Botswana

Botswana!!! My invitations finally came in the mail and I am being assigned to Botswana, departing April 10th to work as an NGO Capacity Building volunteer :)I'm REALLY happy about this assignment :D

More to come!

~Claire

INVITATION! (again)

As per usual, just when I think I am going to be waiting forever and an ass to hear from Peace Corps, they surprise me and contact me immediately. My new invitation is in the mail and should be here within 7-10 business days!!!

The assignment is for Sub-Saharan Africa leaving in early April, and unlike last time I will not be looking it up on peacecorpswiki. As much as I am tempted I think it will be more fun to open the packet this time around and be completely surprised. I will still be working with HIV/AIDS issues and I could not be more thrilled :)

Thank you all for your support, will let you know when the packet gets here!

~Claire

Information Gathering

I decided last week that I would call the Placement Office every day this week until I got some answers...damnit! I was all pumped up and being assertive and whatnot. Turns out my week long battle for information was more a a one day surge, since I spoke to someone right away and she gave me all the info I wanted.

My placement officer will be contacting me within the next two weeks about getting reassigned since my file has already been "under consideration." They are currently looking at assignments for me leaving within the 3rd or 4th quarter (3rd quarter being April-June, 4th being July-September.) This time around I am not going to be cross checking with peacecorpswiki, because I kinda think it would be more of a fun surprise to not know. I looked at the site once more today and am going to attempt to avoid it until I get a new invitation packet.

Things are looking up!
~Claire

Catch Up

ALRIGHTY! So a ton has happened since the last time I posted and I have an open bit of time so I am going to properly catch everyone up on all my comings and goings.

As you may be able to tell by the fact that I am posting at all, I am not in South Africa with the rest of SA25 right now. After finding the blood clot in my leg and alerting Peace Corps to the fact that I was going to have to continue treatment via medication after my first "check up" scan, they gave me a few weeks to have it cleared and then when it wasn't, they took me out of the training group. I totally understand this decision on their part seeing as a clot (DVT) can lead to some pretty serious medical repercussions and that getting weekly blood tests would not be possible while in the field. It was a really hard day when I woke up to the email from my nurse letting me know that I was being removed, but I tried to stay positive about it and the people in my training group (whom I connected with through facebook) were all really supportive.

So fast forward to a few weeks ago, I went to see a specialist who said he was going to take me off medication to perform the proper tests to see if I am genetically predisposed to clots or if this was just a weird mixture of birth control and a long train ride. If it was genetic I would be done with my Peace Corps journey since the medication that would be required to treat me FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE is on the "no go" list. If it was just a combination of my settings then I could come off medication and be good to go. :)

Turns out I am NOT genetically predisposed!!!! I flipped out, because other than having to wear old person compression socks for the next year and a half, I can be off medication and I have no life restrictions. Shortly after faxing the results to PC medical I was put back into active consideration (I had been on medical hold so long they took me out of the process completely) and cleared once again for Placement!

So that gets us back to right now. I am waiting to hear from Placement at all since I have no idea if I have to re-interview or if they are just going to send me another assignment. I have decided that I will be calling the offices on Monday to figure out what is going on to some degree since I haven't heard anything from them. I'm crossing my fingers to be out of here in the next four months but knowing PC there is going to be some sort of monkey wrench that will keep me here longer. At the end of the day I'm giving them till November 1st to get me out of the country. At that point I will have been in the application process just shy of 2yrs, and as much as I am dedicated to being a volunteer, I will not keep my life in limbo forever.

Much love to everyone, as usual comments are appreciated, and I will try and be more consistent with posting!

~Claire   

Medical Hold and Crazy Counting Down

Hello Everyone!

Long time no write, so I thought I should probably give everyone an update. :)

Of course nothing in the Peace Corps process could be as easy as going through a year of application crazyness and then getting your letter and going so I am now on medical hold for two things: the first is that I have yet to go out and get my yellow fever shot, which is very much a fixable problem and I will be going to the travel clinic on Friday to have it done. The second...not so much. About four months ago doctors found a blood clot in my leg. At no point was I ever planning to not tell Peace Corps about it but I wanted to wait until my rounds of medication were done and the problem was resolved so that my application wouldn't get held back before receiving a country. By the time I got my invitation I was only three days away from getting the results, so again, figured I could wait.

