Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Moon Slayer posted:

2: You will probably not know any of the language of your host country before you leave.

I take it you mean "before you leave from the US" (as opposed to after you finish your service in the country)?

What are people's experiences with the local languages? How extensive is the language training you receive during the first two months? I'm sure it depends on the language in particular, but do most people attain some degree of fluency (or at least competency) during their two years? Or do you find yourselves getting by on English and not needing to learn the local language?

For me, the language immersion is a big incentive to join the PC (in addition to the standard reasons). A language like Macedonian probably wouldn't be as useful as Russian or Spanish, but it may open doors to oddball jobs down the road, or at least make you more interesting/diverse.

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Oct 28, 2009

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

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).

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Alright, my wife and I have our interview in a few weeks... a total of 3 months after submitting our applications! Is that a really long time for this stage, or the norm?

Roughly how long after the interview do people get sent out? Is there any chance for the end of 2012, or are we looking at at least another year?

Have any other married couples done the interview? I understand that we have to interview separately and then together, and I'm not sure what the dual-interview will look like.

My wife and I both have an MA in English Lit and several years of teaching experience at the university level. Do you think this will somewhat determine our assignment or country?

Finally, anyone have experience with the CLEP Spanish exam? I'm taking it in two weeks. My wife has the clasroom Spanish experience they want, but I'm self-taught. Also, I have taught Latin at the college level, but will the Peace Corps even care about that (as a sign that I could learn another romance language, or something)?

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


This is a crazy question, but does anyone know whether it's possible to get access to weight lifting equipment in any of your assignment areas? I'm a pretty regular weight lifter (powerlifting). I imagine that larger cities might have some gyms.

I'd happily give it up for two years to join the PC, but I have a fantasy about getting posted in the Ukraine or some other post-Soviet country where I can cobble together some sort of old-school soviet era weight barbells, start a community gym, and pump iron with the locals in some sort of Rocky IV inspired montage. Eastern European countries have a reputation for being beasts in weight lifting competitions (Romanian Deadlift anyone?), so there must be some hope.

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Mar 8, 2012

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


the shill posted:

Ask me about being married in the Peace Corps. I saw a few questions about these things at the beginning of the thread but pages 10-25 were TL;DR.

From earlier on this page:

quote:

Have any other married couples done the interview? I understand that we have to interview separately and then together, and I'm not sure what the dual-interview will look like.

Also, did you find that the whole application process took longer, or was it about normal? I know the PC warns that it can take a lot longer...

Did you get to stay together during training? I could handle being separated, given that my wife and I used to be in a long distance relationship, but it would definitely suck to have to spend the first two months apart.

Were your living quarters any different because there were two of you? I understand that some countries have homestays, and being married would probably make that an interesting situation.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Anybody here in Mali? It seems that the president has just been ousted in a military coup.

My wife and I have our interview tomorrow. Any last minute interview tips?

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Peace Corps Goons, I need your advice!

My wife and I were just nominated. Provided I pass the CLEP Spanish exam tomorrow (which I believe I will), our recruiter told us that we have our choice of being nominated for some unknown Spanish speaking country or for North Africa/Middle East. In the latter case, there is a strong possibility that it will be Tunisia. They are reopening the program, and apparently recruiters have received a request for 50 or so married couples for some undisclosed country. Our recruiter believes this unprecedented surge is likely for the new program, which probably also wants married couples due to the Arab/Islamic culture.

Any advice or insight on this exciting dilemma? Anyone have any experience with Jordan/Morocco? Do you think we'd learn Arabic in Tunisia? Would my wife need to be veiled?

Originally we really wanted a Spanish speaking assignment, but now we are being enticed by the possibility of going to this exotic new country, being on the Mediterannean, and possibly learning Arabic.

Any clues on what Spanish speaking country they'd send two experienced English teachers to? I know that English teaching isn't necessarily a common peace corps occupation in Latin America compared to other regions. A possible clue is that she said that this post only requires two semesters of Spanish instead of four... could it be because we'd be learning some native language, like Guarani or something?

Edit: we need to decide by Monday!

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Mar 24, 2012

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Thanks for the responses. You've confirmed some of our expectations about Tunisia, and the fact is that we've been leaning heavily towards Latin America. We were hoping to go there originally, and I think it aligns well with our career goals (public interest law, development, etc). If Latin America falls through, we'd still be ready to go to Tunisia (or wherever), but I agree that it would probably be a hard slog, especially for the wife. Having lived in Bolivia for a couple months last summer, we have a better understanding of what we'd be getting into.

