Today's 5.8 magnitude earthquake was my first (at least the first that I have been aware of). I was sitting in my office at work and at first I thought that the maintenance guys were just making a lot of noise. But when I realized they had been working on the ceiling, and yet my floor was shaking, I knew something was up. Then someone else in the office who had lived in California said it was an earthquake. You should be proud to know that I immediately got in a door frame away from windows (thanks to those elementary school earthquake drills!). There hasn't been a lot of news yet, but it sounds like most of DC is just fine. Evidently the National Cathedral sustained some damage, hopefully it won't take too long to repair. The only noticeable difference for me was the slow metro ride home, a precautionary measure.
My job has been going well - at least, I don't think I've made any mistakes big enough to damage relations between the U.S. and the Benelux region (I set myself a high bar once I found out all that I would be responsible for on my bridge assignment!). Whatever I may have believed in the past, I have NEVER worked in a bureaucracy as big as this. I've spent the last couple days (in between responding to and forwarding a couple hundred emails) trying to figure out how to request appointments. So far, I have deduced that I must draft a memo, ask roughly 10 people to 'clear' it, and then send it off to the higher ups and hope that someone gets back to me sometime. Luckily, many of the folks around me are happy to give advice and suggestions on how best to craft these things. Also, since I'm only working here until Labor Day, I can only give it my best shot and leave it to the next guy to make sure that we get an answer. While I may sound like I'm complaining, this has been a great experience for me and I think that I'll do a better job at post now that I understand some of what goes on back here.
Speaking of post - we start language training in two weeks! J also gets to take language, and lucky for us both, there is a good chance that we will not be in the same class! ;)
Outside of work, we've been enjoying the milder weather the last week or two, going on long bike rides and playing volleyball with classmates when it's not raining. We're looking forward to welcoming some of J's family next month and showing them around the city.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Belgian National Day
I have the coolest job ever. Well, if you'd asked me 5 hours ago, I would have told you about IT frustrations, but since then, I was honored to attend the Belgian National Day celebration at the Ambassador's residence. It was a-mazing! Okay, I'd better back up a bit. Most of the past month has been spent in training, but as of last week, I moved to a temporary position covering the Benelux desk. "What's Benelux?" you ask. Well, that is BElgium, the NEtherlands and LUXembourg. Until the beginning of September when I start language training, I will be coordinating our contact with the embassies here and our posts in those countries. Wish me luck (and them, too, because this is usually handled by two people with much more experience than me!).
(It's now two days later... but let's pretend that it's still Thursday night) Back to the festivities: One of the big events that each embassy has overseas is a celebration on their Independence Day (or the equivalent, i.e. the Qween's birthday for Britain). That's the day to invite citizens of your country that live near the embassy, as well as fellow diplomats and contacts in the State Department. So, I got to meet most of our Belgian contacts at that embassy, and also drink a variety of Belgian beers, and eat frites, Belgian waffles, and chocolate! The only downside was the heat, and that I didn't get to bring J with me to try the beers... ;) There will be plenty such opportunities when we get to Lithuania.
Today we decided to beat the heat (over 100 degrees again today) and head over to the Newseum. This has been on our to-do list for a while, but we just haven't taken the time to go. It's basically a six story tribute to news and the history of news in the US and around the world. It's really well put together, with a number of exhibits on how major events were reported, such as Katrina or September 11th. They also have some nice touches, like the front page of paper from every state displayed outside, which is updated every day. Some of my favorite exhibits were the Pulitzer Prize photography and the memorial for reporters who have been killed around the world. They also have a couple of studios, one of which houses the Sunday morning talk show, ABC This Week with Cristiane Amanpour. I also liked the exhibit on White House photographers. (I like photography, I guess you could say.) Evidently they change the exhibits pretty frequently, so I think we will be back to visit sometime. Sidenote: There are some cool exhibits for kids, like the 10 "studios" where you can stand up and give your own reporting in front of a green screen. I'm assuming that you then get to take that video home with you. Pretty neat!
Now that I'm back in my suits, work seems to be going well. I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paper that gets sent around the Department, and mostly afraid that I will not send all the things I'm supposed to pass on to the right people. It's a good learning experience, though, and I look forward to making the most of it!
