Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sharing From Peace Corps Connect

Not sure the link will work so I am copying the article here, my comments are in blue- this is where I found it:

http://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/2012/02/12-reasons-to-date-a-returned-peace-corps-volunteer/


12 reasons to date a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer:

We can woo you in multiple languages. Who else is going to whisper sweet nothings to you in everything from Albanian to Hausa to Quechua to Xhosa? That’s right. Only a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. (Spanish anyone?)

We’re pretty good dancers. Yeah, we don’t like to brag, but after 27 months in Latin America or Africa we know how to move it. (Salsa anyone?)

We’ll eat anything. Seriously. No matter how bad your cooking, Returned Peace Corps
Volunteers have had worse and will eat it with nary a blink. Sheep’s eyeball? Water buffalo gall bladder? Grasshoppers? Bush rat? Bring it. (Especially in my year of new things)

We know all about safe sex, thanks to our very thorough Peace Corps health training. In fact, there’s a chance that we’ve stood unblushingly in front of hundreds of villagers and demonstrated good condom technique with a large wooden phallus. (Thankfully I only had to do this for an HIV course in college)

We’ll kill spiders for you. Well, actually, we’ll nonchalantly scoop them up and put them out of sight. Same goes for mice, geckos, frogs, snakes. Critters don’t faze Returned Volunteers. (I killed the spiders.... and the rats, scorpions... but not the crab. Him I swept outside. Now my geckos eat my bugs and the snakes in my house are pets.)

We have great date ideas: wandering a street market, checking out a foreign film, taking in a world music concert, volunteering…. Romantic getaway? Our passport is updated and our suitcase is packed. With us, life is always an adventure.

We like you for “you”… not your paycheck. Especially if we are freshly back from service, a local joint with “character” will win out over a pretentious eatery. Living in a group house? No problem. Does it have running hot water? What luxury!

You won’t get lost when you’re with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Navigating local markets on four continents, we’ve honed an uncanny sense of direction. Or else we’ll ask for directions. We’re not afraid to talk to “strangers.” (GPS helps!)

Waiting for a late train or bus with us? Don’t worry. Been there, done that. We can share lots of funny stories about “the bus ride from hell” that will make the time go quickly and put it all into perspective. (Chicken's pecking your ankles, anyone?)

Our low-maintenance fashion style. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer guys are secure in their manhood and don’t mind rocking a sarong. Women often prefer flip flops to high heels. We don’t spend hours in front of a mirror getting ready to go out. (My kids call it my hippie style)

Marry us, and you won’t just get one family — you’ll get two! When we refer to our “brother” or “mom,” you’ll want to be certain we’re talking about our American one or our Peace Corps one. You might even get two wedding ceremonies, one in the U.S. and one back in our Peace Corps country.

And last but not least, we aren’t afraid to get dirty.



Poster MJ then commented:

12 reasons NOT to date an rpcv (just for fun):

You might get tired of hearing “In peace corps….” stories all the time.

While you like sharing with your partner you don’t want to catch whatever creepy contagious disease we got from living like the locals (parasites, giardia, guinea worm, the plague)

Peace Corps volunteers are nomadic by nature so if you seek stability, have plans to settle down, or have considered home ownership (really even a 1 year lease), we aren’t your kind of people.

Before going on vacation with us you will probably need to get a vaccine, at least one.

We will insist on preparing you food from our host country. You will never know if we are just bad chefs or if the food was really that terrible.

You might get offended when we have pictures of adorable barefoot kids all over our apartments, but none of you (or any other Americans)

We genuinely believe that tevas/chacos are appropriate for work, dates, exercising, weddings, and everything else always.

We will complain about easy life is in America and how everyone takes everything for granted.

We love foreign music no matter how squealy, shrill, or bizarre it may be.

When we hang out with our RPCV friends we get sucked into a vortex of nostalgia that lasts for weeks.

We don’t believe careers in developed countries are meaningful, this includes yours.

It will be very difficult for you to get us to talk about any part of our lives besides Peace Corps

Me again. Notice I do not comment on the "Why not to date" list... I am guilty of nine of the twelve, but that may not be a bad thing...

1 comment:

  1. I used to work with a girl who had been in the Peace Corps and in every conversation she mentioned something about the "hut" she lived in, her "village," the parasite that ate half of her bladder which is why she had to go to the bathroom all the time, or the worm that lived in her body and eventually crawled out of her arm. No joke.

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