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HeroOfTheRevolution
Apr 26, 2008

I submitted my application October 16th and had all but one reference in by then.

It's now December 8th. I've been contacted by my recruiter, got my fingerprints and all that jazz done. I contacted a former volunteer supervisor (now a Navy Ensign) and he was in Afghanistan but said he'd do it, I gave him three weeks with several reminders before giving him up for gone (he's back in the country as of now), then I contacted a former professor and she said she'd do it. She started the reference form on December 2nd (she did my Fulbright reference as well), and hasn't finished it 6 days later (though it's finals/holiday time so this is understandable).

I know I'll have it within a week most likely, but I feel like my recruiter is going to think I'm not serious about this. It's not the end of the world because I want to wait to find out if I won a Fulbright grant before I get nominated anyways, but still, I feel like kind of a jackass.

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Grammar Fascist
May 29, 2004
Y-O-U-R, Y-O-U-Apostrophe-R-E... They're as different as night and day. Don't you think that night and day are different? What's wrong with you?

high hopes posted:

Hey, I'm just wondering for people who lived near lots of other PCVs if you actually hang out with them often or pretty much everyone spends most of their time with HCNs thank you
Like all things Peace Corps, it depends on the person... some volunteers spend every weekend out of their sites visiting with other volunteers or hanging out with the PCVs in their area, while others really don't socialize at all with site mates or other PCVs. Some PCVs need time with other PCVs to keep themselves sane, while others feel they're cheating themselves out of the full experience if they don't form close relationship and friendships with HCNs. I had a site mate that I rarely hung out with and a few volunteers in the area that I maybe saw once a month, but since I was serving as a married couple, we hung out with each other more than we did with HCNs or other volunteers.

Winna
Oct 10, 2004
_)_)====|D ~o ~o ~o
I just got this under mytoolkit

HOLD. All nominees have a medical hold while they are under review. No further action from you is required, unless the Office of Medical Services contacts you to request additional information.

SO this is a good thing right? Meaning they are actually reviewing my medical documentation right now?

Omits-Bagels
Feb 13, 2001

Winna posted:

I just got this under mytoolkit

HOLD. All nominees have a medical hold while they are under review. No further action from you is required, unless the Office of Medical Services contacts you to request additional information.

SO this is a good thing right? Meaning they are actually reviewing my medical documentation right now?

Yeah. Everything is normal. They are just looking over your medical junk.

Winna
Oct 10, 2004
_)_)====|D ~o ~o ~o

Omits-Bagels posted:

Yeah. Everything is normal. They are just looking over your medical junk.

Bout time! They passed my dental like the day after they got my packet. How long it it take them from the day they put your packet on hold till medical clearance?

Iwate
Feb 17, 2009
A few questions about the application process.
1) Can I submit more than three references?
2) Will the application process be hindered if I am living overseas?
3) For the placement section, I just want warm weather. Hotter the better. Should I put a specific place? Or should I just say 'anywhere' then not select central or eastern Europe and write "Warm climate" in the reason box?
4) Should I try and contact a guy who I volunteered with 3 years ago for only a month for a recommendation. (it would be the only guy would I could get a recommendation from for volunteer services... that speaks English)
5) I'm a volunteer fire fighter in Japan. The unfortunate thing is, my supervisor guy only speaks Japanese. Would it be bad rear end or improper to use him as a rec? (the rec would be in Japanese, and I could probably help him fill it out).

Barracuda Bang!
Oct 21, 2008

The first rule of No Avatar Club is: you do not talk about No Avatar Club. The second rule of No Avatar Club is: you DO NOT talk about No Avatar Club
Grimey Drawer

Iwate posted:

A few questions about the application process.
1) Can I submit more than three references?
2) Will the application process be hindered if I am living overseas?
3) For the placement section, I just want warm weather. Hotter the better. Should I put a specific place? Or should I just say 'anywhere' then not select central or eastern Europe and write "Warm climate" in the reason box?
4) Should I try and contact a guy who I volunteered with 3 years ago for only a month for a recommendation. (it would be the only guy would I could get a recommendation from for volunteer services... that speaks English)
5) I'm a volunteer fire fighter in Japan. The unfortunate thing is, my supervisor guy only speaks Japanese. Would it be bad rear end or improper to use him as a rec? (the rec would be in Japanese, and I could probably help him fill it out).

