T-minus 8-days to staging

The post-Peace Corps invitation paperwork is in; it's now time to pack. With only 8 days left to departure, it is crunch time. There is a growing pile of "must-pack" items in the corner of my room; each day it grows larger with new additions. A few of the more interesting items: 10 passport photos, silica gel packs (to ward off moisture), rechargeable AA and AAA batteries, an inflatable globe, duct tape, a few favorite spices and a box of Oolong tea. There are still a dozen items to pick up, such as Nalgene water bottles, headlamp, a 4MB flash drive and a pocket knife. Only 8 more shopping days left!!


Staging
Peace Corps Nicaragua's Staging begins on August 27th in Washington, DC. Staging is a two-day event in which all Nica 45 volunteers must attend in order to be familiarized with Peace Corps policies and regulations. In addition, volunteers receive their first round of shots and malaria vaccinations during staging. There should be about 35 members of Nica 45, all Agricultural or Environmental Education volunteers.

(By the way, the name "Nica 45" is the moniker given to my fellow trainees because we are the 45th class in Nicaragua. Clever, no?)

What's Up Next?
On August 29th, the Nica 45 volunteers fly to Managua, where they will be greeted by the Peace Corps in-country staff. After another two days of orientation, volunteers are placed with local families in Jinotepe and three months of language and occupational training begins. When training is complete PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) are placed then placed at the sites where they will volunteer for 24 months. My Internet access should be fairly regular so expect updates every one to two weeks for the next few months.

Visiting
I welcome all of you to visit! Peace Corps volunteers get a month of vacation time each year, so any time you wish to travel you will have a free place to stay and a free tour guide in Nicaragua!

Peace Corps Status Report

There have been a number of questions via email/phone/carrier pigeons about my current location and status in the world. For the curious, I am in North Carolina and waiting Peace Corps assignment. My departure date is August 2007 and will head to Latin/South America

For the average Peace Corps applicant, the average wait from nomination to departure is 9 months. For me, it will be 18 months.

Here is the timeline:
January 06: Application submitted.
February 06: Nominated to Peace Corps service. Legal clearance obtained
March 06: Medical clearance begins. A minor medical snag slows down my clearance
June 06: Medical clearance!!
July 06: An academic snag, this time with my thesis, delays my grad school graduation and delays my departure date from September 06 to February 07.
October 06: With much reservation, I accept a Peace Corps placement to an Early Elementary Education program in Paraguay. There, teachers have few educational resources and the goal of the assignment was to increase didactic teaching methods.
December 06: After heavily thinking, I asked to be removed from the placement. Lacking a teaching degree, credentials or any experience with small children, I felt Early Elementary Education was not the best use of my talents. In addition, Paraguay is a bilingual society with most people relying upon Guarani as their primary language and Spanish as the second. Peace Corps bolded the line "If learning Spanish is your reason for joining Peace Corps, you should reconsider this assignment" three times. Since that is one of my goals, I realized it would be very difficult to master Spanish in Paraguay. I asked for a transfer to an placement on an agricultural program in Latin/South America, but not in Paraguay, but it would not depart for seven months.
August 07: Tenative Peace Corps departure


The request to move to an agricultural assignment surprised a few people, including me. But agriculture is the backbone of many developing economies and, as such, holds an invaluable place in the world. In Peace Corps, agricultural volunteers traditionally serve in the most rural and remote areas (and, it is rumored, have the best language skills). So this should be an interesting learning experience.