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28 Jan Blog Challenge Responses Round Up #7

The Prompt

Challenge #7 = Money Tell us about the cost of living in your host country. What can $1 buy? What is surprisingly expensive or cheap?

Highlights

Our bloggers got especially creative with this challenge. Here are some highlights from their posts about Money in their host countries:

• Jess in Belize gives a new perspective on the cost of gas in her host country
• Justin explains the cost of living in Madagascar and shares a photo of his $2 Thanksgiving meal
• Michael polled his fellow volunteers in Colombia and put together great charts depicting how far $1 US will go
• Matt and Anne in Morocco created their very own Price Is Right game

We also encourage you to check out the Blog Challenge blog post links below and on our Boot Camp Blog Challenge pinterest board.

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25 Jan Blog Challenge Responses Round Up #6

The Prompt

Challenge #6 = Community Member Profiles
Tell us about someone in your community!

Highlights

As usual, we have a great set of submissions for this week’s challenge. Many of the posts this week are especially touching, and it was hard to narrow down a short list of highlights, but here we go…

• Christine in Ethiopia translates a short but sweet video interview with her host sister
• Jett writes a lovely tribute about her Paraguayan guardian angel
• Julie’s Community Member Profile from Mongolia shows how short and simple can be just as effective
• Robert and Julie share four mini profiles from their community in Morocco

We also encourage you to check out the Blog Challenge blog post links below and on our Boot Camp Blog Challenge pinterest board.

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21 Jan Blog Challenge Responses Round Up #5

The Prompt

Challenge #5 = I Never Knew What surprised you about your host country when you first arrived? What did you never known until you visited?

Along with the prompt, participants also received a number of creative ideas for different ways to approach their response. After a week to work on their responses, we’ve rounded up their published posts in one place for you here.

Highlights

For today’s series of higlights, we’re focusing especially on creative and catchy titles. In the world of blogging, a post title can be the difference between someone clicking to read your post or ignoring it. Check out some of these great titles:

• 10 Ways to Use Heaven (Beyond Radio Codes)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Mozambique
• 5 Community Codes We Never Knew About Morocco… And 1 We Realized About America
• Amazing what a piece of cloth can do
• If you drop your keys…you better stomp on them three times

We also encourage you to check out the Blog Challenge blog post links below and on our Boot Camp Blog Challenge pinterest board.

Join Us!

Want to participate? If you’d like to join the Blog Challenge and get the remaining blog post prompts in real time, sign up here and check the “more information about Blog Challenges” box.

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18 Jan Blog Challenge Responses Round Up #4

Greetings from Ecuador, our home base through the remainder of the Blog Challenge! As usual, we have another great set of responses to share with you. And we’re testing out a different method of displaying the list of posts – with a short excerpt instead of the author name. Hopefully we can figure out a better way to do both, but if not, let us know which variation you prefer.

The Prompt

Challenge #4 = On The Road What sights, sounds, smells, and stories do you encounter out on the road in your host community?

Along with the prompt, participants also received a number of creative ideas for different ways to approach their response. After a week to work on their responses, we’ve rounded up their published posts in one place for you here.

Highlights

As usual, we like to highlight a few of the many great posts that have come in for this particular prompt:

• Jett in Paraguay tells a sweet short story from a bus ride
• Katey-Red in South Africa penned A Field Guide to Amajuba Minibus Taxis
• Matt and Anne in Morocco share the US equivalents of things they see in the streets
• Rebecca and Chris in Moldova posted past instagram photos from the walk to school

We invite you to check out the Blog Challenge blog post links below. You can also find their posts on our Boot Camp Blog Challenge pinterest board.

Join Us!

Want to participate? If you’d like to join the Blog Challenge and get the remaining blog post prompts in real time, sign up here and check the “more information about Blog Challenges” box.

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14 Jan Blog Challenge Responses Round Up #3

The Prompt

Challenge #3 = A Day in the Life What is it like to live in your host country? What does a day in your shoes look like?

Along with this prompt, participants also received a number of creative ideas for different ways to approach their response. After a week to work on their responses, we’ve rounded up their published posts in one place for you here.

Highlights

• Amy in Ethiopia created an awesome collage of Peace Corps life through video and social media screenshots from others in her cohort
• Siobhan in Mozambique modified the lyrics of Vanessa Carlton’s song, Just A Day, to share her story
• Michael in Colombia shared a series of tweets throughout his day
• Jamie in Namibia created a fun video slideshow of her typical schedule

We invite you to check out the Blog Challenge blog post links below. You can also find more of their best posts on our Boot Camp Blog Challenge pinterest board.

Join Us!

Want to participate? If you’d like to join the Blog Challenge and get the remaining blog post prompts in real time, sign up here and check the “more information about Blog Challenges” box.

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11 Jan Blog Challenge Responses Round Up #2

We have another great round of blog posts from our Blog Challenge participants today! Here’s what they’ve been working on…

The Prompt

Challenge #2 = Home Share your own “home away from home” or, generally, what the homes are like in your host community.

Along with the prompt, participants also received a number of creative ideas for different ways to approach their response. After a week to work on their responses, we’ve rounded up their published posts in one place for you here.

Highlights

We invite you to check out the Blog Challenge blog post links at the bottom of this post, but first, here are a few interesting highlights from this round of responses:

• Alicia in Lesotho crafted a beautiful post on Life Without Corners, including a Do-It-Yourself Rondeval Guide with pictures
• Trenton in Mongolia shared images of his ger taken by his little host siblings
• Olivia in Madagascar gives a picture tour of her “crib” with great explanations
• Rebecca and Chris in Moldova made a quick, fun video of inviting friends and family to visit their home
• More highlights can be found on the Blog Challenge pinterest board

Join Us!

Want to participate? If you’d like to join the Blog Challenge and get the remaining blog post prompts in real time, sign up here and check the “more information about Blog Challenges” box.

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07 Jan Blog Challenge Responses Round Up #1

It has begun!

On January 1, bloggers living around the world embarked on a six week adventure in blogging with us. We have over 100 folks living in about 40 different countries signed up, with more joining every day. Roughly one week ago, the first prompt was sent to them via e-mail, which challenged them to create a blog post dedicated to their “Why.”

The Prompt

Challenge #1 = Your Why ... Why are you are abroad? What led you to pursue your current adventure?

Along with the prompt, Challenge participants also received a number of creative ideas for different ways to approach their response. Over the past week, their posts have been pouring out into the blogosphere and we’ve rounded them up for you here.

Highlights

Everyone has a unique, compelling version of their “Why.” Today, we want to highlight a few posts that were particularly creative and effective:

• Katey-Red in South Africa wrote a letter to her 10 year old self
• Marcus in Mongolia shared a photo of a pro/con sheet he created (with venn diagram!) that eventually led to his choice to do Peace Corps
• Lianne used easy-to-follow headings and engaging pictures to depict her various stages of life and reasons why she’s living and traveling abroad long-term
• Brooklynn in Peru boiled her ‘Why’ down into themes with clear headings, pictures, and quotes in 4 Reasons Why I Love Living Abroad
• Colin in Cameroon used the 5 Why’s methodology to uncover his core motivations

Click here to see the pinboard

We invite you to take some time to get to know more of our Blog Challenge bloggers by checking out the Round Up links we’ve included below. You can also find their posts on our Boot Camp Blog Challenge pinterest board.

Join us!

Want to participate? If you’d like to join the Blog Challenge and get the remaining blog post prompts in real time, sign up here and check the “more information about Blog Challenges” box.  (more…)