I Have Successfully Integrated!

Every so often, I have to file an official report to the Peace Corps detailing how my work is going. While most of the report consists of detailing how many students I teach, what the level education is like, blah blah blah, and other things that will never be complied into useful data, one of the questions asks how integrated I feel within the host community. The choices are "not at all," "somewhat," "positively," and "very." This is followed by an essay prompt asking you to explain your answer. When I turn in my report for this quarter, this is going to be my answer:

"As a volunteer, I feel that I have successfully integrated into my host community. In fact, I do not think that I could become any more integrated than how I already am. My reasons for this are very simple: I now receive free vegetables in the market, whereas before such vegetables were not forthcoming. How does this mean that I have integrated? It is quite simple. The woman who sells me daily supplies of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, and limes for my daily sandwich lunch has moved our relationship forward. Now when I buy tomatoes, she give me a handful of wild onions! If I buy eggplant, she throws in the lettuce for free. Such gestures are monumental! Think not that she gives me these vegetables for free because of their extremely low cost. (One clump of lettuce is 200 riel [around $0.o5]) Rather, I have gained enough recognition in my community that I awarded with these vegetables on a daily basis. There is no more proof needed that I have become a successfully integrated volunteer. The proof is in the mango salad."