Update...

I wasn’t going to update the blog again until our medical and dental kits were mailed, but I just wanted to write down all the poking and prodding I’ve endured before I forget. Dentist: I’ve been there 3 times so far and will go back for a 4th. 1st was for the initial check-up, 2nd was to fill 3 cavities at once (more hellish than I imaged), 3rd was to get another 2 cavities filled. Before I continue, I swear, I brush my teeth daily and see a dentist almost every 6 months but they said 4 out of 5 of them were very small cavities and just need to be filled to ensure they wouldn’t get bigger in the two years I’m gone. I eat a lot of sugar, what can I say! Then, I have to go to an oral surgeon to get my wisdom teeth out Jan 7th and the dentist wants to see me one more time for a final checkup and to finish my paperwork after that. I went to the doctor today (with what little vaccination history I could find through numerous calls) which was easy in comparison but had 4 needles stuck in my arms (polio booster, tetanus booster, TB test and blood drawn), peed in a cup and of course had the basic doctor poking. Best news of the day though is that she signed my kidney stone paperwork with no problems so I should not have to go to a urologist after all and that worry can be done…We plan to get our paperwork all in and mailed by the end of January. For the record, Chris only needed one cavity filled and already has a majority of vaccines so it should be easy for him! He does have to see an eye doc though which is one thing I don’t have to do. Phew!...While this is going on, we are still working on our French skills, volunteering in our PC areas (I’m mentoring and Chris is helping at an environmental farm/nature preserve) and all around researching, planning and going a little crazy waiting for final confirmation! Man, they really make sure you are dedicated before you go based on the rollercoaster you endure during the qualification process! Ok, I’ll be back when our medical packets are in…

Dad

I told my Dad today and actually, he was pretty cool about it! He seems to understand why I want to do this and had a pretty low key reaction. Now the whole fam knows! Phew! Also, I just wanted to note this was my first week of completing some French self-study. I’m excited! Bonjour! Un, duex, trois…ok done showing off now.

Medical and Dental Forms

Our medical and dental evaluation forms arrived in the mail today and are more confusing and complex than imaged. And, as suspected, my kidney stones are coming back to haunt me. I have to go see a urologist for an evaluation. ☹ Booo!!! I really hope this does not screw us out of going. Also, it’s going to be quite a challenge to track down my medical history. Ugh. I’ll keep you posted as we move along this process…PS- I told my Mom, Sister and Brother about going to the PC finally. Amy and Michael were very cool with it. My Mom, well, she was a little shocked and needs some time to let it sink in. I think she’ll be ok though. And now, for the grand finale, I am going to tell my dad this tomorrow. I’m scared.

NOMINATION!!!

We have been nominated! As expected yesterday, it is a program that leaves in August 2011, my position is in community services and Chris’ is in environmental education and living in a French speaking country in (drum roll please)…Sub Saharan Africa!!!! Our recruiter (M) said my position is specifically for a program for empowering women-Cool! BUT, there is a catch that hasn’t made this quite as exciting as we’d hoped- Chris is required to take French lessons/tutoring, pass a French proficiency test AND do 3 months of environmental awareness programs/volunteering in Columbus all before we leave. He is very concerned as to why he needs to do all this extra work when he a) has taken formal French classes, b) lived in Haiti for 2 years, a French/Creole speaking country and c) has WAY more experience in environmental training than any extra volunteering they want him to do considering he’s a frickin’ engineer in the environmental field. :) In fact, our recruiter even said to me he is “too qualified” which is why they want him to gain experience on more of a “grassroots level” since he’s got so much technical experience. Oh and d) I have had no French training (I took Spanish in HS and college) and they didn’t initially require me to have French tutoring or take a test. Huh?... Chris called M later today and she basically said she’s not even sure why all this is needed but not to worry too much since the test is more a formality on paper and will probably not actually need to be taken. She is a new PC recruiter so she’s still figuring all this out herself. She said she would be calling the Placement Officer in DC on Monday to get more information on these requests and discuss other placement possibilities. Both Chris and I don’t feel comfortable spending all this extra time on requirements, then may still not be able to go because he doesn’t pass a test. M told us we are fantastic applicants and they really want us so all and all, right now we are pretty much feeling that we’d like her to look for other opportunities if Chris will be required to do all this extra stuff. It just doesn’t seem to make sense considering we are more highly qualified than most fresh outta college applicants and she told us that…Oh, how we are feeling the bureaucracy of a government organization! Not sure what’s going to happen from here, but it’s time to tell my Mom this weekend. ☺

Finally some info

Our recruiter gave us a seriously big dose of information today! She sent our info. To DC today for a nomination in a program leaving in August 2011 with Chris in environmental education and me in community services (NOT education which is what I was expecting but the more I read about community services/development, I am kinda pumped!). I just want to know where we are going now!!!!! We think it’s South America. She says DC has to get back to her in 48 hours so we’ll know of an official nomination tomorrow or if not, not until next Friday since she’ll be out of town until then.

Missing??

