Peace Corps has updated your Application Status

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Perry and I both received the same email notification this morning: "Peace Corps has updated your Application Status." The new check mark today is the one next to "Place." Needless to say, we were both quite excited about this....but we became even more excited after receiving the following email:
Hello Elizabeth and Perry, I hope you are both doing well. I am the Placement and Assessment Specialist responsible for conducting a final review of your applications for placement. Below you will find questions that will help with my review. Please email your responses or contact me by Friday – May 11th to schedule a time to talk through your responses.
Holy cow...getting more real, right? The list our placement specialist wants answered includes quite a few questions that we were asked at our recruitment interview, but there are some new questions -- how have we been preparing for our Peace Corps service, have our motivations changed, and have we spoken with any returned couples. Near the end of her email, though, is the real attention getter:
The program to which you were nominated to has closed. I would like to consider you for the following program: Africa region placement – departure in July 2012: Perry would serve as a primary/secondary level English teacher and Elizabeth would serve as either as a Primary level Teacher Trainer or primary/secondary level English teacher. Please let me know if you are open to being considered for this program.
Holy cow...tangibly real! So close you can taste it real. Freakin' out a little real.

I decided to engage in a little rank speculation and visited the Peace Corps Wiki, which lists South Africa, Namibia, and Zambia as African countries that stage in July. Africa would be very cool, but July is so soon. We emailed our placement specialist to ask whether she believes it possible to find a placement for us that departs after September 2012. We'll see how she responds. We could make July work. Meanwhile, Perry and I decided to break it to the co-op president that there is a distinct possibility we'll be leaving soon -- and for 27 months. Her response was incredibly positive, so at least we have the weight of breaking that news off our shoulders. Feel a little bad about leaving so soon after moving in, but we can make it up to them when we return...this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! 

- by Elizabeth

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