STAGING INVITE

So it is so hard to believe that I am officially going to be in Africa as of February 2nd, 2011.  I received my staging invite today.  I will be in Washington D.C. January 31st for orientation, then February 1st, I get my vaccinations then at 9 p.m. I fly to Paris with my fellow trainees where I will have a layover then onwards to Bamako, Mali!!! 

I am so excited that I am going to be going to Africa. It is crazy that through all the application process,  planning for the adventure, that now everything has come together and I am going to be leaving in just over a month!!

So...

It has been a while since I have posted last...  I haven't had the internet recently, at least not the access to update.  So I feel like I should be doing more before I leave for the peace corps, I sent out for my passport already, but that is it... Is there something else I could be doing right now???  I haven't had any information from the Corps at all so I am not sure what else there is...  I go back to florida this coming sunday :(  I am really going to miss NYC!  but a month and half home will be really relaxing. I also have to start talking to my student loan people to make sure I can defer my loans and I need to call my health insurance company to try to make sure I can get 3 months supplies of my medicine.  But is there something else I could do or need to do?  I feel that there was so much to do while an applicant but now as a invitee, I feel like I may be forgetting something...

Officially accepted and process start :)

So Wednesday I officially accepted my invitation which was fantastic :)  I am so excited.  I have started the process too now.  I mailed off my passport application today and the application for my visa for Mali!! I am so excited about all of this.  The information is a little overwhelming at first with all the information they need from us, but it is making me for excited about the entire program :)

Invitation!!

So last week I received my notice that an invitation was sent to me!! I was so excited, I was waiting patiently for like 3 days and guess what I received it today!!! I am going to MALI!!!! My original departure date was suppose to be in December but now I will be leaving January 31st to Mali!! I am really excited, I will be there until April 12, 2013!  It is crazy to think about it, I am actually going to be living in AFRICA, who would have thought when I was growing up, I would be spending time in Africa!  I am really happy for this opportunity, it is going to be a great experience for me personally...  It is such a relief to know that I am officially going and knowing when I am leaving and where I am going.  No more guessing games for me!!

Placement Phone Call

So today started out quite interestingly,

I was on vacation for the past 2 weeks and I was coming back today so I set up my Final Assessment phone call with my placement officer today at 4:00. My flight was suppose to land at 1:45 so that gave me plenty of time to get to my apartment from the airport... Well with the great weather we have here in NYC, my flight was delayed by 1.5 hours, so I didn't arrive until 3:15... Knowing this I called the placement officer a head and told her that I will not be able to have a 4 o'clock call and that it would be better at  5:00.  And I also had my mother email from my email account at home.  Well my placement officer didn't receive either messages so I ended up doing my assessment in a cab home. 

So my Final Assessment came and went, and i definitely did not put my mind at ease...  Everything went very well and she told me that I will receive an invitation however she is not sure if it will be to the December Departure date one yet because there are only a few spots open and there are numerous applicants still, she did say there is another program at the end of January that I am being considered for also.  So basically it is still up in the air... I asked when will I know, she told me that if I do not receive an invitation in the next couple of weeks then to assume that I am leaving at the end of January.  So I am guessing that is when I am leaving... Any opinions??

So I am still hoping for the December Departures since it is to Africa, the 4 that leave in January, 3 are to Latin America and on to Thailand.  They will be great but I was really hoping to be in Africa...

Follow-up discussion??

So I received an email today asking me to create a time where I can have a follow-up discussion to finalize my placement. 

I am currently considering your application for placement. I would like to arrange a 30-minute phone discussion with you to complete the final evaluation of your application. Please let me know a day and time beginning Tuesday, October 5th when you would be available for a phone discussion and the best number at which to reach you. I am available Monday through Friday between 9:30am to 5:30pm EST. 

I am actually nervous about this message, I have not read anywhere on here about a follow-up discussion so I am wondering if she is considering me for a possible later time frame or not :(... 

Does anyone have any insight??  I scheduled my meeting for tomorrow afternoon when I get home from vacation since this is the only time I can think of before I go back to work later this week... 

