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

Bye Bye Central Asia

Okay, so I don't know what happened with blogger exactly but for some reason it double posted the story below instead of putting up what I wrote about Central Asia. That being said, I re-wrote the post and it goes something, kind of, like this:

Now that I have cooled down from figuring out that I am actually in the US Peace Corps I have had a little bit of time to think about the other things that went down within the phone conversation I had with placement. I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way but I realized today that I am a little sad about the fact that I will not be going to Central Asia. It also kind of blows my mind that out of all of the countries within that area, that none of them can support a colposcopy (which I would only need if at the half way check up I had an abnormal pap.)

That is a lot of freaking countries! In case you didn't know which ones, here is a list:

• Azerbaijan
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyz Republic
• Armenia
• Albania
• Turkmenistan
• Bulgaria
• Georgia
• Macedonia
• Moldova
• Romania
• Ukraine

I spent half of my senior year, as well as a lot of extra time writing a 25pg research thesis, studying the democratization of these countries, and now to know that I won't get to see it first hand is a bit of a let down. I do know, that when the day comes and I see that big white envelope in the mail, that I will be pumped about which ever country I end up in; be it in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, or Eastern Asia, and that is a very comforting/ exhilarating thought. 

So here's to you Central Asia countries! May your democracies flourish, your people be well fed, and your female Peace Corps Volunteers have normal pap smear results!!

Much love, 

Claire

Official w/o Invitation

Holy heck!! Just got off the phone with the placement officer...WHOOOAA! I am officially cleared to by a US Peace Corps Volunteer and have been told that I will be getting an invitation. :)

That being said, I will not be receiving an invitation until the beginning of November because there is currently a freeze on invites due to the Federal Budget mess. When the invites do start up again they will be for departures sometime between January-June.

Things I now know:
-I can not go to Central Asia because they can not support my one medical hiccup
-There are looking at Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Asia for my placement (originally it was just Africa and South America but I asked if I could be considered for Asian placements due to my Asian Studies background.)
-It would be helpful for me to start taking doula classes, Red Cross HIV classes and CPR/ First Aid (the doula classes are something I had brought up specifically with her, so this may not be an across the table recommendation.)
-It will take somewhere around 8 weeks for me to get my actual invitation and she will email me once they are ready to go out again.
-When invites start going out again they will be anywhere for within the period between Jan 2012 and June 2012

Oi, so I feel like I kinda of know a little more, but not really. Now just have to work on eliminating my credit card debt, gaining more health skills, and getting my affairs in order to leave...at some point. Going to go chill out for a second now, very strung out on energy. :)

Hope this finds you all well!

~Claire  

Waiting...

Sitting here and waiting for the call that is going to come within the next 10mins. Needed to blow off some nervous energy so figured I would post on the blog. Attempting to breathe :) So pumped but also so nervous!!!! Will let people know how it goes once the call is done. Wish me luck!

~Claire

Placement Interview Part II

WOOHOO PART II!! Kristen just emailed me back and I have set up an appointment for Thursday at 10am :) Will let everyone know how it goes, and fingers crossed will have an idea of what the heck is going on by the end of the week.

~Claire

Placement Interview

WOOHOO!! I received the following over the weekend:

Greetings from the Peace Corps Placement Office!

I would like to introduce myself as the Placement Specialist responsible for the final review of your application.  As you may have already heard, the federal budget resolution for this fiscal year as well as projected budget realities for next year, have had a significant impact on current Peace Corps’ operating plans.  Due to the reduction of Peace Corps assignments, all programs have filled for 2011, and therefore, if you are selected for service, the earliest programs are now departing in the January – June timeframe. 

I have reviewed your entire file and have some follow-up questions for you.  Please let me know the best times to reach you between 9am and 5pm Eastern Standard Time.  Include your time zone and the phone number you would like me to call.  The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes.  Because of the high volume of applicants we are working with, I would be grateful if you would give me at least two options for times and days to call.  I will reply to inform you of the day and time I have reserved for our conversation.

I look forward to talking to you. 

Best,

Kristen

I'm so excited, and have emailed her back to let her know that I can talk with her at any time on Thursday or Friday, so finger's crossed I will have an idea of what is going on by the end of the week. Will up date more later, just wanted everyone to know and thought it might also be good for anyone that is waiting on a similar email to know that there are no more 2011 spots. :)

~Claire

Up a Wall

Hello wonderful blog family (and some blood family too, gathered by what I am seeing in my little survey thingy.) I know its been a while and I do have some recent updates so I figured I would let you all know.

About a week after submitting my updated information to Health Placement I received an email letting me know that Fran (who was super nice by the way) was sending my file onto a Placement Specialist. Around this same time I sent an email to the Placement people and asked if I could get a rough timeline for when I should be hearing from them next. The reply was that once the Placement Specialist had my file that I should be hearing from them within the next 4-6weeks. I was also told that I should be receiving a letter talking about the conditions of my medical clearance.

And then the sucky part...

I called the office after a week and dealt with a woman that just didn't seem to have the time of day to deal with me and told me to just sit and wait and that the letter would come...that was two weeks ago. I called the office again today and was told that they were going to send out another copy, which is great, but I feel shitty for having to bug the crap out of them in order to get it. I'm just really frustrated. This is probably in part because this is the first time in my PC process that I have had to wait while not having something else to complete. Its one thing to be waiting to hear about medical or an interview, when you have other PC stuff to be working on or more stuff to look forward to doing. This is the first time where I can not speed along the process myself.

