Looking Forward...

Even though most PCVs are mostly happy (after all, we can leave if we want to) most of the time, talk about the future seems to be more common in the Peace Corps than it was before I was in the Peace Corps. I think that's because we know our time here is temporary and while our lives will be changed by our experiences the great majority of people do not permanently stay in their host communities and/or countries. I think it's also because we have a very "American" view of the future - meaning it's in our hands and we can make of it what we want - it's not fate or pre-determined by family or social norms.
We started by asking the Volunteers ahead of us (they left last fall) what they were planning on doing when they finished their service and the cycle just continued from there. Now it's us talking amongst ourselves about what we'll be doing and answering the same questions from the Volunteers who arrived after us. The diversity of the Peace Corps is something I have come to enjoy - some people came to PC after working an entire career and have plans with their grandchildren when they leave, others just finished college and will travel or go to graduate school and still others came mid-career and will return to that. And some are even participating in the Master's/Peace Corps joint programs that are available.

And still others do other things. Not all of our time spent here is on things that are specific to living and serving in a foreign country. Sometimes it's just living in general. People learn new hobbies that they will continue at home, study for the GRE test, teach themselves a foreign language that is not spoken here, and so much more.

Me specifically, I've continued a certification process that I started back in the States. It's an eight step process and when I left America I'd only finished the first step. I'm now through five steps. It's a certification that I'm doing as an independent study (there are other options, but this is pretty much the only one available and technologically possible from a foreign country such as Azerbaijan) that when each section is over I take a test. This week (along with last September, December and March) I made a quick one night trip to Tbilisi for it. It's frustrating that it takes two days of my annual leave to take this test (PC does provide for 3 days of professional leave during our service that can be used for tests and certifications but I used those during the first two tests) but it's been worth it. Normally I'd leave my town in the morning, take a bus west (anywhere from 1 - 3 bus changes along the way) for about four hours until I reach the Georgian border, walk across, then take a 45 minute bus into Tbilisi. Unlike our neighbor to the west, Turkey, my Azerbaijani gets me nowhere once I leave the border. So I stay at a place I learned about from other PCVs, grab a quick bite from a place like McDonald's or a grocery store, do some night before review, then walk to the test center the next morning. It's not a quick walk, but it's easier than attempting to navigate the bus system without Georgian or Russian while on a deadline. It'd be kind of fun if I didn't have a set time and place to be somewhere. Then take my computer based test and it's on the way back to the border. I actually waited in line at the border yesterday for a longer amount of time than the actual test took.

As I said, I'm 5/8 of the way there. I can't do more here because the test isn't available in Azerbaijan and we can't travel internationally during our last three months of service. But I can study in preparation for my return to America and a test then. And it's great to be looking at online job listings and see the certification requested...

So, off to update the resume with the most completed results...