Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A Change of Plans

So, I had big day today. A lot happened, and I have some things to think about.
My sister and I left my house this morning for Seattle this morning at 8 a.m. for two reasons:

1) For a job interview at Solid Ground.
2) To visit the Peace Corps Regional Office in Downtown Seattle.

Even though I decided to live at home and save for the Peace Corps, I figured that it couldn't hurt to go to the interview. Besides, most of the jobs I have applied for over the past few months just closed, so it is nice to finally hear back. The interview went really well, and the organization was in a cute Seattle neighborhood. Afterward, Alina and I went to a delicious bakery called Trophy Cupcakes to celebrate.

When we got back in the car to head to the Peace Corps Regional Office, I had a voicemail from another potential employer, the National Eating Disorders Association, requesting an interview for today! They turned out to be located kitty corner from the Peace Corps Office, and I was already dressed in my suit, so I agreed to stop by. I wasn't as impressed by this organization, but I was glad that I got more interviewing experience out of it.

After the second interview, I went to meet with a Peace Corp Recruiter. The woman I spoke with, who incidentally was the recruiter for a friend of mine who left for her volunteer position a few days ago, was REALLY helpful. I learned a lot more about the organization and the volunteer experience, and it even got my sister excited about it! Here are a few of the highlights:

*With my experience, I actually qualify for two categories--Health Extension and Community Development!
*The funding that the Obama Administration put toward volunteer efforts finally passed, so there are a lot of openings right now!
*I could possibly be selected to deploy as early as January-March 2011, instead of July-December 2011 like I had anticipated!

As you can imagine, this was a lot to take in. There are no guarantees, but if I do get selected early next year, I need to be prepared. Subsequently, I have decided to stay at home in Olympia and save money. It's a little frustrating since the fruits of my labor (in regard to Seattle job applications) are just beginning to ripen :( The way I am approaching it is that it might be a good paying job, but if I would not be prepared to accept an invite from the Peace Corps. If I turn an invite down, I get put in the back of the line for deployment, and I may not go for a year or two...and that is not a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

I'm turning in a job application for here in Olympia tomorrow, and I'll be finishing up my Peace Corps application this week. I'm also going to visit a woman that my mother connected me with about potentially getting a local job at a credit union. I had nothing going on for a few months, then suddenly everything is exploding! I guess my fortune was right :)



On a final note, here are is a picture of the birthday cake I made for my brother. It was super delicious, fresh, and light in sugar.

I'll keep you posted on what comes next :)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

It's Been Too Long Since I've Written An Essay

I'll start today's post with an update on my application process.

Last night, I sent out the requests for my three letters of recommendation. I had to ask for one from a work supervisor, a volunteer supervisor, and a friend. For my letter from a friend I, of course, asked Ashley. She's been my best friend since the tenth grade, and has been with me for a majority of this past hectic year. She was excited that I asked her, but not so excited when I asked her to compare me to Mother Theresa and Oprah....oh, well ;) I'm confident that she is the best person to write an accurate reflection of my skills and aspirations.

While being out of school has had it's perks (no homework!), it has also it's drawbacks. I learned this the hard way as I struggled with my first attempt to write the first of my two essays today. Ugh. Here is the prompt:

Peace Corps service presents major physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. You have provided information on how you qualify for Peace Corps service elsewhere in the application. In the space below, please provide a statement (between 250 - 500 words) that includes:
  • Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and
  • How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.
  • How you expect to satisfy the Peace Corps 10 Core Expectations (please be specific about which expectations you expect to find most challenging and how you plan to overcome these challenges).
My first thought was, "What?!?!? 250-500 words? Kill me." But I got a sort of rough, and I mean ROUGH, outline done today. This might take a lot longer than I thought, but I am setting a deadline to have both essays done by the end of next week. I want to have enough time to have a few people review them. Also, in my research about Peace Corp essays, I found that some people post the finished products on their blog. I intended this to be helpful to others, so I'll post mine when they are done.