(It's now two days later... but let's pretend that it's still Thursday night) Back to the festivities: One of the big events that each embassy has overseas is a celebration on their Independence Day (or the equivalent, i.e. the Qween's birthday for Britain). That's the day to invite citizens of your country that live near the embassy, as well as fellow diplomats and contacts in the State Department. So, I got to meet most of our Belgian contacts at that embassy, and also drink a variety of Belgian beers, and eat frites, Belgian waffles, and chocolate! The only downside was the heat, and that I didn't get to bring J with me to try the beers... ;) There will be plenty such opportunities when we get to Lithuania.
Today we decided to beat the heat (over 100 degrees again today) and head over to the Newseum. This has been on our to-do list for a while, but we just haven't taken the time to go. It's basically a six story tribute to news and the history of news in the US and around the world. It's really well put together, with a number of exhibits on how major events were reported, such as Katrina or September 11th. They also have some nice touches, like the front page of paper from every state displayed outside, which is updated every day. Some of my favorite exhibits were the Pulitzer Prize photography and the memorial for reporters who have been killed around the world. They also have a couple of studios, one of which houses the Sunday morning talk show, ABC This Week with Cristiane Amanpour. I also liked the exhibit on White House photographers. (I like photography, I guess you could say.) Evidently they change the exhibits pretty frequently, so I think we will be back to visit sometime. Sidenote: There are some cool exhibits for kids, like the 10 "studios" where you can stand up and give your own reporting in front of a green screen. I'm assuming that you then get to take that video home with you. Pretty neat!
Now that I'm back in my suits, work seems to be going well. I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paper that gets sent around the Department, and mostly afraid that I will not send all the things I'm supposed to pass on to the right people. It's a good learning experience, though, and I look forward to making the most of it!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Second tour: Moscow!
Just a quick note to let you know that I got word of my next post. I will be an economics officer in Moscow starting in 2014! J and I are very excited and look forward to getting there three years from now. ;) In all seriousness, I think it will be a good experience to work in a small post on the first tour and a relatively large one on the second tour. Economics work should be interesting; I suppose I should start paying closer attention to economic issues in Russia.
They make a big deal of saying that you must pick your "cone" (political, economic, consular, management or public diplomacy) at the beginning of the application process and that you can never change it, but at this point, I am starting to wonder when I will get the chance to work completely within my cone. Actually, it's not that critical right now, and I'm lucky to be able to work in something very close to my cone for three of the four years that I will be nontenured (I need to be tenured by 2016, or else I will have to find a new career...). The Powers That Be tell us that nothing is as important for tenure as doing a good job in whatever position we are assigned, and also earning a good "corridor reputation" (a.k.a. working well with colleagues). I think I can handle that!
One last tidbit: As a Foreign Service Officer, my name is submitted by the President for official Senate conformation. Doesn't that sound formal?! On May 12th, I was listed in the Congressional Record (Volume 157, Issue 65), and I think you should go check out the link to find me!
They make a big deal of saying that you must pick your "cone" (political, economic, consular, management or public diplomacy) at the beginning of the application process and that you can never change it, but at this point, I am starting to wonder when I will get the chance to work completely within my cone. Actually, it's not that critical right now, and I'm lucky to be able to work in something very close to my cone for three of the four years that I will be nontenured (I need to be tenured by 2016, or else I will have to find a new career...). The Powers That Be tell us that nothing is as important for tenure as doing a good job in whatever position we are assigned, and also earning a good "corridor reputation" (a.k.a. working well with colleagues). I think I can handle that!
One last tidbit: As a Foreign Service Officer, my name is submitted by the President for official Senate conformation. Doesn't that sound formal?! On May 12th, I was listed in the Congressional Record (Volume 157, Issue 65), and I think you should go check out the link to find me!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Still in training
Sorry folks, it has been a while since I posted. On one level, I feel like I've been doing pretty much the same thing for the last 10 or so weeks, so I don't have a lot to report. But that's not really true; I've had visitors, started different trainings, seen some things here in DC, so I'll try to catch up. And again, I promise to get better at posting.
First off, we had our first visitors - R (friend from high school) and S (friend from college) over Memorial Day weekend. We had a blast! (Well, J. didn't have much to do with the girls' weekend, but the girls had a good time!) We went all over the metro, including the Library of Congress, a couple Smithsonian museums, some of the monuments, a little of Alexandria, a boat ride to Georgetown, and some tasty ethnic cuisine. My feet hurt by the end of their visit. For those of you on facebook, check out our pictures (R & S did all the photos, I'm not much of a camera person...). S & R: I missed you girls - so glad you could make it!!
