Sending Mail to Kyrgyzstan!

At the post office: The U.S. Postal Service uses the name Kyrgyzstan. The country names “Kyrgyz Republic” and “Kyrgyzstan” are interchangeable and are equally recognized. You may need to clarify to the postal clerk that the package is to be sent to Kyrgyzstan. Airmail delivery of letters and packages generally take between 4-10 days. Your post office will be able to assist in determining a reliable and cost-effective way of shipping items to the Trainee.

A note on sending packages: Please be sure to seal all packages with strong packing tape. Insuring the package may discourage tampering and pilfering. Unfortunately, from time to time Peace Corps Trainees and Volunteers have found that their packages have been tampered with, opened, and/or pilfered of the items inside. PC/Kyrgyz Republic cannot be held responsible for damaged or open packages.

Use this label on envelopes / packages! If you address mail only in English, I will still get it... However, incl udingthe Cryllic version will expedite the delivery!

Getting ready to leave!

Sorry to my fellow K-16's who have tried to contact me in the past month, I have been in Belize with very little computer/internet access. Having spent the past five weeks in Belize, I can't ignore the experience in this blog even though it isn't entirely Peace Corps related. Belize was amazing, and I will definitely always remember my time in the country. If you want to hear travel adventures and stories of Belize I will be glad to share them later!

As for Peace Corps... I leave in 16 days for Philadelphia! That is absolutely insane. I received my travel arrangements today. I will fly directly out of Shreveport at 6:30 in the morning on July 3, which means the day is going to start way too early! I'll fly to Memphis, and then on to Philadelphia where I will arrive around 12:05. The exciting part comes on July 5, when we actually leave for Kyrgyzstan! The flight itinerary given by the Peace Corps at this point shows that we will fly out on the morning of the 5th through New York on to Istanbul. We have something like an 8 hour layover in Istanbul, and then fly to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan!

Since I've been out of the country, I just started shopping for Peace Corps gear this week. Sort of feels like Christmas! I still have a ton of things to do before leaving!

Invitation!

So today... exactly 5 months to the day of turning in my application, I received my invitation! Secondary TEFL in the Kyrgyz Republic, leaving for staging on July 3! I'm going to think it over for a few days and make sure everything will actually work out... but I fully intend to accept the invitation!

Invitation!

As of Monday morning, my invitation is on the way! My PO contacted me about 2 1/2 weeks ago to tell me that I was medically cleared. He also said to update my resume, because he would need to know the updates before he could invite me. I never heard from him again though, so apparently I was already qualified for an invite without the extra tutoring I've been trying to get in. Almost 5 months to the day from turning in my application to being invited, that's pretty good!

Nomination!

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.

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.

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!