It was the best of times...it was the worst of times...

Today, on my 100th day of waiting, I got my medical clearance.

And today, on my first day of being medically cleared, I got a phone call telling me that it’s a restricted clearance and that they don’t know if they will be able to get me a placement or not.

Today was the best morning ever when I got the original clearance news, and a pretty hard afternoon after I got the second half of the news. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty devastated.

If I quick sign up for a college French course, I will still have a chance of getting an African September placement. Of course there is no guarantee that after I put down hundreds of dollars and tons of hours, that I’ll actually end up with a French speaking assignment.

Some of the people close to me who have watched me be tormented by the application process don’t understand how I can keep going when I keep meeting one setback after another. It’s very simple, this is important to me, and you don’t give up on a dream just because of a few hurdles.

I’m still super excited, and I still can’t wait to leave, I’m just a little sad right now while I wait for things to finally fall into place. It’s going to happen soon, I can feel it!

97 days and counting!

Once again, my loyal readers, I have an update. Of course, to follow suit with all of my other posts, it is a ‘still frozen in PC land’ update!

My best buddy Mr. Medical Screening Assistant has informed me that it will be another month before I hear anything about my file. He also said that the deadline to get my clearance is August 1st. In other words, if I’m not cleared by August, I don’t leave in September. Interestingly, he said not to call again till July 20th if I haven’t heard anything. At that point if I’m not cleared and they want anymore information for me, I don’t think that there is any possible way for me to get that taken care of before the Aug 1 deadline (due to my job).

In happier news, it is my (totally uneducated) opinion that since my clearance deadline is so late, my nomination must actually be for late September! Armed with this, and previous PC mumbo jumbo, it is my extremely well educated (but uninformed) opinion that the country I am nominated for is Benin. Don’t write that down yet, I’ll let you know in a month! :)

Lately I’ve gotten several encouraging e-mails from other PC nominees/invitees who have had problems with medical and have survived to tell the story. Knowing I’m not alone is a wonderful thing.

I win!

I bought my first bit of “Peace Corps clothing” today. I know it’s silly to be buying things before I get my medical clearance, but it was there…I was there…it was on sale!! How could I tell it no? Anyway, now if I don’t make it into the Peace Corps, I’ll have something to wear as I wander around my house crying! :)

Just so you are all up-to-date, I hit 13 weeks (that my packet has been sitting at the medical office untouched) in 3 days!

But really, I’m pretty sure that’s a record! Honestly, who else do you know who can say that their file sat at medical for over 90 days before anyone looked at it? I win!!

(By the way, my arguments these days are generally ended with: “Yeah, well I’m going to Africa,” and thus I win every time!)

And the wait continues...

I heard from the medical office today…they said it will be another 2-4 weeks before my file is reviewed. I’m starting to think that I’m never going to get reviewed because every time I call they say “in a few weeks.” So I am once again back on hold!

However, my personal preparations continue! I learned this week to give myself a shot in my leg in case I can’t get to PC headquarters in time for each shot. That was very exciting! My French lessons continue...in fact an immersion lesson is waiting for me at the library right now! And of course, I have continued buying “essential” packing items. It’s just too much fun to mark things off my list. :)

11 week update

Hello my adoring non-comment leaving fans!

I have some heart breaking news: I talked to a girl a few days ago whose medical process took over 3 months, so I’m not winning the world record so far after all! I have my fingers crossed that I won’t end up beating her!!

As of today my medical packet has been sitting at the medical office collecting dust for 11 weeks. When I lasted talked to my medical screening assistant, he said that it would be “one month” before the nurse could look at my file. Today is one month. Everyone think happy thoughts in hopes that they are now looking at my file and that I will hear something soon!

In other news: I’ve started the long process of learning French in the past few weeks. Wow, there are definitely words in that language that my voice does not want to pronounce! Hopefully I’ll start getting a hang of it before September! Watch…now my invitation will be to anglophone Africa instead of francophone!! :)