still, grateful for thoroughness

today, i went back to the dentist for the third time in two months to fill a cavity the peace corps dentist found.

my dentist said it was a tiny thing growing into a cavity between two teeth and on a normal basis would simply wait to see if it developed into anything.

in my head, i secretly thanked the peace corps for being so nit picky, because, really, if/when we're somewhere else for 27 months, there won't necessarily BE a dentist to watch and wait.  and really, who wants a toothache when there are bound to other, more pressing, uncontrollable aches coursing through your body?

hey, we're still here!

chris called our medical assistant just to check in. our files look good.

i'm supposed to get my cavity filled.

i know!

boomer marsh, soon boomer watts

my parents have agreed to house boomer!  i think, in the end, this works out well as they have a huge backyard and my mom's schedule as a teacher allows her to walk them two or three times a day.  boomer also loves to play with newton, one of their dogs, and loves the beach, which is just twenty minutes away.

Boomer, all ready to go the beach.

now we just have to get boomer to use a doggie door.  chris and i spent a few hours over labor day weekend trying to get her adjusted just in case.  it was a big fat failure.

outside sat chris, coaxing and calling for boomer.  i was inside, lifting the flap, pushing her nose against it so she could see how NOT scary it all was.

chris: 'come on boomer!'

kate: 'here you go, pup, go on through! you can do it!'

to no avail.  she wasn't budging.

she might get the hang of it, after two years there.

or our parents might get really good at mopping their floor.

eep.

oh, boomer, boomer

...where should we send you?

when we first started considering joining the peace corps, two big question arose: what do we do with the dog and the house?

of course, chris is super concerned with the house and i, i'm desperately worried about missing my boom boom, my boomshakalaka, my boomalicious.

(not that chris isn't concerned, or doesn't care. he's just thinking about more practical things like how we rent out a house in a housing climate like this one.)

you see, it's because of me that we have this pup and it's so now me eating crow because chris said we should wait a bit longer to get a dog.  and now, here we are, with our adorable, spastic pup and potentially leaving for 27 months.

both of our families might be willing to house her.  my parents have two dogs and my mom always says if she could adopt up whole humane societies she would.  chris' family would probably gladly take her as well.

guess i ought to clarify this assumption first!

telling everyone

it's been an arduous process, to be sure, but knowing it's out of our hands is both better and worse.

better because we've done all we can.

worse, because we have nothing to do now but wait.

better, because we know we're doing a great job on our end.

worse, because explaining to family, friends and co-workers that now we have to wait until perhaps april to hear if/where/when we're going is incredibly impossible.

very few people, save for those who've gone through the process, realize how time consuming and multi stepped the process actually is.

i've begun explaining it by saying:

"it's like an eight step process and we're on step five of eight. we've mailed everything in, and now we're waiting for our time to arrive for a nurse to review. that's step six.  then, we'll move to placement for steps seven and eight, which hopefully will lead to an invitation, when we'll actually know if/where/when we're going."

this is usually met with blank stares and general nods.  i believe i've tried to explain where i am in the process seven times at work, and three times at least to some people.

meh well.

the waiting game...

boo to the hiss

chris has dental clearance.

i have a secret cavity they want me to get filled.

blech.

pins and needles, pins and needles

med kits RECEIVED!  safely in the hands of the medical office.

with a big fat reminder that if our departure date isn't for four months, don't expect much action.

hokay. so.

there is just no other title: medical kits

holy crap.

three weeks of pokes and prods and ouchies and scaries and oh my goodness, are we ok? and holy word, can we just have it all mailed now.  and now here we are, mailed off and done.

there is SO much to get done for your medical kit- look at the timeline for an EXHAUSTIVE explanation.

I, of course, had some cavities and the doctor had some moles removed.  well, i had the moles removed, the doctor just told me to.

all lab results came back to normal (hell to the yeah), and they're mailed. out of our hands, and ready to breathe.

and freak out, of course.

(although, I do think three weeks turn around for two people is quite a good record!)

officially official

our toolkit has been updated- we've been nominated and our behemoth medical kit mailed to us!

in hopes of getting this done as soon as humanly possible, we've both already made doctor's appointments for early next week.

fingers crossed the med kit comes before monday?!

you want US to decide?

there are too many and not enough words for today.

i wish we had taken the whole day off.  it was that mentally exhausting and exhilarating.

after a 1.5 hour commute, we arrived (in separate cars, as we were departing for work separately) in virginia with 25 minutes to spare.  we grabbed a breakfast snack- chocolate milk for me, snapple for him, and stale graham crackers for us both- and found the peace corps office.

we settled in, nice and early.

we heard our names and were immediately at ease with our amiable recruiter.  after what felt like shooting the breeze (but really was the first third of the interview) about his service in thailand, our reasons for applying, and our strengths and weaknesses as a couple, the first hour was over.  i was left to extrapolate on my background and histories for another hour, and then chris was up.  his much shorter personal interview ended quickly, and he pulled us both back into his office.

