I actually rather like this way of updating, maybe I'll have to do it more often now.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Is it Over Yet?
Huzzah! Huzzah! They finally got the last bit of my medical forms! That's the good news. The bad news? It's May 5th, and I was supposed to leave in ohh, 3-4 weeks or so... I (sadly) don't think that will happen. Hopefully though, if that doesn't work, I can still end up going someplace similar in a few months, maybe around September. I'm just relieved that I finally have the Medical Mess pretty much behind me. They may still request more information or clairification on some parts, but that (I really really hope) won't be so bad.
As it stands, it looks like I will be around for a few more months, studying language, learning more about building techniques. The only thing that really scares me now is that they may say, "Oh, would you like to go to Mongolia to help with community business initiatives?"
As it stands, it looks like I will be around for a few more months, studying language, learning more about building techniques. The only thing that really scares me now is that they may say, "Oh, would you like to go to Mongolia to help with community business initiatives?"
Monday, April 18, 2011
More Medical Mayham!
So I sent in my medical and called it Done! Except...apparently..it wasn't. Well actually it was, however, the important part (my physical exam) got misfiled. So I got an update telling me my application was no longer current as I hadn't sent them the correct information. Needless to say, I freaked out just a wee, teensy bit at the thought of nearly three years of my life going down the drain due to a filing mistake. So after I stopped screeching, I ran (literally) over to the doctors office at 4.50 on a Friday afternoon and begged the poor ladies at the front to please find my Peace Corps medical papers! Well after turning the whole place topsy turvey, they found my papers, but couldn't give them to me as a doctor hadn't signed off on them. I had to come back Monday morning... *insert sobbing*
I was there at 8am when they opened on Monday, snatched those papers, stuffed them in an envelope, and sent them off, praying that God would finally have mercy on me. Well, God didn't. I waited for them to update my application, making it current again, but there was nothing. I called the PC medical office in DC and asked what was going on, and promptly got switched from a real live person, to voicemail. I repeated this process for a week until they called me back...at 6AM. I was asleep and missed it. After waking up, I spent the morning calling the voicemail begging them to call me again, promising that I would answer on the first ring and had my phone right next to me, so pleaaase call me, pleasepleaseplease! Low and behold, they did!! The nice girl who answered told me that any piece of mail that gets sent to a gov't agency has to go through an extensive security process, one that can take up to 3 weeks!! Luckily, she knew I was supposed to be leaving in about 1 1/2 months, and gave me her direct number so that when my letter had been cleared and reunited with my medical packet, she could help me get it through quick. (I wish I knew this girls name, I need to send her a fruit basket or something.) So now i'm waiting again, but it's not so bad now that I know there is someone there to help me. Also, I promise to update the econd half of my medical experience soon, pinky promise! Cheers All!
I was there at 8am when they opened on Monday, snatched those papers, stuffed them in an envelope, and sent them off, praying that God would finally have mercy on me. Well, God didn't. I waited for them to update my application, making it current again, but there was nothing. I called the PC medical office in DC and asked what was going on, and promptly got switched from a real live person, to voicemail. I repeated this process for a week until they called me back...at 6AM. I was asleep and missed it. After waking up, I spent the morning calling the voicemail begging them to call me again, promising that I would answer on the first ring and had my phone right next to me, so pleaaase call me, pleasepleaseplease! Low and behold, they did!! The nice girl who answered told me that any piece of mail that gets sent to a gov't agency has to go through an extensive security process, one that can take up to 3 weeks!! Luckily, she knew I was supposed to be leaving in about 1 1/2 months, and gave me her direct number so that when my letter had been cleared and reunited with my medical packet, she could help me get it through quick. (I wish I knew this girls name, I need to send her a fruit basket or something.) So now i'm waiting again, but it's not so bad now that I know there is someone there to help me. Also, I promise to update the econd half of my medical experience soon, pinky promise! Cheers All!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Why I Hate The Medical Review: Part 1
Ooooookkkay. Let's see, I last posted back in late December, it is now mid-March. I really, really hate the PC medical review. (Not to mention that the PC office kept sending me fun facts like: "Only 15% of medical forms are filled out on the first try!"...joy)
Where do I start with this, then? How about when I first opened it, stared at it incomprehensibly, and then handed it over to my mother, the doctor? I think I understood only about 2-3 pages of questions, but my mother (Thank God!) was able to go through the packet with an expert eye, and figure out in roughly 10 minutes, everything that I would need. Simple right?
