special issue: inauguration 2009 - National Peace Corps Association

of their country of service, “Hey Poland!
Can you watch my stuff while I visit the
Port-o-Potty?” “Pose with me for a picture,
Mongolia.”
Honestly, that day I realized how much I
missed being around the Peace Corps
“type”: gregarious people with lots of
adventures to share, risk-takers who often
find humor in small, everyday events. Makes
Peace Corps “after-life” seem somewhat
mundane. Well, take that back. The Gay
Lesbian Bisexual Transgender community
and the Peace Corps community have many
similar characteristics such as the very ones
I just mentioned. I love “my GLBT peeps”
here in the DC area. But perhaps it’s the
Peace Corps within me that helps me deal
with coming out over and over again with
new people, the people skills I developed
living in different worlds, different cultures.
Even though I talked, walked and looked
different, I learned that through random and
not so random acts of kindness and humor,
just about anybody can earn the respect and
friendship of any/many-a-one.
A few special moments in the day really
made this event something to “write Texas
about.” There was that first glimpse we
got of the hordes of people on the Mall.
Wow! Everyone strained to get pictures
from the bus windows when we passed
the Washington Monument. Later in
the tent, it was the reverent hush as we
watched Obama’s acceptance speech on
a small TV, then the wild cheering when
he completed the oath. And of course
during the parade, every few blocks
when our group was announced on loud
speakers, we would all go, “Whooaa!”
and “Yeeaahh!” Each time, I’d get a little
choked up and hoist my flag higher. I felt
a part of something way bigger than me
and bigger than, say, Texas. We marchers
represented almost fifty years of global
change on the part of the Peace Corps and
some 200,000 volunteers who returned,
like me, “touched” by the experience. And
gosh-darn-it, we marched for change in
the way Obama stated in his speech, that
we will work alongside other countries to
build a future together.
Aaron Christman (Madagascar 06-08) and Rajeev Goyal (Nepal
01-03).
A first look at the crowds.
Erica Burman, NPCA
Erica Burman, NPCA
Erica Burman, NPCA
Anne Baker, NPCA
Watching the swearing-in on the small screen.
Fur hats are a wise choice.
16 Spring 2009