Introductions

I must apologize, this first posting is going to be rather dry and boring, and severely lacking in wit and levity.

Introductions:

I considered doing one of those survey things that at least 43,000 peers seem to send me everyday to find out “more about them.” You know, those fill-in-the-b lank (is that hyphenated?) snapshots of a person’s name, favorite color and other potpourri that for some reason my eyes lust after. But instead, let’s stick with the tried and true biographic paragraph which is as destimulating as possible…ready…go!

Hello, my name is Alexander Marr, and I am a graduate student at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, where I am specializing in epidemiology. I wrapped up classes in December and will be heading to Botswana in April to work as a District AIDS Coordinator. I have worked as a waiter, photographer, dishwasher, bedturndowner, advertiser, counselor and perpetual temp. I grew up both outside of Boston and on the Central Coast in California. Since then I have lived in Boston, New York and New Orleans, with a brief stint in LA. I enjoy skiing, scuba diving, rafting, swimming, debating politics and traveling. I am a definite dog person, but cats can chill if they are down with leavin’ the feline attitude at the door.

If one read closely, he/she would see that there is a 3-4 month disparity between when I finished classes (December) and when I leave for Peace Corps (April). I am taking this time to say goodbye to friends and family (they are very spread out over this country), as well as help my dad work on his house – in fact I should be painting right now. I just got back from the inauguration and visiting some friends in NYC, but these will be discussed in a later, more exciting posting.

In this introductory blog, I feel it would be good to discuss the application process for Peace Corps and my experience from first applying and finally receiving my placement.
Applying to the Peace Corps:I must preface this by saying that sometimes I am lazy. This is never true in a work environment or things such as school projects, but with little things which only affect my personal life, I sometimes get a bit lazy/forgetful. Just keep that in mind.
It always cracks me up on the Peace Corps website when it says that you could leave in as little as 6 months. I have never met someone who went through the application process this quickly, but I guess it’s possible. For me, I initially began the application process in April 2007, after I had been accepted to Tulane. I am leaving in April 2009, so that gives you a clue of how long it has taken me.

After I had initially submitted my application, I was very busy. I had to wrap up my life in NYC, travel over the summer and eventually move to New Orleans. As a result, I did not do much more work on my application, but then in October 2007 I had my interview and was officially recommended by my recruitment officer…this just left the medical clearance and final placement, and herein lies the biggest issue I faced: medical clearance.

When I was 10, I had a terrific summer where I had to get a root canal and then got kidney stones. It was pretty rad. As a result of the kidney stones, Peace Corps asked me to go see a Urologist to make sure that my kidney stones would not reoccur. I knew I needed to get this done, but I became busy with school and it just didn’t happen. I don’t have a car and the urologists office was about 15 miles outside of New Orleans, but that is more an excuse than an actual reason. Finally, in June…yes June, I had an appointment booked and a borrowed car. From my physical the week before, my urinalysis was perfect and I was on the road to being medically cleared...and then my urologist did a little dipstick test and said that my urine concerned him and he couldn’t sign off on my forms. This was awesome because I was leaving the next day for two months in Europe and Africa and couldn’t do much to get it done. As a result, two more months went by. Finally, with the start of my last semester I completed all tests and submitted my medical forms to Peace Corps, which resulted in some more back and forth over what forms they actually wanted/needed.

This lasted until October, when finally I sent the last thing needed – a letter from my doctor. With this, I eagerly anticipated my placement news. One of my friends found out two weeks after she had mailed in her medical information, so everyday there was much anticipation while checking my mail. Nothing ever came. Then I was contacted by a placement officer who wanted to talk to me on the phone. At once, my friends (many who are RCPVs) predicted she would give me some information over the phone. Not so much the case as she asked me some basic interview questions, which I found odd (I had been in this app process for over a year and a half!). Then she asked me if I had any experience in HIV/AIDS, which perturbed me,as I am getting my MPH in epidemiology focusing on infectious diseases…I thought, as a Master’s Internationalist student, she would at least know this. At the time, I was very confused and a little angry, but I realize she was just trying to get a clearer picture and my frustrations were much more my fault then hers. This led to much, much more waiting.

Finally, in late December, while sitting on the beach in Costa Rica, I got a facebook message from my roommate:

“You got Botswana, regional aids coordinator or something, you leave in March!”

Botswana? Botswana? First thought - random. Fantasies had been spinning through my mind about where I would end up, and Botswana was never even on my radar (good or bad). I had asked for a French speaking African country due to my lengthy and arduous past with the French language and was dreaming of a possible coastal country. Instead, I got a landlocked ex-British colony. This feeling of confusion lasted about two minutes, until it was replaced with absolute excitement. One of my dear friends at Tulane was a volunteer in Botswana and he had told me many stories of the country. I also knew of the huge HIV/AIDS problem that is currently threatening their economic development. I thought about it, and realized…no…this country is absolutely perfect!

Upon returning to the states and reading through my packet and my job description my excitement grew even stronger. I will be working for the Govt. of Botswana evaluating and planning various HIV/AIDS programs. This is exactly what I want to be doing at this point in my life and while not being the usual Peace Corps experience, I think my past education will best serve this job and that this job will best serve my education.
So now I’m ready to go…and I just have to wait…and wait…and wait.

This entry was quite boring, I apologize…but I had to get the introductions and my experience with the application process out of the way. I promise a quick return to wit and whimsy.