Two weeks until I go, how did I get here?

Now that the goodbyes have started my thoughts turn in another direction. It was just over a year ago I decided that it was time to start filling out the online application for the Peace Corps. Part of me didn’t think I was going to actually finish it, another part really didn’t expect anything to come of it, but the most hopeful part of me hoped I would be heading out right after my December graduation.

I gave myself one full year to apply, and then life happened. Through the Spring 2009 semester I barely completed the online portion of the application process. You know, the part that once completed there is an average of nine months until you know where you’re going. As an indication of just how busy that semester was, I had failed to line up a summer job for myself. Now with being able to afford school being the most important thing on my plate my first month or so of summer was spent finding a job, no Peace Corps application there.

Upon settling into my life in Door County where I found a job, and finding what is in my favorite coffee shop to utilize the internet in (Glas, Sturgeon Bay, check it out) the application started to get filled out once again. After a couple frustrating days where a total of at least 4 hours of work was completely lost thanks to the wonders of the internet I managed to get the application filled in by the end of the summer. There was one last thing before I could submit it, the resume.

Resume. Easy, I have one of those made and updated so I could get a job this summer… oh wait, I had a job this summer, I should change that… and the wording there is weird, I really don’t like this format… maybe this way, what about that? This should be good, I do really want this to happen though, I’d better make sure. OK OK OK. That’s about enough… I think this one is useable now.

With that, I decided to celebrate the start of my final semester and I submitted my online application to the Peace Corps. Days later I received an email form a man informing me that he would be my Peace Corps Recruiter. All I had to do was get a couple forms filled out and he was going to be in town a few weeks later and, if possible, we could set up an interview for that time. I think we all can appreciate a face-to-face over any other interview scenario.

Being me, I was unable to get that paperwork completed before my recruiter made it to town for the week. I decided the best plan at this point was to go talk to him in person at the career fair. So there I was on the evening of September 22 setting up an interview for the morning of the 23.

I wish I had some horror story to tell of how I managed to survive this interview, but it went very well. It was understandably a rather long interview, but it served a very informative role for me as well. With the recruiter being a returned Peace Corps volunteer there were tidbits and insights passed along during the interview to me disguised as lead-ins to his questions (maybe the other way around). He got a good idea of what I was all about, I got a better idea of what a Peace Corps volunteer actually does. I felt an overwhelming positivity coming out of the interview. Life was good.

I just had to get him a couple extra documents before anything more could happen, and then it was time for the waiting game. ‘Don’t call me, I’ll call you,’ so I waited, anxiously, for the call.

Why?

One of the most common questions I get when I am telling people that I have decided to become a Peace Corps volunteer is, “Why Peace Corps?” Well, here you go.

I think it really started in High School, but I’m sure there are roots that go further back than that. Either way, I have felt for a long time that some form of civil service is an important experience for one to have as part of growing up. Historically the men in my family have chosen the military in one form or another; meanwhile a good number of the females have spent some time working in hospital, and more recently in various assisted living situations. The desire and sense of responsibility to help others when possible seems to have always been in my family for a long time.

The more I thought about it the more clear it became that the armed forces were not for me, and my interests aren’t exactly pointing me in the medical direction either. So then I started thinking about what I like to do, and what goals I have set for myself. There were two big ones that stood out for me. ONE: during my time at UWGB I developed an interest in Anthropology, TWO: I have always held on to the impossible goal of visiting every country in the world.

Thats when it became clear, Peace Corps forces me to travel somewhere new, somewhere that a typical tourist would rarely dream of going. Not only that, but the only way to truly be an effective Peace Corps volunteer is to really get into the culture of the place you are serving. I’m also going to be doing another something I enjoy, learning a new language, in this case French. Unfortunately this particular language does not overlap with the German project I am working on before I leave. But, I think I would be disappointed if that were the case anyway.

Plus, get this, it’s also a career builder. Not only am I pretty sure Peace Corps looks awesome on a resume, but I’m also working as an Environmental Education volunteer which is more than likely the career I’m looking for in the long run.

So there you have it. The long and short of why I decided to apply as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The Aspiration Statement

Just over a week ago I received the blue cardboard packet in the mail with my invitation to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer!  Upon flipping open the velcro cover I was greeted by a very plain white packet:

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Country:  Senegal

Program:  Preventative Health and Environmental Education

Job Title:  Environmental Education Extension Agent

Dates of Service:  May 2010 - May 2012*

Orientation Dates:  March 9 - 11, 2010*

Pre-Service Training (in Thies):  March12 - May 2010*

*dates subject to change

After reading though that packet and the details of the assignment, I continued the inspection of the blue packet.  It soon became apparent that I still had some paperwork to take care of once I officially accepted the assignment.

