#104

That's me!  Come on French, get me outta here!

On the Register

I received my letter today informing me that I am officially on the consular register.  I will call tomorrow and find out where I am ranked.  I know it doesn't really matter--as far as getting called at this point, but I do have a sense of pride for making it this far.  I never thought this was possible and it still may not be, but I will proudly sit in line and see what happens!

Decisions, decisions

I had my yearly evaluation recently at work and my boss made some interesting comments to me.  While she is a very supportive person, I wasn't sure what she thought about the whole FS thing.  She had made some previous comments that made me think my options for promotions at this organization were over since they "knew" I was interested in other lines of work.  This was frustrating to me since I kept explaining the whole register process and how I may never end of getting an opportunity to join the FS.  Well during my evaluation she asked again if I had any news about the FS.  I again explained the situation, hoping it might actually make sense this time.  Then she told me I "have a bright future" with this organization and if I choose to stay around, she sees me rising up in the organization and even having her position one day.  (Though I report to her, it would not be the next step for me to even think of "getting" her position.)  This was really quite a compliment and one I didn't know how to take.  Was she serious or just trying to get me to stay without actually offering anything. 

I don't know about anyone else, but for me this process causes constant reflection/evaluation of one's life.  We love our life.  Our kids are happy.  My wife is happy and we have great friends.  Is this enough?  Will we be happy/fulfilled in this FS life?  Could things be better?  I just don't know and it is difficult to even think about when I have no idea if it will even happen. 

I know many of pondered these questions before us and many will ponder after us.  Nothing about this process is easy and maybe that is the true reward in the end. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who are serving our country at home and around the world!  We are enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving Day in a very chilly Dallas.  We went to an amazing buffet at the Gaylord Texan hotel and then made our way through ICE! which was Peanuts themed this year.  It was a great day.  Now we are settling in to watch some football as the kids watch Marmaduke.

It is weird to say, but we hope this is our last Thanksgiving in the States.  We are sooo ready to start our new life being world wide available.  Until then, we will enjoy our time visiting family and soaking up every minute of fun we can. 

A new Tutor

So my French class and my private tutor have both wrapped up and I am feeling okay about my progress.  I would say I am probably a solid 1+/2 at this point.  My private tutor was really doing nothing for me, so I am cutting my ties with her.  I approached the teacher of the class I was taking and she has come up with a private tutor plan that I think will really work.  She is really going to challenge me and focus on international news events.  Hopefully it will help.  We are going to meet twice per week via Skype so I will be forced to keep up daily and get the work done!  There are many days I feel like I am not going anywhere with this language, but then I watch a TV show and I can actually make out some of what they are saying.  I could never have done that 2 months ago.  I need to keep powering thru, but it gets difficult with a full time job, four kids, a wife and a very old house that continues to ruin every free weekend we have :)

Problems Solved

So it only took a few more days of ridiculous e-mails, but it seems all my kids now exist in the eyes of DoS and they all have their names spelled correctly.  In addition to all that, they have all been cleared to travel the world, medically speaking.

I have no idea where things are in my security clearance.  My boss has brought it up three times which is really frustrating because I keep telling her that this may not even happen (at this rate it won't) and I fear that the security process may have hurt my future promotion possibilities.  I'm sure this is something everyone who has entered the FS has experienced.  Maybe it won't.  I just don't know.

Everything else is going well.  French is moving along s.l.o.w.l.y.  I am trying to measure it by weeks.  Tonight I couldn't attend my class because my family has one-by-one dropped with an obnoxious stomach flu (I had the pleasure of it last week) and my wife is off to bed early after a long night of vomiting.  Anyway, I wrote my teacher (in French) and told her I wouldn't make it.  My e-mails are always one or two sentences.  She writes back a lengthy note, but I could read and understand the whole thing.  That is good.  I'm afraid my hearing comprehension is not as good as my reading comprehension though.  This is probably normal, but I wish the hearing would catch up.  I need to get into some conversational groups, but haven't had any luck finding any. 

Oh well, I will keep pushing on.

What's in a Name?

So the past week I have gotten a taste of what life might be like working for the government and it is very interesting.  The first issue surrounds the spelling of my daughter's name, oddly enough.  Everything we have submitted on my daughter and received from DOS on my daughter has had her name spelled a specific way.  The correct, specific way.  Last week I submitted her medical clearance paperwork.  Yesterday I received an e-mail stating that her paperwork was received and her medical clearance is in process.  The only glitch was that I noticed her name had been misspelled.  She has a "v" in her name and for whatever reason, it had been changed in the MED e-mail to an "r."  I, kindly, send an e-mail back thanking them for the information and letting them know that they misspelled her name in the e-mail (several times).  This seems straight forward enought, right?  NO!  Two days and a total of nine (I think) e-mails later and I am no closer to having her name changed to the correct spelling.  The HR side of the house has her name spelled correctly.  The MED side of the house says that HR has the name spelled incorrectly and they cannot change it in the MED world until HR updates it.  HR again states that it is correct (and it is!) on their end.  As of right now, I am at a loss of what to do because the problem remains "unsolved" at this point.  I feel a bit like a ping pong ball back and forth and I just want to say "CHANGE IT ALREADY!"  This really isn't that difficult. 

Onto problem #2.  I have four kids.  3 boys and 1 girl.  I submitted the medical clearance paperwork on all the kids last week (which started problem #1).  In addition to the e-mail with my daughters name spelled incorrectly, I also received an e-mail stating that nothing could be done with my sons' paperwork because they are not listed as dependents (EFM's) in the HR database.  I should speak with my HR rep to correct the problem.  Easy enough, right?  I speak with my HR rep who informs me that all of my children are listed in the HR database.  She responds via e-mail to me and the MED world with a picture of the database showing all the kids listed (also showing my daughter's name spelled correctly, but these are just details, right).  MED world responds to me that they cannot seem to pull up that information so it must be wrong on the HR side.  I should speak with my HR rep again.  Okay??  I again speak with my HR rep who states AGAIN, that everything is correct on the HR side (which it is!) and this is a MED problem.  So here I am again with the ping pong feeling and at a loss of what to do.  We are five days (3 business days) into this issue with no solution in sight.

So I might have four kids or maybe just one.  The one kid I definately have may have one name or maybe it is another.    So far everything for my wife is in order and she has received medical clearance.  I guess she gets to come along and keep her name. 

Is life in government really this difficult? Je ne sais pas!

The Interviews Begin

I had my first security interview today.  It was pretty anticlimactic and over in about 45 min.  A couple of my friends have been contacted about information on me.  It is a little weird knowing people are going around and asking EVERYONE about you.  The good news is I have nothing to hide, but the whole process is still kinda creepy weird.  I assume this process will take a few more months.  I received word yesterday that I have been cleared for worldwide availability from a medical stand point, so that is good!  I am probably in a different boat than everyone else in that I am not feeling that rush to get to the register.  Without language points I know this process is going nowhere for the time being, so I am okay hanging out in clearances world for awhile.

The problems never end

We officially hate our new cable company!  I had a feeling this would happen and it was the reason we didn't want to leave our other (local, wonderful) company.  The large, "I don't care about the customer" company has had us on the phone for 1+ hours each day and at least once per day since last Friday.  It is so frustrating.  The good news is that after 5 days, TV5 is finally coming in, which is why this whole process started in the first place. 

It looks like offers for the January A-100 started going out last night.  Congrats to everyone who is receiving an offer.  I have followed a couple of people's blogs for awhile now and it is awesome to see them succeed!! 

TV5

I just changed our cable company in order to get access to French TV5.  Our bill ended up going up ~$20/month.  We will also get faster Internet service and additional HDTV boxes so that is good.  I consider myself a pretty loyal customer so it did bother me to drop our current cable provider.  As far as companies go, they have been excellent and they are a local company so I like the idea of supporting them.  Unfortunately they don't offer TV5 and after a few calls to inquire about it, there is no chance of them getting it.  $20 per month doesn't seem like much, but we bundle it all together and it ends up being a pretty expensive bill, so increasing it doesn't sit well with me, but I have heard TV5 is excellent and a must for language training.  Hopefully it is all worth it. 

I am months away from getting on the register, but the current talk of life on the register is so dismal right now.  At this point, I don't know that the 0.17 points I will (might) get from French will help me anyway.  I just don't think I have the means to study a SCNL right now.  One consistent theme I have heard about language training (and the FS in general) is to pick something that might be useful to you anyway.  I really enjoy French and might be able to use it professionally in other ways in the future, so I don't think it will be a total loss should this all not work out.  At this point I will just push forward!

