When you first arrive at your site, you’ll be TOTALLY pumped to meet all the members of your new community.

When serving abroad, all Peace Corps Volunteers face challenges of new living arrangements, novel foods and different attitudes.

We first met in July 2012 when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand. He sent me an SMS saying, “Hey Guy!”

Before coming to Thailand I knew that I would blend in, but it really didn’t sink in how well I’d actually blend in until arriving.

The Zulu proverb Ubuntu says, “I am a person through other people; my humanity is tied to yours.” 

“Can you describe to me what your social life is like at site?” I eagerly asked a fellow Peace Corps Thailand Volunteer at our joint swearing in/close of service ceremony. 

In Mongolia, you might live in a ger; in Swaziland, it could be a rondavel. Just as each Volunteer experience is different, so is each house. 

May is Asian American and Pacific Island Heritage Month, or so people tell me, but I never knew that we had our own special month because I've always identified as just a regular American.