l, most volunteers insist that the intangible benefits outweigh the deprivations: "The whole Peace Corps experience really teaches you how happy you can be in life without a lot of material things" (Gilbert, 1992, p. 35).
Training for Peace Corps volunteers takes place at centers in the host countries. Most volunteers describe it as a rigorous experience: "Because of the incredible work load, Peace Corps training is as structured as boot camp" (Voelker, 1995, p. 101). The typical volunteer gets thirteen weeks of training, during which the most pressing order of business is a crash course in the language of the host country. One volunteer in Guatemala recalled being instructed not to speak English at the training center and being sent out into the city with a list of questions to ask the locals in their native language, "Eventually a rescue party of trainees finds me in the market trying to pantomime my way out of a confrontation. Apparently, I had asked a clerk to fight me when all I really wanted was to pay for toilet paper" (Davis, 1995, p. 10).
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