Is this moron number one? Put moron number two on the phone - Jimmy Serrano

I found out yesterday that I passed my Spanish phone test.  The change in score moved me 34 places higher on the list, and I'm currently ranked in the high 20's.  My highest rank yet.

In the week following the test, I had convinced myself that I had failed.  So happy to have been wrong about that.  

My test felt like it went ok, but I thought it could have gone better.  I talked non-stop, like a teenage girl, for 25 minutes.  Maybe I shouldn't have, but I counted that as a good thing.  On the bad side, I often couldn't understand my interviewer.  Her accent was difficult for me, as well as her velocity.  I guessed a few times at what she had asked.  She didn't stop me in my answers, so I just hoped that my responses were somewhat close to what she'd asked.  Also in the bad camp, was that I was too nervous to analyse what tenses I'd used and which ones I should try to use before we hung up.  I didn't end up using complex sentence structures.  I was really wound up so I forgot to say things like, "If I were Obama, I would...., in order to....", which would have shown a knowledge of the conditional and subjunctive tenses.

So after 11 tough weeks in Xela, Guatemala, and nine hours of lessons over Skype with Betty, a teacher from Oaxaca, Mexico, I got the passing grade.  I'm very happy to have passed, but I'm also just thrilled and relieved to be done with studying and worrying about the test.

Guate was tough on me, mostly because of my fear over the upcoming exam.  It made it hard for me to allow myself to do anything but study.  Any time I socialized a bit with other students and travelers, I felt like it was at the expense of studying, and that I was endangering my result.  I was there with a goal, and unfortunately that goal wasn't to have a lot of fun with other travelers.  I didn't want to have the regret of knowing I could have done more.  It was an exhausting experience.

This wasn't the type of attitude that allowed me to enjoy my time in Guatemala, but thankfully, it was the type of attitude that allowed me to pass the Spanish test.

I hear that South America is coming into style - Elvis Costello

Well, the last few classes have happened without me getting an invite.  October class invites went out too.  The next class is scheduled for January, but at this point, I'm shooting for February.

My 5.3 has been on the cusp of getting a call for several classes, but I don't think it is going to be enough.  So, I'm off to study some Spanish to raise my score.  I can get a .17 bonus if I can show them that I've got the required level of ability.  A 5.47 would put me in the mid-20's in rank, instead of the mid-40's.  Invites usually make it into the 30's.

I'm hoping to test in early December to get the points, and have the 5.47 in place before the calls for the February class go out.

Guatemala is calling, partially because I'm cheap, and partially because it is known for having good language schools.  I fly out tomorrow.  

I'm going to start at La Democracia .  Depending on how it goes, I'll either stay there, or move to one of the many other options down there.

Good news on the housing front.  Both condos have closed.  Second one closed yesterday.  Nice to have that done.  With all the negative news about home sales, I thought it was going to be a terrible process, but I lived close to Harvard Sq, and I think I priced them realistically, so they went quickly.  Phew.  Deep breath.

Ok.  Time to sign off and put my computer in storage.  

It's always tease, tease, tease - The Clash

The first round of September invites have gone out.  I didn't get one. This time, I'm #50 on the list (my worst position yet) and invites reached at least #31.  So, at most I was 19 away from an invite.  Not moving in the right direction here.  A few more invites may go out in a second round, but I don't think they'll close a gap of 19.  No September class for me.

I have gotten two non-FSO related offers though.  I recently converted my two-family house into two condos and I put them on the market last Monday.  By last Thursday, I had accepted one offer, and then on Sunday after an open house, I accepted an offer on the other condo.  Both under contract within a week.  So, despite all the horror stories in the news about devastated real estate markets, I had a very good week.  Of course, there are still inspections to do on this 100+ year old house.  I won't consider things safe until the p/s is signed.  If things stay on schedule, they should both be signed by the end of next week.

The plan was to sell my house in anticipation of the offer.  Since home sales typically take a while, I wanted to get the ball rolling, and then when I'd made the June or August classes, I could participate in the home sale from afar, having done all the prep work.  Well, the June and August classes passed me by, but the home sale has stayed on schedule.

This does put me in a great position for my Plan B, which is to get some intensive Spanish training.  It'll be easier for me to concentrate on grammar rules without the worry of covering my mortgage.  

I'll need to put my stuff in storage while I'm gone.  It'll be a bit of a pain to do that, but I have a head start since I've already boxed up and gotten rid of a bunch of stuff in order to stage the house for sale.  I don't have that many things anyway.  Even though I've owned this house for six years, I'm not much of an accumulator.  I don't see an empty space and feel a need to fill it.  Having moved eight times in the eight years before buying my house, I learned to love being lean.  I've spent 15 years in Boston, always thinking I would move within the next two years.  This overdeveloped case of wanderlust has led me to value the idea of being able to move quickly, even if that hasn't been needed.  

