Peace Corps Volunteers around the world are pretty much in charge of their own schedule. For Peace Corps Indonesia specifically, since our primary project of teaching English is much more structured, we are told to teach a minimum of twenty hours per week, and to be at school for a minimum of 30 hours per week. However, no one is clocking in and out each day. It's up to PCVs to create their schedules with their counterparts, and hopefully we stay at school for the minimum amount of time every week. However, that's only 17.9% of the week. I most definitely knew that there would be a decent about of free time in Peace Corps.
In Peace Corps, one can bury themselves in their projects, or spend two years doing nothing. Some use most weekends to travel around the countries they are posted in, others are "site rats" and barely leave. I'd like to think I'm kind of in the middle, taking an appropriate amount of time away from site for weekend trips, while trying to stay at site as much as possible. Although now I feel like I left site excessively last year, either for medical reasons, for trainings, or to see my friends. I'm now feeling much happier in my community and in my work and find no need to leave that often now. I've jumped in projects headfirst. If any fellow PCVs are reading this: runs around the neighborhood, bike rides with friends, building a community with fellow church-goers, talking with your host family, and learning to live slowly are what you are going to remember after service. You're with your community 90% of the time, and other PCVs for 10%.
Be Present. Just Be Present. That's a feat that most Americans cannot accomplish. Peace Corps is the perfect opportunity for volunteers to release themselves from the American mindset of always being occupied or productive in a fast-paced society. I've had a hard time with this while here. It was until Ramadan of last year that I finally became comfortable with the silence and boredom that comes with school holidays and cancelled class. I've gained an appreciation for unstructured time with family, friends and neighbors, hours of uninterrupted reading time (I read 34 books last year) and for time itself. In a lot of ways, I'm not having the Peace Corps experience I thought I would, for better or worse. But I am here, and these past 18 months are changing me and clarifying me as the future version of myself. Whether I like it or not, it's changing me, and that is something powerful. I'm growing so much more aware of who I am, where I am, what I can give, and where I'm going.
Here's some things I do when I'm bored (I mean, truly bored) at site:
Go on a walk
Go on a run
Go on a bike ride
Listen to music and stare at the wall
Play solitaire
Look up “how to win solitaire”
Watch “trader joe's grocery haul” on YouTube
Shop for furniture for the apartment I don’t have
Look up “cost of living in Washington, DC”
Read, read, read, and read some more
Do my nails
Play frisbee with the neighborhood kids
Make a cup of coffee
Play scrabble on my phone
Do some yoga
Write a blog post
Go on another bike ride
Plot revenge
Sweep my floor
Clean my floor by using individual wet wipes
Look up “best places in the world to live”
Look up “graduate schools that don’t require the GRE”
Organize my closet
Clean my house
Take a three hour nap
Make some fresh squeezed orange juice
Watch a movie
Organize my calendar
Organize my google drive files
Call loved ones back home
Work on Peace Corps secondary projects
Send a voice message to other PCVs
Journal, journal, journal
Put on a face mask
Plan a trip somewhere in Indonesia
Regret deactivating my instagram
Listen to “My Favorite Murder” and other podcasts
Look up “best vegan restaurants in London”
Look up “how do I move to Denmark”
Look up “humane ways to trap a rat”
Remember why I’m here how joyful this whole experience is, despite the ample free time!
