Thursday, October 27, 2005
Shhh
So I might have found out where I will be going to in the Peace Corps. I found a discussion group on Yahoo! that deals with what the trials and tribulations of applying to the program can be like. I posted a message asking where typically does the Peace Corps send ppl going to Eastern Europe/Central Asia go to. The next day I got an answer. In the past, the Peace Corps has sent future volunteers to.............
Bulgaria!
I am definitely fine with this choice. The majority of the populace speaks Bulgarian, a Cyrillic language that I can at least read, and the rest mainly speaks Turkish. I would be happy learning either. If I was in a Turkish speaking area, it would be really cool to learn the language and then go to Turkey, especially Istanbul, and work in international development there.
All of this is just wishful thinking on my part. I will officially not know where I will be going until after I finish medical clearance, which could take a fairly long time and I might not leave in April.
We will see.
Bulgaria!
I am definitely fine with this choice. The majority of the populace speaks Bulgarian, a Cyrillic language that I can at least read, and the rest mainly speaks Turkish. I would be happy learning either. If I was in a Turkish speaking area, it would be really cool to learn the language and then go to Turkey, especially Istanbul, and work in international development there.
All of this is just wishful thinking on my part. I will officially not know where I will be going until after I finish medical clearance, which could take a fairly long time and I might not leave in April.
We will see.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The Weather!
We have had out first snow! The weather has finally entered what we would consider "average" for this time of year. I am glad due to the fact that I get way too hot and even sweat when I am just sitting, which sucks. The weather site that I constantly check for this area is http://raysweather.com/. This is run by a professor at App State who, in my opinion, does the best for the mountain micrococms that we have in this area.
This weekend I spent all of it sleeping on a air mattress at by friend John's house. Adam and I went over to Boone on Friday night to have a little fun and games. Mabe wanted to suprise Adam with a visit up here so she and I colluded together so that she could suprise Adam here but it really didn't work since she really cannot lie and he figured it out. We had some tasty food at Dos Amigos (yum) and drank some Dos Equis (yum). We met Mabe and proceded to go out to our favorite hippie bar in Boone, Cafe Portofino. All I have to say is that drunk foozeball is one of my fav games of all time.
The next day we all had plans to go shoot some guns and all that good stuff but the weather wasn't going to have it. We all got ready to walk out the door when the rain started to come down. So instead we kinda piddled (is that a word?) around, got some pumpkins (I wanted to shoot them but other people had other ideas), and proceded to have a night in. We had some good drinks (thanks Mabe), watched the remake of The Amityville Horror (it is hard to see the guy who played Van Wilder in that type of role), and watched some television until we went to bed.
Sunday, a glorious day! The sky was blue and the sun warm. We introduced Mabe to Cici's Pizza (yum) and finally got to shoot. Kindal offered to have us up at her family's land in the northern part of Watauga Co. Shooting skeet (haha) is walys fun and I can be pretty good at it at times. After a fun afternoon of that, we decided to go see the movie Stay. I am still puzzled at the meaning of the movie and will postpone my judgement call on it. Afterwards had some good grub at the Library and finally made the trip back to good ol' Ashe. I was dead tired and went to bed at 10:30. Haha!
Today, I got up early to take my mom to the hospital. She had a out-patient sugery to remove a polyp from her colon. All is well and we were back here at 11ish. I decided to take a nap due to the fact that I rarely get up at 7 these days and had a bit of a headache. I was up later that afternoon so another fun chore which I will not mention but I had to get it to the lab within an hour, which I did and since I have been back, it has been tv/internet/conversation with mom.
I will be glad when my medical kit gets here. I hear that I takes a while to get all of the forms filled out and the sooner that I get that in, the sooner I get my final invitation into the Peace Corps.
Ok that is all for now
This weekend I spent all of it sleeping on a air mattress at by friend John's house. Adam and I went over to Boone on Friday night to have a little fun and games. Mabe wanted to suprise Adam with a visit up here so she and I colluded together so that she could suprise Adam here but it really didn't work since she really cannot lie and he figured it out. We had some tasty food at Dos Amigos (yum) and drank some Dos Equis (yum). We met Mabe and proceded to go out to our favorite hippie bar in Boone, Cafe Portofino. All I have to say is that drunk foozeball is one of my fav games of all time.
The next day we all had plans to go shoot some guns and all that good stuff but the weather wasn't going to have it. We all got ready to walk out the door when the rain started to come down. So instead we kinda piddled (is that a word?) around, got some pumpkins (I wanted to shoot them but other people had other ideas), and proceded to have a night in. We had some good drinks (thanks Mabe), watched the remake of The Amityville Horror (it is hard to see the guy who played Van Wilder in that type of role), and watched some television until we went to bed.
