Invite......? Am I DREAMING?

So my placement officer said this'd be in the mail mid to late April, but....


SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!!! REALLY??? OMG, I CAN'T WAIT! I won't be back til Friday night.


In other news, I'm in Seattle right now visiting Jamie, a neighbor from Korea.

Finally!!!?

Katie, Kate, and I were sitting in the beautiful library 4th floor nook (they have a nice comfy nook with big windows on the four corners of 4th floor) when my phone suddenly rang. I picked it up to see who the 202 number was, and ran to the fire escape as if the place had been set ablaze. It was my placement officer, calling to give me my final interview and see where I'd be going to in the Peace Corps. Originally, he said I'd be good for Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe, but I was secretly hoping neither of those. He was pretty lenient and said he'd let me choose from my options, and unless he called me back chances were that I'd be going to the region I chose. I told him I'd been hoping for something south of the equator, and would take anything there.

"Well, you said you'd be willing to leave after June 30. Are you willing to bump it up 5 days?"
"It depends..........."
"Well I have one in Sub-Saharan Africa that leaves 5 days before."
"/calm/ Really? /calm/"
"Yes."
"Sure!"

So.... here things are. I had no idea where I'd be going only that I knew it'd be Sub-Saharan Africa at the end of June. Oh, and he told me I should receive my invitation either the second or third week of April. Right after we got off the phone, Katie and Kate received the same call. I was so excited for the both of them! Katie is either looking at Eastern Europe or the Carribean. Kate is looking at Sub-Saharan Africa as well (excited!!) but not leaving til September, so not the same place.

After I got out of the class I TA for, I got a call from Lauren saying that she was told her and I are going to the same country! She got some extra details such as it's an Anglophone country, and I'd be doing Youth Development while she's doing Health. YAY! Lauren and I are together!

So I looked online at the Peace Corps Wiki (the Peace Corps equivalent of Wikipedia) to look at their timeline, and the 3 countries around that date are Benin, The Gambia, and Swaziland. Now I'm really hoping it's not the first two, because I don't want to go to West Africa. But I'm SUPER excited about Swaziland, AND it's the only country that has both programs we've been assigned for.

Now... Lauren and I have pretty much accepted that we are going there, googling everything in the world about it and prepping ourselves to learn siSwati. We've also been reading a chunk of Peace Corps blogs about Swaziland. I promised I wouldn't get too excited til I got my invitation in April, but it's hard not to get excited. Both of my roommates (Greg and Ambuj) have now received theirs. They're both doing economic development in the Dominican Republic!! It's awesome that they'll be together like Lauren and me.

Here's what I know so far about Swaziland:
Capital: Lobamba (royal and legislative) and Mbabane (administrative and largest city). The international airport is in Manzini, always important information.
Area of the country: 6,704 sq mi
Population: 1,185,000. Roughly half of whom are married to or sired from the king....... JOKES!! (or is it?)
Official languages: English and siSwati
King with absolute power: King Mswati III (with 14 wives and 26 kids)
It used to be a British colony until 1968 when it gained independence.



Disclaimer: Nothing is set in stone until I get my invitation hopefully by the 3rd week of April. *fingers crossed*

Since blogging about the Peace Corps seems so popular... (my timeline)

I have decided to start this blog up again to talk about where I am in my own Peace Corps application process...

So here is my Peace Corps timeline. It's been a LONG ride.

October 1, 2010: Received the application packet from Peace Corps.

November 9, 2010: Peace Corps received my application packet.

November 15, 2010: First interview with regional Peace Corps coordinator.

November 30, 2010: Application withdrawn pending acceptance to a Masters International program since I do not intend to go to Peace Corps until I do the MI.

April 5, 2011: Wait-listed for the Illinois State University's Masters International program.

April 25, 2011: Accepted to Illinois State University's Masters International program.

April 26, 2011: Nominated for Peace Corps.

May 5, 2011: Date my medical kit was mailed to me.

August 18, 2011: Started Masters International graduate program at Illinois State University.

October 25, 2011: Peace Corps received my medical and dental.

November 18, 2011: Rejected from the Peace Corps on the basis of my supposed lack of health.