So I should know something soon... I hope!

So I got home last night and this was in my inbox,

Thank you for your prompt response and submission of your updated resume. Your application will now move on to your Placement Officer Lateefah  for a final review. Should she have any questions for you about the information in your application, she will be in touch with you before determining whether an invitation will be issued to the program you were originally nominated to. If you do not receive an invitation to that program, but Lateefah determines that you are a suitable and competitive applicant for service, she will then work to identify alternate program options for you.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions on the placement and assessment process.

So I guess this means that I am having my final review done, and hopefully I receive the invitation to my nominated program!! I wonder how much longer it will be till I know for sure?

Confusion but hopeful!!

So I just received an email today from the placement office,  the first email that was sent stated that I have passed my medical however it was too late for the program I was nominated for so I need to give them an updated resume and show some flexibility in the region I want to go... so this obviously made me want to cry,  because I really want to do this soon and I really want to go to Africa!!!  Well soon later I received two more emails, one that told me to just send an updated resume before they give it to placement for final review, the email that was sent after said to disregard the first email and to go by the latest email that I have received so I guess that this means my application is headed off for final review :)!!!! So I am not sure how long from here it will be until I hear about my invitation...  I know once I receive one update, it is usually quick to hear a response (generally a day or two later), one could only hope!

Medically Cleared For Reals Now!!

So I received my letter in the mail today at work that stated I have passed my medical clearance.  This is a relief, I am officially one more step closer to getting my invitation, at least I hope so.  So onto placement... I really hope it isn't too long of a process, I give it a month.  I was nominated for early December so I guess that I should hear by mid-October since that would be the 6 week plan that they like to give to people.  All I can do is hope though, I have not read anyone who was nominated for this time so I am wondering if this is a simple estimation...  I checked on the wiki peace corps site and it stated that this particular departure date was for Guinea which  had its operations suspended a year ago from a civil unrest that turned dangerous and caused a massacre.  So patience ones again I call upon you to keep my sanity through the rest of this process.  On a side note, I will be in Las Vegas next week for a weekend then in Florida for a week for my new nephew/god sons baptism, so I will have something to pre-occupy my time/mind with. 

Medically Complete... Finally!!

So it is official, my medical is complete!!! I am excited about this, now it is waiting time for the letter to see if I have been cleared I guess... not really sure what happens from here. I am so excited to be medically cleared though, it is a great relief for me that I am one step closer to becoming a PV!!  Does anyone have an estimation on how long it takes from being medically cleared to an invitation?

The unavoidable result...

So since I have been "patiently" waiting to hear about my medical update... I did hear something, I wrote a post a few place back stating how my doctor by error marked me as a female on my blood test versus a male, well it did come back to bite me.  I received a letter a few days ago stating that I need a new blood test done.  I am glad though that this is all they need from me, I just had the new test done on Friday, on tuesday I should have the results and then I will fax them.  Honestly, I knew this was going to happen so I am not surprised, but I annoyed about the error in the beginning... 

So I guess I should hear from them shortly after I fax in the new results and the doctors note stating the original error. When I mailed in my dental, I heard the next day of my completion so one can only hope that once they receive the fax then my medical will be cleared too.

Medical Update??

Well it isn't much, but they sent me my updated information on mytoolkits... I have a medical hold, it says that all applicants have a medical hold during the reviewing process and they do not need anything from me unless I get a direct contact from the medical reviewer.  So I guess that means they are officially looking at my medical!  I am not sure though, Does anyone have any insight into this message??

The waiting game....

This is driving me crazy!!!! I do not like the waiting game, it is true that one does need to have true patience in order to go through this whole process.  Everyone morning I wake up and the first thing I do is go to my email to see if I have an update, and so far nothing. :(  I guess I am jumping the gun, they have only had my medical for 3 weeks but my goodness, I wish I could know now...  But I guess it is good so far that I have not heard anything yet, when I had an issue with my dental, they told me very quickly by sending my information back home, so since  I have not heard from them, I guess that means I may have complete information.