Sunday, a glorious day! The sky was blue and the sun warm. We introduced Mabe to Cici's Pizza (yum) and finally got to shoot. Kindal offered to have us up at her family's land in the northern part of Watauga Co. Shooting skeet (haha) is walys fun and I can be pretty good at it at times. After a fun afternoon of that, we decided to go see the movie Stay. I am still puzzled at the meaning of the movie and will postpone my judgement call on it. Afterwards had some good grub at the Library and finally made the trip back to good ol' Ashe. I was dead tired and went to bed at 10:30. Haha!
Today, I got up early to take my mom to the hospital. She had a out-patient sugery to remove a polyp from her colon. All is well and we were back here at 11ish. I decided to take a nap due to the fact that I rarely get up at 7 these days and had a bit of a headache. I was up later that afternoon so another fun chore which I will not mention but I had to get it to the lab within an hour, which I did and since I have been back, it has been tv/internet/conversation with mom.
I will be glad when my medical kit gets here. I hear that I takes a while to get all of the forms filled out and the sooner that I get that in, the sooner I get my final invitation into the Peace Corps.
Ok that is all for now
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Great News!
As of today, October 19th 2005, I am officially a Peace Corps nominee!!! Here is the email that I've received:
Hi Chris,
I just got back to office and received your student loan form. Your file is
now complete. I also just put through the nomination for the English
Teaching assignment in E. Europe that leaves in April. Congratulations!!!
You should receive a medical packet in the mail from medical services and a confirmation letter from we within the next two weeks.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
-Robyn
Now that all of that has happened, I am gonna seriously focus on my thesis. I want to have a draft of it by the end of the first week of November so that I can edit the volume until it is time to turn it in and defend it. So here's to finishing what I need to finish.
Hi Chris,
I just got back to office and received your student loan form. Your file is
now complete. I also just put through the nomination for the English
Teaching assignment in E. Europe that leaves in April. Congratulations!!!
You should receive a medical packet in the mail from medical services and a confirmation letter from we within the next two weeks.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
-Robyn
Now that all of that has happened, I am gonna seriously focus on my thesis. I want to have a draft of it by the end of the first week of November so that I can edit the volume until it is time to turn it in and defend it. So here's to finishing what I need to finish.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Closer to the goal...
I have finally sent in all the materials for the Peace Corps (exccept for a financial form that I am going to fax to Robyn, my recruiter tomorrow. Luckly mom decided to start paying off my student loans. :)
Here is the transcript of the email that Robyn sent me:
I have listed two assignments below that I think will be a good fit for you.
Please look these over and let me know which one you are most interested.
Once I hear back from you and receive the student loan form I will be able
to put the nomination through for you and move you along on the process.
1. Secondary Education English Teaching - E. Europe - departs March 2006 -
will be involved with teaching and teacher training; must be comfortable
working in rural, unstructured environment (there is only one spot left for
this assignment so please let me know ASAP if you are interested in this
one.
2. Secondary Education English Teaching - E. Europe - departs April 2006 -
volunteers teach English at the secondary level.
I am leaning toward to the second option due to the fact that I think I would be out of my depth in doing teacher training although I would be down for living in a rural setting and I would DEF be down for leaving in March but oh well. April will be good.
The good news is that Robyn said in the email, "Once I hear back from you and receive the student loan form I will be able
to put the nomination through for you and move you along on the process." I am pretty sure that means that I will get a nomination soon and that means that I will get the medical forms soon.
I can't wait to get out of here. Now while I love Ashe County, the beauty of the land and the hospitality of the ppl here, this is all that I have ever known. All that being said, now that a date has been tentatively set, I am already worrying about what I need to get done in the 5 or 6 months that I have left here. I guess all that needs to be done will be done.
Ok that all for now
Lata
Here is the transcript of the email that Robyn sent me:
I have listed two assignments below that I think will be a good fit for you.
Please look these over and let me know which one you are most interested.
Once I hear back from you and receive the student loan form I will be able
to put the nomination through for you and move you along on the process.
1. Secondary Education English Teaching - E. Europe - departs March 2006 -
will be involved with teaching and teacher training; must be comfortable
working in rural, unstructured environment (there is only one spot left for
this assignment so please let me know ASAP if you are interested in this
one.
2. Secondary Education English Teaching - E. Europe - departs April 2006 -
volunteers teach English at the secondary level.
I am leaning toward to the second option due to the fact that I think I would be out of my depth in doing teacher training although I would be down for living in a rural setting and I would DEF be down for leaving in March but oh well. April will be good.
The good news is that Robyn said in the email, "Once I hear back from you and receive the student loan form I will be able
to put the nomination through for you and move you along on the process." I am pretty sure that means that I will get a nomination soon and that means that I will get the medical forms soon.
