New Address!

Hey everyone!  We officially got sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers on Wednesday!!!!  YAYYY!!!!  We're finally real people!

I'm headed down to my permanent site in Lethem, Guyana tomorrow morning, which means.... drum roll please...

NEW ADDRESS!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, I have a new address for all of those wonderful, heartfelt letters I know you've been dying to send me.

My new address is:

163 Crescent Road

Lethem, Region 9

Guyana

South America

That South America part is HUGELY important.  Apparently the post office doesn't know where Guyana is any more than the rest of us do and they frequently send our mail to Africa.  Don't let this happen to you!  Remember to write South America in the address!!!!

Love you all!  I'll try to write a real post for your reading pleasure in the not too distant future.  

Byeeee!!!!!

Host Family #1

Now that I'm almost through with training and about to meet my in service host family, I guess I can tell you about my current family for training!

Here's my house:

As I mentioned before, I live with my host mom and dad, Orlene and Rex, and my host brothers, Jake and Jude.  I absolutely love these people.  They take exceptional care of me and obviously want nothing more than for me to be safe and happy in Guyana.  I still torment my little brother endlessly and he finds it funnier than ever.  His favorite game currently is grabbing my hands, walking himself up my legs, and flipping over.  I may have taught him this...lol.

This is Jude:

Jake, my other little brother, just found out he scored high enough on his grade 6 exams to make it into high school, which was really exciting.  I'm super duper proud of him.

Here's a pic of Jake and his cousin Michelle trying to learn to shuffle like me.  It was humorous.

So that's my family.

I'll walk you through a normal day living and training in the hinterland of Guyana, too...

Wake up around 5 or 6 am, take a bucket bath, have your breakfast and tea
Walk 30 minutes down mud/sand roads to the training site or pick up point
Do the training thing for a few hours or go teach at the local school
Walk home.
Hand wash some laundry if you still have day light
Have some dinner and more tea.  Do the dishes with a remarkably small amount of water
Take your second bucket bath of the day, watch the news and hang with family for an hour or so
Tuck yourself in with your mosquito net around 8pm, write in your journal, read a bit, and call it a night.

Throw in some wandering the village and helping harvest oranges in one of the family orange groves on the weekends, and there you have it... the life of a peace corps trainee. lol.

Honestly, I couldn't be happier.

Training

I finally have internet but I have absolutely no idea where to begin with this blog post...

Umm... training is going great and it's almost finished!  Craziness.   Only 2 more weeks until I'm officially a volunteer!  We're in our 8th week of training so far, which has been a mixture of safety, medical, culture, and teaching specific classes.  It's a lot of sitting and listening, but I've learned a lot and, for me, it's totally worth it.

Last week was challenge week for us which entailed hosting a couple teacher training sessions at my school.  (I could write a whole post about the schools here.  SOOO different.  No walls.  Chalkboards and posters dividing classrooms.  Insanity.)  It went way better than I expected, so that was fun.

We've been working two days a week in our practicum schools and I've been LOVING it.  I mostly teach Spanish and do some small group remedial reading instruction.  The irony of moving to South America and teaching them to speak Spanish is not lost on me.  I think it's hilarious.

For the big news, I got my site assignment on Friday!!!!  I'm officially going to be living in Lethem down south in the savannah.  It's more developed than my current training site, but I think it's going to be fun.  I'm going to be living with a 53 year old caterer/baker, so that's going to be absolutely delicious.  I've heard she's an absolutely amazing person.  They're sending out for site visits later this week, so I'lll tell you all about it then.  I'll also update my address for you all.

I know there's a ton more I should tell you about, but words are hard tonight.  lol.

If there's something you want to hear about, though, drop me a question in the comments.  I'd love to fill you in!

30 seconds of internet. And GO!

So yeah, craziness trying to get internet these days, but I've got some for then next couple minutes.  I'm living in the hinterland with little to no cell service, so, obviously, I'm not getting much in the way of internet.

