FSI, I knew thee well

I did my final out-processing at the Foreign Service Institute (at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center) today. Normally on such occasions, we tend to say the parting is "bittersweet." Not so in this case; although my time at FSI has been mostly informative and fun, I'm completely ready to move on to post and put my training to use.

Spanish took its toll, but I loved ConGen. Every day I would come home from school and think, "I chose the right profession." I love the thought of helping U.S. citizens abroad and even of being "on the line" and conducting visa interviews. We should probably check in about two years from now and see if I still feel the same. :) I learned a lot, but surely have much more to learn. For now, I'm excited about the work that lies ahead.

A few memories of the FSI campus:

The room where the Flag Day ceremony took place.

Flag Day with a few of my colleagues. Oh, my, how young they all are. :)

Me and Ben, right after A-100.

The campus in spring.

The statue of Ben Franklin is located just outside of where I was in A-100. It represents Franklin's role in US diplomacy.

Many was the time my Spanish classmates and I would walk the 1-mile loop around campus, speaking only in Spanish, praying that we would achieve the necessary score in our evaluations.

Another view of the campus. Beautiful all year round, but especially in the summer.

Swearing In

Post by J

Yesterday was the last day of A-100, and the culminating event was the swearing in ceremony. Secretary of State John Kerry did the honors in the Dean Acheson auditorium at the Main State building in Washington, D.C.

Secretary Kerry addressing the class.

The Groundbreaking 179th A-100 class.

Wyoming Senators Enzi and Barrasso couldn't attend, but sent representatives (Coy Knobel from Enzi's office and Amber Bland from Barrasso's) to the ceremony to witness the swearing in. It was really nice to have fellow Wyomingites in the crowd cheering me on.

I learned a lot in the last six weeks, and I'm sure there are things I won't even realize that I learned until later. We had terrific instructors and, although some of the sessions were long and/or dense, I know I got at least a little out of each one.

Before the swearing in ceremony, our class decided on its motto: Laying the foundation for a life of service. I love this motto! After all, service is the reason I joined the State Department.

I'll be in training for quite some time; I start on Spanish at the end of October. Language training is the bulk of the months ahead for me and I'm excited to get started!  I'm really looking forward to learning to speak and read a new language that's so useful. Plus, R will join me in Washington to start the abbreviated Spanish course the same time I start the full course.

It's official: I'm a Foreign Service Officer.

Links to the State Department's photos of the event on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15244209408/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15427615781/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15407738346/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15430797915/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15430796465/

Flag Day!

Post by J

Flag Day!

Dominican Republic!

Yes!  We're thrilled to be going to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in August 2015. I have quite a bit of training before we go, including Area Studies, the Consular course, and six months of intensive Spanish.  So exciting!  Hurray!

R and H and L all flew in for the big day, and we had a great time during the ceremony, eating cake/drinking champagne after the ceremony, stuffing ourselves at Mark's Duck House (and having enough leftovers to feed half of the Dominican Republic), and touring around DC on Saturday and Sunday.

R and me - before the Flag Day ceremony.

The whole family, celebrating after the Flag Day ceremony.

H and L and me.

The Washington Monument.

In front of the Capitol.

The ceiling of the Library of Congress.

R, L and H in front of the Library of Congress.

The fam in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

L and H at the Lincoln Memorial.

Me and R and the Washington Monument.

The Viet Nam War memorial.

A-100 Week Four Recap

Post by J

Week Four.  Oh, Week Four.

This week was all about public speaking and keeping your composure in difficult circumstances. We had lengthy workshops on how to deliver a speech and how to maintain our equilibrium when being peppered (okay, perhaps "lambasted" is a better word) with difficult questions from a hostile audience.

I'm not really thrown by speaking in front of a group; I've done it a lot. If I know my subject and I've come prepared, I'm just fine. We were given a few days' notice to decide on a relevant topic specific to our cone (mine is consular) and develop a five-minute speech. I delivered mine on Thursday afternoon and was given feedback by 10 of my colleagues. I'll now revise and practice, and deliver the speech again on Monday. Done and done. No problem.