Added onto this stress was also the phrasing for the emails that I received which both emphasized that the next part of the application-ring-of-death was competitive and that I should not assume that I will get placed for Peace Corps. First off, I have yet to hear of anyone that gets this far along and then is told that they just simply didn't make the cut. Secondly, what if I am that person? What if after all this insanity I just don't have the right chops? Life will go on, but I don't think the word "disappointment" would even come close.

On a side note, since I began writing this and then went out and ran errands, my degree was just conferred! This is super awesome because PC has been waiting for it and though I was told it wouldn't hold up the process, it makes me feel like I have gotten a bit closer to the end goal now. I just ordered an electronic copy of my transcript, and will be sending it on to the office within the next 30mins or so.

That's about it for the day. Sorry it had been so long, hope this finds everyone well. :)

~Claire

Orphan Promotion

Good Morning! I thought I would do a little shameless plugging right now, since it is my last day in this wonderful office, with all of my wonderful co-workers and bosses. :) The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project has been my "summer" internship since March, and I can't say enough about all the wonderful experiences I have had here. The organization runs two primary schools in Uganda for children who have lost their parents to AIDS. We also run a farm in order to feed them healthy meals, a community library so everyone can get in on the education and are in the process of building a health clinic.

For the past 5 months I have been helping to manage the Grandmother Basket Program, which helps provide opportunities to the Grandmothers of Nyaka to extend their economic independence, and provide for the children that they care for. They make beautiful handicrafts, which we then buy for a fair price, sell here in the states and then put the money back into the organization. We also have training programs for them in community development and micro-loans. Supporting the Grandmothers of the community is essential since, after the death of their own children, Grand parents often take over guardianship of multiple children.

So it is a wonderful organization, and I have been proud to work here for the past couple of months. That being said, they recently started a blog and we are trying to get the word out there, thus the shameless plug :) http://nyakaproject.blogspot.com/ is the address, and if you are interested in helping out the project you can check out the website at: http://www.nyakaschool.org/

On a more peace corpsy type note, I am hoping to hear back from placement sometime soon, since I sent in all of the extra information and at this point the only thing they (and myself) are waiting on is my final transcript. I'm hoping that they can still work on placing me before that comes in because I feel like it would just be a waste of time to wait for a document that isn't going to be ready until the end of the month. But we will see, and I can be patient. Breathe in, breathe out, the time will come sooner than you think.

Much Love,
Claire 

Medically Cleared!!!!

WOOHOOO!!!! I just got the status update that I have been medically cleared to serve!! I had no idea it was going to be that quick, but I sent in the last of the paperwork yesterday and am now good to go. :)

Of course, Peace Corps being Peace Corps, about 5 seconds after getting the update email I got another email from a placement officer asking for more paper work. I have to submit a final transcript (which I still need to write one more paper for,) an up dated resume and a form called a Romantic Involvement Questionaire. The somewhat annoying point of this is that I already submitted an RIQ when I first applied for Peace Corps and I can't imagine that the answers are going to be any different and I have also been sending them "resume updates" since December.

So...for those of you out there who might be doing the same thing, just stop, they are going to ask for it again once you clear medical anyways.

Super pumped, going to get the paper work in quickly and hopefully figure out where the heck I am going sometime soon!!!

Keep you updated, hope all is going well,
Claire 

Medical Round 2 DONE!

Hey everybody, I know its been a bit but I have been running around and trying to wrap up life things before moving back home. That being said I finally received the last of the paper work from my doctor and have submitted to the medical office. Fingers crossed I hear something soon since we are reaching the two month point from the "confirmation" email, and now that my medical stuff is in I should be good to go/ wait a bunch. :)

Either way it is nice to have what is hopefully the last portion of this paper work in. Now I just need to turn in my final paper so I can officially graduate and send in my transcript!!

Hope all is well!
Claire  

Placement Manipulation

Hello Everybody!

So I am in the process of getting my second round medical stuff into the office, and am hoping to have everything done by the end of this next week (assuming my blood tests come back quickly.) On another note I wanted to post about some "placement manipulation" I am attempting.

Before I get into this, let me make it clear that I am serious about my flexibility and I will be thrilled to serve where ever peace corps wants to send me, that being said; I have an Asian Studies specialization and it would be cool to end up somewhere in Asia. Imagine my elation when this morning I go to poke around peacecorpswiki.com and find a few new postings for deployments in January! There are only two of them but one of them is in Thailand, which would be an amazing placement for me seeing as my Grandfather (a tenured Sociology professor who specializes in East Asia) spends a lot of time there, and my mother spent three months there and couldn't stop raving about it.

Clearly neither of these trips probably went deep into the areas in which I would be working as a Peace Corps volunteer but I would still be interested in traveling to a country that everyone in my family seems to love so much. There is also the little fact that I am currently writing the last paper of my degree as a comparative study between Uganda and Thailand's approaches to prevent the spread of HIV. I'm hoping that I can put this paper on some sort of experience addendum since I'm certainly getting an insane amount of knowledge about Thailand's HIV population.

Anyways, I guess its not really "manipulation" because (as I am sure you all know), they are going to give out whatever placement they want, and you don't get much say, but I feel better thinking I have some amount of control over where I am going for the next two years, so at least there is that.

