The Transition

Chapt 2
I'll be on this chapter for at least the next six to eight months! I alluded to my future plans and wanting to use this blog to chroncicle my life and future, but I'm guilty of being vague.
To be specific, I want to use this blog to chroncile my life as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

I've been wanting to join the Peace Corps for several years now, but it was more or less a crazy idea I would blurt out, but no one believed I would actually do. Admittedly, I didn't think I would do it either...until doors started opening for me.

I started my application process in May 2009 and finished it in late August. Three letters of recommedation (from a work supervisor, volunteer supervisor, and gracious friend), I interviewed with a Peace Corps Recruiter in Arlington VA. It was my first interview (ever). Up until I walked out of the interview, I still doubted my intentions. When the interview ended, he nominated me to an Environmental Education Project in Latin America departing in September 2010. For the first time, I had a clear idea of what my passion in life was...the environment.

After a few months of serious thought and weighing my options, and talking about it...I was convinced that I could not turn down the opportunity to live out my dream.

The anticipated change and opportunity gives me entirely positive outlook. Besides the permanant smile on my face, the wheels are in motion in preparation for a new career.

I put my house on the market a few days ago (my first showing was today). I started my paperwork for separation from the Coast Guard. I gave a lot of my things away, auctioned things off on eBay, selling on Craigslist, and will soon figure out what exactly 'consignment shops' are. Timing is everything...so I hope my house gets sold in God's perfect time.

I hope to be out of the Coast Guard by the first week of June, which would leave me 90 days vacation before departing as a Volunteer. The Peace Corps will not officially invite me to serve in a specific project and country until I can provide official military discharge papers (DD214).

That being said, I probably won't have much a Peace Corps update until after June...meaning this blog might be a little dry.

Based on web resources, I have narrawoed down the countries I might serve in if I depart in September: Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador, or Mexico (if I even get sent to a Spanish speaking country). In retrospect, I should have requested a Marine Resource managment Project in Fiji...so I could finally use my degree!!

Regardless, Envrionmental Education can be a variety of things. It could include grass roots projects promoting environmental awareness in small village, working with EPA-type govt entities, working with non-govt organizations in national parks or preserves, planting trees, finding ways to help farmers employ green farming practicies, and the list could go on.

I would be proud to be a steward of the earth at the grass roots level, which invariably would lead to improved quality of life and society.