07 August 2009

I AM GOING TO CAMEROON!!!!!!! As an Agroforestry Extension Agent!!!!!

I leave for staging in 5 weeks and 6 days! Wild! I have so much to read right now, then so much paperwork to do. And there is so much excitement!!!!!

Where is Cameroon you ask? It's in Africa! Here it is on this map!













Here is another map of Cameroon! With all 10 provinces! Most of the Agro posts are in the Adamaoua, Northwest and West regions!


Okay! I am going to go read my Welcome Book now and make a grand to-do list!

06 August 2009

Another day, another day, another day, another day.

Schedule for the past 4 days. Find some distraction until 4-ish. Anticipate getting invitation in mail. Envision holding a big fat envelope containing my glorious future. Build hopes into towering Jenga tower (more 1 piece layers than 2, it's very tall). Go to post office to check mail. Nothing. Go to housing office to check for non-USPS mail. Nothing.

Look forward to sleeping because it brings the next day closer. Pout, as though that will cause my invitation to travel faster. Act cranky and antisocial. Have friends congratulate and ask about destination and departure date. Thank them and inform them of lack of knowledge.

Blog dramatically.

I know that I should be thrilled right now that I have been invited. It is thrilling! It is what I have been looking forward to for so long! But I just get my hopes up so high everyday only to have them Jenga-smashed. It is, to use a simile and run-on sentence, like I have been flirting with a boy I am head over heels for for a year and he is finally in town and he has told me he will call and every day he does not call. Why does he not call?

02 August 2009

As I was walking into work this morning I was trying to think of three things I am grateful for today (I'm trying to be more positive).

1. I am happy that I am healthy and well and have all my limbs.

Then I got distracted.

Then I got an e-mail saying my Toolkit had been updated.

Then I opened a webpage that said, "Congratulations! You have been invited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer."

So I guess I know what three things I am grateful for today.

1. I have been invited to join the Peace Corps!
2. I have been invited to join the Peace Corps!!
3. I HAVE BEEN INVITED TO JOIN THE PEACE CORPS!!!

29 July 2009

I had my maybe-final phone interview today with my Placement Officer. I was super nervous. At the beginning my hand was shaking so hard I thought I might drop the phone. But I relaxed and got into my confident "radio" Zara voice. My PO was really nice through-out the interview. She asked me why I wanted to go into the Peace Corps, about my gardening experience, about my French experience, about my family & friends' feelings, about how the Peace Corps related to my life-goals, then if I was disappointed to be nominated for agricultural rather than health (nope!).

Unfortunately, she has more applicants than spots for the Ag program she is trying to fill right now (Cameroon??). So she is doing some more interviews and then will pick the best of us for those spots. Aaah! Direct competition! I hope very much that I get one of those spots, but if not I will know that someone better suited will be very excited to have one. She will be choosing the invitees by next Wednesday (6 weeks before Cameroon staging?!).

If I don't get one of those spots, she said I had the bare minimum qualifications for science teaching, and asked me about my teaching experience. She said that we would talk again if I did not get the Ag invite. So, hopefully, whatever happens, I will get a spot somewhere, sometime, some day.

Til then, j'espère et j'attends.
Z-dawg.

26 July 2009

Last time I thought about something besides the Peace Corps (or boys): ... I have no idea. What else is there to think about?

Can't wait 'til Wednesday. And also however long it takes to get to the next step. And the next?

22 July 2009

News! Got an e-mail from my PO two days ago. We have scheduled a final phone interview for next Wednesday at 10 am (here, 1 pm EST). !!! From what I have gleaned from other blogs this is the last step before invitation! I am nervous about the interview. It seems like it will be pretty standard. I am just not a big fan of phones. Or interviews. Ha. It will be great though. I have been jumping around and smiling a lot.

