Thursday, September 04, 2008

Here 'Til June - Peace Corps Update

After not hearing from the Peace Corps in a long time, I decided to call and find out what was going on. I found out that I was originally nominated for a country that was not asthma-safe. Since I have an asthma restriction on my file, I won't be able to go to that country. Apparently asthma is a very serious restriction in Africa and there are only about 8 countries that I can go to. So after talking to my placement officer, my choices were to go to a November program and be a math teacher in Africa or wait until June and do health work in Africa, which was the job I had planned to do from the beginning. After many hours of constant debate in my head, debating with my best friend, making pro/con lists, and thinking myself in circles over and over again, I decided to wait until June and go for the job that I really want. In the meantime I will get a job or volunteer position in the health field (hopefully an HIV/AIDS department or clinic) to help prepare for this placement and I will get do all my preparations to apply to medical school while I am in Africa if that is still what I want to do at the end of the two years.

So anyway, that is my plan and my update for this long and annoying process of joining the Peace Corps. And, you are all stuck with me for another set of holidays, family gatherings, etc.

How about family weekend at the end of May next year???

Oh yea, and spread the word about this because not everyone reads the blog and I am obviously not going to call the whole family.

6 comments:

Andrea said...

Thats awesome Julie! I know it may not be as soon as you wanted but it will be worth it to get the job that you wanted. Maybe Peggy has something you can do with AIDS/HIV with her grants! You should talk to her when they get back...

Congrats again!

Julie said...

when do they get back? I was going to email her today.

Andrea said...

I think they get back next Wednesday

Anonymous said...

That must have been a tough decision Julie. It sounds like you did the right thing. And we are glad to get you through another set of holidays! See you soon!

Anonymous said...

Oh no...I didn't buy anything for your bag....If this works for you then i am delighted to have you around a bit longer...See you soon..Love Auntie Paula

Meredith said...

Sounds like you made a good choice Julie! We are happy to have you around for a while longer.