Delayed till....?

Just got some news from the Peace Corps Placement Office. I found out that we will not be leaving in July...The place that they were looking at placing us (my guess Cambodia) does not allow the restrictions that both of us have. I am a little down but he said that there might still be something on the table but it wouldn't be till August through October. He said that he would call me before Friday and talk to me about more information! At least I have some news that I can report instead of saying I don't know what's going on. Hopefully I can report a little more on Friday or Saturday. All I can think through this whole process is that if we are not invited, then what?

Nothing and More Nothing!

Nothing! That’s what I have got. No news! I understand that these people are busy but I find it very rude when they say they will get back to you next week and never email you back. This like I said, really in my last post, this is to be expected from a government agency. This isn’t little news either. This next piece of information really could change the outcome of the next several years of our lives. Yes or no either way things need to change but everything is pending on this decision. I think we are both ready for a change. I am just hoping that this wait isn’t because of a medical restriction either of has or they are having a hard time placing us. At this point the Peace Corps being busy or lazy might be the best thing!

Tanie will be walking in her graduation on the 9th of May. This also means that my parents are coming up along with my sister and my brother-in-law! This will be really nice refresher that I will be thinking about this all weekend while I am working the graveyard shift. Also my birthday is on the 8th. All I want is… news from the Peace Corps. Maybe they are holding off on the news to surprise me! Yeah right…. Man I am just crawling with pessimism.

Happy May! The best month of the year!

Matthew

Waiting Games and Rollerblades

I have an update when it comes to the Peace Corps. Yesterday I emailed the assistant placement officer that is working on my file and I asked him if there is any information that he can give me on if we have a chance of getting into a program in the Peace Corps. I know I have until June 1st till they have to tell me something about the program but still it has been a few months since they have received my file. I got a response back that said this:

"I looked into your program and saw that we have until early-June to invite people from that pool. I imagine that is why you haven’t heard more from my office by now. I talked to your Placement Officer about your file and he said that he would contact you within the next week to give you an update on the progress of your applications. He will be able to give you more information that will help with your planning."

This is still super great news though because I will hear something next week. Well at least I think I will hear something. Such a roller coaster ride so far. I have been so disheartened as of late and it is good to know I might hear something soon.
On a side note: I bought some inline skates. I did pretty well for my first outing. I only fell once but it was down a hill in front of a woman and she was like freaking out because I fell a little hard or at least it looked that way. I popped back up embarrassed and said something like, “I fell because I looked back and saw a car was coming and it scared me.” I sounded like a 10 year old child that had his heart broken. Really the only thing that came out of that was a scraped up knee. I expected something worse but I was wearing jeans.

Thanks for reading. I will update you about the news that I might get next week. We will see but it seems too good to be true right now. :(

Slow Movement

Hello my fellow blog readers!

It has been a little while. I just wanted to update you on our lives and our Peace Corps process. First, there has not been news when it comes to the Peace Corps. Not a scrap of news. I am not really surprised about this though. I still figure that we will not here anything from them about placement till May. Tanie and I have a bet going to land the closest to this date, mine guess is May 4th. I believe that she guessed May 14th. I hope I am closer.

The nervousness and angst has kind of subsided for the time being. After waiting for almost a month now you realize that it is kind of out your control. I wish there was something at this point to speed the process up a little. I mean we both have jobs and we have to say something to our places of employment. My boss already has heard about our intentions of going into the Peace Corps. Facebook was the mode of how he learned. I am sure of it.

As of now I still have a job but things are getting worse and worse when it comes to business (at least that’s the way it seems from an outward perspective). We have had more layoffs and they are completely shutting down for the Easter weekend. That is my whole work week because as of now I am working 3rds weekends 12 hour shifts. The reason why this is a big deal is because we hardly ever shut down for anything. But because of slow economic times we are forced to shut down because of it. Oh well more free time with Tanie :)

With Tanie there have been a few developments. She is currently working with a daycare for the time being. She has been watching kindergarten kids. She has been stretched and I am proud of her. She is working around 30 hours a week and this is the first time that she has really worked around the same kids for so long. She has finally got burned out when it comes to books. She has read many books since she is done with school. I would say close to 50. She is an inspiration to those of us that have trouble with getting one book done in a week.

We will let you know about any developments when it comes to our lives or the Peace Corps.

Matt

Little Closer and a Readers Question

We got the needed information to complete our file! All we need is to here from the Placement Office too see where we are going. Here are the email's received from our Assistant Placement Officer.

Dear Matt,
"I received the reference from _____________ earlier today. I’ve added it to your file, so it is complete for now, though you may hear more from my office as the departure date for your program becomes closer."

Dear Tanie,
"Thank you for the new essay. Your file is complete now and I have passed it on to your Placement Officer for the final review. You will hear more from my office as the date of departure for your program becomes closer."

Also there has been a question from one of our readers: "Once you receive medical clearance are you under the impression it is basically a sure thing that you'll be placed?"

This is a great question and something I have asked many times on different Peace Corps blogs and the answer is no. I know that's probably not the answer that everyone wants to hear. There are several reasons why there are no guarantees. First with the economic downfall there has been a ton of people trying to getting into the Peace Corps. For what have heard from second hand information is that placement is very competitive now. The only thing I can suggest is to put in an application and try your chances. Since the Peace Corps is a job, you have to treat it like one. You have to have a completed four year degree and experience in the field you desire. Volunteer experience is very valuable as well and it is needed to show that you are commited to working with people and volunteering.

If you want more information you can check the Yahoo group peacecorps2. That is the best site that I have seen yet when it comes to questions about the Peace Corps. Other than that thanks for the question and good luck on your process!

Matt

Needed More Information

Tanie and I both got an email from our Assistant Placement officer today. He needed Tanie to rewrite a Cross-cultural experience essay. He said that it did not answer the question that they were asking. For me I did not have a friend reference. So I asked a friend to complete this as soon as possible.

This is really good though because it hasn't only been a few days and they are already looking at our files. I was not expecting to hear anything for another couple of months. Hopefully this means that after we get this stuff done that they can place us.

Waiting is hard.

Matt

Placement Office

Today I spoke to our Student Aide of a Placement Officer. She was very polite and told me that our last date to hear something about our placement would be June 1st. It has need officially three weeks from when we got medical clearance. She told me that it might take as long as June 1st to place us but since we have everything already in and it is being checked over she didn't expect it to take longer than a couple of months. WOW! A couple of months seems like forever! Well at least it does being in this waiting period. I am trying to patient the best I can but this waiting is very very difficult. I will update you as soon as we hear anything about where we are going.

Matt