Surreal....

Well been a long time on the update. As I write this I am sitting in a hotel in philadelphia waiting for 2 a.m. To roll around so that I can board a bus to go to new York City to head out to Zambi a grand 15 hour flight. Leave on a Tuesday arrive on a Thursday. The last 24 hours have been surreal. Said goodbye to friends and family. A process that was difficult for me. But today I definitely made some new ones. Poeple whom are amazing. I am nervous and screw an excited. A weird mix of emotions. I hope tht I a can handle it and excell. I hope to hear from everyone. So please mail me or email!

Invitation!

A 10 months journey has finally come to an end. I have officially received my invitation! i will be spending 27 months in the country of Zambia doing  Agriculture – Rural Aquaculture Program ! leaving July 16th.

All the stressing and all the worrying is has finally gone out the window. I know what I am doing for the next 27 months of my life. This has been a long and very frustrating journey. One that my friends and family have been supportive and great motivators to stay positive.

 The packet of stuff that I need to do is extensive also! kinda bad timing with it since I have finals this week and I am leaving on a ten day river trip next week. Oh well, Everything has paid off. Now it is time to start buying gear and getting everything set up to leave!

I promise A bigger update later right now I should be studying for my Spanish final

Another update on placement

I received an email today from my placement officer today. In the email she thank me for the responses to the questions she asked.  she also said that she will be looking at my file in the upcoming weeks determining if I qualify for a placement and don't expect a final decision for the next 2-3 weeks.

This is defiantly going to be difficult. I been waiting for roughly 9 months to find out where my life is going to take me.  also  in 4 weeks I be going on a 10 day rafting trip on the San Juan down in Utah.  I will have no access to Internet or to phone. SO I hope that she gets hold of me sooner. This way I don't leave and she has no way of contacting me. Or worse they send my invitation and I cant open it till its too late!

my plan is to wait two weeks and email about my San Juan Trip. I don't want to do it to soon and seem pushy but I feel like she does need to know.  hopefully my trip is not going to be an issue but their is no way I can back out or even want to back out.

I know a short update but I am trying to be better about it.  If anyone has been in similar situation or has any advice I would be grateful. Thanks!

Jerry Riener

Placement.. Another game of waiting

It has been a really long time since I have updated my blog and I apologize for that, but it does leave me a lot to talk about. So in my lost post I talk about how The medical clearance is a pain in the ass. One of the aspects that is briefly mentioned by others but not extensively is the price. Yes the peace corps does give you some reimbursement but not a whole lot. Overall it cost me close to about 350 dollars to do everything. I also have excellent insurance so I can see the price easily going up if i didn't have that. I was also fortanate enough to go to my campus dental hygienist training center and the student Health center which help me out a lot money wise.   Really the actual process of getting the physical done or the dental exam done is not difficult. It is making sure that all that everything is filled out like it should be. IT can be quite stressful because you don't want to feel like a nuisance to the doctor or the dentist but you do have. you have to make sure everything has been filled out correctly.  Here is a list of potential things that you might want to start gathering/keep in mind  before you start your medical procedure so it is easier to complete.
1. immunization and vaccination records
2. It is going to take a couple visits. don't expect to Get everything done in one visit. (in my case the dentist office)
3. Yes blood work is required
4.Generally the doctors will not have a  much better idea what Peace corps wants either.

I submitted all my medical stuff with relative ease. I had no problems with my medical clearance other then a few clerical issues.  My Nurse was an amazing person was beyond helpful and quick in the responses to any questions that I had. I have now moved onto the next part of the process which is placement. I have had already recieved a email asking for a updated resume. This email in particular worried me simply for the fact they had a disclaimer in it about how budgets cuts are affecting the placement process.  Hopefully this doesn't mean a delay because I have basically put my life on hold. I didn't apply for grad school, Nor Have I been looking for a job.

Anyways I finished updated resume that night and sent it off. The thing that does concern me is I felt like this whole last year I haven't been active in volunteering experience. With school, internship and my job I felt that i didn't have a lot of time too.  At this point this is nothing I can do but hope. I received an email confirming that they received my update resume and have sent my files on to the next person in the process.  It took about week before I received another email. From all my reading I was expecting an email requesting a time that I would be able to a final placement interview over the phone. To my surprise it has seemed that I will be just answering the questions through email. The questions were pretty generic. But for those who are curious what they asked I am leaving a complete list below.

 Logistics

1.             What is your current earliest availability to depart for Peace Corps service (currently, environmental and agriculture applicants are being placed in programs departing in June and onward) in mm/dd/yyyy format?

2.             Since you applied, have there been any changes to your legal status not previously reported to Peace Corps (such as name change, lawsuit, marriage/divorce, traffic citation, arrests, charges, convictions, new/additional financial obligations, etc.)?

3.             Have there been any changes to your medical status that you have not yet communicated to our Office of Medical Services (OMS)? (A yes/no answer is sufficient as details are not necessary; however, if you are answering yes, please contact your pres-service nurse or the pre-service unit at pre-serviceunit@peacecorps.gov at your earliest convenience).

4.             Is your contact information (phone, email, current mailing address) that we have on file current (if not please make updates at anytime by logging onto My Toolkit)?

Expectations for Your Service

5.             Part of preparing for Peace Corps service is developing realistic expectations of what life is like as a Volunteer, with specific attention to the common challenges Volunteers are likely to face. From what sources and/or experiences have you learned about the realities of life as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)?

6.             What are the key lessons you have learned from these sources that will help you succeed as a PCV?

7.             List the top 5 challenges that you expect to encounter as a PCV and discuss how you plan to deal with each.

8.             Have you gained any additional agricultural and/or environmental experience since you sent in the updated resume?

Your Family & Friends

9.             Since you first told your friends and family of your plans to apply for Peace Corps, has their level of support for your decision changed? As the time for a possible departure gets closer, how are they feeling about it?

10.         Since you were interviewed have you become involved in a romantic relationship OR has there been any change in a previously reported romantic involvement?

Site Placement

11.         Living with a host family is required during Pre-Service Training (PST) and sometimes for at least for the first 3 months at permanent site. In some sites, staying with a host family is required for the full term of service. What do you consider to be some of the challenges and some of the opportunities in living with a host family long-term? 

12.         “Sites” (the specific locations where PCVs live and work after Swearing-In) are determined by in-country staff during PST. The nature of sites varies widely both from one country to another and within the each country. In your application you acknowledged and accepted responsibility for meeting the “Core Expectations for Peace Corps Volunteers.” By the nature of where Peace Corps serves, most sites are in more rural, isolated areas. When considering potential site placement, keep in mind Expectation #3: “Serve where Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service.” Regarding sites where you may be asked to serve:

·         Are you prepared to serve in a site with limited or no “amenities” such as electricity, running water or indoor toilet? 

·         Are you prepared to serve in a site that is isolated and/or a significant distance from other PCVs?

·         Are you prepared to serve in a site where access to means of communication such as internet or cell phone service is limited or non-existent? Can you ride a bicycle and are you prepared to “commute” up to several kilometers round-trip per day by bicycle?

I answered all the questions and have sent it off. Again starts the whole process of waiting. I have been patient but this waiting around is getting nerve racking. Trying to plan my next couple months is all riding on this placement.  I will promise to try and update more often now that school is winding down.  But wish me luck!!

Jerry Riener