Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Catching Up (Part 3 of 3)



Plans for After Peace Corps
Peace Corps is quite the journey. However, when it comes to an end, there’s no fade away into the credits, life goes on, and I’ve had to take a hard look at what’s next. I decided to apply to CU Denver and only CU Denver for a Master in Public Administration. There were other great schools I looked at, but none of them could justify the cost. In addition, CU Denver was one of the few geared towards working professionals making it easy to get two more years of work experience, and a salary while I go to school. They also have an internship program which would be ideal for me, a fully paid position working with a Colorado town for two years with their different offices. It matches my work with a Filipino local government for three years, and what I may do in the future after. It’s certainly no guarantee, but it’s worth a shot.

The only other school I found that really appealed to me was the Maxwell School at Syracuse, the supposed top Public Administration program. However, after researching it more and more, at best I’d just barely squeeze in since they expect a strong quantitative (math and statistics) background and a clear career vision, neither which I have, two things I’m hoping to gain from a Masters program, not have as I go into one. It would be pushing off at least a semester to CU Denver, to just maybe get into a school that at least on paper doesn’t sound like the right fit.

That internship opportunity at CU Denver has put a stop on most my post-service vacation plans, the interview’s sometime in November. I had originally wanted to blow away my readjustment allowance doing what I call “Forrest Gumping” across South Korea, China, Nepal, and New Zealand with each spot a very different experience from meditation, to a road trip, to seeing old friends. It’s not really a big deal, and it’s trading one good experience for a great opportunity. The one annoying part about it was that my vacation plans were meant to represent how I was going to put adventure first and work second, which turned out to be wrong. Work is exactly why I’m cutting it shorter than planned. However, one of the things I’ve learned abroad is to roll with it.

If things work out, I’ll start both work and school in January, and in two years have that much more experience, a Masters, and will have most my loans paid off. Cross my fingers.

Batch 273
There now are 273 groups of Volunteers that have come to the Philippines. In the past, there were multiple groups each year, but in recent history it’s just been once a year. This was my second year at the Initial Orientation of an incoming batch, and it’s interesting what stays the same and what’s different. Typhoon Glena rolled in the middle of it, knocking the power and water out. Luckily our venue had a generator and was able to go out for water so we’d have enough to drink and bathe, but other than that it went pretty smoothly. Really, I mostly just answered questions on what Peace Corps Philippines is like, and tried to put out a calm, relaxed front since it’s a time that a lot of people are stressed and uncertain. Oh, and of course trying to get to know eighty different individuals to help give our staff a few thoughts on potential site placements. That was probably the tricky part.

I’ll get to see the new group two more times (barring changes). Early September I’ll be around to see the announcement of their permanent sites, and in mid-September be around for their Swearing In.

Batch 271
I also had the chance to go to Batch 271’s Closing of Service Conference, the group that came a year after me completing their servicing save for the few which decided to extend like me. Luckily I didn’t have to jump straight from working with the Trainees discovering the Philippines for the first time, to the experienced group readying to say goodbye, there were a few weeks in between. Still, it was interesting to go from an evaluation to start matching Trainees to sites, to celebrating a service finished. I probably did my best videoke performance (not that I’ve set the bar high for myself) with Lean On Me (since they didn’t have Hakuna Matata). Also my first time to see Bohol, though sadly didn’t have time to do any sightseeing.

Although in some ways this COS Conference was more real than my batch’s COS last year in the sense that I’m actually going to be leaving soon this time, it didn’t have the same weight for me personally. Although all of us share the experience of serving in the Philippines, there’s something magical about one’s own group of peers we start Peace Corps with, because those are the people you not only experience service together, but go through those experiences at the same time, and have the stories to share.

Nothing to Prove, Celebrate
The end of my time in the Philippines, at least for now, has sunk in, and it’s a mixture of eagerness and apprehension. I’m eager to get back to the States to see family and friends, to take advantage of what America has to offer, and to appreciate it like I hadn’t before. The gym, a coffee shop, a bleu cheese chicken wrap. However, it’s going to be hard to let go of the daily stimulus being somewhere different, where the language is different, where there are surprises even after three years. It’ll be hard to let go of the friends and family I’ve made here.

The advice my Sector Manager Ambet told me was that I have nothing left to prove, to celebrate. I needed those words, as I had kept thinking of how I could do just one more thing, how I could try to make the most of the rest my time work-wise. However, there will be more Volunteers after I leave, there will always be the locals, I don’t have to finish anything because there’s nothing to finish. Things will keep moving. I owe it to the people I’ve met and myself to enjoy myself. I still have the Youth Summit (maybe), but other than that, I’ll be trying to make the transition out of Peace Corps on a positive note hopefully without putting extra weight on my shoulders.


The Last Weeks?
Really nothing big is on the horizon. Probably get a traditional Kalinga tattoo before I leave. Do some paperwork. I’ll probably only have a couple more blog posts, one to talk about the last few events to come, and another to conclude my thought about Peace Corps, the Philippines, and of myself. 

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