MICRONESIA!!!

I have officially accepted an invitation to serve as an ESL Teacher and Community Development Worker Peace Corps Volunteer in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) & Palau. How did this happen? Well…

A day after gaining official medical clearance (with a letter and everything), the placement office contacted me via email to inform me that they now had my file and would be reviewing it in due time. About two weeks later, a specialist emailed me to let me know that I could not be accommodated in my original nominated region (I suspect that peanuts are used too much in Middle Eastern cuisine) and asked if I would be okay with going to either Central Asia or the Pacific Islands sometime in September. I quickly replied that I would definitely be okay with that. She then asked if I would be willing to leave as early as September 1st. I initially put my starting date as anytime after September 20th due to my cousin’s wedding being on the 18th. I thought about it, consulted my sister (I was in Sunnyvale for two pleasant weeks), and decided that I should take advantage of this opportunity.

After sending that email, my placement officer contacted me via phone a day later to ask me a few clarification questions such as why I initially applied, if I would be okay religiously wherever I went, and also to send him an updated resume detailing my current volunteer activities. I did as he asked and on Tuesday, July 6th, the big blue invitation kit was sent to me from Washington, D.C.! Since I was in Vancouver at the time (see below post) I knew that I was officially invited via my Peace Corps account online. It was only when I returned home on July 12 that I knew I was placed in Micronesia. After a few days of reading the most urgent materials in the huge stack of paperwork they sent did I officially accept my invitation via email. I kind of wished I could have done it over the phone, but I did get a prompt reply a day after. So, the total amount of time it took me to go from applicant to invitee was five months. Awesome, yeah?

Now I have to write an aspiration statement as well as a tailored resume for the Peace Corps contacts in my country and turn those in within the next ten days. I have homework all over again! I also need to apply for my snazzy government passport and start packing. But those are small things. The amount of excitement and anticipation that I have for the next two (maybe three or longer) years is enough to sustain me until well after my service.

As my mother often likes to remind me, I am greatly blessed. :)

In other news, my trip to Sunnyvale was very relaxing and fun. I hung out with my sister and her husband for two weeks. During that time, we ate lots of different kinds of foods (Vietnemese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, American), visited places my sister wanted to go to, I learned how to knit from her (my first scarf is going quite well), and somehow made it though five seasons of Stargate SG-1. In order to repay them for their hospitality, all I have to do is sign my life away to World of Warcraft sometime in the next three days…I kid!