The Peace Corps’ sent my invitation to serve on July 27, 2017 via e-mail. I no longer obsessively checked my email like I did the first few weeks after my interview. I popped in randomly to check my email only to be disappointed by the lack of updates. My check-ins got further and further apart.
Which is why I almost missed my invitation to serve!
I sat down at my desk on a late Sunday night. I checked my email, thinking it would be full of spam yet again when I saw it…
Congratulations! You have been selected to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer, pending medical and legal clearance. This letter is your formal invitation to serve as a Community Health Advisor in Madagascar departing February 25, 2018. By accepting this invitation, you are taking the next step toward joining hundreds of thousands of Americans who have answered the call to service and made sustainable change in communities around the world. Here’s what you need to do within 3 calendar days:
- Review all assigned materials. Please review the assignment-specific information sent to you via email previously, as well as the Peace Corps Volunteer handbook.
- Respond to your invitation within three days:
See that second bullet point–respond to your invitation. It was already Sunday, July 30th at 11:45pm. Did this really mean I only had 15 minutes remaining or my invitation would be rescinded? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. But by my getting my invitation so late in the game, meant that I had absolutely no one to talk to about it. Except my coworkers. Who think I’m crazy for wanting to join the Peace Corps anyway.
I make my best decisions when I don’t have time to overthink
Trusting my gut, I responded to the accept link in my invitation. And that was that. On August 2, PC inundated my email with the first of many of tasks. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Set 1 involved going to the local police department and making fingerprints, PC used the fingerprint cards for the FBI and INTERPOL background checks. Step 2 involved applying for my PC (diplomatic) passport. [It’s really not that much different than a regular passport, but sound way cooler].
You see how ‘pending medical and legal clearance’ is bolded in the original offer? Medical clearance is no joke–and with only two months (60 days to be precise) to complete the tasks, it’s a race to complete on time. More on that to come later