Here are some pictures, finally uploaded...ENJOY! :)

This was the view from our hotel we stayed at during our supervisor workshops!

   

My hotel neighbor had a meerkat!  How Africa is that??

This was part of the decoration at the traditional Ndebele wedding I attended

And this was me with the wedding party!  The bride is to my right (the one with the red hat).

Traditional African Beer

The children love to tickle me so I fall to the ground and they can rub my hair.

Funny story:  So one of the kids, upon giving me a hug, leaned in and sniffed my armpit after a hot, long day of walking in the African midday sun. She then tells me about how wonderful my armpit smelled, so I showed them my deodorant stick (because stick is nonexistent here). They proceeded to apply it onto one another in utter excitement.  Even the boy wanted to wear some lady-scented Secret.

The kids look like they're cheering, right?  But they're actually raising up their arms to show off their lovely new smell!  They were elated!  I'm changing Africa, one armpit at a time!

Me with my language group, two of my family members, and the family members of others.

Who says old mattresses need to go in the trash?  Better to burn off their outer casings and use the metal springs as part of your fence!  Recycling (or at least resourcefulness) is alive and well here in South Africa.

Playing with a snake.  Non-venomous, of course.

You didn't think that I was just going to stick with that itty-bitty snake pictured above, did you?   :)

Me in traditional BaTswana dress

My language group on Swearing-In Day

Me with the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Mr. Donald Gips, in front of his bullet- and bomb-proof BMW.

Me with the Peace Corps South Africa Country Director, Ms. McGrath Thomas.

Me with the founder and CEO of Operation HOPE, Mr. John Hope Bryant.  They promote financial literacy to underserved communities.  To learn more about Operation HOPE, visit http://www.operationhope.org

Me with the Ambassador's wife, Liz Gips, and Mr. Bryant.  Mrs. Gips has been spending her time in South Africa working within the education system, so she could relate to us!

Today I'm officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!!

Today, at approximately 10:00am (SA time, of course!), the members of Peace Corps South Africa Group 24 were sworn in as OFFICIAL Peace Corps Volunteers!!  Woohoo!!  No more people speaking to us, referring to us as "PCVs...I mean, PCTs."  It was a wonderful ceremony, which started on time no doubt due to the fact that the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Mr. Gips, was our keynote speaker.  He and his wife (who spends her time working with the South African education system) were present from the get-go and we had the opportunity throughout the morning to speak with them both.  Mr. Gips is from Illinois but moved to Boulder, Colorado.  I found this funny, because my dad is from Boulder, CO but moved to Illinois (although now he's back in Colorado--Hi, Dad!!).  I even had the opportunity to check out the Ambassador's BMW, which was tricked out with 6-inch thick bomb- and bullet-proof doors.  The doors were so thick and so heavy, and when the driver shut the door, he merely rested it closed and pushed a button on his remote keylock and the doors sealed shut like a submarine!  It was awesome!  And I'm not typically one to get excited about cars. 

If you're bored, here's our Ambassador's webpage:  http://southafrica.usembassy.gov/amb_gips.html

The other speaker that came is the founder and CEO of Operation HOPE, John Hope Bryant.  Operation HOPE is a worldwide organization whose mission is "To expand economic opportunity in underserved communities through economic education and empowerment" (their words, not mine!).  It sounds like a wonderful organization, and Mr. Bryant was such a phenomenal speaker.  I felt so privileged just to be able to hear him speak!

So that's what happened today.  It's been a tumultuous past couple days preparing to leave, saying goodbye to our Makapan families, but I'm very excited to see what the future holds for me in my new village.  I didn't post about my visit to my new village that I had two weeks ago, and for that, I apologize.  I promise, you really didn't miss much except for a 24-hour period where I sustained multiple small injuries: someone ran over my foot with a trolley (SA speak for shopping cart), I banged my head so hard on a van door frame that my neck cracked and I had a lump on my head for a week, I got bit by a spider (more on that in a second), and I got burned by a bubbling pot of goo (aka pap).  And I attended two weddings: a traditional Ndebele wedding and a traditional Batswana wedding.  I have pictures.  I'll post them.  One day.  :) 

So the spider bite:  I had this spider in my room that was a hair bigger than a half dollar.  I would try to kill it, I would miss, it would leap into the air and then run away faster than a Kenyan sprinter.  This went on several times until it escaped under my bed and I was forced to call a truce.  I spoke that truce in English, and perhaps the spider didn't understand English (because this is Africa, after all!), and maybe that's why he bit me.  At any rate, the next morning when I woke up my ankle itched worse than any mosquito bite I've ever had and my ankle was swollen and red.  After a couple days, it subsided and I thought nothing of it.  I asked our resident snake and spider expert, Gert (he's our safety man here in SA), and after describing to him my mystery spider, he says to me, "Oh, that's a violin spider."  Great.  I was bitten by a brown recluse!  He had said that had it been a full-size spider, I would've been in a lot more trouble than just an itch because of their toxicity.  Which led me to ask apprehensively, "well...how big do they get?"  "Oh, about the size of your hand."  Eep!!  I'll be sleeping with one eye open from now on, AFTER I bug bomb the room a couple times!

Other than that, South Africa has been great.  I'm loving it here and will try to update more often.  Unfortunately my internet time is out and I must run!  Hope you all are doing well, I miss you!

Almost done with PST!

I know...I know...I haven't updated this blog since I left the States.  That's partially because I don't have internet nearby (I have to take an almost-hour long taxi ride to the mall if I want to go online on a computer) and partially because even though I do have data on my phone to go online, going on websites eats up my data like Pac-Man and so...here we are.

I have only about two weeks left in the village where I'm doing my PST (Pre-Service Training), and I'm loving every minute of it!  I have an amazing host family: the koko (grandmother) that I live with named Rosy, her daughter Tiny, and Tiny's kids (my host-siblings) Olebogeng, Letlotlo, and Duduetsang.  I went to the zoo yesterday with Dudu, her boyfriend, and my host brother Letlotlo yesterday, and it was so much fun!! I haven't laughed that much in a long time!

Tomorrow, I head out to my new village for a supervisor workshop and to meet my new host family and host community.  I'm excited, but it's not that big of a leap--I'll only be about 2 hours or so from where I'm at now (to the delight of my current host family).  Nevertheless, I'm both excited and nervous about integrating with a new community all over again.  It's a lot of work, and I'm definitely going to miss the community that I'm in now.

I've eaten a few interesting things since I've been here--mopane worms (moth caterpillars) and chicken feet to name a few--but otherwise the food hasn't been that different from the States.  Lots of chicken, but also some ground beef (called mince meat here), mutton, and goat as well.  And we eat a TON of vegetables--I probably eat more vegetables in a week here than I did in a month in the US!  We eat a lot of squash, potatoes, green beans, carrots, cabbage, spinach (actually Swiss Chard), onions, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, etc.  We eat 3-5 veggies per meal.  Yes, PER MEAL.  But it's great.  I do miss fruit, though.  My selection is pretty limited: bananas, apples, oranges, and pears.  It's all good, though.

If you're friends with me on Facebook, I've uploaded a couple dozen photos.  I'll try to get some on here within the next couple months.

This is short, I know, for an entry that is to describe the past month and a half I've spent here, but I'm out of internet time at the cafe!  I'll update again as soon as I can!

Thanks for all the support from back home, and I love and miss you all!

Here We Go!!

What a whirlwind the past 48 hours has been.  I've gone from living in a house in Gurnee, to living in hotels in DC, and now, I'm on my way to South Africa where I'll be living for the next 2 years!  It's weird to think that I won't be living in America anymore and won't be enjoying the luxuries of America for a long, long time.  I'm excited to see what the next couple of months will bring as I train to be a School and Community Resource Specialist with the Peace Corps.  As most of you know, I won't be in touch for the next two months or so as we won't have internet and phone access...I can be reached by mail and my address is to the right of this post...otherwise, you can wait to hear from me (hopefully) sometime around September.  Plenty of pictures to come when I can afford the data to upload and post them all.  I hope you all (all three of you that are reading this) take care and do well in the coming months and I look forward to posting again as soon as possible!!  :)

18 More Days!

It's hard to believe that there are only 18 more days left until I leave.  With the amount of things I have left to do, it certainly feels like a lot shorter time than that.  I have not even begun to pack, although I have thrown everything I plan on bringing into massive piles. 

I have found out, for those of you that do not know, that I am going to be staging in D.C.  Staging is where all Peace Corps volunteers go and learn about what they're about to experience and how to stay safe while doing it.  We'll also be turning in our final paperwork, including life insurance, student loan deferment forms, immunization history, etc.  It'll be a chance for me to meet and get to know the people with whom I will be interacting, if only occasionally, for the next two and a quarter years.  Since the federal budget for the Peace Corps has been slashed, our time at staging has likewise been slashed.  Instead of being in Washington, D.C. from July 5-7, we are now only there July 6-7, and really only the July 6 is spent on staging, because we leave for Atlanta at 8:45 in the morning and from there we hop a plane to Johannesburg.  From there, it's about an hour to Pretoria, where we are then dispersed to wherever we will be doing our Pre-Service Training (PST). 

I have elected to spend an extra day in D.C.  I will be leaving from Milwaukee Airport at 8:10am and arriving at Reagan Airport at 11:00am.  I had a ton of Marriott Rewards points so I figured what the heck, I'll live it up.  One last night in a luxurious and posh hotel room before willingly placing myself in third-world living conditions.  I'm very excited to go to D.C. and see the National Mall, the Capitol Building and Supreme Court, the White House, the Smithsonian Institutions, and wherever else I can walk in the 10 hours I plan on walking around. 

Also, thanks to the budget crunch, we're to get our own Yellow Fever shots.  Not such a big deal, except for the shot costs close to $200 (and more, at some clinics and doctor's offices) and we've been given only a week to get this done and submitted to the Peace Corps.  Should we fail to meet the deadline, no plane ticket for us!  I'm not really bothered by the last-minute rush...I am a little peeved that the shot costs so much, though.  Oh well, I guess it beats getting the real thing!

I look forward to being able to update this post with more than just anxious ramblings.

23 More Days!

So I am officially in packing and, simultaneously, unpacking mode now.  Obviously, I am packing and preparing for my upcoming departure.  I have spent hundreds of dollars in the past couple weeks acquiring a wardrobe that most of the population currently has but I do not due to the fact that I've worn a uniform for the past 4 years and have had no use for clothing outside of old t-shirts and blue jeans.  The idea that I'd have to start wearing dresses and skirts has had me in semi-panic mode.  I am NOT made for dresses.  On a more positive note, however, one of my most recent shopping excursions has taken me to JC Penney, where they were having a weekend sale.  I ended up getting a pretty nice black knee-length dress, originally priced at $100, for $7.64.  Not bad!

Like I said, I am simultaneously unpacking.  I have a boatload of crap that I have accumulated over the past 10 or so years, and I was hellbent on keeping it.  Mostly university papers and reading assignments, but also random crap, like a Bart Simpson cereal box and a vast floppy disk collection housing who-knows-what.  I have thrown away about 12 garbage bags of junk, donated 3 bags of clothes, and given away a half-dozen items on Freecycle.  And I'm only a third of the way done going through all my stuff. 

On top of all that, I also have to pack up my bedroom.  That means both purging the crap that I don't really need and organizing all the stuff that I insist on keeping into a few small boxes and bins.  Here's to hoping that doesn't take too long.

Overall, I'm very excited about the upcoming three weeks.  I have big plans and lots to do, but I have no doubt that it will get done.  I am still missing things that I need, but I have faith that it will all be purchased in time.  I don't like waiting, but since I quit my job last week, that is all I have left to do.  And still no word as to what time our flights will be or even what city we're leaving out of.  Sigh.  I guess this is how the Peace Corps teaches you patience.

Aspiration Statement

So today I wrote and sent my Aspiration Statement, which is basically you telling the Peace Corps about your expectations about your assigned project, your strategies for adapting to a new culture, and how you expect your service to further your personal and professional growth.  It's basically just one more thing to stress over, even though no matter how excellent a paper you write or how terrible it may be, you're in regardless.  It is broken down into five different sections:

A. The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service

B. Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs

C. Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background

D. The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community and project

E. How you think Peace Corps Service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

I'm not sure if I did it exactly how they wanted it, but I did attempt to answer each section to the best of my ability.  Below are my written responses to each statement:

A.      My service as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa will be a difficult, stressful, incredible experience.  It will push me to my limits and will change the way I look at both my own life and the lives around me.  It will be tough, and it won’t always be fun, but I will still make it a daily mission to find at least one good thing about my situation and surroundings each day.  I will use my positive outlook to enhance my Peace Corps experience by always looking for the good even in a bad situation.  My patience and flexibility will be tested, but I plan on meeting any challenges head-on and with the mindset that I will get through it.  I know there will be things that I do not yet know, such as the language or local culture and mannerisms, but I will go into each situation with an open mind and a thirst to learn.  I expect that leaving a modern culture with high-speed internet, information at my fingertips and entertainment at the push of a button will be a life-altering experience, but I will embrace my new-found technological isolation as a chance to slow down appreciate the world around me.  I know time will go slow—painfully slow at times—but I will embrace this too as a welcome change of pace and learn to let things be.   And I know that by the end of my Peace Corps experience, no matter how many highs or lows I hit, I know that I will be a better person and a better professional because of this experience. 

B.      Because of experiences allowed to me through both education and previous volunteer work, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of people.  I have worked in areas where English wasn’t spoken, and had to overcome obstacles such as language and culture to accomplish what needed to be done.  I have worked in inner city neighborhoods, where poverty and gangs run rampant.  I have worked with children, adults, and the elderly.  I plan on using what I’ve learned from all of these experiences to help me work with my host country partners.  This includes patience when language creates a barrier and when cultural norms clash.  It also includes being open to different ideas and ways of doing things, and being able to work together to accomplish a common goal.  It means I must be approachable and personable, no matter how tired or stressed I may be.  I will ask questions at any opportunity to understand the situation and the mindsets of my host country partners.  I will keep an open mind and an open heart, and I will always understand that while I am a teacher, I am also simultaneously a student.

C.      I have been exposed to a wide variety of cultures and ways of living, and I’ve learned that the best way to experience a different culture is to be fully immersed in it.  Before I leave, I plan on learning everything I can about South Africa: it’s history as a nation, it’s languages, it’s cultures and traditions.  Once I arrive, I plan on observing people as much as possible.  You learn a lot from observing people, including what is culturally acceptable, how people interact with one another, and how people function as a whole in society.  When you spend your whole life in one cultural atmosphere, you are unaware of how many things that you consider normal or typical are only considered so in your culture.  I plan on noting the differences between the culture that I’ve grown up in and the culture I will be experiencing for two years.  I will adapt my own behavior to match that of the culture that I am in so that I can be an active member of society.  In addition to observation, asking questions are always helpful to understanding any culture, and I plan on asking as many questions as people will allow.

D.      There are many skills that I hope to gain during pre-service training, and there is much that I need to learn in order to work best with my future community.  While I don’t know which of the 11 official languages of South Africa I will need to speak, I hope to learn the language as best I can during this time and have a working proficiency in the language so that I may be functional in the community as soon as training has concluded.  Teamwork will play a huge role in getting things done in South Africa, and I hope to enhance my teamwork skills during pre-service training.  I need to learn about the role education plays in the community I will be working in to understand any and all challenges I must face.  Understanding the difficulties that I will face once I arrive on site before actually arriving will help me to better adapt to the situation and have in place some formative goals and methods to accomplish these goals.  I hope to begin to enhance my patience and perseverance at this point so that when progress seems to grow stagnant, I may still be hopeful and energized in order to see my projects through to the end. 

E.       I believe that my Peace Corps service will enhance my understanding and knowledge of the way other societies and cultures function in different parts of the globe.  I also expect that my experience will enhance certain personal skills, including patience, perseverance, and flexibility; these attributes are not only important to me as a person but as a working professional.  I believe that my Peace Corps service will also give me a broader view of the world and how the world functions outside of the fast-paced American culture.  It will help me to understand how globalization has affected South Africa and the communities contained therein.  My Peace Corps service will give me a greater sense of self and who I am as an individual.  It will teach me that in solitude there is not only loneliness but peace, and I will learn how to take time for myself even when constantly surrounded by people.   As a teacher, I will learn adaptive methods to reach a population of people completely different from myself and with a different view on the importance of education that the one I hold.  I will learn to stress less when put into seemingly impossible situations, and I will learn that not everything I hope to accomplish will actually be realized.  I will learn to embrace my failures and to celebrate in my accomplishments.   I will learn to adapt my teaching methods to best reach all students, whether my students be children, adults, or colleagues.  I hope to be a better person because of my Peace Corps experience, and I look forward to seeing how my Peace Corps service contributes to my personal growth and development.

INVITATION!

So I had to wait until today to post, because yesterday I was completely exhausted.  Here it is:  Yesterday, I received my invitation to serve from the Peace Corps!  I will be serving as a Resource Specialist with the Schools and Community Resource Project in the Republic of South Africa!  I have been given the orientation dates of July 5-7, 2011, Pre-Service Training (in South Africa) dates of July 8-September 2, 2011, and will be serving from September 2, 2011 until September 1, 2013.  I never imagined myself in South Africa, but I am extremely excited and really looking forward to it.

From what I've read, the weather is very agreeable; from what I've read the temperature generally ranges from the mid-80s in the summer to the low 40s at night in the winter.  I'm sure there are days when it's hotter/colder, but that seems like a very nice weather range.  Also, I've heard it rains a lot in South Africa, which I'm looking forward to because I LOVE the rain.  Not sure how much I'll love it when I stay in a constant state of damp, though!

I'm also really excited because this means that I'll get to put in my two weeks' notice this week--something I have been looking forward to ever since beginning the Peace Corps process.  As many of you know, my job isn't my favorite thing in the world, and I am anxiously awaiting the moment when I give that letter to HR. 

My leave date is coming up quickly, though, which makes me nervous.   Nervous that I won't be able to procure all the things I'll need/want on my trip, nervous that I won't have the money I need to pay for my storage in full for 30 months, and nervous that now I won't be able to come up with the funds I need to visit my friends and former coworkers in Vegas before I go.  And that was something I was really looking forward to doing.  However, I have faith that what is supposed to happen, will, and if I'm not supposed to go, then so be it.  But I would be slightly upset. 

I was kind of confused when I read my job title; after all, I had been told I would be teaching in one capacity or another.  As I read on and learned about my primary duties, I saw that the title is somewhat confusing (at least to me).  Basically, I will be assisting teachers in improving their teaching, subject content knowledge and classroom practices in all subjects.  I'll also be:

• teaching basic computer literacy to students, teachers, administrators and community members (something that I excel in, and I'm looking forward to this).  
• working with students and be providing direct instruction
• training teachers and school management on outcome-based curriculum and overall school management
• supporting initiatives by government and non-government organizations that promote HIV/AIDS awareness and education (as well as developing strategies for handling the subject in schools)
• working with school governing bodies, educators, parents, and community members to strengthen the partnership between schools and communities
• and working to develop innovative approaches to teaching, as well as critical thinking skills.

Sounds pretty fun, huh?  It's a totally different role than I saw myself in, especially since I've been told this whole time that I will be teaching English to Secondary Ed students.  I'm excited to work in this way as I feel it will help strengthen me as a teacher, and I look forward to learning new approaches to teaching.  Some of them I may not ever use in my own classroom, but seeing different strategies and approaches to education will definitely help me with my own vision of classroom management and help me to develop my own unique strategies.

That was yesterday.  Today was spent filling out forms.  My personal passport had to be renewed, and even though I won't need it during my service with the Peace Corps, if I want to travel after service as many volunteers choose to do, I would need a valid civilian passport (as my Official Passport expires when my service ends).  That cost me $110 for the passport and $60 for the expedited delivery.  Then I had to apply for my Official (no-fee) Passport, which was free, and I sent in my South African visa application (also free).  What wasn't free was all the passport photos needed for the forms--I spent almost $50 on passport photos!

This all leaves me in that awkward waiting stage.  There are so many things that I still need to take care of; so many forms that still need to be submitted but I can't submit then quite yet.  Among the things that I still need to do are:

1. Sell my car (can't do this until mid-June)
2. Close my Thrift Savings Plan account (this one is going to be cutting it close, since it takes on average 1-2 months to complete after I quit TSA but I'll only have one month until I leave)
3. Pay my storage unit in full for at least 30 months, which will cost almost $3,000 (can't do this until I do the above two things)
4. Defer my student loans (can't submit this until staging--Peace Corps has to certify it)

Really not too much to do, but then you realize it's all pretty important, time consuming, and will most likely not be completed until the week I leave...you can see why it's somewhat stressing.

Looking forward to telling everybody at work tomorrow that I'm outta there!! :)

Beginning of the End and Peace Corps Timeline

So yesterday I received some gratifying news: I have been qualified to receive an invitation.  This is great news, and couldn't have come at a better time.  That means that it is the beginning of the end of my waiting to be a Peace Corps volunteer.  To give you a better understanding of how long it has taken me to get to this point, let me give you a brief timeline of events:

9/20/09 - My application is submitted to the Peace Corps
9/25/09 - Application accepted.  I am given a Peace Corps recruiter
11/14/09 - Recruiter receives all of my forms, but they got wet in the mail and I need to fingerprint again
11/24/09 - In-Person interview set up for December 16th
12/3/09 - My recruiter takes a new job within the Peace Corps and I am assigned a new recruiter
12/17/09 - Apparently, many of my file parts are missing with this change in recruiter.  They are resent.
1/7/10 - In-Person interview and redo of fingerprint cards
1/15/10 - Follow-up email from recruiter asking for more forms that I had previously submitted.  No biggie.
2/23/10 - Informally nominated to Peace Corps service by my recruiter.  Updated on toolkit on Feb 24th
3/3/10 - Medical and Dental packet completed and sent back to Peace Corps
3/8/10 - Toolkit updates my legal evaluation to conclude that there are no legal holds on my application
3/18/10 - Toolkit update says my medical, dental, and physical information is being looked at
5/14/10 - Dental packet is accepted on Toolkit by Peace Corps
5/21/10 - Physical examination is accepted on Toolkit by Peace Corps
6/30/10 - I send the Peace Corps an email saying I will be getting my tonsils out.  They reply back saying I will miss my tentative leave date set for the end of August because I cannot be medically cleared by July 5th.
7/18/10 - Receive packet in the mail asking for additional info on my tonsillectomy and my history with epilepsy.  I send them back the tonsillectomy information but refuse on the epilepsy information, stating it was more than 10 years ago and therefore isn't to be included in my record.  Peace Corps accepts my information
9/9/10 - I am moved to a new program.  I don't know where yet, only received an email stating such
10/14/10 - I am sent more medical information requests by the Peace Corps, this time about my treatment for mild anxiety (aka-"insomnia")
10/22/10 - I receive a letter from the Peace Corps stating that they will medically delay me until April 2011.  I send them a rebuttal, stating that my leave date (now tentatively scheduled for March 2011) would be missed if delayed that long, and can I only be delayed until the end of December 2010.  They accept my plea.
1/5/11 - Doctor appointment to state that I'm not crazy and would be well-suited for the Peace Corps.  Hoping to meet my medical clearance deadline, which is early February.
2/15/11 - Still no word on my medical clearance.  I call.  Apparently, doctor screwed up on my paperwork, Peace Corps nurse sat on it for too long, and I missed my deadline.  Again.
2/26/11 - Peace Corps receives fixed medical records fax.  I am told to wait for a new program and leave date
3/9/11 - Medical clearance FINALLY accepted by the Peace Corps
4/5/11 - I am again reminded that I missed my last leave date due to lack of medical clearance.  I am asked to be patient.  I am also asked to resend my college transcript and resume.  Apparently, when I was told these things got wet when sent back in Nov 2009 but it would be okay, it wasn't.  Resubmitted.
4/27/11 - After an hour-long phone interview, the Peace Corps qualifies me to receive an invitation
4/28/11 - Status update on Peace Corps toolkit: Peace Corps has completed your placement review. There are no holds on your account at this time.

This doesn't even include the countless back and forth emails between me and various Peace Corps placement officers, nurses, and recruiters throughout the entire year-and-a-half-long process.

So this is where we are at:  Everything that I need to submit has been submitted; everything that needs to be accepted or cleared has been done.  Now, when they tell me I'm leaving, I'M ACTUALLY LEAVING!  It is a bit surreal, as I have been in a constant state of wait for over a year and a half, but I am so excited to finally be this much closer to beginning my service to the Peace Corps.  

I have asked the Peace Corps if they could delay me until after July 3rd, and they have willingly obliged.  My availability date has been set for July 5th, 2011, and I can be placed in any program that leaves after that date.  I will still be teaching high school English, but have no idea where that will be.  My original leave date set for late August was to send me to Sub-Saharan Africa, my first choice for location.  My second leave date, set for the end of March, was supposed to place me in Eastern Europe/Central Asia, my least favorite of all the choices.  I almost called them back to quit, but decided that wherever I am placed, it will work out well and be for the greater good.  After all, I want to be sent where I am needed.  I should find out where I'm going in the next 2-3 weeks.

Until then...