"so you're both quite qualified and i'm going to nominate you. let's take a look at what's available in your time frame- after july, you said?"

our hearts leaped and our throats went dry.  you mean we don't have to wait on pins and needles to wait to see if we are qualified?

our recruiter told us we were actually a strong applicant couple (he apparently has two other couples he's been seeking out a nomination for for quite a while now) and he pulled up his placement availabilities.

he read the secret peace corps code and said:

"looks like we have northern africa/middle east in september with chris doing community development and kate teaching english. sound good?"

that sound was our speechlessness.  we're both so open to going anywhere, but hadn't really considered northern africa/middle east.  that'd be jordan or morocco.  we took a long look at each other and chris managed to ask:

"that's the only availability?"

after taking a second look, and ensuring chris' had the tutoring hours, we determined chris could also qualify to teach english, and we now had four options.

northern africa/middle east. september. chris doing community development and kate teaching english.

eastern europe. september. chris doing ngo development and kate youth development.

central asia. august. chris doing youth development, kate teacher training.

asia. august. chris doing teaching, kate teacher training.

took our breath away.  we stuttered and asked his advice.  he said northern africa/mid east would be so cool.  i was getting more sold on the idea.

we took a break for lunch and said we'd call him very soon with our choice.

it was just so shocking to even HAVE a choice.  there are so many horror stories about not knowing, being so out of the loop, and left hanging in this process. we'd resigned ourselves to not knowing, ever, until someone else decided.

and now we had to decide.

whatever decision we made, where we ended up, would be because we had initially chosen, blindly.  it was in our hands. terrifying.

after a harried lunch of pizza, some quick peace corps wiki checking, our spirits rose.

asia. august. that could be- could it really- it may be- the philippines.  the last three year, philippines has departed in august.

the philippines. that. could. be. AWESOME.

we called our recruiter and he said it was all good to go.

we've been nominated?

emails! and phone calls! and interviews scheduled, oh my!

it only took five skill addenda, 31 emails, and four phone calls to schedule our interview.

whew.

it's TOMORROW and i've told my wonderful place of business that we're applying.  after a mishap last spring with an employee leaving with just two weeks notice, and out of general respect, i'm being incredibly up front with my manager about the peace corps process and our intentions.  everyone is loverly and supportive.  i'm so lucky.

interview tomorrow.  suit pressed and ready to go.  resumes freshly printed, just in case.  alarm set to allow two hour commute for 40 minute drive.

let's do this.

and received...

it's out of our hands, and our assessment specialist has confirmed receipt of all documents.

recruiter? can you hear me? call us!

pluck

we put the forms in two piles and forgot to mail one of them.

le sigh.

ah the joys of those whom you meet in your local police station...

last week i drove, and directed chris to, the wrong address for our police station.  you see, they've moved but not yet updated the website.  ah yes.

last friday, we were finally succcessful.  we met after work, quickly grabbed our forms and hop, skipped, and jumped across town to get sludge rubbed over my finger pads.

it's becoming quite fun to answer such questions as:

"purpose of fingerprinting?"

"we're applying for the peace corps!"

somehow, this answer rarely garners the same excitement as which it was disposed. lame.

we met a family at the station, where the father was also getting fingerprinted.  it was unclear as to why, and i didn't press the issue.  instead, i enjoyed a children's book that told a folk tale in brilliant illustrations.  something about a bird that is tricked to turn over some colorful feathers?

after securing a notarized letter from my 'rents about a student loan, we're ready to keep chugging.

we've now shipped all documents and cross our fingers we'll soon have a recruiter and INTERVIEW!

dun dun dun

we also were asked to submit answers to a couple's questionnaire.  we spent two days both typing up our thoughts, but also ensuring our minds were in the same place.  i found the questions pretty useful, as they did help us clarify why we're doing this, why we're doing it as a married couple, and express verbally the struggles we know we're bound to have.

from how we handle stress, to how we'll handle being seen as one entity by many, we dissected so much of how we interact with each other and how it impacts our day to day.

this is actually happening...

it's real

today we received contact from an assessment specialist. a glorious government format letter, all my own!

we were both told to submit college transcripts, statements about our financial obligations and our marriage license.  i also need to send my teaching certificate and chris his scuba cert.

chug, chug, chug...

it's amazing...

that a hefty little brown envelope can have you jumping like a five year old.  today we've received the illustrious fingerprint forms and background check forms.

these posts are quite boring.  i pity the world if i decide to publish them.

since submitting...

it's all i can do to focus at work.  i still love my job, but chris and i have recently discovered the peace corps journals website and it's addicting.  they're my new wedding blogs.  my five minute brain breaks, my lunch time snap out of it break, i'm on this website, pouring over fellow applicant's blogs.  they have timelines, and stories of nominations, and lots of restless applicant syndromes.

check them out here: Peace Corps Journals- Applicants

here we go, down the rabbit hole.  we should be getting log in information for our applicant online toolkit and instructions for fingerprinting and the like soon.

so we decided...

a long, long time ago in a city far away...

little ten year old kate decided she loved a certain president. said president was handsome, noble, of good lineage, and also dead.

luckily, before he was shot, wonderful idyllic president created a wonderful program that she just HAD to join some day.

and thus began my desire to join the peace corps.

------

chris and i have both long desired to join the peace corps.  when we first met, this mutual interest was just one of many shared ideals that brought us quickly together.

now, three months after our marriage, we've hemmed and hawed long enough. it's time to apply.

after going back and forth for two months, tossing around this year, or next year, one year married, or two years married, we're jumping in feet first.

doing is scary.

not doing is terrifying.

last night, at 12:21 am eastern, we clicked submit on our applications.  that sucker is long and definitely created to ensure you REALLY want to do this.

ten minutes later, our health survey was also submitted.   we celebrated, and then went to bed.  we had to work today, after all.