T minus 1 month!

One month exactly!

I’m almost ready! I have almost all of my shopping done…I only need my rain jacket, some cotton slips, and my birthday presents!! …and I need to sell my car and have my will and power of attorney notarized. Let me tell you, I’m pretty thrilled about doing those things. Actually, the thought of selling my car makes me want to puke, but whatever. It’s crazy to think that in 3 weeks I won’t have a car anymore…hopefully :)

What's that smell?

Our overweight office kitty is sitting next to me right now, and when she purrs she kind of wheezes because of her weight…poor thing.

I was told recently that female stick deodorant is hard to find in Cameroon and that I should bring it with me. I got to talking with my family about trying to pack 2 years worth of deodorant, and it got pretty interesting…because really, how much deodorant actually equals 2 years worth? There isn't a little serving size label on each stick, so how does one go about figuring how much to bring? My dad and I assumed that it would be a huge amount and would weigh me down while my mom suggested sending me a "year's worth" as a Christmas present my second year there. I have a feeling that I'm going to get interesting care packages in Africa! Feel free to weigh in on the debate…how much deodorant equals a year's worth?

Speaking of care packages…wondering what address to write me at for my first 3 months in country? Here is my address:

Amber Schmitt, PCT
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 215
Yaoundé, Cameroon

Keep in mind that letters may take up to 3 months to get to me…and 3 months from today is October 21st. Hm…that's 4 days after my birthday! *nudge nudge* so you may want to get on top of that writing thing! :)

and the lessons continue...

UPS update:
Yesterday evening while I was out babysitting, a super nice random gentleman pulled up to my parents’ house and dropped off two packages for me that had been delivered to his house. Was his name Amber Schmitt? No. Does he live at my address? No. Uncool UPS, uncool. Luckily for me the dorkos delivered my packages to someone who was both honest and nice enough to drop the boxes off at my house. I love you random older package-dropper-offer guy!!

In related news: the new Teva Dozers (shoes) that came in one of the packages are amazing. I tormented myself over which size to get since I couldn’t try them on in a store, but luckily I eventually chose correctly :)

Also…I have just about finished my Peace Corps shopping. I have all of the clothes that I will be taking. Pheew…I got a little panicked when I realized that on the first day of summer stores started putting away their summer clothes (what the heck?).

The world is a strange strange place…but hey, I’ve learned a lot of things this summer (i.e. how to change a flat tire, what to do if your UPS packages never show up, how to say ‘cat and kitten’ in French, etc etc.)

UPS is harshing my mellow

Wow…what a rollercoaster of emotions this morning!

I came in to work today to pick up some overtime, and I was playing on the computer because Saturdays are slooooooow. I was checking the status on my order from Campmor, which was scheduled to arrive yesterday. Much to my surprise (and horror), the tracking site said that the package had arrived at my house yesterday at 9:07 PM. Shoot, I was getting ready for bed at that time! Everyone at my house was home, and no one heard a knock or the doorbell, and when I left for work this morning there was no package outside. Stupid freakin' UPS. Who leaves a package in plain sight of the road at night without knocking to see if the people are home?! ARGGGGHHHH!!!!

Of course I was trapped at work and couldn't leave to look for the package: torture!!! My mom and dad checked outside the front door and on the back porch (the site said it was delivered to the front door) and didn't find anything. I was pretty devastated at that point and took a few minutes to calm myself before I called Campmor to find out if they had insured the package. They didn't, but they're going to send the UPS driver out to check where he left the package…and Campmor is going to replace my order at no cost to me. I wanted to hug the guy on the other end of the phone when he told me that :) I had been sitting here thinking how expensive that stuff was going to be if I had to pay for it twice!

Well, now I've experienced my first Peace Corps related theft, cross your fingers for me that it will be my last!!

Moral of the day: UPS sucks, and Campmor rocks hardcore!

Bonjour!

It’s French day! Unfortunately, I haven’t had a ton of time to study lately because I’m busy receptioning (new word!)…also known as ‘sitting and waiting for the phone to ring so that I can push the little green button’…and making files so that I can then file them and cut my fingers on them. I keep telling me boss that all of the cuts on my hands make me eligible for workman’s comp, but she’s not really going for it. Whatever.