Whoa - I have a friend who's in Iwate right now. You're a volunteer firefighter there?

JerkyBunion
Jun 22, 2002

Is anyone familiar with the Masters International program?

If yes, can you tell me more about it in general (including competitiveness), and more specifically what program/school you are doing.

Thanks.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Does anyone have experience with joining the Peace Corps with a spouse? I'm not married (yet), but I will be by the time I join. I understand that you need to have been married for 12 months before being stationed. Is it a lot harder to get placed? Will it hurt if both of us are equally qualified/skilled? Someone suggested that it helps if you could do different jobs, because they might only have one type of position per location.

Also, what are the chances of getting a teaching job at a university, "University English"? http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatvol.edu_youth.univ
I will have a MA degree in English literature and plenty of experience teaching college rhetoric/composition classes (my partner will have the same qualifications).

Cadmiel
Sep 29, 2006

Thesaurus posted:

Does anyone have experience with joining the Peace Corps with a spouse? I'm not married (yet), but I will be by the time I join. I understand that you need to have been married for 12 months before being stationed. Is it a lot harder to get placed? Will it hurt if both of us are equally qualified/skilled? Someone suggested that it helps if you could do different jobs, because they might only have one type of position per location.

Also, what are the chances of getting a teaching job at a university, "University English"? http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatvol.edu_youth.univ
I will have a MA degree in English literature and plenty of experience teaching college rhetoric/composition classes (my partner will have the same qualifications).

I haven't heard that 1 year rule before. You'll be less likely to go to some countries because they have less sites that have more than one volunteer position. In Bulgaria there were only a few cities that had more than one volunteer, and usually couples didn't teach at the same school. China, on the other hand, has 2 or more volunteers in almost every city, and many people have a sitemate at the same school.

Regarding teaching at a university - no one taught beyond the high school level in Bulgaria. In China, volunteers only teach at universities. From what I've heard from other transfers here, a few volunteers in African countries taught at universities, or at least taught adults, but that was rare. I would think your best bet to be placed together and teach at a university would be in China.

Cadmiel fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Dec 12, 2009

CronoGamer
May 15, 2004

why did this happen
There was a married couple in my group who had only been married 6 months before they got stationed, if that's a rule it's definitely not a hard and fast one.

Grammar Fascist
May 29, 2004
Y-O-U-R, Y-O-U-Apostrophe-R-E... They're as different as night and day. Don't you think that night and day are different? What's wrong with you?

Thesaurus posted:

Does anyone have experience with joining the Peace Corps with a spouse?
My husband and I taught English in Nicaragua together. A six month rule was just coming into effect as we were applying, but now I believe the twelve month rule is strict. It can take more time to be placed as the process is different (you might check out the early entries of our blog for details about the application and nomination process), but I think a lot of countries really like married couples because they are often more mature and have an easier time since their partner is there with them. It will definitely help that you are both qualified and skilled, and it is probably easier to both be qualified for the same job--if you were only qualified for different sectors, those sectors would have to train at the same time (in Nicaragua, for example, each sector only gets a new group once a year, and groups come three times a year) and Nicaragua now only allows couples in the same sector because even if you are both in training at the same time, different sectors train in different parts of the country, so you would see your spouse only a couple of times during the 11 weeks of training. Since the sectors do their site placements separately, it would also make it harder to coordinate site placement. For us, we just had to be in a town big enough to have two schools, which wasn't a problem at all. This all probably varies a lot by country, though.

As someone else said, China does university English teaching, and I know they are looking for very experienced teachers--they asked all the COSing English volunteers in my group if we wanted to do another stint in China--and it sounds like with a Master's you would be qualified.

Zombie Kohlhaas
Jul 3, 2007

Thesaurus posted:

Also, what are the chances of getting a teaching job at a university, "University English"? http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whatvol.edu_youth.univ
I will have a MA degree in English literature and plenty of experience teaching college rhetoric/composition classes (my partner will have the same qualifications).

As I understand it, if you have an English MA (or some other humanities MA), you'll almost certainly get sent to the Eastern Europe/Central Asia region, because I think these are the only Peace Corps countries with uni English programs.

Edit: I heard from one source that all uni volunteers in China have an MA in English education, but I heard from a few China RPCVs that that's not the case.

Cadmiel
Sep 29, 2006

They tried to increase the qualification standards with my group in 2008 by only accepting people with an MA or at least 2 years of teaching experience, but were only able to get 40 people instead of the 80 or so they wanted. They dropped the MA/experience requirements for the 2009 group, so now they prefer people with qualifications but they'll take people without if necessary.

Iwate
Feb 17, 2009

Barracuda Bang! posted:

Whoa - I have a friend who's in Iwate right now. You're a volunteer firefighter there?

Yeah. It is intense to learn CPR in foreign language.

Who is your friend? I know... everyone here.
PM me if you want.

Cognac McCarthy
Oct 5, 2008

It's a man's game, but boys will play

Has anyone ever run into people from USAID? What was your impression of them? I had a professor who had done work in Africa for USAID and quit after she realized it was essentially an arm for the US State Department and was really involved in a lot of corrupt dealings with local officials. Has anyone had a similar impression or anything? (I'm not looking to join USAID or anything, I'm just curious.)

reddeh
May 18, 2004

Davish Krail posted:

Has anyone ever run into people from USAID? What was your impression of them? I had a professor who had done work in Africa for USAID and quit after she realized it was essentially an arm for the US State Department and was really involved in a lot of corrupt dealings with local officials. Has anyone had a similar impression or anything? (I'm not looking to join USAID or anything, I'm just curious.)

I don't know about other volunteers, but my service really destroyed the notion that foreign aid programs do anything beneficial. It seemed more like the individuals working in the country, both foreign and domestic workers helping, received most of the aid themselves, in the form of brand new land cruisers and expensive meals on a daily basis.

Moon Slayer
Jun 19, 2007

reddeh posted:

I don't know about other volunteers, but my service really destroyed the notion that foreign aid programs do anything beneficial.

I absolutely agree with this statement.

doo doo thief
Jun 5, 2007

by Fistgrrl

Moon Slayer posted:

I absolutely agree with this statement.

From looking over this thread it seems the general consensus is that the Peace Corps fails to perform any kind of aid or development mission and really is just a waste of government money and volunteer time unless you are looking to learn a useless language, pad a grad school app, or marry a Cambodian villager.

If that is the case why then have any of you bothered to serve if you aren't doing anything beneficial or substantially gaining from it yourselves? Did you honestly not know what you were getting into when you signed up? Or did you really want to spend two years in a jungle just to boost your grad school applications?

If the consensus is that the PC doesn't do anything beneficial for the host countries, what personal benefit, if any, did those of you who served actually get out of your time in the PC? Would anyone care to elaborate on this?

I have been considering applying for the PC after my graduation since hearing good things from two friends who have been involved with the PC but it seems at least here on SA there is a very negative view of PC service and I'm wondering whether it's just typical internet cynicism or that the service really would be a waste of my time and effort that could be put to use elsewhere with benefit to myself or others.

CronoGamer
May 15, 2004

why did this happen

doo doo thief posted:

From looking over this thread it seems the general consensus is that the Peace Corps fails to perform any kind of aid or development mission and really is just a waste of government money and volunteer time unless you are looking to learn a useless language, pad a grad school app, or marry a Cambodian villager.

If that is the case why then have any of you bothered to serve if you aren't doing anything beneficial or substantially gaining from it yourselves? Did you honestly not know what you were getting into when you signed up? Or did you really want to spend two years in a jungle just to boost your grad school applications?

I don't know if it's an internet demographic thing but I feel pretty strongly that there is a lot of cynicism and pessimism coming from this topic. The PCorps is not as worthless as people are making it out. Yes, it's got its flaws, and the "business" model so to speak could be altered to make it more efficient, but I feel like the people griping about it may have more personal beef with the program. I'm happy with what I accomplished in my village. Could I have taught English to more people? Probably. But I think teaching it to the ones I did, making that connection to them, and teaching them a little about the world outside their borders was a contribution of which I could be proud.

