Monday, November 28, 2005

Far from Far Away

Hey everyone,

For those of you who haven't checked my blog recently, I got sent home from the Peace Corps. I was given the option to Early Terminate instead of being Administratively Separated. This wasn't a punitive measure, thankfully, but according to them it was for security reasons. They got wind of the fact that I was friends with a married woman, and one who was married to an international prize-fighting boxer, and the Peace Corps was scared he was going to kill me for the (perceived) relationship between us. There was no relationship, by the way -- but in Guyana friendships between male and female are always assumed to be more. So to her husband, if for some reason you ever read this, we were merely friends, nothing more. I never touched her.

Truth is, he probably would have been pissed enough at me to at least confront me, if not kill me. And believe me, if he put his mind to it, he could easily have kicked my ass. I'm a bit pissed because this is an old situation that I've managed successfully for three months now, and besides, it's sorta blown over in the meantime. I'm no longer friends with his wife. But the damage has been done I guess.

Anyway, whether I was in any real danger or not, the Peace Corps was convinced I was, and there was no arguing with them. All efforts to dissaude them from this only convinced them even more, because they used that to prove to themselves that I wasn't aware of the seriousness of the situation. YES, I was fully aware, just confident in my ability to handle my damn life.

There's more, a lot more, to this story but I just wanted to let everyone know. It's all going to go up on my blog over the next few weeks as I will now have the chance to do a bunch of writing. There are experiences I didn't get to write about for sensitivity (and now I can be more honest), information for the coming volunteers, and just a whole bunch of observations and lists that I want to make sure get written before I start forgetting things. But in the meantime, I'm back in the States and not happy about it. Not that there weren't many times when I fantasized about coming home, but if I was eventually to leave early, I would like it to have been my idea. I'm staying with my mother in her west Texas ranch and will be trying to figure out how to move to Hawai`i as soon as humanly possible (Miami, if I can't manage that). I have to pool what resources I have, apply for a job and possibly grad school, and generally make sure I don't have to spend the entire winter here. That would be a recipe for major depression for me.

Thanks everyone for supporting me and reading. At least I got to see what it's like to live as a PCV, instead of just trainee.

Love, Bri

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've read (lurked) your blog since you left for the peace corp. I wish you good luck, and just relax in the meantime! I'm trying out the peace corp too, I am worried I have asthma, but I still hope I can get in! Please tell me the stuff I can't learn on other blogs, I can't wait to read it!

Again good luck!

Unknown said...

Thanks for reading. Don't worry too much about the asthma... Lots of people get into PC with asthma issues. I have something like asthma, a condition called "bronchiospasms," but they hard blinked at that. Maybe because it isn't serious. But a girl from our group has asthma issues much more serious than mine and they still placed her. Actually, they placed her in a place with such bad mining dust that it is known to exacerbate existing asthma problems or create them in otherwise healthy people. Not very wise.

But anyway, if you get placed in a hot and humid country you'll probably find your asthma all but vanishes. Plus you won't be exposed to the same level of airborne pollution on a daily basis as you are in the States.

Yes, I'll be planning to write some more stuff on here, things you won't hear on other blogs. My mission is not to slam Peace Corps, because actually I love that organization and want to see it returned to it's former glory. Mostly I want to just let applicants and hopefuls get a little more honest information than they usually get.

Good luck with the application process!

Anonymous said...

You've had quite a time. Yeesh! I look forward to hearing from you. My number's the same as always.

By the way, I finished my dissertation last week and I'm looking to move as well. New York? March? We'll see.

Anyway, call. I'm dying to hear from you.

Anonymous said...

Brian- Sad to hear how things ended out of your control. I remember writing each other as I was returning from GY and you leaving, and now one more generation has passed...I can't really say anything except YOU GOT SCREWED. #$%&!! And that's how life goes...Stay connected to the Caribbean and please keep posting

Holly said...

Damn, it sucks to be forced to leave. I'd forgotten how much control the Peace Corps had over you as a volunteer.

I work for an NGO working in Central America. If you are interested in volunteering long term (6 months to a year) or going on a two week service trip, check out www.sustainableharvest.org.

Anonymous said...

hi brian, I inadvertenly unsubscribed, can you put me back on the blog list. filisann@yahoo.com