I was getting my hair cut the other day and the hairdresser told me that she thought that going to Africa was the worst idea she had ever heard. Mostly she thought it was awful because she was worried about my safety, but I was still amused that she just flat out told me that it was an awful idea. She and two other ladies then told me that I should run for president when I get back. I love that idea…I won’t be old enough, it won’t be election year, and I have no interest in being in politics! But at least I have 3 votes already :)

Yesterday they thwarted a terrorist attack in England. Yay for them! Boo for me! Now we’re not allowed to take liquids of any kind in our carry-ons. Ah!! I was planning to pack things like hand sanitizer, toner, and other heavy liquids in my carry-on in order to keep the weight down in my checked luggage…plus I want them on me in case my checked luggage gets lost. There goes that plan! At least they haven’t banned IPODs on planes in the US yet like they have in England. Man that would be an awful long flight to Paris without music!

thinking about goodbye...

I’m having one of those annoying days when leaving seems pretty terrible. It’s hard to imagine not being able to talk to my sister on the phone when the urge hits me…or have a movie night with Betsy…or IM with Jess till late in the night. I’m going to miss everyone a lot. I expect you to write tons and tons to make me feel better. D’accord? (ok?)

(Clarification: the ‘act’ of leaving…as in ‘leaving everyone behind’ is what sounds awful…not the going to Cameroon part!)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still so excited that I could explode at any second. The more that I talk with PCVs in Cameroon and the more research I do about Cameroon, the more excited I get. It’s going to be a pretty sweet adventure. (Tons of work…but still amazing)

But man…there is a lot to do still! As a crazy planner, I’ve had my packing list set for weeks, but I still need to finish buying a few things. You know...the hard to find things. Gah!

Also, I’ve been working on my will and power of attorneys. Oh yeah…the will is fun. My family was just thrilled to talk to me about that one. You should try it sometime; it’s a real mood lifter!

Every time that I think about having to leave my poor baby kitty behind I get all teary. That’s dumb, I hate crying…but she’s my baby! I wish that I could explain to her that I’m not abandoning her. Poor baby, I already miss her.

Speaking of crying…I have my French class again tomorrow. It’s going well, but I moved up to a harder level class and it scares the crap out of me. The whole class is conducted in French, and I don’t know if you guys know this or not…but I don’t speak French! (yet) :)

Captain Planet, he's our hero!

Holy cow, I'm moving to Africa next month! Africa... Wow. I've planned on this for a while now, but it's still amazing to think about! :)

I just started a new job as a receptionist this week, and today everyone in the office ate lunch together because it was one of our coordinator's birthday. Since I was the newbie, everyone was asking me questions such as how long I'd be working there, where I graduated college, what my plans were for after I left the company, etc. Of course once we got on the subject of Peace Corps, the questions exploded and everyone had something to ask. One woman asked "What would make someone want to go into the Peace Corps. Honestly, I wanted to say: "Why wouldn't you want to go into the Peace Corps!?"

Actually, it is hard for me to remember what originally got me interested in the Peace Corps. I don't know if it was the mother hen side of me that always wants to help people, the idea of an adventure, my love of environmental education, or the fact that I was brought up in a family that stressed the importance of helping others.

Ok, ok...the real reason I want to go into the Peace Corps is because I've always wanted to be Captain Planet. Seriously. I wrote that in my application essay. That's probably why my process was so complicated...they thought I was crazy :)

I am a bad bad person for not updating everyone on my recent super fantastic news!

Two Monday’s ago, I got a call from my actual Placement Officer. He wanted to know about my efforts to learn French, so I gave him a huge long list of everything I plan to do to become as fluent as possible before I leave. Apparently my plans were enough to satisfy him, because he immediately put my invitation in the mail!!

He told me to wait 5 days for the invitation to arrive. I have to say—those were the longest 5 days ever! I was determined that after I went out with friends on Saturday morning that I would come home to a big white PC packet. No such luck. However, at 5pm when I went outside to take out the trash, there was my packet sitting on top of the mailbox! I dropped everything and went sprinting across the yard and back into the house, while yelling “It’s here, it’s here!” Yeah, I was pretty excited.

