Found! Another picture

Just a quickie to post an additional picture of myself wielding a hoe and sweat soaked by 630 AM in our homestay village. Thought y'all'd like it.

PICTURES! Finally!

This is a collage I made to keep myself busy at site for a few days. You can't really tell what an awesome drawer I am, but I swear - I AM.

Myself and Country Director Dale Mosier (Left) and the American Ambassador to Malawi. Yes that's a hand made African dress and, yes, I rocked it.

Gardening! A fellow teacher took this for me.

I *just* got to Lilongwe and I'm starved so that's it for now. Hope you all enjoy - leave me some comment love.

My best thoughts to the families of Tim W and Jenn C.

New Address!

Hey all -
here's my new address:

Me, PCV

c/o Dwasulu CDSS

PO Box 10

Ngala, Dwangwa

Malawi

AFRICA

I've been at my new site since Friday and, other than the wind scorpions (look them up, they're GOD AWFUL), I'm really happy! I'm only about 1-2K from the beach and a lovely Lodge where I can occassionally spoil myself with cold beverages and/or food. My new headmaster is a great guy and the villagers have welcomed me very nicely overall. I'm not yet sure what I"ll be teaching but hey, that's part of the adventure. School starts 5 January 2009! I'll be in Lilongwe for New Years Eve so I'll be back online then. Right now I'm in Nkota-kota boma visiting my friend Carolyn. Send me love =) I expect lots of mail from those of you who have not slacked (i.e., everybody but my parents).

As you shiver and brace yourself against those cold winter gales, just think of me, in my tanktop and sunburn, sitting on the beach, soaking my feet, and looking two years into the future =D

Change of Plans

Please disregard previous post and hold all mail! I will not be in Thyolo / Khonjeni for various reasons. I may be going to a different site in Nkotakota tomorrow. I will update you as soon as possible - watch for comments on this post as I may ask somebody state side to update you all there since I won't be getting to the internet for awhile again. Send good thoughts my way!

NEW ADDRESS

SO Here's my new address:
Me, PCV (swearing in / making it official tomorrow)
PO BOX 28
Khonjeni, Malawi
AFRICA

My Phone number is 09 514 472 - from the states I believe you dial 0112659514472. Ask my parents, Shameen, my sister, or Maureen if you can't figure it out.

I won't be living in Khonjeni, so don't come stalking around there, but that's where my mail will go.
To all at the NCUA: thanks for the good wishes and I hope you'll enjoy a fabulous Holiday Party this December.
To my family and friends: I've received one Birthday card for mail in the last month. This is pathetic. You all ought to be ashamed! Now that you have my new address I'll accept no excuses for lack of mail. GET ON IT! ;)

To everybody: Training is over and I'm swearing in tomorrow. This is a mindwarp. In just two days I'll be at site, fending completely for myself. I'm sorry I haven't yet uploaded pictures but if you're on facebook search around for Malawi PST 2008 Education and you'll see some after you friend the appropriate people, whom I cannot list here. In other news: I have a broken teeth. Rocks in the rice. Hoo ray! Also, to be brief, I love and miss you all and think of home probably a little too often. I hope you're all gearing up for a fabulous BIRTHmas season and staying warm. Please keep in touch as best you can - you have no idea how it brightens my day to hear anything from home.
Lots of love,
Moi / Mimi / Ine / choose your pronoun

Alive and Well!

Quickly, as there is limited time on the internet. I am alive and well and nearly finished with Homestay. I'll find out in about 2 weeks where I'll be stationed for the next two years. I can't post pictures right now but I will, I promise! It's hot season here and the rains are on their way. I'm living in a round, mud hut with a thatched roof and staying with a family of a mom, dad, 2 bros, and a sister or 3 depending on who you ask. It's fun! I'm learning the language and have hitch hiked, been eating goat and NSIMA, and other fun african things like carrying water on the head, etc. I'm getting mail from some of you - SLOWLY. Be sure to put "AFRICA" on the bottom of my address, otherwise it goes towards MALAYSIA. I have sent mail to a lot of you but postage ain't cheap so don't feel hurt if you haven't gotten anything.
I miss everybody a great deal and think of you all often. Send me love!!!!

T - 3 weeks and counting...