Hope all is well,
Claire  

Official Placement Move Back Email

Hello All,

Had a bit of a delay in the information gathering seeing as the hotel I was staying in didn't have internet access, and the train refused to let me get on to my email account. That being said I am sure many of you have already received the below email from the placement office, but in the case you haven't, this was waiting for me when I logged on this morning:

Greetings from the Peace Corps Placement Office,

The Placement Office is the office responsible for the final evaluation of applicants for suitability and competitiveness and the final selection of applicants for specific programs.   Evaluation and selection are typically done after applicants have received medical and legal clearances.  At this time, we understand you are still in the medical process, however, we are contacting you to provide you with information regarding your current status.

Recent events, specifically the federal budget resolution for this fiscal year as well as projected budget realities for next year, have had a significant impact on current Peace Corps’ operating plans. A result has been significant reductions in the number of Peace Corps Volunteer assignments to be filled for the remainder of 2011.  As a result of these adjustments, if/when you successfully complete the Peace Corps medical qualification evaluation and final application review, there is a strong likelihood you would not be placed in a program until January-March of 2012. 

Recognizing the challenge this may pose to you, we want to ask what you would like to do at this stage of the process.  The first option is to evaluate your application with a target placement date of January – March 2012.   If you choose this option, we would conduct an initial screening of your application for suitability and competitiveness and let you know the next steps within two months of the date of this letter.  Please keep in mind, any potential invitation would not happen for several months and is pending successful completion of the medical process and a suitability review.  If you choose this option, please continue to seek further opportunities to make your application more competitive.  Also note, if you are selected for service, a Placement Officer will work to match you with an opening, taking into account your skills, availability, necessary medical support needs, and the needs of our host countries.  If this option does not work for you, we can withdraw your application from consideration. 

We understand that you may need some time to consider these options but ask that you respond to this email by July 15^th, indicating your interest in remaining active for consideration or indicating your desire to withdraw.   If we do not hear from you by this date, your application will be withdrawn. 

We appreciate your dedication to service with the Peace Corps and thank you for applying to volunteer.

I don't know about the rest of you but I didn't get this far just to be deterred by a few extra months of waiting. If this experience is really as life changing as people say it is, then it is going to be worth it. I emailed them back and let them know I was willing to wait. On that same note though, I don't know how long the period of patience will extend. I have decided that if Peace Corps asks me to wait more than a year from this point in time, I will be deferring my application in order to go into Masters International program. 

For those of you that may not know, Peace Corps has a program where an applicant may apply to Peace Corps and certain masters programs separately. If you get into both, you may defer your application, go to school for two years and then the rest of your degree is completed during your service. 

I really hope those of you reading this stick with it. I know I am in a relatively easy position to be able to push things back since I am fresh out of college, don't have a career, family, or house to take care of and have relatively few "life obligations" to move around in order to accommodate a term of PC service, but what you really have to ask yourself is how much you want it? And if not now then when? Is life going to get any easier later on down the line? If it is, maybe you should consider reapplying later, but if its not, and you want this as much as I do, you will bite down, suck up, and do what you have to do to make sure you can go and have the greatest adventure of your life. :)

Much love, 

Claire   

Canada Adventure

My mother being the wonderful person that she is has decided that we needed to take one last family trip together before I leave for Peace Corps (and at this point who knows when that will be?) and my sister leaves for college in Wisconsin. That being said I am now writing from my Grandmother's cottage in Ontario Canada, after the 4th of July we will be driving to Toronto and then board a train to take us to Montreal.

I have been looking forward to this trip for a while now and I am glad that my mom took it upon herself to plan it. Fact is as I get older there will be less and less opportunity to travel together as a family and so I am trying to take advantage of it now, and not take it for granted.

That being said I will be putting the rest of the paperwork on hold for two weeks. I don't think there will be any amount of big hoopla about this, and I will try and get it all taken care of the week I get back (though there is a minor possibility that I will be traveling down south to audition for American Idol for kicks and giggles with a friend, but I just have the feeling that that is going to fall through.)

I guess the moral of this post is that just because you are waiting to hear from Peace Corps doesn't mean life stops and doesn't mean you have to wallow in the horrible limbo of it all. Life keeps on keeping on and not even a federal organization is going to change that. :)

Much Love from Canada,
Claire

Medical Round 2

The unofficial title for this post is going to be "85%" because only 15% of nominees pass through the medical portion of their paper work the first time without having to submit additional material, and I am now in the 85% that is in Medical Round 2!

I was told that I need a bunch of blood work, which I could swear I already sent to them the first time around and am going to check into again before I go and get more ordered. Since I am a more curvaceous individual I have to put a personal statement in about how I am going to work on getting my BMI down before I leave, and then lastly I missed two lines for my doctor to sign on a form that I must now bring into her. All in all not so bad, and I have the next two months to get it done, but I think I should be able to have most everything together by the end of the week.

On a side note, can I just say that I am mildly insulted about the BMI thing? I completely understand why they are asking and I think someone who is signing up to do a little over two years in a situation where they are not going to be able to live to the standard in which most people are used to, should be in good shape but I had thought that the first form I filled out with my doctor would have been enough. I am a little peeved that they seem to equate weight with "out of shapeness."

