And forgotten in the last entry.... I leave for staging, 2 days in the US, where I get numerous injections and get to meet the other people whom I will be serving with on January 4th, January 6th I leave for GAMBIA!!!!
The idea for joining the Peace Corps (PC) began for me in sophomore year of high school when a returned PC Volunteer (PCV) came to one of my classes and told us her story. Which is one of the PC's main goals, to share your story with those in the US to better connect the world. I don't remember her name or even where she went, but I remember her confidence and how excited she was to share her story with us. I was hooked.
PC journey for me began in January of 2011, when I completed my application. Early March, I had my interview in Boston which went excellently, and was told that I would be nominated at the end of the interview but she was not sure where she would like to nominate me to. I have a background in Spanish but was open to learning another language and although I was highly qualified for community development, I would qualify for the agriculture and forestry extension because of 4-H experience I had when I was a kid, if I committed to gaining at least 3 months of exposure in farming/greenhouse/orchard/forestry work. I decided to commit to the agriculture program because I felt that was where I would be most valuable and needed, plus I just like to make life more interesting and push myself. Thus, I was nominated in March as an agriculture/forestry volunteer to a sub-Saharan french speaking African country leaving in August 2011. Due to various reasons like the extended time of my medical clearance and budget challenges of the federal government, I did not receive an invitation. After more paperwork (paperwork never ends) and emails from the PC describing that my leave date would be pushed off till January at the earliest, I had a phone interview on September 8th where they asked me what progress I had made on my commitment to gaining more agriculture experience and my commitment to learning french, along with general interview questions. Now to describe this phone interview, I was on the highway going to drop off a job application and got the call, pulled over on an off ramp, and had the interview (never thought I would interview on the side of a highway). After learning about what programs were leaving when, I opted to be invited to an English speaking country(just the official language, not the one actually spoken) instead of a french one. A sooner program assisting with deferring my student loans, but that's a whole different story. I received my invitation packet on September 13th, accepted the 15th, and have started more paperwork, including sending in forms for a visa, a 'PC' passport, updated resumes, aspiration statement, and many others.
Advice for future applicants: when submitting your application they ask you to present every health issue you have ever had. So like a good girl, I did just that, including a broken foot when I was 10. To complete your medical packet you must go back to your doctors and have everything checked up on that you said in your application. Lets just say that my foots been fine for the last 12 years, but I went back to the doctor, who looked at me like I had 4 heads and asked me why I was there, "just sign the form, please & thanks'" which was expensive and unnecessary. So yes, put all medical history that is relevant to your potential job and would need to be checked, that is great and highly responsible. Just keep in mind to be a bit selective if you don't have a bulging wallet.
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