Well, I guess everything would have been simple if two things had happened. One, if my teeth had been in perfect shape, and two, if it had been physically possible to have a pelvic exam. Let's deal with the dentist first, as it wasn't terrible, just long and very, very expensive. If you are going into PC, you need a full dental exam and check, as well as recent X-rays. I went in without any real worries, my teeth felt fine, I brushed, I was sure I'd be fine. Aaand then I got the news, I had four cavities, and was going to need a crown. Ok, fine, I could do that. Except that I was going to have to wait a few weeks to get in again and put on a temporary crown, and then there was going to be another wait (of a full month) to come in again, and have a permanent crown attached. Yay!*sarcasm*
Well, what to do? I came back two weeks later, and had two of the four cavities taken care of, and a temporary crown put on. My mouth was entirely numb, as they had had to give me more (Novocaine?) shots to numb my mouth than usual. But as the numbness wore off, I discovered something: crowns really, really hurt! I thought that it would wear off in a day or two, but it didn't. NO, it did not! In fact, it hurt enough to keep me awake and at times nearly crying. Now before anybody yells at me that I should have called the dentist, I wanted to call the dentist, but for that first week or so, I was working, or volunteering, or doing something that meant I couldn't drop by the dentists office until after 5, when they closed. By the time I had time, the pain had gotten somewhat better and I decided not to call the dentist. Only to find out when I returned (two weeks after I had gotten the temporary crown) that it really shouldn't have been that painful and WHY didn't I call them?!?! I got a nice little lecture for that.
But moving on, my tooth was healing, slowly but surely, the root wasn't dying, they were able to fill the other two cavities and put a permanent crown on with a temporary seal, and it wouldn't cost me any more than it already was, (which was a lot!) and they'd give me a permanent seal in a fortnight. Well two weeks came and went, and I was back in the dentists chair, this time for a regular checkup before they gave my crown a permanent seal. For once, it all went well, no pain, no unexpected anything, though they did however lecture me about flossing. Anyway, that came to an end when they tried to get my crown separated from the "temporary" seal. Apparently, I have a very nice tooth structure, one that likes to grab on and not let go (part of my cavity problem). They tried everything, but they couldn't for the life of them get the crown off. My dentist told me it was unusual for this to happen, but not unheard of, so they were just going to leave my temporary seal there, as it wasn't likely to be going anyplace, and they wouldn't charge me.
So there you have it, my Adventure in Dentistry!! I'm going to have to do another post for my medical check, as that is a much longer story. Oh, and if you're wondering if the PC helps pay for any of this, they do. They will pay up to $60. I requested ALL sixty! And to back up my claim, I sent them the $1800 bill I had to pay. And I don't know about you, but I really want my $60.
Where do I start with this, then? How about when I first opened it, stared at it incomprehensibly, and then handed it over to my mother, the doctor? I think I understood only about 2-3 pages of questions, but my mother (Thank God!) was able to go through the packet with an expert eye, and figure out in roughly 10 minutes, everything that I would need. Simple right?
Well, I guess everything would have been simple if two things had happened. One, if my teeth had been in perfect shape, and two, if it had been physically possible to have a pelvic exam. Let's deal with the dentist first, as it wasn't terrible, just long and very, very expensive. If you are going into PC, you need a full dental exam and check, as well as recent X-rays. I went in without any real worries, my teeth felt fine, I brushed, I was sure I'd be fine. Aaand then I got the news, I had four cavities, and was going to need a crown. Ok, fine, I could do that. Except that I was going to have to wait a few weeks to get in again and put on a temporary crown, and then there was going to be another wait (of a full month) to come in again, and have a permanent crown attached. Yay!*sarcasm*
Well, what to do? I came back two weeks later, and had two of the four cavities taken care of, and a temporary crown put on. My mouth was entirely numb, as they had had to give me more (Novocaine?) shots to numb my mouth than usual. But as the numbness wore off, I discovered something: crowns really, really hurt! I thought that it would wear off in a day or two, but it didn't. NO, it did not! In fact, it hurt enough to keep me awake and at times nearly crying. Now before anybody yells at me that I should have called the dentist, I wanted to call the dentist, but for that first week or so, I was working, or volunteering, or doing something that meant I couldn't drop by the dentists office until after 5, when they closed. By the time I had time, the pain had gotten somewhat better and I decided not to call the dentist. Only to find out when I returned (two weeks after I had gotten the temporary crown) that it really shouldn't have been that painful and WHY didn't I call them?!?! I got a nice little lecture for that.
