The highs are high and the lows are low

Back to give you all an update on my life here. How yuh do’in? Me, Im fine.

You know, there are many things that set a Peace Corps volunteers experience apart from other international programs but the biggest that I have remarked is that we live with the people. We’re not just visiting. For most Peace Corps countries and especially Benin we’re not given a posh apartment with all the luxuries of home to the point that we don’t realize we’re in a foreign country until we step foot outside. Through living with our communities we learn their beliefs; we adapt to and sometimes adopt their culture. I've now been in this country for 10 months. I’m amazed by how much I've been able to become habituated to and then still at times I’m amazed by how many other things I’m still not used to.

Things I am used to:

-Fetching water out of well and carrying it on my head to my home everyday

-Hand washing clothes in buckets

-Washing dishes in buckets

-Bucket baths; outside rain showers

-Pooping in a hole

-Riding a motorcycle/moped as my main form of transport

-Goat poop on my front stairs

-Spiders hanging out in my home, I realize that they’re there to protect me

-Being disconnected, I use internet once a month whereas when I was in the states I used it once a day

-Recognizing social cues

-Wearing skirts everyday

-Riding a bike everyday
-Communicating in French

-Having worms, it really is the best diet plan

-Daily power outages

-Riding in a 5 person car with 8 people and a goat

-Waiting

-Disputing prices “You want 2,000cfa for that shirt? That’s expensive. I’ll give you 1000cfa. No? OK bye. I’ll go to the next 10 shirt ladies”

-The food. Care for a spaghetti and rice sandwich anyone? Yeah.

-Taking fat as a compliment. “Tu as bein grossi” You have well fattened. Thanks… -_-

Things I am not used to:

-Being called outside of my name
-Communicating in local language

-Lack of customer service

-Fatalist frame of thinking, ou bien “I have six children if my seventh is sick and ready to die I’m not going to worry or go buy him medicine because at least I’ll have six still living”

-Working with people who think they have no control over their future

I’m sure I’m missing some things but for now that’s it. Well hey, would you look at that. The list of things I’m not used to is shorter than the list of things I am used to. That must mean something good. Sometimes I hate this country; other days I love it so much I think I’ll never leave. But hey, it was the same when I was in America. 

A Day in the Life of a Trainee

7am: Wake up

7:30: Eat breakfast, head out to class

8am: French class

10am: Break

10:30am: More French

12pm-ish: Lunch (beans and rice, pasta, bread, or fried plantain)

1:30pm: Even more French, cultural class of some sort, personal study time, French game time

5:00pm: Finish! Hang with the wonderful RCH, bike for an hour, or go home for even more French

7pm-ish: Return Home (help mama cook, French review with papa, sit awkwardly while everyone talks)

8pm: Eat dinner with the family, go to the masjid

9pm: Head to my room, shower, and study more, read, watch a movie, type up a blog post, or call home

11pm: Lights out

Timeline

 

September 20th, 2012- Submitted application
I knocked it out in 5 hours in one night because I knew if it didn’t get done that night it wouldn’t get done at all

October 16th, 2012- Last recommendation submitted. Interview Scheduled.
The reason why it took so long for my last recommendation to be submitted is only one of the many reasons why I use the word friend very loosely. Also, it seemed like my recruiter was waiting at the phone for that last recommendation because no more than 5 minutes after it was submitted I was called and my interview was scheduled for two days later.

October 18th, 2012- Interview conducted. NOMINATED!!!
My interview lasted about an hour and during that same phone call she nominated me. I was only told that my nomination was for a health extension program, my program may entail some food security, I would have to bike long distances, and that if all the legal and medical goes well and timely I could be leaving as early as the day after my graduation, May 5^th.

October 31st, 2012- Legal Packet arrived
I'm staying on campus and so I have been calling my mom basically everyday making sure she checks the mailbox. Two weeks later it finally came! I worked a 7pm to 7am shift, and went home to pick it up that morning. No, I play no games with this. Time is of the essence and I know the sooner I get everything to them the sooner they will get everything back to me.

November 1st, 2012- Legal Packet sent out
The very next day I went to my campus police dept., had my fingerprints taken, filled out the forms, packaged, sealed and sent everything right back to them. This process requires diligence and commitment.

