One topic that doesn't get enough attention is volunteer-to-volunteer relations, so I'll touch on that on as best I can.
We live in a small social bubble with a little over 100 volunteers. Most of us live miles apart and lead completely different lives. Each village is different and therefore each volunteer's living situation is different.
Even though we live far apart, we still work as a team. We see each other at every training session and work together on community projects such as IGLOW/IBRO (Indonesian Girls Leading Our World/Indonesian Boys Respecting Others). We also join Peace Corps groups such as the Gender Equality Committee, Peer Support Network, Volunteer Advocacy Committee.
On top of being work partners, we're friends! Most friendships here are built on common interests, but sometimes we're friends because we have only one major thing in common: the Peace Corps. And sometimes, sometimes, we form romantic relationships with each other....or purely physical ones.
To recap....We work with each other, travel with each other, date each other, befriend each other, endure long Peace Corps training sessions with each other, party with each other, and try our best to support each other through the hard times. Of course, it's not all fun and games. Sometimes we give each other tough love when all we really want is a hug. We gossip about each other. We judge each other for random things. We snap at each other when working together.
I've acted childish with some volunteers and received the same treatment. It felt rotten at the time, but these problems seem incredibly silly the closer I get to ending my Peace Corps service. One of my best friends in Peace Corps had to leave her service 3 months early. When she left her village and said her goodbyes to other volunteers, she told me that any problem she had with another volunteer was simply forgiven.We've been through so much personally and as a group that it's difficult (nearly impossible) to hold grudges.
Before I left for Indonesia, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers insisted
that the people I would meet here would quickly become family. I had a hard time believing this, but as I close my service I understand what they mean. There are only a certain number of individuals who can understand this hot, crazy, sweaty, rice-and-selfie-filled life that I've been living for 2 years. We might not get along every second of every hour of every day, but what family does?
We're a family. A different type of family. A
specific family. A Peace Corps Indonesia family.
