I’ve been thinking about my meeting with the Peace Corps recruiter over WebEx for a few days, and I’m realizing my goal of winter 2007/2008 might not be possible or even feasible. You see, I’m not tailored enough to be guaranteed a spot on the Jordanian team, and that makes me sad.

There comes a time when it’s not good to cry over what you don’t have, and I am glad at least I know this far ahead what other obstacles I’m looking at. They aren’t pretty, either.

After being directed to the Peace Corps website for information on tailoring myself for Jordanian service, I started to realize I honestly don’t have the skill sets they are looking for. For instance, one component is working with kids in recreational and fitness programs. I don’t have that sort of experience or physical stamina yet, but I could tailor myself to meet that need. I’d have to look at university programs for Physical Education majors and piece it together with the other liberal arts classes I completed. I’d also have to look at programs or day seminars that deal with children’s’ issues in order to help me be effective.

One option I have been mulling over is becoming a certified personal trainer after I finish my own transformation. I don’t know how long that would take, but it would certainly add some weight to my resume in this area.

Jordan is on the edge of a health care crisis that mirrors what the United States is starting to undergo. When I was there back in 2004, it was not uncommon to see 50-kilo bags of sugar kept in the kitchen. I can remember using about 4 cups of sugar in a small teapot, which is a huge amount! I had to stop drinking tea and switch to water because the excessive sugar bothered my teeth. As you might guess based on their sweet tooth, they of course have a diabetic problem, and right behind it is heart disease. They are obese, too – a report came out stating Jordan’s the 38th fattest country in the world. Our exported dietary behaviors have been exported and are now shaping up to kill their population.

It doesn’t help that next door in Saudi Arabia, 60% of all the women are considered obese, and the religious police harass women who try and walk for exercise. It is considered shameful to get healthy, and some ultra-religious people are saying it will emancipate women and contribute to moral decline. The ultra-religious seem to be ignorant of a simple fact: you sit, you die. What good is a society plagued with preventable diseases? Where’s the obligation to take care of what God has given you – i.e., your body? Christians believe the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and if it’s riddled with disease, what kind of home are you honoring God with? Isn’t there an obligation to live long enough to raise your children to adulthood? If you’re sick, you can’t raise anyone, much less yourself out of bed.

I wonder how the idea of exercise in Jordan will play out – if the ultra-conservatives will win, or if the secular portion of society will see the benefits and ignore the crazy assumptions girls seeing each other changing in locker rooms will turn them into lesbians. If the government is smart, they will realize the nonsense of such baseless arguments. They must realize with half the population being under the age of 30, if this generation does not learn to move and exercise, the health care costs of inactivity will bankrupt the country. Who will pay into the tax base if half the country’s elderly, and the other half are sick with preventable diseases? Even worse, how many of that 50% will be medically classified as unable to work? They’ve got a crisis that must be addressed – and soon!

Perhaps I’ll have to take some classes on nutrition and holistic medicine. I’m not talking about chanting a past life liver problem away while burning incense for the benefit of a misaligned charka, I’m thinking more down to earth with vitamins and other supplements. Anything that could help improve the dietary habits of those at risk should be welcomed with open arms, but that’s theory.

I’m wondering if I’ll have to take up some child psychology classes to make things look good, too. People are too big on stroking kids’ egos these days to make them feel great for having done absolutely nothing. A report that came out today said the kids in college have been tagged the “Me” generation and believe the world revolves around them. I think I need to tread lightly around this area or else I could end up in trouble, culturally speaking.

It’s a given I’ll have to learn to teach English as a foreign language and become certified in that area, too. At first I thought, “how hard can this be?” but I soon learned it’s not as easy as it would appear. I grew up having to learn the parts of speech and diagram sentences, and I was so glad when I got out of seventh grade because I knew I’d never have to do it again. Well, that’s one of the many lies I accidentally told myself along life’s little journey, and I do need to relearn all the stuff I’ve forgotten. Ouch!

Arabic lessons will also be in my future – if I can demonstrate a certain amount of proficiency, then chances are good I’ll be sent to Jordan. The other country in the region that’s a possibility is Morocco, but they speak more French than Arabic, which is mainly used as the language of the Qu’ran. I suspect in this day and age, it has been translated into a North African French dialect and is commonly read in their native tongue. It seems the only ones who read the Qu’ran in Arabic are the native Arabic speakers, and in the case of non-Arabic native speakers, Qu’ranic students and scholars.

I’m also seeing volunteering amongst the Arab populations in the area for a good reference. If you have some experience with blending into the population you want to serve, to me it seems like volunteering is a great way to learn first hand. Who knows if I’ll be accepted as my experience has been the Arab community in Dallas are quite closed to outsiders. This is strange considering when I was in Jordan, everyone was very friendly to me.

There are several directions I can go in to make myself more attractive to receive an invitation from Jordanian officials, and as the picture clears, I will know what I need to do. If you’re looking at the Peace Corps and you want to pick a specific country, make sure you tailor your skills to it before you start the process. If you turn down an invitation from another country, the Peace Corps will not extend to you a second invitation. You’ve got one chance – make it count!

If you don’t like trying to find all the segments of this series, you can locate the links to them here and they will return you the exact spot on the appropriate site.