I received a call from my placement officer today- apparently the person I spoke to yesterday was NOT that person. She says, “well you got medical clearance yesterday- but your program is full so you can’t leave in November.” After further discussion she tells me that my next option is to go to asia for teacher training in January or March; the exchange goes as follows:
me: which part?
her: well, the countries included in ‘asia’ are china, mongolia, bangladesh, philippines and thailand
me: wow, that’s a pretty wide range. I ask because I’m really sensitive to cold weather; I live in a cold place and I don’t function well in extreme cold (even with central heat), my body just doesn’t stay warm.
her: well, unless it’s an actual medical condition we can’t really take that into consideration when doing placement.
me: well, it’s not a “medical condtion,” my iron is always fine- I think I just have poor circulation, my body cannot stay warm. I mentioned this on my application and took it into consideration when giving my preferred regions.
her: well, of the regions available which did you put as requests?
me: africa, pacific islands, carribbean, central/south america
her: well, of the regions available you don’t meet the language requirements for central/south america (I have studied spanish, I’m not good at it- but I could brush up) and the next available program would be for africa in July.
me:!!! (but I kept it inside) so, how long do you think it would be before I received a placement in either region?
her: well, with asia- it’d take a couple of weeks to switch to a new PO, so you’d probably get an invitation in 2 1/2-3 weeks. as for the africa placement, we can’t place for july until at least the end of november.
me: can I think about this and call you back?
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ok, so here’s what I’ve come up with in the last half hour since I hung up:
*my thoughts about extreme cold: I can deal with moderately cold weather- but if gets like it does here in Michigan, I don’t know if I could be as productive as I would otherwise be and it could cause me ET
*I could end up somewhere warm or somewhere VERY cold if I go to asia, no guarantees.
*were I to choose asia, based on the peacecorps2 program file, I could potentially go to Thailand or Nepal (which is suspended) and I see nothing for march-ish, the closest being the Philippines in July.
*were I to hold out for africa, based on peacecorps2 program file, I could potentially go to The Gambia in July- although, I could end up doing education but not teacher training and to go Lesotho, South Africa or Madagascar (I’ve heard that you don’t need french background, even though it is the language)
*I am eligible to take a birthrite trip to israel before I leave or during service, but I will be too old upon completeion- either program, I could possibly go before I leave for PC, though spring is much more likely as the winter programs are pretty full.
*Financially, it is better to go in the winter because my loan deferrment ends in March, I think, and I’d prefer not to begin repayment just yet.
*Either way, I will have a bit more time to work and finish paying off my bills and save up a bit or money.