“Hey Joe”
Poems and Stories from the Peace Corps
by Robert Nicholas
Genre: Travel, biography, memoir
Available at Amazon.
Most Peace Corps Volunteers experience some form of culture shock. But which was worse – giving everything up to spend two years living a simpler way of life on a small remote island in the Philippines, or returning to the US and realizing what we’ve lost?
Excerpt:
Now my favorite word was “kwan”. I struggled at first to understand this often used term. “Kwan” seemed to pop up in every conversation I heard. How could that be? It didn’t make any sense. So much “kwan”. Sometimes it seemed to be a verb, other times a noun, or an adjective or adverb, though never a preposition. Finally it dawned on me that “kwan” was the equivalent of “uh” “er” “ah” “umh” or the ever popular “you know”. “Kwan” means I am clueless as to the word I should use here, but you catch my drift. And if you do, please tell me the correct term. Man did I use “kwan” a lot once I figured that one out. Now I could speak far more fluently and sound as if I actually knew what I was talking about. I even used to buy “kwan” at the merkado.
What others are saying:
“Having read many books about the Peace Corps experience I feel this book is one of the best.” D. Ianni former Philippine Peace Corps Volunteer.
I read Hey Joe and was very impressed with Bob’s writing style. Reading the memoirs of his experience in the Peace Corps made me wish I could go back in time and do something like that myself. Bob was able to make an impact on the life experiences of people in another country, who were able to enrich their lives as a result having met and worked with him. Well done, Bob.
Thanks for your comments.