Corvallis, Oregon, United States
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Angela and I, after a long and arduous application process, have been invited to go to Paraguay. Angela will be doing agro forestry and I will be doing environmental education. I brief hitherto about us and what we have done to get to this point. I, Adam, have a B.S. in Computer Engineering and am now working in the college of forest science at Oregon State University. My wife, Angela, just received her masters in Forest social science. Last year around May we decided to apply to the Peace Corps. This, as it turns out, is easier said than done. It was all going smooth until we hit this medical clearance phase. First, the P.C. thought I had tuberculosis, but I challenged and won that round with some new tests at a different lab. Then they thought Angela had an enzyme deficiency (g6pd) which would not allow her to take certain kinds of malaria vaccinations, but with new test and some firm words to the lab we won that battle as well. Quick note on what we learned there, labs with lots of patients will let samples sit for up to two weeks, this can change the chemical make up in some samples, this being one. So make sure they run your test quickly. Then there was the whole placement. I have asthma. It's not bad, but it's bad enough for the P.C. to make a big deal out of it. We were initially rejected by the first country we were invited to (Honduras perhaps?) because they couldn't accommodate my "special" needs. Luckily we were invited to another country right afterwards. Paraguay!
So finding a lot of good info of Paraguay is pretty tough. The best we have found have actually been the online blogs, and so I feel it is my duty to create a blog for all to read. As of now we know our staging in Miami starts September 25, and then our three month training is in Guarambare Paraguay. Other than that we just know what we have read on other blogs. And so, as they say in the Peace Corps, Peace out!
I don't think anyone actually says that. (stole this joke from another blog)
Comments
Peace Out
Yeah, we donīt really say that down here in Paraguay Peace Corps... We say things like ipora and che areko petei hermano.
Iīm in my sixth month of service and am looking forward to meeting Adam and Angela in a few months.
Cheers,
Carole B