1. The seventh Harry Potter movie(s) (someone please send me a portkey to London so I can attend the premieres:)) 2. Grande Iced Soy Mochas 3. Hanging out at coffee shops for hours trying to write the next great American novel (and failing miserably) 4. Easy access to everything 5. PBS documentaries 6. New episodes of the Office, Bones, Castle [...]

Well, I am officially no longer a slave to the MAN! Friday was my last day, and since then I have never gotten so much done in my life (okay, in my life since I entered the 8-5 workforce). I know that everyone in America is obsessed with getting a job right now, and that [...]

So, I recently found out that my name (Kim or Ким) is the same as the word for “who” in Kyrgyz. What does that mean? Well, imagine I arrive at my host family’s house and they say, “What is your name?” (literally, your name who?). I’ll answer, “My name is Who.” They’ll say, “Who?” I’ll [...]

Since I got my invitation to serve in the Kyrgyz Republic, it hasn’t been all parties and hysteria. There’s also been some work. Here’s a breakdown of what I’ve been up to since I got the invite: Call and accept invitation (as soon as I flipped through the necessary reading material and stopped freaking out [...]

Yes!!! I did not expect my invitation to be in the mail today, so I am completely freaking out! I just opened it like two minutes ago, and I am so excited I’m literally tingling. So, for all of you who’ve been following my blog, my destination will not be a big surprise. I’M GOING [...]

I woke up this morning expecting absolutely no word from the Peace Corps (I mean, it’s Saturday!). And guess what??? I pulled up my email and got a surprise Application Status Update! I rushed to login to my toolkit, and this is what I found: With some more digging, I found out that the invite was [...]

I’m trying to be patient, I really am, but I’m not superhuman! My placement review was completed on December 29th. From everything I’ve read, people usually get the update saying their invite is in the mail 2-3 days after completion of the placement review. It’s been 2-3 days! I know, I know, the New Year’s [...]

Okay, I woke up this morning to one of those emails from the Peace Corps saying that your application status has been updated. After I got up off the floor, I rushed over to the PC website and logged in. Here’s what I found: I no longer have a legal hold on my account (yay!). [...]

Okay, here’s my lame attempt at a cartoon showing what it feels like to wait for my Peace Corps invite. Yes, it is one of those I’ve-waited-so-long-I’ve-turned-into-a-skeleton cartoons. What can I say? I’ve been waiting for a loooong time And yes, this is pretty much what I really look like. [...]

Well, I signed a three month apartment lease (through March). Thank god I have an amazing landlord and she didn’t raise my rent. If I get the invitation for Kyrgyz Republic, this will work out perfectly. If not, I’ll just have to sign another short-term lease after March. Man, I have never looked forward to [...]

I got confirmation today that my car loan will not hold up my placement. Yay! I keep expecting to hear something from the placement office anytime now. I carry my phone with me all day at work, and I check my email about a million times a day. I found out on Facebook this weekend [...]

Just downloaded Tom Petty’s “The Waiting.” Talk about the soundtrack to my life On the bright side, I’m actually looking forward to Monday, because it means I might hear something from the Peace Corps!

Okay, here’s today’s obsession: I was nominated for a program that I don’t directly qualify for. The program is 172 University English Teaching. According to the PC website, you need a master’s in English, French, TEFL or Linguistics. They also like applicants who have taught in a university, tutored or volunteered with a community organization [...]

Okay, so I got a form response back to my email to the placement office. Basically, if I am chosen for the program that I was nominated for, I will get my invitation by the third week in February 2010. If not…then I will have to practice some major (super human) patience. What I need [...]

Ahhh, I just emailed my placement officer (actually, the assistant) to see if I could get a rough estimate of how long the placement process might take. Should I have done this??? I don’t know. I don’t want to seem like I completely lack patience, but I do need to decide on the terms of [...]

I bought a Kyrgyz-English dictionary today at Half Price Books (part of my pre-invitation jitters). It is super cool and more than a little daunting. My only language learning experience thus far has been with French and Spanish (and some Swahili), all languages that share the English alphabet. Learning how to speak a language with [...]

I was nominated for Central Asia back in May (a region including Turkmenistan, Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan), but I recently read that volunteers have been denied entry to Turkmenistan (so that’s out). However, I was nominated for March 2010 (and Turkmenistan staging was back in September), so if all goes as planned it looks like [...]

I’m ready…I’m ready…I’m ready. I finally got my medical clearance just over a week ago, and never before have I felt more like my favorite sponge-shaped cartoon. It is now month 8 of my Peace Corps application process, and I AM READY for my invitation! Way back in May when I got nominated, my tentative departure [...]

Hi, this is my Peace Corps blog. Right now I’m sitting in my cozy U.S. apartment, but soon I hope to be blogging from halfway across the world. Where will I go? No idea. When? If only I knew. Stay tuned, and thanks for traveling with me on my PC journey [...]