Med

I'm "on hold" because I've not turned in my med forms. Apparently they were mailed yesterday. Yay doctor visits?

On the road to nowhere

So I didn't really have a chance to post on how my interview went. Probably because I was uber busy this past weekend. But yeah it was pretty good.

X called and he opened up a questionarre and started spouting out questions that I had rehearsed my responses too. I even got the man to laugh. He asked about how I felt about wearing different types of clothes in a culture and my response was something like "well clothes are just a small part of me and I'm sure I can adapt my clothes to fit". So he responded with "well what if you were in a society where everyone worer Def Leppard shirts" "I'm okay with that. I like Def Leppard" he laughed and changed the question "what if they all dressed like ballerinas?" "well I would probably ask why then put on my tootoo".

All in all it was good. Then it came to nomination time. I was up for Central Asia in Feb but that got full. Then there was an interesting one in April in the Caucus Mts. But the pilot program in Eastern Europe sounded AMAZING. So amazing I capitalized it.

Now I'm on the road to nowhere (thank you Talking Heads...that song is stuck in my head). I'll have to wait a bit for medical stuff to come in and then work my ass off to get it all finished. My only issues I know of will be dental (wisdom teeth are intact) and the fact that growing up I had a TON of ear problems (up until I was like 10 or 12). But thats all better.

Next level

I've hit the next level of frustration. My recruiter never called.

Edit- I'm a moron. For some reason I can't tell time. He called an hour later. I hate you daylight savings time.

Update: Nominated for Community/Youth Development in Eastern Europe in a pilot youth leadership program. RIGHT up my alley! :-)

Free time

I have an immense amount of free time at work. I wonder if my bosses are aware of it. Will I tell them? Probably not. I like to keep them in the dark. I think they're aware of how little work I have to do and that what work I do have only takes 15 minutes, of which I've spread out to an amazing four hours. Thank you internet.

But alas an update on PC process. Yesterday I arrived at work with an email from X stating "why don't you give me a call to set up an interview". So I called during a break, not there. So I called during my lunch, not there. Finally I called after work, not there so I left a message.

So today I realized after reading some posts on Yahoo! (thank you peacecorps2) I decided to be persistent and not wait on X. So I called AGAIN and tada! I finally got X! My phone interview is tomorrow at 2 pm (1 pm here). Thats my update and I'm sticking to it.

Dislike!

Original title was "Hatred, thy name is PC". But I don't hate the PC. I'm just frustrated with its system. Apparently thats normal. X finally got back to me today after I sent him yet ANOTHER email with more than a paragraph asking about things. Its like I caught him and he HAD to respond to me.

I think we'll be setting up the interview here shortly. Which is odd because I just ordered a book on the PC and boy that book would help before I interview. Well it may or may not. Don't know.

No update

I'd love to put here "had my interview and it went great" but alas I haven't had it. In fact I've not heard back from X.

I knew he was out of the office last week say Thursday. But no word Friday and still nothing today. From the people I've talked to about it all they all said "be persistent". So I emailed X this morning. And yet no response.

There's not even been an update on mytoolkit thing online. Weird.

Why I want to join

Why would someone want to say goodbye to their friends and family? Why would they want to give up practically everything they own? Why would they want to go to a far off country? And WHY would they want to do that for 2+ years?!

I can't answer that completely. I mean I'll give it my all but I can't just express it verbally. Maybe my mind hasn't developed enough to fully express it. I don't know if anyone's is.

I like helping people. As idealistic as it sounds (and may sound during my interview...whenever that occurs), I like it. I like opening the door for someone. I like knowing that for even a brief moment their mood changes. They appreciate what you've done and it affects their day. Thats magical. Thats monumental. Just from something so small can I affect another person's life. Imagine what I can do in another country for two years!!! Imagine the lives I can affect.

Yeah I know I won't be able to help the entire world. I won't be able to help an entire nation. But if I can touch someone...anyone...then the entire tour is worth it.

How will I adapt to a new culture? No idea. I just know I want to put all my passion and endurance into it.

How am I with eating a different cuisine? Not too shabby. Okay so I can't STAND spaghetti (had it a lot growing up) and I can't STAND tuna casserole (cheese, peas, and tuna...NO WAY), asparagus (I'll eat it but not a big fan), and coconut. But I find a way to like most things. If its cooked differently I may like it more (i.e.- brussel sprouts).

