Finally, it's not a secret anymore.

Resigning was harder than I thought it would be. I was actually very confident and ready to do it, although getting my boss alone on a Friday of a holiday weekend before he leaves for a 2 week vacation was not an easy task. But he was really great. It was hard as we have worked together for over 10 years and he's such a good guy. But in the end he said that he knew even though I liked being there, it was not my passion and was completely supportive. Boy, what a difference that makes when someone tells you that they completely support your decisions. We had a good long, conversation and he seemed genuinely interested in my adventure. 
So now it is really real. It is happening and as many times as I say that, it's still hard to believe. I woke up early this morning to have a conference call with a bunch of new volunteers as well as some mentors who are already in Moldova. Even though it was early, it was exciting to talk to people who are currently there and get a little behind the scenes information. We all talked for about 2 hours and asked questions and again, feeling really real. 
I guess it's time to settle down and get through all of this paperwork I've been putting off for the past few days. Big goal for the weekend is to finish the updated resume and aspiration statement. Have to get that done today so I can enjoy the Easter holiday tomorrow. 

The wonder of Facebook

Just today I have made 4 new friends via Facebook who are either in Moldova or are staging with me in June. What did people do before this? They just showed up without knowing anything? I have to admit, I think we have it pretty damn lucky to be going in this day and age where communication is so easily at the ready. I can understand how much harder this would've been to do even 20 years ago. I'm not undermining the challenge ahead of me but more expressing my gratitude to the access I have. 
I am currently working on my resume and aspiration statement. It is harder than I thought it would be as now that the situation is so real in front of me, it's harder to think of what to say. I printed out my student loan documents today which seemed inexplicably simple, I may have to double check that just to be sure that I have everything. I haven't really encountered a lot of things that are that easy. 
In looking at these packing lists the peeps on Facebook have posted I'm getting a little bit more nervous and all of the things I do not have. I don't know where I'm going to come up with the money to get all the stuff required. I know it will work out, everything has up to this point, but stress has certainly reared its ugly head. 
I will be participating in a group conference call via Skype on Saturday morning. Since I'm not all too familiar with how that works I'll have to do some research this week so I don't look completely stupid in my first impression. My local time will be 7am...on a Saturday...so I'm already at a disadvantage but I may as well get used to odd hours. In reading people's stories from the country and tips I'm getting more and more excited but also a little anxious. SO much needs to be done. There are hundreds of little details that need to be completed for everything to go right. I should probably stop writing here and get on that...

Dichotomy

I feel like I’m living a double life at the moment. I am spending my nights and weekends filling out paperwork and figuring out everything that needs to get done. And then here it is Monday morning at the office and I have to act like everything is normal. When inside, my mind is a constant inner monologue of all the things I have to do. I do have a little bit of ‘graduation goggles’ as recently explained on an episode of “How I Met Your Mother.” (Graduation Goggles is when everything that has annoyed you at school suddenly becomes endearing in your last few weeks.)

I received my confirmation from the Placement officer this morning of the acceptance of my invitation. She sent another long list of things to get done. Even though the paperwork is tedious and there a million little details to pay attention to, it is still very exciting. I know that the next 7 weeks are going to fly by. I fear my close friends are already getting sick of hearing about my plans but there’s really not a lot I can do about that. If people ask me for details, I’m going to happily give them. It’s fun now that nearly everybody knows and I don’t have to keep so many secrets. I still have to keep mum at work for another few days but after that I can speak freely. I have a lot of people offering to help and yet I don’t know what to tell them I need. It’s not even a control thing, I just think it’s all stuff that only I can do. I’m sure when it comes down to moving and getting rid of things, I will call on these kind souls for some assistance.

Task for today, getting passport photos taken and sending off that packet. Tonight, I’m going to have to start on my resume and aspiration statement. Since all of the paperwork was done for the domestic government, I have to create a new resume and aspiration statement to be sent to Moldova so they can get an idea of who I am and what I am bringing to the table. Since I love talking about myself, I’m not too worried about it. And it’s pretty easy to write about aspirations and enthusiasm at this point.

The next thing to tackle will be insurance. I will be covered medically but I have to look into life insurance and personal property insurance. I won’t be taking too much of value; just my laptop, Kindle and iPod but I doubt I’ll have enough money to just replace them so I’m leaning towards the personal property insurance. It’s not too terribly expensive. That’s this week’s tasks. That and my resignation on Friday…that should be interesting.

IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!!

