Answers to Some FAQs

I thought I would take a moment to answer some of the questions people have been asking me. It’s really great to get these, by the way. Getting your emails and letters will really keep me going when being in the Peace Corps gets tough. So, feel free to email, let me know if you want my mailing address, and feel free to ask more questions.

*How does being a Peace Corps Volunteer work?
Peace Corps is a twenty seven month commitment. The first three months I will be in training with a group of other PC Trainees, getting some technical skills, visiting other PC Volunteer sites to see what they do, and learning a new language (yippee!). Then we will all be scattered throughout the country to our respective sites, where we will live and work for two years.

*Where will you live in the Philippines?
This will gradually be revealed to me as time goes by. There is a rumor that our training will be held on the large northern island of Luzon, but we will see.

*What will your job be?
I am going to be an Education Volunteer. I will be assigned a school to work with, but rather than teach kids in a classroom, I will work with teachers to encourage them to use participatory-based methods of teaching English, rather than memorization. This will be half my job. I will also be working on other development projects with my school as the opportunity arises.

*What language do people speak in the Philippines?
There are many dialects, and local and indigenous languages, but almost every Filipino speaks one of eight regional languages. Once Peace Corps has determined which province my site will be in, they will assign one of these languages for me to learn. English is a second language for many Filipinos.

*I added a map of southeast asia, too, so you can see where I'll be going.