INVITED

I got an email from my PO Patrick Carey early this morning:

In reviewing your application fully, I really think your original health program in Africa is the best fit for you. You are always free to participate in whatever secondary activities interest you (ie, English tutoring, community development, etc.) as long as the community has expressed a need in that area.

I plan to issue your invitation this morning and I trust that it will find you at your address later this week.

MY INVITATION IS IN THE MAIL!!!!


Based on the fact that it's for my original SSA health nomination, I am about 99% sure my invitation is for Uganda.

:D

Patiently waiting and new experience

No recent news from PC placement yet, although I'm hoping to hear something by the end of the month.

I set up an opportunity to get some additional experience this summer. It's job related, so not volunteer work, but I figure any new experience is a good thing! I'm going to be helping run a summer art camp for children age 4-7 in June. I'm really excited to be able to do an art camp! We've got tons of fun stuff planned :)

That's all for now...

Hopefully next time I'll post I'll have fun and exciting placement news!

New PO and placement update

I just got an email from the placement desk (same person who requested my resume - APO?) and now have the name, email, and phone number of my new placement officer!

Also included in the email:

The Placement and Assessment Office is currently focused on programs with June-July departures. Your file will most likely be reviewed by your Placement and Assessment Officer in the next 4-6 weeks.

*Hopefully a little earlier*



And also a little tidbit that gives me a pretty good idea that I'm nominated for Uganda:

You are nominated to an Africa program with an early August departure date. If an invitation is issued, Peace Corps is obligated to give the invitee a minimum of 6 weeks notice before the departure date of their program. Invitees for this particular program will be notified by the fifth week in June.

Uganda leaves August 6th this year :)

Placement Officer

Well apparently I have a new placement officer. My old PO apparently left the Peace Corps on April 17th. I only found out because I just sent her an email and got an automated response saying she's left.

Kinda sad :(

So I've left a message with the Africa Desk and I should know who my new PO is within the next business day!

We have Contact!

Got an email from PC today!

The Placement Office has reviewed my file and wants me to submit an updated professionally formatted resume and fax her my transcript showing I've graduated.

I can receive an invitation without them having the transcript, but I need to submit the resume ASAP.

Once the palcement desk has received my updated resume they will pass my file on to my placement officer for further review. That's when nominees get invitations!

Still waiting

No new placement updates yet. Although Jenna predicted that I'll get my invite on May 6, which would make a pretty good day since I'm going to the art museum on the 6th with some of my students too! I love the art museum - it's one of my favorite places!

When I last emailed my PO with some application/experience updates, she didn't include any invitation updates so I'm going to assume that I'm still on track for a mid-April application review. After my application is reviewed to make sure all my materials are in order, then she'll start looking for placements!

I know of at least one person who's received an August invite (Uganda). She also has *I believe* the same PO - so I'm pretty sure my PO is at least looking at quarter 4 (July, August, September) invites now!

New Recommendation

While my official nomination is a health extension program, I'm trying to have the option of teaching English instead. I feel I'm much more qualified to teach English than I am to do health-related activities.

I asked my current ESL supervisor to write me a recommendation letter to give my PO a better idea of what I've been doing and my ability to teach. She wrote me the nicest letter and I'm very happy to have her support!

Hopefully that will work in my favor and I'll get an TEFL position! I emailed it to my PO, who is unfortunately out of the office until Monday.

The wait continues!

The Dream

I had a dream the other night that I received an invitation to Macedonia. I'd absolutely LOVE this invitation so I hope my dream comes true!

4 more weeks

I "spoke" with my PO again this week. I wanted to update her on some new things I have done and am planning on doing. I've signed up for the Red Cross Bloodborne Pathogens class (it seems like every health PC applicant takes this class!) and have completed a few on-line courses through Kansas Train. I have also decided to seek out a recommendation letter from my ESL supervisor. Since TEFL is not my nominated field and I'd like to be considered for such a position, I thought a recommendation letter would be a wise idea! I hope to have it emailed to my PO by the end of the month.

At the end of the email response, my PO stated that they should be reviewing my file in the middle of April now (not mid-March as it was before). I'm not very surprised by this actually. Due to the increasing conflict in Madagascar, the US Embassy and the Peace Corps volunteers are leaving and the PC Madagascar program is temporarily suspended. That means PC needs to find new placements for all the trainees where were to leave on March 12th (they were actually notified during their staging that they were not leaving) and perhaps begin looking for new placements for current Madagascar volunteers. I'm pretty sure the Africa desk is a little busy right now!

So four more weeks....

4 weeks

I spoke with my PO today and was told that currently they're looking at April, May, June, and early-July departures. They'll start looking at August departures within the next four weeks.

Hopefully I'll know something more (or have an invite!) by the end of March!

The letter

I knew, knew, all day that the letter would be waiting for me when I came home tonight. And there it was, tucked between the cable bill and my new Netflix DVD.

When I opened it up, I could barely focus enough to read what it said.

The Office of Medical Services is pleased to inform you that you have been medically qualified for service [...]. You will now move to the next step in the process, the Office of Placement.

YAY!!!!!!!

Now I wait :)