Graduation!

In non-Peace Corps related news, I graduated college today! My dad, two aunts and an uncle flew in and it's going to be a fun-filled weekend! I now have a bachelor of science degree in Biology! I feel like such an adult.

On an even better note, the charter school which I volunteer at approached me asking if I would be interested in a more full-time position for the next semester before I leave for Peace Corps!!! While they're still not sure they can find a position for me, they're looking and I should hear back by Wednesday of next week. I'm not sure if I'd be teaching or what, but either way it's ideal. I was planning to volunteer teaching a science club enrichment class anyway and finding a part-time job to fill the rest of my time. If they're going to let me be there all day and PAY me to do it, I'm not going to complain!

Plus it would be some amazing experience in lesson planning and classroom structure which I will definitely need when I get to Africa where I may not have the same resources available to me. I absolutely love the school and the teachers are fantastic, I could learn so much from them. So it turns out being delayed until June isn't such a bad thing after all. Now I'll have an opportunity to save up some money and gain some invaluable teaching skills. Either way, I'm thrilled they want me full time! That's the best compliment I could receive.

I'm doing pretty well being patient about this Peace Corps stuff. Now that I'm going to be very busy for the next few months it should be pretty easy. Hopefully I will hear something by my birthday though. That would be a fantastic birthday gift!

Disappointment

So, I got up this morning feeling really optimistic about this week. I was told I would hear something from my placement officer this week. So I got up, logged into my email, and saw that I had an email from the education desk. I was beyond excited since I wasn't expecting to hear anything until Wednesday at the earliest. My excitement evaporated once I read the email though. Apparently, the program I was originally nominated for (early Feb. 2011 SSA secondary science education) is already full. The next available position in SSA that I'm qualified for doesn't leave until June. She also told me that if there are any available positions in other regions before June I would be hearing from another placement officer. However, after a quick peacecorpswiki check, it looks like there aren't any non-African countries with science volunteers leaving before June. June. That's another four months of waiting than I was expecting. FOUR MONTHS. I won't even get to hear from a placement officer for probably another three or four months.

So, I cried, I complained, I felt sorry for myself, I called my mom and cried and complained some more. After thinking about it though, it's not such a bad thing. The worst part is simply that I'll have to wait another four months. It's been 262 days since I submitted my application and the thought of waiting another 190ish days is pretty daunting.

On the bright side:
-I get to be with my family another 4 months
-I don't have to rush to pack and leave right after graduation and the holidays
-I can save up some money
-I get to go to my friends wedding!
-I get to be in town for a very special person's 30th birthday
-I will get to visit my dad again before I leave

At first I was angry that my nomination filled up while my paperwork was sitting on a desk waiting to be looked at (I sent everything in in July and I got medical clearance in November). However, I realized that since two programs have recently closed, one of those invitees may have received my spot. I'm completely ok with that, since they should definitely be a higher priority since they've already received an invitation and had to deal with it being canceled. I think that disappointment would be far worse than my delay, at least I wasn't set on a country yet! So, while I am disappointed, I'm continuing to be optimistic. And while I was hoping to have an invitation in my hand this week, I suppose I will have to spend that energy studying for finals and trying to find a job for the next five or six months. Congratulations to everyone who is getting invitations!

Emailed the Placement Office

So, I caved today and emailed the placement office to find out who my placement officer is and if I can contact her. I got a reply saying that I should wait until my placement officer contacts me directly, but that I can email the placement assistant with any questions. Apparently my placement officer is out of the office for the holiday (Hanukkah?) and will be back in the office sometime next week. This is good and bad news. I was hoping to hear something this week, but at least now I know when I should be expecting a call. Now I'm hoping for the end of next week, which will actually give me time to focus on finals which are looming.

