Friday, December 31, 2010

Fingerprinting to Interview to Nomination

Very quickly after I finished my application I got the fingerprint form in the mail, along with some other stuff. The fingerprinting was uneventful. I went to a police station. The guy was very nice and when he read that I was getting fingerprinted for the peace corps he waived the fee! In that packet was also some information about programs I could be qualified for. There was also a form asking for more information about my teaching experience, particularly in the field of English. Unfortunately the only “experience” I have is that I used to tutor a kid in high school..

I sent that all in and was in touch with my recruiter for a few weeks about what she needed from me and the people who wrote recommendations for me. Finally right before Thanksgiving my recruiter invited me to come in for an interview in the New York City office the following week. I accepted, set up a time, and started preparing!

The truth of the matter is.. I don’t interview well. I never have. My interviews for colleges were comical to say the least. Some of my answers were just like… where the heck did that come from?? I also had an interview earlier that month for student teaching and THAT was a DISASTER! I was just rambling on and on and not saying ANYTHING. My interviewer just looked at me, and at the end of it all actually made me write down answers to the questions that I just couldn’t answer cohesively out loud. So, I was EXTREMELY nervous about my Peace Corps interview. I actually spent hours preparing. I looked online for sample questions (which were pretty much dead on with what they asked). Then I wrote down a response to each question. I ended up with a packet 7 pages long single spaced! This is NOT something I would recommend doing, unless you are like me and you have issues with interviews.

               So finally came the day of my interview, which was the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. I scheduled it for 10AM hoping to make it back to Long Island by 12:30 or soon thereafter so I wouldn’t have to completely miss my 12:30 class. In case you’re wondering what to wear, I wore simple dress pants, a sweater, and flats for city walking. I took the LIRR train into the city, got on a subway, and walked to the office building. I’ve navigated through the city before, but never by myself, so I gotta admit I was a little nervous. I made it with no issues though, took a deep breath, and walked in the building. I had to go through security first. One of the security officers asked me what I was there for. I told him my Peace Corps interview and he said “the Peace Corps? Wow, you must be VERY brave. I would never ever do a thing like that, not in this day and age.” He was trying to be nice and flatter me… but that was actually the first time that I ever though “oh my god.. what am I doing??” I am not brave and have never considered myself to be a brave person. And here this big strong security guy is telling me that he would never do what I was doing.

I was actually almost an hour early, so I went up to the top floor of the building to a little cafĂ©. I sat there sipping water and drawing silly pictures of me and ukuleles. Then I made my way back down to the 10th floor for my interview. I made a fool of myself again. The elevator opened up on the 11th floor to let two police officers in. I thought it was the 10th floor so I got out, ignoring the huge sign right across from me that said something about immigration court haha. The cops saw me looking confused and said  “uhhh… are you looking for immigration court?”
“No.. the Peace Corps?”
“That’s down one more floor..”
“oh.. hehehe”

Finally I made it to the right place, waited a bit for the interview, and was called in after a few minutes.

The interview was not as scary as I had originally thought, largely because my recruiter, Kim, was totally on my side. She genuinely wanted to help me look good and to find a place for me in a peace corps. It was a little weird because she needed to type my answers. So I had to speak slowly and concisely. Even though I had written out and studied answers I still struggled sounding intelligent in the interview. Kim was super nice though and tried really hard to get me to say the right thing. This was my favorite exchange:

Kim: In the Peace Corps you might have a lot of down time and might have to deal with loneliness and isolation. How will you handle this?
Diana: I am planning on bringing my ukulele and I can play when I have downtime.
Kim: What if your ukulele breaks?
Diana: umm I could read a book?
Kim: What if there are no books?
Diana: ummm I like to run. I can go running?
Kim: What if you don’t have sneakers?
Diana: ….um….um….
Kim: You mean you would make friends and relations in the community and get involved?
Diana: OH yeah! Of course I would do that!

Haha. If nothing else, this interview pointed out how often I use the word “um”. Every time I said the word, I heard one of my Professors in the back of my mind chanting “She’s buying time…” (he does that all the time in class). Toward the end of the interview the tables sort of turned and I was asking her questions about the Peace Corps and about her experience serving as a Peace Corps. She was extremely helpful. Then despite my awkwardness, she said she was going to find a place to nominate me and I should hear back from her by Friday.

The commute back to Long Island was a lot less scary and I’m sure there was a much bigger bounce in my step.

I did not make it back to class in time. Bummer.