It's really happening. I was starting to think it never would but it happened.
I got an email at the beginning of the week asking for a final phone interview. I had heard that this would happen but it was nerve-wracking. I mean for the first interview, I was so prepped. I had interview questions, it took a long time to think about about my answers and I nailed it. This was cold. AND it was scheduled for 7am, not exactly my prime time to be quick on my feet. But I got up early and I was ready. 
The lady was extremely nice and asked a lot of questions but the answers came easily to me. I was ready for this to happen and she was the Placement Officer. It was go time. As the end of the conversation neared, she started to realize that maybe Asia wasn't the best fit for me, nor was Business or English. She presented me with an option of NGO. I had no idea what this was, but she explained that it was a Non-Governmental organization, what we would call a non-profit, and I would go into the organization and create and assist with community programs. I immediately got excited. This was what I was waiting for. I was hoping when this was all over to work with a non-profit organization and here it was presenting it to me. To top it off, it was in Eastern Europe. I was pretty pumped about Asia, but I certainly wasn't married to the idea. I could quickly adapt to the idea of living in Europe for a few years. She didn't tell me the country but she did tell me that I was formally accepted. Only hitch was, the departure date was the beginning of the month instead of the end of June. A year of planning my high school reunion and attending my godchild's graduation immediately went out the window. It was a little sad, but in the grand scheme of things, I knew I could deal with it. It was probably the most energy I have had at 8am in quite a while. I went into work and was ecstatic all day but still had to keep it under wraps. I didn't feel quite secure in resigning until I had a formal piece of paper in my hand. I let a few people in on the update and they were happy for me, but sad to hear I was officially leaving. It was a long few days waiting for the welcome packet to come. I had done some online research and figured out that the only countries in Eastern Europe departing around the beginning of June were Armenia, Moldova and Romania. I had a feeling it would be Moldova, but I had to wait. I had never even heard of the country of Moldova but immediately Google'd it and found that it was a tiny country landlocked between Romania and the Ukraine. 
When I got home from work on Friday, I didn't see the package and I was disappointed. I didn't want to have to wait until Monday. I knew there would be a lot of paperwork and the weekend was a good time to get a jump on it. BUT, when I looked out on my front porch, it was there. I was so excited and grabbed it. And there it was...in black and white. I was going to Moldova...with the Peace Corps departing on June 6th. A year ago, the first week of June I was attending my father's funeral. This year, I would be embarking on a 2 year adventure. And in an instant I learned how you can so easily turn your life around when you pursue what you want. And I was happy.

Waiting...

This waiting is excruciating. It has now been 3 weeks since I got medically cleared. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason, according to the wiki Peace Corps, as to when the invitations are issued. The time line varies from 2 days to 168. Argh!
In the meantime, it's really hard to focus. Since I can't really focus at work thinking that I'm getting out of there soon. But at the same time, I don't know for sure if I am which prevents me from doing anything detrimental or stupid. But I know for sure I just don't belong there any more. 
Seeing all the devastation in Japan and watching all the good that people are doing, it's hard to be around such selfish people day in and day out. Thankfully, I still have my solid core of girls that surround me and make me laugh. The girls at work have been my sanity. I haven't told too many of them, as there are only a handful that I trust completely, but they really have been super supportive. They are what has kept me going in that place for so many years and they are the reason that I will actually, at times, miss it.
My patience is at it's end and I really just want to know as soon as possible what the next few years of my life hold. Waiting sucks...

Medical Process (Part Deux)

I passed the medical! I can't believe it. 6 months of tests and shots and exams and co-pays and I finally passed. Next step, I have to update my resume with my volunteer experience over the last year and then submit for placement. I do still have to get my wisdom teeth out before I can go anywhere. I have no idea when or how I'll be able to afford that but it has to happen soon. I mean I was told that won't hold up placement so I'm not in TOO frantic of a position but I can't believe next week is March already. So I should probably get to it sooner than later. I just don't know how I'll be able to afford it.
All of a sudden, it's becoming real. Is it really going to happen? It's funny how people mainly think I 'won't do it' because I'll never be able to survive without television and fast food. Did it ever occur to those people that I want to get away from those things? That I'm looking forward to not being a slave to my television programming and my Blackberry and getting out in to the world and working with people who have real problems? Not problems that consist of things like your internet connection is taking 'forever' or traffic sucks or Sweeps is over and there is nothing but reruns on. First world problems constantly reminds me daily of how spoiled we are. So I am going to spend the day updating my resume, send it to my secret HR friend for help and then submit and keep this process moving!

Medical Process

I swore I wouldn't write again until I passed the medical review. Wow! If that doesn't test your patience, I don't know what will?
I began the medical process in early August. The first thing I did was go to the eye doctor. Mostly because I knew that would be the easiest of all the appointments. And I was right. They filled out their one page paperwork and prescribed glasses and wished me well.
The Dentist was not so easy. It was a new dentist and I really did like her but she made it pretty darn clear she was not happy about all the paperwork. I have never been a 'faithful' dentist goer so I knew when I went there would definitely be some work to be done. I was right. I had to get 4 cavities filled, one tooth pulled and a good cleaning. It took multiple visits and hundreds of dollars and it was a nightmare. Finally I completed it all...well mostly. I mean I still had 3 wisdom teeth that had to be removed but I was told I didn't have to do that in order to get an invitation. I had no idea where I would come up with the money to do that before I left but as per usual, I left it up to procrastination.
The next hurdle was my therapist. She was actually really nice about the whole thing and very encouraging and wrote me a great evaluation. Thankfully she didn't charge me for all the paperwork which I didn't realize that she could have. 
And then came the PCP. Oy. Anyone who says we don't need health care reform in this country is just plain insane. The bureaucracy of paper work just to get appointments is just insane. I had all the blood work done and had to pay for my doctor to fill out all the paperwork. I had to wait a few weeks for the blood results which were all normal thankfully. I am overweight, but I'm pretty healthy...inexplicably. Then I had to get a referral to the gynecologist. Then I had to come back and get some shots. Then I had to go to the gynecologist. Pretty normal there too. I am very lucky in the health department because it's not like I take care of myself.
So after faxing everything in, I got my dental stuff back pretty quickly since I had to get my wisdom teeth out. Silly me, I thought they wouldn't notice. And then I went on medical hold. They sent me a letter stating that I had indeed missed some things on the medical forms. I was very disappointed  because I was so thorough and in my defense, one part that I had missed was NOT very clear. So I had to head back to the PCP and get more blood work done and get another shot for Polio. And since I'm not 5, it's not covered by insurance. I swear this process is going to make me go broke. Finally faxed everything back in and got taken off medical hold. So did I pass? God, I hope so.
This waiting is killing me!