Disclaimer

This website reflects my own personal views and not that of the U.S. Government nor, more specifically, the Peace Corps.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

When I'll Be Coming Home or Why I Feel Relived to Hear Bad News

So, I could put the date of when I'm headed home for a little R&R, but that would just make reading this post oh so easy, wouldn't it? Also, when have I ever gotten straight to the point? You should know better by now. So, first thing's first: I'm going to start with the latter part of this blog post's title.

I was up late the other night, and while it was late, I decided to check my e-mail one last time before heading to bed, because, hey, you never know. It was 11a in D.C., so it was plausible that I could have received an e-mail regarding the Foreign Service Officer's Test (FSOT). As I mentioned before, I had passed the initial written test and essay but had yet to hear back on my Personal Narratives and the results of the Qualitative Evaluation Panel (QEP). Lo and behold, there was an e-mail from the Department of State. There was definitely a bit of anticipation as I read the response, which went something like this:

"Dear Garrett,

...because this year, there have been an influx of applicants taking the FSOT and a decrease in the rate of acceptance...After much evaluation by the QEP, we regret to inform you...

Sincerely,
Copy and Paste"

So, that was that. No cushy job waiting for me when I finish my job in the Peace Corps. However, more positive outcomes prevail over the (hardly) negative ones. My dreams of being a Peace Corps Field Recruiter can still be chased. Grad school doesn't necessarily have to be put off for 4 or 10 years while moving around every 2 years to another country (but who knows, I might end up getting a job that requires me to do that anyway!). Best put, I think, as I was discussing this with someone earlier today, is that if anything, I would have had a much more difficult time enjoying what I have going on in the present were I to be constantly wondering about two years from now. Many of us would like to have "Five Year Plan(s)", but I'm going to be here for another 16 months, and what a waste that would be to not be able to fully focus on what I have at the present moment. Do I have ideas of what I might like to do in the future? I do. They might be a little vague, but they exist. For now, though, I plan on enjoying the next five months and five days until I come home. <---did you get that? (9+7)*3/47x-2H =....

Saturday, October 27th

I'll be home and plan on traveling between Phoenix, Tucson, SoCal, and D.C. until

Sunday, November 25th

when I return back to Phnom Penh.

Talk to you soon,
Garrett

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Clarity or Hey! Wanna Know What I'll Be Doing Next Year?

So, I finally had this long-awaited meeting with the technical director of PSI/Cambodia and PC/Cambodia's Director of Program and Training. We sat down and had the opportunity to discuss several things, of which I have been patiently (then impatiently [then patiently (then not so patiently, again)]) waiting to find out.

So, here they are:

When will I move to Phnom Penh: Most likely, June 25th

  • How many days left physically at site: 27....27!!!! It's really strange. While I am very much anticipating my beginning the next stage of my Peace Corps service, including but not limited to: cooking for myself, having cheese, milk, and pizza readily available, and a toilet the flushes...I am also very sad to leave my village which has treated me so kindly and left me with a feeling of comfort, safety, and happiness (not to mention many friends, countless memories [most of which involved laughter (at my expense [the best kind])]). As well, it has left me with the ability to add brackets within parenthesis and vis versa.
When will I start working for PSI: Definitely, July 2nd

What I will be doing:
                                         
Training Consultant
  1. Assist Communications and Marketing department in monitoring, supervision and coaching activities of Interpersonal communications (UHN (United Health Network) and CM (Community Monitor) programs*) and MVU (Mobile Video Unit) activities:

  •  Regularly join staff in monitoring and supervision activities. Assist PSI staff with monitoring and supervision functions to improve their supervision and coaching skills. Help to structure UHN and CM field visits to ensure more IPC  (Interpersonal Communication) direct activities are observed and to give better feedback to UHN member organizations.
  • Help to design and co-facilitate trainings to CM or to UHN members to strengthen programs
  • Serve as a key point person to document compliance of IPC activities 
  • Help develop system where UHN member organizations have clear quarterly areas for improvement and are supported by PSI to act on those areas.
  • Strengthen phone support and direct IPC field coaching in CM program
  • Attend MVU activities and help to revise show formats and effectiveness of shows as needed


Specific to Child Survival -
  • Help to design integrated prevention and treatment messages on diarrhea and Safe Water tabs (including benefits of each product) that are simple and easy to demonstrate to the community
  • Co-facilitate trainings on integrated prevention and treatment messages on diarrhea and Safe Water tablets to Roving team, MVU team and CMs
  • Attend MVU activities and help to include integrated messaging during the event
  • Help to revise formats and effectiveness of MVU shows
  • Assist PSI staff (coordinators) with improving their supervision skills
  2.  Identify areas for collaboration between the PC and PSI.  Develop an implementation plan that     ensures sustainable collaboration between PC and PSI.
  • Map areas of PSI's work and overlap with PC
  • Train PCVs to understand PSI's approach and link the individual PCVs behavior change communication activities with PSI's work.
  • Assist PSI to deliver IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) materials to PC volunteers and monitor use.