People who were unsuccessful at their sites will often find it easier to blame the program for not providing enough support to volunteers or what have you than to accept the blame for having been unable to affect change in their village by themselves.

USAID is a different story and I don't know enough about the mechanics of the operation but it is easy to see the US personnel driving around in their jeeps and eating at Western restaurants and to get a bad impression of that. However, you've got to realize that not everyone wants to/is willing to rough it for a period of years in the host country the way PCVs do. If you want to attract these people with graduate degrees and lots of experience in development, you'll have to make it comfortable for them to work in these countries. Sure, in an ideal world they'd all accept a pittance of a salary and everything would go into the programs they were fostering throughout the country, but guess what fellas, it ain't an ideal world.

reddeh
May 18, 2004

CronoGamer posted:

USAID is a different story and I don't know enough about the mechanics of the operation but it is easy to see the US personnel driving around in their jeeps and eating at Western restaurants and to get a bad impression of that. However, you've got to realize that not everyone wants to/is willing to rough it for a period of years in the host country the way PCVs do. If you want to attract these people with graduate degrees and lots of experience in development, you'll have to make it comfortable for them to work in these countries. Sure, in an ideal world they'd all accept a pittance of a salary and everything would go into the programs they were fostering throughout the country, but guess what fellas, it ain't an ideal world.

My issue wasnt with the foreign aid workers, they have a salary. My issue is with the host country nationals working for the program skimming money off of the minor pittance that children would recieve in funding for school supplies to the extent that many were unable to afford school as well as supplies even though the amount sent to the organization was more than enough.

Also, time spent is amazingly beneficial. Don't look at it as "saving the world", look at it as a way to spend an extended period of time living in a completely foreign culture and learning all you can while also teaching people who may have never actually talked to an American before about US culture. Thats why the 2nd and 3rd goal of the Peace Corps are the most important/pertinent. Its a cultural exchange, with work thrown in that may or may not pan out.

If you're going in just for the grad school boost, good luck making it two years. If you're going for a complete change of scenery and a desire to do something beyond anything you've done before and completely challenge yourself then you're making the right choice.

Cadmiel
Sep 29, 2006

CronoGamer posted:

I don't know if it's an internet demographic thing but I feel pretty strongly that there is a lot of cynicism and pessimism coming from this topic. The PCorps is not as worthless as people are making it out. Yes, it's got its flaws, and the "business" model so to speak could be altered to make it more efficient, but I feel like the people griping about it may have more personal beef with the program. I'm happy with what I accomplished in my village. Could I have taught English to more people? Probably. But I think teaching it to the ones I did, making that connection to them, and teaching them a little about the world outside their borders was a contribution of which I could be proud.

People who were unsuccessful at their sites will often find it easier to blame the program for not providing enough support to volunteers or what have you than to accept the blame for having been unable to affect change in their village by themselves.

USAID is a different story and I don't know enough about the mechanics of the operation but it is easy to see the US personnel driving around in their jeeps and eating at Western restaurants and to get a bad impression of that. However, you've got to realize that not everyone wants to/is willing to rough it for a period of years in the host country the way PCVs do. If you want to attract these people with graduate degrees and lots of experience in development, you'll have to make it comfortable for them to work in these countries. Sure, in an ideal world they'd all accept a pittance of a salary and everything would go into the programs they were fostering throughout the country, but guess what fellas, it ain't an ideal world.

I agree with everything in this post so hard.

It seems like every group has a few 'super-volunteers' - people who completely integrate into their town, become incredible at the language, and do a bunch of secondary projects both funded and unfunded. There are also some people who do poo poo-all, bitch a lot, and tear down the HCNs, the program, and other volunteers because that's easier than admitting their own faults. Most volunteers are somewhere in the middle, but it seems like the cynical side is being represented way more here (because the super-volunteers are too busy Saving The World to post on the internet)

p.s. I am obviously not a super-volunteer I just like them a whole lot!

