Hot n Cold

Taking the advice of a PCV on a message board somewhere in all my research I went ahead and got some business cards printed for dirt cheap from Vista Print.  I put them out at work today and most people were excited to see them.  Many have mentioned they want to keep in touch and have asked for an e-mail address, so now, voila...Their wish has come true!  I'm just like a fairy godmother...only in street clothes.  Anyway, the point of this is the share the best and worst response I got today.

Bad news first - (I'm not really sure this is bad news, but it didn't leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.)  One woman who picked up the card told me she herself was a RPCV and served in Turkmenistan from '06-'08.  She said her experience was less than stellar and that country specifically has the highest turnover rate for PCV.  Apparently that government is not cooperative and there was an important man in her area who stood in the way of every project she tried to start.  They have very little trust in Americans and she said the old Cold War mentality and old commie ideas are still very strong there.  She told me doctors are not trained in normal schools (normal being Western, I suppose).  Rather, there is (was?) one man in the government who supposedly knew what was best and wrote a book on how things are to be done, a la dictator status, and that is what doctors are taught from.  I suppose it's good that despite how behind they are it's good the PC has a presence there because maybe someone, some day will have a breakthrough and things may begin to advance a little there.  Oh well, I guess this just makes me glad I'm heading down to Latin America, where they seem to have a decent acceptance of Americans and are willing to be work with us.  We shall see...

On to the good news!!!  Another woman, who is a regular of ours, picked up the card and told me that she had been researching the PC since I told her I was leaving a few weeks ago.  She said she may be interested in doing it, since all she has now are grown children and grandchildren.  (I presume she's single, since she didn't mention anything of that nature.)  Basically, she said she liked the idea of the PC and expressed interest in possibly pursuing her own volunteer service someday!!!  I encouraged her to research more and go for it if that's what she truly wants.  She's a nurse, so heaven knows she would be of great use somewhere!  It just made my day that even though I haven't even begun service yet, let alone training, I'm helping create awareness of the Peace Corps and helping people learn more about the opportunities they have to be volunteers as well.  It's very exciting!!! 

So crew, hasta la proxima vez....