I'm loving Guyana so far.  My host family for training is fantastic.  I've got two little host brothers, Jacob and Justin, who are 11 and 4, respectively.  I'm ridiculously obnoxious to the little one, but he loves it.  We all get along splendidly.

I've already experienced snakes, giant spiders, bats flying around my bedroom at night, and frogs and cockroaches in the kitchen/bathroom/everywhere at night.  And I'm loving every minute.  :)

I won't know where I'm going for sure until June 14, but I'll let y'all know just now (Guyanese for some unknown amount of time in the future.  Just now does NOT mean right now.  Lesson #1)

Got to go!  Much lovessss!!!!!!!  MUAH!

So you want to send me presents... (yay!)

Several people have asked about sending care packages and such while I'm serving in Guyana.  This is what I know about the mail situation so far (taken directly from my Peace Corps Guyana Welcome Book):


Mail service between the United States and Guyana is fairly reliable. Airmail letters from home usually take two weeks to arrive in Guyana and four to five weeks to arrive in the United States from Guyana. Surface mail may take months. The further a Volunteer’s site is from a large city, the less dependable and frequent the mail service.

During training, my address in Guyana will be:

Tori Schwent, GUY 25

U.S. Peace Corps Guyana 

c/o United States Embassy 

100 Young & Duke Streets, Kingston 

Georgetown, Guyana 

South America 

As for packages, Volunteers are responsible for paying import duties on items mailed to them from outside the country. The customs process for obtaining sent items is often lengthy, although the duty on items is generally minimal. Customs will notify me directly if I have been sent a package. Peace Corps/Guyana cannot help get these packages released from customs. Small padded envelopes are recommended over boxes.  One alternative to shipping packages through regular mail is to 
send items through a service, such as DHL International or Federal Express. Both companies have offices in Georgetown, but their services are expensive. You can have items sent through these companies to the Peace Corps office in Georgetown, but you must provide the street address and phone number. (The street address for the Peace Corps is 33A Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana. The phone number is 592.225.5073.) 

With that in mind, there's probably not going to be anything time sensitive coming my way, so don't worry too much about using an expensive carrier.  USPS should work just fine.  My address will also change after training, and I'll try to keep you updated as to when that will happen.  I'll try to keep a "wish list" posted in the sidebar of this blog for anyone who wants to send me goodies but has no idea what I may need or want.  :)

<3

Where the @*$% is Guyana?!?!

Guess what!  It's not in Africa!  I was surprised too.

Guyana is on the northern coast of South America.  Right here:

It's bordered by Venezuela to the west, Brazil to the south, Suriname to the East, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north.  Culturally, it's more caribbean than latino.  Guyana is also the only English speaking country in South America.

Here are some fun facts about Guyana for you:

1) The population of Guyana is about 750,000 people with 90% of the population located within 10-40 miles of the Atlantic Coast (roughly 10% of the total land area)

2) Most Guyanese citizens are either of Indian decent (Indo-guyanese), African decent (Afro-guyanese), or natives, which results in a very diverse culture (and lots of holidays/festivals!)

3) Guyana is one of a handful of countries that celebrate the hindu festival of colors known as Holi or Phagwah.  They all get together and dowse each other with colored powder and water.  It looks like so much fun!

4) The country is divided into 10 regions (more or less like our states) and has 5 distinct geographic areas: the marshy plain along the Atlantic coast, the white sand belt beyond that, the rainforest to the south, the desert savannah in the south west, and the interior lowlands.  Most of the country is still undeveloped and it is not uncommon to require a canoe or boat to reach many of the inland villages.

5) Guyana is predominantly Christian, though about 28% of the population is Hindu.

6) Guyana's independence day, known as Mashramani, reminds me of Mardi Gras.  What do you think?

