And So the Journey Begins

I am writing this blog in order to be able to share my upcoming Peace Corps adventures with my friends and family.  I don’t think I could do justice in sending numerous emails in order to keep in touch with as many of you as I would hope.  By writing this blog, those of you who want to take a peek at what I’m up to can do so at your leisure.

Many Peace Corps Applicants/Volunteers start their blogs from the day of they start the application process and provide frequent updates as they progress through the initial interviews, tedious and lengthy dental/medical reviews, legal reviews, and the most difficult part, THE WAITING for the notification of placement to include where, when and the assigned project.   In hindsight, I wish I had done so, but alas, I’m starting on the day we received the phone call that will change our lives.  John and I had both had our final interview with Placement about 10 days ago and had been told that we should have some news in a few weeks.  During the following 10 days, we debated the term “few” over and over … Could it mean as little as 2 weeks? Surely it doesn’t mean more than 4 weeks? Doesn’t everyone think of few as meaning roughly 3?  Ok, we were nit-picking, but after living and breathing the PC application process for 15 months, that’s just where our heads were.

THE CALL:  At 10:03am this morning, the phone rang.  John was upstairs and picked up the phone on the second ring.  I was downstairs in the kitchen and glanced at the caller ID on the kitchen phone and saw a number that started with area code 202 and also read Washington, DC.   I don’t even remember now what I was doing in the kitchen, but I dropped whatever it was and ran upstairs.

Our PC Placement Officer told us that he had a placement to offer that would tentatively have us both teaching, John most likely teaching math and me working with teacher training.  Furthermore, the location is Africa!  Yeah!  I was speechless since all of this is almost exactly what we had hoped for (although we do realize that everything is subject to change).  A PC packet is being mailed today and when we receive it, we will know the exact country in Africa.  Lastly, the departure date is early July.  That’s good, too, as that will allow us to catch our breath and finish up a lot of projects around the house, and hopefully, see some friends and family before we leave.   

In the meantime, I'll be sitting out by the mailbox for the next few days (that does suggest 2-4 days, right?) for the next bit of info to come from the Peace Corps!