Patience

I wrote and submitted this a while ago and since I searched through other peoples to give me clues about mine I figured I would spread the love.

Aspiration Statement
Mauritania
June 2008

A. Professional Attributes:

During my service in Mauritania I plan to use a variety of professional skills that I have at my disposal. Namely, the skills I hope to implement are: patience, listening, resourcefulness, determination, my content expertise, and the teaching methods I have found that mesh with my specific teaching styles.

I have full faith that my resourcefulness and patience are going to be the skills that will be tested to their limits. In my experience, people are apprehensive about trusting outsiders until they prove themselves through a series of tests. I am willing to undergo these tests and put my all into the tasks at hand

My aspirations for the service are lofty goals. I would like to teach a usable skill set that will help my students lead a richer and fuller life and to exchange cultural information and ideals without either participant losing their cultural identities.

As a classroom teacher, I know that all the planning in the world does not ensure that you will be able to execute your planned lesson. As a human being I have experienced the rollercoaster ride that goes along with the differences between what I would like to happen and what actually does. The way that we look at what has transpired colors our experiences. A positive attitude can make a detour or an unexpected lesson an adventure that was worth the while. The fact that we are actually doing something is almost as important as what we attempt to accomplish.

B. Strategies – Expressed needs:

I think that honoring our host countries wishes are extremely important and that the Peace Corps places people that are hopefully able to improve upon the tried and true methods that are implemented in the system to execute the countries wishes. I hope to be able to listen, watch, learn, and try a number of strategies. I am a team player and feel that the more that people work together, the more they can accomplish. I know that the program that I am entering has been around for a couple of years and I hope to be adding to its successful implementation while adding my own unique flavor. I respect authority and I expect that authority will respect my abilities and grant me a level of autonomy so that I can accomplish the requested tasks.

C. Strategies – Culture:

I find that I am fairly open-minded when it comes to most things. I handle situations as they come. I feel that American culture lacks uniqueness and this facilitates my acceptance of things that are foreign to me. I want to watch, listen, taste, try, ask and answer questions, dance, sing, smile, laugh, cry, meet people I will like and people I dislike. In life, I try things, weigh them against my own likes and dislikes, and make a personal choice based on that.

I know that I will be able to hold on to my own sense of self, through the support I receive from my wife, fellow volunteers, and my support system back home. My wife and I keep each other sane at home, often dealing with individuals and groups that exist outside of our comfort levels; together she and I can thrive in any situation. I will write, email, take pictures, send and receive care packages, and call the people I care about back home. I have heard that there are ample opportunities to meet with other Americans within Mauritania in order to hold on to American holidays and I plan on taking advantage of them.

D. Pre-service:

I hope that the pre-service training will give me some helpful hints about the country that I am about to enter. I want to be able to live in the culture that I am going to enter, not as fly on the wall, but as an active participant. I want to be able to speak the language of the people that I will live among. I hope that I can gain some clues about how my students are going to test me when I get to the classroom. I would like to be shown a glimpse of what I can do to help the people of my community, what they need, and what has been done before.

E. Influence:

Out of all of the uncertainties that I have about the Peace Corps experience, of one thing I am certain: it will change my life for the better to give some of myself to people who can only offer me their friendship.

I did not become a teacher to become rich with money; I did it to become rich with experiences. I will never know material wealth the way many people do here, yet the people of Mauritania will never know the luxuries that I have here at home. This will be an experience that will not describe me as many things in our lives do, it will define me. It will push me harder and leave me more fulfilled than anything that I have ever done before. It will ignite in me a drive to reach new levels in all aspects of my existence.

As a teacher, I can only ever gain from teaching more students. The longer I teach the more enhanced my abilities will become. As a social studies teacher living in another culture, in a country that so few I know have ever heard of, is an experience that will be a highlight of my life’s calling.