I have been on the MSU rowing team for the past three years which means 8, 2 hour practices a week for the entire school year, plus workouts with my local boat house over the summer. Now that I am taking a break from rowing I have joined a roller derby team with practices twice a week plus an "off skate" work out. So at this point you may be thinking: "what is she eating that she is so over weight?" well that is a fun one too! I don't really drink pop at all, which leaves me with a whole lot of milk, water and juice. I can't afford ice cream, so unless I am visiting home I don't really eat ice cream, potato chips, candy, or baked goods.

I will say that I do love cheese, and I know its fatty, and that my portion control could use some work even when I am eating healthy things. I guess its just a bit of a let down that my weight and my fitness are so often not in touch with each other.

Alright, done with the rant, just needed to get it off my chest. I think this is actually a pretty good turn out considering how much paper work they wanted. Much love to everybody, as per usual feel free to comment and fill out the question to the right.

Peace,
Claire  

Medical Review Has Started!

I just love that stomach-dropping-out-of-your-butt feeling when you get the "Your Toolkit has been updated" emails in the morning. Checked in to see what it was all about and, as promised by the pre service nurse I talked to a few weeks ago, my nomination "batch" has gotten to the medical review portion of the process. I freaked out a little when I saw the big red HOLD right next to the medical check mark but the fine print says that, that just indicates that it is being gone over and that if they need any more information they will call or let me know.

So did anyone else wake up to this? I'm super pumped that something is moving in the right direction, seeing as the news that I had missed my originally nominated group was a bit of a downer. On a happy note, I took a one week job as a choir camp counselor for August since I am pretty sure I won't be leaving that soon with all the push backs. I hope I don't end up having to smack myself in the face for that one, though it would be like Peace Corps to offer me a new position after I take a job in August.

Hope this finds you all well, as per usual: feel free to comment and due the little survey thingy on the side bar.

Much Love,
Claire

Africa Juice Q&A

Seeing as I will probably not have any new news to post within the next couple of weeks I thought I would post a nice summer juice recipe from Mali, to you all, with love. The credit to this one goes out to my friend Buddy who served in Peace Corps Mali some years back. If you do not have a food processor I have found that a cheese grater works but is a wee bit messy. The colder the better!!

Lembourouji

(Ginger-Lemon Drink)

recipe origin:   Mali, West Africa

1 to 2 "hands" fresh ginger (about the size of your hand)

1 tiny pinch of cayenne pepper (more for a bigger kick)

1 gallon cool water

1 to 1½ cups lemon juice (fresh or bottled)

1 to 1½ cups sugar

Wash the ginger well.  You do not need to peel it, but can if you like.  Cut off any discolored, rotten, or dried ends.  Pulverize in a food processor until it has the texture of coarse sawdust (should have about 2 to 3 cups worth). Add the ginger, the cayenne pepper,  and about half the water to a large glass jug or pitcher.  Soak for at least 2 to 3 hours at room temperature.  Strain the mixture through a fine strainer, sieve, or cheesecloth into another container.  Pour additional water through the ginger to wash out more of the ginger flavor.  Add enough water to make about a gallon, plus about a cup each of  lemon and sugar.  Stir.  Adjust lemon and sugar to taste.  Chill and serve over ice.

Enjoy!

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to send out a big shout out to those of you that have been so supportive when it came to the news about possibly being pushed back till January. It was really nice to know I have such wonderful motivators in my life. :)

I also figured I would open up the floor for any questions people might have. I think the blog system that are linked through peacecorpswiki and peacecorpsjournal are great because you can find answers to questions about your own process. If you have a question you think I could answer just comment below and I will post answers sometime soon. I'm also not worried about doing a bit snooping if need be, so fire away!

Much Love,
Claire 

If You Are Going Through Medical, READ!

Ask and you shall receive...whether you want to or not. I sent off the email to placement, as promised in the last post, and was got a reply in quite the timely manner. My placement person let me know that my original nomination project has been filled and then proceeded to forward on an email that is going out to all people who are in the process of clearing their medical portion of their applications. 

Here is the email that they are sending out:

Like all federal agencies, Peace Corps is looking at its operations in light of budget reductions. This will result in fewer service opportunities available overseas in 2011 and 2012.  Unfortunately, it is too soon to tell what impact this will have on the program you were nominated to as Peace Corps is currently reevaluating our needs for the upcoming months.  Please note that these changes may affect your potential placement.  If you are not placed in the program to which you were nominated, your Placement and Assessment Specialist will conduct the final suitability and skill review to determine if we can match you to the next available program that best fits your skills and qualifications.  Please note that this may mean a pushback in departure date, perhaps until January 2012 or later.  We will be in touch with more information should this be the case and anticipate that we should be able to provide you with more information once you have been medically cleared and we have completed the placement review of your file.  Please also keep in mind that a final invitation is contingent upon the completion of a final suitability and skill review.

She then went on to say that it is very likely that my region will be changed and there is even a possibility that my actual sector (health extension) will be changed depending on where there are spots and what my skills are. 

So you know all of that calculating, and trying to figure out where I was going and when I was leaving...yeah...that was a big waste of time. I have to say though, I'm not insanely surprised, based on what I have been hearing around/ reading on other people's blogs. The budget cuts have made for some serious changes, and I am kicking my own butt right now for not turning in my medical paper work sooner (though in all honesty I don't know if it would have made a difference.)

But let us not dwell on the negative but highlight the positive! I get to have that "where am I going to be going in the world" feeling again, since the placement officer said there was "a large chance" that my region location will be moved. Another positive note is that last I checked I am qualified for health, community development and education, so there is a chance that I may be placed more quickly due to this, since I am more able to fill a position than someone who is only cleared for one of them. 

