Unpacking My Moroccan Invitation

So I got my invitation and invitee packet in the mail.  Yes! But I wasn’t home for another two days to actually go through it and accept the invitation. Once I got home I opened it up and read through the paperwork.  I slept on the invitation for a day.. Youth Development in Morocco.

Then I had to accept it via email with the following statement –

“I, A. Alexander, am accepting my invitation to serve as a Youth Developer (YD) Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco departing September 12, 2011.

I hereby certify that I have read the Volunteer Description, Online Welcome Book and Core Expectations and agree to abide by the policies therein.”

Whoohoo! Invited “officially” accepted.

And ironically.. yep..more paperwork!  😛  By this time in my application process I just look at new paperwork with a jaundiced eye and shrug.. Le Sigh.. Paperwork.

Its good paperwork too – one is for the no fee passport – which is to be done “immediately,” – well its going to have to wait till the weekend when I can get some passport photos taken at the local CVS – that’s as “immediate” as its gonna get with working a 40+ hour week as an AmeriCorps member.

Another folder holds paperwork to revamp my resume and talk about my aspirations as a Peace Corps Volunteer  with a 10 day deadline – which also will be taken care of this weekend.

I also started to read the Peace Corps Volunteer Handbook and once I hit pg 4 or was it 5? I knew I need to again call the Peace Corps – because I now had to withdrawal my application with “The Agency,” because you can’t work or be connected with the intelligence community while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer although they do mention that the Peace Corps did actually involve itself at one time those “types” of activites.

The reality is – I had to have some kind of employment once my last year of service with AmeriCorps ended if the Peace Corp didn’t come through and I went to school to be a political/intelligence analyst – so to apply to “The Agency,” was a logical choice.  I did apply to other government agencies such as USAID and my friend who is a former State Department employee has been urging me to apply there because she thinks I am crazy to do Peace Corps – what can I say? I enjoy adventure and hand washing clothing – kidding on the hand washing part.

It was nice to see the resolution to this snafu could be resolved with a series of emails and wasn’t a massive bump in the road.

I was a cool cucumber until today when it hit me during lunch when I was continuing my reading of the Volunteer handbook.  I had a moment of overwhelming panic – where I thought to myself – What the heck am I thinking?  Going back to warm unrefrigerated eggs? Powdered milk? No microwave? and French toilets?  Am I sure I can do this?

It was like when my girl friends talk about how being pregnant becomes real to them at some point. Peace Corps just became really really real.  It wasn’t something that I was casually waiting to maybe move forward with – its happening and soon!

If I were pregnant I would go into nesting mode but I am not.

Instead I grab a hold of the panic, stuff it down, start writing a list and making a plan because I am my mother’s daughter.  If there is one thing my mother taught me its being ready especially for the worst possible scenario while hoping for the best.

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