Information About our Assignment

For those of you interested in knowing more about our assignment, we've posted a transcription of our assignment description included in our invitation package. So far this is all we know about the program and the assignment. We should be receiving more information within the next two weeks. We'll keep you posted.

http://lynnetteandmax.com/PC_Assignment_Description.html

Be Patient and Flexible

The story of waiting... and waiting... and waiting for our Peace Corps invitation.

By Lynnette Acosta

When you apply for the Peace Corps they say: Be patient and flexible. “Sure, no problem” I replied. But being patient and flexible hasn’t been that easy (and this is only the beginning). During our nomination in mid March we were told they are recommending us to a program in Latin America that starts in May and that the invitation would be held until medical and legal clearance. That is the process. Oh, and don’t make any big changes like quitting your job or selling your car until the invitation.

May?!? That’s less than two months away and we have to end a lease (do they require 30 or 60 day notice?), sell all our furniture, car, and other stuff. We also want to take some time off work and spend it with our families in Puerto Rico and Florida. Can you at least tell us when in May? No, we can’t. The invitation will be held until medical and legal clearance. Remember to be patient and flexible.

Ok. How long can medical and legal clearance take? A week? We gave them all the documents they requested. All they have to do is read the forms and make sure we filled all the information correctly. We need to be patient and flexible.

Two weeks latter we got a request from PC for additional information. “We need confirmation that Lynnette removed her wisdom teeth and we are missing the results to her Pap smear. We are holding medical clearance until you send those documents.” I had removed my wisdom teeth the day before and faxed them the confirmation right away, as for the PAP results I sent it over a week ago. I’ll fax it again. And we wait again. Be patient and flexible.

And we were trying to be patient and flexible. But we couldn’t just sit, wait and do nothing (is that the meaning of being patient?). So we gave our 30 day notice to our apartment company, quit our jobs, sold our big furniture and headed to Florida. Without knowing where we’re going or when, risking that the nomination changes to latter in the year and we find ourselves jobless for a long period of time. And then the medical and legal clearance arrived!! Finally!! I bet is now a matter of days until we get our invitation. Let’s be patient and flexible. We’ll call the placement officer tomorrow to find out when we’ll get the invitation.

But our placement officer was on vacation. For the next two weeks!! Its already April, we leave in May and our placement officer is on vacation for two weeks?!? I need to know when I can sell my car. Peace Corps’ response: you still have time; remember to be patient and flexible.

At this point I am going crazy. I don’t want to be the one calling anymore, so I ask Max to call for me. (Max is a lot more patient and a lot more flexible than me) Don’t they understand the big changes we’re making? How can they just say to be patient and flexible? I want information.

Luckily for me, being patient and flexible became easier during our week in Puerto Rico. Well… not really. I had other things to worry about, so I stopped worrying about Peace Corps. And then it came. Max and I were in the beach one afternoon when his Mom called. A big FedEx had arrived for us and it was from Peace Corps. Open it and read the letter to us!!! It was the invitation. We’re going to Honduras in late May. But to test my patience a little more, I had to wait 3 more days before I could fly back to Florida and read everything else on the packet. Oh well… at least now I know when and where I am going, I guess now I can be more patient and flexible.

About Being Unemployed

By Lynnette Acosta

It has been now a couple of weeks since I left my job to join the Peace Corps. Max and I have been busy handling the move from DC to FL and, at the same time, visiting with all the family and friends who want to see us before we leave to Honduras. While moving, unpacking, visiting I think about this big change and trying to make sense of what it means. After all I had never experienced being unemployed before.

The Good
Of course there is the obvious benefit to being unemployed: Time. I’ve had time to go to the beach three days in a row, to spent long hours talking to family and friends, to read and write, to take naps, to work on projects around the house, to cook and go to the gym. This is a big deal to me, I really enjoy doing these things but when I worked I was too busy or too tired to do most of them. I was really bad at keeping a good balance, spending most of my time and energy at work or thinking about it. My life definitely feels more balanced now.

To give you an idea of how wonderful it is, this is how I spent my day yesterday:

Woke up at 10am or so and spent the next hour and a half in bed with Max (don’t worry, I won’t give more details). Took a long shower and made brunch. Not a quick instant oatmeal in front of the computer like I used to eat in the mornings but scrambled eggs with toast, chocolate milk, sausage, and fruit. We ate our brunch in the beautiful porch of the house we’re living overlooking the lake. Blue jays, herons, mocking birds, ducks, and pelicans giving us the gift of their beautiful dance and melody.

After brunch we’re ready to start working. The list of things to do is long, but interesting. We spend a big portion of the day mounting cabinets in the lake house, setting up the computer and internet, setting up the stereo, and growing the pile of sell items for our garage sale. By the end of the afternoon we are feeling good of how much we’ve accomplished.

Next is Yoga. We join Max’s mom and brother to a local yoga class. It is power yoga and we put a good sweat, but the best part is the friendly people in the class. They all introduce themselves and treat us like they’ve know us forever. After Yoga we meet with some friends in the local pub for dinner and drinks.

Then is back home, where we get ready for bed, watched the news and late night television. We both love Conan O’Brien.

The Bad
There is also bad to being unemployed. I now have to watch what I spend. Is weird how difficult it can be to get out of the habit of spending all the time, and to realize how good I was at that. I wasn’t able to go shopping for sandals while I was in Puerto Rico last week like I usually like to. Or couldn’t buy the beautiful hand made jewelry that a local artisan offered. We are being careful with our spending, we want to make sure we leave savings in case an emergency arises during our Peace Corps service.

No more paying almost $200 to get my hair cut and highlighted. Instead I cut it short (my sister in law gave me a beautiful but practical hair cut) and dyed dark. We used a pharmacy hair color instead of the fancy salon ones so I can keep dying my hair the same color even if I have a hard time finding a stylist in Honduras (or the money to pay them). My hair is no longer the kind I’d wear to a club but I think it looks good.

I worried about being bored if I wasn’t working but this hasn’t happened so far. I’ve had so much to do and such a long list of ideas on how to spend my free time. Now I worry about not having enough time to do it all in the 4 weeks of unemployment ahead.

The Ugly
The only thing that worries me is healthcare. Since we’re both unemployed we don’t have health insurance. We are both healthy and go months without seeing a doctor so it shouldn’t be a problem but I still worry about an emergency. I just found out that Zyrtec (the medication I take for allergies) costs over $2 a piece. That is just crazy.

This has had me thinking about all the people without healthcare in the US. There’s whole families that can not afford health insurance. How do they pay for medical treatment? How do they care for their kids. This really puts things in perspective for me.

The End
In all fairness being unemployed to me is more like an extended vacation, nothing like real unemployment. I am lucky to have a house to live in, savings and generous family and friends that would help if anything bad happened. For me being unemployed is good. But I can not help but to think about the people out there that are not as lucky. It really can be a tough world out there.