Just two hours ago I passed in a paper to one of the administrativepersonnel at headquarters signifying the complete and definitiveclosure of my service as a Peace Corps volunteer. In 90 minutes we will all participate in a group signing out of the volunteer log, using an aforementioned "cachet" of blog entries past. The symbolism of this book signing and the revelry to follow should be aptly climactic, especially since I will be rising early tomorrow morning toleave the African continent.
By signing out of the volunteer register, I add one letter to myacronym. To date, I have been able to easily identify myself as a PCV, or Peace Corps Volunteer. Precisely how to define that acronym has often beguiled me, as I attempted on numerous occasions to describe the raison d'etre of my work to both Moroccans and passing foreigners. Ironically enough, when I add a new letter to my title, R for"returned", the definition may prove less perplexing and certainly more enduring.
Similar to the odd instance of encountering someone who has also worked at the South Pole, I hope that I will always be touched by asense of connection between RPCV's that I am bound to meet throughout the rest of my life. It is a connection that I have felt many times already while living here and perhaps will grow increasingly fond of attempting to describe those ineffable aspects of the Peace Corps experience. There are still, after all, many volunteers in my own host country who worked during coinciding periods that I have never met and whose living and working experiences I would be challenged to understand. Therefore, what will I think in some distant future when I go to a party and run into someone who was a Micronesian volunteer in the early 80's or Uruguayan volunteer from 2010-2012? I really can't predict, but I hope that I will recall that we had both shared a common drive to work with and understand a different culture and that there are subtle and vast shifts in our outlook that were engendered as a result. I also hope that while listening to their tales I will recall my own dusty roads and endearing salutations when I try to visualize their own communities and experiences.
I hope that I was able to give all of you a glimpse of this world through the stories I wrote and pictures I took while serving as a PCV. Embarking on my new life and title of RPCV, this role will not cease, albeit using different methods of retelling the stories and incorporating an ever-increasing degree of hindsight. I am also fairly nervous about returning to that world that now seems alien. I apologize as I have missed weddings, birthdays, births, parties, and reunions in the 27 months that have past but I do not regret the distance. It was simply something that I felt I had to do.
