About Me

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To make a long story as short as I can, I applied to the Peace Corps my senior year at UCLA March 2008. I was nominated to go to Africa doing HIV/AIDS education for March 2009. I moved in with my parents and lived in Sun Valley, ID and Hawaii (I know, tough life.) While I waited, I worked as a waitress and spent lots of time with my parents. We became the "Trio." March 2009 came and went, and I began getting in patient with the Peace Corps, and decided it was time to move on from my dreams of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. I moved to San Francisco to be with all my college friends and started working as a Sales Rep at Pacific Office Automation. At POA is where I met my good friend Aricca (ULLL!!) I had moved on from the Peace Corps and liked my job and loved living in the city. As luck would have it, Peace Corps contacted me in December 2009 and offered me and invitation to Rwanda for HIV AIDS education and Youth Development leaving at the end of February. Without seeing where I was going to land, I jumped in with both feet and accepted!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Big News- Oh what a day!

My flight left Rwanda for Ethiopia, Rome, Washington DC, Los Angeles and finally, Maui.  Yes, Maui.  I have decided to end my Peace Corps experience and come home. 

As our initial training began to wrap up and final site placements grew near, we all felt the pressure to commit to housing for the next year and to staying in Rwanda for the duration.  I decided that, although I loved my time there, staying for an additional two years didn’t seem appealing.  Days are filled with lots of down time and I found myself becoming super antsy and anxious. 

A big part of Peace Corps’ mission is to build sustainable development.   It is crucial to integrate into the community, observe the lives of the people there, and to think of ways to leave a lasting legacy of service.  Unfortunately for me, I felt a little stir crazy and found myself thinking about home a lot.  So, I am now in Maui with my family and look forward to moving back to San Francisco in the fall. 

I do not regret my experience with the Peace Corps.  It is a great organization and I am thankful they gave me this opportunity.  In my short time I have learned so much about myself, and Rwanda, a wonderful country.  I met many fun and fascinating people and if I had to do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.  

1 comment:

  1. Im a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia. Im about to finish my service here and we wanna do some traveling. We plan to be in Rwanda some time after mid January. Were wondering if you could answer a few questions for us.

    We dont have many leads.

    What are the best things to do in Rwanda?

    How much are Visas? Is there any special process we need to know about when buying them?

    Generally how much do food and travel cost?

    Can you free hike, or is that too dangerous? If not what are the general forms of travel, combi, bus, trains, something else?

    Where are the best places to stay?

    What else should we know?

    How many volunteers are there?

    We would appreciate any help you could give us. Please write me back at natebloss@gmail.com if you have time.

    Thanks,
    Nate

    ReplyDelete