You know you're a Peace Corps volunteer when...

Within Peace Corps Peru, and I imagine other Peace Corps countries, we have an internal magazine put together twice a year, when one group is leaving. About half of the issue is dedicated to the departing group and their individual profiles. We receive about 100 questions and choose about 30 or 40 to answer. Some volunteers submit articles about work, pleasure, food recipes, or whacky stories.

There is also a section that goes..."You know you're a Peace Corps volunteer when..." and then everyone from my group answered. Here are a few of those...

(I tried to upload some pictures that I took yesterday, but the one below took about an hour to upload...so no more photos with this blog...have I mentioned how nice it will be to have reliable fast internet, electricity, etc?...)

You know you're a Peace Corps volunteer when…
-"...nobody but other Peace Corps volunteers can really relate." – me

-"...when you have long forgotten what the "five second" rule is. – Frank"

-"...you've seen a lot more boobs with babies attached to them than the other way around. – Vish"

-"...it's unsurprising to find a hair in every meal. -Danielle"

-"...you can spot a bridgera from a mile away. - Tom" (a bridgera is a Peruvian girl looking for a white guy to buy them stuff)

-"…you listen to funny music and sing along…you look down upon/feel sorry for Americans that have never ventured outside the US…you know the country you're in more than most of your community members…you're doing great work and having the time of your life!" Jah

-"...you have to take out your wife's piss bowl every morning, sweep the floor of your house everyday, and have to wait anywhere from ten minutes to three hours for transportation. – Greg"

- "...when you don't shower for 15 days, have been wearing and sleeping in the same outfit for a week, and you can go to the regional capital and end up making out with an attractive random person. – James"

-"...when McDonald's tastes good again. –Bailey"

-"...14 hours on a bus doesn't sound so bad…you find wildlife in your shower…and you argue with a taxi driver about fifty cents even though you just piled 6 people into his taxi. –John"

"...you haven't seen a good friend of yours in months, and you are puking so hard you poop your pants. It fazes him so little that he calmly asks if he should bring you some new undies. Thanks Jed, you're a true friend. – Wes". – That actually happened…some of my good friends here call me Jed now and then because they think it's funny that I'm a bit of a country boy and my initials are JED.

Thanks for reading,
Much love,
Jake