Killer Cars

That’s not the question. What I’m actually referring to is, how does one go about writing an aspiration statement for a mindset of what can the Peace Corps do for you. Surely every time anyone asks me why I decided to volunteer in the Peace Corps, I am at a loss for words. There’s dozens of small tiny reasons that might be grouped together, but I get more confused trying to think about it. I distinctly recall my interview with my recruiter, way back in December, in which the first formal question he asked me was “Why do you want to join the Peace Corps?”

I paused for a while, trying to come up with an impressive answer. My head is bouncing in 8 different directions looking for an answer. I somehow jumble something, stop mid sentence and ask him, “What are acceptable answers?” I listened for a bit and I get the idea that he wants one straightforward answer. Since I couldn’t really give him one, I somehow lead it onto one (I think I answered “because I wanted to travel”, which if I think now, does not really capture my primary reasons).

The interview was hard. Not going to sugarcoat that. They ask you really broad questions and expect you to have a specific answer. Well that doesn’t work well with this guy. I’d much rather take the time and write out essay answers rather than being interrogated on the spot. So when I was asked to write an aspiration statement for my country director, I was discouraged again. I didn’t want to answer the same broad questions, especially after the excitement of just recently accepting an invitation.

However, I took my time with this one. I wasn’t under the heat of a tiny room and recruiter. My only help would be Microsoft Word and I kept it that way. I wasn’t going to refer to my old essays as I intended to be as real as possible. While only a page and change, it still took me over an hour to get it just right. Somehow when you have less pressure on you, you generate really fine work. Please note that I did have to follow a certain format as outlined below.

Aspiration Statement
Sarin Va
Cape Verde
July 2005

Expectations…

It is hard not to come to Peace Corps service without pre-conceived notions of life in my host country. I mention this because any expectations of life in Cape Verde or life as a Peace Corps volunteer will quickly be broken. Others tell me to come into service with an open mind of what lies ahead of me as there is no amount of research that can prepare myself mentally for this trip. I look forward to any unexpected hardships during service while maintaining my dignity.

I anticipate that I will be placed with an organization where I prove beneficial. My job and service itself will entail everything I have learned in my lifetime and I intend to leave a mark on as many individuals as possible, as they too will leave a mark on me. My patience and my ambitions will be tested everyday, yet I expect to embrace these challenges as part of learning more about my host country and myself. I anticipate Peace Corps service to be a very rewarding experience and that any shortcomings and pessimisms about my term will be quickly overlooked by the time my service completes.

Strategies for adapting to a new culture…

An open mind with sensitivity to culture and respect for all individuals including myself is the key to adapting to another country. I believe my experience growing as a child in a poor immigrant family in the United States to be valuable in this situation. I saw the world with two different eyes. From what Americans find as different, to what my family found as different. There is no culture that is weird in this world, and the only similarities are that we are all different. Different cultures are what keep the world interesting, because each one is unique and valuable in its own way. I expect to be sensitive and open to what new customs I will likely face. After all, I cannot change tradition of those before me.

During my adaptation, I look forward to learning my host country’s language, their culture and customs, their food, and overall their key to happiness. I am a fast learner, even when it comes to languages, and I should feel comfortable at my post in a fair amount of time. My identity as an American will not be neglected and I expect to stay true to myself with as much respect to the local culture. I also expect to be immersed in my country’s norms at the close of my service, but in order for that to be achieved I must start from when I begin.

Personal and professional goals…

To offer a helping hand to those less fortunate stands as my primary personal reason for applying. In my lifetime I have either had everything handed to me or either worked with whatever I had to get where I am today. I am fortunate to be in a country where comfort and professional growth are easily attainable. It hurts me to see that there are those who have to live with their country’s hardships everyday. Not every country is as grateful to have come as advanced as America has, and that we owe it to the world to improve this balance. Even if it is one individual’s life that I have enriched, then I have succeeded in paying back any debts I owe to this world. I also hope to achieve a renewed self confidence in myself, and that any challenges I overcome will only cause me to shoot for farther goals.

With a degree in Business Administration/Information Systems Management, service in the Peace Corps will help my goals of expanding my career. I believe there is always room to expand and improve in any career and this is one small step in many directions. I will be adept internationally in my field, while maintaining a level of independence and leadership that will benefit me in the future. Plus, my exposure to other countries and my volunteer work will aid me in evaluating what I wish to do with my life. Above all, I am sure my work in the Peace Corps will be something I will be proud of for years to come.

