December 16, 2003 - Personal Web Site: Wanderlustress - A Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Uzbekistan: Peace Corps Uzbekistan : The Peace Corps in Uzbekistan: December 16, 2003 - Personal Web Site: Wanderlustress - A Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-189-98.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.189.98) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 10:56 am: Edit Post

Wanderlustress - A Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan



Wanderlustress - A Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan

5 Weeks 'Til Uzbekistan!!!

Five more weeks until my entire life changes forever.

Everyone I've come across thus far, who have served in the Peace Corps, has no regrets. From those who served full term, to those who had early termination (quit), to those who were administratively separated (kicked out), not one of them would change a thing. Quite remarkable given the number of horror stories and gory details about service...the toilets, the harassment, the diarrhea, the loneliness, the frustration, the thefts, the dog-bites, the bugs, the stone throwing, the food, the cold, the isolation.

But I guess everything balances itself out somehow by the awesome moments of interacting with people from a different culture, learning about them and learning about yourself from them, giving them a part of yourself and for once feeling useful to the world. There's also the travel, seeing faraway lands you never thought you'd see, and having memories of a lifetime. And there's the knowing that surviving this would help to change the world and lead you to more remarkable things to come.

Balance is everything.


UZ17

"UZ17" is the designation of our group leaving in January. We are the 17th group of Peace Corps volunteers being sent into Uzbekistan since inception in 1992, and the 4th to be sent after the program was reinstated following the pull-out in 2001.

The Uzbekistan Desk Officer in D.C. told me today that we are a group of 50+, 18 of whom are NGO Development volunteers like myself. I've been able to connect with 7 from the group so far. We found each other either through the peacecorps2 Yahoo! group, or they found this blog or my Peace Corps blog through search engines. It amazes me to think how these 50 people and our experiences together over the coming two years will affect my life forever. And how I will impact theirs, never mind the reciprocol impact on lives of the Uzbek people we will encounter.


In the mean time, its snowing like mad here, the heavy white flakes already forming the negative image outlines of all the trees. This black and white world is magically timeless!




Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Personal Web Site

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Uzbekistan; PCVs in the Field - Uzbekistan; Blog

PCOL9154
73

.


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: