One Step Closer... C'mon Left Foot

I knew it was going to be a good day when I woke up this morning. I only hit the snooze button a couple of times, very impressive considering I usually hit it repeatedly for the better part of an hour. I got out of bed around 6:15 and walked to the living room to open the blinds and let the new day's light in. It has been my routine lately to turn on my computer and check the weather and browse my email looking for the words "Peace Corps". Of course I checked facebook too--what kind of self respecting twenty-something would I be if I didn't check my facebook first thing in the morning to see if anything happened while I was sleeping. Ok, enough about facebook and how it's more important than "real life". I have this glorious little e-mail in my inbox from Peace Corps, titled "Application Status Updated". In the email is a link that sends me to my current applicant toolkit and I find out I have been medically cleared! Sound the trumpets.



No, the email doesn't look anything like the animation above, it's just one little simple line of text.

Needless to say, the first thing I did was call my momma and dad. Lindsay found out shortly after--she would have found out first but she has a big girl job and travels around.

Later this morning I contacted the Africa Placement Office and they needed a couple of additional things. One of which is an updated resume and the second is an additional reference. They were so helpful and very nice. They really took the time to explain anything I didn't understand and.

It took me all of about 10 minutes to update my resume since I sent in a copy before my Interview in January. My good friend and former coworker Luke is going to be providing the details in the fill in the blank reference form. I'm pretty excited because on a "wordsmithiness" scale he's at least a 10. Thanks again buddy.

Thanks for reading and enjoy LOST season finale tonight. Oh, you don't watch LOST, well you should.

No More Needles For Now

Two weeks ago, I received my medical packet and last week I went home to get it all taken care of.

So, to recap my "medical visit" home there was a doctor's visit, dental visit, trip to the health department, and a trip to the cardiologist. Oh, and a return visit to the doctor. There were seven needles total. Not to bad... for the first wave.

Contrary to the title, the needles don't bother me much. It is the waiting to get stuck that bothers me. Once the needle finds its place I always think to myself, "Self, that wasn't so bad". I usually agree. After I received my tetanus booster, I even wanted to laugh. Not because it tickled but because of the mental image I had of the nurse holding the syringe, pulling her arm back and letting loose like she was throwing a dart at this invisible bulls-eye in my left deltoid. Cricket anyone?

All-in-all it was a very productive week. We had to wait a little bit longer than expected for all of the lab tests to run. Since I had already left to come back to Nashville by the time the last results came in, Mom added the lab results to the medical packet and got it in the mail this Monday.

On Wednesday morning at 4:15 (in case you are wondering, no I was not awake) I received an e-mail from the Peace Corps stating that I had been dentally cleared. My teeth rejoiced! This morning at 4:15 I receive another e-mail, but this time it only notified me that my medical packet had been received. I hope this is not like LOST with the reoccurring numbers.

It could be 4-6 weeks before I hear anything about medical clearance, but in the meantime I will find out who my Placement Officer or PO is. This is the person who tells me that I'm going to ________ country and I will be doing ________ job and I will be leaving on ________ date. So, needless to say I can't wait to find out who he or she is.

I slacked off on my French studies last week with the change in schedule and haven’t gotten back to it yet. Maybe tomorrow I’ll start again.

Thanks for reading. I hope to have more soon.