15 July 2009

Updates. Barely. Called the PC office again 2 weeks after I first called. My PO was out for the holiday weekend, so I left her a message. Haven't yet heard back from her. I called again two days ago, another week later. The lady I talked to said that I should hear something in 1 to 3 or 4 weeks.
Le sigh. If I end up going to Cameroon or Togo, the latest I could hear would be August 6th. Still a ways away. I looked at the Cameroon & Togo PC groups on facebook, there are a number of people already invited to both. Many of them are from the group that didn't go to Mauritania.

Will there be room for me? Will I wait longer?

Bark.

01 July 2009

Patience. Un mot la même en français qu'en anglais.

Tomorrow morning I will call the Placement Office again, hoping to find out more about when I can hope to find out more. If I am in fact headed out mid-September, it could be an entire month before I find out if I am or am not invited. I guess it was silly to think that I would actually know by now.

Okay, Peace Corps, I will chill out. I will even sing you a Beatles song to woo you.

Who knows how long I've loved you
Do you know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime?
If you want me to I will.

Until next time, PC.

22 June 2009

Checking my e-mail every 3 hours. Dreaming about the Peace Corps (the last one: I didn't get in, but I did get into a pre-training, but it was quasi-military, we were learning about fish, I tried to impress everyone with my French, but they thought I was lame, then another guy started giving out money and everyone liked him better).

Waiting...

18 June 2009

I called the Placement Office this morning, expecting to leave a message (vis-a-vis what I had heard from other people), but instead I talked to the very nice lady who answered the phone and then answered all my questions.

My Placement Officer is currently reviewing the group of files which mine is in. I should be hearing something in the next 2 weeks. The next 2 weeks!!! I have been so crazy anxious about this lately, what if I don't get in? what if I do get in? I can't wait to know.

Anyway. I got a teeny-tiny bit more information about my nomination, which is more specific. Francophone Africa, mid-September. Let's go check the Peace Corps Wiki timeline and make some more speculations!

*doot doot doot*

Could it be Togo, September 16th? Or possibly Cameroon, September 17th? Morocco leaves September 7th, but is technically North Africa. Malawi leaves September 28th, but isn't a Francophone country. And the possibilities narrow...

31 May 2009

I had a dream the night before last that I got invited to the Peace Corps, in February to be a hemophyll drawer and driver. Highly inaccurate.

I did get an e-mail yesterday (Saturday!) evening as I was cooking dinner. It contained two forms for me to fill out: an Ag skills addendum and a more complicated Romantic Involvement Questionnaire. I filled them out last night (no romantic involvement, that is easy) and sent them back. Theoretically now, my file will be passed on to the Placement office and... ???

Je suis heureuse.

19 May 2009

Latest updates: I went to the dentist one last time to get a few more X-rays, which turned out to be a multi-hour ordeal. I sent them in and was dentally cleared within a few days.

So. I am medically, dentally & legally cleared. My nomination is for 4 months from now. They are processing nominees leaving in the next 4 months. Will I hear tomorrow? Will I hear in August?

Senegal just got posted with a leave date of August 10th. My current availability date is August 15th (although I need to call my PO and tell her I could leave August 1st, or earlier, though at this late date it will probably not make a difference). So, Senegal, another time perhaps. It's been nice daydreaming about you. Let's part as friends.

Who will it be? Cameroon? Malawi? Mozambique? I'll be here. Waiting. Daydreaming.

Love,
Z

02 May 2009

Received an e-mail today telling me that there is an update to my Peace Corps application. It was this:

Medical: Complete. A decision has been reached regarding your medical review. Please look for a letter in the mail.

Ha ha ha. I knew that it would be like this, but somehow I keep believing that I will know more sooner. But I am excited. One teeny tiny step closer at a time.

28 April 2009

It has been 6 weeks since they received my medical packet, 9 weeks since I sent it. It could be 3 more months before I hear... waiting....

18 March 2009

20 days after I dropped my medical packet in the mail, my Toolkit has been updated to show that they received it. !!! Phew! I was waiting until tomorrow (3 weeks) to call and check on it. Patience, young grasshopper-self.

