Monday, February 3, 2014

The Waiting Game


 The Peace Corps has a variety of catchy slogans. My personal favorite is “Life is calling, how far will you go?”

Life finally called during my senior year at American University. The Peace Corps was on the other end of the line. My recruiter answered my questions about serving and explained how the Peace Corps is a great adventure. I was eager to join. Then suddenly, I was put on hold…. for a year. 

The Peace Corps application process feels like one long customer service call. For one year I spoke to multiple staff members, provided fingerprints for legal clearance, uploaded documents into the medical portal, re-uploaded the same documents, and faxed those said documents when they refused to upload. The worst part of this service call was that there is no soft music playing in the background while I was on hold.

Jokes aside, the year it took me to get into the Peace Corps felt like an eternity. To make things short, I’m providing a timeline to illustrate the long and tedious application process:

January 9, 2013: Open Peace Corps application

February 1: Submit application

February 26: Receive invitation for interview

April 10: Interview

April 12: Receive nomination

May 1: Send in fingerprints for background check

May 13: Graduate from American University

June 1: Receive legal clearance

June 23: Receive and submit placement questionnaire

July 23-August 8: Go to Europe with my sister Priti (yes, I was so impatient that I went to Europe to kill time)

September 16: Receive official invitation to serve in Indonesia

October 23: Send in passport and visa application

November 1: Receive instructions for medical clearance

November 26: Three hour long appointment with my physician. This does not include the time it took to get lab work completed

January 1, 2014: NEW YEARS DAY!!!!

January 3: Submit all medical documents

January 23: Receive email stating that two medical documents are rejected

January 24: Fix and upload corrected documents

January 31: Receive final medical clearance

If you think the wait is over, you’re wrong. I’m still sitting in my hometown in Connecticut twiddling my thumbs while the Peace Corps gathers my flight information. I will fly to San Francisco for staging (the pre-training session) on March 15. The next morning I will fly out to Indonesia. I have a little over a month in the United States left. While this waiting period has dragged on, I know the last few weeks will fly faster than American Airlines.

Life is calling. How far will I go?
10,052 miles. From North Stonington, Connecticut, USA to Surabaya, Indonesia.

That’s how far. 

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