Saturday, August 13, 2011

Live Like a PCV Challenge

The website Live Like a PCV Challenge invites people in the US to give up certain conveniences for a week as a way of approximating what a Peace Corps volunteer's life is like. Participants in this challenge choose a country and a level of difficulty (from 1 to 5) and then let the people running the website know that they have signed up. Nicaragua doesn't have its own rules, but both its neighbors - Honduras and Costa Rica - do. The whole thing is kind of silly, but reading the challenge levels definitely made me laugh.

Costa Rica's rules included things like 'Do nothing straight for 3 hours' and 'Kill your power and roll the dice to see how long it stays off.' Honduras had 'You cannot watch television but may watch soap operas and soccer at a neighbor's house' and a rule that your daily diet for the week must include two cups of coffee per day with at least 4 tablespoons of sugar per cup.

If we ever get around to making a set of rules for Nicaragua I'm sure it will include similar elements. If I were to design our challenge based on my experience I might add things like:

- The only activities permitted after 8 pm are watching soap operas and sleeping.
- If you drink beer, only drink Miller Lite or Bud Light (these beers approximate the national beers of Nicaragua in terms of flavor and alcohol content).
-Only attend social events if you can get a ride.
- Convince your neighbor to set off fireworks at least 3 times during the week, at unexpected moments.

Let me know how it goes!

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