Friday, April 17, 2009

Here goes nothing!

Hello world.

I started my Peace Corps journey during the second half of 2008. It all began with one of those deep and enlightening convos that Tari and I like to have. The kind where we talk about our life purposes and try to figure out our next steps. She mentioned PC, I googled it the next day, and suddenly I knew that I had found what I'd been looking for all along.

So now...about half a year later, I finally submitted my fingerprints and other assorted documents to my recruiter. Now things seem to be moving pretty quickly, but judging from all the PC blogs I read (yes, I'm addicted), this could all be a big fluke! I submitted everything between Monday and Tuesday, and by Wednesday I had my first interview scheduled for THIS COMING TUESDAY!! Ahhh!!

Now...I've definitely kicked up my blog reading and PC wiki research. I want to get an idea of what's to come. Yes, I know...nothing can quite prepare you for uprooting your life and moving to a foreign place, but I've googled "peace corps horror stories"...doesn't get much scarier than that! So I think that I know what I could potentially be getting myself into: scarcity of food/water, rabid dogs roaming my town, thieves breaking into my home, weird host parents, intense heat, polluted water and diseased mosquitos...pretty much everything you can think of!

For those of you who don't know just what the PC entails...Basically, I'll be shipped off to some "less-developed country" for 27 months. I'm shooting for Central/South America, but for all I know, I may be nominated to go to the Middle East or Africa or even some South Pacific Island! (we'll cross that bridge when I get to it)

The whole point is for me to [attempt to] help a community to help itself. This may be through some small business development initiative, or possibly, some type of special education program. My PC recruiter will assess my skills and my experience and nominate me for the position that she feels will best utilize them.

Am I scared? COMPLETELY. But, I'm also extremely excited. I hope to be placed somewhere where I can access the internet and stay connected with my friends and family, but I understand that there is a possibility that I won't. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

My next update will probably be Wednesday...that way I can let you know how my interview went!

2 comments:

  1. Oh...so you guys should DEFINITELY leave comments...I love those! :)

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  2. Have you checked out this page of potential interview questions?

    http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Interview_Questions

    They've been compiled by various individuals interviewed by PC in the past few years and were pretty spot on to the questions I was asked. Instead of planning out your answers to each question, think of them more as brainstorming questions and come up with various answers and examples that you can draw from during your interview (especially the "tell me about a time..." questions...those are the ones I had trouble with during my interview).

    Also, if you haven't already, DO JOIN the Facebook "Future Peace Corps Volunteers" group and the yahoo group "peacecorps2". These have both been SO helpful to me during my process!

    Good luck on your interview!

    P.S. If you have any questions feel free to check out my blog or leave me a comment!

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