I just aced the CLEP Spanish exam this morning, too, so we're all set to go ahead with that assignment provided that we don't have any revelations between now and Monday.

I feel like our Peace Corps application process just went from zero to sixty, so we're pretty excited.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Wife and I nominated to teach English somewhere in Latin America for January, 2013!

Edit: Any advice for how to expedite the medical clearance? Has anyone had problems with blood pressure? Mine is often borderline high and I'm hoping to get it down before going to the doctor. Would a high reading at the doctor's office flag me and delay us, or do they look to see whether you've had a history of it (which I don't)?

Also, due to being a guy who lifts weights a lot, my BMI is borderline obese, but I have a health body fat %. Does a 30+ BMI immediately flag you for more tests? Generally, does the PC go off of the doctor's recommendation, or do they just crunch the numbers?

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Mar 26, 2012

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Probably a dumb question, but do you need to schedule any kind of special medical exam to meet the Peace Corps' standards, or will a general exam/physical suffice?

Also, do you usually have to wait a while to get your lab tests so that you can attach those forms, or can you take care of everything before you leave the doctor's office?

Finally, if a nurse practitioner is doing the exam, do you just need a doctor's co-signature to make it legit?

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


ShaggiusPrime posted:

I've got a question about this. Is this a requirement to be placed in a Spanish speaking country? I'm currently in the application process and studying Spanish as well, I studied it a bit in college (about 5 years ago) and have just started taking some classes again. I took an online practice test and did fairly abysmally, though all it was conjugation in tenses which I haven't really studied much. I don't see that as something super difficult to study for.

What was the test like? What is your level of study and fluency before taking it etc?

The test is four sections. The first is listening to short read sentences/partial dialogues, and you have to choose the correct response. The answers themselves are audio and not written on screen, so you need to be fairly fast on your feet to understand all of the audio.

Second section is sentences with multiple choice fill in the blank answers for grammar. I'm pretty solid on grammar, so I didn't have any trouble here, but if you're rusty on conjugations etc. you'll want to review that a lot before the questions. Some of the questions are pretty basic vocabulary stuff, like "every night I sleep in my ____" with the choices being 1)bed, 2)tree, 3)school, 4)running. Others, however, involve more complex knowledge of the subjunctive and thta kind of thing. It's likely you'll need to decide between different forms of the same verb to find the one that's correctly conjugated.

Third section is listening to extended passages for comprehension, with answers testing your understanding. Some of these can be more tricky than others, such as someone giving a list of directions on how to get to a location, and the a question about what the person was told to do when they got to a specific spot.

Fourth section is reading passages, advertisements, news stories, etc. to test reading comprehension. Fairly straight forward. Some questions ask you to select the part of the text that discusses a certain thing, which I didn't see coming.

I've never taken Spanish classes, but I've studied it on my own off and on for a few years. I have a strong background in grammar, which helped with the reading stuff. I was fairly week on listening comprehension, but I spent last summer travelling in Bolivia/Peru and also had a private tutor for a month, which helped a lot. I also listened to about an hour of Spanish news radio a day for several months before the test, which dramatically improved my listening comprehension. Since I was used to hearing Spanish at a regular/fast conversational speed, I found that the test's audio was easy to understand (clearly pronounced, not fast). However, if you don't have much experience listening to Spanish, I'd definitely get as much listening practice in as possible.

"Best Test Preparation for CLEP Spanish" is a decent prep book (actually, the only one, I think). The grammatical overview is pretty lame and formal, and you'd be better off reviewing with other textbooks or guides. The practice tests are fairly accurate, but the author tends to make the questions way trickier or more subtle than they actually are on the test. I found that the CLEP doesn't try to trick you, and if I understood the language, the answer was obvious.

For the record, I scored 78 out of 80. My wife recently took it and scored 73. A score of 50 equates to 2 semesters of college Spanish, and a score of 63 gives you 4 semesters (there is no inbetween).

Our recruiter told us that we need the equivalent of 4 semesters of Spanish for most countries, but we got nominated for an assignment that only requires 2. I'm told that this is because requirements are lighter for married couples, because they're harder to get or something. My wife was already qualified at 3 semesters from course work, but since I scored at 4 semesters, our recruiter wanted her to take the CLEP and do the same so that we could be more competitive.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


When to the doc today for my medical test and everything is falling into place...

