Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-010
Jeanette Grayson Gottlieb served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Iran from 1965 to 1967 in an elementary and secondary education program. She was initially assigned to the towns of Nowshahr and Chalus on the Caspian Sea to help English language teachers in two all-girls schools improve their English and teaching skills. Although she didn't teach the children, she taught adults in the evenings and started a crafts club for the students. Gottlieb didn't feel qualified to teach experienced teachers and even though she was busy, she experienced considerable loneliness from living by herself, the overcast weather, and being a single woman in a traditional society where women stayed home. In the second year, she transferred to the town of Hamadan where she taught her own classes in another all-girls school, held first-aid and craft classes, and lived with another volunteer. Although she reflects negatively on the deselection process during training, Gottlieb has good memories of her Peace Corps experience overall and says she learned to be alone. She also met her husband in the Peace Corps. She remains active in RPCV activities in Albany, New York, and served as president of the Peace Corps Iran Association. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, August 25, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).