Moon Slayer
Jun 19, 2007

Peace Corps can be a highly effective grassroots outreach program for the United States. However, and this is just the way I see it, it is only successful if the volunteer is one of the above-described “super volunteers.” If you are just a mere mortal who thinks that if you just put in your best effort good things will happen, you will be crushed. Unless you luck into a site that has all sorts of stuff already going on that you can join in.

My service, however, made me very cynical about foreign aid in general. Pretty much the only aid projects that I see actually making a difference or going towards improving lives without furthering corruption are scholarship programs that give disadvantaged people an opportunity to get an education. Everything else seems to either not help the people who it is meant to help or simply lines the pockets or the people in power, indirectly helping them to stay in power. Corruption makes me rage.

reddeh posted:

Also, time spent is amazingly beneficial. Don't look at it as "saving the world", look at it as a way to spend an extended period of time living in a completely foreign culture and learning all you can while also teaching people who may have never actually talked to an American before about US culture. Thats why the 2nd and 3rd goal of the Peace Corps are the most important/pertinent. Its a cultural exchange, with work thrown in that may or may not pan out.

If you're going in just for the grad school boost, good luck making it two years. If you're going for a complete change of scenery and a desire to do something beyond anything you've done before and completely challenge yourself then you're making the right choice.

This is great and I’m going to add it to the OP.

Miss Fats posted:

Is anyone familiar with the Masters International program?

I could have sworn I included something in the OP which said that there are no goons currently doing the Master’s International program, but I guess I didn’t. So I’ll tell you that no, there doesn’t seem to be anyone familiar with it here. And I’ll add that to the OP.

Moon Slayer fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Dec 15, 2009

HeroOfTheRevolution
Apr 26, 2008

So my last reference finally came in and I have an interview set-up in a couple weeks. Should I mention that I'm competing for a Fulbright (to teach in Bulgaria) as well, so I should hold off on being nominated until May or so? It's another US government program but I'm not sure if the Peace Corps would like hearing 'you're my second choice.' But I also don't want to get nominated and then turn it down because I still haven't heard from the Fulbright.

Also what should I say subtly to increase my chances of going to Eastern Europe or Central Asia? I'd most specifically want to go to Bulgaria (I took a couple years of Bulgarian in college), though I took 6 years of Russian between HS and college so anywhere with Russian as a main language (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.) would perfectly fine as well; I was a History and Slavic Studies double-major in college. Obviously I can't come out and say 'I only want to go here and here' but should I say 'I'd strongly prefer somewhere with seasons/somewhere with winters/somewhere I speak the language?' I figure speaking Bulgarian is a rare enough skill that I'd be in that pipeline but I've also read in this thread that they'll send Russian speakers to Cambodia. I've also spent a summer teaching English in Eastern Europe (Bosnia) if that makes any difference.

A lot of it is that I plan to go for a History Ph.D with a concentration in Eastern European history so I desperately need the language experience as well. I have intermediate proficiency in both languages but I could really use time around native speakers. I'm interested in the Peace Corps' mission, of course, but I'd rather spend time in a culture around which I'll be spending many years of academic study eventually as well.

HeroOfTheRevolution fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Dec 22, 2009

Cojawfee
May 31, 2006
I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius
Is there something about the peace corps that makes you untrustworthy to the military? Earlier in the year I was at MEPS to pick jobs in the Air Force and I noticed that some of the jobs I could choose very clearly stated that anyone who has been in the peace corps could not apply for them.

Zombie Kohlhaas
Jul 3, 2007
Two posts up: I knew at least 3 Russian majors who served with me in Kazakhstan. That's just anecdotal evidence, of course, but there can't be that many Russian majors applying to Peace Corps, so it appears to me at least that PC likes to capitalize on that skill. Dunno about the Fulbright thing, though. Edit: Oh yeah, and you can totally state your preferences. Just be sure you also add "...but I'm flexible and willing to go where I'm needed," assuming that that's true.

Military: I don't think it's an issue of distrust, but rather just that Peace Corps doesn't want to leave any room for host countries to suspect that Peace Corps is an arm of the US military or of our intelligence agencies.

