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Monday, October 18, 2010

When to Expect What I'm Expecting

And what am I expecting of course? My invitation!!

I joined the blogscene after reading lots of travel journals (writing my own when I was in The Gambia) and Peace Corps blogs over the years and felt that I was affiliated enough with Peace Corps and my upcoming experience to really be able to contribute. And already I am reading several blogs of other applicants who are about as far along in the process as me, waiting for an invitation to leave around the same time, etc. And I am happy to report that they are reading mine as well :-) It is nice to have a little support system via blog (and now Skype!). So I know they (along with you family and friends of mine out there reading) are going to be interested in what I heard from my recruiter this morning...

Reading and sharing the anticipation for invitations with my fellow PC bloggers has been two sided- it is nice to know that I am not alone, but also just gives me more opportunities to think about my invitation! And since I have already read the Peace Corps website approximately 575 million times about the possible timelines for the application to invitation process, I thought I would ask my recruiter in the same email that I was going to inform her about my volunteering [which will I will write about in an upcoming post!].

I asked: "I know that my application has been moved to the Office of Placement- and that you nominated me to depart to programs leaving in February or March. I was just wondering when I might be hearing about an invitation to those programs- or if I do not get into those programs, is there a date when I would know that? I feel like a competitive applicant but I know flexibility is needed during this process."

She answered: "You should hear about an Invitation no sooner than 8 weeks prior to your departure and no later than 6 weeks, meaning 6-8 weeks prior to your nomination month and Placement's anticipated departure date. It's a little ambiguous, I know. You have qualified medically, so you are on the right path... it's just a matter of waiting for your Invitation at this point."

Okay. This makes me feel a few different ways. One part of me says "BOOO!! I WANNA FIND OUT SO MUCH SOONER. LIKE TOMORROW." Another part of me is a bit relieved that I shouldn't necessarily be concerned about not having already received my invitation- I mean, it is still quite a few months before I was invited to leave- there are more than 3 whole months until February 1st! Right now would be a bit early. And now that I think about it, my previously mentioned PCV friend Mike got his invitation exactly 2.5 months before he left.

So for now, I'm not worried. I can actually take a breather. My dream of finding out by Thanksgiving was probably far fetched and now I can have my new dream of finding out by Christmas (because it would obviously be the best Christmas present EVAHH!!). And then after that I can have my backup dream of finding out by the New Year. And after that, my dream will just be to get my invitation. Haha. I mean, if I am slated to really leave in March, I might not even hear until January! And at the time of nomination, my recruiter told me that there is always a 40% chance that your nomination site could change. And it could!

And that would be fine. The one thing you read over and over is to "Be flexible, and patient." and I know these are traits that they need in Peace Corps Volunteers, and traits that I actually have- it is just easy to get caught up in the excitement of going (and I am REALLY REALLY excited). But when the opportunity comes, I know I will be ready for it. And when my invitation comes, I hope you all are ready for a blog post written in large, bold font, in all CAPS. It will be obnoxiously wonderful.

6 comments:

  1. Hey :) I haven't gotten a chance to read through your blog yet (but I will, I LOVE PC blogs!) I just wanted to respond to your dog comment - I'm heart broken that I will have to leave my dog, like I am trying to spend so much time with her right now (but that just makes me love her more..oops) Anyway, I know she'll be well taken care of while I'm gone, it just makes me sad know that she'll have no clue where I went or why I left. All my friends and family KNOW what I'm doing and can keep in touch, I'm scared she'll feel abandoned. Selfishly enough though, it's not stopping me from doing this.

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  2. I know!! I am seriously going to write a post about leaving my dog. Like, I know he will be fine, but... it's so sad!! Me and my pup are hanging out nonstop basically and hopefully the transition won't be too bad because we're living at my sister's and that's where he will live when I'm gone. But.. my heart! But my heart is with PC as well so hopefully it won't be TOO bad. Augh!

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  3. I think the 6-8 week timeline is a pretty standard PC response, but I have been following the progress of a couple whose nomination was the same as my husband and I. They just received in invitation for April. :)

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  4. yeah, I'm sure couple nominations are handled differently since they are a very specific placement. Everything has been going pretty quickly for me so I know I can wait it out standard time after all this. Good luck!

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  5. I LOVE the title of this post :D

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  6. The title of this post totally makes it sound like you're writing a mommy blog. Which would be cool too, I guess, except weird because people from my graduating year are definitely not allowed to be making more people yet. PC blog will be much cooler. Rock on, lil globe trotter.

    (PS. just launched a new blog meself. should be fully up and running within the next few days. check it out when you have a chance: http://jadork.blogspot.com/)

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