Aspiration Statement and Resume Info

In the off chance that you want to get your resume set up to what PC requests of invitees, I give you this.  One less thing for you to worry about when that invite arrives if it is already done! Plus it may keep you busy during those bursts of RAS :)

It also includes information about writing and formatting your aspiration statement, which I need to get to work on. I thought I was done with essay style writing when I graduated!  I at least didn't think I'd be dealing with it so soon...

Happy writing!

Ukraine (no "The")

So today will be the day I actually sit down with my big blue packet as it is my first day off since receiving it.  I am going to tackle the resume and aspiration statement first and then begin filling out forms.  Is it weird that I enjoy filling out forms? 

I am really stoked that I got my invite so far in advance, however it also means that I haven't gotten around to ordering a certified copy of my birth certificate, so getting my visa and passport stuff in will take at least a month! Le sigh.  Upside is that Kortni informed me that I could do my own passport pictures as long as they follw certain guidelines! Sweet deal since this photographer is by no means photogenic herself.

In other news...
Since getting my invite, I have been sharing the news of where I'll be heading off to March and have been telling those who repeat my desination "no 'The'!"  It doesn't work so well though :)

To any other Ukraine March invitees, SHOW YOURSELVES! :)  There is a Facebook Page for our groups (41 & 42).  I would have created a Group, but apparently those are now only for people you are already friends with.  This is kind of a bummer as I dislike that I cannot post as myself! Oh well!

I was invited on the 9th and received my invitation on the 24th!

And so I shall be heading off to Ukraine in March as a Secondary Education TEFL Teacher!

I was so stoked to see the UPS man (well, I heard his truck first) that I totally teared up with excitement. 

And now, for some invitation kit exploration..

New one sent.

So my PO checked the tracking number on my invitation and it shows it as being delivered, I wish!  A new one is being sent today via UPS ground, so let's hope that it is actually delivered by end of day Wednesday as the web site says it should be.

Damn living in the middle of the forest!
The wait continues...

I keep having these dreams...

Last night I had a dream that I got my invite and it said I was invited to serve in El Salvador.  This totally freaked out dream Kim as I just watched a National Geographic show last night on the MS-13 gang which is pretty big and dangerous in that particular country...

Then, the night before that I dreamt that I was invited to serve in Indonesia!

Both of these dreams definitely have not helped with my wanting my invitation to arrive.  Apparently my brain is having fun coming up with scenarios in which I wind up not being invited to where I was nominated.  I realize this is a possibility, but one of the questions I was asked for placement was:

"You were originally nominated and are currently being considered for a program in the Eastern Europe region that departs in March 2011.  Are you still available for this departure?"

   

So I assume that that is still where I will end up. 

Thank you dreams, I am becoming far more obsessed with knowing.
Le sigh.

Help me decipher!?

If my PO says to let her know if I don't receive my invite by Thursday, does that mean to email her if I don't get it today (Wednesday) or tomorrow? I really don't want to be overly annoying.

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Damn this anticipation

Still no invite on my doorstep.
Sad Face.

Dear UPS-

I realize that I live in the middle of a forest within a town so small is doesn't even have its own post office (let alone UPS office), but why the hell haven't you brought me my damn invitiation yet?! My toolkit says it was sent out on the 9th, so even if it was sent normal shipping via your company, is should take 3 days max for it to get here (your website even said it was GUARUNTEED!), yet alas I still do not know where I am going nor when.

In closing, make sure I get that shit on Monday.

Or else!

Love,
Kim

155 Days.

Or 5 months, 2 days.

That is how long it took me to go from submitting my application to recieving an invitation.  After reviewing the Timeline Page on PC Wiki, I have come to the conclusion that I lucked out massively in terms of not having to deal with RAS for too long.

I didn't seem to get some of the applicant experiences others had in regards to placement such as:

• writing a personal statement about my tattoos (I have a lot and saying that are visible a bit of an understatement)
• reviewing my current financial responsibilites (I have a car loan, credit cards, and student loans)
• a phone interview or follow up questions to my e-mailed statements!

I am quite thankful I will know so far in advance as to where and when I am going.  I won't have to sit around wondering if I should be looking for a FT job or if it was smart of me to leave Las Vegas with so much uncertainty in the air.

 My focus now will be paying off my credit cards!  My loans are deferrable and I drive a Yaris, which is pretty in demand as far as cars go due to excellent gas mileage, so I am not worried about being able to sell and still get money back on it. Oh, and my other focus is getting my mom to agree to take in my two cats ( I will succeed in this!)

Let's hope my invite is in the mailbox tomorrow! :)

And today was like Christmas.

Hello 5AM wake up call via phone notification of e-mail, you were a welcome joy this morning.

I shall be harassing my mother all week about the mail :)

After hearing from Placement, weeknights feel like Christmas Eve.

Oh the anticipation of maybe getting that 5:15AM e-mail with a status update which, upon logging into your toolkit, will tell you "Congratulations! You have been invited, now you can stop stressing about where you may be living for two years!"

Every morning that I wake up and it isn't there, there is going to be a little bit of disappointment served with my morning cereal and juice.

Oh, Hello Placement Specialist.

I got an e-mail today with the nifty little final questions that seem to happen prior to an invite.  Yay!  I am bit bummed I fell asleep on my mom's couch while hanging with the miniature brother since the e-mail was sent at 1:37 as I could have totally gotten my responses sent back before the end of the work day! Oh well, now I get to be antsy in my pantsy over the weekend.  Here is the e-mail I recieved, in case anyone is curious as to what questions you may be asked (my name is spelled wrong!):

"Hello Kimberly,


I hope you are doing well. I am the Placement and Assessment Specialist responsible for conducting a review of your application.


