Since I submitted my application online, I received a package in the mail about two days later with fingerprint charts and a form for an FBI background check. It also stated that I should submit all of my transcripts.
I was extremely excited about my application at this point, so I actually completed all of this information the next day! I called a friend to let her know that I would be having my fingerprints taken (I knew it was something she'd want to see...), and headed over to the police department.
Getting fingerprinted there was messy: a nice police officer covered my fingers in ink and held my hand as he ran each one over the right box. It cost $10.
After that, I took my transcripts from Grand Valley and ICU Japan and ran over to SMC, where I filled out a quick form and got a copy of those transcripts as well. I made color copies at the library for about $2 total, filled out the FBI form (name, address, birthday, weight, etc.), and mailed everything in right away!
I was concerned, since submitting my application, about my volunteer experience. I'm not a particularly social person, and volunteering seemed like an awkward and inconsistent affair -- of course I'd never really experienced it much before -- but I figured for the sake of my application I would find some sort of regular volunteer work.
I literally googled "volunteer opportunities in dowagiac," and quickly found a position as a Receptionist at a Salvation Army in Niles! I love paperwork, answering phones, and most of all, sitting down all day! :D
I went in for an interview the last week of February. I was surprised to find that The Salvation Army was not a thrift store, but a church which specializes in social services like helping people with food and paying their bills. Everyone there was kind and patient, and so I started coming in twice a week for three hours a day on March 1st, 2011.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Application -- Feb. Mar. 2011
The application for the Peace Corps probably took me 2 hours to fill out. I had to look up addresses and phone numbers for places I'd worked and lived in the past five years or so.
But it was the reference section that had mehesitating. I hate having to ask people for references; it was something I'd done dozens of times in college for scholarships and study abroad, but I can't help but feel sort of bad for asking someone who isn't close to me to write something person and positive about me.
The Peace Corps requires three letters of reference from three different sources: one personal, one business, and one from volunteering. The first two were easy; I asked a friend from college with whom I'd lived for two years, and a friend from work who had been my coworker and boss for maybe three or four years. I figured they'd be flattered and happy to do it.
The volunteer reference was a problem, because I'd never regularly volunteered at anything. I'd done some Relay for Life events in high school and represented the Japan programs at study abroad conferences in college, and that was about it. I decided to send in a second work reference (from a woman I'd babysat for since I was 15) and hope for the best.
I knew that volunteering was a major deal for people going into the Peace Corps, and that the fact that the volunteering portion of my application only had around 15 hours total would likely hold me back. Before even submitting the application, I looked up volunteer opportunities in my area (literally googled it -_-), and applied as a receptionist at a local branch of the Salvation Army. I love office work, organization, computers, etc., so I figured it would be pretty simple. Plus, considering how long the application process is known to take, it was likely that any experience I gained would greatly help my application later on.
Although I found out later it was completely unnecessary to do so, I waited until my three references were completed and submitted (which took all three people around a month), before I turned in my completed application on March 19th, 2011!
But it was the reference section that had mehesitating. I hate having to ask people for references; it was something I'd done dozens of times in college for scholarships and study abroad, but I can't help but feel sort of bad for asking someone who isn't close to me to write something person and positive about me.
The Peace Corps requires three letters of reference from three different sources: one personal, one business, and one from volunteering. The first two were easy; I asked a friend from college with whom I'd lived for two years, and a friend from work who had been my coworker and boss for maybe three or four years. I figured they'd be flattered and happy to do it.
The volunteer reference was a problem, because I'd never regularly volunteered at anything. I'd done some Relay for Life events in high school and represented the Japan programs at study abroad conferences in college, and that was about it. I decided to send in a second work reference (from a woman I'd babysat for since I was 15) and hope for the best.
I knew that volunteering was a major deal for people going into the Peace Corps, and that the fact that the volunteering portion of my application only had around 15 hours total would likely hold me back. Before even submitting the application, I looked up volunteer opportunities in my area (literally googled it -_-), and applied as a receptionist at a local branch of the Salvation Army. I love office work, organization, computers, etc., so I figured it would be pretty simple. Plus, considering how long the application process is known to take, it was likely that any experience I gained would greatly help my application later on.
Although I found out later it was completely unnecessary to do so, I waited until my three references were completed and submitted (which took all three people around a month), before I turned in my completed application on March 19th, 2011!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Decision -- Jan. 2011
I'd known about the Peace Corps for probably my whole life. It always this amazing thing that amazing and ambitious people participate in, but I'd never known anyone who'd actually done it. My dad always said that he would if he could, if he didn't have children and a mortgage and bills. But adults said things like to me all the time; that they'd wish they'd finished high school, or gone to college, or traveled abroad, but that they couldn't now because of all the responsibilities they'd piled on over the years. At some point, I realized that one day I'd be the one explaining away not doing the things I always wanted to do.
I always wanted to travel. I attribute this to Daniel Jackson from Stargate, the nerdy linguist/anthropologist with an unending well of cultural knowledge: anywhere the team ended up, Daniel could figure out what culture they originated from, and figure out how to use their language to translate for the team. He's the reason I took French classes in high school, the reason I wanted to know everything about Japanese culture when I started watching anime, the reason the only thing that's remained on my constantly changing bucket list is to learn five languages by the time I'm thirty.
I developed a passion for language and culture that blossomed when I spent a year in Tokyo studying Japanese. After that, I felt like I could see barriers between people, ideas, and dialects so much more clearly; in fact, my first week back from Japan, I was enraptured by my family's conversations, because each of my family members had a different American accent!
