Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Application Update
Our medical review seems to be complete! This means that we qualify for placement, but they have not yet decided where (or if) to place us. It feels a little like we are being selected for some role in a play or film. We have made callbacks- that is we were not instantly rejected, and now we are being compared to other candidates to see if indeed we will be able to go. It is nerve wracking, let me tell you. There was some tension last week because we received an email from our reviewer that seemed to indicate that we did not have the requisite experience to qualify, but that fear was quickly dispelled with a call to our recruiter and an explanatory email to our reviewer. So, we have edged closer to knowing something definite about our future. Now we can only cross our fingers.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
The Long Wait
So, we are heading into the final stage of the Peace Corps application process. Our applications have been submitted, recommendations sent, and now our physicals have been done. We are now enduring the far-too-long period of bureaucratic review. We are told to wait for 4-6 weeks while the six or seven forms we submitted are reviewed by their medical staff. In the meantime, we can expect no communication, no word on the progress of our review and absolulutely no information about where we will be assigned. Grrrr...
For those of you just tuning in, we do have some information about what we will be doing. We know the following:
As soon as information becomes available, it will be posted. There might be a long stretch of nothing from now until we know something from the head office about our medical review. Hang in there!
Weeks until we leave: 13
For those of you just tuning in, we do have some information about what we will be doing. We know the following:
- We will be in Asia. This means we can go to China (not bloody likely), Bangladesh (not too crazy about it), Mongolia (neat!), Thailand (super cool!), or The Philippines (it would be nice to see the P.I. again).
- Chris will be teaching English to high school students, and Malinda will be working in youth development with those same students.
- We will be together.
- We will leave on August 13th of 2005.
- We will be gone for 27 months, so we should return November of 2007.
- That's about it.
As soon as information becomes available, it will be posted. There might be a long stretch of nothing from now until we know something from the head office about our medical review. Hang in there!
Weeks until we leave: 13
Monday, May 16, 2005
Why the Peace Corps?
Some of you may be wondering why on earth we decided to go to the Peace Corps. Why now? Why at all?
Well, to answer the why now question, the Peace Corps only accepts college graduates, and since we just graduated, it made sense to do it now. I also want to go to graduate school, but not right after 5 years of college. I'm just burned out on school at the moment. So, a two year diversion from the mundane life in suburban America will help to reenergize my thirst for knowledge, and to allow me to appreciate everything that a mundane life has to offer. Anyone that is not satisfied with clean water, an abundance of food, movies, gadgets etc could use a trip abroad themselves, if only to illuminate everything that may be taken for granted. The idea that Americans need to "get ahead in life" is laughable when you compare our lives to that of the other 85% of the world. We are already vastly ahead.
And we're more than happy to leave behind an America caught in a second Bush term :)
Why at all? I think that when we look at themselves and ask what we have done that really mattered, most of us cannot come up with a good answer. I know I don't have a good one yet. I don't want too much from life, but I demand that it be meaningful. I don't care about money, creature comforts, status, and all that. But I do care about integrity and leading a life of compassion, of humility, and adventure. The Peace Corps feels like it will contribute to all of these. I hope it truly does.
Also, I have lived in the Developing World. I know what conditions they live in. I cannot in good conscience ignore their suffering. This is why I have decided to dedicate my life to the study (and hopefully the improvement) of the lives of those in this other world. In this pursuit, I do not dismiss life in America as something bad or meaningless. Life here is good, I will not deny. It is comfortable. Safe. But in that safety we find that life may be too easy. All of our basic needs are met, so we invent struggles to overcome. We embark on quests for larger cars, and newer toys. We believe that we are engaging in some noble fight, but we are really slaying the Dragon that is called Boredom. This is how I feel sometimes. So I look to farther shores for my dragon.
I hope you will support us overseas on our quest. It truly is a quest. A quest for self discovery, a quest to unearth a treasure found deep within ourselves. We hope to be wiser, more humble, and more confident than we have ever been, and by helping those that have asked for help, we may improve the image of Americans abroad. I know we could all use that.
--chris
Well, to answer the why now question, the Peace Corps only accepts college graduates, and since we just graduated, it made sense to do it now. I also want to go to graduate school, but not right after 5 years of college. I'm just burned out on school at the moment. So, a two year diversion from the mundane life in suburban America will help to reenergize my thirst for knowledge, and to allow me to appreciate everything that a mundane life has to offer. Anyone that is not satisfied with clean water, an abundance of food, movies, gadgets etc could use a trip abroad themselves, if only to illuminate everything that may be taken for granted. The idea that Americans need to "get ahead in life" is laughable when you compare our lives to that of the other 85% of the world. We are already vastly ahead.
And we're more than happy to leave behind an America caught in a second Bush term :)
Why at all? I think that when we look at themselves and ask what we have done that really mattered, most of us cannot come up with a good answer. I know I don't have a good one yet. I don't want too much from life, but I demand that it be meaningful. I don't care about money, creature comforts, status, and all that. But I do care about integrity and leading a life of compassion, of humility, and adventure. The Peace Corps feels like it will contribute to all of these. I hope it truly does.
Also, I have lived in the Developing World. I know what conditions they live in. I cannot in good conscience ignore their suffering. This is why I have decided to dedicate my life to the study (and hopefully the improvement) of the lives of those in this other world. In this pursuit, I do not dismiss life in America as something bad or meaningless. Life here is good, I will not deny. It is comfortable. Safe. But in that safety we find that life may be too easy. All of our basic needs are met, so we invent struggles to overcome. We embark on quests for larger cars, and newer toys. We believe that we are engaging in some noble fight, but we are really slaying the Dragon that is called Boredom. This is how I feel sometimes. So I look to farther shores for my dragon.
I hope you will support us overseas on our quest. It truly is a quest. A quest for self discovery, a quest to unearth a treasure found deep within ourselves. We hope to be wiser, more humble, and more confident than we have ever been, and by helping those that have asked for help, we may improve the image of Americans abroad. I know we could all use that.
--chris
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