And so it begins.

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do.

The Peace Corps is one of those things that I always knew I was going to go. It's the same as it was with the move to France...not a question of will I or won't I but merely when. I found out about the Peace Corps in elementary school and sort of internalized it. There have always been blocks and stepping stones up to this point, though. Graduate from high school (with flying colours, if possible), get accepted to college, study abroad, graduate from college (with flying colours, if possible), gain some sort of relevant experience, make it through the American citizenship process. With a diploma, a year abroad in a foreign language, two degrees, two years of hard-earned and unparalleled experience, and a naturalization certificate under my belt, I am completely out of excuses.

I toyed with the idea of moving to Asia to teach ESL but knew the experience of working with well-off kids in private English schools was not the mark I was looking to make. Working with refugees has changed me forever and I find myself with a mindset, a skill set, and a history of qualifications and experience that just don't really allow for me to go off to Asia to be a T.A. or a conversation teacher. I turned down a really great job offer in Thailand, a country that has been calling me for years and years. If it had been a position in a refugee camp, I would have been there in a second (or 18 hours, give or take).

I toyed with the idea of applying to the EFL assistant program in France. La France me manque toujours. It was my first chosen home and I miss just about everything, just about daily. I miss the way I feel there and I definitely miss the music of the language. Moving back to France would be an entirely selfish endeavour at this point in my life and I couldn't justify it. Not yet, in any case. There are too many other things that I need to do and languages I need to learn.

So, the Peace Corps. I may never have the opportunity again and I found myself constantly asking, "Why not?"

I submitted my application on July 6th and got my first email from my recruiter on the 10th. The email included a pile of instructions and more forms to augment the already extensive application. It also included the possible assignment areas of Secondary Education or Community Development. These are exactly the areas that I was hoping for and exactly the areas that no other organization could offer to me (keeping in mind it's difficult to navigate the web of NGO's and non-profits when one has little access to the network).

I received fingerprint cards in the mail and went down to the sherriff's office downtown to get fingerprinted (which is really very cool). I mailed those and the background check form on Wednesday (July 23rd). I've completed all the other paperwork that my recruiter has sent and now I'm down to nothing but my interview, which is scheduled for Monday (July 27th) at 11am. My recruiter (who, might I add, is wonderful) has told me that I could get a nomination as soon as August 3rd.

The timeline of a year, give or take, until departure somehow seems very, very short.