Right - so there is a ton to do. I am preparing to leave Albany on Tuesday, and haven't packed a thing! This means that the next 18 hours will be spent sleeplessly separating the things I can logically keep from the things I need to sell or give away and making my apartment somehow conducive to many strangers plodding and prodding their way through my things - and giving me money!
If anybody is in the Albany area, I'm having a "going away" of sorts tomorrow (Saturday) evening - 8pm at Pinto and Hobbs on Dove and State in Downtown Albany. Come prepared to drink a shot and provide my friend Maureen with your contact information for me.
I also have a lot of other preparations to take care of, such as solar chargers to buy, clothes to make or buy, doctor's visits and roommate issues and all the joys of international relocation. I've gotten lots of helpful hints from current volunteers and from returned volunteers so I'm (surprisingly) optimistic about all of this going smoothly.

Special thanks to all my friends at NCUA (today is my last day!) who have sent me off with good wishes and promises to stay in touch, as well as some thoughtful gifts. I will miss you all and know I will think of you often! Remember me fondly at the next Regional Conference ;)

Will post again, most likely, before I leave on 9/26.

also

I've re-enabled comments from anybody, so go wild!

INVITED

Hello everybody! Today I received, and will soon accept, an invitation to serve in Malawi in Community Day Secondary Schools as an English teacher!!!
Staging is 9/26/08
Going to Malawi on 9/30/08, then staying there until 12/9/10!!!

I am:
- exhilerated
- scared
- grateful
- nervous
- sad
- motivated
- did I mention nervous?

I'm currently reaching out to current PCVs, RPCVs, and anybody who'll be joining me to contact me! I need input on what to bring, typical availability of things like electricity, cell phone service, whether it would be worth it to bring my laptop, availability of internet cafes, ideas on useful materials for the classroom, everything!!! There is a LOT to do in the next six weeks so I may not post on here again until.... well who knows. But keep checking!

Natalie =D
Peace Corps Invitee
Malawi, 2008 - 2010

Teaser?

A little nugget - here's a copy and paste of a rushed and crazy e-mail I just shot off to my parents and sister and friend Shameen - forgive the awful grammar and peppering of profanity. Just to let anybody reading this who is going through the frustration of application know that they do not suffer alone!
...
Finally broke down and called the placement office and talked with the dude there for 10 minutes or so - I have been nominated to be an English teacher in ____________________. (a country he can't tell me! AGHGHH). I said 'well, are you guys looking at me for other areas other than English teaching?' and he got my drift and said right now that's where they're looking at putting me, but that could change, and if for some reason I can't take that offer they will look at me for other placements. He said to keep in mind that qualifying as an English teacher is actually a good thing, a lot of people don't, that ______________ has asked for a lot of English teachers and so they're trying to meet that need, and also that if I were to go over as an English teacher I'd have access to a lot of other stuff, since I'd be working in a school I'd be surrounded by teachers and kids and in an environment already centered upon community development / service. he said he'd "guess" I should hear from my placement officer "in the next few weeks," meaning it could be effing August before I hear anything. meaning - F**K. this pisses me off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT COUNTRY HE WAS LOOKING AT! and what I don't get is, if he is saying he knows that they're looking at me for English teaching in country X, why haven't they invited me? What more is there to do?

so there that is.
...
thoughts?

a nugget of information

Just a little piece of information - my friend Nadine has the same type of medical clearance as I do and she heard from a person in the placement office that "our type" usually get sent to Central Africa, and mentioned Botswana. She said he didn't really sound like he knew what he was talking about, so not to take it too literally, but it's a few crumbs of potential information to tease me (and all of you) with. Looking at the map of where PC serves and taking what I'd consider to be "Central Africa," I'd say this narrows my possibilities down to Botswana, Cameroon, Zambia, ... and then it gets a little hazy as far as geographical borders go.

Like I said - just a nugget. It is just a few days shy of being six weeks since I got that email telling me they'd start placing me in 4-6 weeks... so my fingers are crossed to get some real information within two weeks, but I have no idea. I just know that September is practically around the corner, and I'm READY TO GO!!!

Small update

I thought I had posted this before, but I didn't. Just notice that I got an email from the PC saying that, since I am nominated for September departure, they won't be looking at my file for placement for another 3-5 weeks now. They are trying to place those slated to leave in June (!) and July for now. So, it's an email that tells me to wait. More! But, at least they notified me so I am not sitting here thinking that I'll be placed any day.

