美语咖啡屋46 Jen Sharrin, Life After Peace Corps

Y: 大家好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋！

J: Hello everyone! I'm Jody! Welcome to American Cafe!  Hey Yang Chen, what's that you're reading?

Y: 噢！没什么啦！

J: Let me see.

Y:哎呀，你快还给我！

J: The Peace Corps? 

Y: 是啊，我正在看一些关于和平队的材料。

J: You're thinking of joining the Peace Corps？

Y: 哎，你干吗那么惊讶呢？

J: Well, I'm not surprised ...Yang Chen, it's really hard work.   

Y: 那又怎么样？

J: Don't forget it's volunteer work.

Y:  So? 我本来就经常做义工啊！再说了，我现在觉得生活有点平淡，想找点刺激，我想去冒险。

J: Everyone wants excitement and adventure.  But before you sign that contract, let's talk to our friends Jen & Sharrin.  They were Peace Corps volunteers for one year in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa.

Y: 噢，对! Jen和Sharrin曾经参加和平队，到过科特迪瓦。咦？可是她们为什么只在那儿待了一年呢？    

J: Well, they ran into a little problem in Cote d'Ivoire ... something about an attempted coup d'etat. 
 
Y: 啊？是真的政变啊？

J: A real coup.  

Y:哇，是不是就好像电影里演的那样，有军队，还有人打枪什么的。

J: Soldiers, guns - the whole nine yards.  Not really what you would call a safe environment. 

Y: 听起来好像很可怕噢！

J: In fact, Jen and Sharrin were evacuated to the neighboring country of Ghana.

Y: 真的啊？她们后来还被疏散到加纳。  

J: First let's hear from Jen. 

Jen: There was an attempted coup d'etat in Cote d'Ivoire.  Peace Corps, of course, took us out.  It wasn't a safe environment.  So, we were evacuated to a neighboring country - Ghana.  From there we waited about two weeks to see if it would blow over.   It turned out it wasn't safe enough.  So from there we closed out our service for Peace Corp.     

Y:  Jen说她们当时撤到加纳，还在那儿待了两个星期，因为她们不知道动乱会不会blow over. Blow over我想在这里，就是结束或者消失的意思，是吧？

J: Exactly.  After two weeks the danger did not blow over.  So, Jen & Sharrin closed out their service with the Peace Corps. 

Y: 噢，所以这样她们就提前结束了在和平队的服务。

J: That's right.  You know, according to Jen, trouble would pop up frequently and then be fine the next day.  But this time trouble popped up and did not blow over.  Again here's Jen. 

Jen: Problems would pop up but they would be fine the next day.  So everyone thought it'd be fine the next day. When I left, I don't know what Sharrin thought, but when I left I thought I'd be returning back. So, I thought for sure I'd be back later on to say "Bye" for good or just to return and finish my service.

Y: Jen刚才说她们当时匆匆忙忙就离开了，而且呢，她还以为她们很快就能再回到科特迪瓦呢。  

J: Actually, for both Jen and Sharrin the hardest part of being evacuated was not being able to say goodbye to people and having a lack of closure.  You know, a definite ending.  Now, let's hear from Sharrin.

Sharrin: I think it was really hard just because I had all these plans and everything for what I was going to be doing.  And I didn't say goodbye really to anybody; so, there was a definite lack of closure.  And I think that was the hardest part of the evacuation - was just no closure at all. 
    
Y: 就是啊！她们在当地一定交了很多朋友，就这样匆匆忙忙离开，没有来得及和这些朋友说再见。我想她们当时心里一定很难过。看来，参加和平队也不是一件那么容易的事。
 
J: Aw come on!  Where's your sense of adventure?  I know the attempted coup, the evacuation, not being able to say goodbye to friends - all that would be hard but ... 

Y: 等一等，等一等，Jody,我是很喜欢冒险啦！可是这又是要政变，又是要逃难什么的，我可受不了。  

J: But think of the all the great memories that comes from being in the Peace Corps.  Now let's hear from Sharrin and Jen talk about the rewards.     

Sharrin: I think for me it was just the hospitality and the welcoming of the people in the differnt communities we lived in.  Jen: The hospitality was a big thing, but for me it was also really amazing to be able to go through a training period and become conversational in the language and to become independent.

Y: 怎么样？Jody，咱俩一起去好不好？

J: Yang Chen, joining the Peace Corps is a big decision.  You really should think about it a little bit more.

Y: Okay, okay，我会仔细的考虑的。不过我确实是佩服Jen和Sharrin. 

J: I admire them as well.  Thanks for joining us today at American Cafe. 

Y: 谢谢您收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次节目再见！