If the Spanish thing works out, I'm most likely in line for the February class next year.  There is one more class this year, October, and then a bit of a break until the January class.  I won't have taken the language test by the time the January invites go out (early November), so hopefully I'll pass the Spanish test and make it in February.  

It's a bit of a drag to know that people I passed the OA with will already have been FSOs for a year at that point.   Bad luck with how long my security clearance took.  One month earlier clearance would have meant getting to a-100 a year before I'm hoping for now.  Nothing I can do about that though.

Just like everything else those old crazy dreams just kinda came and went - John Mellencamp

August calls for A-100 have been extended without one showing up in my email box.  Damn.

Once again, I think I was really close.  I think I was ranked in the mid-40's at the beginning of the calls, and ended up ranked in the mid-30's.  The offers came as close as the mid-20's, so I was within 10 people of a call to the show.  I'm getting the sense that the offer will continue to be close but not close enough, so I'm looking into some Spanish schools to go for the .17 bonus points.  The extra points would move me up 15 places or so in the register rankings.

I've been looking at the following schools in affordable Guatemala:

http://www.plqe.org/  --  Five hours a day in a non-tourist destination town.
http://learncsa.com/  --  Four to eight hours a day in a tourist destination town.

I'm also considering Oaxaca, Mexico.  One positive aspect of Oaxaca is that I've been there before and loved the city.  One negative aspect is that most schools there offer classes of 2-5 people rather than one-to-one that the Guatemala schools offer. 


The State Department takes 24 weeks (600 hours of instruction) to train its employees in Spanish from zero ability to the level needed. 

I think it would take me three months to get to the level needed to pass the State Department's exam.  I put that level at being able to communicate the Wall Street Journal in Spanish.  Most recent takers of the language tests have said they were asked to speak about some current event, like the oil spill or Iranian nuclear proliferation.  I need to be able to converse on any range of topics.  I get the sense that most English speakers wouldn't be able to pass the exam in English.

I'm guessing that with my long but erratic history of Spanish study, I'm about half way there.  If I do an intensive study in Mexico or Guatemala for 6 hours a day, it will take 10 weeks to get 300 hours of instruction.  It's obviously not just a matter of studying for the designated number of hours, but a three-month timetable seems like a logical estimate.

The other major thing going on is my house sale.  I own a two-family house.  I can sell it as is, or I can convert it into two condos.  There is a current market inequity with two-family houses in the area.  If I sell it as a two-family, I'll get 15-20% less for it than if I convert to condos.  Converting has its costs for architects, town fees, registration fees, lawyers fees, but that stuff doesn't close the market inequity.  So, I'm in the process of converting to condos.  There are lots of hoops to jump through, and each of those takes time, but I'm hoping to have them on the market by Sept. at the latest.

I want it, I want it, I want it. You can't have it - The Who

June offers went out without one coming my way.  It is hard to tell how close I was to an offer, but based on shadow register that we have created over on the yahoo a-100 group, I was at most 13 spots away, but maybe as close as two spots from an offer.  It's hard to tell, because only a portion of the people on the register are members of the yahoo group, and then only some of those people post their information on the shadow register. 

I am currently ranked in the mid-30's again.

The experience is a bit like a yo-yo.  I climb in rank as people accept offers, but drop in rank in the six weeks between classes as people with higher scores join the list above me.

I sent an email to the registrar three days ago to ask my rank and whether or not all the management offers had been given for the June class.  She replied with my latest rank, and told me that there were no more offers to come for June.  It was odd to me, but I was relieved by the news.  I would have preferred an offer, but I was so pleased to actually know.  The hardest part is the lack of information given.  There isn't any real reason for most of the secrecy involved in this process.  Knowing I wasn't going to get an offer allowed me to move on to concentrate on other things, instead of constantly hitting refresh on my email in the hopes that I'd been sent an offer.

I've decided to channel my new found mental space toward selling my house. 

The standard line is to discourage any major life decisions in anticipation of an offer.  I understand the rational.  This process has taken much longer than I anticipated, and it may still never result in an offer.  So, why sell my house?  Well, I've never really liked owning a house anyway.  I bought a two-family house five years ago.  More accurately put, I've never really liked being a landlord.  My tenants have been great so far, but I think I'm more suited to owning a condo, or renting a place. 

I'd love to rent it out and keep it as an investment, but at the same time, I'd love to be done with it and not have to think about the water heater while I'm in Hyderabad or elsewhere.  If I don't get an offer, to the August or September classes, it will free me up to travel to Central America to study Spanish, which will get me some bonus points to add to my score.  With the Spanish bonus points, I'd currently rank somewhere around #16 on the list, which is a spot that is essentially guaranteed an invite.  

