Peace Corps invitation - Botswana

John and I have officially been invited to join the Peace Corps in Botswana with a departure date of Sept 13, 2011.  Our assignments are both related to HIV/AIDS:

• John - School and Community Liaison for Life Skills – working with schools and teachers to promote healthy behaviors and build life skills particularly around issues of HIV/AIDS.
• Tracy - District Community Liaison – working with District and Community based governmental organizations, improving or expanding services and building relationships to improve programming. 

It is also important to realize that our roles do not only stop at our assignments.  There are 10 core expectations for volunteers that we are prepared to follow.

Core Expectations For Peace Corps Volunteers

In working toward fulfilling the Peace Corps Mission of promoting world peace and friendship, as a trainee and Volunteer, you are expected to:

1. Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months
2. Commit to improving the quality of life of the people with whom you live and work; and, in doing so, share your skills, adapt them, and learn new skills as needed
3. Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service
4. Recognize that your successful and sustainable development work is based on the local trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture 
5. Recognize that you are responsible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your personal conduct and professional performance
6. Engage with host country partners in a spirit of cooperation, mutual learning, and respect
7. Work within the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps and the local and national laws of the country where you serve
8. Exercise judgment and personal responsibility to protect your health, safety, and well-being and that of others
9. Recognize that you will be perceived, in your host country and community, as a representative of the people, cultures, values, and traditions of the United States of America
10. Represent responsibly the people, cultures, values, and traditions of your host country and community to people in the United States both during and following your service

We are excited about our upcoming opportunity and really appreciate everyone's support and patience (as I'm sure we have talked everyone's ears off about the Peace Corps over the last several years).  It's hard to imagine we have been working on this for so long and it is finally a reality! 

Currently we are in California and are still posting to our travel blog link http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/tracyandjohn/3/tpod.html..  We expect to be back in Louisville around the 20th of April and look forward to seeing everyone!

On the road again

We are heading west this time and would be thrilled if you want to keep up with us.  You can follow this link to find any updates while we are out west!

The direct URL for the travel blog out west is:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/tracyandjohn/3/tpod.html

Thanks,
John and Tracy

On the final steps to joining!

We spoke with a placement specialist this morning and she confirmed a lot of the things we thought or were told earlier.  To kind of recap in case anyone doesn't know (which would be a bit surprising to me since I feel like I over-talk about it sometimes)

John will be teaching ESL to high-school kids (most likely, nothing is 100% yet)

Tracy will be doing one of three things: business education, business extension, or business development which may be out in the world, in a classroom, or some of both.

We are officially qualified for placement now and the PC folks will be looking at our skills and health needs to find a suitable program.  The next step will be the invitation which I believe will include a country of service and date of departure!  The earliest program we will be invited for seems to be leaving June 1st.  We may know as soon as the next few weeks or it could be as late as 8 weeks before the departure date.  The conversation ended with what I hope is a stock phrase and reminder rather than a close possibility: there is still a chance we won't get in based on our various country's skill needs and our medical needs.  We are keeping our finger's crossed and will post any updates here!

In other news we are heading out for our western trip on the 14th or 15th.  We will post the URL for the western blog pretty soon.

Redirect for Florida trip

For our trip to Florida our blog will be moving to the Travelpod site:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/tracyandjohn/2/tpod.html

Click HERE to see our latest updates.  We won't post more to this site while we are on the road.

We will also be logging into Google Latitude occasionally so if you want to be added to the contact list just send an invitation or let us know you are interested.

John and Tracy

Spending the day with Rowan

So the last couple of nights have been spend staying with our parents and enjoying family time.

At Tracy's folks we learned a new card game - Royal Rummy, Michigan Rummy, or Tripoley (I think the name changes but the game stays the same). And they had a honey baked ham that we literally destroyed. Yummy stuff!

The evening with my parents was fun also. We got to attend uncle Jimmy's birthday party and see all the new children running about. We played a long game of Tripoley with them as well and my dad actually played the mock round (for teaching/ remembering game play). Quite a pleasant surprise. Aunt Kelly also had an extra mat we will be taking on the road to play it some more! Dad had to work a little bit the next morning, but stuck around for most of it. Tracy had an optometrist appointment so we left in the afternoon.

After dropping a small fortune on a new pair of glasses, Tracy and I went to pick up Rowan from school for a final afternoon. I had no inkling that prescription glasses cost that much but Tracy advised me that it was SOP.

We went to feed the ducks behind Papa Johns headquarters. Or get attacked by geese is more like it. Tracy and Ro even pretended like they were an invasion force and threw "bread bombs" at them. After the barrage of fowl, we grabbed a bite to eat and went to a park in the east end with old war items around - a tank, helicopter, and a torpedo. We threw some sticks in the stream and a good time was had by all.

Ducks I

Ducks II

A walk in the woods

Part of our stick in the river program

Tracy advised me that I look scared in this one

Me looking much more happy

Peace Corps - Legal

We just passed the legal qualification!!!  Only placement is left.  It's amazing how quick everything is rolling now.

John & I are also done volunteering for the time being (at least until we get back from our first trip and are in Louisville for a few days).  I got to teach on Thursday as well and had a great experience.  Initially I was not in a good mental place for teaching and it's amazing how much you have to put aside anything going on in your personal life when standing up in front of people.  I finally got into the swing of things after a little while.  Teaching is hard because you can never be sure if everyone is following what you are talking about and so many people are on different levels in these classes based on their history.  There is a huge risk of not challenging half the class while the other half might not even be following what you are trying to get across.  Communication is huge and I know I am going to be on the other side of it soon.

I told the class about our plans, that it was my last day, and how we are likely to be going to Africa.  They were very excited and I got several hugs on the way out.  I am sad not to be seeing them as much.  :-(

Tomorrow we are leaving town for our first trip down to FL. Onward to warm weather and visits with family/friends!

Peace Corps - Medical

We just got medically qualified!!!!!! All that's left is legal and placement. I also taught me first ESL class today and it went well. I have amazing students!

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