why did i do peace corps again?...

i asked myself that a million times during that 9 weeks of training i had to endure all over again...while still in ukraine i had my reasons for doing another tour: gain more public health experience, live and work in africa (my original preference when i applied for peace corps) finally learn french, mostly to have a chance to do public health before committing myself to a masters in public health program...they were all good reasons for me and all would help me acheive my goal of working in public health in africa...but as i sat through training again i wondered if that was enough...don't get me wrong that staff was extremely kind and helpful, i learned a great deal about health issues the african continent faces but i just wanted to move to my village and get to work...

part of my frustration came from having already done peace corps...when i arrived at staging in philadelphia i barely spoke to anyone...i had just come off one of the greatest experience in my life...to a certain extent this time around i knew what to expect which made it even more frustrating...since i had done it before i was in a very differnt place than my entire group....what also made things worse was the fact that I was going through reverse culture shock (having been out of ukraine for so long) and culture shock (adjusting to beninese culture) at the same time...and then of course the nature of training itself...to lose my ndependence (in so many ways) again was hard enough the first time but having to lose it a second time - you have no idea...i thought training would never end...

when it seemed like I couldn't take it anymore we were finally sworn in as the 21st PSL group and at the same time celebrated 40 years of pc benin...so was it all worth it? i don't know yet...ask me that again in a few months...maybe i'll have an answer for you then...