The Third Goal

Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) around the world have all kinds of different assignments and face many various challenges. There are a few things however, which are universal among all PCVs, the most fundamental of which is simply called “The Three Goals.” Paraphrased from the Peace Corps website, these goals are as follows…

1: Doing the job you were sent to do. In China, this goal is very explicit – Teach English –  but in other countries, you might be given a job as vague as “provide help for local businesses.” This is the easy goal.

2: Teach the local people about America(ns).  In China, accomplishing this goal is a bit counterintuitive. The chances for cultural dialogue are everywhere.  With so many people to bump into, all of whom know at least one word of English (HELLOOOOOOOOO!) which they excitedly shout at one ear-crushing volume regardless of proximity, I often end up talking to people whom I’d normally just ignore.* At first, these conversations are inspiring, as you feel that you can actually impart some knowledge about America despite a large language gap – “I’m definitely saying some stuff about America, and though I understand little to none of your response, I think that you must be understanding me.” As the language gap shortened, however, I found that my conversation partners were accomplishing the mind-bending task of understanding my words without understanding their meaning. Once I discovered my interlocutors’ reluctance to really listen, I became de-motivated in regards to pursuing goal two through conversation with strangers. What I thought was agreement and recognition of new insight was actually disagreement and repetition of the partisan misinformation broadcasted throughout all of China.** People are extremely willing to inquire after and listen to your first-hand account of American life, but if it contrasts with what they have heard from numerous fourth and fifth-hand sources, they will end up just dismissing what you have said as an outlier.***As a firm believer that actions speak louder than words, I’ve decided to accomplish goal two more through action than by conversation… a difficult task, because it presupposes an observative audience and there is rarely any feedback from the locals. “Wow. I noticed that your phone is set to silent mode and you didn’t answer it in the middle of class. What a respectful and civilized person you are! Where are you from with such great manners?”

3: Teach America(ns) about the country where you serve. I’ve tried to do this on my blog, but often end up digressing into parenthetical, philosophical hyperbole which eventually distracts from any substantial cultural commentary. So, to make sure that it’s been said at least once, here is what I think an American should know about China… 

China is a country divided into drastically different regions with mutually UNintelligible dialects, social classes with a bigger wealth gap than the US, and even multiple Olympic teams (Chinese Taipei a.k.a. Taiwan).**** Therefore, any comments made about China should be qualified by the precise location within China to which one is referring. To that point, my further comments refer to the undeveloped West. There is an extreme misunderstanding and slight mistrust of foreigners/foreign influence propagated both by word of mouth and the current/former “selective” representation of the West in Chinese media. On an individual basis, values such as harmony, respect, and tact are paramount, however, these values are almost undetectable on a societal level, or at least very ironically realized.***** Chinese societal values seem to be somewhat anarchistic. May the loudest, boldest, and most-unwilling-to-consider-the-personal-interests-of-others man win. In brief, the Chinese treat those they know extremely well and don’t seem to bother with the other 1.4 billion… to be fair, that’s a lot of people. The food is fantastic, despite the lack of quality control. The education system is horribly inefficient, but due to the relentless will to study thirteen hours a day, students still end up learning by strict rote memorization slightly more than American students do in the four hours a day they are actually awake for class. Creative and individual thought is rare, whereas a holistic understanding of one’s relationship with his class(mates) is widespread. Development is everywhere, but improvement seems to be (temporarily) relegated to the back burner. Lastly, those who are looking for more information on Chinese interactions should consult the wikipedia article on “emergence.”

One last note on the third goal, the inspiration for this blog post was actually a recent project that I undertook as per the request of my recruiter in Chicago. I put together a video detailing my time in the Peace Corps, and how my daily life has changed since I’ve been here. The video was a huge success, and I got to skype in and talk with some interested Notre Dame students about my experience here. Afterwards, they put my video up on the Peace Corps website with a short article about me and my service.

http://midwestpcvs.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/volunteer-project-spotlight-in-notre-dame-alums-video-about-service-china-is-the-star/

So there you have it… those are the three goals.******

*One such situation, which has reproduced itself far too many times, is entering a bathroom with doorless stalls and having a local decide to show off his multi-tasking skills by simultaneously smoking a cigarette, texting on his phone, and engaging in cultural dialogue with the foreigner… all the while squatted over a hole defecating.

**Censorship note: Nowadays, Chinese “netizens,” as they are called, can find almost anything they want on the internet, but it requires some shifty digging. The lack of the media freedom seems to only really be present in the active headlining of stories benefitting the CPC and putting down its enemies. Most Chinese feel that they have freedom of the press because they are free to READ almost anything, but can simply not broadcast everything.

            ***To be fair, it's incredibly difficult to understand anything about another culture second hand.  There is no doubt a large percentage of Americans who haven't ever left the country yet think they know what the world's like. Two small windows Americans have to the world are the large number of immigrants and the ethnic centers throughout major cities, neither of which really exist in China, leaving the Chinese at a disadvantage when viewing the West.

****Personal note: I truly believe that this is why China’s propaganda department is desperately trying to focus on its unity, despite the strong desire for separation expressed in Tibet, Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong.

*****Chirony: Every single Chinese person who takes the incredibly bold step to attempt to talk to me, a stranger who speaks a different language, will undoubtedly describe themselves as “shy.” Irony can also be seen as the desire to retain social harmony simply by NEVER addressing the elephant in the room who is in the process of totally annihilating any social harmony – often appearing as the smoker inside the bus, the woman listening to music without headphones on the train, the man cutting in line, the girl answering her phone in the movie theatre, or a child urinating in the vegetable aisle.

******Six asterisks is way too many. I should have stopped at four.