A new class

I started a new French class this week.  I think it will be good.  The originally class I was going to take was cancelled, so I was put in another one.  At first I didn't think it would be helpful, but after attending I think it will actually challenge me more than the original one.  I am getting a little frustrated with my current tutor.  I just don't feel she is really pushing me to do anything and we are moving soooooo slow.  I keep telling her I am "getting" it all and we can move on, but I am just not sure how much experience she has doing this.  She teaches AP French at the high school level and I think she is treating this like "extra help" tutoring she might provide one of her students vs. actual teaching me.  Kind of difficult to explain, but at this point I don't think I will continue working with her once this session ends.  I am hoping that one of the teachers at the local school does some tutoring on the side.  They are all native speakers and seem to be a little more forceful.

On the medical front, I am hoping to have all my medical information back today.  I believe we have 30 days to get this all turned in and that deadline is next week.  I would like to get it wrapped up soon!  I haven't heard anything from my security investigator, but have heard that it sometimes takes over a month, so I am not worried yet. 

A challenge

I met with my French tutor yesterday and in our conversation I asked her how long she thought it would take for me to be fluent.  She stated that depending on my dedication and progress, she thought one year was reasonable.  I think this sounds fair, but of course the competitor inside of me has been challenged to prove her wrong.  Bon chance!

Whose Kids are These

So all the boys had their medical screenings done this week.  My five year old also had to get 4 immunizations for Kindergarten next year.  They all did great!  No tears.  There was an almost tear from my 6 y/o as he watched the 8 y/o get his labs drawn (not my choice to have him go second, but whatever), but he held it together.  This has never happened before!  The yearly flu shots tend to throw everyone into hysteria, so we were prepared for the worst.  I have been most worried about this medical stuff, not because anyone is remotely ill or anything like that, but because it is pain the kids have to endure for my potential job.  Anyway, hopefully we are done with this! 

Telling the Rents

Well tonight we let the cat out of the bag to my parents about the whole FS thing.  All along my wife's parents knew of this adventure.  Mainly because we knew they would be supportive and because my FIL was transferred all over the US during his whole career.  They love traveling and have never lived in the same town/city as their extended family.  They don't live near us now, so the idea of us moving wasn't a big deal for them.  My parents on the other hand are not "traveling" people.  We live in the same city as my parents.  My entire family lives in this city.  Very few people in my family have left and when they have everyone talks about them and "can't understand" why they would leave.  My mother also tends to be a bit dramatic and I didn't see the point of worrying her about our possible departure until I passed the OA.  Since that time though, I have been fearing this conversation. 

So tonight we invited ourselves over for pizza under the guise that the kids wanted to see them.  I was super nervous--not so much that they wouldn't be supportive (because I was expecting that), but more about hurting them.  As much as we want to get out of here and pursue this career, I also hate the idea that it has to hurt someone else.  Anyway, five minutes in the door and I couldn't hold it any longer.  I told them that my trip to DC was not for work as previously thought, but was instead a final interview of sorts for the Foreign Service.  At first it didn't make sense to them, but as my mom got enough information she started crying and screaming, "you are taking my babies away from me?!!"  Thankfully this reaction was short lived once she understood the process (medical clearance, security clearance and then the dreaded register!) and realized we aren't leaving tomorrow.  In the end, they ended up being pretty supportive about the whole idea.  They didn't ask many questions (I expect those to come in the next few weeks followed by "did you hear someone was killed in (insert foreign country)?  They won't send you there will they?")  My dad is asking us to request Dublin as our first post and I promised I would :).  Looking at the register right now, we have plenty of time for all of this to sink in, so I guess that is ONE good thing about that (probably the only thing!). 

First tutor and MD appt

I had my first French tutor session today.  It went pretty well.  My tutor is a little (okay, alot) strange and has a socially awkward laugh.  We mainly spent time reviewing very basic stuff (alphabet, counting, verbs "to be" and "to have").  I checked out some children's books in French to read over the next week.  It was a good introduction to how much I have to learn.  I just keep reminding myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint!  It is scary to read some FS blogs of people in language training at FSI and hear them struggle when they are getting 4-5 hours per day of intense training.  This is going to be quite the journey.

On the MD front, my wife and I both had our physicals today.  We got our chest x-rays done and have to go back Monday for labs and a few odds and ends.  It went much smoother than I expected (not sure why), but nonetheless I am happy to be almost done with that.  This weekend is full of two soccer games, one football game and care of our chihuahua who decided to eat rat poison today causing us to make a quick trip to the vet for stomach pumping and Vit K prescriptions.  The fun never stops!