Last week I also started a new training - Consular General or ConGen for short. This course is Congressionally mandated and includes required tests. Consular work is bound by a ton of regulations (over 13,000 pages), to make sure that we apply the law fairly across the world. Looking at the bigger picture, we're protecting U.S. interests abroad, particularly national security interests. The training also includes relatively lifelike scenarios, such as visa windows and even a fake jail cell, where we will be doing a number of role play scenarios. As a consular officer, I'll be working on mostly immigrant and non-immigrant visas, but I will also spend some time helping with American Citizen Services. Anytime Americans need help overseas, they can contact the embassy, and we consular officers will help as much as we can within the perimeters of the law. A common line I hear in training is that "Consular officers have the best stories." I'm starting to understand why that's true. People come up with the craziest (both factual and fraudulent) stories, and we have to get them to provide us with solid evidence, then apply the law fairly and accurately. I spent at least an hour yesterday with a conception calculator open on my computer, trying to figure out if the alleged father in a given scenario was in the same country as the mother when conception should have occurred ("So you're telling me that your pregnancy lasted 13 months??") Oh, and we're expected to provide good customer service, too, no matter what.
Today I took a test on how to determine citizenship, as well as passport issues and something called the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (aptly named, I think, since it is the official document establishing American citizenship for U.S. children born, you guessed it, outside the U.S.). Happy to report that I didn't miss a single question on the test. "Who is an American citizen" can be a very complicated question when looking at people that are not born in the U.S. (Some day that may be our children, you know). A lot has to do with what law was in effect when someone was born, but it also changes based on whether the parents are married and if one or both are American citizens. Fascinating stuff.
First off, we had our first visitors - R (friend from high school) and S (friend from college) over Memorial Day weekend. We had a blast! (Well, J. didn't have much to do with the girls' weekend, but the girls had a good time!) We went all over the metro, including the Library of Congress, a couple Smithsonian museums, some of the monuments, a little of Alexandria, a boat ride to Georgetown, and some tasty ethnic cuisine. My feet hurt by the end of their visit. For those of you on facebook, check out our pictures (R & S did all the photos, I'm not much of a camera person...). S & R: I missed you girls - so glad you could make it!!
Last week I also started a new training - Consular General or ConGen for short. This course is Congressionally mandated and includes required tests. Consular work is bound by a ton of regulations (over 13,000 pages), to make sure that we apply the law fairly across the world. Looking at the bigger picture, we're protecting U.S. interests abroad, particularly national security interests. The training also includes relatively lifelike scenarios, such as visa windows and even a fake jail cell, where we will be doing a number of role play scenarios. As a consular officer, I'll be working on mostly immigrant and non-immigrant visas, but I will also spend some time helping with American Citizen Services. Anytime Americans need help overseas, they can contact the embassy, and we consular officers will help as much as we can within the perimeters of the law. A common line I hear in training is that "Consular officers have the best stories." I'm starting to understand why that's true. People come up with the craziest (both factual and fraudulent) stories, and we have to get them to provide us with solid evidence, then apply the law fairly and accurately. I spent at least an hour yesterday with a conception calculator open on my computer, trying to figure out if the alleged father in a given scenario was in the same country as the mother when conception should have occurred ("So you're telling me that your pregnancy lasted 13 months??") Oh, and we're expected to provide good customer service, too, no matter what.
Today I took a test on how to determine citizenship, as well as passport issues and something called the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (aptly named, I think, since it is the official document establishing American citizenship for U.S. children born, you guessed it, outside the U.S.). Happy to report that I didn't miss a single question on the test. "Who is an American citizen" can be a very complicated question when looking at people that are not born in the U.S. (Some day that may be our children, you know). A lot has to do with what law was in effect when someone was born, but it also changes based on whether the parents are married and if one or both are American citizens. Fascinating stuff.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
You mean I get to do that?? :)
We've been here for two months now, and until today I've been in relatively generic training (first training for all incoming officers, and now training for new political/economic officers). This afternoon I got a chance to have my first consultations with people who work on Lithuanian issues. I met the person who is called the desk officer (he works in DC and is post's main contact back at State), as well as the person who will be one of my bosses in Vilnius, and a whole bunch of other people. I got to sit in on a briefing from a neighboring country, which was also very cool. Everyone was helpful and made time to explain background information, and also answer my random questions about what I've learned so far. It turns out that during the second half of my time in Lithuania, their president will hold the rotating EU presidency for 6 months. That means lots of work for me, but it will be very exciting. I've got to read up on how the EU works. All I know now is that it's complicated! Today was one of those days where I can't believe that they actually hired me to do this job - it's gonna be awesome!!