I'm not a big fan of extemporaneous speaking, however. I like to know what to expect. Unfortunately, the whole idea behind this week's exercise, "Composure under Fire" or "Grace under Pressure" is to practice reacting appropriately when you don't know what's coming. What is the appropriate response to a very difficult question regarding U.S. foreign policy, especially when the foreign audience is surly and in your face, for example? Perhaps they should have called this session, "Deer-in-the-Headlights in the Face of an Oncoming Mack Truck."

This situation is something for which you can't really prepare, and the Myers-Briggs ISFJ in me hates that. You just have to breathe and focus. Easier said than done.

Before I had my turn in the hot seat, I promised myself that if things really went south I'd just mentally go to my happy place and weather the storm. I sat there at the beginning of the day thinking, "Well, it's not likely that I'll be called on first. My name is not first alphabetically, nor is that of my assigned country. I won't volunteer to go first. I'm not sitting in a place in the room that looks like a reasonable starting place. I'll observe the first few classmates and learn from their experiences."

"Hmm," said the session leader as we settled into our seats at 8:30 this morning. "Let's start with...," and he named my country.  Seriously?

When push came to shove, though, I didn't have time to go to my happy place. But I didn't really need to, either, because - hallelujah, thank-ya-Jesus - I was able to hold my own against the barrage of questions. And it was actually a blessing that I went first, because my class hadn't yet settled into its role as a belligerent, critical, anti-American crowd. Sure, their questions were tough, but not as tough as they could have been. The whole experience cost me a lot of mental energy, though, even if I'm able to retain something that I can use in the future.

Yes, I made it through. But I'm glad Week Four is over and I never have to see its annoying face again.

A-100 Weeks Two and Three Recap

Post by J

Time seems to move quickly when you're busy. Case in point: How is it possible that I'm now half-way through A-100? Week two? Gone. Week three? History.  Crazy.

We've been busy learning about what a foreign service career might hold, how to face the challenges that are sure to arise, how to juggle work/life balance, and how to write reports (cables in FS speak). We've talked about generational differences and taken the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. We listened in rapt attention as bureau chiefs gave an overview of the six different regions in which we might serve in our careers. We met with our Career Development Officers to discuss our bid list priorities, and we traveled to the "Woods" where we participated in team-building and leadership exercises.

Of course, the main focus of week two was meeting with our CDOs. I met with mine on Friday of that week, and we were able to include R via speaker phone. The primary reason for the meeting was for our CDO to get to know us and understand our priorities in bidding. I think it's safe to say that this meeting is extremely important and will ultimately play a big role in where I'm assigned. I submitted my final bid list on Tuesday of week three, so where R and I end up is now completely out of my hands. Because of that, I'm no longer devoting any mental energy to it.  After all, I have plenty of other things to do.

The last two days of week three were dedicated to the off-site (the "Woods") event.  We traveled by bus out of Washington on Thursday and returned on Friday. There were multiple exercises that stressed working as a team to accomplish a goal. Although I've read that others find these two days stressful, I had a great time. I think I got to know a few more of my classmates a little bit better, and we had fun, particularly during the "Follies" - a performance that a committee of my classmates put on Thursday evening. The Follies were fun because we had a chance to loosen up and laugh.

I have to say that the 84 other members of my class are an impressive lot. They have varied educational backgrounds, speak myriad languages and can call on unique experiences to add value to nearly any conversation. I've found that they're very accepting, too. I'm an outlier in the group (I'm quite a bit older than most of my classmates, and my life experiences are different), but I definitely still feel that I belong, and that I have something to contribute.

Three more weeks (and 12 days until Flag Day)!

The U.S. Diplomacy Center

Post by J

Secretary of State John Kerry and five former Secretaries of State - Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, and Hilary Clinton - spoke at the U.S. Diplomacy Center groundbreaking ceremony this afternoon. Our FSO orientation class was invited to attend, and comprised 85 of the 250 attendees present. We were delighted to be included.

Each Secretary spoke for a few minutes, and I was particularly struck by Secretary Powell's comments. Basically, he said that while Washington, DC boasts many monuments dedicated to military services (the Viet Nam War Memorial, the Korean Memorial, World War II, etc.), there is not a monument to those Foreign Service Officers who gave their lives while serving America abroad (there are over 200), nor is there a place dedicated to telling the story of the Diplomatic Corps. The U.S. Diplomacy Center will serve this purpose.

