PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

117more successful volunteers.In some cases, volunteers live in larger cities and have “site mates.” Site matesare fellow Peace Corps volunteers living and working in the same community. Theyoften times work at the same job, especially in areas with schools. Most volunteers seesite mates as essential to their integration. Site mates generally have been living in acommunity for some time and can help the new volunteer to meet people and learn thelanguage. Jeff and Jenny, a married couple, talk about having site mates and the impactof those people on their general well being. They said, “When we joined the Peace Corpswe never thought we would be sharing this experience with other volunteers. We thoughtwe would be stuck in the middle of nowhere, far far away from the closest white person.But, that is not where we ended up. . . at all! . . . but we’re happy about it! I lovehaving sitemates.” 205Integration is often a long process; having fellow volunteers whoare already integrated into the community can help speed up this process. Integrationdepends on the volunteer’s ability to adjust to a new culture and accept the culture as it is,without judgment. This proves both comical and difficult for volunteers.Adjusting to a New Culture and Cultural StereotypesFor volunteers, moving to a new country means learning to live within anunfamiliar cultural framework. During volunteer training, the Peace Corps emphasizescultural exchange, cultural differences and similarities, and integration. In the case ofone volunteer, the learning curve is steep and the differences are often difficult toovercome. Liz writes, “Living here is hard, and Dominicans do a lot of things that don’tmake much sense a lot of the time, and sometimes the two worlds collide in a way that