New Blog/ Update!

Hey all!

So its been a while since I have updated and since then I have calmed down and started into my medical clearance process. That being said, I have a new blog!! Its going to be dedicated to all things Peace Corps and I would welcome anyone to come and check it out. Its at: http://peacecorpsginger.blogspot.com/

Moving on from this topic I would like to go into a discussion that I just had with my boss about how Christians conduct themselves in the public eye. I feel like as of late there has been a huge resurgence in the idea that Christians are in charge of changing the minds/ converting every atheist they see on the street. This can be accomplished in one of many ways: waving signs, preaching the end of days, showing pictures of aborted fetuses, chanting songs about how much God hates the world and just generally making a fool out of oneself.

Here is my call to my fellow Christians: stop attempting to change what you view as the negative in the world and start being the positive light in the world that God has called you to be. Instead of holding signs and chanting at people outside of a Planned Parenthood, create a center that can support women that chose to keep their children and that can help them through this often judgmental and difficult challenge ahead.

Instead of yelling at students you don't know and condemning them all to hell (and I would remind you that you have no say in ANYONES eternal salvation but your own) try creating a youth group, or maybe passing out literature that isn't accusatory and hateful. If I were a person that didn't believe in God and was maybe looking for a church or a religion to join, I wouldn't waste my time looking into a group of people that firmly believe in a vengeful, hate filled God. Not only does this paint God in a certain light but it also makes Him very far away from the standard person, and why would anyone pray to a God that they can not know on a personal level?

Try being kind. It is so much easier to reach people when you are kind and through this you will be able to preach the word of God. People close their ears to hatred and violence and screaming, they don't have the time in their day to want to listen to that; but for kindness, of which some seem to be running on short supply, they have a moment for.

So there you go, my thoughts for the day on how the church and Christians as a whole community could improve themselves.

Much Love,
Singing Ginger

Scared

No lie, I'm scared out of my pants about leaving. It is something that pops into my head at least once or twice a day and causes me anxiety and fear and cold sweats. The idea of leaving everything I know, to go do work I know next to nothing about, and all without the physical support of my family actually being there is horrifying. The real kicker is that I don't know if all of these feelings are normal or some internal indication that maybe this isn't the right thing for me to be doing right now. But I have to ask myself: if not now, when? And even though I may on some level not want to do this (and I'm not even really sure that's true) the person I want to be would do this, and I think that has to count for something. I also think it has to count for something that when I am not freaking out about this completely I am thinking about what an amazing adventure it is going to be, and how life changing as well. How often do people really have the nerve to do something life changing? Just thoughts.

~Singing Ginger

Peace Corps

So, long time no see, WAY long time, since he below post is all about how I took the GRE and that triangles really suck. Well, I'm still pretty bad at math, but in the mean time I have had a LOT of things going on in my life I feel the need to let all of you beautiful people know about.

Firstly: the GRE is no longer a big deal since I decided that I will not be going to Grad School next year. I want to have this second semester to boost my GPA and I also think that the experience of having a summer internship will help my chance of getting into a school of my choice as opposed to settling for something that I may not really be into.

Secondly: I had the thought to join the Peace Corps, then I applied and last week I interviewed and now I'm in. I know that sounds like a whole lot going on in a very short period of time, and you would be right int thinking that. I was told by everyone and their mother that I should be patient and be willing to wait since the whole thing takes so long, but I went from primary application to nomination in around a month.

Secondly part A: I have been nominated to serve in sub-Saharan Africa withing the Health extension of the corps. Now this could change since at the end of last week I realized that the departure date I had given my recruiter was wrong and that I would need to bump things back a month. Now you could be having one of two reactions to this. The first we will call "My Dad" which would be something along the lines of: "Thats not that big a deal since they could just send you over a month late, if they really want you they will figure it out." OR you could have what we will call "knowing how the government works" which would be more along the lines of: "There is no way in hell they are going t do that, and in all likelihood this is going to change where I end up and when I go there."

Here is the reasoning behind this train of thought: for a two year "deployment" with PC you have exactly 3 months of in country training before you are sent to your work site to work for the rest of your time. Another fact to note is that each individual country only gets sent out once a year. Meaning if you are going to Madagascar you will leaving on this certain day in this certain month and that is it until the next year. To delay my departure date and meet up with other volunteers for a month would not only be missing out on 1/3 of my training but also missing out on the critical social and mental adjustments that go on in the first month.

So anyway, I am waiting to hear back from my recruiter as to what happens now, since I have the sinking feeling that the original nomination was for something in August, and I now can't leave until September.

All of this is due to the fact that my residential college requires that I have a "Field Experience" aka internship before I can graduate. I assumed, since this requirement can also be filled with a one month study abroad, and because there is no specific timeline listed on their website, that this could be done in about 2 months. Of course I am the idiot that didn't ask about it until it was too late, but I found out last week that it actually has to be 14 weeks at 35hrs/ week. Anyway, I'm hoping I haven't just blown this whole thing, and I am also hoping that my recruiter doesn't think I'm doing this because I don't like my placement (because I really do!)

Okay, more later, have to pay attention in class now.

~The Ging