Here's my Peace Corps timeline, up to the present day. I've capitalized and bold-faced the most important moments because they're, well, important -- not because you should read them with extra volume and/or enthusiasm.
8/4/12: Leave for a three week vacation to the USA!
7/21/12: Ramadan begins, classes shortened to 25 minutes/period.
7/9/12: Official start of my third semester in Indonesia.
7/9-13/12: Mid-Service Training. One week in a much nicer hotel in Surabaya with the other 19 PCVs from ID-5.
6/28-7/7: Vacation in Sulawesi.
6/15/12: ID-6 finishes PST, swears in. All of a sudden I have a cluster of people around me.
6/4/12: Last day of teaching in second semester.
4/8-11/12: I facilitate training sessions for ID-6's PST.
4/2/12: New Trainees (ID-6) arrive, their PST starts.
2/27/12: New headmaster at my school arrives.
2/16/12: Four-day intensive language study group (with six other PCVs) at my site. This technically counts as training.
1/9/12: Second semester begins.
12/22/11: Finish my first semester, leave for vacation in Lombok and Bali.
12/18/11: Greatest day of the year, of course. I turn 24.
10/28/11: Finish IST. Return to site two days later.
10/17/11: In-Service Training begins. Shacked up in a hotel in Surabaya with 25 other PCVs. Start of an awesome two weeks.
9/9/11: Back from Lebaran holiday (pre- and post-Idul Fitri break lasting two weeks), teaching schedule changes from impossible to very manageable.
8/30/11: Ramadan ends.
8/1/11: Ramadan begins. Classes shortened to 20 minutes per period.
7/11/11: Start teaching!
6/16/11: Move to my permanent site in the Regency of Kediri, East Java, and meet my new host family.
6/15/11: Finish PST. Swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and my service begins.
4/10/11: Arrive in the Batu area and move in with my PST host family.
4/7/11: Arrive in Surabaya. Pre-Service Training begins.
4/5/11: Fly to Hong Kong.
4/4/11: STAGING! Meet all the other Indo 2011 volunteers.
4/3/11: Fly to San Francisco for staging.
2/28/11: Submit language skills and homestay preference documents.
2/25/11: Receive an e-mail with a bunch of attachments, including memos about life in Indonesia, a packing list, pre-departure checklist, and a couple of docs to complete and send back regarding my language skills and preferences for homestay conditions.
1/29/11: Submit my resume and aspiration statement via e-mail to the Indonesia office.
1/25/11: Mail off my application for a Peace Corps Passport and visa to go to Indonesia.
1/20/11: Send an e-mail to confirm my acceptance of the assignment in Indonesia.
1/19/11: Receive my Peace Corps Invitation Kit in the mail. Indonesia, indeed!
1/14/11: Application Status Update: "Congratulations! You have been invited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer."
1/13/11: Receive an e-mail telling me that I have been qualified for service and my INVITATION kit is going out in the mail tomorrow. Placement Specialist tells me that it is for my original nomination (Education, Asia, early April), which can only mean I'm going to Indonesia.
1/10/11: Receive an e-mail that they now have my updated resume and the skill addendum, and my file is now being passed to a Placement Specialist.
1/09/11: Submit my updated resume and education skill addendum.
1/07/11: I receive an e-mail requesting my updated resume and an education skill addendum.
12/18/10: My 23rd birthday, one year after graduating college.
12/16/10: Letter arrives via snail-mail -- MEDICAL CLEARANCE!
12/14/10: Application Status Update -- My PC toolkit tells me that a decision has been reached regarding my medical review, and to look for a letter in the mail.
12/4/10: Application Status Update -- My PC toolkit tells me that I have gained DENTAL CLEARANCE!
12/2/10: Peace Corps notifies me that it has received the results of my medical examination on 12/1.
11/24/10: I mail off my medical and dental materials.
11/23/10: Get my Polio booster shot, the last remaining medical requirement.
11/19/10: Go to the VA hospital and pick up the printouts of my blood work, urinalysis, records of immunizations I received, and shoulder x-ray results. Get the doctor's final sign-off on my medical packet. Also find out for sure that the VA doesn't do blood tests for Polio, nor does it carry boosters.
10/28/10: Go the VA hospital, get my PPD induration read (test for tuberculin). Incidentally, I find out the results of all my tests excluding one.
10/26/10: Big day. In the morning, I go to a dental appointment to have the examination and the x-rays. Everything goes smoothly -- no treatments or procedures necessary. Dentist fills out the packet, signs off, and gives me the x-rays. In the afternoon, I go to the VA hospital, have my physical, a TD booster, PPD, all blood tests (including titers), urinalysis, and shoulder x-ray. Doctor signs form that says I'm able to perform daily tasks.
10/18/10: Go to VA Medical Center in West Palm Beach to enroll and set up the appointment for the physical.
10/13/10: Fly back to Florida from Switzerland in order to do the necessary medical and dental clearance stuff.
10/11/10: Visit an optometrist in Zurich and get a new vision test. Fill out the Peace Corps form. Experience a sensation of minor triumph.
9/29/10: I return to Zurich for good, and my medical packet has just arrived! I start looking through it to finally get a grasp on all the things that will be necessary and make the decision as to whether I need to return to the US sooner or later. I continue looking through it, impatient that I can't just do everything right then and there. Then I look at it some more.
9/17/10: I receive an e-mail confirming my nomination proposal! It also tells me that my medical packet will be mailed to me in the near future.
9/12/10: I receive an e-mail from my recruiter proposing a NOMINATION to serve Asia, doing Secondary Education/TEFL, starting in early April 2011. I am thrilled, and immediately write back to accept the nomination.
8/16/10: Online, videoconference INTERVIEW with my recruiter.
8/5/10: I receive an e-mail from my recruiter -- she has received all my application materials, and we schedule an interview.
8/3/10: I receive an e-mail from my recruiter -- she has received all my references.
~ 8/1/10: I mail off the additional application materials (NAC form, fingerprint cards, student loan form, and university transcript).
7/26/10: My final recommendation is submitted online.
7/25/10: Second recommendation is submitted online.
7/22/10: A recruiter contacts me to tell me my application has been received, a packet of additional materials has been sent, and extra additional materials are attached to the e-mail.
7/16/10: I officially submit my Volunteer APPLICATION, as well as the Health Status Review Form.
7/13/10: First recommendation is submitted online (a most punctual former employer).
First half of July 2010: Decide for certain that I want to join the Peace Corps, talk it over with my mom, read through the whole website again, and attend on online information session. Once the decision is made, I send out requests for recommendations and begin to tackle the application in earnest.
Late June/Early July 2010: After 4+ months of different adventures, I finally start thinking again about a longer-term plan. An outline of a personal five-year plan forms in my head one evening, and Peace Corps service suddenly starts to make sense, not only as something to do because I don't have anything else to do, but because it fits into a larger scheme.
2/24/10: Open up an application for the Peace Corps, begin to fill it out halfheartedly. I waver and my attention begins to be distracted by other pursuits.
Late February 2010: After having spent a month in Switzerland decompressing after graduation, I start thinking about that terrible question: What do I do with myself now? I do some research into the Peace Corps and think it could be an option for me.
Late January 2010: I fly to Switzerland, where I am a citizen through my mother, and where I have plenty of family, and where I plan to remain indefinitely until I have some idea of what direction I want to go with my life.
12/18/09: My 22nd birthday. Also, the day of my graduation ceremony. I don't go to my graduation ceremony, because it's my birthday and I don't want to wake up at 8:00 in the morning when none of my family will be there anyway. I am now a 22-year-old with a BA in Political Science and Religion.
