Why you should journal during your Peace Corps Service
The benefits of journaling our well documented. Aside from organizing your projects and promoting mindfulness, journaling in Peace Corps gives you an areal view of your service that your future self will be happy to have. Learn why journaling is the most popular habit of Peace Corps Volunteers in this month’s article.
"Journal writing is a voyage to the interior."
Your Peace Corps service will be one of the most transformative chapters of your life.
Like any major life event, your service will be filled with highs and lows. There will be days when you feel overjoyed and fulfilled, and others when you’re unsure if you made the right decision. These emotional peaks and valleys are entirely normal—they’re part of the process of growth and adaptation.
In navigating these ups and downs, establishing mindful habits can help you stay grounded and make thoughtful decisions. One of the most effective and widely practiced habits among Peace Corps Volunteers is journaling.
Why Journaling Matters During Your Peace Corps Service
The benefits of journaling are well-documented: it reduces stress, enhances your mood, sharpens your mind, and even bolsters your immune system—an underrated perk in environments where maintaining health is critical.
Beyond these universal benefits, journaling during Peace Corps service offers unique advantages. It serves as a way to:
Process Your Experiences: Journaling helps you work through challenging moments and reflect on positive ones, giving you clarity and perspective.
Preserve Your Memories: Years down the line, you’ll appreciate having detailed accounts of this life-changing period. Journals can act as personal archives that help you remember the people you met, the cultural nuances you observed, and the impact of your work.
Simplify Reporting: Peace Corps VRFs (Volunteer Reporting Forms) are essential for documenting your projects and progress. Journals can double as a reference, making it easier to recall the details of your activities, like workshops, community events, and outcomes.
Tips for Effective Journaling
Start Small and Consistent
Don’t feel pressured to write lengthy entries every day. Start with a few sentences about what stood out to you—whether it’s an interaction, a success, or a challenge. Consistency matters more than volume. Over time, this habit will grow naturally.Use Prompts to Spark Ideas
If you’re unsure where to begin, prompts can help. For example:What made you smile today?
What’s one thing you learned about your host culture this week?
Describe a challenge you faced and how you handled it.
Prompts like these can make journaling less daunting and more meaningful.
Make It Portable and Durable
Invest in a high-quality journal that can withstand the wear and tear of travel and daily use. Moleskin journals are a popular choice—they’re durable, compact, and have a timeless design that makes writing feel intentional.
How Journaling Helps Beyond Your Service
The habit of journaling doesn’t just support your Peace Corps experience; it has lasting benefits for your personal and professional life.
Self-Reflection: Regular journaling helps you understand your emotions, track your growth, and identify patterns in your thoughts and behavior.
Communication Skills: Writing about your experiences sharpens your ability to articulate ideas and convey complex emotions, which can translate into stronger personal and professional communication.
Career Development: Your journal can act as a source of inspiration for future projects, speeches, or even job interviews. Employers often appreciate the unique insights and stories Peace Corps Volunteers bring to the table, and your journal can help you recall them vividly.
Journaling isn’t just about documenting your journey—it’s about enhancing it. So grab a journal, start small, and let this habit become an anchor in your Peace Corps service and beyond.
Suspending your phone service during Peace Corps
The average phone plan in the United States is $80 a month. With such a high price tag, few Peace Corps Volunteers would consider keeping their phone service during their time out of country. But what about our phone number? Learn what to do in this article.
The average phone plan in the United States is $80 a month…
With such a hefty price tag, it’s no wonder that many Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) choose not to keep their phone service during their time abroad.
But what about your phone number?
While it might seem like a minor detail, over time, you develop a connection with your phone number. It becomes part of your identity, and let’s face it, the thought of memorizing a new number—and updating it with everyone you know—can feel like too much of a hassle.
The good news is there are ways to keep your number while saving money. Many telecommunications providers offer suspension programs, though PCVs may face challenges qualifying. If those don’t work, services like Google Voice provide an affordable and reliable solution.
