Ok ok ok. Like everyone else I talk to, you might want to know WHY I'm doing the Peace Corps, Where am I going? How/Why did I choose that country? For How long? With who? and What is the peace corps?! Well the long and short of it-
The Peace Corps was started by JFK in the 60s and it has evolved into a 27 month government sponsored volunteer program that serves 3rd world countries through a range of capacities: teaching English, developing the local agriculture and businesses, and providing community health education and promoting proper health care. If you're really interested in the ins and outs, you can obviously read the PC website or read this article from the Wall Street journal which was written by my PC Peer Advisor (who is also in Ukraine and doing the same thing that I will be doing):
Personally, I'm going to Ukraine for 27 months to be a TEFL volunteer. TEFL? Basically, I'll be teaching English as a Foreign Language in a public high school. Simple, right? Hopefully. but my responsibilities don't end there. There's about a 100 page Bible-print booklet explaining everything that I'm expected to do while I'm there from tutoring and teaching community language classes to directing summer camps. But I'll update you a little more with all of those details as I actually begin to fulfill those roles.
Simply because it lets me do all the things that I've always wanted to do.
Not so simply- In May of 2008 I began my application to volunteer for the Peace Corps. Although I started the application the summer before my fourth and final year of college, it was A LONG TIME COMING. In my my first year at UVA, I bookmarked the Peace Corps website only to obsessively check it for the next three years and finally begin the biggest hassle of an application process that I hope I never experience again in MY LIFE. but from the moment I heard about it sort of "in passing" from a close friend.... I was like, "hold the phone".... how have I not heard about this before!? (probably because I'm from Bath County and we don't hear anything except our neighbors' goats). But anyway, as my friend was explaining... I was sure that JFK created the PC thinking of me. so OF COURSE I'M DOING THIS... good looking out JFK. I mean, what better way to spend my most vital years right out of college?!... surely NOT by being a registered nurse (love to all the RNs reading this. you're doing a great service to society and I appreciate you for it. But heavens knows that my then-current path as a nursing major was a DREG to my life and absolutely not for me.)
So how was I so sure, so quick that the PC was it for me, other than to have an excuse out of nursing towards the major of my liberal-hearts desire? Well, I've always known what I wanted to do since the second grade. Yes, I had an epiphany when I was seven and decided that I wanted to be an anthropologist in Africa when I grew up. Believe it. (Of course, Ms. Brock (my second grade teacher) gave me the word to name what I was trying to explain. Honestly, what second grader knows the word "anthropologist"?) It was this simple: Ms. Brock told my class to journal about what we wanted to do when we grew up-which was the first time I can ever remember being asked that question,-and I wrote that I was going to Africa to learn about, draw pictures of, and write about the people and the animals. That was it. Since that day in second grade, my plan has never changed. Of course, I've gotten older and realized that you can't just pick up and leave all alone, persay...there's college and then finding a job that will let you travel (which was my reason for doing nursing-to work for a travel nurse company. this way, I was learning and helping people AND traveling. sounds amazing, but I really hate nursing). AND you might be like... so why didn't you study anthropology!? NEWS FLASH: on the average, even nurses make more money than anthropologists. I learned that through the infinite wisdom of my ultra realistic mother. Anyway, God was looking out for me. He rescued me from my nursing fate and let the Peace Corps wiggle its way from my friend's quick words into my ear, to my internet toolbar, and now into my reality.
So why am I going to Ukraine and not some place in Africa? Well that my friends, was also a God thing. Two reasons:
1. Since 2nd grade, I've been diagnosed with a rather serious allergy to the sun. The African sun is less than forgiving so to save my skin I "considered" other parts of the world.
2. Still, up to the last second, I had my heart 100% set on Africa. THEN in my interview, when the nomination officer asked me what part of the world I wanted to go to, I just said Eastern Europe. HUH!? I was shocked to hear those words come out of my mouth. DEFINITELY God was directing my lips and vocal cords because I hadn't previously considered that region AT ALL. Despite an excellent interview, I left the woman's office confused and in tear. I intermittently cried for the next two weeks because I couldn't figure out why I didn't say Africa. For a while there, I really felt like I had failed my second grade dream. Since then, I've realized that it was for the best. As I'm faced with departing the country and all my taken-for-granted amenities in 4 days, I'm rejoicing that I'm going to be spending the next 821.79 days in Ukraine and not facing the added obstacle of residing in some exceptionally remote African village.
So Even on the worst days when I feel like quitting, when I'm sick of the frigid temperature, no water pressure, eating boiled potatoes, and washing my clothes by hand, it's encouraging for me to remember that this is exactly where God has placed me and exactly the kind of work he has called me to experience... since the second grade.
leaving home in 3 days!!!
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