NAMIBIA!

I got my invitation! I am going to Namibia!!!! I will be an English language teacher at the secondary or upper primary levels. That means students grades 5-12.

Here is my timeline:

October 29-31, 2007: Orientation in the U.S. (location tba)

November 2 - December 28, 2007: Pre-Service Training in Namibia

December 28, 2007 - December 28, 2009: Peace Corps Service

YAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A new destination.

Originally, I never wanted to go to Africa. It just seemed like a place I couldn't handle: the sun beating down, me living in a mud hut, riding a donkey to and from work. When my placement officer told me he'd have to find a new location for me, I told him "NOT AFRICA." Then I thought about it for a couple hours and realized how stupid it is for me to pigeonhole the entire continent into an ignorant, stereotypical image. (Orientalism, anyone?) Africa has so much more to offer than that! And if I do end up in a mud hut, so what? One of the reasons I'm joining the PC is to have an adventure, isn't it? So I called up my p.o. and said that if he wanted to send me to Africa, I would give it everything I have.

It looks like I'm going to Africa at the end of October. :o)

PISSED

I called my placement officer today and he said that he's been waiting for my call?! and since I didn't call him, I've missed the deadline for a September departure!

I think it is coming.

I finally spoke to my placement officer yesterday. He told me that being an Asian-American in Eastern Europe would bring me a ton of attention and possibly discrimination, but not to the point of physical danger. Most EE countries are totally homogenous and so any non-white person sticks out like a sore thumb. He told me to think about it and call him Wednesday morning if I don't want to go there after all, and if so he'd try to place me in another part of the world but I won't be able to go until December or January.



I thought about it for five minutes or so and said, screw it! I am going to Eastern Europe in September, period. If it is difficult, fine. I can handle it. That's part of the adventure. It'll be an educational experience for the people in that country.



So tomorrow is Wednesday, and since he won't be hearing from me, maybe that means my invitation will be overnighted to me tomorrow...???

Good news!

I called my screening nurse this morning and she told me that she would be reviewing my paperwork shortly today...and then this afternoon at work someone emailed me asking for my transcript!!...Which is great because that means my file was given to my placement officer, which means that my invitation is coming!!! Wahoo!

Disheartened.

I faxed in my form a few days ago and still haven't recieved medical clearance. I know they got the form because I called to confirm it...so what the heck?! I called the screening nurse just now and her voicemail says that she won't be able to return calls for the next 3-4 days. So...more waiting.

Am I not destined to join the Peace Corps?? This is getting ridiculous. I mean if they were still working on September nominees, that would be fine, but people are getting their October and November invitations now. I am starting to lose hope.

An update.

I got an email (and a phone call and a fedex) from the Peace Corps a couple days ago saying that my Eyeglass Prescription Form is incomplete; in other words, I need to buy some glasses so that they know what my measurements are in case I lose my glasses while I'm overseas. So I rushed out and bought some glasses and faxed in the form...hopefully all is well and my medical clearance is coming soon. It should be, since this is the only thing that they said was missing.

On Tuesday I started my 3-week job teaching conversational English to a group of Chinese students. If you have ever thought that Asian students (not Asian-Americans, but actual Asian-Asians) were demure, quiet and well-behaved, you can just forget it. To put it bluntly, I hate them. Those words usually don't come easily to me, but they do right now. They are rude as all hell and have the attention span of a kindergartner, especially if you put them in front of a computer. That is all I have to say about that.

(Actually, it's not.) So with that said, I am starting to second-guess my upcoming job as an English teacher in Eastern Europe. I'll be teaching high school students. I am not one of those people who loves kids or has so much to say to them, and I am certainly not a fan of teenagers. Do I really want to teach high schoolers for two years??? Can I put up with them?

This is crazy talk, because the point of joining the Peace Corps was (and still is) to help people. I want to make a difference and I also want to do something special and something adventurous. Still, my experiences so far this week have not led me to believe that teaching is something I'll be passionate about, in the long run.

That is not entirely true though. The people that I want to teach are the immigrants, refugees, migrant workers; the people that came here out of necessity who HAVE to learn English for the sake of their families' futures. You know, the ones who actually want to be there. Not some little punks who came here because their daddies made them come...like the ones I'm teaching now. I don't know if it is possible to ever avoid them, though. In the ESL industry, you cannot be picky because there are so many of us who teach it.