Still No Word

So I'm almost at the one month mark since emailing the placement office with my updated resume. Consequently I am now also at the 8 week mark for my early February nomination. I was very optimistic that I would hear something from my placement officer this week, but since tomorrow is Friday it is seeming more and more unlikely. It is encouraging, however, that so many people in my position are hearing from their PO's. I'm considering calling my placement officer tomorrow, but I don't want to bug them too much. I know that they're incredibly busy placing the volunteers from the recently canceled programs, their office move last week, and all of the recent holidays.

If I don't hear something tomorrow, I expect to next week sometime. I think it's probably a good thing that I don't have an invitation right now, since I'm sure that would make studying for finals incredibly difficult. I know I won't be motivated to study organic chemistry if I am able to research what the next two years of my life will hold. Congratulations to everyone who has heard from their PO's or received invitations! I hope to be in the same place within the next week or so.

My ApplicationTime Line

As another nasty bout of RAS rears its head, I've decided to post my application timeline. I know that reading other's timelines help me to regain some sanity, so I'm hoping to return the favor to some poor applicant who is just beginning this tedious process. Since I actually did a decent job of recording my interactions with PC, I'll add most of it and highlight the important dates.

Feb. 22, 2010:

Started the Online Application

March 4, 2010:

Spoke with my recruiter at a PC event at ASU

March 19, 2010:

Submitted the Application
Submitted Health Status Review Form
Had transcripts sent from former Universities
Sent Requests for my recommendations

March 24, 2010:

Received email from PC requesting more information
Contacted my rectuiter

March 26, 2010:

All recommendations are received by PC
Scheduled an interview

March 28, 2010:

Sent in extra information forms to PC

March 31, 2010:

Interview by phone
Sent my recruiter a shorter resume
Received my legal packet with fingerprint forms

April 1, 2010:

Mailed fingerprint packet to PC

April 5, 2010:

Informed of possible February departures
Emailed recruiter asking where

April 6, 2010:

Accepted nomination
February SSA secondary science teacher position

April 7, 2010:

Officially nominated

April 10, 2010:

Received Medical Kit

July 17, 2010:

Sent in Medical Kit

---> Sometime in here my dental paperwork was sent back twice for fillings, but it was all taken care of quickly

October 22, 2010:

Dental Clearance
Medical Hold

October 25, 2010:

Medical forms returned, need more information
Schedule appointment with my doctor

November 5, 2010:

Faxed completed medical forms
Completed extra forms from legal

November 6, 2010:

Legal Clearance

November 9, 2010:

Submitted updated resume
Medical Review Complete

November 12, 2010:

Received Letter with Medical Clearance with one small restriction

December 6, 2010:

Received an email stating my nomination had been filled. Earliest I could leave is now June

February 15, 2011:

Had my final placement interview. This was the first I had heard from Peace Corps since the email in early December. Was told during my interview that I was being invited to Sub Saharan Africa leaving in July.

February 16, 2011:

Toolkit update, I have been invited to serve in the Peace Corps!

February 22, 2011:

After a LONG weekend of waiting, my invitation finally arrived. I opened my big blue envelope to find out I've been invited to serve in South Africa!!!!! They say the application process usually takes a year, and mine was exactly that. I started my online application on February 22, 2010 and I had my invitation in my hand on February 22, 2011! My staging date is July 5, 2011.

I will edit this timeline as I progress.

Getting Good at Waiting

So honestly, the wait up until this point didn't seem too bad. It's been 8 months since I submitted my application and I have all three clearances and I've sent in my updated resume. The 8 week deadline, if I am really leaving in early February, is coming up in 2 weeks. I had heard it was six, but when communicating with the placement office they said 8 weeks. Not that I'm complaining, 2 more weeks notice is wonderful! So, now I'm just waiting on a placement I guess. My file is supposedly with a Placement Officer, and I'm just waiting to hear something. This wait is far worse than any of the waiting up until now. It's so close!! Also the stress of leaving is creeping up and I'm realizing how much stuff I need to do before getting on a plane! My RAS (restless applicant syndrome) is becoming a serious problem. I am tempted every night to stay up until 3:00 a.m. which is when the toolkit updates. I also spend far too much time reading stuff about PC online. Well for now, there's nothing I can do about waiting, so I might as well distract myself. Fingers crossed I'll have news soon!