Below you will find questions which will help in my review. Please respond via email or contact me to schedule a time to talk through your responses.


1. How have you been preparing for Peace Corps service?


2. Have you communicated with current or Returned Peace Corps volunteers regarding challenges you might face?


For instance, the realities that most Volunteers face in any given country, such as:


· working in unstructured settings
· adapting to a lifestyle without the regular comforts of home you are perhaps accustomed to here in the US (i.e., limited access to internet, phone, etc)
· being far away from friends/family for an extended period of time with very limited communication – particularly with not having previous experience overseas
· working at a comparatively basic level and not always seeing tangible results of one’s development efforts
· lack of privacy while living with a host family

Please discuss what coping strategies you are prepared to employ in an effort to overcome these potential challenges.


3. What prompted you to apply?


4. What has been the response of your family and friends to your decision? Do they have any concerns? What are your thoughts on the separation for 27 months with not having spent time overseas previously?


5. Often, Volunteers are placed a fair distance from each other when based in rural areas. How would you handle possibly feeling isolated in this situation?


6. You were originally nominated and are currently being considered for a program in the Eastern Europe region that departs in March 2011. Are you still available for this departure?


7. Has your email or address changed – or will it in the near future?


I appreciate you taking the time to consider your responses to the above and I look forward to hearing from you soon.


Sincerely,
Christa George
Volunteer Placement and Assessment Specialist
Education Skills Desk"

Packing for PC

Brilliant Video.
This will come in handy:

E-mail from Skills Desk

"Dear Kim,


I hope this email finds you well! I'm writing to you from the Peace Corps Placement Office in Washington, D.C. We are busy reviewing and evaluating your Peace Corps application to be sure that everything looks good for you to be approved for service. I reviewed your file this morning and I identified a couple items that needed follow-up.

I would like you to send me an updated professionally formatted resume which includes the following: Name, Address, Phone Number, Permanent E-mail, Summary of Skills, Education, Volunteer and Work Experience and Additional Interests or Skills. Please use a format similar to the following:
English Teacher-8th Grade                                                         March 2008 - Feb 2010


Kline Middle School, Chicago


Develop curriculum and implement interactive lessons


Teach 100+ students daily


Classroom and records management


Parent/teacher communications


Afterschool English Tutor



**Please be sure to tailor your resume to highlight the volunteer and work experiences that are most relevant to your nomination.

Please keep in mind that many computer word processing programs provide nicely formatted resume templates which you can use as a guideline. This document should be no more than two pages long and have exact dates (month/year) for employment/volunteerism. For volunteer experiences please note the approximate hours per week.

Please also complete and return the attached skill addendum with any relevant teaching or tutoring experience you have had.

Once you submit your updated materials, it may take some time before you hear from your Placement Specialist regarding their final evaluation of your application materials. Our current priority is to finish placing applicants nominated to programs with departures between October and December of 2010. Once we have filled these programs, we will begin working more with applicants nominated to programs with departures between January and March of 2011.

Best,

Morgan"
 
Whenever someone has said they got an e-mail requesting an updated resume, I always thought it would be a little short blurby e-mail.  Nope.
 
I updated/slightly re-did my resume and sent back the edu. skills addendum.  After completing those I went back into the "I just don't look too competitive on paper" thing.  Le sigh.
 
Hopefully I will be up and back to volunteering soon thanks to Miss Liz helping me out with her contacts.  I figure if I am going to be working in Gainesville (I start today!), may as well volunteer there too since it will get me out of this tiny town more often.

And Now I Live in Florida!

Long drive...
Upside is I received zero speeding tickets! 

Cortez is not a fan of being cooped up for long periods of time, especially in the car. I let him out of his carrying case and he walks around what little available space there is in my packed to death car and decides that there are two good places to lay: my lap and behind my head. I had a pillow against my back, so he had a nice little place to rest. It didn’t really bother me either as I barely noticed him there and at least that way I didn’t have to worry about him sticking his head through the holes in the steering wheel as I drove…

Spaghetti, on the other hand, in a quite literally a scaredy cat. Not wanting her to feel punished or left out, I took the door off her carrying case so she could also roam about the car. She appeared very concerned about getting proper footing to move around so, instead, she just laid in her case and occasionally poked her head out. That was Thursday. Friday she said “Fuck it!” I helped her out of her case when she tried to leave at which point she decided to try and squeeze into tiny parts of the packed items on top of the front seat. Lucky for her, it worked out. Unlucky for her, Cortez is a dick and commondeered any place Spaghetti wanted to lay within 10 minutes of her laying down. Ultimately, she wound up on my lap…

In other news from the road trip:

I used fancy old school gas pumps in AZ! This town had tons of dinosaur statues, too…

I missed my exit and didn’t realize it until 40+ miles later. It worked out though. I got to drive through farm country (I saw cotton!) and I didn’t lose anytime, in fact, I think it was a slight short cut!

Here are some trees from TX 70?

I would have gotten out of the car to take a better photo (this was done from my parked car out the window), but it it taking me about 5 minutes to get in and out of my car on this little adventure… I like it though :)

Today the plan is to get my stuff to my grandmother's (AKA: Meme) house and go to Gainesville to talk to the ON store manager there at 2.