An open letter to the new PCVs

A fundamental part of the Peace Corps experience is integrating into your host culture. Ya know, really get in there and talk, dress, eat, sleep, interact, and celebrate just like the people in your community. Integrating into la cultura Salvadoreña may require you to wear long pants in 100 degree weather, drink coffee and eat pan dulce because you were offered it, and wake up with your siblings at 5 a.m. because that's when the house is the loudest. Everyone has some growing pains in the beginning, but you learn how to adapt. Eventually you will refer to your site as "home" and drop the "host" when talking about your familia anfitriona.

The quest for total integration is never ending, but it's the little victories that make the journey worthwhile. Some might take a "trial and error" approach to integration while others fall back on monkey-see-monkey-do. Most of us end up doing both. It's how we learn to love atol chuco and to look every passing human in the eye and say "¡Salud, que le vaya bien!"

Total integration for a PCV is comparable to a practicing Buddhist reaching nirvana. Just look at this definition from the well-trusted academic source, Wikipedia:

Nirvana... refers to the event or process of the extinction of the fires of attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya). In the Buddhist view, when these fires are extinguished, suffering (dukkha) comes to an end, and one is released from the cycle of rebirth (samsara). [Emphasis added.] 

If you want to integrate, you gotta put out the fires of your attachment to deep dish pizza, aversion or anger you feel when carefully planned meetings go awry, and ignorance you experience regarding culto or velas. Only then will you stop suffering from awkward sideways glances and the crushing sense of being completely alone. You'll be released from the cycle of integration and will simply be integrated. Om, nirvana!

Yeah... total integration sounds nice.

In the meantime, keep making mistakes. Try the enchiladas, go to a wedding. Pass the rainy season by drinking coffee with your neighbors and remember to keep an open mind. Call your fellow PCVs when you have a funny story or when you feel like crying. Help each other get through the first few months. They are the hardest and most rewarding of your service. When the going gets tough, sit yourself down and repeat this mantra, proven to help you reach total integration: "I got this. I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer. I can do anything."

Because you really, truly can.

Welcome to PCES!