I mentioned that I'm in the middle of training for new political/economic officers. I've had to reach back into my somewhat distant memory on macroeconomic topics: GDP, balance of payments, current account deficits... I'm actually expected to report on this stuff! I also practiced giving a "demarche," which is a fancy [French] word for a message from Washington to an official in the host government. I understand that we'll be delivering these messages on a fairly regular basis, and then reporting back on their answer (or lack thereof). For me, this is much easier than public speaking! Speaking of which, I practiced giving another speech today. The feedback was more positive this time, but I still have a bad habit of trailing off at the end of sentences (I do it because I can't seem to decide how to finish the sentence... hum...guess I should work on that).
Some of my classmates are getting ready to leave; several will leave as soon as next month. They are going all over the world with different "portfolios" of work, such as piracy in the Indian Ocean, cultural affairs in the Philippines, consular work in Europe or political/economic issues in Sudan. I'll start training for how to be a consular officer pretty soon - that includes all the regulations related to visas as well as helping American citizens abroad. If you're planning a trip overseas, be sure to check in with the Embassy in that country - in case something happens while you are there (i.e. earthquake in Japan), they will be able to help you get home safely, or alert you to options that are available. Just a plug. :)
No homework tonight, so I guess it's time to watch some Jonny (aka The Daily Show) and then get some rest. More Excel spreadsheets to come tomorrow!
I mentioned that I'm in the middle of training for new political/economic officers. I've had to reach back into my somewhat distant memory on macroeconomic topics: GDP, balance of payments, current account deficits... I'm actually expected to report on this stuff! I also practiced giving a "demarche," which is a fancy [French] word for a message from Washington to an official in the host government. I understand that we'll be delivering these messages on a fairly regular basis, and then reporting back on their answer (or lack thereof). For me, this is much easier than public speaking! Speaking of which, I practiced giving another speech today. The feedback was more positive this time, but I still have a bad habit of trailing off at the end of sentences (I do it because I can't seem to decide how to finish the sentence... hum...guess I should work on that).
Some of my classmates are getting ready to leave; several will leave as soon as next month. They are going all over the world with different "portfolios" of work, such as piracy in the Indian Ocean, cultural affairs in the Philippines, consular work in Europe or political/economic issues in Sudan. I'll start training for how to be a consular officer pretty soon - that includes all the regulations related to visas as well as helping American citizens abroad. If you're planning a trip overseas, be sure to check in with the Embassy in that country - in case something happens while you are there (i.e. earthquake in Japan), they will be able to help you get home safely, or alert you to options that are available. Just a plug. :)
No homework tonight, so I guess it's time to watch some Jonny (aka The Daily Show) and then get some rest. More Excel spreadsheets to come tomorrow!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Oath of Office (and the end of the beginning)
Today we took the oath of office in a formal ceremony led by Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg (the second highest position at Dept. of State). The centerpoint of the ceremony is the swearing in, where we use the same oath as Congress. (By the way, at some point, my name will be listed in the Congressional Record when all the members of our class are approved by the Senate - I'll be sure and post a link when that happens!) It is an honor to serve our country and "defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." The past six weeks I have heard from so many people in the State Department, all of whom are doing amazing things to promote peace and security around the world.
In the past week, I've been learning bits and pieces about the place we will soon call home. Vilnius is referred to as the last great undiscovered city in Europe. Old town is evidently huge and parts of it were built 5 or more centuries ago. They have about 3.5 million people in a country roughly the size of West Virginia. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, although they don't use the Euro. I understand winters are particularly cold, but I'm sure that J will enjoy them, and we will enjoy having visitors in the summer! Lithuanian is actually the last living Indo-European language and was derived from Sanskrit (a dead language). It uses a modified Roman alphabet (similar to English, French, Italian, etc) not Cyrillic, which is what I learned for Russian. I'm going to a small post, meaning we'll get to know everyone well and I'll have a chance to work on all sorts of things going on at the Embassy. I'm also excited about how easy travel around the rest of Europe should be. Once we get into language training in September, I'll have a lot more to share with you.
I feel like we just got here, and yet everything changes again on Monday. I start training on how to be a political/econ officer, and in June I learn what it takes to be a consular officer (evidently, an in-depth knowledge of regulations!) I'll still be with about 30 of my classmates on Monday, but at least we will have a little more elbow room!
