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. ☺