French

Tomorrow I start my first lesson with my newly acquired French tutor.  I have no idea how it will go or how badly my French is right now.  I also don't know if the tutor is any good or not, but she is very cheap, so if I get anything out of the experience, it will be worth it!  I took French for 4 years in high school and was fairly decent at it (15 years ago!).  I can still read it okay and get the jist of what is being said, but I can't speak well right now or follow verbal communication well (doesn't it seem that other languages talk very quickly ;) ).  My goal is to pour everything into this process over the next two years.  I really need language points to make this FS thing a reality and even then it might be iffy.  I have a 5.4 in CON so with language points I would get a 5.57.  This looks like it would get me into an A-100 class, but I'm just not sure. 

I also found a French school around the corner from our house (funny how you don't notice things until they impact your life in some way) that teaches adult lessons every night of the week.  They also hold "conversation gatherings" every Wednesday.  I think I will also enroll in their classes as they are very reasonable and will most likely provide a good network for other resources.  Who knows how this will all turn out, but I am looking forward to the process!

The Roll Over begins

Today is son #3's birthday.  He is five years old.  All the kids' birthdays are within two months of each other and today starts the yearly roll over.  We had a good time this past year saying our kids were 2-4-6-8, but that fun ends now.  We are ready to start another odd year, but those years tend to be good one's for us!  Hopefully this year will be full of adventure and training! 

We had a low key family celebration at the lake and I am now knee deep in lego pieces that will somehow come together to form a train.  My labor days are never without labor!! 

Medical Screen #1

My daughter had her medical screening today.  All seemed to go well and she didn't even cry during her labs.  Pretty good for a 2 y/o.  My wife and I were not able to get our appts until next week and our three sons are not until the following week.  Getting six people through physical exams and the laundry lists of labs is quite the chore.  I will be very happy to have this part of the clearances over! 

On another note, one of my OA study buddies had his OA today and did not pass.  I was completely shocked to hear this as he appeared to be uber-prepared.  He was very strong in GE and SI and like the rest of us struggled a bit with CM, but was much better than I.  He only passed the GE today and I just don't get it.  Obviously I wasn't there, but it is just too bad.  I am so happy to be where I am in this process, but it hurts to know so many good people don't make it.  I am thinking of him tonight and wishing the rest of my group the best of luck over the next couple of weeks!

OA recap

I was in DC this past week to take my OA and the experience definitely lived up to the hype of it all.  It was a day filled with anxiety, nausea, excitement and fear.  Thankfully the end was a good one for me, but the whole process continues to be a bit of a mystery.  There were so many amazing people testing that day and I am not sure why so many of them didn't pass.  I will say that I studied my rear off and felt well prepared for all of the exercises.  The day consists of three exercises (group exercise, case management and structured interview).  You don't have to pass all three (I didn't) in order to pass the OA, but you have to end with a score of 5.25 or higher.  At the end of the day everyone is placed back in the lobby and we were called out one by one to get our results.  Everything I had read about the results stated that only the last people in the room were the ones who end up passing.  Of course this was all from other people's recollections of their experiences and not directly from anyone involved in the actual testing.  I was hoping and praying to NOT hear my named called.  After the first three people were called out (there were 22 of us testing that day) I heard my name called next.  I was thinking this couldn't be good.  I am pretty sure I was shaking at this point and I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact with the assessor who was escorting me down the hall.  I walked into a room with one officer waiting for me.  Still not looking good.  Next thing I know, two more candidates have been brought into the room with me.  Now I am thinking, "okay so surely they aren't going to tell us we all failed together, are they?"  Next four more officers came in the room and shut the door.  The original officer stated, "We are happy to be the first to tell you that you have passed the oral assessment!"  It was an unbelievable feeling at that moment.  I am pretty sure my eyes welled up a bit as each officer came over to offer me a congratulatory handshake.  After that is was another 2 hours filled with paperwork and information.  Those were the fastest two hours of the whole day and I wouldn't have cared if it lasted all night.  I think I will remember the feeling of relief/excitment/pride forever! 

Since taking the OA, the high feeling remain, though the reality of actually making it into A-100 (the officer training class) has started to fade a bit.  The registers for all the cones are quite long right now and depending what happens next fiscal year, there is a chance that my score won't be high enough to get me into an A-100 class.  Thankfully I have a long time to worry about that and many options in front of me to improve my chances.  More on that topic later....

Welcome

Hello!  Welcome to the new blog.  I am hoping to use this forum as a way to remember my thoughts, feelings and events during this process of joining the foreign service.  This process is not for the impatient folks, that is for sure!  Hopefully I survive the anxiety, stress and worry that comes along with the process.  We'll see!