I am getting really excited though about the potential opportunity to go. Living in NYC, I am meeting a lot of people from West Africa. I work with a lady from Senegal.  A new kid at work is from Burkino Faso.  A lot of my customers at Wachovia are from all over, including Ghana, Guinea and other African nations.   I told a few of them about my possible endeavor and they are so excited for me, I just wish I could tell them something more definitive.

Well hopefully I hear something next week :), fingers crossed...

Enjoy the weekend everyone

Dental Complete!

So after all my dental troubles from this past week, I have received my update on my tool kit, Dental Complete!! That was a lot quicker than I expected since they just received it yesterday!  So now my heart is racing, all I have left is my medical!!  I really hope I hear about that next week! This is all coming together quicker than I thought!

Dental dislike...

So Monday I receive a call from my parents... "Josh, we have you dental records here, they say you are missing teeth in the x-ray and they need you to get this done quick." I was upset of course, firstly because I live in NYC and my x-rays are in Florida and secondly, my dentist told me that my x-rays were complete.  Well my parents paid to have them over-nighted to me in NYC, 20 dollars too!!! I get them yesterday (tuesday I went to six flags)... I go directly to the dentist, they first told me that the dentist at the peace corps was probably too lazy to organize them (they were not mounted) so she told me they will just mount them for me and show how they are a complete set... well to their amazement and to my own, they are missing x-rays, and not only are they missing some, half the one they have are damaged.  So apparently who ever looked at my x-rays spilled hot coffee on them and then returned them to me damaged for new ones...  So I am even more upset about that, so today I am getting new x-rays done, getting more radiation too.  Honestly though, I expected something to go wrong anyways so this is hopefully the worse of it.  Fingers crossed that is.  At least they gave me a UPS over night envelope so I can get this done asap and they will have it tomorrow. 

received

so I had my update on my tool kits, they have received my medical information which I mailed last week Tuesday!!! So at least I know that they have received it, not is the waiting game. I hope to hear from them with in the month!!! At least let me know if they need more information, or anything...  Fingers crossed for a quick review.

Through my obsession...

so ever since I have sent my medical paper work in, I have been constantly thinking over and over again... when I will I know. I was nominated for December 2010, so I guess it should not be too long.  Then I started to think about where I might end up going.  On peace corps wiki, I was looking at the departure dates and I noticed that there was only one country that left in December and that is Guinea. 

Well, I am concerned about whether this could be or not, since I noticed that Guinea has been suspended because of the military actions that took place last year.  Then I was going through peace corps journals and I noticed that they are asking for RPCVs to go for 9 month trips for education.  So I am wondering if they have officially re-opened the missions to Guinea.  If so, I know there is on more election in about 2 weeks there, is this possible re-opening dependent upon how the August elections go? What will be nice is to know whether anyone else has received a nomination for Sub-Saharan Africa December 2010, or if someone has been nominated yet for it.

I am probably jumping the gun, but I am a slight bit impatient.  I know that everything will end up working it self out. I still have to wait patiently for my medical to clear so I can get my invitation.  I hope that they will do mine early, I am hoping to have a clearance by then end of August : ).  I kind of want to know what I should be planning on doing for the next several months.

New Blog

So I decided today that I like this blog site better than the one I was using before, so if you notice there is a huge amount of blog entries all on today's day, I just copied and pasted my previous blogs entries. 

What am I to do!

