Remembering the Peace Corps

“The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love”

The first week in March is Peace Corps Week, commemorating the founding of the Peace Corps in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. I’ve made a few leaps of faith over the years, but one that I am most proud of is my decision in 1975 to join the Peace Corps. That decision unquestionably changed my life.

In the spring of my senior year of college, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after graduation. My father wanted me to take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) and apply to law school, but I wasn’t excited about that prospect. I knew that I wanted to write, but because I had not been an English major, I felt I hadn’t read enough literature to be a writer. I thought graduate school in English would fill that gap, so instead of the LSAT, I took the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) and applied to a few schools.

At about that time, I was walking through my university’s student union building and saw a couple of people sitting behind a table draped with a Peace Corps banner. They were chatting with students who approached them, so I joined the conversation. I heard the recruiters talk about their experiences, which sounded exciting and a little scary, and I picked up a brochure and an application. The farthest away from home I’d ever flown at the time was to Arizona for a fraternity convention, so the idea of world travel, especially to a developing country, was daunting. But it didn’t cost anything to apply, so I filled out the form and sent it in.

Although the Peace Corps accepted me, they didn’t immediately have an assignment for me. That delayed the beginning of my adventure, but, fortunately, I had also been accepted into graduate school. With the blessing (and support) of my parents, I moved to Bloomington, Indiana (only about 50 miles from where they lived at the time), and began my studies. As much as I enjoyed the readings in my courses, I suspected I wasn’t cut out for an academic career, so almost immediately I began to think about what would come next after earning my MA in English. How would I support myself while finally beginning to write?

Then, midway through my first semester, a letter from the Peace Corps arrived. I had been invited to join a group of twenty-five volunteers going to South Korea to teach English at the university level to future English teachers. I knew nothing about Korea, but it sounded perfect. I don’t remember how long I deliberated over the offer, but I don’t think it was too long. I accepted and began making the arrangements to take a leave of absence from my MA program and move halfway around the world. (My parents were less thrilled, but that’s a story for another day.)

In January of 1976, I flew to San Francisco for our group’s “staging”—a process of meeting Peace Corps staff face-to-face, completing some final paperwork, and getting various necessary inoculations. We also participated in a few sessions of basic language learning and an introduction to Korean culture, as well as the Peace Corps rules we’d be expected to follow. The highlight of those few days in San Francisco was dinner at a Korean restaurant. My first kimchi! I loved it from the first bite.

At long last, it was time to board our flight across the Pacific. We first flew to Tokyo and stayed one night at a hotel (I’ve stayed in countless international hotels since then, but I will always remember the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo) before going on the next day to Seoul’s Kimpo Airport. We were met at the airport by Peace Corps training staff and ushered to an inn near the Peace Corps office in downtown Seoul, followed by instructions on how to travel by bus in two days’ time to another city where our two months of training would take place.

As I recall, that first day in Korea was bitter cold, but I was keen to explore the area. I must have been given a map, because I found my way to Geyeongbok Palace and strolled around the grounds. I could scarcely believe I was in the middle of this ancient culture that was so unfamiliar to me, and that set the tone for the rest of my two years in the country.

Our training consisted of Korean language lessons, learning how to teach English conversation, and classes in Korean culture and history. Once our training was completed, we were official Peace Corps Volunteers and were sent off to our assigned sites. My site was a university in the capital city of a southwestern province known for its delicious cuisine. After those intense training months with my fellow volunteers, getting on a bus by myself to go alone to take up my job was a shock. I remember being very lonely for the first few weeks until I settled in, learned my way around, and made friends.

The next two years are a blur of amazing experiences including exploring historic sites in Korea, improving my Korean, deepening friendships, and also visiting other countries in East Asia including an extended trip to Japan after my first year and a longer jaunt in Southeast Asia after the completion of my service. Scroll down to see a few of the many photographs I took during my time in Korea.

I said at the outset that joining the Peace Corps changed my life. It would take a whole book to explain what I mean thoroughly (not out of the question for a future project), but here are some short answers:

• Because at the time South Korea was a poor country and still recovering from its war with North Korea, living and working there opened my eyes to the harsh reality in which much of the world lives. I believe my service made me a more empathetic person and ultimately influenced my goal of working for the World Bank, an organization with the primary goal of alleviating world poverty.
• Studying the Korean language was also eye-opening: while I had taken some Russian in college, the Cyrillic alphabet is somewhat recognizable to an English speaker, but the Korean writing system is completely different. Since then, I have been fascinated by other East Asian languages, especially Chinese and Japanese.
• The experience of living in another country made me want to have an international career, and that ambition is what motivated me to finally take the LSAT and apply to law school. I believe my Peace Corps service probably helped me get into a good school and also may have helped me get a great job with a law firm afterward. It certainly influenced the management of that law firm, after I’d spent two years in the main office, to assign me to work in their Singapore office, where I remained for many years.
• Finally, when I finally turned my attention to writing fiction, my experience in Korea and everything that flowed from it gave me plenty to write about. I have no idea what kind of work I might have produced if I had stayed put in Indiana without having the adventures that life brought my way.

Recently, I was invited to a college campus to speak with undergraduates who were considering applying to the Peace Corps. I was only on campus for an hour or so, but I enjoyed talking with the young men and women about their interests and sharing with them some of my own experiences.

In my opinion, there is no question that the Peace Corps has been an important tool for American diplomacy. Not only have thousands of people like me had an opportunity to learn about other countries and provide needed skills to their hosts, but we have also brought home with us what we learned about the world outside the United States.

In the current environment of an administration that is making wholesale and seemingly random cuts throughout the government, I am worried about the future of the Peace Corps. Given what has happened at USAID, it’s clear that President Trump doesn’t understand the value of fostering relations through development aid. I’m hopeful that the bipartisan support the Peace Corps has enjoyed in Congress over the years will stop the administration from making a grave mistake.