ridiculous excitement!

I am very excited to share with you the experiences of my 27 month Peace Corps service in beautiful South Africa! (And no, sadly I will not be going to the World Cup.) I want to say thank you to my family, friends, teachers, and all other souls whose influences of friendship, guidance, struggle, support, and love have helped me reach this adventure. Thank you all so much for helping me grow, you're amazing!

I've wanted to join the Peace Corps since I first learned about it from my friend/roomie Laura during our freshman year at Tech. Last September I started the application and by October sent it in. Many thanks to Dr. Chris Smith, Dr. Lynne Morris, and (one day) Dr. Laura Zak for writing those tedious recommendation letters! In November I had a phone interview and received a nomination for an education placement in Africa. I became medically cleared in February. In May (7 months from my application submission) I received an invitation to South Africa as a Resource Specialist in the Schools and Community Resource Program. I didn't mind waiting those 7 months, in fact I really love waiting!

I was so excited when I got my invitation packet in the mail I had to lick it. Thanks Keeley for photographing!

So, what does a Resource Specialist in the Schools and Community Resource Program do exactly? According to the invitation packet my primary duties will be working in either a primary or secondary school (maybe both) assisting teachers in improving teaching, subject content knowledge, and classroom practices. I'll also be teaching, working with the Department of Education, supporting HIV/AIDS awareness and education initiatives, collaborating with the community, and strengthening programs for out of school youth. Until I'm settled in my new home within the coming months I won't really know much more than this.

I will be living in one of two provinces, Mpumalanga or Kwa-Zulu Natal located in the north eastern part of the country. South Africa, in area, is roughly equal to Texas x 2.

Here is some information from the Welcome Letter that I think is pretty cool:

South Africa is a country with a rich history and cultural diversity. Currently, the country has 11 official languages, and each language has a number of regional dialects. Following South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, Archbishop Desmond Tutu named the newly integrated South “the Rainbow Nation” to represent South Africa’s ethnic and cultural diversity.

I'll be leaving for staging (orientation) in Philadelphia on July 12th and for South Africa on the 13th. I'm way too excited to be nervous. Until them I am getting packed, taking care of really fun paper work, painting a mural for a local church, and spending time with family and friends under east Texas skies.