Support!

Today is a big day for the PC.....important! Even if you don't know why, keep for fingers crossed and keep hope, today is a big day!

I'll be thinking happy thought and sending good vibes out all day!

Do the same!

Excitement!

Brittany just got her invitation today! Well, of course she's still waiting for the packet to come in the mail, but her PO emailed her she was invited!!! I'm so excited, so you can just vaguely imagine the excitement she's feeling!

The funny thing is that a few days ago, I said "Brittany, the reason the reason you haven't gotten it yet is because your PO is planning to invite you the day I get my letter!"

Today, I got my letter.

Today, Brittany got invited.

Awesome!

Goals

So right now, I'm planning to reapply in August. Looking at everything right now, IF they let me get a nomination, I don't plan on it being until next summer or later (tho my availability date will be 1-10-09). In the mean time, I will either (a) stay here for an extra amount of time, or (b) apply to one of 2 programs to work with youth/orphanages/tefl in Africa for several months during the application process. I hope PC works out, otherwise, I dunno where I am? Maybe here longer.

Doing what I can to get more & more experience. Obviously, I'm here so that's big experience. Might get 2 more small TEFL certificates (Youth & Business) using the same company I did last time. Starting Tuesday, I'll be volunteering with an organization who helps sick children. Looking for other things too. Maybe 1st Aid/CPR?

PC PSA

Sara posted a Peace Corps public service announcement on her blog, and it made me remember a coulple of the ones that I particularly like. And also, just because I like to copy her I thought I'd show them!

Support

Cool Barak Support the PC vid someone made

Woa--Flashback!

I was going through my old application tonight (did you know you could still access it as long as it is still active? yep!) And there was one thing that definitely struck me as a "what on earth was I thinking" moment! Haha! No no no, I didn't lie, cheat, or elaborate. Absolutely not! It was about my preferences! Haha!

Under Job Preferences, I cited in order: Education, Health, & Business.

Now, Education and Health I've always been interested in, but...BUSINESS!? Please understand that business is the bane of my existance, so why on earth would I have marked that!? Who knows! That just seems like insanity to me. 

If I had to do it again, I'd mark, in order: Education, Community (which Youth falls under), & Health.

Neat Stamp

Found this neat stamp online--pretty cool, eh?

Peace Corps = Important = HELP!

I came across this article by a FSU professor. I thought at first I'd skim it quickly over, but found myself reading it--very captivated. He talks about the importance for Peace Corps, the number of volunteers, and how many countries desperately need more volunteers--or just flat out need volunteers.

Rebuilding the Peace Corps

Enjoy it! Makes a lot of good points!

Budget Help?

Supposedly there has been a bill submitted to congress for consideration that will increase the budget and size of the Peace Corps over the next 3 fiscal years.

Hrmmmm very interesting! Go Obama! Of course, Congress still has to hack it apart part :-/ Hopefully not to death. Hopefully it gets at least some sort of increase.

I'll get back to you later with the link, yah

UPDATE: I was send an email by Rajeev Goyal with MorePeaceCorps. It addressed this very bill that I spoke of. You can find the bill at The Library of Congress

Futhermore, his e-mail (I cam crediting Rajeev Goyal and M.P.C. with it, I am simply pasting it in here) said this:

On February 13, 2009, RPCV Congressman Sam Farr (CA-D) introduced the Peace Corps Expansion Act 2009 (House Bill 1066) in the House of Representatives, with 40 co-sponsors. The ambition of the bill and the number of co-sponsors sent a shock wave through Congress. *We have to rally to support HR 1066.* Click here to read the full text.

The Act, which cites growing numbers of applications to Peace Corps, calls for $450 million in FY 2010 to support and expand the Peace Corps. This is a $120 million increase over the FY 2009 budget, followed by $600 million for FY 2011, and $750 million in FY 2012.

To ensure that this legislation is passed, each of us must 1) support Congressman Farr’s initiative and 2) reach out to our members of Congress to grow the number of co-sponsors. Members of Congress should get in touch with RPCV staffer Marc Hanson (marc.hanson@mail.house.gov) in Congressman Farr’s office to have their names added.
Here's what you can do to take action: Check and see if your Congressman/woman is already a co-sponsor. It your Member is already a co-sponsor, send a supportive message by calling the toll-free number for the Capitol switchboard (877 851-6437) and asking to be connected to your representative's office. Leave this message:

For Members who are already co-sponsors.

