How I got here.

After working for about four years as a small town lawyer in Northern Michigan, I went back to school to gain my elementary teaching certificate.  I hoped to stay in the area even though it was a bad time for education.  I completed my student teaching and got my certification, but was unable to find a teaching position, and so I started to look at other options.  Having never really thought about the Peace Corps, I don't even remember where the idea came from, but once it got into my head I knew that's what I wanted to do.  I started the process of applying to the Peace Corps in August of 2010, knowing that it was a lengthy process.  While it is indeed long, I was impressed at how quickly each step moved.  My preference of location was Sub-Saharan Africa or Oceania, because I wanted to get as far from anything I had every experienced as possible.  Within a week of applying, I was called by a recruiter and set up an interview in Chicago.  I had the privilege of meeting with Nomenee Robinson, who served in the Peace Corps in India from 1961-63, the first group to serve after the Corps was started by John F. Kennedy.  I received my nomination on November 2, to leave in late July for a program in Asia.  I went through the process of doctor and dentist visits, to make sure I was healthy enough to go abroad.  Nomination is only the first step, and nothing is official until there is an invitation to serve.

During this time, I was working as a nanny for my friend's baby and with an after-school program where I run extracurricular activities and programs for middle school kids.  As the year progressed, I read up on Asia, and was excited to find out where exactly I would be going.  In April, I received a call concerning my invitation to serve.  If I was amenable, they had spots open in Sub-Saharan Africa, leaving in early June.  Since Africa had been my first preference, that was just fine by me.  I was given two possibilities, one for a high school classroom English teacher in a country that recently had seen some conflict (they would not name the countries), and the second would be working with younger children, running extracurricular activities and programs (sound familiar?) in a more stable country with a long Peace Corps relationship.  I jumped at the second option, which turned out to be Swaziland.

Since my invitation, I've been reading up on Swaziland and Sub-Saharan Africa, and ordering all the little goodies I'll need for the next 27 months of my life.  I have no idea how often I'll be able to make posts, but I hope to give updates about where I'm living, and what my work is like.  I also hope to post lots of pictures, of course.