Cleared!!

Well, I’ve been cleared! As of December 29^th, I am 100% legally, dentally, and medically cleared, meaning all there is to do now is sit back and wait for the invite. :) I can’t wait to find out when and where I’ll be going! Since the last time I’ve written I’ve gotten substantially more excited about both Morocco and Jordan, so now I have to tame my excitement in case my invite ends up being for some place completely different. I did, however, learn that in September Peace Corps doesn't send volunteers to Jordan, so it sounds like my nomination is officially Morocco!!!! :) Soooooo excited to go!! However, I have lots of time to wait. In the meantime, I’ve been purchasing a few things that I’ll need for my journey, and I’ve been working on learning Arabic from a few cheap software programs and books. So far I can say a few silly phrases (“Hello! Where is the bank? I’ve lost my passport! Thank you. Goodbye.” hehe) and I can read it aloud fairly well (with the book by my side) although I have no idea what the words I’m reading mean. ;) Haha, but there’s time to fix that. :) If my nomination is correct and I am to depart in September, I have 9 months left (same amount of time as a pregnancy—weird!), so now I’m focusing on my AmeriCorps kids and (starting on Wednesday!) student teaching, which will be pleasantly distracting. :) I’m just so anxious to go back abroad! The people I care most about (and who care most about me), on the other hand, are naturally worried about the Muslim community I’ll (potentially) be living in; Mom and Dad hate the idea, and my AmeriCorps students keep begging me to change my mind and “get a job at Washington” teaching them, instead. It’s hard to explain to twelve year olds that I’m trying to “teach the less fortunate” and go where I’m “most needed,” when they argue that I’m needed with them, too. It kind of makes this whole process extremely bittersweet. However, I know in my heart Peace Corps is right for me at present time, and like I told my Washington Middle School students, when I come back they’ll be juniors at Dubuque Senior High, where I'm now doing my student teaching, so maybe I’ll try to get a job there and work with them again then. It’s definitely a fun and worthwhile idea. :) Anyways, enough rambling, time to get my head back out of the clouds! ;)