I want this very much.

04 March 2009

Still waiting to see that the PC has received my medical packet. It hasn't even been a week yet, I'm just excited and impatient. Checking out leave-dates for different countries, trying to narrow down what country I may go to. Silly, yes, but je voudrais savoir ou j'irai!

I put my earliest leave-by-date as mid-August, so I can hopefully go to I&G's wedding. Assuming such, here are some possibilities in Africa (crossed fingers for Africa):
September: Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Cameroon, Malawi, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique
October: Niger, Burkina Faso
November: Kenya, The Gambia, Namibia, Lesotho
December: Guinea, Ethiopia

Here is a map for those of you as geographically challenged as I am. (Click to make it bigger). (That's what he said).

Hmm. Off to peacecorpsjournals.com or to study French. Excitedly. (!)

26 February 2009

Finally, after multiple weeks of delays, I got my last filling, got all my dental paperwork filled out, got my X-rays, printed and copied everything I needed to.... and.... my medical packet is in the mail today!

Phew. Now for more waiting. And studying French. J'espere que ta tante va mieux. Je resterai probablemente a la maison pour faire la cuisine. J'adore les fetes.

My fingers will be staying crossed for months.

15 February 2009

I've been slacking on keeping this updated. I got all my lab results back and I am a normal, healthy, apparently disease free human. I also recently got my lab test bill back and I am a soon-to-be-nearly-broke-unless-my-insurance-pulls-through-for-me human.

I was supposed to have my last dentist appointment 3 days ago, which is my last hurdle in sending out my med packet, but I have been mildly sick and figured coughing all over my dentist whilst he drills my tooth is a poor thing to do. So on Wednesday, 3 days from now, I will have my last filling, collect my X-rays, and send off my magical packet of health to the Peace Powers That Be.

I also have to complete one minor essay about my mental fitness that I have managed to put off writing for a good month and a half.

'Spose I otter etudier francais maintenant.

17 January 2009

and on and on...

Wednesday: My first doctor's appointment that lasts a thilling 2 hours. Lots of poking and prodding. I got three shots: TB test, polio vaccine and tetanus vaccine.

Thursday: First dentist appointment. My teeth are pretty awesome for not having been to the dentist in 2 or 3 years. Unfortunately, my occasional soda habit has caught up to me and I have three cavities. One of them is under the filling I've already had put in twice.

Friday: My second dentist appointment. I get 2 out of 3 fillings done, including the one I have to have redone. That one may turn into a root canal. Ugh, I hope not. Having a totally numb lower mouth is fun. I keep trying to whistle but I can't.

Saturday: Go back to the clinic to get my TB test read. My nurse turns out to be an RPCV from the Solomon Islands, Rural Education and Development. Awesome.


On Monday I have to go get blood drawn and sent off. I get my last filling and potentially a root canal on Feb 12. Hopefully after that I will have everything in the mail!! So I can wait 3 months more... :)

12 January 2009

I have my doctor's appointment on wednesday and my dentist appointment on thursday. Hopefully I can get in touch with my old doctor this week, too, meaning that everything is at the very least off the ground. I feel like I probably could have gotten to a lot of this a week sooner if I had tried a little harder. Oh well. I am getting it done now.

05 January 2009

I got a call from the National Passport Center on Friday, unfortunately, the lady I needed to talk to left her office at 1:30 EST. Which was 11:30 am here. Roops. She called back today when I was walking to work. Apparently, she was unsure about my address. I assured her that General Delivery is my address, and I live in a very small town. Yay, I'm getting my passport soon!

I faxed my "eyglass" prescription form to my optometrist on Saturday. Nothing back yet, I'm guessing my Dr. is vacationing or something.

The Student Health Center should be open again today, so I will call them and ask about getting my immunization records and stuff sent to me.

Studying French off and on. I downloaded a bunch of french music and rap to listen to. I love french rap. It cracks me up. And is also awesome.