I am currently finishing my 38th month in the Peace Corps. Last week, together with first, second and third year Volunteers, I watched our newest group of Volunteers arrive here in Mongolia complete with hoots, hollers and high fives at the airport.
Peace Corps is a funny thing, three years goes by in a flash but it also feels like forever. I've changed a lot, but I still have so much in common with our newest Volunteers. After listening to them, walking and laughing with them, and helping them through their first day I found myself smiling so much my face hurt. It's inspiring to see their enthusiasm and think about all the incredible things they will experience during their service in Mongolia. Peace Corps has definitely changed my life and I feel grateful for it every day.
I will finish my Peace Corps service in September, but for those who have served in the Peace Corps, the journey is never over. Life is for service. Life is volunteer. "Service is the rent we pay for living," my principal Mrs. Wrights once told me, quoting Marian Wright Edelman, "It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time."
I'm very excited about the days and months ahead and going there with people that I love and admire. This week Michael, one of my best friends, is flying to Mongolia and at the end of this month Tunga and I will be getting married. We are very excited and look forward to sharing wonderful pictures and photos with all of you soon!
After Peace Corps I am very eager to read several dozen books and write two of my own: Life is Volunteer and Modern Enlightenment. I would love for you to be part of these two projects, I hope to make them the cornerstones of Advance Humanity and I'm really excited about hearing your thoughts on them. Thank you for being with me so far, I promise things are going to get really interesting these next couple months!
