12/21/2007
My recruiter unexpectedly called today! I knew when I answered the phone that she was going to offer me a nomination. The offer she gave me is in Central Asia. She wanted to make sure that I was okay with this before she officially nominated me. Due to our conversation during the interview, she understood my fears about Asia. Our conversation during the interview however made me realize that I’m going to be nervous about learning a new language no matter what language it is. I was so excited after hanging up the phone that I drove to Borders Bookstore with my grandmother (we were out shopping when the recruiter called) to find a book on Asia that could actually tell me what countries are included in Central Asia. I am a bit nervous after seeing the countries that make up Central Asia, but I also believe that the cultures in these countries are exceedingly vibrant, and the opportunity to experience them really is a dream come true.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Murphy's Law
12/20/2007
My life is completely dictated by Murphy’s Law. The fact that I stated this at 10:00 this morning only makes my entire day more ironic. My interview was at 1:00 today at the Earl Cabelle Federal Building in Dallas. My aunt is familiar with the area, so she offered to pick me up and help me get there. She suggested that even though Dallas is only 20 or 30 minutes away, we should go ahead and leave at 11:00, just to make sure that there was no way we could be late. I was ready by 10:00 and promptly refused offers of food… “I can’t eat anything. My life is dictated by Murphy’s Law. If I so much as look at food, I’ll somehow manage to spill it all over myself.” We ended up leaving later than planned, around 11:30, but that was okay. After fighting traffic and finding parking, we arrived at the federal building around 12:15. We went through security, found the Peace Corps office, and then continued on to the upstairs Café where my aunt and grandmother would wait for me during the interview. Just as I was starting to relax, the fire alarm started going off. Great. We had to evacuate the building (did I mention we were on the 6th floor?) and then stand outside waiting for an eternity. My eyes were glued to my cell phone clock the entire time. I watched the minutes tick by. Finally at 12:57, the security guards motioned the crowd outside to pass back through security and into the building. Amazingly enough, I was able to push myself through the throng of people and get myself to the fourth floor Peace Corps office by 1:01. My recruiter was extremely understanding, as she had been waiting outside during the fire drill as well. Though I was exceedingly nervous by this point due to the unforeseen circumstances of my arrival, the interview went well. I was impressed by my recruiter and the insights that she was able to offer. Hopefully I impressed her as well! I’m very nervous about the language aspect of the Peace Corps, and she was able to calm my fears about that a bit. I did express to her that Asia makes me nervous because of my language fears and my personal perception (though perhaps erroneous) that Asian languages are exceedingly difficult. I was disappointed at the end of the interview. My recruiter stated that if she decided to nominate me, she would not do so until well into January because of her busy schedule. If I haven’t heard from her by January 11th, she said to call her.
My life is completely dictated by Murphy’s Law. The fact that I stated this at 10:00 this morning only makes my entire day more ironic. My interview was at 1:00 today at the Earl Cabelle Federal Building in Dallas. My aunt is familiar with the area, so she offered to pick me up and help me get there. She suggested that even though Dallas is only 20 or 30 minutes away, we should go ahead and leave at 11:00, just to make sure that there was no way we could be late. I was ready by 10:00 and promptly refused offers of food… “I can’t eat anything. My life is dictated by Murphy’s Law. If I so much as look at food, I’ll somehow manage to spill it all over myself.” We ended up leaving later than planned, around 11:30, but that was okay. After fighting traffic and finding parking, we arrived at the federal building around 12:15. We went through security, found the Peace Corps office, and then continued on to the upstairs Café where my aunt and grandmother would wait for me during the interview. Just as I was starting to relax, the fire alarm started going off. Great. We had to evacuate the building (did I mention we were on the 6th floor?) and then stand outside waiting for an eternity. My eyes were glued to my cell phone clock the entire time. I watched the minutes tick by. Finally at 12:57, the security guards motioned the crowd outside to pass back through security and into the building. Amazingly enough, I was able to push myself through the throng of people and get myself to the fourth floor Peace Corps office by 1:01. My recruiter was extremely understanding, as she had been waiting outside during the fire drill as well. Though I was exceedingly nervous by this point due to the unforeseen circumstances of my arrival, the interview went well. I was impressed by my recruiter and the insights that she was able to offer. Hopefully I impressed her as well! I’m very nervous about the language aspect of the Peace Corps, and she was able to calm my fears about that a bit. I did express to her that Asia makes me nervous because of my language fears and my personal perception (though perhaps erroneous) that Asian languages are exceedingly difficult. I was disappointed at the end of the interview. My recruiter stated that if she decided to nominate me, she would not do so until well into January because of her busy schedule. If I haven’t heard from her by January 11th, she said to call her.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Interview Scheduled!
Today I started thinking about everything that could have gone wrong with the papers I sent for my legal clearance. Maybe the truck carrying them got into a wreck. Maybe the preaddressed envelope from the Peace Corps had the wrong address. Thankfully all of the options I could think of were equally ridiculous. Even better, my recruiter called about ten minutes ago to tell me that she recieved the paperwork last week. We scheduled my interview for December 20 - next Thursday!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Dum de dum...
I'm probably the only person in the world who actually enjoys filling out all of the PC paperwork. Then again, finals are next week and all of this paperwork has allowed me wonderful amounts of time to procrastinate. I mailed everything to my recruiter today, the ball is back in her court now.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Getting the Ball Rolling!
Today was a pretty busy day as far as Peace Corps activity is concerned. I got fingerprinted today, which went a lot fast than I expected. I was probably in the police department building for less than 15 minutes. I also spoke with Erica, my recruiter, today for the first time since submitting my application. She said to call her as soon as I mail off my packet of additional forms and we will schedule my interview. Since I will be in Arlington over Christmas Break, we will do the interview sometime then. I also finally recieved my username and password for the online toolkit for PC today. None of the stuff was really important, but its nice to know that things are going smoothly so far. I should be able to mail off my additional forms tomorrow.
Oh, and by the time I got home from classes today, I had an email from Erica. She said that after reviewing my application further, she thinks I am eligible for a TESL program. I doubt that classroom tutoring / teacher aide work qualifies me for much of anything, but I'll fill out the forms and see what happens.
Oh, and by the time I got home from classes today, I had an email from Erica. She said that after reviewing my application further, she thinks I am eligible for a TESL program. I doubt that classroom tutoring / teacher aide work qualifies me for much of anything, but I'll fill out the forms and see what happens.
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