Here’s what you need to know:
Suspending Service with Major U.S. Carriers
Most major carriers like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint (now part of T-Mobile) offer “Military Suspension” programs. These allow customers to pause their service while keeping their phone number for free or a small monthly fee.
Unfortunately, Peace Corps Volunteers generally don’t qualify for these programs (AT&T calls us out directly) because the Peace Corps is not classified under the same criteria as active military deployment or federal government assignments.
What can you do instead?
Persistence Pays: Some volunteers have successfully negotiated suspensions by explaining their unique circumstances. Call your carrier, even AT&T and ask to speak to a manager or specialist who might have more flexibility.
Low-Cost Plans: If suspension isn’t possible, consider switching to your carrier’s cheapest available plan. Many providers offer prepaid or minimal service plans, which can cost as little as $15/month.
While suspending service with a carrier might work for some, it’s not always a smooth process. That’s where Google Voice comes in.
Google Voice: A Lifeline for Peace Corps Volunteers
Google Voice is a free service that lets you port your current phone number and use it for calls, texts, and voicemail—all over the internet. It’s a game-changer for Peace Corps Volunteers who want to stay connected without maintaining a full phone plan.
Benefits of Google Voice:
Keep Your Number Forever: Porting your number ensures you’ll never lose it, even if you don’t have a traditional phone plan.
Access from Anywhere: With Wi-Fi or data, you can send and receive texts and calls just like you would with a regular phone.
Voicemail and Texts in One Place: Google Voice stores your messages and voicemails in your account, accessible from any device.
No Monthly Bill: Once your number is ported, there’s no recurring cost unless you opt for add-ons like international calling.
How to Port Your Number to Google Voice
The process is straightforward, but there are a few steps to get it right:
Check Eligibility:
Not all phone numbers can be ported to Google Voice. Visit the Google Voice Porting Tool to confirm your number is eligible.Prepare Your Account:
Your phone number must remain active with your current carrier until the porting process is complete.
Have your carrier account number, PIN, and billing address handy (this information is required for porting).
Initiate the Port:
Log into your Google Voice account.
Select “Port a Number” and follow the prompts.
Pay the $20 one-time porting fee.
Wait for Confirmation:
Porting usually takes 24-48 hours. During this time, your existing service will remain active. Once the process is complete, your phone number will be fully transferred to Google Voice.Update Your Contacts:
Once porting is complete, inform banks, employers, and key contacts that your number now operates through Google Voice.
For PCVs, Google Voice simplifies life: no monthly bills, no hassle of switching numbers, and reliable access to calls and texts. Plus, in emergencies or when you return stateside, your number will still be active and ready to use.
The Bottom Line
Peace Corps Volunteers have enough to think about—keeping a phone number shouldn’t be another stressor. Whether you negotiate with your carrier or embrace Google Voice, there’s a solution to fit your needs and budget while serving abroad.
Choose the option that works best for you and focus on what truly matters: your service and the adventure ahead.
How to stay healthy and fit during your Peace Corps service
With your Peace Corps service comes new foods, drinks, and daily habits that might have you feeling a little less ‘healthy’ and ‘fit’. Here you’ll find some advice on how to manage your diet, find creative exercises, and, when necessary, calm your mind.
While this might not be high on the list, it is something to consider.
Twenty-seven months is not a short period of time. As you prepare for your Peace Corps service, you may do well to consider how to keep your mind and body occupied. Take it from us, there is a lot of spare time and you’ll want to find something with which to fill it.
This article aims to be a bookmarked resource for you to come back to. Let’s look at the highlights:
Diet
Exercise
Mindfulness
Living your best life
Diet
In 2011, Michelle Obama unceremoniously kicked the food pyramid to the curb and introduced America to the simple and easy to understand ‘My Plate’ nutritional guideline. Basically it says, eat more fruits and vegetables, cut back on refined sugar and try to get more creative in your protein consumption.
