MSC/IST

Last week was our Mid-Service Conference or In-Service Training depending on your preferred vernacular. Remember how I said that PCVs have 4 Trainings/Conferences during their PC tour? Of course you do. Anyway, just as a refresher…

… Every PCV goes through PST (Pre-Service Training) during the first few months in country. During this time, PCVs are technically referred to as PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) as they’re not technically Volunteers until they’ve sworn in, and they can’t swear in until after they complete PST. PST is the most significant of the 4 trainings/conferences.

What school event is complete w/o a DJ

ESC (Early Service Conference) is held about 3 months after a PCV has been at site. These conferences, and the subsequent two, are all 5 days. We had our ESC back in September.

MSC is done around the half way point of a PCV’s service –when you’re about a year in, and have about a year to go. That’s what we were doing last week in Ocho Rios
 
COS (Close of Service) is held 3 months prior to a Volunteer completing their service. We won’t be doing this until next February.

So let’s see…one year in and we’re down to 30 people from the original 38. PC says that at around a Volunteer’s one-year mark, they struggle the most. Lord knows it’d be way different if this was only a one-year gig, totally and completely different. The newness has long faded, but we’re mostly in our groove. We’ve lost a lot of our original energy, but maybe we don’t need as much because we better know what to expect and how to deal with it. The bonds with our PC family are much stronger, and we’ve all settled into some sort of social place within the group. We’re more competent, more aware, more in tune to ‘wah gwaan’. So although we might be in a bit of a lull, we can kick back and relax a little, taking each day as it comes. Just doing the best we can, knowing that it’s not going to be perfect. One year in, one to go.

Tina reading her Book Club book!