7) Guyana is home to Jonestown, the site of the largest ever mass suicide, which resulted in the deaths of 900 cult followers.  Ever heard someone say "don't drink the kool-ade?"  This is where is started, folks.

8) Guyana has a wide variety of animal species including at least 8 primate species and several varieties of cockroach, many of which can fly.

9) Guyana is about the size of Idaho, but has half the amount of people.  Honestly, Fort Worth, Texas has a larger population than Guyana.  New York City's population is more than TEN TIMES larger.

10) Guyana means land of many waters and was named for the many rivers that run through it.  Roughly 9% of the country's land area is water.  It has so many rivers that empty into the Atlantic that most of the coastal waters are brown from sediment.  The cleanest water to swim in is in the rivers inland in the country.  There are also several fantastic waterfalls, like this one, Kaiteur Falls: 

So there you have it!  Ten fun facts about my home for the next 27 months!  

Peace!

The cliche application timeline post

In true Peace Corps applicant/volunteer tradition, here is my application timeline.  It's a bit different from what any new applicants will experience.  I applied on the old system, in the mist of the change to the new system, so it's a hodge-podge, learn as you go, communication challenged approach to becoming a PCV.

Feb. 28, 2012 - Submitted my application online.  It took me about a week to get all the information together, and over the following month all of my absolutely amazing references submitted their portions.

March 7, 2012 - Heard from my recruiter for the first time.  She sent me some forms for further information and asked me to send her more information about certain skill sets.

March 21, 2012 - Received my legal clearance packet.  I was living in South Korea, so it took an inordinate amount of time to get to me.  I had it sent back with my fingerprints and everything within a week.  Getting fingerprinted in Korea was a bit of a challenge.  I went to the local police station armed with some very basic Korean, found out I had to go to the headquarters a few miles away (thanks to a deputy's very kind wife translating via cell phone for me), and got a deputy to escort me in his squad car to the other side of town, translate for me, and drive me back home.  I'm happy to report that is the ONLY time I was ever escorted in a Korean squad car.  haha.

April 19, 2012 -  Had my video interview with my recruiter.  There were some technical difficulties, but we got it sorted.  If any of you are trying to connect to WebEx from a mac, you may have to use Safari.

May 1, 2012 -  Received my nomination for Central/South America, March 2013, in Primary Education/Teacher Training.  Did a happy dance.

May 5, 2012 -  Received my medical information packet.

May 2012 -  Got all my medical stuff done.  All in all it took three appointments US Dental and three visits to Seoul National University Hospital's International Clinic over five separate trip to Seoul.  There are some other posts further back in the blog if you want more information about getting your medical exams done in South Korea.  I had it back in the mail by the first week of June.

June through October 2012 - Absolutely nothing.  Nothing at all.  Most frustrating months of the whole process.  I did move back to the US and have all of my sad farewells to keep me occupied, at least.

October 24, 2012 - Dentally cleared.  Medically cleared about 30 minutes later.  Did another happy dance thinking I was within a couple weeks of an invite.  I wasn't.  It was still a good day.

December 3, 2012 - Asked to submit an updated resume and availability date.  Done and done.

December 16, 2012 - Received an email with a whole mess of questions to answer from placement.  They wanted to know everything.  Had my motivations changed, how will I cope with stress/cultural differences/altering aspects of my personality, can I ride a bike, how flexible and I geographically.  Oh, and they subtly slipped in that list that my departure date and location have changed.  No indication of when or where I'd be leaving but my nomination was officially irrelevant.  I spent the next two weeks freaking out about whether or not I should continue to study Spanish or switch to another.  Started frantically studying French as well "just in case."  I feel so sorry for my family who had to live with that.