Admittedly, this may come as a challenge while serving in the Peace Corps.
There is no getting around it. If you are a vegetarian, vegan, or have specific dietary restrictions, your options are going to be limited during your service; the scale of which depends entirely on your country of service and ultimate site location (if you would like a dedicated article on this topic, let us know in the comments).
The best option that we have found is to confide in other volunteers and to create support groups that can compile and share creative recipes and dietary workarounds. More often than not, other volunteers have lived out this experience and can offer advice that is country specific.
Join your Peace Corps Country Facebook page to ask if a volunteer recipe book has been made. Make a care package list for friends and family to send throughout service, and communicate with your fellow Peace Corps Trainees.
One of our favorite websites, Devex wrote a nice article that offers some great insight as well.
Exercise
Chances are, your gym options are going to be slim. A good and semi-obvious workaround is to do bodyweight exercises, go running, and try some yoga. Since exercise is such a personal journey, we’re going to avoid recommending one thing over another, and instead just suggest that you google a few programs, bring a good pair of shoes, and be open to new avenues of staying healthy that your future community might show you.
In country, you will likely find that exercise equipment is difficult to come by and surprisingly expensive.
You definitely do not want to arrive in country with a portable gym on your back, but a few small, light, and strategic items can help make all of the difference.
Some volunteers make some serious health goals when in country. A friend of PathwaytoPeaceCorps had a strap gym that was pretty impressive.
But Running is by far the most accessible and therefore popular exercise choice for Peace Corps Volunteers.
Imagine yourself lacing up and running on the country road. The light taps of your shoes on the gravel and dirt is all that you hear. You see the sky open up as the sun peeks above the horizon and you feel a wave of relief wash over as you realize you are a in a foreign country, serving a community, and growing in ways you couldn’t imagine.
Thankfully, Xero Shoes has been kind enough to partner with us and also offers a discount to PCVs when they contact them (with proof of acceptance to Peace Corps).
Prio Running and Fitness Shoe for Men and Women
Whether you’re out on a run, trying out a new trail, hitting the gym, or toeing a slackline, you’ll love the Prio’s combination of freedom and protection.
If you plan to get some new shoes through Amazon, consider using one of these affiliate links we provide. This site is supported when new Peace Corps Volunteers enter Amazon from one of our links and purchases something.
In return for purchasing your needed products through our links, we will continue to scour the internet for all of the Peace Corps Volunteer Discounts we can find.
Hydro Flask recently partnered with us and now offers a discount to PCVs when they apply for their ProDeal. Just click the link and scroll down.
Hydro Flask 32 oz Wide Mouth
Mindfulness
They say mindfulness isn’t difficult, but remembering it is.
Far be it from us to offer concrete advice on how to be mindful while serving in the Peace Corps. Like exercise and diet, a person’s mind is inherently unique and cannot be put into a box or a cleverly written and engaging article.
After a long discussion, our team landed on two key items that we believe to be the best place to start.
The first is to journal, and journal often. The truth is, it doesn’t matter much what you decide to write or in what way you choose to organize your experience. The most important thing is to reflect on when you feel good and when you feel bad. Recognize your wins, evaluate your losses. At the end of two years, it’ll be the most entertaining read you could ever imagine.
Here are two popular journals that hold up through a Peace Corps service:
The second option is to do some form of meditation. This does not require you to tap into your inner Siddhartha. The basic idea is to breath deeply, recognize the absurdly unique experience that you are living and find some joy in it.
Don’t try and do it all by yourself. Calm and Headspace offer enjoyable guided experiences that give you a place to start.
Living your best life
At the end of the day, you are only as healthy and fit as you let yourself feel. Whether you are working with youth in an urban environment or hiking to fill your water bucket at the community well, the Peace Corps is going to challenge you.
The last thing you will want is to have some archaic outline of how you should look and feel, weighing on your shoulders.