Now hoping for an August invite and a pain free home sale.

Where do we go? Where do we go now? - Guns N' Roses

Inspired by Girl in the Rain, I decided to make a map of where I'd been, and where I'd like to go by using this site.

First, where I've been. 

Africa - None
Americas - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, United States, Uruguay
Asia - India, Nepal
Pacific - New Zealand
Europe - Belarus, Czech, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

27 countries seems like a lot, until you start comparing it to other people in the Foreign Service.  Still, it's a good start. 

About ten years ago, I made a list of other countries I'd like to visit.  I came up with about 40 or so.  I included Alaska and Bay of Fundy as their own countries, 'cause it was my list, and I made the rules.

When I think of places I'd like to go with the Foreign Service, the list gets much bigger.  I'm a pretty outgoing traveler, but there's no way I'm going to go to Libya by myself.  However, with the assistance of the State Dept., I'd go just about anywhere.  I took a quick look through the map and decided that I'd be happy to get posted to any one of these places.  These were impulse decisions.  I'm sure there are many more I'd be happy to get posted to, so I reserve the right to change my mind at any point.

I left Afghanistan and Iraq off the list.  The State Dept. doesn't send FSO's there for their first tour.  I think it's a wise policy.  I'm not opposed to going to those places, but I'd like to get my FSO feet under me in a non-war zone first.  The State Dept. doesn't count Pakistan as a war-zone, but I do, so I left it off the list for now.

Africa - Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia
Americas - Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Greenland, Grenada, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela
Asia - Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen
Pacific - Australia, New Zealand
Europe - Croatia, Czech, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine

Alright don't worry, even if things end up a bit too heavy, we'll all float on...alright - Modest Mouse

The March orientation class (A-100) starts today.  This was the class I thought I'd be in. 

Security clearance took too long though.  There was no waiting list for the Jan., Feb., or March classes in the management track, so if my clearance hadn't gone through four and a half months of adjudication, I would have been in the March class...starting today.

Next hope, June. 

Sit around and watch the phone, but no one's calling - Green Day

No invite for me for May.

A bunch of new people joined the management register since February, essentially doubling the list by the time the May invites were sent.  Most people who make the register get ranked above me, based on getting higher scores at the oral assessment.  So, even after the May invites thinned the list by about 20 people, I'm still ranked in the mid-thirties.

I've read speculation that many of the people on the do-not-call list are waiting for their kids to finish a school year before they move to DC.  If true, a June invite could be even more difficult to get. 

Singing zippity do da day god damnit - JT and the Clouds

I made the register.

After months of waiting in adjudication for my security clearance, I kind of got used to waiting, and expected to wait for State to run its final review.  Turns out, that only took a couple days.

I got a letter a few days ago letting me know that I'm now on the management register. 

I'll start at the end of the list of eligible hires, but I think I have a good shot at the May class.  Each class seems to take about 20 candidates from each track, and I'm currently ranked in the mid-thirties or so on the list.  It all depends on how many people in front of me are on the do-not-call list.  There could be 20 or so people who have asked not to be called until a later class, which would give me a spot in May.

I've spent a lot of time dreaming about a career in the Foreign Service, but haven't let myself really believe it would happen.  At this point though, I am allowing myself to believe. 

I don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation - Joan Jett

After two months of investigation and four and a half months in adjudication, my security clearance has been granted.

I called yesterday to ask the clearance customer service folks for any news.  When the guy on the phone asked me if I was sitting down, I had a few moments of flip-flopping between getting excited and getting worried.  I sat down and asked him for the update.  He let me know that I'd been cleared and that my file is on its way over to State for the final review.

Most people get through the final review in a week or two.

The management register is very short right now, so even people with low scores are getting asked to join an orientation class as soon as they get through final review.  At this point, the March invites have gone out, so I've missed that class, but May seems very likely.

And I'll be on the sidelines, with my hands tied, watching the show. - Aimee Mann

Still no movement on the security clearance.

I have heard that when you reach three months in adjudication that the folks in the security clearance customer service section of the State Department can nudge the adjudicators.  Last Friday, I called to check in and ask for a few elbows to be thrown on my behalf.

First, I asked if I'd been cleared.  I had not.  I then asked when I'd actually made it into adjudication and found out that I'd made it at the end of September.  That means I'm now in my 15th week of adjudication.  The customer service representative said that it looked like my file was "starting to grow a beard".  He asked me to send him an email asking for an update, which he would then forward to my adjudicator.

With that email done, I'm back to the waiting.

The class at the end of March is still my goal, but the longer the adjudication drags, the more I think that is unrealistic.  Invites for March will probably go out in early or mid-February.