I can't wait to get out of here. Now while I love Ashe County, the beauty of the land and the hospitality of the ppl here, this is all that I have ever known. All that being said, now that a date has been tentatively set, I am already worrying about what I need to get done in the 5 or 6 months that I have left here. I guess all that needs to be done will be done.
Ok that all for now
Lata
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
The Day in a Life of a Sick Man
8:30 Woke up, took a shower, and rushed out the door to follow my mom to West Jefferson
9:00 Left my Ford Exploder at Dollar Tire to be fixed (there has been a very bad whining noise coming from front passenger tire
9:30 Ate breakfast at Hardee's with mom. Mmmm sausage and bacon, egg, n' cheese biscuits
10-11ish Wal-Mart (I hate waiting on ppl but oh well)
12 back home but starting to fill like shit
12:30-3:00 asleep because my lungs are congested and I can barely breathe
3-6 piddled around the house and read on the net
6-7 while I had cut up for chicken and started it to marinate, mom brought home some japanese, ohh well, the chicken will be great tomorrow
8-10 (now) watching silly tv shows and still filling like crap
I am better than I was yesterday but I still am in the weeds. Luckly I have some good medicine here :)
Take care, y'all
9:00 Left my Ford Exploder at Dollar Tire to be fixed (there has been a very bad whining noise coming from front passenger tire
9:30 Ate breakfast at Hardee's with mom. Mmmm sausage and bacon, egg, n' cheese biscuits
10-11ish Wal-Mart (I hate waiting on ppl but oh well)
12 back home but starting to fill like shit
12:30-3:00 asleep because my lungs are congested and I can barely breathe
3-6 piddled around the house and read on the net
6-7 while I had cut up for chicken and started it to marinate, mom brought home some japanese, ohh well, the chicken will be great tomorrow
8-10 (now) watching silly tv shows and still filling like crap
I am better than I was yesterday but I still am in the weeds. Luckly I have some good medicine here :)
Take care, y'all
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Update
as of 9:30, I am feeling much better. Adam had a 24-hr bug so we know who the person on my list is. Here is for crossed fingers!
Monday, October 10, 2005
blah....
So I really feel like crap today, the stomach is churning and all the good stuff that goes along with that. Maybe, maybe, I will fill better later.
Adam and I took a suprise roadtrip down to Burlington to see his new girl. He called her from his cellphone to tell her that we where going in to see a movie and then a minute later she walked around the corner of her house and ran to give Adam the quite big hug. Let's just say that it made her very happy that we came down. ;)
We saw a mantinee of Waiting down in Burlington. It is hililiarous and I def suggest everyone that has been around restaurants to go see it. altered states are suggested as well. ;)
ok that is all from here
lata yo
Adam and I took a suprise roadtrip down to Burlington to see his new girl. He called her from his cellphone to tell her that we where going in to see a movie and then a minute later she walked around the corner of her house and ran to give Adam the quite big hug. Let's just say that it made her very happy that we came down. ;)
We saw a mantinee of Waiting down in Burlington. It is hililiarous and I def suggest everyone that has been around restaurants to go see it. altered states are suggested as well. ;)
ok that is all from here
lata yo
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
I went to Boone yesterday to see the professor that is filling out my rec form and he said that he will def be done with the form by Friday. The other rec form has already been sent in; Emil at High Country Amigos had a bit of trouble in sending it but it is sent and received. Thank goodness for the instantness of the Internet. I mailed my App State transcript to the Peace Corps office in DC and should be there in a couple of days. It is took ENTIRELY too long to get all the application in, I sent the first part of the application in all the way back in the winter....
I hope to be nominated in about a month. I do worry that I might not be accepted into the program but I hope that is just me worrying. I am really really hoping that I will be sent to a country in Eastern Europe, or at least somewhere that gets cold sometimes. Here is a list of the countries that I would be happy to go to:
Ukraine
Moldova
Romania
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Albania
Georgia (Republic of)
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz Republic
Mongolia
I would be quite okay if I was sent to Africa or any other warm place in the world but I am hoping to get sent to a place that speaks either Russian or some place in Eastern Europe so that I can get into development work with an NGO in the area.
We will see...
Later y'all
I hope to be nominated in about a month. I do worry that I might not be accepted into the program but I hope that is just me worrying. I am really really hoping that I will be sent to a country in Eastern Europe, or at least somewhere that gets cold sometimes. Here is a list of the countries that I would be happy to go to:
Ukraine
Moldova
Romania
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Albania
Georgia (Republic of)
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz Republic
Mongolia
I would be quite okay if I was sent to Africa or any other warm place in the world but I am hoping to get sent to a place that speaks either Russian or some place in Eastern Europe so that I can get into development work with an NGO in the area.
We will see...
Later y'all
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