Zdravo!

I am only three weeks away from leaving for Philadelphia for my staging, then I fly to Macedonia with my team on the 28th of September. It seems impossible to think I am so close to leaving. The preparations here have been far more complex than I had anticipated, but I can still say emphatically "YES" when I ask myself "if you knew how much you would have to do to prepare for this trip before you actually did it, would you still sign up for the Peace Corps?"

The more I hear about Macedonia, the better it sounds. I am so ready for this adventure!

Our team is not training in Skopje, we are actually going to Kumanovo for our training. It has been a bit hard trying to find weather reports for Kumanovo but the weather in Skopje looks pretty warm. The packing is interesting because I am limited to 100 lbs but I will be going to a location with all four seasons, 3 of which occur during my training.

Hopefully the next post will occur during training-I think I will have access to internet in the country during training, maybe no photos because my posts will occur at internet cafes, but that should change once I get my assignment and my own internet connection. This is a photo of the Church of St. George in Kumanovo that I found on Flickr.

So...the house is packed and will be moved on Saturday, I think I have taken care of the ongoing expenses and I am close to getting my packing done for the trip.

Now, if I could only learn the language in my sleep...

On Tuesday morning, I got up, fired up my laptop and found a message from the Peace Corps: I had been sent an invitation! Great, but no hints as to where. My burning question, which was like a bad itch I couldn't scratch. Each day I checked the mail, nada. Finally, on Friday, I found a huge package in my mailbox. This was it. I took a couple of deep breaths, sat down on the front steps, and opened the package. The cover letter congratulated me, but I kept thinking: where, where, why aren't they telling me where????? I finally glanced at the bottom of the page and saw "Macedonia". YAAAAAH, this is one of the spots I was hoping for and I am going! After I calmed down and read the letter again, I noticed that Macedonia was mentioned in the first sentence of the letter but I never saw it. I was too excited.So, I called some friends who have been on similar pins and needles for me (and for them, they plan to visit but really had some countries in the Eastern Europe/Central Asia region that weren't on their top ten life list destinations). I then got online and sent out an email to all I had promised to notify (many family members and friends who I have driven crazy with this project). I took the neighbor's dog for a celebratory hike up Tunnel Trail, then came home and read through the package. My first order of business is an early Monday morning phone call to PC to say: YES! and then fill out and return the passport and visa applications. I will be issued a PC passport, I can't use my personal one. More later, but there is one ironic note: I was so anxious to get this notification so I could start language lessons. Macedonia has several languages and the orientation package tells me that depending upon the location of my assignment, I will either be learning Albanian or Macedonian. So....I just hope they are similar, like Spanish and Portuguese.

I thought this process would go more quickly. I got my medical and dental clearances in the third week in January and thought the invitation would come shortly. Ha! The naivete of a future Peace Corps volunteer!

Not surprisingly, the Placement Officers review the applications by government fiscal year quarter of entry. Since my nomination was for September, (the last month of the fiscal year), Carmen Drickey, the Eastern European Placement Officer hasn't started looking at 4th quarter nominee files yet. I know because I have called several times, only to be advised by Nick that I have made it through the screening process but Carmen hasn't started reviewing the folders yet.

A woman I met in the Retired Peace Corps who was also in my circumstances: waiting for her invitation, got it in early April. She is going to Ghana on September 20th. That makes me really anxious to hear!So I walk around work with my cellphone in a pocket so I don't miss a call for the phone interview that leads up to my invitation.More later, when I know something!

This is the initial posting to my blog. The purpose of the blog is to keep family and friends in touch with me while I am in the Peace Corps. http://peacecorps.gov/ Until that trip begins, I'll just catch you up on the process so far.

I have gotten an initial assignment-it looks like I will be going to Eastern Europe as an NGO (Non-government organization) advisor. That assumes that my medical clearance comes through before the assignment start date of 6/15/08!

So, there will be lots of calling and emailing on my part to the Peace Corps folks in Washington after my doctors and dentist have submitted their reports. I meet with my recruiter on Wednesday to get my fingerprints taken and see if I can get him to tell me what country I may be going to. I would like to start to study the language NOW because I have a feeling it will take me longer to learn the language than it takes my 22 year old counterparts.

If you have gone to the Peace Corps web address above, you can see that there are lots of countries that fall within the Eastern European region, including some in Central Asia. I could be going anywhere. And...there is no guarantee that even this region designation or assignment will be my final destination. It is all subject to change until my medical and legal reviews are completed and I get my invitation. At that point, I will have 10 days to accept the invitation (or not) and then I will have 6 weeks until I leave. I will travel somewhere in the US to get an initial introduction to my country assignment and meet the other Peace Corps team members going to the same country. I am not sure whether this trip happens before or after the 6 week leadtime before I leave the country. Do I get the 6 week notice, and go to the U.S. city after the end of 6 weeks and then off to my country? I don't know. Lots I don't know at this point. More later.