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