In this interview, you’ll hear from Peter Jones Faucher, a Peace Corps Education volunteer in Nepal. Peter shares what daily life looks like, the work being done, and how service has shaped their personal and professional growth. You’ll learn about housing, cultural differences, project work, language learning, and what it’s like to live and work in a new country. This interview offers a real look into Peace Corps service and what future volunteers can expect.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises and Challenges
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Social Identity
- Impact of Media and Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. What do you do as a Peace Corps Education volunteer in Nepal?
Waking up
Every morning I wake up between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM and boot up my laptop to check on emails or make a quick call to the States to catch up with friends or family. Seeing that my blinds are open and sunlight is coming into my room, my host mom knocks on my door to bring me tea and some small amount of nourishment (a boiled egg and/or some biscuits/crackers).
I continue to get ready for my day and work on a project or prepare for school, then at 9:00 AM we have one of the two major meals of the day, bihannako khana (morning meal). That’s almost always white rice and lentil soup with some local greens and wedged potatoes with curry/masala. Then it’s off to school.
At school
I am a co-teacher at a government school just down the road from my house in a village in the Kavrepalanchowk (Kavre) District, about an hour or two by bus to the east of Kathmandu. Every day, Monday–Friday, this school year I co-teach with native Nepali teachers in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. Sometimes I simply support the teacher and make sure the students are paying attention; sometimes I take the lead and teach the daily lesson, and sometimes I substitute teach and fill in where it is needed throughout the day.
Around town
After school most days, I walk home to put on some more casual clothes and then take a walk to the local market area to pick up some necessities and usually visit a local temple to reflect. There are a few vendors at the local market/bazaar that I can now call my friends, and I try to practice my Nepali and visit them when I’m in town.
At home
I return every evening by 6:30–7:00 PM and have the second major meal of the day, raatiko khana (evening meal). Raatiko khana is the same as bihannako khana but sometimes includes some local water buffalo or chicken meat.
After the evening meal, my family pretty much retreats to their rooms or does some small chores. I either sit somewhere high in the house with a view and catch up on the news, read, or get some work done. The house almost always locks up at 9:00 PM, then we start the same routine the next morning.
2. Why did you decide to join the Peace Corps and serve in Nepal?
Throughout my career, I’ve always tried to do good work. I have worked in the Idaho and Virginia legislatures, and for public media both as a director and a fundraiser. After moving back to Idaho during the 2020 pandemic, I started working for the Idaho Community Foundation, helping individuals and organizations open charitable funds.
Lucky to have had some meaningful jobs and also seeing a direct impact from my work, there has always been this one thing in the back of my mind: I never served my country. While I don’t always agree with the direction our leaders take our country, I do feel lucky to be an American. While I understand the necessity of military strength, putting on a uniform and committing to participate in a war is not something I have ever been comfortable with. What I do feel comfortable participating in is helping those in need on behalf of the United States.
There had always been something preventing me from serving in the Peace Corps: a house payment, a relationship, a dog. When my beloved black Labrador, Emma, passed away after a great life of hiking, swimming, and traveling the country, I didn’t have any more excuses and started filling out my application for the Education program in Nepal with the Peace Corps.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. What is your housing like in Nepal?
My host family members
My host family consists of a father, mother, son, and daughter. As a volunteer in my mid-forties, it feels a little awkward to call my hosts aama (mom) and bua (dad) since they are only a year or two older than me, so I call them by their first names.
My host brother, who visits us on the weekends he can, is a talented engineer and mapping expert who gets to fly drones as a government contractor. His sister lives at home and is finishing her degree in engineering, successfully following in the footsteps of her brother. Every time I log in to social media, I see a post about an award they received or some other recognition for their work.
My host “father” is a sole proprietor and runs a respectable tailor shop in our local market. He is usually at his shop from 8:00 AM until 9:00 PM, which means I rarely see him, but he is a very nice, soft-spoken man with a good sense of humor.
My host “mother” is so wonderful and gives me all the space I need but still makes sure that I am always fed, whether I like it or not. While she is genuinely a great cook, I feel like I hurt her feelings when I tell her I will be skipping a meal due to the fact that I am still full from the last one.
My room
I have a large room on the ground floor with a Peace Corps-allocated mattress, and I have purchased a bookcase and a table to be used as a work desk. The three of us living at the house use the one bathroom that is close by with a (cold) shower, squatting toilet, sink, and limited privacy.