How will I deal with the stress of it all? I don't know. I honestly have no idea until I get there and I get pushed to the limit. All I know is that I'll try to adapt and change. I'll try to find an outlet that relieves it all. Whether it'll be picking up a new hobby, working out, or writing. I'll find something. I always do.

I don't know if that will be enough during the interview. Maybe I've jinxed it all with creating a blog. But I just needed to see my reasoning. Any comments are welcome.

El frustrat-o

I probably should not be sent to a Spanish speaking country. I make fun of them. In a fun and light way of course. I mean my friend Gerardo I nicknamed Chuck. He wanted an American nickname though! Probably didn't help that I kept referring to Taco Bell as real Mexican cuisine and that what he ate was just "faux Mexican". It was all good and fun though. He enjoyed the teasing.

X received my fax yesterday. I had to send it two more times because they didn't "get it". My fax said "hey I'm working okay on my end...don't know what their deal is". I may have exaggerated what it said. Probably something like "transmitting ok"...but thats boring. So he got it around noon-ish or so. Yet no interview was set up, no changing of my status to my application thing online. Maybe I'm just a bit pushy cause I want to go and serve. Hurry people!!! I want to go help!!!

Yeah...yeah...they'll probably still need help after a week. But I'm trying to be on top of everything. Oh well.

Deactivation

As of this moment my application has been deactivated. Is that a good or bad thing? What does that really mean?

Well here's the scoop. X, recruiter's name withheld just because, gave me a call about my application and everything. At first he tells me that I need more experience. Something I DEFINITELY did not expect to hear. But eventually that calms down. Because he keeps saying things like "oh well on your application you did some landscaping..thats Agricultural Development...oh and the work you did in your community is Community Development...so I guess you could increase your chances by being able to do both". Which negates the entire "you need more experience". But he told me that if I want to do TEFL I'd have to volunteer 30 hours a month for 3 months to do that. Which I thought the Peace Corps teaches how to teach (or so what I found on their website and volunteer blogs). Kinda makes you wonder.

The focus behind the call was actually to set up an interview. Of which we couldn't do because I didn't send in a student loan form. (Where was that in my packet?!) And there was an issue of me applying online to the CIA about being a counter terrorism analyst (awesome title isn't it?). They never got in touch with me so I didn't care. I just had to send them a letter asking them to remove my name and send a copy to PC. Not a biggie. But until X received my form and the letter he was deactivating my application.

So I decided to fax the form and the letter to PC. Probably within two hours I did all of that. Yet no word from X. I'm guessing I'll get a call tomorrow. But thats a guess.

From what he told me though there was a good chance of me doing Community Development. Apparently there are people coming back within the month so they're looking for replacements. YAY! :-)

I wanted that more than TEFL. No idea where though.

We shall see. Any volunteers to go with me on the trek to Chicago for the interview?

Oh! If anyone knows a place that could use a volunteer to teach English as a foreign language hit me up.

***Edit***- So apparently I screwed up my fax. How can you screw that up? The letter I sent to the CIA didn't have address so they want me to resend it. I have a feeling my paperwork skills and patience will be tested.

Postage

So when I came into work today I had one goal in mind. Check mytoolkit to see if everything is in. Was it? No. Which left me to wonder what happened.

My $17.36 paid for delivery on Saturday. As of this morning my packet sits in FedEx in Chicago? Refund I say!

Oh well. I'm sure it'll be delivered today. Then I get to call for an interview. Yaaaaay....nervous about that. I hope I don't get grilled. "Whats your favorite type of cheese? Will you eat a goat's head? Do you have clamydia? Whats the capital of Djibouti? How much patience will you have if your boss is technologically ignorant and you have to help him at a moment's notice? Do you sleep in the fetal position? Have you ever licked a toad? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Why do you want to join the Peace Corps? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you have a boyfriend? How many licks to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? And lastly...where in the world is Carmen San Diego?"

I doubt they'd ask all that. But for the record: Blue (or cheddar). Depends on how its cooked and if I have to. Nope. Djibouti (google it folks). Probably not a lot but I'll adapt. Yes...especially when I'm cold. Not that I know of. What exactly is chucking wood? I want to help. Nope. Don't swing that way. 257. Djibouti.