Winna
Oct 10, 2004
_)_)====|D ~o ~o ~o

Cojawfee posted:

Is there something about the peace corps that makes you untrustworthy to the military? Earlier in the year I was at MEPS to pick jobs in the Air Force and I noticed that some of the jobs I could choose very clearly stated that anyone who has been in the peace corps could not apply for them.

Those jobs were military intel no?

Cojawfee
May 31, 2006
I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius
They were computer related I think, so probably intel.

Moon Slayer
Jun 19, 2007

Cojawfee posted:

Is there something about the peace corps that makes you untrustworthy to the military? Earlier in the year I was at MEPS to pick jobs in the Air Force and I noticed that some of the jobs I could choose very clearly stated that anyone who has been in the peace corps could not apply for them.

You are prohibited to serve in any intelligence-gathering activity for four (I think) years after you have been a Peace Corps volunteer, and are prohibited for life to serve in an intel capacity in the country you were a volunteer in. This includes all the three-letter agencies (CIA, DIA, NSA, etc.) and all branches of military intel.

Which is too bad for me because I'm going into the military soon and going intel is the one thing I would find really really neat.

MadcapViking
Jan 6, 2006
Single malt Pork Baron
Just as an addendum, I believe that for the CIA, there's a 10-year moratorium, as opposed to the standard 4 (though I thought it was 5 years, not 4).

Dance McPants
Mar 11, 2006


Thought this should bear mentioning:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1517

The 2010 peace corps budget has been approved, and is the largest budget in its history. The budget increased from $340 million to $400 million. According to our CD, this will affect all posts. With more money the peace corps will be expected to expand, so we're working now on finding new sites to accommodate more PCVs. Also, with the closing of Guinea and Mali (I think?) there will be an influx of transfers to other posts.

Also, (again according to our CD), there are currently about 5 applicants to every 1 volunteer in peace corps (40,000 / 8,000). This is the highest ratio in its history, most likely as a result of the recession. Hopefully this increase in budget will allow for some expansion so more applicants can serve. Unfortunately the process is so long it will most likely over a year to see this expansion fully realized, but the direction is clear.

In PC Jamaica news, our VAC managed negotiated with the staff to take over responsibilities for purchasing and servicing of PCV bicycles, and with some surveys we distributed and data I compiled and presented on internet connectivity, we laid the foundation for the staff to broker a deal with one of the telecommunications companies on the island to provide usb modems free to volunteers and unlimited internet for $900J (about $10 U.S.) a month. :toot: This was very welcoming news, as I was extremely frustrated and burned out with things lately. It's nice to see something you've been working on for a long time with no foreseeable results unexpectedly bear fruit. We're also working with staff to dramatically change Pre Service Training (PST) based on results from the global PCV surveys and our own experiences in training.

To some of you RPCVs, do any of you have experience working with the U.N.? I have a construction and engineering background and would love to do infrastructure/relief work in developing areas down the road. I'm also thinking about the state department or US A.I.D., but don't like the constant moving of those positions and political aspects (maybe the U.N. would be the same, I don't know.)

Oh, and group 81 will be arriving on the island in 2 months. It's gonna feel weird not being the young guns anymore (relatively speaking; over half of our next group will be over 50.)

Winna
Oct 10, 2004
_)_)====|D ~o ~o ~o
Any of you guys currently in wanna share your living spaces with us? I'm curious how you guys live.

HeroOfTheRevolution
Apr 26, 2008

I had my interview Monday and got nominated yesterday. English teaching, Eastern Europe, September 2010. I still have to hear from the Fulbright, but even if I get the Fulbright I may want to do the Peace Corps afterwards.

According to the PC Wiki the two Eastern European countries with staging dates (likely) in September are Macedonia and Ukraine. This is awesome because those were my 2nd choices after Bulgaria (which stages in May and is where I applied for my Fulbright). I took 6 years of Russian and a year (at a high level because of my familiarity with Russian) of Bulgarian; I've spent several months in former Yugoslavia (Croatia and Bosnia) and taught there as well. Either would be fine by me, since Ukrainian is close to Russian and Macedonian is close to Bulgarian.

So that's pretty awesome. I just want to make sure I get my invitation after I get word on the Fulbright, which will probably be in April, so I can make my choice depending on that.

