Peace Corps is a lot different than I thought. Firstly in terms of my volunteers… while we have lots in common just based on the fact that we had the desire to be volunteers in the first place, we are all so incredibly different. I expected to find a lot more people like me. Responsible, mature, independent. I still after one year in Panama am not sure why some people are here. My regional leader recently came to visit me and asked, “So…how are you?” I hadn’t seen or spoke to her in a long time. Because I don’t need her to solve my problems. I can deal with it myself. She told me she has some people that call her all the time with one thing or the other. I joined Peace Corps to work with people. People building. I am not here to do tons of projects and as they say “build monuments.” As an organization, Peace Corps emphasizes the people building, but in reality this cannot be quantified. And how many things do I have to fill out quantifying what I do and asking me specifically about projects. Too many. If you really want me to do my job, there is no form in the world that can include little girls coloring at my house or having a conversation about the environment or realizing how much you can trust a person. All this cannot be written down. Back when I first got to Panama I heard a great quote. Development is love in action. You can’t put a number on love.