Now that I have decided to live at home to save money for my future endeavors, and not move to Seattle as I had originally planned, I have to start the job search over again. After researching what type of experience would be helpful for Peace Corps placement, I have decided to take my mother up on her offer to follow in the family footsteps and work in the realm of....Credit Unions! *audible gasp!* The business practices and financial experience gained from working in non-profits directly translates to helping developing nations create cooperative programs. I'm also going to incorporate some volunteer experience, and am currently researching organizations in the area. Besides, I'm pretty sure it was my destiny to work in Credit Unions at some point. My grandmother is a retired Supervisor for Credit Unions, and my mother is a Credit Union Corporate Trainer. I even have a shirt that I got when I was around nine that says "I'm a Credit Union Kid!"

In unrelated news, I bought ingredients today to make my brother a cake for his 17th birthday tomorrow. It was also his first day of school today, and his first day of work, so there is a lot to celebrate! Since we're nearing the end of strawberry season, I decided to make a Strawberry Charlotte for the very first time. I don't have much baking experience, so wish me luck! I'll post pictures of the yummy creation later.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Peace Corps??!?!?!!

So, as you can tell from the title, I have some exciting news--I'm applying to the Peace Corps!

Let's go on a trip down memory lane so that I can catch you up...

During my senior year at Western, I was an Event Planning Intern for an organization called the Downtown Bellingham Partnership (formerly the Downtown Renaissance Network). Afterward, I was offered a paid position as an independently contracted Even Coordinator. I worked through Spring Quarter, as well as the summer after graduation, planning the 2009 Bite of Bellingham, and assisting in events such as the Downtown Sounds Summer Concert Series. However, I did not have one clue what I was going to do when it was over. In the few weeks between the conclusion of my position, and the end of my lease, I decided to move to southern California to make a life closer to my extended family. I sold most of my belongings, packed the rest into three suitcases, and bought a one-way ticket. However, with a recipe of a 13% unemployment rate, and no real conclusion of what direction I wanted to go, I quickly became restless.

One day in September, my best and oldest friend told me that she had decided to move to Boston. Her brother went to school there, and she wanted me to come with. Also a recent college grad, I thought that she was crazy. We had talked about picking up and moving to San Francisco after college graduation since high school (in a purely platonic way, mother! sheesh.), but graduating in a recession had crushed that dream. I hadn't gone to school there, I had no contacts, I didn't have a job lined up....and I didn't know anything at all about Boston! But desperate times call for desperate measures. One month later, I bought a plane ticket, said goodbye to The Golden State, and headed for Bean Town.

After months of sleeping on an air mattress, and working in temp jobs at Emerson College and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for minimum wage, I landed an administrative job in the HIV/AIDS prevention research division at Fenway Health, the largest LGBT community health center in the country. It was my first grown-up, post graduation job. I made some great friends, moved into an apartment with an awesome roommate, and really got to know my way around the city (without any maps)! I did a lot of fun things from cooking my first Christmas dinner with Ashely, to taking weekend trips to Maine and NYC. Even with this great opportunity, I never really warmed to Boston. It never really felt like home to me. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and that my time in Boston helped me to build inner courage and learn a lot about myself. In the end, though, I decided to return to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Back to the present...

Depending on who you are (or how much time you spend creepily stalking me), you know that I have thought about applying to the Peace Corps for a few years now.But it was not until I spent a year of self discovery after graduation, that I truly felt ready to take on such a task. I know this is going to be a long process, complete with a strenuous application, medical screenings, a nerve-racking interview, and lots of waiting, but I am grabbing the bull by the horns. So far, I have made a lot of progress on my application. I still have to write my essays, inquire about the possibility of deferring my student loans, and and await my recommendation letters. I am confident that I can submit my application by October 1st, which is the priority deadline for July-December 2011 deployment.

I will use this blog to keep everyone posted on my progress, while offering tips along the way. Through all the ups and downs, I appreciate all of your support! :)