Holy Peace Corps Invite Batman, It’s in the mail!!!

Now that the screaming and jumping and dancing has camled slightly, I just wanted to let everyone know I’m officially invited to the Peace Corps!!!

I just got off the phone with the Placement Specialist, who called to do a follow-up interview with me. We talked for quite a while and he asked me about A LOT of things!

First we talked about what I’ve been doing to prepare for service, not only physically (volunteering, french class etc) but he wanted to know how I’ve been preparing mentally and emotionally and what’s been keeping me motivated. I explained that I’ve been planning on moving home and selling my car, and talking to my family about it, as well as Facebook and how much meeting other applicants has helped since we’re all in the same boat and can help support each other.

We also talked about Heat (eek!) and covering my tattoos (lame) and any other issues he thought there might be from things I said during my initial interview. We talked about my French class and experience and he asked me,

‘How crushed would you be if you didn’t go to somewhere French speaking after putting so much effort into reviewing the language?”

Say wha? lol I told him it would kind of suck but that I learned a lot from the class and it was a good experience either way and I was game for whatever. Which he sounded pleased about!

He also asked me about my HIV, sex ed experience and how comfortable I felt with it, which I said, “VERY!” And then he asked how comfortable I would be with doing that as my job in PC, which I replied, “VERY!” hahaha

Apparently I said all the right things because when we ended the conversation he said,

“Well I will tell you now I am officically sending you an invite for the Peace Corps, congratulations!”

to which I stifled a shreik and simple squeaked, “ok thank you!”

All he would tell me was is it’s still for sure Sub-Saharan Africa (woot)! He said it would be HIV education, and leaving late June, early July!

JUNE??? Hmm… Maybe Benin isn’t in the picture anymore, and now I’m wondering if it’s even for fracophone anymore either? Maybe Mali? Well, we’ll see I guess!! I’ll let everyone know ASAP when I get my invite where and when I’ve leaving!

Now my list of possiblities has grown to include:

• Burkina Faso 6-21 (maybe? it’s on there twice)
• Swaziland 6-22
• The Gambia 6-29
• Mali 7-1
• Malawi 7-1
• Liberia 7-7
• Niger 7-7
• South Africa 7-12
• Benin 7-14

Whoa.. Too many!! My list went from 3 to 9! Oh my geeze.. Lol and Benin is pushing it for “early” July at the 14th. So much for trying to narrow it down! Hahaha

Thanks for all your support. And for those still waiting, it does seem like forever, but when it finally happens it will all be worth it! There IS light at the end of the tunnel!!

Time for some happy dancing…

*UPDATE* 5-1-2010

It’s really real!! I woke up this morning to a lovely “Application Status Update” email, and logged on to this:

Oh man… The excitement never ends! Those words are like the holy grail of all things in an applicants life. I wished and wished that one day I too would read these words that were actually meant for me, and now that I have it’s even more surreal and awesome than I can explain..

Also on my new “Invitee” Toolkit (hehehe) is my updated application status, which looks like this:

(I like how I don’t have a check mark on placement lol *shrug*)

Up next: Where in the world is Ashleigh going??