So I am perplexed a little about what I am to do... I am going to be taking the biggest adventure of my life (hopefully). I am so excited, nervous, anxious on this possibility.  So out of my excitement of this potential endeavor, I tell people who are close to me, my friends, my family and a few of my favorite customers at the bank I work at.  Then yesterday, my co-worker goes to me and told me, "You better pray you get accepted because if you do not, then you have all this people knowing that you were suppose to do this." This got me thinking, I am extremely nervous and I think about what a let down this will be if I do not get accepted.  I feel very confident in my acceptance, my doctor told me there is no discrepancies that he could see, my asthma is under control, I found out I do not have an allergy to penicillin, and I have my wisdom teeth out.  I believe that my credentials are good with a business background and language.  But what if I am counting on getting in too early? What do I say to people if I do not get accepted?  I actually have kept this under raps from most people still but my goodness, I can not control what someone else says about me, such as my parents who tell everyone they meet on the street.  My co-workers tell there friends and families.  I had to tell them at work because of the medical tests that I needed done.  I try not to think about it too much since I still do have a lot of time until I officially know anything from my medical.  I do always tell others that I am not a shoe in, I still have a huge medical obstacle in my way :(.

I mention this because it has happened to me before, when I was graduating grad school, I was applying to teach english in France.  I was told I was a shoe in by numerous people who have done it.  I lived in France, I spoke French, I had French people as my references, I had an MBA, I taught French, these were all things that I was told on why I would get in.  Well I told everyone on mother earth that I was going to be living in France for a year, that I am going to be there and find a job afterward and live in Paris. Well things blew up in my face 2 weeks before graduation, I received an email of rejection because of a spike in applications, they decided to no longer accept non-education majors.  I was devastated and felt great shame and embarrassment.  I definitely counted my eggs too soon, it destroyed me.  I do not want this to happen again :( not at all.  I do want to get excited though, I want to feel the hope that this will work out for me, but I guess I do have to try to be reserved and say how this is not a guarantee, I could fail my medical, or my nomination time is filled.  At least I do not leave any real announcements on facebook :), I left one on the nomination day that said I may be moving to Africa!!

I hope my medical does not take too long to go over, I am very anxious now!!!

Finished and mailed... please be quick

So I officially sent in my medical paper work with my dental yesterday!!! I finished it all shockingly quick, I received it Friday July 9th, and I mailed it Tuesday July 27th.  I went to the post office to have it mailed, they told me it should be in D.C. by Friday.  I really hope I filled it out all properly and that it does not get lost in the mail.  I was very very very thorough on the medical testing.  I had enough blood test for 5 people.  I made sure any possible discrepancy I could have was tested and a report filled out.  The two concerns which I received extra paper work for were that I had Asthma and an Allergy to Penicillin. Well I had a Pulmonary Function test done which came out that my lungs are actually in perfect condition which means I may be growing out of my Asthma.  I also had a blood test to check my childhood allergy to Penicillin which also came out negative which means I grew out of that allergy.  Out of all the testings and probings, I believe that I am in great health for the peace corps, I just hope I did not forget a signature or something.  I had several people plus myself review everything so many times that I think I should be fine!! Now for the waiting period of when they review.  Since I have a plan departure date of early December. I really hope they do the review sooner than later. 

In the meantime of the waiting game, I am doing my good bye to America travels before I leave.  I am going to Las Vegas with my co-workers in September for a few days, followed by a week in Florida for my soon to be nephew's baptism (hopefully Zander is born by then, we planned for Oct 3rd for the baptism and the due date is the end of September).  Then if all goes well I will be moving to Florida from NYC in November and going to Mexico on a cruise with my mom. 

I was wondering if it is possible for early departures.  I was checking on peace corps wiki and I noticed that there are no tentative departure dates in December but there are some at the end of November so I am wondering if I will be leaving then or actually waiting until next year.  I guess I will have to wait and find out.

---

Medical into Fully Swing!

So I have started my medical... let me say, I fully understand the frustrations and the time consumption that others have expressed in the past.  I have my dental done completely which is nice (actually I do need one stamp that I forgot).  My medical is another story, the doctor that I am currently seeing to help me with the process does not do all the necessary tests at his office so I have referrals to see three other doctors.  This is annoying because I can not seem to get an appointment with these doctors. I need several things done from a lung test (asthma), I need to get a polio booster shot, and have an allergy test do for penicillin, all three are done with different doctors. I did have my blood drawn on Thursday and a TB test,  so on Monday I should know if the hard part of the test is good or not.  This process is stressful though, I want to get everything too them asap since my tenative departure date is in december so they should push my medical through quickly.  Also, I am doing all this while I am working full time, thank goodness for my understanding management, they are a blessing and are very supportive of me through everything.

