Preparing and the Process

May 15

Hello and welcome! My name is Andrew and this is the beginning of what I hope becomes a comprehensive blog of my experiences as a Peace Corps China 24 (the 24th cohort) volunteer from 2018-2020. Although I haven't yet left for my 27-month long tour of service, It feels like it has been a journey to this point in the application process.

My timeline so far has gone as follows.

• June 6, 2017: turned in my initial application for a University English Teaching Position in China.
• June 21st, 2017: interviewed for the position (happy birthday to me)
• July 1st, 2017: offered and accepted the position
• July 11th, 2017: Sent in fingerprints and initiated the FBI background check
• -----A LONG wait later------
• December 19th, 2017: Received legal clearance
• January 17th, 2018: Resumes and aspiration statements due.
• December 20th- February 22nd: Received Medical clearance.  To understand this process better it might be useful to think of the medical clearance part of the application as a scavenger hunt in which participants have to be poked with a certain amount of needles, x-rayed, prodded, and drilled (if you have cavities), all while filling out an array of wonderfully convoluted medical paperwork. It wasn't a terrible experience but one that required a certain level of proactive strategy.
• March 12th, 2018: First Peace Corps conference call with Peace Corps Staff and other China 24 volunteers.
• April 12th, 2018: This Second Peace Corps conference call addressed staging, PST (pre-service training) and China 24's miscellaneous questions.
• June 14th, 2018: Arrive in China spend 2 weeks in a hotel while doing basic orientation/ TEFL training and language courses.
• June 29th, 2018: Move out of hotel. Move in with host family
• July 21st, 2018: mid preservice training interview. A panel of 7 people, province coordinators and peace corps staff ask questions to aid in determining best fit for site placements.

So here we are. Lately, I've been spending my days wrapping up my coursework for my master's degree at California State University, Long Beach and selling everything I own besides a bag of camera gear and two checked bags of clothes. And as I've been selling most of my things, I've had a revelation. Not only do I not need most of the things I had, I don't even think about those things anymore now that they are gone.

33 days until I graduate and 50-some days until I meet up with the rest of the cohort in San Fransisco and from there off to Chengdu!