Campus Life Events
English Language Institute Conversation Partner Program Monday Mixer
Through this event, I met my ELI Conversation Partner. I was able to learn a lot about him, his culture, and his life while also providing him some practice with casual English conversation. It was an enlightening interaction where I learned how the Korean educational system differs to ours, how in Korea men must serve two years in the military after high school graduation, and how the Korean and American ages for a person are different (for example, my partner is considered 30 in Korea but 29 here because when he was born, he was considered a 1 yr old right away.
I learned about more volunteer experiences where they went above and beyond their assigned position and duties given to them by the Peace Corps. For example, it is not uncommon to have an assigned position in the Education sector while also starting projects that would be related to the Agriculture sector. One volunteer introduced American football to his community and started a football team. Some other volunteers started a club or taught in the local schools when they had some spare time.
I learned about four returning Peace Corps volunteers' experiences that ranged from serving in Africa (Chad, Zambia, and Madagascar) to Nepal. I learned about how gender norms within those countries and the volunteers' Asian American identities led to some issues while serving. The volunteers discussed some health difficulties faced during their service but they discussed how they dealt with all of these issues as well. It was very engaging especially the discussion on gender norms. For example, one volunteer in Africa experienced gender norms where men felt very entitled and would ask for a women's hand in marriage and would always expect a yes. Another example, is that the male members of the host family would only eat with the volunteer for the first two weeks while the women ate outside. Then after two weeks, the volunteer was considered family and then could eat with the women and men.
Peace Corps: Service in the Caribbean
Panel Discussion: Serving as an Asian-Pacific American in the Peace Corps by Thomas Badilla
This event was very informative and helpful. I gained new insights on how life in Indonesia and Fiji is like and the type of programs that you would be involved in if you were to serve in those areas (such as the FLO or BRO camps). It was interesting to learn how even though you will initially be given a specific project, you can also take part in various other projects (that could possibly cross over into different sectors) that your village or city needs your help on.