A new year of....waiting? Still?

My placement officer emailed me at the end of November to let me know they were looking through my file and that they would contact me in a few weeks. It is now January 19. I sent a follow up email last week and got an out of office reply - December 20 - January 15! So hopefully they are now going through my file (yes, the glass is half full).

I've been trying to prepare for this by doing a TON of reading and studying. I am currently working my way through an International Relations textbook in addition to Peace Corps memoirs, US/World histories, NGO and economist readings(why oh why did i major in music?!?). I actually have a stack of 10 books sitting by my bed vying for attention - "read me! read me!" I have also been reading a ton of blogs, not during work of course.... My favorite so far is http://www.yutaisgone.blogspot.com/. His stories are so well written and entertaining! I hope he writes a book about his experiences.

I did start studying for the GREs but then determined it was a waste of my time. That is partially due to my impatience with the math section and lack of focus. But really, after 3 years of job experience and the Peace Corps they probably won't care about the GRE. I am, however, still studying all of the vocab words in an attempt to expand my tiny vocabulary. The ones I seem to remember the best are somehow related to work and usually end up being my computer password for the month. Past favorites include malinger (to pretend illness to avoid or shirk duties), ameliorate (to make better or more tolerable), and my current one, impecunious (lacking funds, without money). If the minimum letter count was less that 6 than ennui (listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom) would have been used long ago. But really I eggagerate. My job isn't that bad. I am just looking forward to the PC so much that it makes things seem worse than they really are.

I was actually just reading a blog today about the frustrations of waiting and of people finding out that i am leaving for the PC. Every conversation i have now begins with, "so when and where are you going?" I suppose if I had an answer it wouldn't be so annoying. If I did know I would probably answer with three exclamation points and then gloat that I am getting away from this grey, depressing mitten of Michigan and its sucky economy while they are stuck here FOREVER!

Just kidding. I'm really just sick of waiting.

Peace out. oh wait! I just got an email update from the placement officer, how fun!

I apologize for the delay in my response to your email, but I
have been out of the office for some time. Everything is going well
with your file. We are currently finishing up the screening process,
and will be working on placing you in a specific program and country
now. We will definitely contact you if we need anything else, but
otherwise you should hear from us in the next month or so. Please feel
free to email or call.

happy day!