 

November 13^th, 2012- Legally Cleared

Checked my portal like I habitually did multiple times a day and discovered that I was indeed legally cleared.

 

January 4^th, 2013- Placement Interview

So the longest waiting period by far was between being legally cleared and actually receiving an invitation. I don’t want to give the impression that I did nothing in between these dates. Much nagging and many emails were definitely sent, but there was absolutely nothing to be done but to wait. I’m pretty sure that fact that this also fell around the time of the holidays didn’t help. Yet and still almost two months later I received a call when I least expected it and had my placement interview on the spot. I was told that next I would be receiving my invitation, through email WITHIN two weeks. More waiting…

 

January 16^th, 2013- INVITED

Opened my email to see the header “Peace Corps invites you to serve…”   as a Rural Community Health volunteer in Benin West Africa beginning June 24^th 2013. Celebration commences!!! I have to work that night but I read over the materials at work and confirm my invitation in the wee hours of the morning. The next day tasks are opened up on my medical applicant portal and I immediately get to work getting appointments set. The infamous big blue packet is received via airmail a few days later with hard copies of everything.

 

April 29^th, 2013- Submit final medical tasks

$800 dollars and three months later I am finally done submitting all of my tasks, now more waiting to receive my final medical clearance.

 

May 2^nd, 2013- Final Medical Clearance received

Only had an issue with one form that was missing a signature, hunted down the physician for that and finally received an email saying I was medically cleared. Ain’t no stopping me nooow, I’m on the move!

 

May 4^th, 2013- Graduated from Columbia College

Finally was at the 50 days left mark and was also able to submit my final transcript!

May 24^th, 2013- Received flight information from SATO

 

June 25^th, 2013- Arrive in Philly

 

June 27^th, 2013- Arrive in Benin

 

Invitation!!!!!

OK so my slackness knows no limits. I actually received my invitation 8 days ago, January 16th, but with classes beginning the same day things were just too hectic. So where am I going you ask? The anticipation is killing you you say? Alright, Alright, lol. I'm going to this beautiful little key shaped country called Benin. My assignment is a rural health advisor and my departure date is June 24th!!!! I'm going to West Africa guys!!! AHHHH. I am still in shock, in my list of places that I wished to be sent to Benin was fourth on my top ten list so I am just too stoked.

I stayed up all night reading all the informational materials they sent and accepted my invitation at 3am in the morning. *Note: I submitted my application September 20th and was invited to serve January 16th, that's just a little under 4 months. Diligence and dedication pays off. In these 8 days since receiving my invitation I have already submitted my aspiration statement, had my eye exam papers filled out, and I am currently getting my dental paperwork filled out. I found where I can get all my physical exam related things inexpensively handled (since I do not have health insurance) and probably would have already knocked that out of the way if they didn't have to be filled out within four months of me leaving.

The most difficult thing now is trying to focus on finishing up my last semester of college when all I want to do are Peace Corps and Benin related affairs.

Did YOU Know?

The official language in Benin is French
(which is great because I took french in High School and in college)

The official religion in Benin is Voodoo
(But its not like the voodoo we see here in the states where people stick pins in dolls of exes)

There are four seasons in Benin: wet, really wet, dry, and really dry

National Park Pendjari is located in northern Benin
(Animals!!!)

Benin touches the Atlantic Ocean
(Beaches!!!)

Slaves were shipped from Benin's coast
(History!!!)

I've Got Mail ;)

PEACE CORPS MAIL!!!!!
 Its not my invite, but im sure thats coming soon eh he he .. (nervous laugh). It was still pretty awesome to get something from them and as I mentioned, i was able to fill it out and send it back the same day. In my legal packet was:

• Two finger print cards
• Detailed Directions for these *Read carefully*
• NAC (National Agency Check) Questionnaire
• Detailed Directions for this *read carefully*

Both fingerprint cards must be filled out so if you are reading this and waiting for your legal packet to arrive in the mail you may want to figure out where you are going to go and get these done at. No they do not allow you to break open a black pen and do your own. Lol, or I would have. I went to my campus police station and they did mines for that free free. Thanks CCPD :-). The NAC questionnaire asked basic info, name, social, place of birth, they asked what county you were born in and I had no idea so I had to call around for that tidbit of information. Apparently whatever burrough you were born in is also your county. So my city was the Bronx and my county was Bronx. Until next time, 
May all things work in your favor and you always recieve fast responses!

