Monday, December 13, 2010

Nomination

I found out while I was in Aruba that I've been nominated for Peace Corps service. The program is a teacher training program, which means that I'll be showing other teachers how to teach English. This is a very exciting and also daunting thought for me to digest right now, as I feel like I'm still struggling to write good lessons for my own students! I've also been nominated to serve in sub-Saharan Africa!!! I'll admit, at first, I was a bit dismayed by this news, only because I had really set my heart on going to Eastern Europe. However, I also think Africa is a literal once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I'm certainly not going to let it pass me up. But, it also comes with a lot of challenges that are unique and that I don't think I would've faced in Europe, for example, will there be clean drinking water? Will I have to walk 4 miles to a well to get clean water? What about the threat of contracting AIDS? What about my poor, poor Irish skin in the hot African sun? These are all fears that, while unvoiced on my part, my nagging family has acutely picked up on and vocalized in the form of many jokes and incredulous tones of voice. I realized today that I literally have 10 months until departure. Well, approximately. But still! So much to squeeze in before then. I don't feel ready at all to make sure a HUGE life change, and yet, I definitely feel as though this is the next step in my journey. So, I'd better get crackin'!