10 Reasons: Why I'm Excited About Peace Corps

1. My Peace Corps country will be the 7th country I've lived in and the 3rd country I've lived in with Will. The qualifying countries are those in which I've lived for more than a year: America, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Spain and Australia

2. We will live in our first house. Possibly with a small garden where we can grow herbs. Possibly with a fruit tree out front with which to make fruit juices with.

3. I won't have to speak English all the time. I like having options of being able to speak another language if I felt inclined to do so.

4. Will is finally going to become fluent in Spanish. He's been dangling on the edge of becoming fluent for some time now. Moving to a Spanish-speaking country and eating, drinking and breathing Spanish for 27 months tends to cause such things.

5. My assignment will be my first real job in the real world. I don't know the specifics yet but I'm sure it has a top ranking among entry level jobs. All of a sudden leaving going from the world of academia to the world of working doesn't seem that daunting.

6. I will be living in the same place for 2 years = a sense of stability and comfort

7. Beans, rice and queso fresco! Completely vegetarian-friendly.

8. I'm finally going to be let in on the secret of what it really means to be Latina. I've lived in Latin America before, but I was a prominent member of the expat community then. That almost counts.

9. The idea of having our first pet, whose names have already been chosen: Toorak for male and Murrumbeena for female.

10. I'm hoping to become less attached to material things and get over my obsession with belts. I'm looking forwards to living a more "simple" life for awhile: free of credit card payments, reduced exposure to GMO foods, carrying around a wallet with a library card, supermarket points card, university ID card, driver's license, old reciepts, met cards, candy wrappers, building ID card, door key-card, video rental card and frequent customer cards, not having to worry about wasting, saving, losing or gaining time...