invitation on the way!

I got an email today from Peace Corps telling me to check my online toolkit and it said that there is an invitation kit on the way!
Once I get the invitation, I have ten days to accept or reject the assignment. The kit will contain information about my country and about the job I'll be doing there.

Now I'm not supposed to know this, but I am almost 100 percent sure that it is Nicaragua. I talked to a placement officer on the phone a few days ago and she told me that it's a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program. She also said that I would be leaving in the end of August and I happen to know that Nicaragua has this program and the staging date is August 31.
I should be getting the invitation this week, so I'll write more when I get it.

For now, here's some info on Nicaragua: http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Nicaragua

Peace!

medical clearance, por fin!

Dang that's a big deal! Now that I am dentally and medically cleared (again!), I should be getting a new assignment very soon. YAY!

got my stuff back from Africa

About an hour ago, I heard a knock at the door and I opened it to find a huge box sitting on the doorstep and a FedEx lady walking away. I knew immediately what it was: my long-awaited box of stuff I left in Guinea when I was evacuated in October of last year.
I opened it eagerly, feeling like it was Christmas. I was excited to get certain things back-- like my good shoes and my Camelbak water backpack, and I was also anticipating seeing the other things I had forgotten about. I opened it and the smell of West Africa came wafting out to meet my nostrils. I tore open my suitcase inside to see the colorful fabrics of my African clothes and some slightly moldy books I had left there, like the Tao Te Ching and some Peace Corps language books. My French press was inside as well, along with an unopened pound of Starbucks coffee that Joy had sent me in a care package.
As I dug through my things, the feeling of Christmas faded and I was flooded with memories, like my last day in Timbo when I was frantically packing my things and wondering if/when I'd come back to get them. Like locking my door when the Peace Corps bus came the next morning to drive me to Mali. Like saying goodbye to my host brother, and all the "petits" in my compound, telling them that I'd most likely be back in two weeks to start teaching.
I have been back in Arizona now for over four months and the feeling of living in Africa has faded into a story of the past that has very little to do with my everyday reality. Opening this box has made my Guinea memories come back into the present with a realness that reminds me that this part of my life is real and tangible. For some reason this hit me with a wave of sadness for my village in Guinea and my students that may or may not have a math teacher now and for my own Peace Corps experience that was cut so short by the unexpected violence in Conakry on September 28th. It also reminded me that Guinea is still over there, still struggling for survival and democracy and peace.
I am sending a silent prayer to Guinea and to all the people I met in my short Peace Corps Guinea experience. I love and miss you all.
On est ensemble!

but hey...

I got my letter in the mail confirming my dental clearance! And I didn't even have to do anything this time...

As for medical clearance, I guess it's processing now that a huge error in communication has been corrected. I won't even go into it because the past is past and the future is now!

Medical Clearance: here we go again...

Due to some kind of error in the Medical Office, my medical clearance hasn't even begun yet (it should have started a month ago) and I would need to be cleared by now in order to leave in April for the program in which I was re-enrolled.
This kind of thing is frustrating about the Peace Corps, but I'm going to stay patient and focused and keep calling them until they give my file the priority it deserves as an evacuee.
A lot of my other Peace Corps friends who were evacuated with me have already re-enrolled, got their medical clearance and invitations, and a couple have already left for their new posts! (Good luck, Daywalker and Big Cactus!)

So I guess I'm not leaving in April!
Oh well, it's not the worst thing to have to stay for an extra month or two.
Maybe I'll go hike the Grand Canyon again! I did it a couple of weeks ago with my family and it was beautiful and terrible and covered in snow. We hiked South Kaibab trail to the river and back in a day, aka the "turn and burn." I wouldn't recommend this hike to anyone, unless they were in great shape and slightly masochistic.
I loved it, though. There is something magical about the canyon to me. Every time I hike up, I hike alone and always have some kind of epiphany about my life, which is usually a variation of the same realization: everything is perfect, everything will be okay, or there is nothing wrong.
This time, my realization was gratitude. I felt grateful for every breath, every step as I hiked up that steep muddy trail. I was grateful that I could feel my heart beating and my muscles working to get me out again. I was grateful for my family and friends and for every single moment of my life. I was grateful for all of the places I've been able to see and the people I've been able to meet. I have been privileged to have experienced so much beauty and love in my lifetime. And I am grateful in advance for all of the things to come!

next assignment: somewhere in Central America

So on my re-enrollment papers, I requested South or Central America. My placement officer called me last week and told me that I didn't have enough college Spanish (I only did 2 semesters) to go to a Spanish-speaking country in that region. She told me I had the following options:

1. She could try to place me in an English-speaking country in the region (like Belize or Guyana)
2. I could take a CLEP Spanish or ACTFL test to prove that I could hang in a Spanish-speaking place.

I chose to take the CLEP test, which would earn me the remaining credits for Spanish 201 and 202. I studied hard for about a week and took the test this morning. I needed a 63 out of 80 to pass. I got a 74!

So I talked to placement again today and she told me that she's re-enrolling me somewhere in Central America and that if all goes well, I should be leaving in late April. She told me that the position in this country involves tourism and English teaching.

Based on the staging dates on the Peace Corps wiki site, I'm guessing it's either Guatemala or Panama. Vamos a ver...

In the meantime, I'll keep brushing up on my Spanish and enjoying the lovely Arizona winter.

Paz y amor. Besos y abrazos!

re-enrolling

I sent in my re-enrollment papers the other day. I requested South or Central America, so we'll see what kind of invitation comes my way.