1. It will be okay. The power will come back on, your diarrhea will go away, you will eventually find water and you cannot die from not taking a shower.
2. Learn the language and try to speak it, no matter how much you suck or think you suck. It goes a long way towards integration.
3. Accept the invitations. It is easy to hide in your house and watch one hundred episodes of Seinfeld or Friends, but do yourself a favor and take the invitations, you will feel better afterwards.
4. Remind yourself why you applied to begin with. We all joined for one reason or another. Whether to change the world or more realistically impact your community, we all had our reasons for joining and we have a big responsibility of representing our country through our Peace Corps service and the three goals.
5. Be patient and adaptable. Sometimes we would like things to move faster, sometimes the project we want to do makes so much sense and seems so easy, but may take a long time. But remain patient. A RPCV friend told me that sometimes Peace Corps can feel like “pushing jello”. This is true but work within the system, understand the culture and world in which you are living and make it happen. It is possible.
6. You are making a difference, growing and doing good work. Together with our host communities we are planting trees, not growing teff. The Peace Corps does great work in sustainable development and we are a part of it. Together we are changing the world, our collective world.
7. Exercise, read , develop some sort of a routine. DO something that makes you feel good. If you like climbing trees, climb a tree. Read a book. Exercise. Give yourself a schedule, it will make you feel good and make you a better volunteer.
8. Eat something other than bread and ramen noodles. Please takes care of yourself and cook good food. Buy the greens at the market, eat the fruits that you can find. Buy canned beans if you can. Get creative, you need to eat, more than bread and ramen noodles.
9. Appreciate those that support you. Accept
10. Appreciate each day you have here. This a privilege that not many people are afforded. It is important to remember this each day. We are representatives of the United States and we are to work together with our new friends and colleagues in Ethiopia. Believe me, the time will fly by, take time to appreciate it, even on the difficult days.
PEACE and LOVE!