...except that my tuberculosis QuantiFERON blood test came up as "Positive." :stare: Same for my wife.

Me: "Positive, that's good right?"
Doctor: "No, in medicine we like negatives."
Me: :(

I have the arm dot thing going on now and I go back in two days to see how that turns out. I'm hoping that I had a false positive.

Anyone have experience with (latent) TB? Poking around online reveals that it's pretty common for PCVs to end up with it, and it's not totally unheard of in the general population.

If I do in fact have it, are we in for a world of hurt from the Peace Corps medical office? Browsing their secret medical documents seems to reveal that I'd be on a six month regime of anitbiotics or something, which doesn't sound horrible but I fear it delaying us.

If I have latent TB, I blame it on the crowded minibuses in Bolivia where last summer I was sitting right behind an old campesina woman who was throwing up periodically into a bag.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Looks like I'm TB free, at least according to the arm test thing! My doctor may have marked "positive" for the blood test on the form AND "0 mm" for the spot test, which I'm hoping doesn't cause anyone's head to explode when they review my forms.

Can't wait to send out my medical forms this weeks and put the ball in their court.

quote:

3. Is being fluent in spanish required to go to Central/South America?

Fluency is definitely not required. As discussed recently, you need to prove that you have some proficiency in Spanish. Depending on your assignment/situation, you may need to prove somewhere between 2 and 4 semesters worth. In my case, I scored 4 semeters worth on the CLEP Spanish placement exam to satisfy my recruiter.

With that said, it sounds like they are flexible. I think they make exceptions for in-demand skill sets. I was recently talking to a married older couple who returned from Honduras a few years ago. The woman knew lots of Spanish before they went (not fluent, though) and the guy didn't know jack. He says he was put in the "special" learners group during training where they received an hour or two of extra practice a day. Another returned volunteer from Paraguay said that she only had 3 years of Spanish in highschool, which apparently satisfied the PC even though she said her Spanish was really bad when she got there (on top of that, she also had to learn Guarani, which was only taught through the medium of Spanish, because the Guarani teachers didn't know English!).

My wife and I were told that we only needed two semesters worth to qualify for our nomination, but that if we weren't married it would have been four (it's harder to find two volunteers who share higher qualifications).

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 17:08 on May 7, 2012

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


thepettifogger posted:

I just have one question for now which I don't believe has been discussed yet (If it has just ignore it). I'm just about to graduate from college and seeing as I've been busy with finals, the peace corps app has been on the back burner. Obviously once I get the application in, I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hands. I was just wondering what other people, who might have been in a similar situation, did during this time. What kind of jobs did hold down? How much did your job and the application requirements (such as tutoring ESL) conflict? Is the Peace Corps looking closely at what you're doing during this time? Am I making an issue out of nothing?

As someone in the application process, my impression is that the PC won't care as much about when you do things so much as your experience in general. If you have the relevant volunteer experience and skill sests, they'll probably take you on without issues. If you don't have enough experience, they'll tell you to keep working on it and get back to them.

If you don't have previous experience teaching or with ESL, I'd keep working on it so that when you meet with a recruiter you can say that you have x months experience at that time.

I'm working a normal desk job and not volunteering while going through the process, and I don't think it's affected anything. But I did have lots of relevant teaching experience before I applied, so I didn't need to add more credentials to qualify. If I wanted to get nominated for another sector (like agriculture), I'd definitely want to spend this time volunteering in that area to convince the recruiter.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


This might be of interest to those of you waiting to do your dental stuff: I went to a dentist who does free exams for PC applicants, and they said that they can now directly email in your xrays (assuming that the dentist using digital imaging).

This came as a surprise to me because the medical packet makes a really big deal about including the original xray films. However, the dentist showed me some secret comunique that they had from the PC with an email address, and the dentist also just received a confirmation that my x-rays were received by PC... one less thing to worry about!

The dentist even said that some applicants have successfully faxed in all of their dental docs, but I don't know if this only applied to applicants who need to expedite things to meet their departure timelines.

It would be nice if there were a network of PC affiliated doctors, too, because the dentist was ultra efficient and immediately took care of all of the forms, while the doctor was like, "uh, what's all this now?"

