My · Peace · Corps · Experience

Well I have some amazing news! I actually went home a few days ago to take home some of the belongings that I have hidden away in my room here. A man from the Placement Office had called home and talked to my mother, and told her that he had a new program that might be of interest to me. We played a nice game of phone tag that evening, the 17th of May. Then on Thursday, the 18th, the man wrote me an e-mail saying that he had a community micro-enterprise development program in South Pacific Islands for me - leaving on JULY 6th!! Well needless to say, I e-mailed him back saying that I could not take this program due to the fact that my cousin's wedding - for which I am the maid of honor - is the weekend prior and it just would not work time-wise. Then after talking to my dad, we realized that we weren't sure if the staging was before the 6th, or if the 6th was the start of staging. I quickly e-mailed him back and found out that the staging begins on the 7th of July in L.A.. So, here I am today, telling him to send out my invitation to the South Pacific Islands to leave in just over a month!!!

So now if anyone out there is leaving at about the same time and going to the South Pacific Islands, please let me know!!

More to come once I receive the Invitation!

P.S. Despite the fact that my username is SaharaKir, I think I might just keep it because several people already go by this one. If I change, I shall let you all know.

Well I found out this morning that I have finally been medically cleared yesterday. April 12th, I got a letter from the Medical Office informing me that my doctor forgot to complete a blood test that was necessary, and they also needed the surgical report from a scope that I had on my knee a while ago. Tedious things that just needed to be done.

Regardless, that is done and my application is now in the hands of my Placement Officer who I spoke with today through e-mail. She is aware that one of my main concerns is safety - as most PCV's is the same. And now we are back to waiting....which I somehow don't seem to mind as much this time around because there seems to be an end in sight.

Other stuff: Well I only have 17 days left till graduation, that is quite scary!! We just had the best time last weekend. We had the last Slope Day at Cornell, and then we did a bar crawl for my friend's and my birthday - amazing!! So now we are into finals, I just have one more on Monday and then I am done the undergraduate college career.

This summer I am gaing to be visiting a lot of my friend's - Chicago, Virginia, NY, L.A., Colorado - anywhere really. I am also doing a marketing and sales internship to keep me busy.

More to come later!

I can't even believe it! Two months from yesterday is Commencement (May 28th, 2006) - the end of this phase at Cornell. How am I feeling about that? Excited, relieved, sad, scared to death...lots of emotions needless to say. I am more so wrestling with the fact that I do still need to do work for my classes (a good explanation as to why I am procrastinating doing work at this moment and rather writing on my blog). But it is in these last two months that I am cherishing the amazing friendships that have been built with some of the most wonderful people. People who I will sincerely miss.

Planning for my cousin Shelly's wedding is going fantastically! It certainly is exciting...The shower is coming up soon, on the 15th of April, so jennica and I are planning away for that. Then there will be the much anticipated Bachlorette party which will also be a blast.

Eliot sent me some new music which I love...Railroad Earth is the artist...highly recommended.

I just got back from St. Croix, which was my last spring break, with 4 of my best girl friends. It was quite relaxing...we dubbed it the pinnacle retirement (which is about 40 years from now). 18 holes of golf at 7am, beach by 11:30, relaxing lunch at the pool, a few doubles games of tennis around 4, a delightful cocktail hour followed by amazing food and wine, bed by 10. THe only thing I would change for my retirement is having my future (currently unknown) husband with me and the kids and grandkids...oh what a life that could be.

PC update: I contacted my placement officer and she enlightened me that the Medical Clearance is still under way. Therefore she does not have my application yet and cannot comment too much on my placement. I hope that I can find out soon - I am quite anxious. However, September is still six months away and therefore I still have quite a bit of time to wait.

xoxo

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog which will detail my inner most thoughts and experiences throughout my 27 months with the Peace Corps. Thank you for taking a moment to read this - I hope that it will enable you to perhaps understand why I have chosen to join the PC, or maybe allow you to share in some of the upcoming events that will eventually take place.

Currently I am a Senior at Cornell University, studying Applied Economics and Management, as well as Communications. I have loved every minute that I have spent at this school, yet quite ready to begin my journey in Africa. I'm originally from Telford PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. I have two loving parents, who are supporting my decision to follow this dream - as hard as that has been. I also have an amazing older sister, Jennica, as well as a new brother-in-law, as we all celebrated the most beautiful wedding this past November. My family will be the hardest thing to leave, but I'm also sure that they will be my number one fan, providing me with the love and support that I will need throughout the journey.

As of right now, I am still in the beginning phases of the Peace Corps experience. I received a nomination to do Business Advising in Sub-Saharan Africa, tentatively leaving in September. I have completed all of my medical and dental paperwork and now wait to receive the final Invitation with the much anticipated details....now I'm just waiting for someone to tell me when to get on the plane and I will be there.

-Kirsten

P.S. if anyone is leaving about the same time or in the same boat as me, I would love to hear from you!!