The past 48 hours have been busy, emotional, and did I say busy yet? for me. Between writing articles for Meridian Magazine, the Examiner, recruiting for Phase 3, driving to Charlottesville and Richmond, visiting relatives, getting a physical, the anniversary of the Haiti quake, and finding out what my official Peace Corps nomination is for, I am exhausted today! Can I just stay in bed and read for a few hours?
Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Nook?
This week I wrote two fairly emotional pieces for Meridian Magazine. The first was on Seven Ways to Better Serve the Singles (in the LDS Church). This was one of the hardest pieces I have ever written. I had to dig up a lot of bad memories and ask myself what went wrong in those situations in order to write it. And then I had to go back through multiple times and remove any trace of personal emotion from the story. The result? I have written nearly 100 pieces for Meridian over the past 10 years. This was my third headline article for them. And it received nearly 70 comments (I normally only get 5-10 per story). I think overall I made a good point and that the piece was well received.
The second piece I wrote was a personal retrospective on Haiti one year later. (Also a headline story- 2 in the same week!) Again, very emotional for me to share my thoughts on Haiti like that.
And then with the writing all over, it was time to drive to Richmond for my Peace Corps physical. Literally 2 hours before I was about to leave I got an unexpected email! I found out my official Peace Corps nomination! Absolutely ALL things are subject to change!!! And I do mean all things. (We are still waiting on legal clearance for me, which I believe means that I could be nominated in some other areas still. But as of right now this is what I am nominated for. I'm calling it a really great Plan B, with this possibility of a great Plan A in the future. But I'm thrilled for Plan B.)
The nomination?
North Africa/Middle East- Business Advisory!
Which looks something like this-
Can you see that? It gives me 100% change of going to Morocco!
However! Allow me to point this out as well-
If we change it to "Worldwide" and Business Advising, about 35 countries come up. If we change it to "Africa" and Business Advising, about 17 countries come up. But since I do have a region and a sector, and it is pretty specific, I think it is time to break out my Arabic and French books, and start brushing up on my language skills.
The country and assignment were a huge shock to me. But the bigger shock was finding out I will be leaving in September. I was under the impression that I was cleared as early as June. I don't know if it is September because that is when this specific program starts. Or if it is because I'm delayed in the paperwork process. Which could very well mean that once my legal and medical comes through that my nomination would change, and the date would change as well.
Again, nothing is official or actionable. But it sure does feel good to have such a great option in front of me! I can be very very happy with Morocco! CAMELS!
Congrats and good luck with the camels. They are tasty. But If I were you I would be a bit bitter you got the weak camels the one humped camels are the second rate camels of the world but at least they rank better than Lamas and alpacas which are bearly better than bunnies. Hope you get to see the return of the atlas lions when they release some back into the wild.
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