Medical Clearance!

For real this time. My mom called today saying a letter came in the mail from Peace Corps. It says I have medical clearance and that my file is being moved to the placement officer (which I already knew). So, this is fantastic news and I'm in the final steps of the process of getting an invitation! Hopefully my next post will be with an invitation..

Speculating

In order to deal with my growing impatience, I've begun speculating more than before about what country I could be invited to. Right now I have a very strong feeling about Uganda, but we'll see how everything goes. Uganda leaves in early February, and my nomination mentioned that I would need to be able to ride a bike which it mentions on the Uganda Peace Corps Wiki page. While I realize a bike is probably a requirement for many countries, this seems to fit well since they have 17 science education volunteers according to the Peace Corps Wiki Placement Calculator. Anyway, all just speculation and a way to pass the time and deal with this anticipation. I guess it all does still depend on what my medical letter says.

Medical Clearance! ..Potentially

So, it's not official yet, but my toolkit updated last night saying that they have reached a decision regarding my medical documentation. I'm praying the postal service is on their A-game and manages to get me the letter today, although I feel that that's extremely unlikely. So since I'll be on vacation as of tomorrow, looks like my mom will be reading me the letter when it arrives on Friday or Saturday or god forbid on Monday.

My placement officer emailed me back today saying they received my updated resume and I wrote back asking where my application stands as of now. I feel like I'm harassing them, but I'm dying to have an invitation in my hands. I feel like a little kid on Christmas, except that I have no idea when Santa is coming. It could be in a couple hours, or it could be in another month. This anticipation might kill me. Although, I think that just the fact that they asked for an updated resume must be a good sign regarding my medical clearance.

Let's hope I am fully medically cleared and that they're in the process of placing me in a job! Fingers crossed!

Things are moving along more quickly now..

This is a huge amount of activity with my application compared to the last 8 months of the process. It's incredibly exciting, but now I expect news every day. Hopefully this anxiety will subside once I get an invitation, only to be replaced by a new type of anxiety that involves preparing to leave for two years.

This afternoon I got an email asking for an updated resume and for my transcripts once I graduate. Of course I'm on top of this stuff as a result of my unhealthy obsession with PC, so I sent my updated resume within an hour of getting the email.

Still waiting on Medical Clearance, but I have faith that it will be given to me soon. Now back to studying Organic Chemistry so that I can actually graduate and be able to go to the Peace Corps..

Medical Clearance!.. Not.

So, I awoke this morning to the much loved email from Peace Corps in my inbox. Once I checked my toolkit, I fully expected to see "Complete: A decision has been reached regarding your medical documentation" or something similar. Instead, next to my medical clearance area, it just says that peace corps is reviewing my medical documentation. If I remember correctly this is what it has said from the beginning, and there isn't any hold or anything. All the months of waiting were bearable, but this is the longest week of my life and it's only Tuesday! Of course, since I'm going out of town on Thursday, it's logical to assume that I will hear something the second I leave for that trip. Anyway, hopefully I'll have good news to report soon. In the meantime I will be compulsively checking my email every 4.5 seconds.

Legal Clearance!

I got an email today (at 2 a.m. actually) saying my toolkit had been updated. Which is a little odd because it's a Saturday today. Of course I logged in as quickly as humanly possible and found out I have been legally cleared. Yay! I was hoping for medical clearance, but I'll take what I can get.

So, yesterday, after screaming at my fax machine, I managed to fax in my supplementary medical paperwork. It was around 2 p.m. in Washington D.C. by the time it got to them, so I'm sure it hasn't even been looked at. My wishful thinking is hoping that I will hear something about my medical paperwork next week, but my predictions have been wrong 99.9% of the time through this process. I'm getting really good at being patient, and it feels amazing to have 2 check marks on my toolkit. Now I'm just waiting on the biggest hurdle, medical clearance.

Hopefully I will be checking in again soon with a medical clearance update!