Peace Corps New Application Process

So many of you applying now may be reading blogs that refer to the old application process & unless you've had enough free time to stalk the site as I have I'm guessing you didnt know about these changes.
The changes occured August 15th 2012 and in a nutshell are:

• Improved medical review process, your Health History Form will be reviewed before sending out a bunch of papers unrelated to your needs and only applicants who recieve an invite will be asked to get complete a physical and dental examination
• Number of paper forms reduced, many things being done electronically
• Invitations will be sent out with a longer lead time giving you more time to prepare

Heres a quick FAQ page on it:
http://www.peacecorps.gov/learn/howvol/stepstoapply/newappfaq/

So I think this is pretty neat. My main hope is that this means all the crazy long medical process stories ive been reading wont apply to me due to these changes. I hope. I know they say the entire application process from start to finish usually takes 9-12 months. Well, I started September 20th and I am really hoping to be leaving no later than May 20th. Thats 8 months, Im thinking wishfully here. 

Patience is a virtue that I am constantly working on.

Timeline up to Today

This is how I will keep myself busy up until the day I am on a plane headed to a destination that will forever change every aspect of me. I will meticulously keep track of every waking detail of this tedious process. Once I actually leave I will keep all of my loved and worried ones at home up to date on what is happening through this blog. So this is my timeline up until today:

September 20th, 2012- Submitted application
Knocked it out in 5 hours in one night because I knew if it didnt get done that night it wouldnt get done at all
October 16th, 2012- Last recommendation submitted. Interview Scheduled.
The reason why it took so long for my last recommendation to be submitted is only one of the many reasons why I use the word friend very losely. Also, it seemed like my recruiter was waiting at the phone for that last recommendation because no more than 5 minutes after it was submitted I was called and my interview was scheduled for two days later.
October 18th, 2012- Interview conducted. NOMINATED!!!
My interview lasted about an hour and during that same phone call she nominated me. I was only told that my nomination was for a health extension program, my program may entail some food security, I would have to bike long distances, and that if all the legal and medical goes well and timely I could be leaving as early as the day after my graduation, May 5th
October 31st, 2012- Legal Packet arrived
I'm staying on campus and so I have been calling my mom basically everyday making sure she checks the mailbox. Two weeks later it finally came! I worked a 7pm to 7am shift, and went home to pick it up that morning. No, I play no games with this. Time is of the essence and I know the sooner I get everything to them the sooner they will get everything back to me.
November 1st, 2012- Legal Packet sent out
The very next day I went to my campus police dept., had my fingerprints taken, filled out the forms, packaged, sealed and sent everything right back to them. This process requires diligence and commitment.

Now I wait... Hopefully I will hear back from them before the year is out so that I can get my multitude of doctor appointments out of the way before my insurance runs out in January

Familiar with many, master at none

Many experiences have carried her to this moment. Degradation of pride, strength, hopes. Superficial expressions fooling the mind to believe it’s being engaged, the body to believe it had been cherished.
The delusive promises of forever
To go with the motions. There are so many things that can make a person worthy. Worthy of trust, attention, love. To be caring, but not a true altruist. To be smart, but not a genius. To be honest, but not a saint. To be pretty, but not a model.
To be the norm
She has body morphia disorder. Not dismorphia. She looks in a mirror daily trying to pick apart what isn’t right, what everyone else sees. What makes her ugly? She can’t see it.
What makes her not good enough
She becomes undone

- my mindset at the takeoff of this blog

Who is she?
Jannah. A sister, a daughter, an aunt, a caregiver, a student, a volunteer, a president, an ex, a mentor, a worker

What are her values?
Family, Faith, Ambition, Compassion, Honesty, Diversity, Tolerance, Equality, Strength, Love, Legacy


Joining the Peace Corps will test all of my values . What do I really want to do, and more than that, what can I really do well? I have proven to myslef that I can do anything I put my mind to. But what really drives me? What is my passion? What can I see myself doing for 40+ years? I do not know. I know I want to help people, but how? And how can I do it in a way that satisfies me and leaves the biggest positive impact in this large and crazy world.