Just by reading other PC applicant blogs, there is talk of budget cuts having serious implications for upcoming placements.  I haven't yet heard anything after submitting my updated resume, so I'm trying to calmly get through each day without much thought on any "what ifs". 

It's as if Mother Nature knows the days of constant rain in Indiana are having major effects on my mood and has decided to grace the state of Indiana with something really bright in the sky that warms my heart.  Oh yea, that's the sun--just haven't seen it in so long, I forgot it even existed...

I'm not sure how exciting this is for anyone else, but I received a letter from PC yesterday stating I have been medically cleared to serve aka no holds.

My file is currently in DC being reviewed for official placement.  I'm told that I should have an invite to serve (which will include date, location and job) no less than 8 weeks prior to departure.  If I have calculated everything accurately, that means in the next six weeks, I *should* have my offer.

Countries currently leaving in August according to unnamed sources: 

Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Mexico
Panama

I think it might be interesting to write a bit about what I think I'll be doing in Peace Corps.  Mostly because what I think I will be doing and what I will be doing will probably be quite different when it finally rolls around to August.

As of right now, I was told I'd be working with HIV/AIDS in Latin America.  I've been asked to forget my Swahili and instead pick back up my remedial Spanish skills that I slept through in Senor Venetelli's class.  While I know Spanish would be immensely helpful and I've heard wonderful stories of Latin America, I can't quite put into words the disappointment I had and to be honest, still have, about not being sent back to Africa.  I'd like to say that I'm as flexible and patient as the perfect Peace Corps Volunteer should be, but you have to wonder what in the hell PC is thinking taking a volunteer that has actual language skills for East Africa and plopping them in a region they have little experience with.

I just need to keep reminding myself to go with the flow.  I need to keep talking to my brother who has lived in Latin America and see his eyes glow with jealousy.  Not that I want him to be jealous of me, and considering he's spent the better half of his life in foreign lands he doesn't quite have the right to be.  But it helps.  So very twisted of me, his jealousy makes me think that I'm going somewhere great, and that maybe I'm doing the right thing in letting life take me down the path it wants, even if it isn't quite what I want.

Where do you even start off a blog like this? I'm a 23 year old living in Lafayette, Indiana (insert cringe here) with one of the best jobs I could have ever hoped for.  I work for a top notch university, sending curious students to far away countries to become better people (aka Study Abroad!)  Best part?  I even get paid to travel.  And not just to go on a business trip, but my "business trips" are paid for tours by my university to check out the country.  You're probably asking yourself the same thing I did everyday in Australia last summer--"you're doing what?!"

Yes, I'm joining the Peace Corps.  I'm quitting my cushy job in comfortable Indiana for 27 months of complete uncertainty. 

For most of you, you have heard me say how excited I am, how eager I am leave, how long I have waited for this to finally happen.  Which rest assured, I am all of the aforementioned.  Yet, there is always that lingering doubt.  There is always that fleeting moment when I'm talking to someone when my body tenses just a bit more than I'd like and I wonder what exactly in hell I'm doing.  There are times I simply sit and wonder if this is the right choice. 

I keep telling myself that anyone who commits to a 27 month unknown contract has to be nervous.  I think I'd be a little loco (yes, that's the extent of my espanol) if I wasn't nervous. 

I can't help but think back to Kenya.  Beautiful, corrupted, volatile Kenya.  Those high and lows of emotions, while exhausting, was the most alive I have ever felt.  I miss that.  I want that back.  So maybe that's my big reason for committing to Peace Corps.  I want to have crazy mood swings--see something unbelievably beautiful one second and moments later see something I shudder at.  My life here is great--it's relaxing, it's comfortable and I'm content.  But is that really how I want to describe my roaring 20's?