Just outside the bathroom, there is a basin where we can do some cleaning and do our dishes. I use a small bucket to do my laundry and use an electric kettle to warm some water for my laundry and also to boil before I put it into my physical water filter for my personal drinking water. Once my clothes are clean, I hang them on a line outside to dry in the sun.
4. What moments or interactions stand out during your service?
Since moving to Nepal, I have had the opportunity to live with two host families—one during our 10-week Pre-Service Training (PST) and another once I got to my permanent site. I imagine it is very stressful inviting a stranger from a foreign land into your home, but they were both incredibly welcoming and treated me as their own family. As someone who has lived alone for most of my adult life, that was both wonderful and difficult to adjust to.
Another thing that stands out is how attentive the Peace Corps Nepal staff is when any issue needs to be addressed. Just like any other job or living situation, sometimes you need to talk with the higher-ups to make them aware of a situation. If I draft an email to a supervisor in the Peace Corps, most of the time they are calling me before I even have a chance to see if they replied over email. I feel like they have my back and trust me, and most of all, I feel like my safety is their first priority.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about living or working in Nepal?
When you hear that they eat rice, lentils, and potatoes twice a day for their main meals, that’s not hyperbole; they eat rice, lentils, and potatoes twice a day for their main meals. It is something that your palate gets used to, and I’m sure that I’ll miss it when my service here is complete, but it is difficult to adjust to at first. Oh, and they very, very rarely eat cheese—it’s incredibly difficult to find and buy.
There is also literally no direct translation for the word “privacy” in Nepal. While I have been able to communicate that my room is my private space, that was not understood on day one. The very first morning after I moved to my site, my Nepali language tutor came into my room to start our lesson. Twenty minutes later, the school chairman shows up unannounced, walks into my room, and sits down for a 15-minute meeting. Five minutes after he leaves, the school principal walks into my house, then my bedroom, and sits for another 10-minute meeting. This was all before 8:00 AM.
They all assumed it was okay to walk into my private bedroom and conduct business without asking. I have since learned the power of nonverbal communication when it comes to my space and literally block people with my body at my door. Thankfully, my family picked up on the importance of my personal space and actively works to make sure this never happens again.
6. What challenges have you faced in your Education work, and how did you respond?
A lot of the students that attend the government school I teach at are living in absolute poverty. Some of their homes have dirt floors or are salvaged aluminum-sided structures. Others walk two hours in steep terrain each way just to get to school. Often there is little support system at home, with absent or struggling parents. Some students can claim all three of these attributes in their lives.
It makes teaching and disciplining these students very difficult because they are just trying to survive and eat, to say nothing of the fact that they are just children who should be able to just play around. They do play at school, but they take roughhousing to the next level.
I remember looking down at the school yard, a dusty area roughly 30 by 40 meters, and watching this kid run full speed toward another and then close-fist hitting him right in the face. I didn’t even have time to make it down the stairs before they were off to the next activity. I told another teacher about it, and he told me not to worry about it and to only let him know if a student falls off the roof or something.
It is a hitting culture—the students hit, the teachers hit, and while I’m lucky not to see it at my home, it’s an open secret that there is a lot of corporal punishment that goes on. I have made it very clear at school that students are not to be hit in my presence, and if I see it, I will report it; and I have. That didn’t make me a very popular character amongst the faculty, and I’m still a bit of an outcast for it. That is the price I have willingly paid to ensure that students are physically safe when I am nearby.
7. What secondary projects have you worked on during your service?
Getting integrated into the school was more challenging than I was expecting. The chairman and principal were seemingly excited about my arrival, but I’m not so sure about the other teachers. I was lucky to have two attentive counterpart teachers who took the time to learn my story and build a relationship.
Because my Nepali language skills are a work in progress and I have some web-building skills, I built a Nepali/English vocabulary quiz platform that can be utilized from any computer or smartphone. I originally built this tool to help my own language skills, but I have since built it out so that it is a useful tool for students, and even some other PCVs have mentioned they use it on a regular basis to expand their vocabulary. It is located at jonesquiz.com if you would like to see it for yourself.