After I graduated, I knew I wanted to go abroad again. Everything was brighter, tenser, more important abroad. It was more difficult and more challenging, and that's what I wanted. I had a lot of options.
One early morning, around 2 am the fall before I graduated from college, I filled out an online application for the Peace Corps. It was still such a distant, terrifying idea. Being in Tokyo for 10 months was one thing -- I'd lived in a dorm with other English speakers, had all the amenities of the first world, running water, high speed internet, and wanted for nothing -- but the Peace Corps was such an unknown. It could mean sleeping in a hut with a mosquito net around me, pumping water from a well and boiling it before drinking it, and traveling for hours just to use a phone. My other options were stable: all teaching English in foreign countries and being paid a decent wage.
I deleted the application without sending it.
I decided to take a year off after graduating to spend time with my family; I'd only just returned from Japan the previous summer, and I felt some guilt at leaving so soon again. Unable to find a job other than the menial, minimum-wage labor I'd endured during high school, I spent May 2010 through January 2011 hating my 30-hour work week and lounging around with friends and family. It was an extremely unproductive time, but for the first time in my life, I just didn't have a track, no set goals to work toward.
I wanted to do something big. Going to Japan proved to me that it was possible, that I could accomplish something out in the world alone, and that I could leave my family for long periods of time and nothing would go wrong (a fear that plagued me my first months abroad).
I knew I eventually wanted to be a Foreign Service Officer. I took the extremely competitive test in October and scored 4 points below passing. My greatest weakness? Volunteer and leadership experience.
It just seemed so obvious then. Like it was what I was supposed to do. Applying for the Peace Corps would be exactly what I needed to get my life back on track. It was a 2-and-a-half year commitment that would change my life and toughen me up. It would provide major leadership experience, something that would benefit me in any career I could think of.
I decided to apply in January of 2011.
I always wanted to travel. I attribute this to Daniel Jackson from Stargate, the nerdy linguist/anthropologist with an unending well of cultural knowledge: anywhere the team ended up, Daniel could figure out what culture they originated from, and figure out how to use their language to translate for the team. He's the reason I took French classes in high school, the reason I wanted to know everything about Japanese culture when I started watching anime, the reason the only thing that's remained on my constantly changing bucket list is to learn five languages by the time I'm thirty.
I developed a passion for language and culture that blossomed when I spent a year in Tokyo studying Japanese. After that, I felt like I could see barriers between people, ideas, and dialects so much more clearly; in fact, my first week back from Japan, I was enraptured by my family's conversations, because each of my family members had a different American accent!
After I graduated, I knew I wanted to go abroad again. Everything was brighter, tenser, more important abroad. It was more difficult and more challenging, and that's what I wanted. I had a lot of options.
One early morning, around 2 am the fall before I graduated from college, I filled out an online application for the Peace Corps. It was still such a distant, terrifying idea. Being in Tokyo for 10 months was one thing -- I'd lived in a dorm with other English speakers, had all the amenities of the first world, running water, high speed internet, and wanted for nothing -- but the Peace Corps was such an unknown. It could mean sleeping in a hut with a mosquito net around me, pumping water from a well and boiling it before drinking it, and traveling for hours just to use a phone. My other options were stable: all teaching English in foreign countries and being paid a decent wage.
I deleted the application without sending it.
I decided to take a year off after graduating to spend time with my family; I'd only just returned from Japan the previous summer, and I felt some guilt at leaving so soon again. Unable to find a job other than the menial, minimum-wage labor I'd endured during high school, I spent May 2010 through January 2011 hating my 30-hour work week and lounging around with friends and family. It was an extremely unproductive time, but for the first time in my life, I just didn't have a track, no set goals to work toward.
I wanted to do something big. Going to Japan proved to me that it was possible, that I could accomplish something out in the world alone, and that I could leave my family for long periods of time and nothing would go wrong (a fear that plagued me my first months abroad).
I knew I eventually wanted to be a Foreign Service Officer. I took the extremely competitive test in October and scored 4 points below passing. My greatest weakness? Volunteer and leadership experience.
It just seemed so obvious then. Like it was what I was supposed to do. Applying for the Peace Corps would be exactly what I needed to get my life back on track. It was a 2-and-a-half year commitment that would change my life and toughen me up. It would provide major leadership experience, something that would benefit me in any career I could think of.
I decided to apply in January of 2011.
This is Dowagiac
I've lived in Dowagiac my whole life. It's a small town that most of my family has lived in their entire lives. I love this town, but I love leaving it even more.
I spent my college years in Grand Rapids and Tokyo. It was nice to get away, but as soon as I returned from Tokyo, arguably the most technologically advanced city in the world, I arrived home to my mother's house in Dowagiac to find no internet, no hot water, and after a few hours, no electricity. Just coming home can be an adventure, I suppose.
This blog will be dedicated to my journey into the Peace Corps. Currently, I'm nominated to a position teaching English in Asia starting around June 2012. If all goes well, I'll escape at that time!
I spent my college years in Grand Rapids and Tokyo. It was nice to get away, but as soon as I returned from Tokyo, arguably the most technologically advanced city in the world, I arrived home to my mother's house in Dowagiac to find no internet, no hot water, and after a few hours, no electricity. Just coming home can be an adventure, I suppose.
This blog will be dedicated to my journey into the Peace Corps. Currently, I'm nominated to a position teaching English in Asia starting around June 2012. If all goes well, I'll escape at that time!
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