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


It looks like the PC isn't actually pulling out of El Salvador and Guatemala. New volunteers ariving early 2013. Honduras is still a question mark.

http://multimedia.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/policies/CentralAmericaFAQs-051012.pdf

Mailed out medical packet today. Fingers crossed...

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


how!! posted:

Do older people have a better or worse chance on getting assigned? I graduated in 2006, and will be 29 years old this July. I do have lots of real world work experience (in two different, unrelated fields). I'm looking to do something different as a change of pace.

I think the average age of PC volunteers is 28, so I wouldn't sweat it. Also, the more experience you have, the better off you'll be. At the end of the day, you need some sort of relevant experience (volunteer or working) for one of the fields that the Peace Corps works in. Even if you didn't have it now, you can volunteer locally for a few months to get it.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Does it take long to receive notification that your medical/dental packet has been received? I sent mine almost two weeks ago and haven't heard anything. Should I expect to see an update on my application status when it's received?

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


RagnarokAngel posted:

They have to review it, make sure you got everything (it's pretty common to miss something), so dont worry too much.

Of course, after posting my question yesterday, today I received confirmation of receipt! Patience and flexibility...

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Slaan posted:

I'm so jealous, I was kind of hoping to get China since I spent 6 months in Japan before, but I'm guessing you need to be nearly fluent in Mandarin beforehand to get in.

The people I've met who've gone to China didn't know any Mandarin before training, so I suppose it's just the usual vagaries of placement.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Has anyone had any progress on their applications since the roll-over to the new system?

My medical stuff was received in mid May and now I'm plagued by fears that it will somehow fall through the administrative cracks because they are switching everything over. Irrational, I know, but this is what The Wait does to you.

How many months did y'all wait to receive medical clearance or hear back anything? I'm assuming that no news is good news so far.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


After about four months of waiting I got a call from the Peace Corps nurse regarding my medical clearance. She was concerned that my wife and I have tuburculosis because of a positive reading on our Quanitferon TB blood test, even though the skin test was negative. Now we need to get a chest x-ray and have the doctor decide whether or not we need treatment...

Apparently they are ready to medically clear us if no action is prescribed by the doctor, and if we are put in a course of treatment, we'll need to start it and show some lab tests that our livers are healthy or something, but then they'd let us ship out while finishing the course of treatment.

Welp. Our nomination said we were scheduled to leave in January. Any guesses what the chances are that we'll get through this thing without being delayed?

The waiting game of joining the Peace Corps can really mess with your mind. It feels like we're never going to get to join, and that we'll forever be stuck in some sort of Kafkaesque limbo.

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Sep 13, 2012

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


If a departure date has been posted on peacecorpswiki.com for 2013, does that mean that cohort is complete and I won't be in it if I haven't been medically cleared yet? Or are they "rolling admissions" style?

I should be cleared this week, but I hope I haven't missed the boat for any country we were nominated for. Our Peace Corps nurse also told us the other week that Placement contacted her wondering when we would be cleared...

In related news, I get to start a nine month course of antibiotics for latent TB! Awesome.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Medically cleared! I took five months, redone tests, various confusions, and as noted above, nine months of antibiotics to start taking for TB... but god drat does it feel good.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


the shill posted:

Departure dates on the peacecorpswiki are for whoever is going and are scheduled at least a year before the country finds out how many volunteers they'll be getting.

I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by "a year". The departure dates I see are those that pop up after people receive their invite letters and then report that on the site. So dates and locations for Jan/Feb/March 2013 have started populating in recent weeks. They seem to appear on the site 2-6 months before the scheduled leave date.

What I meant to ask is this: If Johnny down the street receives his invitation letter for Ecuador in January, and I have not received one yet, does that mean I can kiss Ecuador in January goodbye, or that I might still get that same invite in the near future?

Since I'm nominated for Latin America in January, I'm wondering whether I'm still on track for that, or whether it took me too long to get medically cleared or something.

quote:

How much leverage do volunteers have in pushing for a certain location? I speak good intermediate Spanish and I'd really love a site that would let me turn that into perfect Spanish; I'm an English major and I want to teach English to Spanish speakers, but I've done enough research to know that 1) that's a pretty small percentage of sites, 2) okay Spanish isn't that special of a skill, and 3) they kinda send you wherever anyway. Plus it goes against their whole "flexibility" mantra and makes me seem like a huge diva if I out and out say I have "conditions."