Please do not take this the wrong way, I am not happy about the idea that me not going to Africa or being moved from the health sector are now all major possibilities. Health sector was actually my top pick for jobs, and though I really do mean it when I say I would go anywhere, I decided on an internship and a thesis topic based around the idea that I should learn more about Africa in order to prepare for my placement. But I don't think there is any use crying over spilled milk, and it didn't even cross my mind that I would pull out until someone asked. I have every intention of being a Peace Corps volunteer, whether it happens now or in 7 months or in a year. 

I would encourage those of you that are going through medical right now (since the email included will only come to you after you have been cleared since it is from the placement team) to talk to your placement and pre-service people and also to think about the opportunities you might have that will enable you to fill any extra time IF you don't leave in the fall or early winter. I would also encourage you to stick with it; if you have wanted it this much this far, a few months aren't going to be anything. 

For now I'm going to sit back and wait to hear from medical, continue working on my thesis about AIDS in Uganda, hang out with the wonderful ladies at my internship and love life for what it is right now, and the possibilities that the future holds for me down the road. :)

Love and Smooches, 

Claire   

Medical Clearance Snooping

Hello Everyone!

I spent half of yesterday reading over a bunch of people's blogs and realized that I am probably below average when it comes to bugging either the pre-service nurse or the pre-service office as to the status of my application. Taking that into mind, I shot off an email! I basically asked if there was any new information on when I would be leaving and/ or cleared, if I was still good to go on the original timeline of my nomination, and if I was going to be informed if there was any sort of hold up on my group due to budget cuts and whatnot.

I received an email back saying that my nomination group was slated to have the medical clearance processed by the end of June and that I should be hearing back from the office within the next four weeks. The person then directed all of my other questions to the placement office (whom I will be emailing in a second.) This part about my group being process at the end of June reminded me of an earlier email I had received from the placement office that I got in reply to a message I had sent about needing extra time to fill out additional paperwork for some failed medical tests.

The email had off handedly mentioned that, at the time, the group being processed was for people leaving between April and June; the email was sent in March. Taking this into account, I should still be good in my thinking that I will be leaving in August or September (though I am now thinking that a September date is probably more likely) since it seems that processing for placement and medical occurs about 1-3months prior to departure.

I thought this would be especially helpful to post for those of you out there that sent in your medical paperwork early and are wanting to kill the nice Peace Corps nurses for not clearing you sooner since you have been waiting for months on end. I have also heard from multiple people that the offices are under staffed and that is why everything takes so long, but I am starting to think that, that is probably the response they give you when they don't want you to bug them any more. Eh, what do I know?

So thats about it for new information for the day, I will let you know once I get an email back from placement assuming it has any new information. Also, please, please, please feel free to comment or answer the question to the upper right of the screen. The more connected I feel with other nominees/ invitees/ volunteers/ RPCVs the happier I am, and it doesn't matter if we haven't met, or if we will never meet, I would love to hear from you!

Hope all is well,
Claire   

Dental Clearance and Doubts

Got my dental clearance! So even if all goes to hell, my teeth are still good to go to Africa without the rest of my body if they so choose. This was actually really surprising considering that I had received the email about government mail taking up to 10 days to be processed only to get an update on May 26th that they had processed my packet, and on the 27th had given my pearly whites the go ahead. So now I am just waiting on the rest of the medical to come through.

On a different note: a thought crossed my mind this weekend that I had not previously given myself the time to really take into account. I have been functioning under the idea that I am going to be leaving in August or September; this was based on a few different things and you can follow all of these events in older blog posts if you wish. Firstly, when I was nominated I got a "File/ Case Number" and when I did some poking around on the internet I figured out that two of the numbers correlated to a Summer departure period that runs from June-September, and since I had marked that I couldn't leave until August 1st, this leaves me with these two months. By using this date I cross referenced with www.peacecorpswiki.org to figure out my short list of Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda and Botswana (and a recently added Namibia.)

But what if all of this is totally wrong? Maybe the reason my medical guy said I was still on a good time line is because I had missed the original nomination date? Maybe with the new budget cuts the program I was nominated for has been cut? What if they just changed me around? Then again, isn't it better to think I am leaving sooner than I actually am so that I am ready to go as opposed to not being ready enough?

I think the real thing I need to be keeping in mind is that I don't know anything for sure, even with all my calculating scheming and whatnot and that I should not be let down or disappointed if for some reason stuff does not work out the way I thought it would. Thus I continue to tango with the most frustrating part of the Peace Corps application process, and I hope you are having a better time dancing with whatever you are dealing with than I am.

Much Love,
Claire    

Peace Out Medical Guy

So I received a reply on the email I sent to my Medical Contact about what I should be expecting now that I have mailed off all of my medical forms. Below is the response:

Please note that it can take anywhere from 10-20 days for the kit to be entered into your medical record.  Mail is screened at an off-site security facility (as is all government mail) and takes a little while to actually get here.

Your next step is to simply allow us time to review your kit.  Expect an update in 4-6 weeks.

Pre-Service Unit

Greg no longer works for Pre-Service.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Translation: 

You are going to wait, and then when you are done with that you are going to wait some more. Don't get your panties in a bunch, we will be taking our sweet time since we only have a bazillion other applications that came in before yours.

