Aspirations

So I've finished my aspiration statement and resume, and emailed the to the Peace Corps. I thought it would be cool to post my aspiration statement, so that I can go back and look at it while I'm in Tanzania and see if I am fulfilling my aspirations. Each letter is a specific question that I had to answer. These were the questions:

A-The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill during your PC service
B-Strategies for working effectively with country partners to meet needs
C-Strategies for adapting to new culure
D-Skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your community and project
E- How PC will influence your personal and professional aspiration after your service ends.

So this is what I had:

A: I am an energetic, organized, hard-working, and self-motivated individual. I hope to utilize these attributes to provide an effective and enjoyable learning environment for students. I hope to design an interesting and engaging lesson plan and to use my creativity to enhance student’s interest in physics by using a variety of educational approaches, to accommodate student’s interests and educational needs. I hope that these attributes, and also through my respectful and personable nature and my commitment to serve the community, I will be able gain the trust and confidence of the community I will be serving. If I can gain the trust, confidence, and enthusiasm of my local counterparts, I really hope that I will be able to make a difference that will endure even after I am gone.

B: I hope to develop positive, professional relationships with both local teachers and with community members. These relationships with help me to assess the needs and desires of the community and the school, and will allow me to most effectively serve the community. To build these relationships, I plan to work hard to obtain a good understand of Tanzanian culture and language. Doing so will allow me to become fully integrated into the community, so that I can behave professionally and appropriately, within the context of Tanzanian culture.

C: I realize that adapting to a new culture will be very difficult and is also an integral aspect of being an effective Peace Corps volunteer. During this transition, I will need to keep and open-mind and be patient. To fully adapt to Tanzanian culture may take a while and will be full of challenges. Through each challenge, I will try to stay positive and will try to look at it from an objective point of view. Hopefully, this will enable me to take each day and each challenge in stride; so that each challenge will teach me something and help me become more adapted to Tanzanian culture. Through observation of Tanzanian behavior, I hope to pinpoint any aspects of my own behavior that may not be appropriate in Tanzania. Once I can pinpoint these behaviors, I will work hard to alter them.

D: During pre-service training, I hope to develop a better working knowledge of Kiswahil and of Tanzanian culture, so that I can behave appropriately and communicate effectively when my service begins. Further, I hope to learn more about the Tanzanian school structure and strengthen skills relevant to teaching in Tanzania; including designing effective lesson plans and organizing out-of-class activities. Also, I hope that pre-service training will serve as a transitional stepping stone from being emerged in American culture to being emerged in Tanzanian culture. During pre-service training, I hope to adjust to life without the conveniences that I am accustomed to. I will need to learn simple tasks such as doing laundry without a washing machine, preparing food without an oven, and getting around without a car. I hope to learn these skills during pre-service training so that I can be more adapted once pre-service training ends.

E: I think my Peace Corps service will be tremendously influential to me, both personally and professionally. Most notable, I think I will learn a lot about myself during my 2-year service: I will learn more about what my strengths and weaknesses are and I will learn more about how I, personally, deal with adversity. I think that this self-knowledge will help me decided what course of action, whether it be going graduate school or beginning a career, I want pursue when I return. Additionally, I think I will gain skills and knowledge during my service that will be personally, socially, and professionally beneficial when I return.