Additionally, there is a computer lab at my school, but it was not being maintained. I took it upon myself to boot up all 15 computers to see their status and determine if it was a resource worth rescuing. It turns out it is. While I was turning them on and troubleshooting them, the administration noticed and started making arrangements to ensure they are all connected to the internet. There are about three periods throughout the day, on average, where I am in a classroom, and the rest of the time I take it upon myself to make sure the computer lab is fully functional and provide tech support to staff who choose to bring their students in.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to future Education volunteers in Nepal?
It’s challenging and not always fun. You have to leave your ego at the door and accept that structural change is incredibly slow. My advice is to find gratification in the micro-moments: a student finally understanding a phonetic sound, a successful hour of troubleshooting in the computer lab, or a breakthrough conversation with a local vendor at the bazaar. Don’t expect to reinvent the educational system.
Show up, be a stable and safe presence for the kids, and focus on building genuine, trusting relationships with your counterparts.
9. How did Peace Corps training prepare you for service?
Pre-Service Training (PST) is an intensive, 10-week crash course that acts as a vital buffer. It forces you to get used to the pace of life, the heat, and the fundamental cultural norms before you are thrown into your permanent community. My biggest tip for PST is to treat language class like a full-time job, but don’t let the technical grammar paralyze you. The cultural training—learning how to navigate family dynamics, food etiquette, and safety protocols—is just as critical as the language. Take advantage of the technical sessions on co-teaching, because navigating a classroom with a local counterpart requires a lot of diplomacy and patience.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. What would you tell future volunteers to pack—or leave behind?
Since I was not sure when I would be returning to the States, I essentially minimized my life by getting rid of most of my possessions. I gave a lot of clothes to charities, and bigger items I tried to get into the hands of organizations that would utilize them (like donating a drum kit to a local high school). There were a few personal things like pictures, awards, and sentimental books that I put into storage bins. Everything I took to Nepal fit into a 32” wheeled Eagle Creek bag (which offers a discount to Peace Corps volunteers if you reach out to them), a 40-liter pack, a 40-liter drybag, and a regular backpack/daypack.
As far as clothes, I brought about 5 button-up shirts and 5 T-shirts, 4 pairs of slacks, 2 pairs of shorts, and a week’s worth of socks. I brought a pair of Chaco sandals, one pair of hiking shoes, and one pair of casual slip-on shoes. If I were to do it again, I would bring two pairs of Chacos, two pairs of casual slip-on shoes, a great pair of hiking shoes, and a pair or two of cheap flip-flops to wear into the toilet (which is expected here). I’m a heavy-set guy who is 5’11” with size 11.5 or 12 shoes, and it is incredibly difficult to find clothes and shoes in my size here. Oh, and as a teacher, it’s been nice to have a universal blazer/jacket to look more professional (that came in handy during the swearing-in ceremony, too).
Other necessities I recommend are:
- A decent laptop and a backup tablet that can function as a laptop if your computer gets damaged.
- A decent mobile phone capable of accepting an e-SIM, and an older backup phone if available.
- A high-capacity power bank, good wireless earbuds, and wired headphones for when you inevitably lose your earbuds.
- Every charging cord you will need and backups.
- A rechargeable camping lamp and AA/AAA rechargeable batteries.
- A couple of small flashlights (my host family uses the second one often).
- A wide-brimmed hat, a light waterproof jacket with a hood, and sunglasses.
- Fingerless gloves so you can type in the cold weather.
- Nail clippers, a safety razor, and a year’s supply of blades.
- A bar soap container, a toothbrush, and a toothbrush cover.
- A quick-drying towel and a washcloth.
- Vitamin C (lots of Emergen-C).
- I also brought a Garmin InReach Mini to communicate in a pinch, and thankfully have never had to use it.
11. How has language learning been for you in Nepal?
Nepali is a difficult language to learn. Most of the volunteers are either right out of college or a couple of years out, and they are still in an academic mindset. Being 44 upon arrival, my mind had a harder time wrapping around the concept of learning an entirely new script and tongue. I studied French up through 102, and I was okay at reading it, but thinking back, I’ve always had a hard time comprehending foreign languages—especially when spoken quickly. Spoiler alert: in the urban and para-urban areas of Nepal, they speak very quickly, and I have learned they don’t respond well when you ask them to talk slower.
If I were to do PST again, I would sit down every day with one of the LCFs (Language and Cultural Facilitators) and force myself to have a 30-minute conversation with them entirely in Nepali, then designate some time after to ask clarifying questions in English if need be.