Nomination!!

After a grueling week of hearing nothing from my recruiter, she emails me this morning to clarify a few things about my interview.  I was dreading this because I thought that my interview was terrible then :( ... Well she just contacted me again 2 hours later and guess what I got my nomination!!!!!!!! I was nominated for Sub-Saharan Africa with a departure date of December 2010!!!!! 

I read the email called my mom and started to ball!!! I am so overwhelmed with joy, excitement and now the unforeseen future. What am I to do next??  I live in NYC but my parents are in Florida, do I move home when I lease is up at the end of august? do I find a sublease that will last 2 months?  What about work, I do not want to quit yet because I still haven't done the medical!! This is all crazy,  so I am a potential PCV!!!! CRAZY!!!!

Interview DAy

So I had my interview today!!!! OMG, so nervous now!  I was told that I will find out by Wednesday or Thursday so we will see (keep your fingers crossed).  Overall, I think I did well, there were a few questions that I was not exactly sure if I answered correctly or not but I was honest with everything.  I do not want to fudge the truth on anything simply because I want to make sure they believe I am the person right for the job.  The interview actually lasted an hour and a half, I showed up early, she saw me straight away and we lasted well past the hour deadline.  It was very interesting listening to her stories that had, I actually wished that I could have sat with her for longer time to just hear everything that she went there.  My recruiter is a RPCV, she was a teacher in Georgia (not the state).  I really dug deep to find the best examples of everything that I have experienced whether it was abroad or during university.  Before I left, I said, "Well I am glad it is sooner than later so I can get some sleep on Wednesday", saying that I will be nervous about my nomination or not, she told me "do not worry, you can sleep tonight."  Well I do not want to jinx myself or anything so I will leave this be until Wednesday or Thursday when I hear something... WISH ME LUCK!!!!

Excited for the Next Step

So my recruiter finally came back from vacation and she email me today that she received my legal kit, guess what was in the email!!! It is my scheduled interview!!!!!!!  This coming monday at 9:00 am I will be on Varick Street downtown NYC meeting with Jennifer for the interview for the job of a lifetime!!!! I am so excited to be able to have the opportunity for this!!!

---

(Im) Patiently waiting for the next step

So my most resent update to me is one of the most annoying ones is that I sent in my background check, and my transcripts with my recommendation work sheet on June 2nd. I was so excited, because it was 2 weeks before they are even require, so I emailed my recruiter to inform her that they information is on the way.  I was very happy, I sent it the day I received my transcripts, I managed to make it from Mid-town Manhattan to the upper east side in like 25 mins with a stop at my apartment so I can make it to the post office.  Well when I emailed my recruiter, I got the response email... "I will be out of the office until June 16th on personal leave", I was so upset because her holiday started the day I mailed my information to her.   I was not upset with the Recruiter since everyone should take their personal time, I was upset with my university, I requested 2.5 weeks prior for the transcripts (may 18th), they promised me that it will take no more than 5 business days to receive so I was like okay cool, I will receive by the May 25/26 (a holiday was in between).  Well the 27th came and I called my university and asked them where it was, they told me they sent it on May 25th so I figured okay a couple more days.  Well June 2nd came a long and I was like no way is it taking this long, well I find out that they actually never mailed it at all :(, so I had them fax me an unofficial copy to I can get the process done sooner and as I said before, it was too late, my recruiter was on vacation, and is on vacation until middle of this week.  So as my title states, I am patient for the next steps, I was just impatient with my university.

On another thought, I really wished that this whole process was quicker, I understand that they have to make sure everybody needs to make sure their medical is great, dental is great, and that they can legally go, but I am so nervous that if I am lucky enough to receive a nomination that it won't be until next summer.  I will be patient if that is what I am destined to do, if I am required to wait that long, but I really wished that from the interview process to the departure time it was only 6 months or so.  I guess I am jumping the gun on all this since I still haven't had a scheduled interview, nor a nomination.  I am just really (as most potential PCV) energized and excited for such an opportunity.  I've waited a very long time to start this process (2 years), but I guess one more will not hurt.

