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[Pimpwerx]

Has anyone done a tour with the Peace Corps, or something similar? I'm really looking to teach overseas, but I'm not sure what options to pursue. I know the Peace Corps sounds pretty cool, but the volunteering thing might be a problem if I still have to make car payments while I'm gone. I know they said you can defer student loan payments, but I don't know about car payments. Also, the stipend they provide doesn't sound like it's a whole lot to get by on. Supposedly it's good enough for where you're living, but will it pay my loans and modest living expenses?

Long story short, I got in an accident Saturday, and there's a chance the car might be totalled. I'm fine, but I want to get the hell out of here if the car is really gone. It will be a chance to cut loose and go see the world. I just don't know if the Peace Corps is necessarily the best option. Thoughts? PEACE.

 

[number386]

I also wanted to try the peace corps for a couple of years after graduating form college, but reality kicked in. I took out a lot of money on student loans, not to mention I owed over 6 thousand in credit card bills. The stipend is nothing to talk about but then again it's not about the money.

Right now I'm 27 and in a quarter life crisis I dont really know what I want to do in life and I feel my options are closing in, which resulted in quite a few sleepless nights. I'm a financial analyst which is a soulless occupation that I hate. Looking back I wish I had join the peace corps, but that's may be as a result of my quarter life crisis talking.

 

[ManDudeChild]

How does a person in Canada sign up for that kind of work? Not nessesarily Peace Corps, but something similar.

 

[number386]

How does a person in Canada sign up for that kind of work? Not nessesarily Peace Corps, but something similar.

Go to the non-profit organizations websites, red cross, UNICEF, etc... And there should be a section on volunteering.

 

[Alex Anderson]

GA's own Chris K/Generic NPC Overlord is currently in Toague, Guinea teaching English to classes of over a hundred students. He's there from Jul 2004-2006 (Peace Corps). From the correspondence I've had with him, it sounds like something I would never be able to do - living with that unbearable heat, no AC, no running water, no form of entertainment aside from a radio, and being so far away from home with few peers nearby. I really admire that he's not only able to endure it, but is also enjoying it.

That being said, he told me before leaving that a main reason he decided to enlist was because he was unsure what he wanted to do for a career, and he knew full well he'd have the same problem when he returned. I doubt the $7,000 he gets for readjustment upon returning to the US will really change much.

Still though, it sounds like an experience he'll be glad to have had. He's fascinated by how different the way of life there is.

When he gets back he'll have his family to support him and help him get back on his feet. I think it would be a terrible idea for someone to enlist in the Peace Corps if they're currently on their own and living from paycheck to paycheck.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Flying Llama: Sounds a bit like me. I'm gonna be 27 in May, and with this accident, I think I got the kick in the ass I need to get out of here. I've looked around online, and I'm actually gonna apply to teach with the DoD at overseas bases. But the Peace Corps seems like a more realistic approach to it. But the money thing is what's stopping me. I don't want to go back to the place I'm currently working, and I don't know if I'm gonna get into the public school system, so I need to either find a new profession that hopefully pays more than $30k per year, or just move.

If the car is totalled, I think I'll sign up right away. The car is the only thing tying me to this place right now. But if it's gonna be repaired, I don't think I can make car payments on only a couple hundred bucks a month. It may go a long way overseas, but not here. PEACE.

 

[Boogie]

I've been playing with the idea that if I don't have some career direction figured out by the time I finish school that I might try to log some time doing international development/volunteer type of work.