November 28, 2011: Put together an appeal for my medical.

December 7, 2011: Peace Corps ACCEPTED my appeal for my medical status. =D

December 28, 2011: Peace Corps sent me another email asking me to send more transcripts and details.

January 19, 2012: Was informed by the Peace Corps that my application is in final review now.

February 2, 2012: Contacted by my placement officer with a questionnaire of the kinds of conditions I can handle in the Peace Corps. Submitted answers same day.

That's where I'm at right now... I put June 30 as my soonest available leaving date, but would definitely be willing to leave early if it meant I could go to Tanzania on the June 11 departure. That would be a dream come true.

First day of school!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a really good day. It was the first official day of school in South Korea, and I didn't have any classes, but my Mentor Teacher, Jenny, asked me to come in anyways. I came for a meet and greet with the other teachers and various assistants I hadn't met yet. So after that I hung around on the internet at in the teacher's lounge until lunch time, and then had my first staff lunch.

Food was delicious, then left school to go to my local library. I spent a few hours there watching Black (a Hindi film that I would recommend to ANYONE!) and then a BBC version of Persuasion, the only Jane Austen story I don't know anything about, which also was quite good. Two minutes after I got home, I got a call from Jenny saying she was downstairs waiting for me because the staff was going to have their first hwi-shik, which is an obligatory staff dinner type thing. It's a good thing I hadn't started dinner yet, because I was planning to eat cereal for every meal the next few meals because my milk expires in 2 days.

Hwi-shik was everything I'd ever hoped it would be and more. Lots of delicious food, good conversation getting to know more of my school staff members. The only thing I probably should have participated in that I didn't is everybody going around the table pouring soju for each other. Just worrying about how I should pour for each person, in which order should I approach people to pour for them... I just kinda zoned the whole practice out even though I saw it going on all around me. I guess I'll have to do it eventually.

Afterwards, we went to Karaoke with the whole group, about 16 of us. We were told at orientation that our principal will most likely be a very serious person, and the vice principal will usually be more of a party animal and outgoing person especially at hwi-shiks. At our school it seems to be the other way around. From the first day, Jenny told me that they call our principal Gandhi because he's a very kind and loving person. He even looks a bit like him. He's always been really friendly to me, talking to me in Korean all the time, asking me about myself. The vice principal has been mostly quiet and shy around me. The principal loves Celine Dion, and requested that I sing his favorite song, Believe, at Karaoke so I had to oblige.

When we left, I took a taxi back to my area with two people who live nearby, both of which are the closest to me in age. I realized that the one girl, Hana actually lives in Clasium with me! That's means now I have someone from my school that I can talk to and spend time with. She has a cute little puppy, and she brought him over last night after we got home, and we just chatted and looked at pics. She's the archery coach at my school, and I heard from some other teachers that we have the top archery team in the area. Maybe she can teach me some time!

Anyways... A great day =D

Weekend

I've been finding ways to survive without internet in my apartment. Mostly, I've been going to school or to my local library which is really close by. Other times I am stuck watching whatever's on tv... Luckily there's usually some American tv show or movie on to pass some time.

Sunday was much better. I took the bus down to Gangneung, and met up with EunYoung, a girl who was my temporary Korean co-teacher because mine had not shown up (later I found out I don't even have one ><). She's really an amazing girl, so nice, so eager to help out, and speaks good English too. So we walked around downtown for a bit, then met up with my other friend Young who's a TaLK scholar in Pyeongchang, much more rural than me. We went to the Full Moon Festival, which is special in Korea because the first full moon after the Lunar New Year is quite important. We did all the stuff the festival had to offer, then moved on to Jjimjilbang (sauna).

