Stupid GODDAMN Peace Corps!

So last Friday, after 6 months of paperwork and medical clearances I finally got my Peace Corps assignment. I was supposed to go somewhere in Eastern Europe (Romania, went the incessant litany in my head, please let it be Romania), and I learned that I was to work on an NGO in Georgia. (Georgia?! WTF? Is that even in Europe?)

Well, it depends who you ask. It's apparently right on the border between Europe and Asia, but most maps seem to place it in Western Asia. Me, I put it right fuck in the middle of Asia, because separating it from the rest of Europe is the Black Fucking Sea. More importantly, it is one tiny nation (Armenia) away from Iran in the South, and on its northern border is Chechnya. Now, I know I'm no diplomat, but I do believe that both these nations HATE Americans with a burning passion.

So, let's see... I was not given an assignment in the area that I was supposed to be sent, and where they DO want to send me is easily within kidnapping distance of anti-American enthusiasts. Great. So I write my Peace Corps placement officer and politely explain that I am very nervous about being stationed in this country as a peaceful volunteer, and besides which this isn't the geographical region I'm even supposed to be considered for. His response: either I can turn down the assignment, and maybe - MAYBE - be considered for placement somewhere in Africa, or I can shut up and take it, and basically stop wasting his time. Oh, and I have to make my final decision by Monday via mail, so really I have to make my final decision by tomorrow.

To all those people out there who think that the Peace Corps is a bunch of tree-hugging hippies, think again. It's a branch of the American government, a PR machine to make our country look better to the rest of the world... no mean feat, considering how we're pissing the rest of the world off on a daily basis. But I still want to do it! I want to travel, and not as a tourist... I want to learn about the world, learn at least 1 new language, submerge myself in a different culture. I would also like to do it in an area where I'm not mildly concerned about being snatched up and broadcast on TV wearing an orange jumper, begging my fellow countrymen to get the hell out of Iraq.

P.S. For the record, I have nothing against Africa, and would not be averse to being assigned to work in a country there, but for the last half year I had been assured I would be working in an Eastern European country, and well, I had made plans. Tough shit, you say? Suck it up and deal? Well, gentle reader, that is exactly what I am trying to do by venting right now.