Trouble in Paradise?

The day before we find our site, we had a little discord break out among the ranks. It involved the fact that we are scheduled to take a bus into town and meet with the other PCVs tomorrow at the hotel where we originally stayed in Chengdu and be given our site postings there. A number of volunteers were planning on staying in town and going out with some of the people they hadn't seen in a while. I was going to stay in town myself, but mainly to do some shopping. When the announcement event had originally been described to us, we had been told that after the announcement we were to return to Chengdu University and our host families for dinner. A lot of people just took that as a suggestion and as I said were planning on staying in town. We found out today that we have not only been requested but required to come back to Chengdu University after the announcement and not to stay in town. And people were not happy.

In one sense, this is rather silly. I mean, we are only requested to go back to campus. We could get off the bus, turn around and get right back on a bus going into town. So even the requirement only makes it more inconvenient to get into town and does not prevent people from doing so. Plus there is the whole thing about letting adults do what they want. In another sense, I see Peace Corps point--and agree with it. It was explained to us that Peace Corps philosophy is inconsistent with large groups of Americans roaming foreign lands. That is exactly the opposite message that Peace Corps is trying to send. It is about individuals going out and making a different sort of impression than your average American overseas. Large groups of PCVs out drinking are not different than any other large groups of Americans, and there is truly nothing I run away from more overseas than a large group of Americans. And Peace Corps is certainly within its right to discourage this sort of activity, and not to be seen to facilitate it. If large groups of PCVs decide to do so on their own, well, that's their decision and says more about them and Peace Corps is not implicated in the process. So I think it makes sense for Peace Corps to not want to facilitate such actions.

I had a somewhat similar situation explained to me at a mediation retreat at the Shambhala Mountain Center. During the retreat, we were required to eat meals in silence in the large dining hall. Many of the participants were about the same age as many of the PCVs and wanted a more lively lunch hour. It was explained that when the retreat first began years ago participants would eat together and there would be raucous noise and loud converstaions, and that when people went back for afternoon meditation, well, the energy was all wrong. Just so here, to hang out with large groups of Americans is something that we would probably want do to but probably something we should be prevented from doing for the sake of the program. There is an attitude and an way of being in a foreign land that Peace Corps is attempting to engender, and it shouldn't be shy about pushing it.