Pre-Service Unit

p.s. your buddy don't work here no mo'

What the heck?!?! Greg the Peace Corps guy peaced out on me? :( He was so helpful and comforting in his emails, and I swear the only person I have spoken to within the organization, other than the campus reps, that has treated me like a person (as can be seen from the automaton nature of this email.) Don't get me wrong, I know that Peace Corps is huge, and I didn't really expect anything different, and they have always been professional, but it was nice to have a person to talk to who was willing to explain things to me on the level of a two year old...which is what I need. 

So farewell Greg the Medical Dude!!  I wish you big and wonderful things in your life ahead and hope you in a happier place. :)

~Claire

Really Done!/ A Peace Corps Birthday

All of the paper work has gone off to the office in DC!!! The office should be receiving everything on Tuesday, and I have already written to my medical contact officer to check and see what I should be doing at this point other than waiting. Hoping to hear back from him today, and I will post whatever he sends. I guess I just wait now. I have read that only 15% of people get through their medical clearance on the first go around, but I am hoping since I requested the extra paper work before I sent anything in, and because I sent in annoying amounts of records, that maybe I won't have to fill anything else out. Fingers crossed the next thing I get in the mail should be my invitation.

On a more birthday note, I turned 22! The day was very much relaxed since I had just traveled back from Philly where the Dad Vail Regatta is held every year with the MSU Rowing team. On Monday night I went back to Ann Arbor after work to spend some time with my family and they woke me up on Tuesday in traditional Swedish birthday style. The Swedes like to wake people up super early with cake and gifts in bed, and our family has been doing this since I was little, so it was really nice to come home and have that moment with them.

Pretty much everything on my birthday list was very "Peace Corpsy" so I received: a leatherman handy tool, full swiss army knife, eye glass repair kit, two books and a short wave radio. I also got a really beautiful necklace from my Mom that has a compass rose charm and then small beads in the birth stone colors of each of my family members. She gave one to my sister as well, and said it was to help guide us home when we were far away (my sister is going to college in a different state next year.)

I may have become a bit weepy...a little bit. I'm going to miss my family so much, and I think the only way I'm going to over come that is knowing that their love for me isn't confined to our house, and in fact can stretch over oceans. I love my family more than anything, and I am so blessed to have each one of them.

Love,
Claire

DONE!

Okay, sending everything in tomorrow, since at this point I am only waiting on the last doctor to return her paperwork. I think I am going to over night it, I know it won't make much of a difference, but it would make my mind feel better. :)
~Claire

So close...

Polio shot was taken care of yesterday and I received my blood work and dental xrays in the mail (via Dad) as well. Only thing left to do is fax these sheets to my foot and ankle guy and my family practitioner and I should be good to go!

Oh yeah...there is also that whole "graduate on Saturday" thing...woot!

~Claire

Medical

Freaking out a little bit: other than this being my last day in undergrad, which in and of itself is freaky, this is also the day when I am coming to the conclusion that I am not leaving in the fall. After reading through a million PC blogs, I see that there is NO WAY, even if I turn in my medical stuff tomorrow, that they will clear me before the fall. Everyone keeps saying it takes 11 weeks or so, and that is too much time I think. I don't know why my med contact said I was on track, since it certainly doesn't seem that way. :(

Polio

I keep thinking "this will be the week I finally get done with all my medical paper work" and it keeps not being true! But I am getting very close. I have the fax number to send the extra forms to my doc to sign, and then I also have my polio booster scheduled which is the last shot like thing I need before sending stuff in. The xrays are in the mail, on the way to my house and I also have the fax number for my foot dude. Closer and closer we are getting!

On a side note: just submitted my blog to a data base specifically for peace corps so in case you want to stroll around some other blogs (I have no idea why you would though ;) Here is the link: http://peacecorpsjournals.com/?Home

Much love to all,
Claire

On Time!!!

I have been freaking out really badly about how long it has taken me to get all of my medical clearance paperwork in. At every turn you will hear from PC that everything must be done ASAP if you want to stay on track with your nomination. Due to my abnormal tests I just assumed that I had completely botched for a fall departure date and that there was no way I was still on time for everything, which would mean a new nomination with possible new placement and new job.


With this in mind I sent an email to my medical contact person and asked him about it. I got the response a few minutes ago:

Hi Claire –

You are actually in fine shape.  Your timing is not an issue.  I would say if it is not going to be too much longer to wait and send in all your material at one time.  Once it is received here, it is often a number of weeks before files are reviewed by a screening nurse.   But you are far from needing to be concerned about missing any deadlines.

Cheers.

~ Greg ~

I could not be happier!! I'm going in for my TB test in about an hour, and then I'm getting blood pathology in the morning. Calling the dental office to have them mail my perio x-rays to my house, and faxing the forms to the foot doctor. When all is said and done I am hoping to have everything by Friday of this week or Monday at the latest. 

Wish me speed and luck,

Claire

Peace Corps Placement

So I haven't yet figured out where I am going, I'm sending my medical stuff in this week, but I think I have narrowed it down to a few possibilities. Here is the "equation" so to speak, for anyone out there who might want to try and get a jump on figuring out where they are going (which is pretty much everyone from what I understand.)


