The Waiting Continues

There is still no word from the Peace Corps. I have logged on to the website almost every single day for the past 6 weeks, and there is never any new news. So, I read the FAQs again and again. It seems as if volunteers are informed of their destination (and technically their official invitation) anywhere from 5 weeks to 5 months prior to their leaving to their host country. This makes me really nervous. The other thing that makes me nervous is that Sheila (friend from high school) was going to go into the Peace Corps, but they told her one thing, then told her another, and changed the departure date, and she didn't want to deal with it. I don't think that I am in any sort of position to decline the invitation of the Peace Corps regardless of the shit they put me through, the hoops I have to jump through, the paperwork I have to fille out. So, here I sit, thinking that if they call me up and say I am not leaving until June, and by the way I am going to South America, I guess that's what I'll do. Over the past seven months of waiting and waiting I have become a patient person, and a person with lower standards. All in all, I am not completely sure if I am more patient, perhaps just less picky...

In the meantime I guess I will have to deal with the constant stream of dreams that come into my mind as I sleep, they are always about me recieving my letter. The letter clearly says I am going to a certain country and leaving on a certain day! I get so excited! Then I wake up, anxious that I haven't called my dad to tell him the news yet, only to realize that it was all a dream. The funny thing is, when I get the letter they probably wont tell me any information, they might be vague saying I'll be going to the Balkans and be leaving mid-Feb, but that I am in. That is all I want to hear right now...that I am in. There is not one reason on this planet as to why I should not get in. I passed everything, I am healthy, stable (in more ways than one, apparently) and have some awesome teeth, so abroad I go! All I can think about is the 5 month mark. We are steadily approaching it! Oct 1st is probably the soonest I will hear anything. Chances are I wont hear anything until much later, I am hoping that as a birthday present from the US government, I will know by my birthday, but hopes of that actually happening are few and far between. Oh well, I'll take a christmas present. haha! Ahhh! So, in the meantime I am working somewhere...I am not sure where. I am also working on my motion sickness so I don't get off the plane, puking and then pass out in front of my new boss. I figure they would know at that moment that I lied about having the motion sickness under control. In the meantime I am going through what is called "Vestibular Therapy" which is basically a euphanism for "we are going to make you horribly sick, all the time, so you can get used to it, and not get horribly sick sometimes." I think it is ironic that I have to make my sick on a daily basis to avoid getting sick on a weekly or monthly basis. Alas, I think it is probably better that I go through this therapy than endure the suffering I experience when doing things like...watch commercials where things move rapidly or watching the ocean (things that normally make me feel so sick that I have to turn my head away).

In the meantime, I will be patient (as always) and wait for the letter to come. When it does, I will scan it onto the computer, and put it on this blog so you can see for a fact that the wait is finally over! Then I will have a whole new set of issues to work through, but as far as I am concerned I am willing to work my ass off to get to where I want to go, it is much better than waiting. Plus, I think it would be fun to use some of my free time to learn a little bit of the language so I can look like a total smart-ass know it all when I walk into training. So, here is the update, don't bite your nails over anything yet!