My classmates and I were a little starstruck, given the status of the speakers. We're all a little geeky and the Secretaries of State are the equivalent of rock stars in our world. Of course we shamelessly snapped photos with our phones.

And here's a little random addition to this post that has nothing to do with the Diplomacy Center:

Last week while searching for a place to sit at lunch, a classmate and I walked outside to the courtyard at the Main State building. All the tables were occupied, unfortunately, but we spied a table that only had one person sitting at it. We approached the man sitting there and asked if he'd mind if we joined him. He said no, and we sat down. Small talk ensued.

"Do you work here?" we asked. We ask this question of everyone, assuming that they're an FSO who might have interesting stories from the field, or insightful advice that we couldn't get anywhere else.

"No," the man replied. "I'm a reporter."

We hesitated, not knowing exactly what to talk with him about.  

"Which paper do you work for?" I asked.

"Not a paper. I work for Fox News."

Aha.  A television reporter.  

Turns out, we had lunch with James Rosen, who was quite a hot topic a few years ago. Rosen was the subject of an investigation, a pretty aggressive one in fact, conducted by the Department of Justice. Some believe the DOJ went too far, using intimidation tactics to squelch Rosen's free speech. The reason that some were on Rosen's side is that if investigative reporters are prevented from digging too deep (the DOJ was trying to intimidate Rosen by conducting their own investigation), it limits the media's role as a "watchdog."

It just goes to show, you never know who you're going to see from one day to the next in this job!

A-100 Week One Recap

Post by J

Week one of A-100 is in the books.  I don't remember being this tired since Basic Training back in my Army days, I kid you not. There's a lot of information to absorb, all of it relevant, all of it important.  Plus, I've been getting up at 5:00 each morning to run (there are treadmills in the apartment complex's small  fitness center), so by the time I get home around 6:00 p.m. I'm justifiably exhausted. Hello, three-day-weekend! Am I ever glad to see you!

The sessions this week varied from "mission statement and structure" to explanations of how to complete a travel voucher. We learned about global health issues, diplomatic history, and the National Security Council. We explored State Department priorities and the interagency process. We received an overview of the Transition Center, which includes the Overseas Briefing Center (OBC).

The OBC is of particular interest this week because we received the bid list for our class on Wednesday. The list consists of 105 possible posts that we each must rank high, medium, or low, depending on our self-determined priorities. The list encompasses 51 cities in 44 countries. This is where the fun comes in: all of my 84 fellow FSOs and I are busily poring over the vast array of material that the OBC keeps on each post, trying to decide what is best for us. We have been told we can rank no more than 25% (about 26 posts) low.

We are not able to publicly share the list, but our families are directly affected so can be "in the know." R, H, L, and I have been looking up countries and sharing information we find, trying to begin the process of weeding out and ranking. It's fun, but it does take a lot of time.

On top of all of the information during the day and the lengthy telephone conversations with Ross regarding possible posts, I have homework to complete. I'm usually in bed sawing proverbial logs by 9:00 p.m.

Today the OBC had special weekend hours (something that only happens once a month), and I took advantage of that and drove over to FSI (Foreign Service Institute) to do some more reading on potential posts, and to check out a few post videos. While there, I had a very interesting conversation with two "seasoned" FSOs who are in between tours. They were on hand just to talk with us newbies, and I found their advice very helpful in getting a handle on how to proceed when I talk to my Career Development Officer (CDO) next week about my preferences.

Just to remind myself that I am making progress toward Flag Day (the day my class finds out to which post we've actually been assigned) I've included a countdown widget on the right side of this page. Time is ticking!

A-100 Day One

Post by J

I have officially taken the oath:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.  So help me God.

I will take this oath again, at the completion of my orientation training.

I just want to say here that I take this oath seriously. These words stand for my belief in this country and its ideals, and I don't take that lightly. It's an honor to serve my country in an official capacity, and I look forward to the challenges this profession will bring.

Today's agenda included a number of briefings on logistics: travel orders, health insurance options, housing. The real training begins tomorrow.