And yeah, my recruiter mentioned the increased budget.

Omits-Bagels
Feb 13, 2001
A little update:
I passed my medical mumbo-jumbo about 2 months ago but I went off any got engaged. So I guess the Peace Corps is on hold a bit.

But my girlfriend is interested in the PC (she thought about applying about 3 years ago). But she had skin cancer almost 3 years ago so I bet that is going to be a medical clearance nightmare. She keeps trying to call the PC nurse to find out what she needs to do for the skin cancer but no one ever answers.

Anything I should know about applying as a married couple?

Evil Adam
Jul 18, 2003

He's very good.

Omits-Bagels posted:

A little update:
I passed my medical mumbo-jumbo about 2 months ago but I went off any got engaged. So I guess the Peace Corps is on hold a bit.

But my girlfriend is interested in the PC (she thought about applying about 3 years ago). But she had skin cancer almost 3 years ago so I bet that is going to be a medical clearance nightmare. She keeps trying to call the PC nurse to find out what she needs to do for the skin cancer but no one ever answers.

Anything I should know about applying as a married couple?

I don't know anything about being married (in PC or otherwise) but a friend of mine had skin cancer before his service and was accepted. Took a lot longer, I believe, but he got in. I have a semi-rare heart defect and was let in. You'd be surprised!

Omits-Bagels
Feb 13, 2001

Evil Adam posted:

I don't know anything about being married (in PC or otherwise) but a friend of mine had skin cancer before his service and was accepted. Took a lot longer, I believe, but he got in. I have a semi-rare heart defect and was let in. You'd be surprised!

Do you know if there is a specific amount of time they want you to be "cancer free" before they'll accept you?

Evil Adam
Jul 18, 2003

He's very good.

Omits-Bagels posted:

Do you know if there is a specific amount of time they want you to be "cancer free" before they'll accept you?

No idea. I'd ask my friend but we were evacuated and he transferred to Mali. Not particularly easy to reach.

Grammar Fascist
May 29, 2004
Y-O-U-R, Y-O-U-Apostrophe-R-E... They're as different as night and day. Don't you think that night and day are different? What's wrong with you?

Omits-Bagels posted:

Do you know if there is a specific amount of time they want you to be "cancer free" before they'll accept you?
Peace Corps' medical clearance manual is online here (via a FOIA request). It looks like you'll want the Section 7 handbook. This is an amazing resource for anyone going through medical clearance; it shows the exact criteria they use to determine if you can be fully cleared, cleared with restrictions, deferred, or disqualified.

As discussed earlier in the thread, qualifications about the amount of time being married before you can leave are getting longer (1 year now I think), so you might want to keep that in mind as you're planning wedding dates and general timelines. If you have any other questions about the process for married couples, my and my husband's blog is listed in the OP and I am happy to answer any other questions. In a nutshell, it's a much bigger hassle to be nominated/placed, but much better to serve as a married couple.

Edit: I just saw I'm not in the OP. My blog is the same as pragan4's. :)

Miranda
Dec 24, 2004

Not a cuttlefish.
I'm an Australian and my boyfriend is in the Peace Corps in Moldova. He finishes in April and he's coming to Australia. What do you guys think were the first things you wanted to do when you finished up? Obviously we're going just have a lot of sex and I know some foods he really wants. Other than showers and I guess speaking English...is there anything you missed that you didn't expect and really wanted when you got out of the country?

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reddeh
May 18, 2004

Miranda posted:

I'm an Australian and my boyfriend is in the Peace Corps in Moldova. He finishes in April and he's coming to Australia. What do you guys think were the first things you wanted to do when you finished up? Obviously we're going just have a lot of sex and I know some foods he really wants. Other than showers and I guess speaking English...is there anything you missed that you didn't expect and really wanted when you got out of the country?

Surprisingly I missed sweet things, like sour patch kids or starburst that I would get in care packages occasionally. I never really ate them back in the states, but when your diet's sole sweet intake comes from the occasional coke they were little delicious treats.

Oh and a steak. The "steaks" you could get in the euro restaurants in the capital weren't even close to a medium rare ribeye with asparagus...mmm...

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