Just in case any of you are keeping tabs! I probably won't have anything else to say for... 3-5 weeks!

At last...

After approximately 5-6 months of Doctor's visits, follow-ups, follow ups to follow ups, bureaucracy, and angering a significant percentage of Albany-area medical personnel - I am medically cleared. You can't see it from there, but I'm doing a little dance of joy.

Now on to the battle for placement!!!

And, for absolutely no reason, here is a picture of my cat. Just because I am happy.

Just a Wee Update

Okay - I am sending in what SHOULD be the last of my medical paperwork on Wednesday. For those of you keeping track, here's the breakdown
Applied September 07
Interviewed October 07
Received Medical packet November 07
Sent in completed Medical packet January 08
Received dental clearance February 08
....
will hopefully! be medically cleared by the end of this month.

I've also been in touch with an organization here in Capitaland called Equinox, for victims of domestic violence and their children. It looks like I'll probably be working in the after school program with kids, making snacks, crafts, homework helping, etc. That's going to be fun.

In any case that's the news for now, such as it is. I'll continue updating whenever anything new happens.

1st Contact from PC Placement Office!

Well this isn't really anything huge, but for any readers who are following me along in the process, I thought I'd include it.
I was just contacted by a Student Aide from the PC Placement Office. She encouraged me to send her any updates to my resume or volunteer experience in order to make my application more competitive.
So I wrote back to her and expanded on my resume a bit.
Main point here? Things are moving along, and one or two people in DC are at this very moment deciding my fate.

comments

Hey all - sorry but I had to disable anonymous comments, so you'll need to register in order to comment from now on.  I don't like not knowing who is reading / commenting on my blog!  So I fully expect you all (MOM!) to register because I need the comments/support.  

Thank Ye

Dentally Cleared!

Now I just need legal and medical clearance, then I'll be invited. That is all.

PC, you tease, you...

I had a heart-in-my-throat moment the other day. I came home from work, bent down to scoop up the mail that is always scattered across the muddy, frozen floor (No, I'm not in a third world country yet, this is Downtown Albany), and saw the now familiar peace corps envelope, with "URGENT" stamped all over it. It was fat, and as I learned while applying for colleges, fat = accepted, small = rejected. I thought, "how can this be?! How can they have reviewed all my materials already, much less placed me?"
I walked up the steps, fearing words like "Departing May 1st." I questioned when ten days would expire, and with them my deadline for accepting my invitation. So, I took a deep breath... and...
I sent the wrong dental x-rays. Yeah, that's how I felt too. Damn it! I wish they had emailed me, telling me to expect my entire dental package back in the mail so that I didn't almost give myself a heart attack.
In any case Dr. Geisler's crew was kind enough not only to squeeze me in for an "emergency" appointment yesterday morning, but to give me even more free X-Rays. I owe them something; just not sure what to send. Peace Corps has the films now, and I'm tentatively assuming that, since I didn't get any of my vision or medical materials back, they must have everything they need to make an assessment. Now I can sit back and wait for six weeks or so, I've heard. Anyways sorry for the melodrama... I was bored :)

Inch by Inch

PC has finally received my medical kit. They updated my toolkit yesterday morning, which is a relief. Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed that I filled everything out correctly and they're satisfied with my health. A friend, Nadine, said she thinks the PC asks for SO much medical information as a way to disqualify people, but I hope that's not true. But holy crap did they want a lot of information.

Scared

Oh me oh my. I have all my medical materials gathered, save for evidence of my G6PD Titer (I don't know what it is either). Actually it's a test given to you to determine if you can take anti malarials - which I don't plan on taking anyways. I'd rather deal with Malaria than with the god awful dreams I suffered with Larium. Ever hacked your family into bits or starred in your own personal horror flick? You will, if you take Larium!
Anyways that aside. The title of this post is "scared," with good reason. Once I photocopy all these materials and mail them to OMS, I will be in the final stage: placement. After sending them in, unless OMS needs further clarification on something, my next contact from PC will be my invitation. Once I receive the invitation, which will include my destination country, program assignment, departure date, and passport/visa materials, I have 10 days to make up my mind. I'm ready. I'm ready? My heart is racing and my mouth just dried up, simply thinking about it.

I am terrified.