Just A Feeling

For all you RPCVs, PCVs, and applicants out there....did you ever have the feeling your invitation was going to be entirely different than your invitation? Like completely out of the region/placement office. And not just the feeling that "oh, well, placement change is likely with everyone, so I'm expecting whatever." More like a humungous, enormous, gigantic feeling that your invitation will be entirely different.

My nomination is for Youth Development in C/S America leaving in Mid-August 2008.

Logically, after looking at invitations, my suspicions point to Belize or Dominican Republic.

However, my gut and instinct and just "feelings" tell me my invitation will be wildly different than what my nomination is. I'm not entirely sure why, but there are 2 reasons I can think of, even though the feeling goes beyond them.  The first reason is that since I have a medical restriction for epilepsy and so few countries take us, I can more easily get bumped all around the world.

The second reason you will think is so silly, but to me it feels so real. Dreams. I have had 3 very specific dreams about getting invitations, and none of them were for even Latin America. One was still in the IAP office, but in no way related to my nomination.

• The first dream was that myself and a couple others from my nomination group got invited to St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean. It was great. We drove into the center on a bus after arriving...we got all our gear, introduced ourselves, a lot of PCVs were there to greet us and we paired off with them and they had us meet their host families and people they work with.
• Next I had a dream that my PO called me and asked me if I could leave a month earlier than expected, July instead of August. Absolutely! Where am I going? China, I'll be teaching English.  The next thing I knew, my group and I were on a train (like the one I took to the great wall from beijing last fall) to a smaller town.  We got off the train and meet some people we would be working with and were given Chinese names. (oddly enough, I believe there is a group departing for China in July)
• Last night, was a quick dream. It was sort one of those "flash" dreams, where it happens so quick. But basically, I felt like I was never going to get my invitation, when all the sudden through the mail slot comes the big Peace Corps envelope. I RIPPED it open--not even bothering to open it the proper way, it was in several pieces. I opened it up and read Armenia! The next thing I knew I was searching for things I would be needing to pack and take with me to Armenia.

Its just the fact that I keep having these dreams and they are so real and are all countries the PC goes to, and often are true to form about dates and programs. The only one though that is even in my region is the Eastern Caribbean, and Armenia and China are completely different.

I am completely open about being in a different region doing whatever I end up doing. I can't think of a country/region that I wouldn't want to go to! But this feeling, this feeling that my invitation is going to totally surprise me is just so big and won't go away.

So have any of you felt like this? What was your experience with invitation "expectations," so to speak?