But moving on, my tooth was healing, slowly but surely, the root wasn't dying, they were able to fill the other two cavities and put a permanent crown on with a temporary seal, and it wouldn't cost me any more than it already was, (which was a lot!) and they'd give me a permanent seal in a fortnight. Well two weeks came and went, and I was back in the dentists chair, this time for a regular checkup before they gave my crown a permanent seal. For once, it all went well, no pain, no unexpected anything, though they did however lecture me about flossing. Anyway, that came to an end when they tried to get my crown separated from the "temporary" seal. Apparently, I have a very nice tooth structure, one that likes to grab on and not let go (part of my cavity problem). They tried everything, but they couldn't for the life of them get the crown off. My dentist told me it was unusual for this to happen, but not unheard of, so they were just going to leave my temporary seal there, as it wasn't likely to be going anyplace, and they wouldn't charge me.
So there you have it, my Adventure in Dentistry!! I'm going to have to do another post for my medical check, as that is a much longer story. Oh, and if you're wondering if the PC helps pay for any of this, they do. They will pay up to $60. I requested ALL sixty! And to back up my claim, I sent them the $1800 bill I had to pay. And I don't know about you, but I really want my $60.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Medical Forms
I got my medical forms, and I have never been so happy to have a doctor for a mother. She was able to look at all the paperwork and immediately know who she had to contact and how to go about doing that. So that made it much easier. The part that made it harder is that after my dentist visit, I need round abouts $1700 dollars worth of work done. And the medical stuff is just dragging out, but I have to blame the Christmas rush for that. Nobody works on Christmas.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Letter of Nomination
Got my letter of Nomination today, looking like this.
And read like this.
My program number is 124-11-033-U1, I googled this and deciphered it into this...
124 - Water and Sanitation (my program)
11 - 2011 (year I leave)
033 - Third Quarter (April-June)
U - My Placement Officer Code
1 - First Listing for my PO in the 3rd Quarter
Next hurdle, finding out about Peace Corps passports!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
The Online Application
If you want to enter Peace Corps (PC) then the first part of the process is filling out the application. There is a paper verion as well as an online version, but I found the online one easier. It is basically like filling out a very detailed job application. There are sections about your health, level of education, if you have any family or monetary (debt) obligations, what languages you speak, what types of volunteer actives you do...that type of thing. That's the easy part. Most applicants are worried about the three time-consuming parts of the application. Those are The Essays, The Recomendations, and The Resume (I will post my essays and resume as soon as I find my USB). The Essays are the ones most people freak out about (myself included). There are two essays you need to write, of between 250-500 words each. It's easy to write once you have an idea, the main problem is in trimming them down. Also, get some advice from a PC recruiter and some english majors if you can. I ran mine by several times and ended up completely changing the tone of my essays.
The Recomendations are the next part. You need three recomendations, one from a good friend, one from a boss, and one from the head of someplace you volunteered. This usually isn't too bad, but you have to make sure they get in on time, even if it means bugging your references. You see, there is an area on your application where it shows which recomendations have been started, and when they were completed. It lets you know if your recomendations are getting done. The last part is the Resume, which for me was the most difficult part. You need to keep it at one page length, no longer. Choose carefully what you will write about so as to draw more attention to any leadership, public service, or independant work you have done. You'll be suprised at what you can use, I put my volunteer work at the Bristol Renaissance Faire down because of the social interation with the public. Run this by someone who knows resumes, again, I ended up changing the focus of my resume after a few look overs. Hopefully I'll find my USB soon so I can post my Essays and Resume.
The Recomendations are the next part. You need three recomendations, one from a good friend, one from a boss, and one from the head of someplace you volunteered. This usually isn't too bad, but you have to make sure they get in on time, even if it means bugging your references. You see, there is an area on your application where it shows which recomendations have been started, and when they were completed. It lets you know if your recomendations are getting done. The last part is the Resume, which for me was the most difficult part. You need to keep it at one page length, no longer. Choose carefully what you will write about so as to draw more attention to any leadership, public service, or independant work you have done. You'll be suprised at what you can use, I put my volunteer work at the Bristol Renaissance Faire down because of the social interation with the public. Run this by someone who knows resumes, again, I ended up changing the focus of my resume after a few look overs. Hopefully I'll find my USB soon so I can post my Essays and Resume.
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