Using peacecorpswiki.org I was able to find a list of stagging dates that have already been sent out to people that are getting invitations because they started the application earlier/ are done with their medical. Here is the list of known stagging dates currently reported on peacecorpswiki:

August 1 = Zambia
August 3 = Uganda
August 8 = Guatemala
August 16 = Panama
August 17 = Dominican Republic
August 17 = Kazakhstan
August 29 = Senegal
August 29 = Mexico
August 30 = Nicaragua

September 6 = Morocco
September 9 = Macedonia
September 12 = Rwanda
September 15 = Cameroon
September 15 = Botswana
September 15 = Peru
September 15 = Togo
September 21 = Ukraine
September 22 = Azerbaijan
September 25 = Turkmenistan

SO, if you take out the ones that are not in Africa you are left with:


August 1 = Zambia
August 3 = Uganda
August 29 = Senegal
September 12 = Rwanda
September 15 = Cameroon
September 15 = Botswana
September 15 = Togo

I also know that I will not be sent to West Africa because I don't speak a lick of French which leaves us with:

August 1 = Zambia
August 3 = Uganda
September 12 = Rwanda
September 15 = Botswana

NOW, you cross reference this with the placement calculator that is also on the Peace Corps wiki site, which lets you know how many volunteers and in what positions they are in each country. By doing this I am able to figure out the likelihood of me being sent to any of the four option above. 

World Region: Africa         Job Sector: Health Extension

	Country	Number of vols	Percentage
	Zambia	38	46
	Uganda	18	22
	Botswana	14	17
	Rwanda	12	15
	TOTAL	82	100

So essentially this lists the greatest chance I have in getting into each country, since there are more volunteers in certain places than in others. The other piece of information that feeds into this is that the campus recruiter I spoke with said that since Rwanda was just re-opened and since there is still some "issues" there, they aren't sending people without experience, and most volunteers who are serving there are on their second tour of duty. 

Top three countries: Zambia, Uganda, and Botswana!!!

Also on a side note, the internship I am currently working at is based in Uganda and most of the people in the office are from Uganda, which would make me feel a lot better about going there for two years since I would know people in country if anything went really wrong. I'm becoming more and more excited about this whole thing, and can't wait to get my paperwork into the office and try and figure out where I am actually going!  

Back to work,

Claire

Doctor's Visit

Received a call from the doctor's office and was given the all clear health wise! Apparently I have a little bit of something going on but due to my age and the fact that I don't smoke, it should clear up on its own and the OB was even willing to talk to my family doctor and let her know that she would recommend me to go. So this means I am back on track and need to start with doing all my paper work again, which I am going to be tackling this week/ next week.

I'm really, really hoping that this hasn't completely put me off track for a fall departure but life will go on even if I have to wait until December. I don't know how much of a hang up this is going to cause with my country selection, though again, as much as I would love to go to Africa, there are other places I would be just as happy ending up.

I think that this is a big thing one must consider when looking into whether the Peace Corps is right for you or not, how flexible are you willing to be? A good friend of mine was looking in PC around the same time that I was and had somehow gotten it into his head (possibly through another person that had spoken to him about PC) that he, not only wanted to go to Romania, but that it was a perfectly reasonable request to say that the only place he was willing to go was Romania. Let me put this out there, and feel free to comment if you have heard otherwise, but if there is only one place you are willing to get deployed to in PC, you might as well just take a vacation there because this is not the right organization for you.

At every step of my application I was told to be flexible and learn patience because everything was going to take a long time and I was probably going to be frustrated more often than not. Though I, at some point, was able to voice to my recruiter during my interview that I would prefer not to end up in South America, I first made it very clear to her that I was willing to serve anywhere and just wanted to be able to help out and have a meaningful experience in my life and in the people whom I was serving lives.

Alright, more later, let you know as I know.
Claire

Funny Stories

Figured I would fill you in on a few funny stories since I don't have anything new to report within the application process and I would like to get into the habit of making sure that I update as much as possible. With that in mind there have been a few funny stories I have heard over the course of talking to people and seeing what PC is going to be like that I would like to share with the rest of you all.

The first comes from Ty in the campus recruiting office. He was talking to me about people that don't really think about what service is going to be like before they leave to go to their placement and told me about a person that worked themselves up SO much on the trip over that they refused to get off the plane and went straight back home instead. In order to avoid this kind of story I plan on making sure I am totally pooped before I get on the plane. I may even consider investing in one of those weird looking neck pillows that some people have. I have always thought about getting one and what better time to than when I might be stressed/ freaking out? I also hope to have made some friends during the stagging process which should mean I have support in taking my first few steps (literally) into PC.

The second story comes from Buddy, a friend of my Mother's who served in Mali in the 80's. Buddy told us this story over a dinner that we had at our house when he came to chat it up about his experience with PC. This one involves a couple that got into PC (couple can now apply only after they have been married a year and both are qualified, cool part is, is that they will be placed together.) Apparently these people made it off the plane and into the hotel room they were going to be staying in for a few nights before they went to the training site. The kicker comes when the wife opens one of the couple suitcases that they brought and everyone realizes that she has packed an entire suitcase full of toilet paper. My plan for avoiding this kind of story is to not pack toilet paper in a suitcase...seems straight forward enough...

There was also the guy that said he was going to stick around only until he got sick and peaced out a few months later after getting malaria. And lastly the couple that came back and had been so used to their laid back style of living in PC American Samoa that they argued over who had to walk to the end of the driveway to get the mail every morning. I guess when push comes to shove these stories are both for entertainment as well as a reminder that when going into this experience you have to be reasonable in what your expectation are. This is not an easy under taking, it is not the gold paved road you are choosing, and it is going to be uncomfortable, challenging and difficult in a mirad of ways I can only image right now.