Slacking..

It has been an incredibly long time since I've updated my blog, so here it goes. After numerous doctor and dentist visits I mailed in my medical packet in mid-July before leaving for a trip to Colombia. My dental paperwork came back within a week and indicated I needed to go back to the dentist to have some fillings done. After reading the paperwork, I realized I had already had fillings on those teeth and got a note from my dentist saying that. I mailed that back in, only to have it returned a week later saying that I need MORE fillings on those teeth. Once I finish all that, I had dental clearance within a day of the Peace Corps office receiving my dental paperwork.

Then began my longest stint in "the waiting place".

Three months, no word.

Peace Corps had my medical paperwork for July, August, September.. then in mid-October I finally got an update! My medical paperwork was under review. Of course, within a couple days I had an envelope from PC requesting yet more medical information. So, back to the doctor I went this week to have my TB test redone and get some signatures on a couple other things. Tomorrow I have to pick up a couple more lab results at an old doctor's office then all that info is getting faxed to PC. On top of my doctor stress of this week, I got an email this morning explaining that I need to complete a questionnaire and write a personal statement about an MIP charge from 2007. So, I spent my afternoon completing perhaps the silliest questionnaire I've ever seen. While filling out that questionnaire, I got an email from PC basically telling me to hurry the hell up on my medical paperwork. I've discovered, through this application process that Peace Corps will take their sweet time with any paperwork when its in their hands However, the second the ball is in your court the timer is on and they WILL let you know if you're taking too long.

So..

Dental Clearance: check
Medical Clearance: Final requested forms to be faxed to D.C. in the morning
Legal Clearance: Emailed my final requested forms this afternoon.

None of my clearances have been as easy as I had hoped, but I guess the frustration is all part of the application process. I guess if you can't handle the stress of applying, you certainly can't handle the stress of actually BEING in the Peace Corps.

It's very exciting to have all of this happening now and to know that my file is being looked at and not collecting dust in a filing cabinet somewhere. Of course, this all has to happen during the busiest point in my final semester. I swear I've had a huge paper due every day for the last two weeks. All this activity is also a little stressful too though. Over the months of applying, I had to stop obsessing about PC as a survival mechanism. While I'm still very excited to go, I just recently realized just how close it actually is. I could potentially be living somewhere in Africa in three months or so.

Well, I will update more often now that I can safely start obsessing about PC again. Hopefully I will have news soon!

Medical Evaluation

I have dubbed this week "Pin Cushion Week". Doctor's appointment Tuesday where I got my blood work and the Tuberculosis scratch test done, dentist appointment Wednesday for a full set of x-rays and teeth cleaning and a follow up doctor's appointment this morning. Last week I had my eye appointment, next week I have yet another appointment with my doctor to finish up some tests and complete my paperwork, and in two weeks I have a dreaded appointment to get some cavities filled at my dentist and finish up the paperwork. Holy crap, this is a painful process. Literally.

Oh and it's also the last week of classes and final exams start next week.

I will feel so much better once all of this paperwork is completed and on its way to Peace Corps for evaluation. I'm pretty confident about my health, my doctor even jokingly said I may be the healthiest person applying to PC. So, it's just one more step in the right direction!

This whole process has been amazingly fast so far. I submitted my application a little over a month ago, and I've already had my interview, been nominated, started my legal review, and begun filling out the paperwork for my medical review. So kudos to the Peace Corps, you have been MUCH faster than I had anticipated.

Nominated!!!

So I am officially nominated!!! I received an email this morning saying my toolkit had been updated (I didn't have a username yet though, so I had to call my recruiter). I'm nominated to Sub-Saharan Africa for secondary science education departing in early February 2011! My recruiter had emailed me saying that the positions for after March 2011 weren't available yet, so I told him I could leave early February if there were any positions available. Turns out there was one, and he emailed me giving me the details and asking if I would be interested. It involves teaching primary or secondary science and the ability to ride a bike. I emailed him back asking where, and when I received an email saying "Sub-Saharan Africa" I almost screamed. I think that replying to that email was more of a reflex than a conscious decision.