We stayed there overnight, then came back to EunYoung's in the morning for breakfast. We finally got to meet her two shy little sisters, aged 11 and 13. They were absolutely adorable. I started talking to the younger one, and she's sooo smart. She didn't use much English but she could understand quite a bit. She also showed me her English homework. If I get a 5th grader who knows half as much as her, I'd be so happy. At one point, EunYoung asked her if she knew anything about Judaism saying that I was a Jew. She said right away she feels sorry for them. I was in shock when she said that because EunYoung barely knew anything. Her little sister went on to list off books and movies about WWII and the Holocaust that she read such as Anne Frank's Diary and The Pianist, and EunYoung said she knew all them but didn't know they were about Jewish people. I was so impressed, I wanted to take her back to Sokcho with me.
On the bus back to Sokcho, I met another English teacher, an Australian guy who'd been teaching here for 8 years now. He lives about 20km north of me. He gave me his card, and said to contact him if I need it. He also gave me some useful tips on getting some stuff I need, and offered some other possible contacts. Said that there are English teachers swarming all over the place here.

Ma new place!!

"You take the things you like, and try to love the things you took." - Regina Spektor 'On the Radio'

I've listened to that song a million times already, but it's the first time I've ever picked up that particular lyric. I quite like it.

After a crazy month of orientation and trips, yesterday was finally the last day of our province orientation. So much for February being a welcome change from the whirlwind of January travels. We had two orientations, one for all 300 of us, and the second just within our province. Ours has 24 making it an enormous province with such a small group. The province below us is half our size but has three or four times as much people. I quite like it this way though.

Two days ago, we finally got the names of our mentor teachers and the logistics of our school. Mine is quite small with only 65 students from grades K-6. I was quite excited because this is the day we would meet our Korean co-teachers who would teach side by side with us in each class, and are often college students from nearby universities. I waited... waited... waited... and no one showed up for me. I went up to the Gangwon education supervisor, and it seems they could not get in contact with my co-teacher and I may not even have one.

I got in contact with my mentor teacher (who is usually the Korean English teacher at whatever school you are going to), and she confirmed that they have not been able to find one for me. Apparently we live in such a rural area that they have not been able to procure someone who speaks enough English to function teaching in the classroom with me. She also told me that they have not been able to find me an apartment yet, and when she picked me up the next day we would go around searching for one. On top of that, she didn't know when my settlement fee (that everyone is supposed to get when they 'settle' would come in). So in essence, I was FREAKING OUT!!

Yesterday came and I was still worrying about it. When I met my co-teacher finally, I saw that she is the nicest person EVER! She's so sweet. Our meeting right away went off on the right foot. I really hope that I didn't cause her much stress because we did a lot of driving around Gosung and Sokcho, first my school (so cute, I LOVE IT!), then E-mart, then the bank because my pin number somehow didn't work, then my apartment, then back to E-mart to buy everything I need, then dinner, then my apartment again.

Ok, this is something I'll forever be in debt to my mentor teacher for. She managed to get me an apartment where another TaLK scholar is living, where I was hoping to live. I have TWO bedrooms, a spaceous living room, big kitchen/dining room, and a balcony looking out onto the East Asia Sea (or Sea of Japan, depending on your politics). I absolutely LOVE IT HERE!!! Today they will have a bit of a meet and greet opening ceremony for me at 3:30pm. I start teaching next Tuesday. Now to get started on lesson plans.........

Back in Korea

After a month of travels around the US (10 different states in January!!), a nasty stomach virus, and my COLLEGE GRADUATION, I'm back in Korea now.

I arrived late, but was thrust right into things without any word of what I've missed or what I need to catch up on. Four of us arrived around the same time on Saturday the 6th, and TaLK just tossed us into the wild. After a tour of Daejeon, and a morning of instructions on how to run an English Camp, we were shipped off to Cheonan (천안) to do a camp.

Each of us were assigned a kid, and mine was really shy. She didn't want to speak English at all, and didn't really want to. Even though I tried to encourage here to speak English all the time, we spoke mostly in Korean so that she could understand me, but I would then translate to English and make her repeat after me.

We've played lots of games, and we've been running all over the place. I have bruises all over my knees. I'm tired as all hell. But at the same time, I had so much fun. Everyone had to prepare a dance, and we all presented them tonight. I wish I could adopt my kid. She's a sweetheart even though she's stubborn, and I'm sure I could help her and she could help me with Korean too.

Tomorrow back to Jochiwon where our orientation is, then Busan for the Chinese Lunar New Year for the weekend.