I'm going into this experience with this mind set in the hopes that it will be easier to cope as well as maybe even pleasantly surprising on the days when things happen to be easy going. It is all about the mental challenge, once you get over that the physical stuff can't be too bad. :)

Much Love,
Claire

Woman Stuff

Okay, so this will be one of those posts you probably didn't need to know, but just in case...

Went to the doctor's office to get the colposcopy (underlining the "p" since I had been calling it a coloscopy) and was told that I should get results in about a week. Can I just put this out there? She warned me that it would be a little pinch...I have a pretty high pain tolerance and that, my friends, was no "little" pinch. Then again it was also a very odd kind of pain so I can't say if it was more or less than any other given thing. For women that might be getting this procedure done, think of it as the bad period cramps you may or may not get, but when the actual "scrapping" occurs its like a 2 second long jerk in the same area that pain would normally be (lower abdominals.)  Not the best thing in the world, but you will live.

Let you all know when I know!

~Claire

Whats Going On

So even though this post and the last one are being posted on the same day, the last one was written a while back so i figured I would add a few quick updates as well as get into some of the emotional stuff that goes on with the whole PC process.

So I was able to get another doctor to take me in this Friday instead of having to wait until the 20th which should be really awesome since then I don't have to wait as long to figure out the results and go over them with my doctor. Fingers crossed everything is fine and dandy and I don't have to worry about anything other than waiting from this point out.

Emotional stuff: PC is crazy weird because on the one hand you have to go on living your day to day life and make sure you don't just check out, but on the other hand you are trying to make plans and figure things out for a time when you are not going to be around for two years. Its hard not to get completely wrapped up in this idea that you are leaving and you have to stop everything and just focus on a departure date (which at this point I don't even have.)

A nice example of this is my relationship with my boyfriend. So right now I am in love with a wonderful guy named Zack, and Zack has been really wonderful through this whole process considering what it means in the end if I get invited. But when push comes to shove Zack and I have decided that while I am gone in all likelihood there is going to be a bit of a "pause" in our relationship. I think this is the best plan for us when it comes to a two year separation.

This decision also puts us in a very odd place. On the one hand we love each other, and want to be together. On the other hand, within the foreseeable future, we are not going to be together. So where does that leave us? I can't stand thinking about it because I know that leaving is going to be very painful for both of us and the idea of hurting him hurts me too, but if I don't go and he becomes "the guy that held me back" our relationship won't last much longer anyway.

Here is what I have found to be the best way to deal with this kind of situation/ these thoughts that will undoubtedly happen when you are going through the PC process: let it go. Stop thinking about it, let be what will be. This may be easier said than done, but at some point you have to stop freaking about it and deal with things as they come. You don't get to have your world stop turning just because you decide to move away for two years. Your relationships don't end, you don't get a pass from school and you still have to show up to work.

And let me just say, thinking about it as you moving somewhere, makes the prospect a hella lot less daunting. People move to different places all the time, they do so every day and they do so for a heck lot longer than two years. Stop thinking of this as some giant undertaking that will go on forever and start thinking of it as a job that you are moving to for two years. This did me a lot of good because the idea of PC became a lot less foreign to me when thinking of it in these terms.

Alright, that is it for me for the night, I need to go do things now, hope this might be helpful!

~Claire

Welcome!

So I have started this new blog because after having to reference the blogs of at least half a dozen other volunteers and return volunteers I think it would be beneficial for those who might be in my same position to have another blog to look at. I hope to use this blog to document my Peace Corps (PC) process and eventually (fingers crossed) my deployment and adventures during service.

I also hoped that this could be a tool for my friends and family to keep up with what is going on and how I am doing. I will give the same warning as I did on my personal blog: I have known to be a bit dramatic and at some times even shockingly so, so don't worry if I go all emotional on you at times and just know it comes from the best of places within my heart.

Since I am not on the ball completely I am going to have to re cap a bit.

Here is where I am at right now (this next part might be a bit much for male readers so read at your own risk): I have received all the needed paperwork for optical evaluation, dental evaluation (I still have one set of x-rays I still need to get), and basic physical. I am still working on my foot doctor guy and my pap and pelvic abnormal result.

Foot doctor guy: I haven't seen the original doctor in years and so am going to have to go back to him to get him to fill out the paper work.

Pap and Pelvic: this is were things get "complicated." I received an abnormal pap a few weeks ago and now have to go in for a colposcopy. I had more paper work sitting in my mail box this morning for this procedure sent to me by the pre-service nurses and according to what that said I have to get my doctor to sign off that I am okay to not have another exam for 15 months. I don't know if this is going to go over well since the last time I had an abnormal pap she required that I come in every 6 months. At this point I can only wait till April 20th (date of my colposcopy) and cross my fingers that everything turns out well.

The other thing that the paper work mentioned was that I am now only going to be eligible for countries that have proper gynecological facility access. Now as far as I know this could mean I am not going to a few countries or it could mean there are whole regions that I am no longer able to serve in, but I emailed the pre service nurse and am hoping to hear back on how this might affect my placement.  

So needless to say, to any of you people thinking about joining up, and I am sure you have already heard this, the medical clearance of PC is the biggest pain in the butt. If I can get mine entirely done within the next two months I will be super happy.