December 28, 2012 - Finally, FINALLY got my invitation!  Guyana, April 30, Community Education Promoter.  Happy dance doesn't really cover it.  After googling Guyana and learning that it's in South America and not Africa, I jumped around screaming, ran into mom and dad's room and jumped on their bed, waking them up, still screaming, ran back to my room to grab my world map (GREAT Christmas present), ran BACK to mom and dad's room to show them where I'd be, read every bit of information sent to me... twice..., screamed some more, attacked facebook, read everything again... You get the idea

January through March, 2013 - Sent yet another resume and aspiration statement to my Guyana country director, applied for my new passport and visa, got a yellow fever vaccine, found fellow Guy 25 group members on facebook, got an amazing amount of friend requests from the Guy 24 group already down there, answered some surveys from the Guyana regarding my training, location and host family preferences, etc, filled out all of my paperwork on the new Onbording portal that replaced all of the paperwork I received in my big blue packet, and had my phone interview with one of the trainers in the Guyana office.

April 1, 2013 - contacted by staging and booked my flight to Philly through SATO Travel.

Come April 30, I'll be on my way to Philly for a day and a half and on May 2, I'll be in Guyana to start my 2-3 months of training and the next 27 months of my life in the jungle!  Bring on the monkeys!

9 weeks

One of the other girls leaving for Guyana in my group told me the other day that we leave in 9 weeks.  

9 WEEKS!!!!!

Craziness.  

It reminded me that I really need to enjoy this time at home.  I've been eating all my favorite foods, watching my favorite TV shows, drinking some mighty fine IPAs, and tormenting the heck out of my little sister (with love, of course).  I've got a habit of living in the future, so I'm trying to make a conscious effort to enjoy the little things.  

Today has been pretty great.  You should know my mom had her very first pottery class last week.  She's also the person I get my randomly obsessive enthusiasm from.  Anyway, today, five days after her fist lesson, she bought a pottery wheel.  Not only that, we brought it home, moved the kitchen table into the living room, and and set up the wheel in the middle of the kitchen.  

And no one who knows my family would be even remotely surprised by this.

If that wasn't proof enough of our awesomeness (eccentricity), we all took turns attempting to throw on the old kick wheel in the kitchen.  (Everyone managed to get something built.  Dad's was exceptionally impressive.)

I'm so excited to get to Guyana--most days I'm so ready to get out of Troy again I can't hardly stand it--but, seriously, it'll be so weird being away from the Schwent family antics for over 2 years.  

Destination Unknown...again

Back at the end of October I finally received my medical and dental clearance after 3 months of zero contact from the Peace Corps, which was awesome.  I read other PC timelines constantly, and, for many, final interviews/updated resumes/invitations start flying in within a couple weeks of clearance.

I was not so lucky.  I heard nothing until the first week of December, at which point I was asked to submit an updated resume.  Still hopeful, I convinced myself this is the last hurdle, and that an invitation would soon follow.  

Two weeks later, I receive another email.  My placement officer needs me to answer a few questions either via email or phone interview and has attached the list of questions for me.  Reading through the 2.5 pages of questions, discretely placed in the final subquestion in the very last question I find out the initial program I was nominated for (Central/South America, TEFL/Teacher Training, March 2013) has been closed.  

Keep in mind, via PCwiki and some other online detective work, I’d narrowed down my placement to Costa Rica departing March 2013.  There was no doubt in my mind where I was going.  Expectations=crushed.

She wanted to know how flexible I was with my departure date and location.  I responded with a more eloquent version of “I’ll go/do anything, anytime!  Just let me go!!!”

I guess now I can confidently say I’ll be going somewhere, to do something, sometime between February and June 2013.  Le sigh.

So now I’m waiting, again, for an update and hoping I hear something before we leave for our cruise Jan. 10.  

crossing my fingers.

Quick Update

I got all of my medical/dental paperwork submitted in June with no problems.  There ended up being 3 dentist visits and 3 doctors visits, but we fit them all in within a one month time span, and the doctors at Seoul National University Hospital were great.  They were highly organized, familiar with the paperwork, and probably did a better job keeping me informed of all the processes than any US hospital could have.  I’d highly recommend them to anyone trying to apply from Korea.  The PC medical evaluators didn’t have a single complaint.  I didn’t even know I was under review until I got my clearance email.