Friday came. And went. Nothing.
Monday. Nothing.
Tuesday AHHHH! Nothing.

WEDNESDAY! I got an email from Kim with a nomination! It was for a Girls Empowerment project in Sub Saharan Africa and it sounded PERFECT! But I had to hurry up and respond because there was only one spot left. I responded within the hour she sent it, and spent the next two days telling EVERYONE who would listen!

Then Thursday evening I got another email from Kim saying I missed it. The project was closed and she would try to find another one. I was CRUSHED. That project and location was exactly what I had been picturing for months.

The next day I got another nomination, this time for Secondary English Teaching in Asia to leave the end of July. I wish I could say I was just as excited for this one, but I wasn’t. I never envisioned myself going to Asia. I pictured myself anywhere BUT Asia. I don’t really know why, but I just didn’t really have an interest in it. But I accepted, and kept a positive attitude. I managed to convince myself that maybe it’s for the best and that I could end up really enjoying it and really helping some people in Asia.

                There was one stipulation. I was not really qualified for this project. I have TONS of teaching experience… but it’s all music teaching. I had to promise to get 30+ hours of English teaching experience. That’s a lot harder than it sounds, considering I will be student teaching next semester, AND participating in choral and orchestral ensembles AND teaching more than 20 private students AND working on my medical evaluation stuff.

But, I’m working it all out. And I’m almost caught up to present time in this blog. In my next post I’ll fill you in on my medical forms and my plans for getting English teaching experience.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

First Time Blogger

Ive noticed that a lot of Peace Corps volunteers and applicants keep a blog and I've decided to jump on the bandwagon. So this blog will be used to
1. Keep my friends and family updated
2. Help myself sort through my thoughts
3. Give insight to other applicants on the process.

Today is Christmas, and it's been a good one. I spent hours today online reading volunteer blogs. I wanted to see what the volunteers were doing for Christmas. Many were able to receive gifts from home and some were able to share some "Christmas spirit" to their interested community members.

I am currently in the Medical Review portion of the application, which I'd say is about halfway there. Things are getting more and more realistic the farther I get in the process, and not gonna lie, it's messing with my mind a bit. I'm definitely not regretting my decision to apply, but I am wondering if it's the right choice as far as my career goes. But I'll unload all of those thoughts in a future blog. For now I think I'll go back and start from the beginning.

What made you decide to apply for the Peace Corps?
I can't pinpoint an exact moment that I decided it was a good idea. It's kind of been a progression. I've been on a number of overseas mission trips that got me addicted to volunteer work and to living in other cultures. However, I'd say the main pushing factor for me was just finally growing up and maturing. Suddenly moving away from home wasn't scary anymore, and having a real job with real prerssures wasn't scary. I wanted to move away and experience something very different. I started thinking long term about everything including grad school, getting a job, and even about the freedoms I would lose to do something like this once I settle down in a job here one day. So basically, once it entered my mind as an option, I did TONS of research, and the more I saw, the more I believed that the PC was a perfect opportunity for me.

The Daunting Application
I think I took way longer than most to do the application lol. I guess I was just nervous and I really wanted to make sure everything was perfect. I started the application in June and finally sent it in mid to late September. Most of the application was not hard, but was tedious. You need to provide information on any job preferences you might have, language skills, licenses and certificates, employment history, volunteer activities, marital status, education history, and legal history. You also need to provide a resume, responses to two essay questions, and three references. Put everything that you think might help on your resume, because it might help determine if and where you get a nomination. Your essays are extremely important. During the interview, a lot of the conversation will revolve around what is in your essays. I actually took my essays to an English professor of mine at college. She was very helpful in focusing my ideas and in making sure that the reader can get an idea of who I am through the text. Finally, you have the 3 references, and they should be an employer, a friend, and a volunteer supervisor. I substituted my volunteer supervisor with a professor, only because she was excited to help and actually offered to write a recommendation. The recommendations are pretty easy, but take some time and focus. One thing I did that I would recommend is giving the three people a list of your activities and volunteer projects. That way they have examples in case they draw a blank. The references are done online and submitted through email, but you can provide a paper one if you choose. (I had to because my boss doesn't email...)

Then... You submit! And you celebrate cuz you think your done!
Then right away they send you more stuff to fill out online! Lol. But don't worry, it's just a basic medical survey and should only take 15 mins or so. Just be honest and thorough.

That's good for now. I'll continue with the catch-up (ketchup) in another blog.

Merry Christmas!