Whereas there are a lot of Spanish, French, or Chinese resources out there to study, it’s hard to find good Nepali language resources before you reach the country. I wish I had had the Peace Corps language books for a few months before getting to Nepal; that way I would have at least been able to see how the lessons are structured and would knowwhat to focus on.
Don’t get me wrong, I am 100% comfortable getting around and navigating here, and in the worst-case scenario, I just show a picture on my phone or use digital tools to get my point across. My host mom doesn’t speak any English, and we communicate just fine. That has forced me to speak Nepali even at home. Even when my host sister is away for school projects, we get along great and stay in touch. If I have something complicated to tell her, I just send her a message in Devanagari (the local script) and follow up with her later.
Oh, it also took me a couple of months to realize that the teachers all communicate with each other on Facebook, so if you’re an incoming volunteer, you definitely want to make sure you have an active account.
Social Identity
12. How has your personal identity shaped your service experience?
Serving as a mid-career volunteer in my mid-forties means my experience looks vastly different from that of a 22-year-old recent college graduate. In Nepal, age is deeply tied to social hierarchy and respect. From day one, the community and school administration afforded me a baseline level of professional respect because of my age and career background in public service and philanthropy.
However, it also creates a unique social gap. I am much closer in age to my host parents and school administration than to my fellow volunteers, which requires balancing two very different social worlds.
13. Did your identity lead to specific challenges or situations?
Yes, primarily because the cultural expectations of a 44-year-old man in Nepal are very rigid. People frequently ask why I am not married, where my children are, or why I left an established career in the United States to live in a village room and wash my clothes in a bucket. Explaining the concept of a mid-life pivot or a long-standing desire to finally serve my country takes a lot of linguistic and cultural nuance. Additionally, adjusting back to a lack of privacy and living under someone else’s roof after decades of independent adult life in the States was a distinct mental hurdle.
14. What advice do you have for volunteers who share your identity?
As someone in their mid-forties with aging parents, I specifically asked for my parents’ blessing before I started my service and let them know that I would not be able to come home easily or quickly. We are lucky to live in a world where we can talk to anyone in the world anytime we want, even from rural Nepal. I try to talk with a friend or family member every week, if not multiple times a week, to stay grounded.
When my stepfather, the man who raised me from age six, was hospitalized with pancreatic cancer, I was at a Peace Corps conference knowing that I was not going to be able to get home for the last days of his life. The Peace Corps staff immediately offered their support and condolences, and they arranged to fly me back home as soon as possible. While it was not possible for me to see him before his passing, I was able to make it home for his memorial service and spend vital time with my family. If you are an older volunteer, establish those family contingency plans early, and trust the Peace Corps staff—they genuinely have your back when a crisis hits.
Impact of Media and Final Thoughts
15. If you share content online, how has that shaped your service?
The opening scene for Raiders of the Lost Ark takes place in Nepal. When the door to Marion Ravenwood’s local tavern opens up, the strong force of a winter storm makes the door difficult to close. Now, did I think Nepal would be exactly like that scene? Kind of! I guess I should have done some more research about the diverse regional climates here before packing.
Before departing, I did watch quite a few food YouTubers navigate the streets of Kathmandu looking for local street food to get a visual sense of the country. One of the challenges when you join the Peace Corps is not knowing exactly where you are going to be living for two years. If you’re an internet sleuth, you can sometimes find the general areas or districts where you might live, but digital media can only prepare you so much. Building an actual digital tool like my quiz site has been a much more impactful way of interacting with media here—turning my technical background into something that actively supports my integration and helps other volunteers.
16. What final advice would you share with future volunteers?
Peace Corps service isn’t a glossy brochure or a continuous sequence of cinematic breakthroughs. It is a lesson in humility, patience, and adaptability. Some days are incredibly isolating, and the food monotony will test you. But if you have a genuine desire to serve, the capacity to laugh at your own mistakes, and the resilience to stand up for what matters—like student safety—it is profoundly rewarding. You will grow in ways you didn’t think were possible at this stage in life.
Are you thinking about joining the Peace Corps? If you’re curious about service and ready for something new, apply today. Like Peter, you can live abroad, work with communities, and grow in ways you didn’t expect. Apply to the Peace Corps and take the next step.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Nepal Government.