"I believe the Peace Corps is underfunded at a time when demand for service has never been higher. Thank you for becoming a co-sponsor of House Bill 1066, the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009. I hope that you will reach out to other Members and invite them to co-sponsor this important bill.

If your Member is not yet a co-sponsor, use the same toll free number asking to be connected to your representative’s office. Leave this message:

For Members who are not yet co-sponsors.

"I believe the Peace Corps is underfunded at a time when demand for service has never been higher. Please consider becoming a co-sponsor of House Bill 1066, the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009. Contact Congressman Farr to become a co-sponsor and support the Campaign to increase the size of the Peace Corps.”

Please note this is a House action only!

For more information, call Rajeev Goyal – 917-438-4626 or email him at rgoyal@mrss.com.

And don't forget, look up the bill! Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009

PC Push

Jon showed me this link about pushing to better the PC and increase funding/vols/locations....very interesting. Initially came from change.gov

Bumpity Bump

Hit a little bump in the road, but hey, you know what? That's life. The bump came, and I'm going to do everything in my power to smooth that bump out and work around it. Just nice and easy. Luckily, I have support every direction I look, except that bump of course. The support is great, and I appreciate it, lets me know that I'll be able to get over or around this bump. I'm stressed, off the charts really. But in the end, it will have been just a little bump in the road. I can see past that bump, now I just have to figure out how to get around it.

Update: still very stressed out by this. can't really figure any of it out tho I'm trying like hell

Getting Close

Nearing the end of November, I'm starting to really actively thing about reactivating my application. I just can't decide on the right time. If I could do it now, I would in a heartbeat, but the nominations for when I can leave aren't open yet. I was suggested to reactivate in March, but I would *love* to do it in January, the first week of January, before I leave.

In the mean time, I think I am going to send my recruiter an updated resume and update on a couple volunteer things I've done, as well as a brief statement about be overflowing excitement and barely contained patience to reactivate my application! I'll do that tomorrow I think, I don't like e-mailing at night when I'm on the verge of getting tired and could potentially get wordy or miswrite stuff or not check my grammar/spelling. 

But that is a start, that email I'm sending will be a start to let her know I'm very excitedly on my way to reactivating my application!

Update: aaaaap I did it I did it! I got it proofread by awesome Sara before I sent it, and Sara and Brittany both helped with resume updates. Everyone please keep your fingers crossed for good news!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so nervously excited!!!

Update: immediate out of office reply! my recruiter is out of office until December 1st...only a week, but noooooooo! I was hoping for a quick, positive reply. That's okay though, I will wait it out. Its a week, I'm patient, I can do it.

Tell Barack

Hospitals

Remember how I said I was going to make a list of hospitals so I could all "au contraire" the MO? Haha. I was researching Jordan today, a country I'd LOVE to go to. And found they definitely have at least 1 hospital with a 24 hour emergency room--possibly a neuro unit but I wasn't clear. And to top it off, another country I'd love, Morocco totally has a hospital with not only a 24 hour emergency room, BUT a neurology unit! BOOYAH. And in Jordan, Education is one of just 3 work areas they send.

Statistics

Mike made this post on peacecorps2 today. Its about new statistic material they are providing in pamphlets/booklets they're giving to new potential vols. Very interesting!

Peace Corps has recently begun handing out new catalogs for potential
applicants in which in the middle of the booklet they give some
statistics of where volunteers go and in what field:

BY REGION
Africa (39%)
Latin America (22%)
Eastern Europe and Central Asia (20%)
Asia (7%)
The Caribbean (4%)
North Africa and The Middle East (4%)
Pacific Islands (4%)

BY SECTOR
Education (30%)
Business and Information & Communication Technology (19%)
Youth and Community Development (17%)
Health (17%)
Environment (9%)
Agriculture (8%)

What is also nice is that they also present, using colored-coded
human-stick-figures, what fraction of volunteers in a region are in
each sector. (example: 20% of volunteers in The Caribbean are Health
volunteers)

With all that given, you can actually solve for the "reverse"
probabilities. This helps answer questions like:


Q: "I want to be a Health Volunteer, where am I likely to be placed?"
A: 50% of Health volunteers are posted in Africa.