   3. Assist with photography projects as needed including expansion of photograph bank for general use and development of photographs for IEC materials when needed.


   * United Health Network (UHN) is a network of local NGOs sub-granted by PSI to implement IPC activities. CMs are volunteers directly supported by PSI to promote birth spacing and refer to the Sun Quality franchise.

Where will I be living?
  • Phnom Penh still, however, I am not sure whether it will be in a one- or two-bedroom apartment or a house with multiple people. I'll be finding out all of that in the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to update you when I know. One thing, though: Phnom Penh will have a lot of temptations that I will have to resist in order to not break the bank (i.e. Western restaurants, ice cream, movies, etc.). Honestly, I think I'll be alright, but it's nice to know that soon, should I need to sneak out for a needed break, it's there. One downside, though: I live in a semi-rural village now, right? Well, there's not much to do here, so when I do get to escape to other places (i.e. Siem Reap, Battambang, Phnom Penh), it really is an escape, and then I can ground myself when I get back home to my little abode. However, in Phnom Penh, while there will be escapes like Sihanoukville and Kampot, there won't be the (occasional) quiet that I enjoy out here in the middle of nowhere. 
When will I be coming home for my 30-day R&R?
  • Still waiting on that one, but I'm shooting for autumn. 
When will I be coming home for good?
  • My new COS (Close of Service) date is now Sep 3rd, 2013

Yup, so that's about what I know at the moment, and I'm pretty excited for all of it.

Talk to you soon,
Garrett

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Couple of Photos from My PSI Tech Exchange


This little girl was with her family at a Mobile Video Unit presentation about birth control.
She's probably pretty happy that her parents hadn't seen this video nine years ago.


This kid just showed up to see what was going on while we were setting up.


"Oh no!!! What's going to happen next?!"



This little boy on the left was probably the happiest, most cooperative kid I worked with the whole ten days.


The caption for this was: "Women happy to live their lifestyle"
I couldn't get them to stop laughing...perfect.


This woman is just gorgeous and was so photogenic. The literal translation for photogenic in Khmer is "eat camera".
She sells chicken in the market.


We needed some shots of unhappy families, and this little girl was less than thrilled about something, but it seemed to work in our benefit.







...and this is me, incorrectly lifting these weights. I'm surprised I didn't throw my back out. Props to you Chris, whose weights these belonged to; he wants to add another weight...


Monday, May 7, 2012

Belated News on Extending

Hey All,

For those of you who don't have Facebook, I apologize for the belated news, but:

I was approved for extending with PSI in a full-time setting. I will be living in Phnom Penh and may be there as early as late June, but all of that will be defined in a week when Peace Corps program staff, PSI's technical director, and I meet to discuss further my scope of work, start date, housing and other concerns of interest. I currently don't have a great idea of what exactly my day-to-day will look like, so guessing on here would just be pointless and superfluous when I re-post post-meeting next week. Things I do know:

- I will be extending with Population Services International/Cambodia (PSI/Cambodia)
  • Full-time
- I will be one of four PCVs living in Phnom Penh
  • I might live alone
  • I might live with another PCV as a roommate (that hasn't been approved yet
- I should hopefully begin:
  • End of June
  • Beginning of July
As far as coming home is concerned, I should be coming home late October through late November for obvious reasons (engrossing myself in Thanksgiving fare and weather that won't have me sweating as I walk back from the shower). What I don't know yet is if I passed the Personal Narratives (PNs) and Qualitative Evaluation Panel (QEP) portion of the Foreign Service selection process. If I do, then I'll be invited to the Oral Assessment (OA) which is slated to occur (according to the Department of State's website) between August and November. Should the only time I'm invited to that (if I get invited) be August, September, or early October, then I'll be coming home around then (no need to spend big Gs on a ticket home when I could do it for a couple of hundred). I'll let you know when I do. Until then...

Talk to you soon,
Garrett