More Mail...

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Ghandi...I bought a ring today with this quote engraved around it. This is the first ring that I've worn in a long time but I couldn't pass up the deal or the inspirational quote. I think this might become my mantra for when I'm feeling a little down and out about my journey with Peace Corps. I hope that this will ring (pun intended) true in my life as I serve others for my country. I want to spread a message of love and peace, to break down cultural barriers, to open myself and others up to the ideas of being different yet the same, and to show that we are all one big family. I'm not quite sure how I can be the change in the world, but I hope to be the change in someone's world. I'm not out to conquer or win over the whole world, but if I can influence one life (or two including my own because undoubtedly this will change me too) then I have been the change I wanted to see in the world. It doesn't take much, a smile often times can make someone's day better. A hug! A compliment! Listening ears! These can all change the course of someone's day and possibly their life. And it doesn't take much on our end, just a little less about you and a little more about others. But if you can do more, do more. If you can volunteer 2 yrs of your life or 2 hrs of your week, then take the time to invest in somebody else's life. What will you have lost? What will you have gained?

Moving on to a slightly different tangent...Today in the mail I finally received my 'official' tentative nomination for Peace Corps along with a book called "a life inspired". This is a collection of stories from Peace Corps volunteers throughout the years. A few of the stories I've already read online and am looking forward to reading others. The more I read about it the more excited I am to live my own experience in another culture with a foreign people. The more papers I get in the mail from them the more emotional I get about this journey I am going to embark on. However, the more I hear from Peace Corps the more I hear from Americorps. I mean, come on now, you could've snagged me a long time ago but you dragged butt getting things done and didn't keep me posted about progress. I've received phone call after phone call, email after email, etc in this past week. They all have conflicting messages for me and I just don't know what to say other than: You go Peace Corps for bringing your A-game to the court, you made my decision so much more easy. Thank you.

Now, that's not to say that Americorps is horrible or bad or doesn't do anything for our country. In fact they do such great and wonderful things for our nation. However, my application experience with them was sub-par. If I was not already headed in the direction of Peace Corps, I would gladly accept my position with a team in Iowa serving my country. I choose for now to serve my country in another country.

This post is having a lot to do with what came in the mail today. I had a lot of large sized packages today, from Peace Corps and Americorps. I got a reminder in the mail that I have a dentist appointment on Monday, yay. Then I got my pay stub, another yay. And lastly, but definitely not leastly or less importantly...I got my package from Canada! Now, who on earth gets excited about a package from Canada?! No, it's not Winter Olympics paraphernalia. It's better! I got my DivaCup. This little thing-a-ma-bob is about to change my life forever. Well maybe not my whole life, but it will definitely change that particular female habit of mine forever. :)

All in all, the mail today has been extraordinarily informative, useful, useless and entertaining. I look forward to more mail in the future, especially those envelopes with Peace Corps stamped on the bottom.

Medical Update

I woke up from a chest pain induced coma (or a much needed rest that made the pain go away) to a packet from FedEx laying on my bedroom floor. I was super excited but excitement didn't show as much this time because I was half asleep and groggy. I woke up completely and opened the packet and laying in my lap was a pound worth of paper from Peace Corps. My medical packet has finally arrived!

I immediately began making phone calls to doctors and dentist. I had heard such horror stories of not being able to get appointments quickly or getting charged a lot from dentist for an exam, so I wanted to be on top of this. I'm so on top of this that last week I called my VA hospital to see if they even made appointments for Peace Corps volunteers. And they do, I spoke with a guy that was more excited about me getting my packet than I was! Well I called back but couldn't remember the department he was in, so I was transferred back and forth and put on hold and after only 30minutes I was connected to the man that will help make my dreams possible. He remembered me and was so excited to meet me. The last two PCV he worked with went out to Africa. So next week, I get to walk right into his office and get medical papers filled out. I also found a dentist close by that will do exams and x-rays for free (btw, the sound for X is /ks/ and is most commonly found at the end of words like 'fox', lol, I just had to throw a bit of work into here!). Hopefully I won't need any dental work, like teeth pulled, ugh that's the worse thing ever. EVER! And I'd have to pay for it. Also if I don't have to have anything additional then the review process will go a little quicker and I might get an invitation within a few months.

Side note: I applied to Americorps a long long long time ago and I just now received an email that says I have been accepted to a program. It sucks that it's taken so long to hear from them. But I'm glad the ball has been rolling faster with Peace Corps because that is where I really wanted to be. I definitely learned patience waiting to hear from Americorps.

Under note: I'm gonna have to mention this chest pain to my VA doctor. But for now I'm doing okay.

Waiting

It feels like forever since I found out that I had been nominated to a program with Peace Corps, although it's only been a week. Why does forever seem so long when you're doing nothing?! I got an email today that says I should be expecting my package in the mail on the 22nd. Btw, when I was told that I'd be filling out more paper work I didn't realize that it was gonna be 1/2lbs worth of paper. It's too heavy/important to be sent in normal mail so I've got a tracking number (that I will be watching everyday from here on out) to help me get through this waiting process. Hurry up Fedex and knock on my door already!

I am so excited that I'm willing to fill out that much paper work, get poked and prodded by a bunch of doctors and dentist, and then wait for a few more months. Please stop by often, although there may not be too much to read except about me waiting and having doctors appointments. I hope within a few months things will getting exciting for you to read.

Goodnight everyone

The beginnings of newness

This is my very first post on my new blog. I started this blog so I can track or document my journey from now until about two years from now. If things go well, I might continue to write about the rest of life depending on the direction it takes.

So you ask, what's so special about now and two years from now? Well, thanks for asking, I shall tell you what is so great! As of February 12, I am a nominee to a volunteer teacher position in Central or South America with Peace Corps! I am so so so excited. When I got the email from my local recruiter I practically jumped out of my comfy blue chair with excitement! Instead of hurting myself by being entangled in computer cords I stayed seated, remained cool, calm and collected and wrote a letter of thanks to the recruiter. Psych! I shouted for joy, asked a ton of questions to my recruiter, called my mom with sheer excitement in my voice, sat and cried tears of joy for a good 5 minutes. Then I shared all the news with my Facebook friends and got tons of congratulatory responses. I'm writing in this blog to tell about everything that I'll be experiencing from here on out. For the next few months, I'm anticipating a lot of waiting, a lot of doctors appointments and a ton of paperwork. (During these few months, I'll probably talk about my wonderful job as an assistant teacher at a preschool.) After that, I'm hoping to be volunteering somewhere in Latin America for 2 years. This blog will be the stories of the programs I'll be involved in, the joy, fear, frustrations or any other kind of emotions that will ensue throughout these years.

The title of my blog, putting the ICE in servICE, is an idea from my best friend (mi amor). All last night, we brainstormed and typed our fingers off trying to come up with a good title that would be very representative of what's to come and still maintain an air of originality. Service will be the story of my life and the emphasis on ICE is a nickname of mine (cand-ICE). We combined them together to get the beautiful title that you see up top. I'm looking forward to see how service will change me, enhance me and teach me. I will continue to be ICE, but at the end of these two years I will be a new and improved ICE. Well maybe not so new, but definitely improved.

I'm inviting you to come and journey with me for the next few years while I learn about myself, another culture and peoples, and learn how to teach and be taught. Strap yourself in, because this could be a long, bumpy ride!