![\"Skinner_Journal3066\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/pcca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/Skinner_Journal3066.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSunday, February 14, 1964, Skinner wrote about walking four hours \u201cback into the hills\u201d to see a horse \u201coffered for sale.\u201d PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n Skinner purchased a horse in late April 1964. To document the event, he glued this picture drawn by his little brother Greg into his journal.<\/p>\n This drawing by Greg of Skinner\u2019s horse appears in Skinner\u2019s personal journal. PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n In an earlier entry, dated January 13th<\/sup>, 1964, Skinner journals about how difficult it could be for volunteers to acclimate to their housing. As seen on the page below, he bemoans the uncomfortable living conditions in his first home in Chile:<\/p>\n \u201cThere are chickens and cats in the kitchen. They are flea-ridden. They defecate on the floors. There are flies in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n Wednesday, January 13th<\/sup>, 1964, Skinner described his housing situation in rural Chile. \u00a0PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n Susan Shepler, who taught mathematics in Sierra Leone in the late 1980s, offers little in her notes about discomfort. In fact, a survey she filled out in the April 1989 issue of Di News De<\/em>, a local newsletter produced by the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, reveals Shepler\u2019s openness to the new cuisine and customs.<\/p>\n This is the second page of a \u201cVolunteer Survey\u201d filled in by Susan Shepler from the April 1989 issue of\u00a0Di News De<\/span><\/em>. PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n In this same issue of Di News De,<\/em> however, researchers will encounter comics, short stories, and other creative expressions that indicate some of the challenges many volunteers faced. Two examples include\u00a0a bus ride gone awry and a recipe to recreate familiar food.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n April 1989 issue of Di News De.<\/span>\u00a0Susan Shepler collection. PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n April 1989 issue of Di News De.<\/span>\u00a0Susan Shepler collection. PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n Unlike Shepler, Bobbe Seibert described distaste for some local foods and created her own recipes abroad. Seibert, who joined the Peace Corps later in her adult life, detailed her cooking practices in a letter to her father and stepmother, Jean.<\/p>\n On\u00a0October 17, 2000, Seibert wrote to her parents to explain how she used corn to make a \u201cwonderfully hot, smooth, and comforting\u201d cream soup because she was \u201cnot particularly fond of\u201d the homemade tortillas.<\/p>\n Letter from Seibert to her father and stepmother on October 17, 2000. PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n In the same letter, Seibert \u00a0enclosed a photograph of her house. On the back of the image she cautions her parents about visiting, noting \u201cHonduras is not a comfortable country.”<\/p>\n Photograph from a letter to Seibert\u2019s father and stepmother dated October 17, 2000. PCCA.<\/em><\/p>\n Seibert served on an agricultural team in Honduras in 2000 until a family emergency brought her back home to Alaska. Yet, her time as a volunteer is well chronicled in her journals, artwork, and correspondence.<\/p>\n In a letter to her husband John, for example, Seibert expresses excitement regarding her new host family and housing:<\/p>\n \u201cMy family is perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDona Marlen is a housekeer \u2013 not<\/u> a maid, and they have two wonderful kids, Marleny \u2013 she\u2019s eight years old and we go everywhere together and Edward who is two years old and mostly just smiles all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe roof is corrugated but of very good quality it sounds wonderful when it rains as it did last night \u2013 quite hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>–<\/a><\/p>\n