I can only speak on my own experience as someone who got nominated for the region he wanted (not that you're guaranteed to go where you're nominated), but my recruiter was fairly flexible.

My wife and I expressed strongly that we were willing to go anywhere and do anything. The recruiter asked if we have any particular regions of interest. We again reiterated our flexibility, but said that if it's all the same to her, we'd love to go to a Spanish speaking country. Lo and behold, she got back to us and said there was an opening for people of our skill set for Latin America. (She also offered us a nomination for North Africa/Middle-east, which was tempting.)

If you really want to join the Peace Corps, I would go in there swearing that you are completely flexible, but at the same time expressing interest in a Spanish speaking assignment. If it sounds like you have "conditions," you might raise some alarms. Our recruiter was gleeful when we said we're "flexible," because she said that is one of the most important traits for PCVs.

If you secretly do have conditions, you could always push through until you're invited and try to hold out for the region you want. Note: you're not guaranteed more than one offer.

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Oct 15, 2012

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Is it common to have a final phone interview from a placement officer? A lot of application timelines mention scheduling a phone interview. However, I just received a list of questions from my placement specialist to respond to via email, and I'm wondering if this is the end of the road. Most of the questions were very similar to those that came up before nomination.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Placement officer said it's too late to be given a January invite, which is when we were nominated for :( Said we should hear back from her "in a few weeks" and will be looking at a placement for February, March, "or later..." *gulp*. The waiting is brutal. I probably shouldn't have fixated on January...

Does anyone know whether TEFL volunteers are used in Paraguay, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, or the Dominican Republic? I am of course assuming that our nomination counts for something and we won't end up in Zambia or something (which would be fine by me, just unexpected!).

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Holy poo poo. Disregard my previous post. Wife and I just got invited to the Dominican Republic as Primary Literacy/Education Promoters in March!

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


i see things posted:

Does anyone have any clue what GD P6 is on the medical? Says I'm missing that and I have 60 days from Oct. 22 to get it turned in. Eek.

This page has some information: http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/g6pd/tab/sample

We got that test, but I don't remember anything about it other than that it was just one of many vials of blood they drew that day. I think it's a fairly routine lab test that you should be able to get without problem or much delay. Given the number of tests they ask for, I don't think it's uncommon for the lab tech/doctor to miss one.

quote:

Eat nothing but pizza, hamburgers and buffalo wings for the next 6 months and gain like 30 pounds. You'll thank me later.

Yes sir! In the YLLS subforum I can just say that I've started "bulking." The disease induced rapid weight loss will then begin my "cutting" phase. With any luck I'll have like a week where I look totally ripped before my muscles dissolve.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


the shill posted:

Congratulations, I was almost positive that you were coming to Ecuador. Two years in the Caribbean! Enjoy it!

I'm positive that we were supposed to be going to Ecuador. For whatever reason we didn't get through the pipeline in time. The placement officer said they are now operating on a 12 week minimum notification for giving people their placements.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Winna posted:

Matt Hardwick, he was in PC Vanuatu with me... actually still is. He's on the 5 year plan, probably gonna live in Vanuatu the rest of his life.

How long can/do people extend? Does it mean you're crazy?

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Peven Stan posted:

Just talked to a recruiter. He told me they had community/youth development in mind for me, but declined to say where it was only that the place I was going is probably "not that cold," and that I would leave July 2013. Kinda wish he could be more specific so I could start preparing now, but whatever.

I hear that the new system has less specific nominations. The older one gave a region, which wasn't actually that specific. However, seeing that many people end up in a different region than the one that they were nominated for, it probably doesn't make any difference, and it may save you some undue stress and daydreaming.

Also, I'm jealous of all of these new applicants who seem to be getting pretty quick turn around times between applying and their leave date. When all is told, it's going to be a 14-15 month span between submitting my application and my leave date. That's accurate with what the PC quotes you for married couples, but still, less than 8 months sounds pretty drat sweet to me.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Look at it as a chance to learn a third language!

I know from the perspective of development work, I could do my best work in a country where I already speak the language. However, if I were already fluent in Spanish I don't think I'd be as excited to go to the Dominican Republic. The language training is a huge plus for me (selfish!). If I did the PC again, I'd want a French speaking country or something.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Do you PCVs have any items that you would definitely recommending bringing (or NOT bringing) with you?