Which brings me to the latest development… I just got my dental and medical clearances!!!  I’ve been trying to keep myself distracted since I got back to the States, and, honestly didn’t expect any updates for at least another couple weeks.  What a WONDERFUL surprise!

Anyway, that’s about all the new news.  I’ll try to get a comprehensive application timeline up in the not too distant future.  Peace out!

Medical: Round 2, Dental: Round 3

Yep.  Dentist, doctor, and eye check all in the same day, BUT, I’m almost finished!  YAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

All of my dental and medical are done and now I’m just waiting for my labs to come back.  I pick up all my paperwork in a week and a half!  

I still need to buy another pair of glasses and get my frame measurements, but at least the technical portion of that form is finished.

WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Medical: Round 1, Dental: Round 2

After a couple weeks of trying to schedule an appointment with the Seoul National University International Clinic, I finally got to go in for my medical clearance exam this weekend.  Despite the hassle and confusion setting the appointment, I couldn’t be happier with how well they took care of me at the hospital.

I stayed out late with my co-teacher at the Chuncheon Mime Festival Friday night (super fun!), then caught the 6 am bus to Seoul for my appointment.  I made it to the clinic by 8:15 and had plenty of time to fill in my portion of the evaluation form while I waited for them to open at 9. 

The nurse that assisted me all morning spoke great English and did a great job going over the form with me and explaining all of my procedures.  She personally walked me through my physical, arranged my gyno exam in a different area of the hospital, and made sure I had an escort any time something took me outside the clinic area.  I’ve never felt so informed in a medical situation.

Despite the supreme lack of sleep and food, they managed to keep me in a good mood all morning.  I do mean ALL morning.  I was in and out of appointments from 9am to 12.  The fact that they kept me smiling through a physical, gyno exam, 2 shots, and 7 vials of blood for lab work is nothing shy of miraculous.  Especially since I HATE getting blood drawn.  I have a poor track record with it (fainting, pain, seizure ) and I get really really wigged out.  Luckily, I remembered to bring my kindle and made sure my nurse told them that I was planning to read my book and pretend they weren’t there and that they could tell me when they were finished.  To my surprise it was almost completely painless and they told me my reading plan was super cute.

750,000 won later (about $650) I’m just one TB test from finishing the med portion.  All I have to do now is go in for one more blood test, then wait another couple weeks for all of the lab reports to come in.

Now, the dentist, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as pleasant.  I went from SNUH to lunch to US Dental (formerly Tufts Dental) for the second of 3 appointments.  Last time, she did the general exam and determined that I have a few small cavities and a desperate need for a professional cleaning.  Considering it’d been 8 years, I considered that a success.  Oh, and surprising detail, I only have 1 wisdom tooth.  That’s pretty cool.

So, this time, I went in expecting a couple fillings and a cleaning.  Maybe $150 worth of work.  Haha…no.

She greets me at the door and informs me that I’m scheduled for 7 filllings and 1 exctraction.

uhh…WHAT?!?!

So I completely panic and start frantically trying to figure out what this whole extraction business is.  Apparently, she’d intended to remove my lone little wisdom tooth, to which I responded HELL NO!!!  I’ve read so many horror stories about wisdom tooth extraction in Korea.  FYI: it’s a conscious procedure here.  Just a little local anesthetic and you’re awake for every horrifying crunch and yank.

She tried to explain that it’s Peace Corps procedure, as outlined in the report.  After pointing out that it says the the tooth must either be removed or be ASYMPTOMATIC, I convinced her to let me keep it.  I mean, f’realz, I didn’t even know it was there.  Obviously, it’s not causing any trouble.

So, that was the first dental crisis of the afternoon.  After that, we went back and she told me we’d only be doing half my fillings today and that I have to COME BACK for the other 3.  I didn’t even argue.  The thought of going back makes my skin crawl, but, after winning the battle of the wisdom tooth, I didn’t want to push my luck.

