Yellow Dots: My first official day as a PCT

Before you ever get on the 15 hour plane ride to the other side of the ocean, you get to enjoy a status change from FPCV (Future Peace Corps Volunteer) to PCT (Peace Corps Trainee).

I dutifully trekked to Philly, where 70 some of us were converging for our day of Staging. Staging is a basic day of introductions to each other and the Peace Corps. You learn lots of fun things like “I’m not the only one terrified of Black Mambas.”

In good training tradition, they also asked us to reflect on some big questions.

Why did you commit to the Peace Corps at this time in your life? My first reaction was “why not?” But I think I needed a change in my life. I needed something to challenge me, and make me reevaluate what I want out of my life. I don’t know what serving in the Peace Corps is going to throw my way, but I know it’s going to affect everything that follows. I’m excited to see what that is.

When will you consider yourself a successful Volunteer? Following out personal reflection, we had a great conversation about how you measure success. It can be as big or as small as you’d like. It’s hard to know exactly how I’ll measure it, but I am certain I’ll have a moment when it all clicks. Maybe it’ll be when I make it through a particularly tough day, maybe it won’t be until 27 months have passed and I’m finally heading home. Maybe it’ll be the first time I roll my R’s. Only time can tell.

The final piece that really stood out about Staging was the last activity we did. I’ve done many activities in my time – team building activities, activities to serve as metaphors. This was probably my favorite.

We all stood in a circle with our backs facing inward with our eyes closed. We were then asked to spend some time thinking about where we have been and where we are going. As we did this, the facilitator walked around putting colored dots on each of our backs. Finally, we opened our eyes and were told to organize ourselves without speaking. We all very orderly put ourselves into groups based on the dots. Then they asked “how did you decide to organize yourselves?” It was an interesting look at assumptions and inclusion – where do you put someone with multiple colored dots? It was a great reminder to stay open to everything, but to look for commonality as well. There’s always something connecting all of us.

The next step from here is to get to Botswana, so the next time you’ll hear from me, I’ll be far far away!