Anyway, I'm just awaiting the butt load of paperwork for the medical evaluation which is undoubtedly finding its way here as I speak. Then I get to begin the thrilling (sarcasm) and efficient (more sarcasm) process of making appointments with every doctor in the Phoenix area and having extensive forms filled out to Peace Corps specifications.

On a side note, I ate two fortune cookies today and the fortunes read "You will be involved in many humanitarian projects" and "A letter of great importance may reach you any day now". Hmm.. coincidence?

Interview

So my interview went amazingly well! It was much shorter than I had been preparing for, only 45 minutes. Everything I had heard said it could last up to two hours. Oh well, I feel like it went really well and my recruiter told me I did well. I have to send in a shorter version of my resume since mine was two pages, but other than that I'm good. He told me he was going to look at what programs were available and call to let me know. I feel so relieved now that the interview is over and I seem to be moving forward with the process. My recruiter told me he was considering me for the science education program but he needed to look at the specific programs before he could let me know.

So now I'm just awaiting my fingerprint form in the mail and a phone call from my recruiter!

Submitted!

So, I'm applying to the Peace Corps! I'm thrilled, nervous, overwhelmed, stressed, and ecstatic about it. I've been intrigued by the Peace Corps since elementary school when we learned about it. In high school, a returned volunteer came into my biology class and spoke about her experience. I decided it was something I wanted to do and have been working towards it ever since.

I had a terrifying/eye opening realization in January. I will be a college graduate THIS YEAR. Once I was sure I would be graduating in December, the panic really sunk in. What on earth do I do next? After a little soul searching, "Join the Peace Corps" was the great resounding answer my mind gave. I already had a pretty good idea of the programs, but I needed more specific information, so, I started researching. From what I could tell, I qualified for the PC although I needed more volunteer experience.

I started my application without any immediate plans to submit it and applied to every volunteer organization within a fifty mile radius (a slight exaggeration, but still). I spoke to my recruiter at an ASU event and found out I needed experience tutoring specifically science. So, thanks to my best friend Kathy and her friend Maya, I learned about a charter school in Phoenix which needed volunteers. I emailed them and they have been absolutely AMAZING with letting me volunteer. I help out in their science class and the teacher has been extremely helpful. The school is awesome and the teachers are astounding. I also got a volunteer job tutoring girls at a group home for girls in the foster care system.

Anyway, with two volunteer jobs started, my application mostly filled out, references given a heads up, and essays in rough draft form I was feeling pretty accomplished. I intended to submit my application mid-April since I needed a recommendation from a volunteer supervisor and neither of mine knew me well enough to answer any questions about me yet. So, one day I unsuspectingly log onto the Peace Corps website to input more details into my application and read the terrifying line "Apply by April 1 for consideration to depart on or before June 30, 2011". So I immediately began the frantic process of writing essays, officially notifying references, and finishing my application. I emailed my recruiter and he said I could have my volunteer supervisor simply send in a list of my duties as my recommendation.

I lingered over the "submit" button momentarily and then sent it off. All three of my references sent in their recommendations amazingly quickly. I got an email earlier this week before my final recommendation was in telling me the Peace Corps had received my application and would be reviewing it and asking me to fill out a few more forms. Now I'm waiting to hear back from my recruiter! The next step, as far as I'm aware, is finding out if I get an interview. It's an exhausting mindset to be constantly asking yourself "am I qualified?", "will they want me?", "what if I'm not what they're looking for", etc. I feel relatively qualified now that I've put in some serious hours at my volunteer positions, but those fears are still there. I want to actually go out into the world and DO something, and this seems like the perfect opportunity. Two years is the blink of an eye and I'm thrilled to be moving forward with my application!!

While I was in the process of writing this post, I got an email from my recruiter asking me to schedule a date for my interview!!!!! I chose next Wednesday morning. I'm so insanely excited and nervous! I'll post more information when I have some. Wish me luck!