corp staff Omar was “approved” to visit and help at my site. He showed up over the weekend and since then we’ve been “playing house.” For the majority of the week we’ve been working at Leakhale creating teaching schedules with the educators and developing science and math curriculum for the school. It was surprisingly exhausting, attempting to get so much work done in such a short span of time. Luckily for me, my school loved Omar and had our lunch catered for part of the week which was a nice change from my usual peanut butter and jelly consumption or peanuts and raisins.
Since there is not a lot to do around the village we have been entertaining ourselves in a variety of ways: playing a multitude of Scrabble, Perfection (which Omar is obsessed with), Blue’s Clues Memory, Catch Phrase, etc. In addition, we have been eating some really amazing pasta that has been stretched throughout the week.
The reaction of my community has been interesting. Everyone is really excited to find out where he’s from and to learn he’s also an American. I did have to explain to a few people that he is not my husband but this perception may help to curb males harassing me in my community if they think I’m taken so I don’t mind too much.
In the end, it’s been nice to have company and I feel like it has really gotten my teachers, especially at Leakhale, excited to use my help again. I do think for the rest of the year I will be busy at that particular school. For now I leave site for a week and a half for in service training in Polokwane. It’ll be nice to learn a lot of vital information and more importantly to hang out with 50 Americans.
posted by Cait at 8:11 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for reporting your comments and observations on your Peace Corp assignment. I have already read several articles you have written and I am glad you are doing this.
I am a Political Science Student at Purdue University in the United States. I was looking for other people who have 'blogged' on their adventures. So, I am happy you did. Because I am considering joining the peace core after I graduate, But I wanted to get some idea on it. To see if it is a good fit for me.
Thank you,
Dave
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