It might help as well to mention my past essays I submitted with my original application too. For any willing applicants stuck with something to write, I’m an advocate of resource sharing, so here goes. Looking at it now, I’m really suprised I didn’t hold back on anything. Even though I think I sounded too much like a lush. Format: 500 words.

First, motivation statement.

When my parents left their home country of Cambodia, they left in pursuit of a better life. More importantly, they wanted their children, my brother and me, to have a chance for bigger opportunities. We came into this country through a host family. My dad and my mom worked long and hard before we could have a place called home. Once that was established, my brother and I started schooling, and that was my parents’ focus. When I was a child, my parents always made it known that one day I could go to college and I could make lots of money. Since money was one of the things that we lacked seeing when I was a child, I naturally started working towards college. Eventually, after years of support from my parents, I made it to college. I will graduate in May, and it will seem as if I fulfilled my life goal.

I’m about to finish college, I’ve gone this far and my parents are happy. But at what cost? Certainly the United States is my life but still a chapter in theirs. They traveled so far and sacrificed so much so I could have an education. For this country, I am grateful for public schools and federal funding for students in poor families. It would be selfish of me to use that education for only my benefit. After all, it seems like so much has been given to me, that I need to give back.

When I heard about Peace Corps back in high school, I felt that serving in the Peace Corps would be the ultimate gift to the world. Volunteering, and using your knowledge for those that are less privileged seemed like a great way to live life. It would be a great learning experience, and a great accomplishment. At the time, it was something I wished to do right after college was over.
That time is almost soon, and my wish could not be any greater. I want to give because all of my life I have been receiving. I want my parents to know that their sacrifices for me will benefit many others in my time of service. I want to use everything that I have learned in my life to give those less privileged a better chance. I wish to be completely selfless in my actions and be proud of my achievements. I want to be at a place where life isn’t so easy but my contributions will help.

All these wishes motivate me to join. For all the things I am taking for granted in the United States, I wish to even that balance around the world. I am a citizen of the United States but I can see my work extended around farther than that. In the end, I want to be able to look back someday and see that my life, my work, and those that have helped me, mean something.

And my cross cultural experience.

Right before I left for college, I felt some uneasiness moving into a college dorm. I have never lived in a predominantly American household and my parents lived most of their lives outside of houses. Pretty soon the habits and customs that Americans do would soon be expected of me once I settled into a college dorm. Also, my peers would see my adjustment to an almost American life. Having American manners, eating American food and practicing American lifestyles like the rest of them. It didn’t take long before I adapted myself to an almost totally white American culture (the school had a very low diversity rate), despite how I brought up.

During this experience, I was shocked at the number of people who have never heard of where I was from and was even more shocked at people who were surprised that I can speak perfect English. I stuck out among the rest of the campus and suddenly being a minority was a big deal. It was then that I realized that I have a gift of seeing the world from a non partial perspective. Today though, I can say I have adapted completely and I no longer feel like I am a minority.
Part of how I am used to adapting cross culturally is how I was brought up. My family got into this country through way of a Spanish host family at a low income neighborhood. It was a great community for us because most of our neighbors were Cambodian as well and we shared our culture. I adapted to a more American culture when I went to public schools and picked up American habits. Back then I lived in a more diverse city so being a minority was no big deal. My parents are Cambodian and religiously Buddhist, but they have never forced their beliefs and practices on me. I may have picked up some of their ideals but the lack of pressure caused me to see the world from an open perspective. We didn’t stress the importance of American holidays and this exposure to 2 different worlds formed this 2 sided perspective on the world around me.

After attending school at an almost American Caucasian campus, there’s an ever greater distinction between how I see Americans. Either they care about other cultures or they don’t. I have lived in America most of my life and I would never say English was my second language. I grew up speaking it just like everybody else, and lived the average American life the same way as well. But there are many things I have experienced and know about other cultures, my family and others, to say that I am more than just a citizen of the United States.

I don’t know if these 2 essays helped my entrance but it’s good to look back. It feels like such a longer time ago, and if anything sounds bad I will quickly blame any writing and school projects I was doing at the time.

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