Exercise when you want to. Dig into the care package when you need to.
This is your experience to have and share with your community. Enjoy it.
Congratulations on making it through this article and preparing yourself for your Peace Corps experience. You can find more information about the Preparing for the Peace Corps, The Application Process, and Concerned Parents in our other articles.
Remember you can support this website by clicking the "support' button and purchasing all of the items you'll need for the upcoming experience through any Amazon Affiliate link. Anything you buy, we get a small % from Amazon. It really helps us keep the site updated and running.
Hope to hear from you!
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Care Packages: A Peace Corps Volunteer Lifeline
When the hour is dark and all things seem bleak, a good care package is just the thing to lift a Peace Corps Volunteers’ spirts. Learn how to send a care package in this article.
Imagine this for a moment.
You are heading to the main school in your community to work with your afternoon class. Usually you like this class because the professor actually understands what Peace Corps is and has stopped asking why you keep showing up. Just recently, she let you start running the classroom after lunch…finally an opportunity to put into practice the zillion ice-breakers and leadership activities that you spent three months learning.
It’s hot.
The electricity went out and the overhead fan has given off its last gust of stale, dry air. While this is pretty normal, it seems to have the kids a bit more combative than usual.
After class you hurry home to shower. Today is the community garden group meeting you’ve been preparing for. Your first independent community project! The rock on which you will build your entire Peace Corps service.
Nobody showed up.
Everyone told you this would happen. Just keep at it and don’t take it personally. Still, it’s a tough day. To add on to it, the neighborhood cat that you thought you were cool with stopped showing up. Today sucks.
But what’s this?
As you get closer to the door you see a semi-formal note with scribbles that seem to say you have a package at the local post office. Oh merciful universe, the tricks you play.
A waterfall of ideas begin to pour. Gatorade packets? Mac n Cheese? Maybe family photos of your cousins birthday party?
The next day, energy is restored. With a hop in your step, you take the relatively short bus trip to the post office to pick up your care package. With a quick flick of the pen and a small token of appreciation to the office clerk, you head back home with your box of goodies.
What joy awaits? You’re filled with newly found vigor and love. This small package, the contents it holds, has given you an extra breath. Thank you.
Maybe this seems extreme, but a well timed care package can lift the spirts and keep you moving forward just as things seem to be at their most bleak.
Naturally, sending a package to remote parts of the developing world is not a cut and dry thing.
Common mistakes will make the shipment of the package twice as expensive as its contents. Even worse, poorly filled out paperwork may cause the volunteer to dish out a sizable chunk of their monthly allowance just to get it out of customs. This is assuming the package arrives safely in the first place.
To help, we’ve compiled a small list of do’s and don’ts.
Before you leave for your Peace Corps Service, share this article with friends and family. When that first care package arrives, give thanks and then gorge out on Velveeta cheese and sriracha.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Sending Peace Corps Volunteer Care Packages:
Get the correct shipping address (obvious, yes..simple, no)
Ask the Peace Corps Family and Friends Facebook page if anyone has insight into that country
Usually someone will have experience with the country you’re shipping to and can give specific advice
Look up the country’s customs requirements and fill out necessary forms
Fill in the Detailed Description of Contents
Don’t get carried away with this, but make sure each item is accounted for
If the item is expensive, say it is ‘used’. If its not, make sure the value is declared below $10* so the Peace Corps Volunteer doesn’t get hit with fees when they collect the package
*If you are insuring the package, ignore this step
Make sure the package is marked as ‘Gift’
Extra Tips:
Write passages of the country’s dominant religion on the package to dissuade curious eyes
If you’re sending cash, hide it in the pages of wrapped book
Double bag any powder or liquid item
Be weary of items that melt or have a short shelf life
Do you have any care package content ideas? Any extra tips you think the community would like to know? Don’t be shy, comment below and share your thoughts.
Congratulations on making it through this article and preparing yourself for your Peace Corps experience.
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