I am in Salt Lake City waiting, and waiting, and waiting. The Peace Corps has put me on hold.
I was all set to fly out October 8. I came out here to SLC to visit my sister for four days before being flown to DC and then onto The Gambia. The PC flies you from your home of record and my sister is going to let me use her address as my stateside address. Which means that I drove my RV across the country, again, dropped it off with friends in Cali, and arrived in SLC ready for the next great adventure.
Until I got the email saying my background check has not been completed. Umm, what?? I started that process back in April plus I have a secret clearance? How is my background check not done? Well, says the PC, they contract out with a third party to put together a background packet which the PC Legal Team will then review. And that packet has not been delivered. What could be the delay between April and October? My secret clearance. That investigation file needs to be apart of the packet and a guess is that that file is what is taking so long to obtain.
I just quite my job, sold my house and car, everything I own is in storage, and I'm at my sister's, in Utah, with four changes of summer clothes in October. I only had my carry-on with me. I was being smart, I took my two suitcases up to the staging hotel to be stored for me before leaving the east coast. Damn being smart. And now the PC wants me on a hold until April 2 when they may come through at any time.
Once the PC Legal Team gives me the okay on my legal clearance then I will work with a staging officer to determine where I will go. Since The Gambia crew has already left I will need to find another place in the world that has a crew leaving soon and which would be a good fit for my skills. So, no idea on where I will be going. Fun.
So I chose to wait. I'm bumming at my sisters. I got a job driving for Lyft, renting a car from them. I also walk dogs for Rover and Wag!
*Self Promotion*
my Wag! promo is 9MJYjREk3S
my Rover promo is JANELS54169 - I'm on Rover as Janel S. in SLC, my profile pic has me with green hair
Last month my background packet finally got delivered to the PC Legal Team for their review. HAPPY!! The next week the government shut down. That means the PC is without funding and is operating on essential services only. As of the writing of this, the gov has been closed for 33 days. FUCK TRUMP
So I wait, and wait, and wait....