Of course, as per usual, the results were not positive and the clot was not completely gone (though very much lessened.) I am getting my next scans on friday but am scared out of my mind that they won't come back clean. I don't know what would happen at that point since we are past the two month countdown by way of time to leave. I might get bumped out of the program, I might get bumped out of peace corps altogether (though I feel that the first option is probably more likely since I will not be on medication forever.)

As scary as all of this is, and as much as I am still hoping I am leaving on January 23rd, I'm also not losing sleep over it. Things tend to work themselves out, and if Peace Corps doesn't send me to South Africa there will be other opportunities to get there some day. I'm trying not to lose my head over anything at this point and will try and take whatever comes as it comes.

On a different note, less than two months if all goes well!!!!!

:)

Claire

South Africa, January 2012

I'm going to the Rainbow Nation! On January 23rd I will be leaving for what I suspect to be Washington DC and then heading to South Africa on the 26th. I haven't yet officially accepted the invitation since there are some questions I need the the answers to first, but at this point I don't see myself turning things down. Anyway, I was really excited to receive the invitation and am even more thrilled with my HIV/AID Prevention and Mitigation position.

Figured I would post this up, it will be the first entry to show up on peacecorpsjournals.com as a South African entry, and I am hoping to be able to contact some of my fellow volunteers before we leave. If you have also received an invitation for SA Jan 23rd please comment!!!!

Much love to everybody,
Claire

South Africa

I, Claire P., am accepting my invitation to serve as a HIV Prevention and Mitigation Volunteer for the United States Peace Corps, to depart January 23rd, returning March 30th 2014. 

My Invitation Came

The invitation came and is right now sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm not opening it until my Mom and Dad get back, and I invited my cousin over too. As much as I want to open it (and believe you me, it took all my strength to not rip the thing open right on the porch) I want to share the experience with my family, and not just be by myself and the dog when it happens. I am SO thankful that I had a sub job today, because waiting a few hours is going to be unbearable enough.

Will post again in a few hours

Oh My Goodness,
Claire

Finger's Crossed

Within the next week I will know where I am going for Peace Corps, and I know until then it will be a constant checking of the mail to see if the invitation has arrived yet. After poking around wikki I am pretty sure that I will be heading to either Zambia or South Africa.

So I have been doing a little bit of research in order to get a head start on getting to know these countries. To my shock I discovered that South Africa is one of the countries in which PC has you live with a host family for the entire duration of your service. This caught me off guard because the only other country I had heard in which that happens was Kazakhstan, and I kind of thought it wasn't something that happens a whole lot. To be honest, I am not sure what I think about this. Its not something I am going to get super worked up over until I get the invitation but it would definitely change up my mental picture of what service is going to be like.

It surprises me that PC does this at all to be honest. It seems like it adds one more variable that could go wrong into the equation. What if a family and a volunteer don't get along? Is there a possibility to change? I have heard many a horror story about bad home stay families within the study abroad community and it just worries me a bit.

But again, this really only applies if I end up going to South Africa. Zambia has an independent living situation and this may be a bump I don't even need to go over.

Just some thoughts, cross your fingers for me, can't wait to get the big white envelope!!!

~Claire 

It's in the Mail!!!

I received the following this afternoon:

Greetings from the Placement Office!

I just got the green light to move forward with your invitation.  There is now a Health extension program open, and I am sending you an invitation packet to the address we discussed.  It is departing mid- to late January for Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on HIV prevention and mitigation.  You should receive the packet in 7-10 business days. 

After reading through your invitation materials, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  Otherwise, please follow the detailed instructions in your invitation packet on how to accept your invitation.

Congratulations!

Best,

Kristen

Wow, here we go!!! I'm so excited, and after cross referencing Wiki, I think there are only two countries that fit the MO. That being said I am also keeping in mind that there may be countries leaving in January that wiki doesn't reflect since there has been a bit of a freeze with invites. I'm so overwhelmed and excited right now that there are no words. :) 

More to come soon!

~Claire