First was to take care of the Visa and Passport (apparently my personal passport isn't good enough).  Then came updating the resume and the "Aspiration Statement."  Apparently the Peace Corps in Senegal didn't have too much information on me yet, and I needed to remedy that.  Just a few short minutes ago I sent in the last of that paperwork via email, and now I am putting it here for you to read.

What better way to kick this blog off than with my aspirations for service?

Aspiration Statement

A:  The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service.

I have been working in Environmental Education on and off for the past 6 years.  My first summer job once I started college was as a camp counselor/naturalist at the Central Wisconsin Environmental station.  That opportunity changed the direction of my life, after returning there for a second summer I transferred to the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and earned my BS in Wildlife Ecology.  During my time at UWSP I continued developing my environmental education skills and experience.  I hope to utilize the environmental education knowledge I have gained, from planning and organizing programs to helping to create a mural as a teaching utensil, to improve the quality of life in Senegal.  I look forward to working with locals to encourage the protection, improvement, and understanding of natural systems especially as a way to improve the general health of the area.

B:  Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs.

From all of the reading of Peace Corps materials and research I have done on my own I believe the most important strategies/skills I will need to utilize  to effectively work in Senegal are flexibility and patience.  I am sure there will no one way to effectively convey the desired message to everyone involved.  Flexibility will be important for me to not only pull from what others have done, but to also try to incorporate new ideas to help the message reach a wider audience.  Connected closely to this will be patience, the patience to take the time that is necessary to really get a message across as well as the patience to make the necessary adjustments to make it stick.  It also seems to be apparent that everything  will take longer than it would in the United States because of differences in the pace of life throughout the world.  Patience and flexibility will also be necessary to help me adjust to a new culture and a new way of doing things.

C:  Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background.

I have a rather large interest in Anthropology and pursued that for a time as a career path.  Other cultures interest me a lot, and I think that curiosity will help me to adjust quickly.  Because of my Anthropology classes I am aware the dangers of ethnocentrism, and with that in mind I feel that I am prepared to experience and adapt to a new culture.  One of the strategies I use to adapt to a new culture is analyzing why certain behaviors exist; once I get curious about ‘the why’ it becomes a fun challenge for me to solve.  In that way I adapt to and try to integrate into the culture as a way of solving that problem.  Once I understand the reasons behind the behaviors it will be all the easier for me to fully experience the culture and be able to share it with my family and friends back home.  On a more experiential level, between summer jobs and changing schools I have done a lot of moving and experienced many, albeit slight, differences in culture through that.  These past experiences will be something more for me to draw from in understanding a new and different culture.

D:  The Skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community project.

The biggest skill I hope to get out of pre-service training is the language experience, for what are probably obvious reasons.  Outside of that, I hope to gain a better understanding of the ecology of Senegal.  Health promotion seems to be a major goal of this particular project so I would like to gain more knowledge on the aspects of health that are being degraded because of environmental issues.  Along with that, what changes can be made, or that people want to make, in order to improve the health of the community I am assigned to, as well as the whole of Senegal.

E:  How you think Peace Corps serves will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

It is hard to say what kind of an influence Peace Corps service will have on my future plans before I have even begun my service.  What I hope that it will do on a broad scale is to solidify my goals and aspirations in life.  It has become apparent to me that Environmental Education and Interpretation is the major direction I want to go.  What I hope this experience will give me a more specific heading within environmental education - what I want to pass on to future generations and why it is so important.  I believe this experience will provide me with the personal experience and sense of passion to become a highly motivated and effective environmental educator.  I hope that my experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer will help me to make informed decisions on a globally conscious level, that I will be able to share my experiences with family and friends to help create a more accurate picture of life around the world, and perhaps most of all I hope that it will affect me in ways that I cannot currently predict.

Another new beginning.

In the small number of blogs I have paid attention to up to this point there is one thing I have noticed that makes them successful - a well defined purpose. I think I have found mine, and I think it's one that is worthwhile; and a good time to try blogging as a passive way of keeping anyone who cares updated about my life.

In just over a month I will be moving to Senegal to become a Peace Corps Volunteer. To say that I am excited is an understatement to say the least. There is a lot that I need to do, a lot that I want to do, a lot that I should do, and I have no idea what takes priority.

Before I leave the country I'm going to be explaining how it is that I wound up heading to Africa, but before I can even start that I need an Aspiration Statement. That is what you have to look forward to in the next couple days, because I need to have it done in the next couple days.