El Sol

David and I each have to get 30 hours of teaching experience before we technically "qualify" for the program that we've been nominated for, so we signed up to volunteer at El Sol, which is a community center for the day laborers in the area.

The idea behind El Sol is brilliant, really. The center keeps laborers (mostly Guatemalan and Mexican here) from waiting to be picked up on the side of the road or at Home Depot and offers them free English lessons, computer access, multicultural programs and breakfast/lunch everyday. It also pairs up workers with employers, which helps with safety for everyone.

Honestly, before yesterday, this wasn't a population I thought much about. There are actually a lot of Guatemalans in Jupiter and I see them all the time but we didn't exactly run in the same circles. I had some totally biased ideas about migrant laborers (especially the illegal ones...which I basically assumed was everyone) but that was about the extent of my knowledge about them.

These little guys have captured my heart though. They work incredibly hard, both for their employers and to learn English (which is tough by the way - try explaining to someone what a "pit" is or what "to dip" means) and are super sweet. I still don't know enough to have much of an opinion on immigration laws but I'm glad that places like El Sol are around to help them and I'm excited about spending more time with them over the next few months.

Dental Clearance

We have dental clearance! Although everyone seems to dread the medical process more, dental clearance is a huge deal for me. My mouth has hated me since the day I was born and I've had all the surgeries, scars and appliances to prove it. I had a root canal when I was a 10, a crown, 4 teeth pulled before I had braces, then years of being a metal mouth, which made glands in my lip swell and have to be surgically removed. And then I had 6 wisdom teeth taken out, not without complications, of course.

I've had annoying jaw problems lately and I've started doing some serious teeth-grinding but the dentist didn't seem to think either was life-threatening, and apparently the PC dentists didn't either. Hooray!

It's a day to celebrate!

Whew!

We have a new nomination! We didn't get any explanation about our other nomination but after reading a few journals about volunteers in Kyrgyzstan and news articles about the ethnic violence there, I'm assuming it may have been part of the reason for our change.

Our new nomination is still for teaching English, but this time it is in Asia with a departure date of June 2011. From the PeaceCorps Wiki, it looks like we will be heading to China or Mongolia....but this time I'm not counting on anything!

Our plans are still up-in-the-air, since this little kink will give us an extra 2 months but we're figuring things out. Right now I just want to get all our medical/dental stuff cleared so we can be ready for whatever comes up. Let the adventure begin!

The Good,the Bad and the Ugly

Well the good news is that there is nothing wrong with Toolkit. The bad news is that there is a problem with our nomination. I talked to our recruiter this morning and she said that there have been some changes to the program we were nominated for, so we are un-nominated.

Our recruiter is awesome though and said she is working diligently to get us into another program that would have a similar departure date. I filled out an Education Skills Addendum and we are planning to start teaching at the El Sol Community Center on Friday, but I'm nervous.

They say not to make any big changes until you get your official invitation because so much changes but it's just not possible. David has turned down a job and we are in the process of making some big decisions about the next few months - everything is hinging on this PC thing working out....

Toolkit Problems?

Has anyone else had a problem with Toolkit lately? I looked at mine late Friday and found this:

Honestly, I hadn't checked it for a while before this weekend, so maybe there has been a glitch in the system for a while. I'm really hoping there is a problem with Toolkit, not our nominations.

Going Postal

Thanks to Dr. Jordan, our dental exams are done (for free!) and all the forms and x-rays are officially in the mail.

Of course, there was a lot of drama because this is the Peace Corps, and I think getting this application in is only a part of the trials we'll face in the next few years. We stopped at the Post Office on the way to church this morning and dropped the packet in the drive-thru mailbox...and then I remembered that our recruiter said we should have delivery confirmation on it so we can be sure it is received at the PC office. I made David turn around and we stood in line for a solid 15 minutes to ask if someone could get it out of the box. Clearly there was some sort of misunderstanding but after lots of waiting in the heat and a whole lot of attitude from some mail guy in a Marlins jersey, we got the packet out of the box and stood in line again to mail it with delivery confirmation.

And then the lady tells us that because it is in an envelope supplied by the Peace Corps, we can't even get confirmation for it.

Seriously?! 

VA Medical Centers - Help!

Okay all you "Peace Corp Journal" stalkers - I need your help. Has anyone had their medical exams done at a VA Center? I went through a really long phone tree with the WPB VA Center and was told to call back on Monday, and the Athens center said they do not do them at all. Our Pre-Service Nurse said that some VA Centers aren't even aware that they can do PC exams.

Has anyone else run across this problem? Do you know any tricks or have any tips? 

Neither snow nor rain...

With the help of our amazing mail woman (props to you, Mary! I think that's your name...), our medical packets arrived here in Georgia today. David's was sent to the condo and we were expecting Mary to just mail his, but she even went digging through our PO box to find mine too. What a woman.

Anyways there's not a lot we can do with them while we are here on "vacation" and I've basically read everything about it that I possibly can online but hopefully we can go ahead and get some appointments made so we can knock them out as soon as we are back in Florida. David and I both have pretty basic health insurance right now and haven't exactly had regular check-ups, so it will be interesting to see what they find..

Our fabulous recruiter also gave us the go-ahead to apply for and attend Discipleship Training School in Switzerland in September as long as we have all of our health clearances, so I'm ready to knock this out! Movin' on up..

Empty

Well, we checked both of our mailboxes before we left West Palm Beach, but no medical packets. I guess the good news is that we will have something to look forward to when we get home!