Chris nervously called our recruiter today since she had sent an email letting us know she got our paperwork but some of Chris’ stuff was missing. Turns out she had only been looking at my envelope and didn’t realized his was sent separately. Crisis averted! Anyway, in talking with her she let him know that she’s got a letter drafted to send to the PC corporate office in D.C. (meaning a nomination!!!!!!) but needs a little more info. She asked Chris to fill out ANOTHER skill addendum for Environmental Education, a very vague work assignment but with lots of potential for creating your own opportunities. We aren’t sure why she didn’t give this to him with her initial paperwork request, but all in all, she made it clear she’s pretty much already got us slated for a nomination somewhere. He’s working on the addendum tonight since she said she wants to have our paperwork sent to D.C. by the end of the week since she’s out of the office next week. OMG. We are really going to get nominated any day now. The reality is hitting.

Sent in paperwork

Sent in all the recruiter requested paperwork and over-nighted it so it would get there by the 10/26 deadline. And now, we just wait for the nomination…

INTERVIEW!!!!

We had our interview this afternoon with the OSU Peace Corps representative. Totally NOT what we expected. The interviewer went down a formal list of questions mostly asking about our adaptability to a new environment (i.e.- any concerns about foods you will eat?), wrote down our answers and really did not engage either of us in conversation. Believe it or not the question “Why do you want to join the Peace Corps” didn’t even come up! Now, I know we have answered this on paper (a few times), but it would have been nice to share our reasons for wanting to go and why we think we’re good PC candidates in person. We are chalking it up to the fact that the dude’s personality was a little dry, and, we think we have enough good stuff on paper through our applications and other questions we had to turn in that they are only using the interview to check for red flags at this point. Ultimately, our recruiter in Chicago will be the one to nominate us and when Chris spoke to her last week, she seemed very enthusiastic about us. We don’t think we said anything to the interviewer that would have changed that. But man, it would have been nice to talk to someone with a little more energy and personality!...Next step: send back in our skill addendums and background check docs. We were told today that about a week to 10 days after we send it in, we will find out if we are nominated to serve which means we will probably have news before Thanksgiving!!!!

Even more paperwork :)

We were already contacted for an interview with the local recruiter for next Wednesday and guess what he sent us? Even more paperwork!! : ) We have 7 interview questions he wants us to respond to and email back before we actually meet.. So, this weekend we are buckling down to get these things written. The good news is, I feel like the pressure is off a bit because we will go in knowing exactly what he is going to ask and have already prepared answers.

Chicago knows we exist

It’s been an exciting 24 hours! We finally heard from the Chicago recruiter yesterday! WOO HOO We both got emails asking us to fill out MORE paperwork (surprise) and asking that we confirm our references. The most exciting part is that she sent us descriptions of the jobs that we would mostly like qualify for. I got English teaching, primary teacher training (surprised and flattered that they think I could train teachers) and community service. Chris got teaching science and math, community service and, what he is hoping for- sanitation extension and water resource engineering. He spoke to our recruiter today and he said she was very nice and helpful and specifically told him we were “flagged as a high priority” because of our experience and readiness to go ASAP. she said we should hear from the OSU recruiter for an interview very soon. Sure enough, he emailed us tonight and we are scheduled to meet with him Wednesday!!!! Nervous scared and excited. AHHH!!! Oh, also, the recruiter mentioned that she is looking at programs for us leaving February and March. Whoa, way sooner than we thought but hey, we’ll take it. Anyway, at this point, it is VERY preliminary since we haven’t even been nominated yet.

Recruitment... where are you??!

We were hoping to hear from the recruitment office by now to schedule an interview since we submitted our applications almost 3 weeks ago (we’ve heard they contact you in about 3 weeks after you submit). So, we emailed the local OSU Peace Corps recruiter who we met at an information session last month. We wanted to see if he could give us any information on our application status. Unfortunately, his response was “sit tight and you should hear something from the Chicago recruitment office soon”. Not the response we were looking for…I plan to call them next week if we still don’t hear anything. We know this is only a small taste of the waiting game we’ll be playing through this whole process…

Background and Fingerprinting

We both received packets in the mail today with forms for a background check and fingerprinting. The letter that came with the packet was addressed to “Dear Applicant”, but it did say that they have received our application and we should be contacted by a recruiter in the next couple weeks. So, YAY! It’s now at least starting to feel official and we know the Peace Corps knows we exist!

Application... CHECK!

We officially submitted our applications online! It took about 3 weeks to finally complete the insanely long application that includes answering a million questions and an updated resume, 2 essays and choosing 3 references! Oy! No one but our references and Chris’ parents know at this point incase we don’t get nominated (i.e. picked to go). As soon as we hit “submit”, we got sent a basic health assessment form with questions on over 100 conditions. There were lots of “no’s” and “Never’s” to click. I did have to say I’ve had Kidney Stones in the past. Hopefully this won’t cause too much of an issue as I know they are hesitant to send people with chronic kidney stones, which, I wouldn’t say I have. We also got sent a “couples questionnaire” immediately after we applied which requires us to write out answers to 5 questions and send to our recruiter. We are forced to discuss all the challenges we will face as a couple which shouldn’t be too bad since we’ve already discussed this stuff, like, everyday. ☺

And it Begins..

During a car ride from Pittsburgh back home to Columbus, we made the final decision to attempt to join the Peace Corps. I say “attempt” because the long and arduous application, acceptance and placement process requires a lot of hoop jumping and even more so if you apply as a married couple. We certainly don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch. So for now, dear blog, only a very small # of people even know about this crazy idea. We don’t want everyone freaking out before anything really happens
:) …