I didn't just jump into Africa. In fact, I spent a summer quarter earning college credit, teaching in Swaziland, S. Africa. I was scheduled to stay 6 weeks, but after 4 weeks I was SO homesick.
On the 4th of July we went to the Embassy. There, I met several Peace Corps
volunteers. I asked them how they could stand it. Weren't they homesick? But they
told me they weren't. That when you join the Peace Corps you know it is for 2 years,
so you are in a different mind set. I found this hard to believe, but never forgot
My next trip overseas was to Belize, in Central America. It was beautiful, yes. I
loved it but hated it. I loved the trip itself and the country, but I couldn't stand
cockroaches the size of mice crawling all over my pillow. And I remember sitting on
the back porch of this hovel they call an hotel. It was facing the river/sewage system.
A huge rat swam over to our porch, crawled out of the sewage, shook itself off like a
dog, and walked right by my feet! AHHHHHHH!!!!!! I was terrified.
I also ran into a woman who was in the Peace Corps. She was walking a 1/2 mile to
the river to get a bucket of water for washing. It was at that moment I realized I
could never join the Peace Corps. No Way! How could they do it?
Well, time heals all wounds, and after a couple of years I began to think about the
Peace Corps again. It was my last quarter of college. I was student teaching and
didn't know WHAT I was going to do with my future. I didn't want to teach
Elementary School, that was for sure. But what to do?
I called the Peace Corps and had my preliminary interview. They give you a small
one, just to send you the info.
I passed interview #1 and was sent the application.
When I received the application I was overwhelmed by the size of it. Pages and pages.
References, transcripts, volunteer work. They wanted it all. I gave up and threw the
info in a drawer. I graduated and if you've read about my past jobs I went from camp
phone sex operator
to cocktail waitress. And that's where I was, 1 year
later, when I took the application out of the drawer.
It wouldn't be that bad. Would it? Couldn't be worse then the waitressing gig I had
at that time. I wanted a change and some adventure. So I filled the thing out. I had
some problems though. I didn't have any professor recommendations, so I fudged it. I
wrote my own, had some people sign them, and gave old phone numbers. I also
fudged on the volunteer hours.
Apparently, Peace Corps doesn't check these things out to throughly because I was
given a second interview.
Before the interview my friend Kenny told me HIS friend had been the PC and had
quit. Quit? I didn't even think that was possible. So, in my interview I asked about
that. Could people really quit? I just assumed we where there until it was finished
and that was that.
The interviewer freaks out and says I can't ask about quitting, and know she has to
mark it down in my record that I asked about quitting. I was a bit taken aback and
angry. What is this the Gestapo? I can't ask any questions? But I finally got her to
relax, and I assured her I wasn't thinking about quitting.
then the medical examination. Which I welcomed, because the US Government paid for
a complete check-up and I had no insurance at the time. I spent the entire day at the
VA hospital. I saw the doctor, the gyno, the dentist and had blood work done. I was
found fit for service although I was worried that my weight might prevent me from
getting in. I wrote an extra note explaining how the extra weight was all muscle (lies,
all lies!) and sent a picture of me during my thinner days.
Finally, I was in!
Next they asked my country or region of choice. I chose 1: Middle East 2: Eastern
Europe 3: South America.
So they tell me, they have a last minute opening in W. Africa,
I could go now or I could wait an indefinite amount of time until something I wanted came up. I
agreed to go. And a month later, on July 3, 1994 I was in Boston, MA for an initial 3