Placement (assistant) Contact.

With my nomination departure date of  early June quickly approaching  I decided to e-mail placement, and let me tell you I am SO GLAD I did. I e-mailed them on April 28th and I received a quick response stating they e-mailed (the wrong address) on April 19th asking for an updated resume, skill addendum and volunteer supervisor reference, and were waiting to here back from me. I have no idea how they got the wrong e-mail , it wasn’t one that I had in the past, so it was strange. The very nice placement assistant said something along the lines of "As you probably have guessed you will not be considered for you original nomination due to timing and open slots. This is not unusual and there is no need to worry." She also stated that flexibility in geog preference and leave date is a great thing and my leave date will be July-Sept 2011 at the earliest.

Honestly Sept is the month I want to leave in,so I am feeling good about this....for the most part. I really hope my original monination to Sub Saharan Africa sticks, but I am trying to be ready for anything. I did have a short bittersweet moment when I read the e-mail thinking " If I would have gotten this  in my correct e-mail on April 19th maybe I would have my invite now." However, I need to not think like that. I do believe that everything happens for a reason. I will have extra months to become more financially stable and enjoy the summer.

missed 202 area code call! boooo

I sent my updated resume Friday evening and really had no idea when they would contact me next.My leave date at nomination was early May/June but I know that can change, a lot. At work I ATTEMPT ;) to keep my cell phone off my desk so I can't partake in my facebook addiction...I mean I try to actually work while at work....most of the time. On my first break I pull out my phone and had a missed call with a 202 area code, my heart skipped a beat or 2. There was no voicemail and when I called the number back it was blocked. Maybe it wasn't the PC , maybe it was a sales call?  If it was the PC I think they would have left a voicemail, or hopefully they will call back soon. I know it's very silly to think "oh I missed the call so I missed my chance to go" I am not sure why that crossed my mind. I am going to keep my phone on my desk now...lol. I am done rambling....I'll post more if/when I hear backl!

I am READY.(click on journal title to view properly)

A conversation over pizza and beer last night with a good friend made me realize just how ready I am to leave. I think all the waiting has really jacked up my patience level so I have been sort of holding back all the anxious,excited & nervous feelings while waiting to hear form placement.I used to get a nervous lump in my stomach when talking about leaving but that is gone! I now get a really excited tingly feeling..along with anxious. I am SO READY....but I'll keep being patient ;)

Question-is this what legal clearance looks like? Just a check with no complete? I am not 100% since it does not say complete.( you have to click on my journal for it to show correctly)

Dental

Complete. Peace Corps has completed your dental review. There are no dental holds on your account at this time.

Legal

There are no legal holds on your account at this time.

Medical

Complete. A decision has been reached regarding your medical review. Please look for a letter in the mail.

Place

There are no placement holds on your account at this time.

Also, my recruiter sent out an email updating everyone about time frames for different steps of the application process. It says that if you have received clearance on medical, dental and legal to send your updated resume to the email address based what what part you were nominated for. She lists them all. I was waiting for an email requesting my updated resume.... but hey, if that is what is says to do, I am all over it! I was wondering if anyone else sent their resume without it being requested?

Congrats on everyone getting invites!! It's so amazing and exciting..until next time!!

Waiting on Legal?

I thought I had cleared all the hoops when I got a tool kit update email, bur when I logged in nothing had changed. Dental & medical say complete with a check mark, legal does not say complete, it DOES have a check and just says no legal holds at this time....so back to waiting on that! fun.

medical clearance! and a ?

I received the oh so famous letter in the mail stating I passed the medical review. I was a little nervous about my broken ankle/surgery/plates and tons of screws that went down last April, since it hasn't quite been a year,..and the fat tests/questions made me wonder, ha! According to the standard BMI charts I am obese??!!? I find that a little crazy, my doc laughed at it too. I am a curvy person. ...BUT I do understand their reasoning for wanting to make sure you are as healthy as a horse. Horses must be pretty damn healthy.
Shortly after I sent my medical packet in my toolkit updated and my dental said "complete"..in the medical clearance letter it said I would receive correspondence about dental as well... So my question to my fellow PC applicants who have already been through is process -did you receive a letter via mail about dental or just a toolkit update that said dental was complete? Well..until next time,peace out.

202 area code!

OK, so it was just informing me that they are sending a letter letting me know what info was missing from my medical packet...but I am still happy to know it's being reviewed. I swear the nurse at my doctors office and I sat down and went through the paperwork about 3 times to makes sure we had everything. I should be getting the letter by the end of the week so I could probably call my doc and make an appointment...for whatever needs done. ;)

Making myself more competitive? While waiting.

Well since I am waiting and waiting and...waiting..(lol) I decided to (try) and kick the RAS by making myself more competitive.  My major was Criminology and my nomination is HIV/AIDS awareness, so I didn't have much experience with the subject. I knew all the basics and  decided to step up my game. My recruiter informed me that I was required to volunteer doing HIV outreach/awareness volunteer work for 3 months before I leave.I have been volunteering like crazy with all sorts of different organizations, while loving every second of it...so I am happy with my nomination. I have been doing HIV test counseling,volunteering at a food pantry for HIV/AIDS patients, attending meetings at OSU about clinical trials on new medications,volunteering at various outreach events around the city and volunteering at the  Family AIDS Clinic and Educational Services at Children's Hospital. I had to e-mail placement this week about the volunteer work I have been doing, so I'm hoping all of this will make me more competitive. However, if for some odd reason I get rejected as a PCV I will continue volunteering and possibly go back to get my Masters in something related. I had no idea I had such a passion for this type of work. That is all for now, hopefully I will be hearing about medical clearance soon!