Anticipation

What does it mean to anticipate? We think we know, it’s like a kid waiting for Christmas in order to open presents or the wait for college acceptance letters. But this anticipation was anxiousness, excitement, fear, nervousness, and an unshakable need to move around. The next two years of my life were decided for me. I had the date of when I would find out, but no other information. I left home without knowing where I would even spend the first three months of training. This anticipation is definitely real anticipation. Heart thumping, sleep-interrupting anticipation. But it is all worth it.

For anyone doubting these methods and especially for those thinking of applying to the Peace Corps I will tell you that flexibility is the key and I cannot emphasize that enough. The organization is open throughout the process about the amount of information they will share from the get go. Many months ago before departure it was repeated to us that no news was good news. And it all has its purpose. For training we are placed in towns of 4 trainees. The placement us based upon our language levels after two interviews so that we can take classes with a group that is roughly at the same stage as us. While it was definitely unnerving to set off for a country without a specific destination, this does seem like the most effective way to create productive training groups.

Waiting for our site assignments is an even harder and more intense process. It is hard to describe our feelings during this process, though there was definitely anxiety, nervousness, and excitement floating around for a few weeks. During this process, our project managers interviewed us twice, asking of our skills and spending six weeks getting to know us before placing us. They receive applications for new sites and interview host families and counterparts before our arrival to get to know the needs of the communities. Essentially they are trying to be match-makers between volunteer and site within a short amount of time. They know you better than you think they do, other volunteers kept telling us. I also trust that after many years in this job they know how trainees operate, what our preconceptions are, and what is really a valuable asset to a site that we should seek out. I truly do think there is value to this process. Though it is long and arduous, there are few aspects that I would change. The anticipation was enough to put us all on edge, and yet there is no perfect process that would eliminate that sentiment from the process.

From this experience, I have learned to wait even better than I had before. I have learned patience even while emotions are high and that focusing all the energy that I have into my job and tasks ahead of me is the best way to cope. What will be will be and the day will eventually arrive when everything is revealed. I was a patient person before this process, but now I know the true meaning of patience.

So after I have built up everyone’s anticipation, it is time to reveal where I will spend the next two years. I will be moving to San Isidro, Matagalpa in November. It is a town of around 16,000, though nearly half of the population lives on farms surrounding the city. It is a major rice producer in the country but does not have any other major economic activities (that I know of yet). It is very accessible to two cities and there is an Internet café in town. I leave on Monday for Managua to meet the principals of the two schools in which I will be working and then we head for San Isidro together on Tuesday. more details to come after my visit!!

Everyone is so happy about our site placements, many of us are close-ish so we will be able to visit each other every once in a while. There will be more details to come after my visit!!