What doesn't help either is reading the blogs of other current PCV, their blogs make me so anxious to get accepted, to start my adventure, to start helping others, and create experiences and bonds in another part of the world (Hopefully Africa).

Application step 2

Application step 2

nyboy21

May 26th, 21:53

Current Mood:

determined

So I got the email and package for the next step before my interview!!! I actually received it last week Monday.  I so far have everything done on it except I have not received my transcripts from my university.  It took me a few days to get it done because I just had my 25th Birthday at Disney!!

I had my fingerprints done today at the NYC Police Precinct in Mid-town today.  If anyone wanted to know this, it cost 15 dollars for the first card and an additional dollar for every card after that, so it was 16 dollars for me, they take it in money order form made out to the NYPD.  I had that question so I asked my recruiter.  So I really hope to receive my transcripts soon so I can send my application out, I really am hoping to have my interview with in the next couple of weeks!! 

I am really prepping myself for this endeavor, but I am nervous that I am setting myself up for a major let down :(.  Fingers crossed :)

Future Endeavors

So I am using my first entry of my Journal to give a brief explanation to my past and what brought me to my current position and  future hope!

So I am currently 24 (5 days to 25!!!) , I have been a college graduate for 2 years now with a MBA in International Commerce, and 3 years graduate with my Bachelors in International Business, French and Marketing. With such degrees and aspirations when I was more youthful, I had great hopes of becoming an international professional working with brand management or business development!! Well 2 years later, I am currently a bank teller in NYC with no sight of the desired future that I have set fourth when I was a junior in High School.  I have had some experience overseas which included a semester in France and a summer session in Germany, France, Luxembourg, and Belgium.  With this said it brings me to the point where I am reevaluating my life.

When I was a senior at Niagara University, I met my friend Eric.  He was joining the Peace Corps right after college.  I met him because I was the director of the French Conversational Table.  I disregarding this as an option because my parents consistently pressured me into joining corporate America and receive a "real" job (a topic we can discuss shortly).  So coming to the end of my college with my MBA, I discovered my true calling in my life, to become a Foreign Service Officer, but while researching this option, I noticed the Peace Corps once again.  This time I took it up with my parents and asked them if this is an option that I could follow, to me the Peace Corps would bring me great amount of personal growth as well as bring me the professional opportunities overseas that would accelerate an international career that I desired. My parents said no, it wouldn't be worth my while and continued to insist that I join the Corporate world and make a great success of myself and my education.  Well this brings me to where I am today.  I have been out of school for 2 years and I am a bank teller in Time Square.  Not to understate the position because it is a reputable career for many who do not have the dreams and ambitions that I do.  I am growing really fast with the company but I am not happy there.  So during my reevaluation of my life and my ever desire to be a FSO, I brought the idea of joining the Peace Corps again with my parents, after all times are different, I am older and much wiser now.  They were still very hesitant but they finally gave me their support.  I do not live with my parents but I do respect their opinion and for me to live overseas for 27 months, I do need their emotional support for such an endeavor.  So it was official, I have started the process of becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer!!!!

So I have have finished my application and submitted it last week! I am waiting on one recommendation which I should receive this week sometime and then the waiting games starts to hear from the recruiter to start my 9-12 month processing time frame to either receive an invitation or not.  I am terribly nervous that I will not receive an invitation, I try not to get my hopes up too much.  I do have a job so its not like I will be doing nothing but I want this so bad for myself, its like Peace Corps, I have a masters degree in international business and I speak french.  I tutored french and economics, and I lived overseas.  I would be a great candidate.  I just hope they see it too!! 

This journal will be set up to discuss the steps and keep everyone updated on how processing is going. hopefully it will then lead to a journal discussing my experiences overseas but not to jump a head, lets look at the mission a head of us, getting the job!!