Scouring blogs and so forth convinced my wife and me to get headlamps for Christmas. Every PCV I've talked to said it was a high priority.

I'm sure some of this varies regionally (I'll be in the Caribbean). No freezing to death for me, you suckers in Central Asia!

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Slaan posted:

I'll second the headlamps and e-reader. Both are great to have.

You should try and find out how cell phones work in your country as well. In places that use Sim Cards + Pre-payment you can generally bring a smart phone with you to check the internet, email, etc. Just ask the store where you bought it to unlock the Sim Card slot though I know you have to ask Apple for iPhones at least. But I wouldn't bring it unless its already been bought. Developing countries tend to destroy everything you own very quickly.

You presume that I have a phone that's "smart" and isn't "developing world" quality already :(

Definitely going to bring a kindle/kindle fire. I imagine that I could get a hammock in country? I don't know how well that'd work for a couple, either.

Can anyone recommend particular solar chargers? In addition to the USB chargers, are there good "all purpose" chargers I could use for a laptop?

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


General advice: be very prompt in getting everything done that the PC requests. Don't be afraid to email/call the PC office for clarification, or if you seem to have been left in the lurch (this probably won't happen... things take a long time to get done).

The "new system" started this Fall, and it involves getting nominated/placed first and getting medical clearance second. I applied under the old system before things transitioned over, when you had to get medical clearance before they'd look into placing you.

I don't know how people's timelines compare, but I know that the PC was changing things up to try to make the application process faster. You'll at least get to find out where you are (probably) going early on and the date, rather than waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the medical stuff to come through.

You'll still need the wait to get all of the medical stuff done (I don't know how much they've expedited that part), but at least you won't be tearing your hair out as much and you can fantasize more about your life in X country.*


*Unless you are falsely diagnosed as having latent tuburculosis, having to repeat the test four separate times, missing your original leave date, starting a course of antibiotics, only to find out that the test was wrong all along!

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Thanks for the suggestions!

I don't have zip off pants, but I have a couple pairs quick drying slacks. Can I assume these don't look too toolish? (At a meeting, the PC recruiter actually pointed to them and said, "Those pants would be perfect," but she also advised against jeans, so I dunno. I think she was talking about the material.)

http://www.rei.com/product/784059/rei-adventures-pants-mens-30-inseam


I hadn't planned on bringing jeans, but maybe I'll bring a pair now (or buy some there). Since I'll be working in schools and such, I was concerned jeans would be too casual. The materials they sent us really stressed how we need to look professional on the job and that's a big deal for Dominicans. Are they just trying to make sure I don't show up in ratty shorts and flip flops?

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Just got the details about our one-day staging that's coming up in a few weeks. We have training in DC from noon until 7pm, and then we are supposed to get on the bus to the airport at 2am... why must you haze us PC, why?! I imagine most PCVs are just going to be up drinking and hanging out and get no sleep. Sounds like a great way to spend day one! Being the sedate people we are, I'm sure my wife and I will try to go to bed at 9pm or something.

Feels good to get a plane ticket, too. Big difference between someone sending you an email saying "you're in!" and having a specific ticket in your hands. They're letting us fly out a few days early, too, so that we can catch up with some old DC friends.

huhu posted:

Just got picked for Panama doing environmental work ad they are only allowing me 7 days to decide. :sigh: But it's the exact position and location I wanted... going to be a fun week of deciding if this will be my first job after college.

My wife and I literally accepted our invitation within one minute of receiving it. But do take the full seven days to think about it. We were already 100% ready to go anywhere, anytime at that point.

Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Feb 11, 2013

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


huhu posted:

Forgot to say it, thank you Slaan for answering my questions. Emailed the head of my program, the head of Panama, and posted here, and this was the only place I got a reply. Hopefully if I need help in country I'll get a reply. :ohdear:

Browsing for my packing list and just came across this in case anyone is interested:
http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Volunteer_discounts

Those discounts are definitely great. I've hit up Merrell and backcountry.com for some good stuff with deep discounts.

I'm trying not to get too carried away and be decked out for a camping trip or something.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


Slaan posted:


Apply for it. Keep your old. Peace Corps keep a special Peace Corps one.

I had to mail my personal passport to DC with my Visa application stuff. I guess that during staging (in a week!!!) we receive BOTH passports back?

  • Locked thread