Drumroll Please....

May 10, 2009

I found out where I am going to be living for the next two years! Drumroll......

ECUADOR!!

I didn't even call it!...well kind of. I did find online the departure dates an locations. Ecuador departed in the middle of June of '08 but since I thought I was only eligible for Central America, I totally overlooked South America as an option!

You got me Peace Corps!

I actually found out days ago, but I was still in Miami. Now it's about 3 in the morning and I am reading through all of my materials FINALLY.

It's been agony being away.

I have so many things I'm thinking and feeling I will post more later, but how dare I let all this time pass without officially disclosing exactly where I'll be!

You've Been Invited

May 7, 2009

Incredible! Yesterday I found out that my status has been updated and it reads "Congratulations you have been invited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer". I found this out after calling the Placement Officer I had spoken to on Monday. It turns out it didn't take until Wednesday to decide if they wanted to invite me to the new program. They were really excited about my skills and actually accepted me on Monday and they mailed out an invite on Tuesday! That means that I should be getting something in the mail today or tomorrow. I'm still in Miami until Saturday, so I'm just going to have my mom open it for me. He couldn't tell me when exactly or where I'm going, but I'VE BEEN INVITED!

I know it's going to be a June departure (or I should say I'm pretty sure ) so I need to start cancelling trips..stacking some doe (more babysitting, and getting it together! This is exciting and surreal, I'll be posting in a few days with the location and departure time!! YAY!

Placement

May 5, 2009

Woke up this morning with a toolkit update... There is a check mark by the "Place" circle stating "Peace Corps has completed your placement review. There are no holds on your account at this time." I was hoping for a "Congratulations you've been Invited...but hopefully in a day or two that will be my news. I wonder if I'll be able to update while in Miami. In other news it appears my cell phone is broken...again. The little port where the charger goes appears to be cracked. I most certainly at this point will not be getting a new phone! I really hope it's the charger and not my actual phone that is broken!

What A Difference A Day Makes!

May 4, 2009

OMG!! This is unbelievable! So I just affirmed yesterday that I was going to be hitting my P.O. up hardcore until I got some answers! Well. I called her twice and only got her voicemail, I was starting to feel ridiculous and sad, like I'm not going to know anything all month long, this really sucks! THEN I get an area code 202 number phone call. I quickly answer thinking...snap, they have caller ID and they have figured me out. It was some one in the Placement Office calling to talk to me about and assignment. There were 3 "wrinkles" about the situation. First of all he described the assignment. Although he was talking 1,000 miles a minute everything he said was more on target for what I wanted than that next. I couldn't believe it! The rub? First "wrinkle" they assignment departs in June! Hi, it's May! I have a ton of trips to take between now and then. 2nd my language which is really a tough one. They want someone with 2 years of college spanish or the equivalent. I have plenty of Spanish in my past and I actually tested out of Spanish in college. I have taken some Spanish since and was enrolled in a class during the time I was interviewing. They took all of that into consideration and asked if they sent me Rosetta Stone would I commit to getting to the level they needed from me. ABSOLUTELY. The other "wrinkle" he stated was that I would be living with a host family the entire time. No problema (ha Spanish! lol) I think I would do well having a family structure around me, so that's no big deal.


Next steps? He is going to go back to "the board" and see if they can work with me under the condition that I brush up on my Spanish. He will let me know no later than Wednesday! Argh, this is more agonizing than waiting all of May to hear anything. I'm happy because I know that they are looking at my application, they have liked what they see and I'm in the running to be invited somewhere. I'm leaving for Miami tomorrow and I'm staying a week. Hopefully I can chill out for two days until I hear something.

June! That would be in.sane. More updates to come.

P.S. He did not say where...he was very tight lipped about the whole thing. He just said Southern Central America....

Above the Law

April 21, 2009

I should have known I was only going to get good news on my momma's birthday! I got a gift too. I stalked the guy at the Legal/Eligibility office and finally got him. He dug up my file (bless his heart) and talked to me for quite awhile. I really appreciate him. He asked me follow up questions about the out standing debts I had. It felt really good to say...yep paid that, paid that, that's taken care of, paid that. So he said that I was good to go. My "file is now complete" according Legal McNicerson..but those are words I have heard before. So I asked him just how complete was it really. Basically he's said the decision maker is the next step. The official placement officer will review my file and place me. However, in real life time, I wanna know now...in Peace Corps time...an August nomination is not even being considered right now. Therefore, my file is going to be sitting on someone's desk for awhile. Also, he confirmed that there are usually 2 people for every one opening. I know that I will be sent to the location that is best for me, so I'm keeping hope alive, it's just nerve racking!

We talked for awhile, I don't know how to act when I get someone on the phone!! I wanted all the info I could get. He also told me that since it takes time to get your passport, they have an 8 week minimum of how late they can send an invite. Therefore, if I don't know by the end of June (I'll say) then I clearly didn't get that nomination. I don't know if they send you a letter if you don't or not. I didn't concern myself with that, I don't see that happening. I wonder who the other soul(s) are that are nominated for the same spot? Do they talk about it allll the time like I do? Are there family and peers holding their collective breath as well waiting to know the outcome? I wonder...

I'll be traveling and visiting a lot during May so hopefully my mind will be off of this a little bit. I'm coming up with a schedule and a exercise/prayer/meditation regimen so that I have structure and have other things to focus on. Wow it's a trip my life could drastically change in the next 60 days!

Homeward Bound

January 26, 2009

So I made the decision to take this party to back to my homeland, Missouri.

Now Peace Corps strongly advises you not to make any real life decisions before getting an invitation...and I can honestly say I don't think I would be doing this if I weren't planning on taking a 2 year trip out of the country. I've been praying about it though, so maybe I would be going to Missouri no matter what right now...but I highly doubt it.

With losing my job back on Oct and not getting anything in the meantime, I now have real debt. I never had debt, debt before and I desperately want everything squared away before my departure! I'll be over 30 when I return and I need my financial life to be on the up and up.

So that's a major life decision that I didn't even see coming at the beginning of January...but it makes total and complete sense. Just trying to surrender and go where I'm being (divinely) lead.

Keeping it Peace Corps... I called OMS just to see what my clearance schedule was looking like. At first I couldn't get anyone to tell me the status of my file. The people at the front desk would answer my call....get my SSN# and then forward me to someone else and then I would always dead end at someone's voicemail. I started to get freaked out. I even asked the people that answered the phone initially what were they seeing on my file that they couldn't just tell me that I had to forwarded to someone else...which they would inform me...that they couldn't say that so and so and ext xyz had to tell me....arg...So that was frustrating. It only took one day of diligence though to finally get someone. The conclusion simply was that since my departure date is not until Fall '09 they reported they have not even looked at my medical file. So great. I have plenty of time. I really think this is all going to work out for the best!