Hobbit-Likeness

58 days until I leave Colorado and join the Peace Corps. It’s been all excitement and annoyance about the medical tasks up until this point; that was until the countdown app showed that I had less than sixty days left to get my life in order, pack up all my belongings, and spend quality time with my friends and family. What is this new emotion? Am I actually… nervous?

Yeah. A little.

To distract myself, I wanted to try rereading some of my old favorite books. I picked up The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, and I couldn’t stop laughing after I read this paragraph:

“what is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes, because their feet grow natural leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the stuff on their heads (which is curly); have long clever brown fingers, good-natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they can get it).”

It’s official. I’m Bilbo Baggins. Based on this description, I’m a hobbit. I’m little, have no beard or magic, dressed in bright colors with no shoes, curly brown hair, and a big laugh after my second dinner. My dad laughed way too hard at this for my liking.

Anyway, the story is about a hobbit who goes on an adventure and calls his story, “There and Back Again.” I know it is cliché, but I most definitely feel like I’m preparing for an adventure. I am moving to a country none of my friends and family ever heard of after all.

Standard conversation with my brother:

Brother: When are you going to Somalia, again?

Me: Ummm… Never?

Brother: You’re quitting Peace Corps already?

Me: Did you mean Samoa?

Brother: Yeah, where is that?

Me: In the middle of the South Pacific.

Brother: Cool. Where is that?

I’m going to title this blog “Where? And Back Again,” to honor my hobbit-likeness and my family’s lack of geography skills. 

When one door closes...

A couple weeks ago, I got a call from Washington DC, and I was pretty excited. Any news from Peace Corps about my service must be exciting, right? WRONG-O.  They mean it when they say “no news is good news.”

Turns out, there have been some major safety concerns in Kenya lately, and because of this, they are no longer accepting the new training group. I will be given priority in finding a new country… I should be prepared to not find a placement until January… We appreciate your flexibility… Blah…. Blah… blah…

I’m ashamed to say, I’ve been more emotional about the whole thing than I would care to admit. It didn’t help that my family’s response was “oh praise God.” I know everyone was worried, but supportive, they were not.

But now it’s my turn to say, “oh praise God,” because I just got my new invitation in my inbox! Come October, I will be an “English Literacy Resource Person” in Samoa. I checked it at work, and for some reason my big kids couldn’t care less, but my kindergarteners (who had no idea what I was talking about) were really excited for me. I tried to show it to my kiddos on our world map, but it’s so small that it doesn’t even show up. Now my five year olds think I will be living in the ocean.

 As sad as I am to miss out on teaching Deaf Education (since I am now a Special Education teacher), I am more than stoked to join the beach corps. Seriously, do Google images search of this country!

The only question for now is: who is coming to visit me in paradise?

THE TIMELINE

May 16, 2014

               I’ve had my invitation for a whole two days. I am still ridiculously excited! At the end of September, I am going to Kenya to teach Deaf Education. Samoa to teach literacy. It’s all I ever want to talk about, and I have to reel myself back, or else I will exhaust all my loved ones. I’m trying to cut back to bringing it up only once every hour… Tough stuff.

              

If there are any future PCVs out there who want to know about my application process, here is my (rough) timeline.

May 2013- Finished the online application and the Health History Form

June 2013- Had my interview with a recruiter (this was way less stressful than I anticipated. We met in a small restaurant, and he typed my answers up for me. He said he would nominate me when he found a special education opening).

August 2013- I bugged my recruiter for that nomination (apparently most countries are not asking for special education teachers)

September 2013- I was nominated for an English teaching position in July 2014 (no country or region mentioned)

October 2013- I received my legal kit and sent it in

November 2013- Asked my recruiter why no one had received my legal kit (I was told it was because of the government shut down)

December 2013- Received an email from placement saying that my legal kit was destroyed and I needed to do it again (morale of the story: when they say “don’t use USPS,” they mean it!)

January 2014- Sent in my legal kit (again, using FedEx this time!)

April 28, 2014- Received and sent in my placement questionnaire (the email also had additional questions like, would you be willing to serve in the Pacific Islands or Africa? Would you be willing to work in special education or teacher training?)

May 14, 2014- Received my invitation! Exactly 16 days after sending in my questionnaire, I found out where I will be living and working for two whole years!

September 28, 2014- I leave for staging (assuming everything runs smoothly from here).

June 15 (ish), 2014- Received a call from Peace Corps. Due to safety and security issues, no new volunteers are allowed in Kenya. I will receive a new placement soon.

June 23, 2014- New invitation! Samoa!

October 3, 2013- I leave for staging (assuming everything runs smoothly from here).

WHY I'M BLOGGING

May 15, 2014

I don't think I ever would have survived as long as I have through the Peace Corps application process if I didn't have the ability to read current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) blogs. Honestly, I felt a bit like a stalker, trying to find out how a stranger a few thousand miles away was washing her clothes or going to the bathroom in a hole.

Reading all those blogs may have seemed weird or obsessive to my family and friends, but it definitely kept me sane through the long application process (which I'm not entirely finished with yet). I am so thankful that the internet was full of resources for me to read through in my moments of doubt or restlessness, I feel obligated to pay it forward.

So here it is: a blog chronicling my whole Peace Corps journey. Whether you are a friend or family member, or if you are a potential Peace Corps applicant who is shamelessly stalking Peace Corps Volunteers the way I did, I hope you enjoy it. I pledge to do my best to keep this honest and interesting.