PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

124Aaron’s “Once everything is cooked, they put some banana leaves on the ground andpour the pot out on the leaves. Then you just take a stick as your utensil and go at it.” 221These stark differences from American culture are often exactly the things that volunteersexpose guests to when they come for a visit.Visitors and VacationsAn aspect of volunteer journals is hosting visitors. In nearly all of the 75 blogsanalyzed, volunteers hosted at least one visitor during the time of their service. Generallythese visitors were parents, boy/girlfriends, or close friends. These visits give thevolunteers the opportunity to share their service with others, which is one of theorganization’s major goals. On the majority of these blogs, volunteers spend timeconvincing others to visit; they entice their readers with their stories of adventure andexotic lifestyles.When visitors do come, the blog entries usually serve to reinforce just how “hard”or exotic the volunteer’s life really is. Liz Cairns, writes of her parents’ visit to theDomincan Republic, “‘It’s kind of like camping…’ That is what two of my most recentvisitors have said about the way that I live. were champs during their whole Mom andDad visit to El Yayal – my mom shelled beans, used the latrine, ate the soup, and didn’thear the mice at night! My dad ate everything that was given to him.” 222Volunteeramazement over the ways their parents are able to live their rugged lifestyles is common.A Haiti volunteer writes, “so my parents had a really good time in haiti, they stayed twonights in my site and didn't get sick or anything. i was so proud of them!” 223And aKenyan volunteer, Libby, said of her father, “But, I was proud of my dad... he did