I guess it's about time I delve into the REAL reason for this blog. It will have to be in a few parts because it's a bit of a long story. I had avoided doing this for a while for various reasons. I didn't tell many people about what I was doing, nor about this blog, but in case it had gotten around, it was easier to just not talk about it. That would also really be why this hasn't been a very active place. My day-to-day life is rather boring, with many moments I don't want or need to remember. And as for my insane dance moments, those all live on Facebook. And speaking of dance, that's part of my news, as I won't be teaching again for a long while.
I have joined the U.S. Peace Corps. I leave March 19th for 27 months of adventure in Morocco. While I'm super excited (who wouldn't be? It's MOROCCO!), I'm also really nervous, scared, worried, etc. etc. etc. I haven't hit sad yet, but as time goes on, I know I'll hit that part as well. What part of Morocco, I'm not sure yet; I'll find that out in May. Until then, I have training (including Moroccan Arabic - yikes!). I am ready for this new chapter, although getting to this point has not been easy.
I submitted my final application, with resume and recommendations, in October 2010. The application was a little insane. Besides needing three recommendations and an updated resume, I need to write a couple of short essays and answer a ton of questions about my life. Let's just say it took me almost two months to complete. In part of the application, they ask about preferences on region, date of departure, and program, and I could be as flexible or strict on any of them as you want. I was open to going anywhere (although I wanted somewhere I hadn't been before, so Latin America and Africa were my top choices) and doing anything, but I really wanted to leave in the summer, after June, because dance would have been done by then.
Two days before Thanksgiving, I had my interview in the Rosslyn offices and received my nomination to be part of the Youth and Community Development team in the Balkans or Central Asia. I would be leaving sometime in July or August 2011 (if you're reading this, you realize that didn't happen as it's October 2011). So in all, I got the program and date of departure I wanted, but not the area. I was happy going anywhere, but I truly don't have an interest in Central Asia and I had been to Europe. I walked out of the office with a nomination and I was on cloud nine!
A few weeks later, I got all of my paperwork to obtain medical and dental clearances. I got all the required paperwork in on February 8, 2011. They then held all of that paperwork until the end of May when I received a phone call from a pre-service nurse that I needed to have a test redone since too much time had passed. Oh, and it needed to be done by June 1. Fun times. :-) I had the test redone and the results sent, so everything was in on my end.
To be continued...
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