Prologue Part III: The Long Wait

So that leads us to the five-ish months between my interview and when I finally got accepted. Yeah, it took that long.

I got home from the interview and had to correct my application essay. Apparently if there are 3 or more mistakes, they won’t accept you as an applicant for an English teacher. I had that many mistakes, but my recruiter told me to correct and send them to him (though he didn’t say what was wrong, so it’s not like he was completely bending the rules for me). I guess my interview went better than I thought (see previous blog post for why I’m still shocked).

Sent in my corrections and I guess they were good enough, because about two weeks later, my recruiter called and asked me if I’d be willing to go to certain countries

[editor’s note: I just noticed one of the essays said I spent summer 2008 in Uganda…that should be summer 2007…oops].

Now, Peace Corps can only tell you what region (Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, etc.) they’re sending you, but he did give me hints like “a French speaking country in Africa” so I had a little more of an idea than just “Africa” or something. I turned him down on every country for two or three weeks. After that was, like, two weeks of silence. I had no idea what was going on. Finally, he called me in the middle of class. After class I listened to the message asking me if I still wanted to go to a country in the Middle East (my top choice of region), apparently there were like only seven spots open. The way my recruiter explained it to me earlier, he gets weekly updates of what countries want what types of volunteers and how many they’re willing to take in at that time. Crazy excited, I called him back after, got the machine, left a message. He called me back in the middle of my next class. I ditched class for a few minutes to take that call, hoping no one would notice the phone vibrating in my pocket as I left the Psyc building. And like that, I was nominated for the Middle East/North Africa region. What that means is that the recruiter for the Middle East/North Africa region now had to approve of my application and okay my nomination.

As I said earlier, this took place over the course of weeks. I had been preparing for Peace Corps since my sophomore year of college (volunteering in Africa, taking Peace Corps-related classes, learning to play an instrument), there’s no way I would just lay around all passive and such during the final stretch. So what was I doing?

1) I was taking an Arabic class (trying to get nominated to the Middle East, after all) as well as a class called "Teaching English to Non-English Natives"

2) I went to Slat Al Juma’a (Friday prayers) every week with the Muslim Student Association

3) I set up a little Quran study group with a Muslim friend

4) I found a group on campus that tutors English to other (mostly foreign-born and at UMD for grad-school) students and volunteered.

5) I got a job at the university gym for one semester (where I also got CPR certified)

7) I volunteered at the university health center

8) I emailed my recruiter updates on how all this was going. Visibility is key, right?

Now, I had first heard about Peace Corps and what they do my sophomore year in a presentation when my recruiter spoke at the University of Maryland. I went to one or two more before I applied at the end of my Junior year. Now, as a Senior, I went to every single one (there’s a presentation at Maryland about once or twice a month). One time, I walked in a little late, and my recruiter chuckled and just game me this smile, then went back to his presentation. Towards the end it got to the point where when talking about the application process, my recruiter would turn to me and ask if there was anything he missed or what it was like for me to apply…and then I’d be put on the spot and try to look all knowledgeable in front of a group of strangers. Once or twice a potential applicant would ask for my email or if we could meet up to help him/her with the application process.

Meanwhile, I had to get all my medical/dental stuff done. Apparently my “primary physician,” as specified by my health insurance card, had retired. I had to find a new one, alert my healthcare people of the switch, and get some tests done. I also had to get my teeth examined (more on that later). I sent in all my medical/dental forms, kept going to presentations, volunteering with the English-tutoring thing, Friday prayers, Arabic, all my other classes, finding time to hang with friends and other people, etc.

Finally, I get a call from the Middle East/North Africa region. We’re talking months had passed here. I'd even applied for a few other jobs just in case I didn't get into Peace Corps. Still, I’d updated her with all my Peace Corps related goings-on once my normal recruiter told me that he nominated me to that region (reason being that he no longer had my file, she did now). She asked me if I was doing the English-tutoring thing. I told her I was, and started going into detail about it…caught my breath for a sec…and she told me I'd been nominated to the Middle East/North Africa region. A smile happened as I started to comprehend what she had just told me. It took a day or two for my Peace Corps handbooks/acceptance forms and such to come in the mail and tell me I was going to Morocco. The next day I called her back to confirm that I want in.

You'd think that's it. But wait, there's more...TO BE CONTINUED