Philippines Here I Come!

It came today!!! An invitation to serve in the Peace Corps in the Philippines.

I woke up early this morning and checked my e-mail. There was a message from Peace Corps stating that my status has been changed from a "Nominee" to an "Ivitee". What does that mean? It means that they have a spot ready and waiting for me!!!

My e-mail didn't say where I'd be serving. I was too excited to go back to bed since I have been waiting for this moment for almost 6 months now. No one was home and all I could do was sit around the house doing nothing. Then the FedEx truck came to the house about about 10 o'clock this morning. I just knew that he would have a package for me.

I was so excited to rip the envelop open. Inside I found my Volunteer Assignment booklet. It stated that my country of service was the Philippines and that Pre-service orientation started on March 27, 2005 (dates subject to change). Since receiving all of this info, I've been calling people and telling them. I have a huge grin plastered on my face. I can't believe I've actually received an invitation. I'm sure it will start to sink in when I begin to fill out the many forms and make the necessary phone calls in the near future!

FINALLY!!!!

After several months of tests, check-ups, etc., I have finally been medically cleared. I had to send the fax to the nurse at headquarters twice as someone in the office misfiled it the first time. When she was able to finally look it over, she quickly cleared me medically. A person from the placement office called me the same morning (11-23-04) to see if I was still following up on my medical screening information. I explained what was happening and she told me to e-mail her when I found out if I was cleared. I also talked with someone in the legal office who was very easy to talk to. I asked him if I needed anything further to be cleared legally. He assured me that if I had already turned in all requested material, there wouldn't be any problems being cleared. I checked my application status today and found out that in fact I had been cleared yesterday.

On Wednesday, I talked quickly with my Placement Officer. I just let her know that I had been medically cleared and asked if there was anything else I could do. She told me that my qualifications would be matched to a program and she would be in contact with me next week sometime. So the waiting game begins again!!! At least I am getting closer to finding out where I'll be going, what I'll be doing, and when I'll be leaving.

Update on the medical status...I have to have one more check-up this month on the 22nd. Hopefully I'll know a couple of days after that if I can be "invited" into the program I was "nominated" into. People have asked me how I can wait so long and not be frustrated with not knowing. After thinking about this, I realized that I really don't like to wait, but I'd rather have Peace Corps being this safe and making sure that I'm healthy enough to leave the states for two years without having to worry about having any health risks. I will post another entry when I find out what the "verdict" is. TTFN