accepting the placement offer and enjoying conflicting information

this weekend, chris and i sent in our placement acceptance emails.  it was awesome this morning to log in and see that we finally have a name of a post on our toolkit!

look at that happy little map and link to our specific post on the right! squeal!


the best part of receiving so much information is that you can find conflicting accounts.

to begin with, how you should accept your invitation varies.  one document tells us to call the education desk within seven days to accept or reject.  another says to email within ten days of receiving the invitation to accept or reject.

we went with the email option because it provided an exact statement for us to prepare, and thus seemed more official.

another wonderfully hilarious piece of conflicting information is whether or not we should bring/wear flip flops in country.  in no fewer than three places does it mention that we need sandals with a back strap (no flips flops! it says in bold letters).  in another two places, it explicitly recommends bringing 1-2 pair of flip flops.

le sigh. hilarity.

let's go to...

Cambodia!  it's official, and i'm beyond excited.  i had given up hope of receiving the official invitation before next week, so as i arrived home and found a white package to the left of our doorstep, i had to do a double take.  i had stopped betting myself every time my email buzzed that our PO would tell us she had sent the invite along, and betting whether or not the invitation would actually be at our house.

and of course, once i had resigned myself to not receiving it, there it was!  i was in a hurry to hop on the metro to meet chris and some college friends in dupont circle for some dinner, but all of that stopped mattering when i saw the big blue packet.  all i could say was 'no way!'  i took a photo with my phone of the invitation and sent it to chris, who was working late.

two minutes later, my phone rang and chris yelled 'it came! open it! where are we going, officially?!'

wouldn't you know it, those envelopes have that glue that doesn't tear or give at all when you tug.  i yanked and pulled and finally i saw the letter and it said:

CAMBODIA!

we're off to cambodia, both of us labeled as 'english teacher/teacher trainer,' with chris' having 'youth development' written in on by hand his, and our official invitation information from our PO stating that i would be doing teacher training.  we leave for staging (not sure where yet!) on july 19.

we spent some time this weekend thinking, now that we know for real, what we should pack, which bags we should fill, and which shoes are most important.

it's amazing that in less than five months, we'll be going to southeast asia, embarking on the journey that very few married couples get the chance to experience.  sharing our skills, learning new ones, immersing ourselves in a new culture.

today, we celebrated by drinking a bottle of syrah at macaroni grill.  it doesn't get more american than that- and we have to get it in while we still can.

cheers to anyone who gets the grace of a big blue packet this week, month, or even, how cool, on tuesday, the official 50th anniversary!?!

could it be...Cambodia?!

i secretly hoped we'd get the official invite first for our date (July 19) so we could update Peace Corps Wiki...

BUT!

i'm not complaining because someone did AND it's Cambodia!

EEP!  unless crazy changes have happened, that is the date our PO said she invited us to... and that would be phenomenal!

please, please, let our big blue packet arrive this week!

eep

of course, now that I've gone and said that it's likely Cambodia, something crazy could happen, like being uninvited or the like.

crossing fingers for big blue packet to speedily arrive!

bummer

no such luck on the invitation-being-sent front.

settling in for a much needed three day weekend.

crossing my fingers for a speedy delivery after it's sent next week (maybe tuesday? maybe? please?)

so very few things...

as wonderful as your toolkit changing from this...

to this...

fingers crossed! fingers crossed! please let the invite go out today! i'm not sure my anticipation can handle a three day weekend sitting on pins and needles...

invited... but waiting...

ah, peace corps, how you toy with my emotions.

we woke up to legal clearance on tuesday, and i got emotionally over excited.  could we be invited tomorrow, officially?

wednesday, i emailed our PO to see which company our invite would be sent through.  after much emailing, she discovers that we're legally cleared and she's mailing the invite tonight or tomorrow!

and now, today, our status says INVITED!

but alas, an email from our PO this morning says our invite is ready to go, except for some updated language needed for a description of one of our placements, as the training has changed somewhat.

we're now waiting 'a few days' for this information, when our invite will be mailed. twisted cruel fates, where at 5:20 am you tell me i'm invited and then sad email at 8:20 tells me i won't know where for a few more days... le sigh.

on a side note, we were asked if we could ride a bike...

lots of asian country researching this three day weekend... especially blogs from Cambodia...

cross your fingers our invitation is miraculously sent Friday!

we ARE invited!

oh, what a weekend.

i'm quite tired and inspired after a working weekend, and we've decided to see if we could still be invited for july 19.  it just seems impossible to get boomer to north carolina, packed, and mentally prepared in four days.

***

our PO says we're good to go for the 19th and she's glad we took some time to think about it.  as soon as we are legally cleared, she INVITING US!!!

we are invited?

"hey!"

"hi, where are you?"

"um, at the convention center, we just got here (us and thousands of others.) what's wrong? you ok?"

"yeah, i'm fine.  we're invited to the peace corps."

stunned silence.

"what?!?!"

apparently this morning our placement officer reviewed our files, called chris for final notes and told him we're invited, to asia in august.

it's surreal.  air, this is, i'm walking on air.

****

ah, yes, the email update.  our nomination is now actually leaving in july, so we have to make some decisions while she follows up with our legal hold.

chris now has an official new placement: youth development.

asia. july 1.

asia. july 19.

e. europe. sept. 22


i received this email, set up a phone call with chris and PO for 3 pm, and then sat through (a wonderful!) two hour luncheon for all staff at a convention for 11,000 education reformers.

chris was convinced that the philippines has been moved to july 1.  in our excitement, all thought to what it means that i'll need to work until june 27th at the earliest flies out the window.

if we can't leave in august, let's go as soon as we can!

after a brief five minute phone call, we accept july 1.  she'll be mailing it out next monday or tuesday.

we're invited?!