Guys, I have amazing news. Thanks to the over one thousand people who liked and shared my blog across Facebook and the rest of the internet, I was named one of the 8 Top Bloggers in the Peace Corps for 2016! Words can’t capture just how happy and grateful I feel right now.
In case you missed it, the Peace Corps Blog It Home Contest, now in its 4th year, is designed to showcase PCV’s around the world who devote time and energy to maintaining a blog to achieve the Peace Corps’ Third Goal, which is to promote understanding of other cultures on the part of Americans (and, in my case, readers from 95 other countries – that’s right, shoutout to my readers in Dominica, Eritrea, Iran, and even Gaza!). This year, over 300 blogs were nominated, and 19 finalists advanced to a social media vote. The result was determined by combining the social media vote with judges’ scores relating to quality of content, media, and writing, and dedication to promoting cross-cultural understanding. And so here I land today!
I actually started this blog over three years ago on my own for that very same goal, creating a bunch of posts about my life in nearby Tajikistan in the summer of 2013. And I picked right back up before I got to Kyrgyzstan. Since then, I’ve published over 100 posts about Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz culture, my life, my work, the Peace Corps, and a few places I’ve stopped to explore along the way like Istanbul, Almaty, Prague, and Munich.
In case you’re a newer reader, here’s a few of my favorite pieces I’ve done over the past year, grouped by topic:
- Kyrgyz Culture
- Places in Kyrgyzstan
- Kyrgyzstani Movie Night
- Life in the Peace Corps
- Photography-Focused Posts
What’s next? Well, I’ve been invited to participate in the 2016 Peace Corps Top Bloggers Tour (by the way, I hope I’m not the only one who keeps accidentally calling it Peace Corps’ Next Top Blogger).
This tour will include a bunch of professional development trainings, presentations about Kyrgyzstan, meetings with important people (we’re all hoping for Michelle Obama because of Let Girls Learn, so if she’s reading this…hi Michelle), and a bunch of other stuff in a jam-packed week of awesomeness. So friends, if you’re around DC in October, you better come to my Happy Hour!
To everyone who worked with me to mobilize friends, family, and as many acquaintances and even strangers as you could, thank you so much. I first learned about this contest shortly before I got on the plane to Kyrgyzstan in early 2015, and I’ve been working nonstop for 15 months in order to make this dream a reality. I could never have gotten here without your support.
So thank you, everyone, all the way from Alabama, Alaska, and Albania to Zambia and Zimbabwe (from each of which I actually had several votes!). I’m absolutely over the moon right now.
-Mark