Why

For years my mom had been encouraging me to apply for the Peace Corps. "You'd be great at it," she'd say. I always brushed off the advice, because other carreer suggestions she gave me were:

-a soccer coach
-a librarian (so that we could carpool to work together!)
-a navy officer

All fine careers, I'm sure. But if you knew me well, then you would know that these options dont exactly float my boat. The Peace Corps suggestion got mistakenly sorted into the "reject-job-ideas" of my mind. I actually did look into it my freshman year of college, but not very thrououghly. I remember reading a brochure with the requirements for joining, and I remember seeing the requirement of a BA in English to be able to go. Since I wasn't planning on majoring in English, I dismissed the idea entirely.

It wasn't until my senior year when my mom, again pushing for the Peace Corps, said "between getting married at 18, going to school, then getting a job, I never really had a chance to get to go on any real adventure. You should look into it." That advice somehow lit a spark inside of me to someplace and do something that none of my other peers were doing. I was going to do it.

I had intended to leave for the Peace Corps immediately following the summer after graduation. I was employed through UCLA UniCamp, where I was the staff for a smmer camp that serves kids 10-17 years old who currently live at or below the poverty line in LA. I was quietly afraid that I would get rejected from the Peace Corps because I wasn't sure if I could qualify for the health care job that I wanted to do. Miraculously, though, a spot opened up at camp to fill in for the nurse while she took weekends off, as well as a week off to go to a nursing conference. I logged about 360 clinical hours as the nurse while she was away (not including on-call hours), and that became the cherry-on-top for my applicaton. I was finally ready to apply.

I barrelled through the application, got the call for the interview, and paniced over the idea of getting rejected. However, when the day came to intervew, 9/9/09, I came prepared and got offered a nomination in person, right at the end of the intervew! I was estatic. The departure date was for January (4 months away). The assignment was heath care in Africa, with a recommended French language backround.

After sleeping on it, I realized that only 4 months to save up money, say goodbye to my friends, pass the medical clearance, and find an apartment for that time was impractical. I gave Tori (my recruiter) a call to see what my prospects were for getting in in June instead. Now I am nominated to leave in June. Same job. Same language requirement. Everything the same except the departure date. And so now I have a better balance between nervous and excited. Up next: the health screening...

The Beginning

This morning I stumbled upon a treasure chest in the form of my old blogs posts from The Age of Myspace (aka 2004-2007ish). I needed a writing sample to apply to a temp job as a copy editor, and so I chose one of my many blogs that I wrote throughout the years. But, while trying to decide which one to send in to a potential future employer, I ended up just reading all of them. Most of them were written while I was employed as a Front Desker at a desk that was open 24/7/364 (closed on Christmas), and despite my boredom and deliriousness during oh-so-many 12am, 3am, and 6am shifts, I created scores of blogs that I find funny and creative even to this day, despite all of them getting no more than about a dozen views total by my friends and subscribers. Furthermore, I just finished catching up on some blog posts my friend Kelly updates during her year-long tenure as an ESL teacher in Japan for the JET program. Thus, a Perfect Storm of inspiration for starting my own blog about the process of a Peace Corps Volunteer. So, before I get ahead of myself, I'll start from the beginning:

The title for the blog, "How to Live in Africa," is a play on words for my premeditated emotions while serving in Africa. I predict that, while I am supposed to be helping them live better, healthier lives, they will in turn be helping me cope and adapt to life in a foriegn country. Therefore, the title refers to both the locals learning about how to live healthier lifestyles, but also me learning how to live as an African.

My aim is that the blog will help shed light on the process leading up to departure, as well as the training and service of the average Peace Corps volunteer. I hope you enjoy :)