IT'S COMING, IT'S COMING!

My invitation is in the mail! Here are the events that led up to this moment:

Yesterday as I was getting ready to leave work, I got a call from that infamous 202 number. It was my placement officer, calling to ask me a few questions. It felt like another interview- how is your family feeling about this? Have you spoken to returned peace corps volunteers? What do you think will be the most difficult part? etc, etc. I tried to crack a few jokes about how its been a year-long aplpication process and I've been avidly stalking PC blogs.....but that didn't go over too well so I stuck to being professional. After the questions, she said that (contrary to what the initial placement officer said) they are considering me for a program in mid-August doing HIV/AIDS outreach in Latin America. Oh how quickly things can change! So I was super excited about that and she told me they'd be issuing the invitation shortly, and I have 7 days to accept the invitation.

So, obviously the first thing I did was check on peacecorpswiki.org for Latin American mid-August programs. PC has a 6-week rule; they have to issue an invitation at least 6 weeks from the staging date. So, there's Guatemala (Aug. 10- missed the 6 week deadline), Mexico (Aug 17- missed the deadline by 1 day, so possible, but not likely), and Dominican Republic (Aug 18- EXACTLY 6 weeks.) Dominican Republic also has a big HIV/AIDS program. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I'm pretty sure it's the Dominican.

I got the email early this morning informing me that my PC toolkit has been updated. If they only knew how long I have been waiting for this email! I checked my toolkit to see "Congratulations! You have been invited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer." From when my application was submitted on July 8, 2009 to when I was invited to serve on July 7, 2010, it's been a grueling ride. I'm glad it's over :)