Oh, and it ended up costing waaaay more than $150.  Like, 3-4 times more.  And I’ve still got another $300 session on Wednesday.  

Long story short, for those of you applying from Korea, SNUH International Clinic is the shiz.  They will bend over backwards to make sure you’re comfortable and well taken care of.  US Dental, however, will be very thorough with your report and do great work, but costs way more than a typical Korean dentist and is not the most welcoming person you’ll ever meet.  I seem to get the impression that she’s always looking for a way to make a little more money off you.  Maybe that’s just me though.  I’ve heard great things from other people, but, if I were given a second reliable option, I’d probably give someone else a shot.  Personal opinion.  (Obviously, I’m not a great authority on dentists.  I avoid them if at all possible.)

Anyway, that’s the adventure so far.  I’ll be really really happy when this whole portion of the process is done.  It’s not that it’s terrible, it’s actually better than I expected, but it is a bit of a hassle and I really really really dislike doctors and dentists.

Parenting WIN...

My family is totally supportive of me joining the Corps, but that doesn’t stop them from occasionally throwing out reasons why I shouldn’t go.   Today’s has been my all time favorite:

Dad:

“I have a proposition for you…

Instead of joining the Peace Corps, St. Louis is starting a women’s football league.  You should stay and do that instead because you’d be great!  And it’s a lingerie league!  Well, I mean not exactly lingerie…”

Me: 

“Oh, I know.  Just shorty shorts, a bikini top, and pads.  I’ve looked into joining one of those before.  It’s awesome St. Louis is finally getting a league!  Maybe when I get back…”

Dad: 

“But you’ll be too old to play then!”

Me: 

“I’ll be 27…”

Dad:

“Yeah, ok… but think about how good you could be if you start now!  You could be in the hall of fame or something!  Just think about it…”

Yep, my dad told me to skip the peace corps to join a lingerie football league.  And, it was urgent enough for him to grab the phone from mom right before she hung up so he could tell me about it.  

Little does he know that the hardest part of living abroad is not experiencing my family’s shenanigans on a daily basis.  I so so so love them!

I have a blog so it must be official...

I’m starting this blog a bit later than I’d wanted, but I haven’t made my plans totally public yet.  Until then, I’ll just make sure this one doesn’t wind up on facebook.

A few months ago, I applied to the Peace Corps!  I submitted my application Febrary 18, my references arrived a couple weeks later, my legal forms a few weeks after that, and, on April 15, I had my initial interview.  On April 30, I received my nomination!  

Central or South America, Primary Teacher Training, March 2013!

I’m incredibly excited!  The nomination couldn’t be any more perfect for me.  So, if all goes according to plan, I’ll be headed south right around my 25th birthday.  Considering I just celebrated my 24th birthday eating pigs feet with my coworkers in Korea, I think I may be doing something right here.

So, that’s all the exciting stuff, now for the down and dirty of this part of the application process: medical and dental clearance.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I haven’t been to a dentist in something close to 8 years.  I realize that’s a long time.  

That streak ends tomorrow.  I. am. terrified.  There is no way this will go well.  I personally know of at least two issues that will need to be addressed and god knows what will show up on those x-rays.  At least there’s a US certified dentist in Seoul that I can go to, and it should be a bit cheaper than going when I get home.

I’m also in the process of setting up an appointment for my medical evaluation.  In addition to not doing dentists, I’m not a big doctor person either.  I don’t even own ibprophen at this point.  My theory of just not getting sick or injured has worked pretty well for me so far.  It’s a shame to break such a strong tradition now.

Oh well, it will all be worth it when I’m on that plane to some Spanish speaking paradise in a few months.  Until then, I’ll try to keep you updated on the, from what I hear, agonizing application that will be my life for the foreseeable future.

PEACE!