UW-Madison graduate Andrew Kline (Linguistics and Middle East Studies ’23) arrived in Timor-Leste in October 2023 to begin his Peace Corps service as an education volunteer. While at UW-Madison, Andy received a Foreign Language and Areas Studies (FLAS) Fellowship from IRIS NRC to study Arabic, which allowed him to study abroad in Amman, Jordan. Since arriving in Timor-Leste as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Andy has been blogging about his experiences on his website, which you can view here. Andy’s most recent update covers celebrating Finadu (All Souls Day) in Venilale, celebrating Thanksgiving in Dili, and completing a half marathon!
Here’s a short excerpt from Andy’s most recent blog:
“Although I looked forward to it throughout the year, I had assumed the Dili (Half) Marathon canceled on account of the Pope’s visit in early September. To my surprise, however, the other volunteers who planned on participating found out last-minute information that the event would take place on November 16. So I headed to Dili. Although I go for runs most days at site, my training was a far cry from what had gone into preperatation the previous half marathons I’ve raced. No training block. No interval sessions or track work. No long runs. Just lots of hilly running with pretty views in Venilale…”
Read on about Andy’s adventures during his time in Timor-Leste here.