Q: "What about an Education Volunteer?"
A: 70% of Education Volunteers are posted in either Africa or Eastern
Europe and Central Asia

Q: "Are there a lot of Environment positions open in Asia?"
A: Only 3% of Environment volunteers are posted in Asia.


Agriculture Volunteers
-------------------------
54% are in Africa
26% are in Latin America
13% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
3% are in Pacific Islands
3% are in Asia
0% are in North Africa and The Middle East
0% are in The Caribbean



Health Volunteers
-------------------------
50% are in Africa
29% are in Latin America
6% are in North Africa and The Middle East
6% are in Pacific Islands
5% are in The Caribbean
4% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
1% are in Asia



Education Volunteers
-------------------------
35% are in Africa
34% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
16% are in Asia
7% are in Latin America
4% are in North Africa and The Middle East
3% are in Pacific Islands
1% are in The Caribbean



Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
-------------------------
34% are in Africa
29% are in Latin America
22% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
4% are in North Africa and The Middle East
4% are in Pacific Islands
4% are in The Caribbean
3% are in Asia



Youth and Community Development Volunteers
-------------------------
38% are in Africa
24% are in Latin America
17% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
11% are in The Caribbean
5% are in Asia
3% are in North Africa and the Middle East
1% are in the Pacific Islands



Environment Volunteers
-------------------------
36% are in Latin America
29% are in Africa
12% are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
7% are in Pacific Islands
6% are in North Africa and The Middle East
4% are in The Caribbean
3% are in Asia

The "reverse" probabilities, which were calculated above, is the percents for each region given the SECTOR. Most applicants have a better sense of what they want to be doing than what region they will be going too; hence the "reverse" probabilities above.

Africa
-------------------------
27% are Education volunteers
22% are Health volunteers
17% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
17% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
11% are Agriculture Volunteers
7% are Environment Volunteers

Latin America
-------------------------
25% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
22% are Health Volunteers
19% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
15% are Environment Volunteers
10% are Education Volunteers
9% are Agriculture Volunteers

Eastern Europe and Central Asia
-------------------------
51% are Education Volunteers
21% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
15% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
6% are Environment Volunteers
5% are Agriculture Volunteers
3% are Health Volunteers

Asia
-------------------------
69% are Education Volunteers
13% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
9% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
4% are Environment Volunteers
3% are Agriculture Volunteers
3% are Health Volunteers

The Caribbean
-------------------------
45% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
20% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
20% are Health Volunteers
10% are Environment Volunteers
5% are Education Volunteers
0% are Agriculture Volunteers

North Africa and The Middle East
-------------------------
29% are Education Volunteers
24% are Health Volunteers
19% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
14% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
14% are Environment Volunteers
0% are Agriculture Volunteers

Pacific Islands
-------------------------
26% are Education Volunteers
26% are Health Volunteers
21% are Business and Information & Communication Technology Volunteers
16% are Environment Volunteers
6% are Youth and Community Development Volunteers
6% are Agriculture Volunteers

For me, I want to do (and should be qualified for) Education which is the largest work sector at 30%, and want to go to EE/CA, Africa, or NA/ME. 70% of all Education volunteers are placed in EE/CA or Africa. Only 4% of Education volunteers are in NA/ME, but since only 4% of all volunteers are placed there, I'd say that's probably actually more than 4% makes you initially think.

Nice eh???

Yes, I'm Repetitive

Dear God, I might say this every day....at least a lot...but I sure as hell think it every damn day.

I can't WAIT  to reactivate my application and finally leave for the Peace Corps!

Sure I'm nervous, but all in all, I feel really good about this. I'll have some strong experience under my belt and be able to really give them great answers about why I declined & deactivated the first time and better explain what I want this time.

Some things I've thought about:

• I really prefer EE/CA, NA/ME, and Africa (pref non-francophone)
• I'd be willing to go to Pacific & Asia
• I'd be okay with the Caribbean
• I don't want to go to Latin America, I have realized that.
• I really want to do TEFL (I should be able to once I reactivate and have that TEFL teaching experience)
• I'd be willing to do Youth Development, Community Development, or Health Extension
• El Salvador, despite it looking ideal, it was not ideal for me, I wouldn't have thrived there which is key to succeeding in the PC. If I don't thrive, I won't succeed. I strongly believe I made the right decision and know that even though the invitation process is somewhat of a lottery, that the next invitation will be right, it'll be great. 
• My contact with English First will be up in January '10, I'm debating giving them a first available to leave date to be in January or February '10.
• I'm beyond excited to get the ball rolling again!

