Passion: who has it, who wants some and where can I get some!

I seek passion. I am a seeker of passion. Passion is what I seek.  The obvious question is-why do I seek it? And the more obvious answer is, because I have not found it yet.  Those that possess this thing – passion – I just want to attach myself to them and learn from them.  I see the Peace Corps as that thing right now and the people that are a part of it.

They say this kind of wonderment of world change only exists on college campuses and those few crazy people that think that they can still change the world (and by ‘they’ I mean the people that have lost it, but once had the ability, to dream big).  But I found this organization, the Peace Corps, and I think we are on the same wave length.  Start small, make relationships and learn to live in a place as it is, before you can make a difference.  Changing the world is exactly what the Peace Corps is going to help me do, as well as, give me the skills to survive in a foreign environment.  I am so grateful for this opportunity and can hardly wait for the journey to begin.  I have realistic expectations that I am not going to make a global impact with only two years with the PC.  I also know from speaking with numerous returning volunteers, that this is only the beginning.  Although I won’t change the world in two years, I will gain the skills, confidence and humbleness that will launch me into a career where that is a very realistic possibility.

I am constantly seeking the next thing to challenge my wit, emotions, patience and most importantly my shear ability to survive.  On my recent trip to southern Asia I found that challenge and I felt so alive.  The Peace Corps is the next step of proving to myself that I can do it. In Asia I never stayed in one place for more than a week but every time I moved, I thought to myself ‘what if…’  I want to walk down the street and be able to know everyone in the small village.  Where I can go to the open air market and every food stall I go to already knows what I am going to get.  They know I like to pick it myself and they pretend to be surprised with my purchase.  Every Sunday, with out fail, when I walk back to my hut with all my food, I always stop and say hello to the old man sitting under the mango tree trying to cool off from the hot sun.  We make small conversation with my limited vocabulary.  As I leave, I always give him a fresh piece of fruit that I just purchased from the market and he is overly grateful.  This whole image I just laid out for you may or may not happen but that is the whole beauty of it.  It actually may.....or may not happen, but I get the chance to find out.


Wish me luck and hope that I learn from my many mistakes!