Take a deep breath before you try to say any of this, because it’s a mouthful: I am going to Cameroon to serve as a Farming Extension Agent in the SAHEL Agro-Forestry and Permanent Farming Systems program. I leave September 26th! The more I research this placement and the assignment, the more excited I get because it all sounds so amazing!

Yesterday, Tuesday, I officially accepted my invitation. Now I have 10 days to send out my new resume and aspiration statement as my introduction to my country desk!

I’m an invitee!!! :) :) :)

Hope

Lately my free time (what free time?) has been taken over by the hunt for French classes. Unfortunately, all college courses began back in June and are either done now or are done in a few days. That doesn’t help me a whole lot.

Luckily, a different person from placement called me a couple days ago, and her supervisor said that it would be ok if I just got a tutor instead of enrolling in a class. So now I’m on the mad hunt for a tutor!

This last phone call was much more positive, and she sounded fairly sure that I would get this assignment. So the flame of hope is relit!!

Now I just need to crack down and get really really serious about this French stuff. Au revoir for now!

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!! :)

schmedical

Medical clearance schmedical glearance. Who needs it really?

So the day after I hit 7 weeks of waiting to hear from medical, I called them to ask when my file would be reviewed. Not for another month, was the response. I’m trying to set a new world record for how long it takes to get medical clearance. I’m at 8 weeks today and expecting at least another 3 weeks.

I’m considering this “pre-training” on the whole patience thing. I’ve stopped bothering to check my status on the peace corps website. Now when I finally get cleared it will be a big crazy surprise that I wasn’t expecting because I stopped worrying about it. :)

For those of you that I don’t talk to regularly, medical clearance is estimated to take 4-6 weeks; thus, my world record.

Making contact..

Tomorrow I hit “official” four weeks that the medical office has had my packet! I e-mailed my medical screening nurse this week to find out if there was any chance of speeding up the process, but to no avail. My issue is that I will be graduating in May and will be losing my health insurance. If they want anymore information or tests from me after that I will have to pay for everything out of pocket. I absolutely do not blame PC for my predicament, I should have started the application process much earlier when I first became interested in the program.

On a positive note, I’m getting really super good at this patience thing. I mean, come on, I waited almost four weeks before contacting them :)

Craziness

I’ve become one of those crazy neurotic people that I read about on all of the Peace Corps websites that I belong to. I’ve begun the habitual checking of my application status every morning. I know that I have a while to wait…but how can I not check? What if something changes? It’s crazy.

I’ve also begun shopping for things that I “need” in Africa. The only problem is…what if I don’t get medical clearance? I’ll be stuck with lots and lots of things that I can’t use. But if I want to be able to buy the things on discount I have to do it now! This whole waiting thing is waaaay too complicated.

:)

Yay!!! My packet finally made it to DC on the 20th!! AND…I got dental clearance 2 days later!!! I’m one step closer :) Maybe I’ll be one of those crazy lucky people whose medical clearance comes through super quickly. It’s ok if it doesn’t though…at least I know that my packet is finally there!! :) :) :)

Where are you???

On Monday (13th) I mailed my medical packet. I sent it Priority Mail (2-3 day service) and bought delivery confirmation for it. It is now Sunday the 19th, and usps.com still says that the packet hasn’t arrived. Agh!! So much for 2-3 days. I guess tomorrow I’ll have to call the Post Office and make them find my packet…please please please don’t be lost!!

Getting close!

Wow, I’m almost done with medical!! Last Friday I went out to KC and had THREE appointments to try and finish up the medial packet. I went to my dentist, my normal doc, and the eye doctor. Everyone told me that I am wonderfully healthy and wrote down that I’m good to go! Yay for that. Then on Wednesday I met with the doc who did my physical, and got all of my blood work put on my sheet. It is kind of fun to actually get your labs back, because they tell you twice as much as the doctor does! The doctor just tells you generally: you are healthy, but the labs tell me about hemoglobin and sugar levels and everything else. Good times :) All I have left is completing my three personal statements and I’ll be done!!