(blog updates)

If you look to my sidebar to the right, you'll notice under "fav pcv blogs" that I reorganized/updated the list--some of these I think are REALLY great. They are in no particular order at all!

PC = Hair Dye

Last weekend, my mom and younger sister, Ellen, and I were driving to St. Louis. Ellen eventually sunk into the backseat with her iPod (up soooo loud) and some thread to make those bracelets where you like loop and knot it. She's 16 and still loves artsy stuff like that to kill time.

Something prompted me to bring up the Peace Corps to my mom (who knows what, it seems like everything these days reminds me of the Peace Corps). I said, "You know mom, being a nurse practitioner, you could join the Peace Corps once you retire and Ellen's out from under you." (you know, how you aren't supposed to join if you are a guardian or financially responsible for someone. Ellen is 16 and a Junior, so she has a year and a half of h/s, and 4 years of college. My mom is 50, so that'd put my mom at 56, just about to retire.)

She seemed to entertain the idea as a plausible one. Most people look at you or respond to you as if you are crazy when you mention that. However, my mom actually entertained it--she's always been one who's dreamed of traveling but never did, and she was (surprisingly, since we don't get along) the first to head over heels support my decision to join the Peace Corps. She said something along the lines that it was something for her to think about and could be fun to do.

I say, "Since you are a nurse practitioner, which to them would give you a really strong application, and would be considered a 'senior' volunteer (NO OFFENSE) and they especially value volunteers of that age and experience, and Health is something that's in every region, you could probably even request a region and get placed in it--something younger volunteers don't necessarily get the privilege of doing. Its not a guarantee, but probably much more so than someone like me. Of course, despite that, flexibility is key." This seemed to intrigue her, and she asked what the regions were, so I told her.

She immediately said "I want to go to the Caribbean and live on like St. Lucia or St. Kitts, and what about my hair--how will I dye my hair? I won't go anywhere that I can't dye me hair."

I took a moment, staring at her, mouth gaping.

I say, "Mom...when people join the Peace Corps, they aren't really worried about their hair...people who dye it stop dying it, if you want it cut usually another volunteer or a neighbor cuts it....even if you were in the Caribbean and went to a nice resort to get it dyed, you'd probably blow your monthly allowance. Is that SERIOUSLY what you are thinking of and would consider to be your prime concern about the Peace Corps? Where in the hell to get your hair dyed!? And Okay, there is nothing wrong with the Eastern Caribbean, people go there and love it, there are people there who need help, but to want to go there because you are imagining ritzy beachy stuff!? You have GOT to be kidding me."

I had been so impressed by my mother supporting my decision for the Peace Corps. I had been so impressed that she seriously entertained the idea of she herself joining. Then I was so appalled when she said her region depended on hair dye and comfort. I told her to go to EE and dye her hair East European red.

Obama Shoutout

Did anyone see Obama make another Peace Corps shout out during the debate? I love it! Among other reasons, this is one is a great reason to vote for Obama! I feel like he will really work for and with the Peace Corps, really help us out.

Yay Obama and Peace Corps!

Hrmmm

I heard through the grapevine today that "at this time with the budget etc., it would be almost certain that if one declines an invitation there would not be another."

Hearing that come through the grapevine from the placement office is a little scary. Especially for me, someone who declined an invitation just weeks before the budget problem burst out, but will be reactivating next June when its quite likely the budget problem will still be going on.

Now, I know I made the right decision in declining El Salvador, but I also want to join the Peace Corps more than anything. Unfortunately, El Salvador wasn't the right program for me, but I am certain that I want to join and will be a great volunteer. I'm up for the challenge and am looking forward to helping those in my future Peace Corps country. I know the next country and program will be great for me, and I'm excited. Its going to be the longest wait, but I'll get there and it'll be worth it, and more importantly, it'll be right when I get there.

Naturally, hearing that, it just scares me that "oh, well...I declined an invitation....does that mean they won't extend me another one?" My decision to go to China for a year to teach English is in part for that reason. To help strengthen my application and experience for the Peace Corps since my application will now have a negative taint to it. 

Just scary stuff to hear.