J and I are headed out for dinner to celebrate tonight. Tomorrow morning I'm running my first 5k, and next week I may sign up for a 10 mile run in the fall (heck, we'll be here a while, you know...).
Miss you all - talk to you soon!
In the past week, I've been learning bits and pieces about the place we will soon call home. Vilnius is referred to as the last great undiscovered city in Europe. Old town is evidently huge and parts of it were built 5 or more centuries ago. They have about 3.5 million people in a country roughly the size of West Virginia. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, although they don't use the Euro. I understand winters are particularly cold, but I'm sure that J will enjoy them, and we will enjoy having visitors in the summer! Lithuanian is actually the last living Indo-European language and was derived from Sanskrit (a dead language). It uses a modified Roman alphabet (similar to English, French, Italian, etc) not Cyrillic, which is what I learned for Russian. I'm going to a small post, meaning we'll get to know everyone well and I'll have a chance to work on all sorts of things going on at the Embassy. I'm also excited about how easy travel around the rest of Europe should be. Once we get into language training in September, I'll have a lot more to share with you.
I feel like we just got here, and yet everything changes again on Monday. I start training on how to be a political/econ officer, and in June I learn what it takes to be a consular officer (evidently, an in-depth knowledge of regulations!) I'll still be with about 30 of my classmates on Monday, but at least we will have a little more elbow room!
J and I are headed out for dinner to celebrate tonight. Tomorrow morning I'm running my first 5k, and next week I may sign up for a 10 mile run in the fall (heck, we'll be here a while, you know...).
Miss you all - talk to you soon!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Vilnius, Lithuania here we come!
Friday was Flag Day! The ceremony was surprisingly informal; after a couple of minutes of introductions, they jumped right into listing off 89 locations and handing out 89 flags. We shouted out each country's name when it's flag flashed up on the screen (at least those we knew). When Lithuania flashed up (three bars: yellow, green and red), no one recognized it. J didn't even hear the name of the country, so when I jumped up beaming, took my flag, and smiled for our posed photo with the ambassador, J didn't know whether to be happy or not. It took a few minutes of asking other spouses sitting around him to find out where we'll be going!
Needless to say, we're quite excited to be going to a Baltic state in Eastern Europe. Before we go, though, I need a lot more training. I'll get about 2 months of "tradecraft" training in Consular and Political/Economic work. Then, to fill the time, I'll be working on a country desk (which one is not clear to me at the moment because I have not learned enough acronyms - I'll have to ask about that on Monday!) for about 2 months, and then finally spend 6 months learning Lithuanian. I knew I wanted to learn more languages than Russian, I just didn't expect to be learning another one before I solidified my Russian speaking ability. It's good to be flexible in this job!
In the mean time, we'll be staying in the DC area until March of next year. So... give us a holler if you've always wanted to come to DC. Now you have an excuse!
Last week was jam packed with things to do so that we stayed busy. On Wednesday, we had two diplomatic receptions back-to-back. I got to chat with some VIPs and retired VIPs. The receptions are good practice, but I was worn out by the end of the day (must buy more comfortable shoes!).
Today I took a self-defense class - something I've been meaning to do for years. This one was just an introduction, although I'm not sure I'm going to take the full 5 week course. I think it was helpful, but a little short on moves. Nonetheless, having practice defending myself seems like a good thing for "muscle memory" in case I ever need to do it in real life. J made me promise to take a CPR class, too. Classes, classes... ;)
My last week of orientation starts tomorrow, and then I jump into another 10 months of more specific training. Time has flown by - I'm looking forward to getting into a routine and being able to call this place 'home' for a while.
Coming up: 5k race with a friend on Saturday! We're even talking about running a 10 mile race this fall! Have a good week, and don't be a stranger - email/call/check in!
Needless to say, we're quite excited to be going to a Baltic state in Eastern Europe. Before we go, though, I need a lot more training. I'll get about 2 months of "tradecraft" training in Consular and Political/Economic work. Then, to fill the time, I'll be working on a country desk (which one is not clear to me at the moment because I have not learned enough acronyms - I'll have to ask about that on Monday!) for about 2 months, and then finally spend 6 months learning Lithuanian. I knew I wanted to learn more languages than Russian, I just didn't expect to be learning another one before I solidified my Russian speaking ability. It's good to be flexible in this job!
In the mean time, we'll be staying in the DC area until March of next year. So... give us a holler if you've always wanted to come to DC. Now you have an excuse!
Last week was jam packed with things to do so that we stayed busy. On Wednesday, we had two diplomatic receptions back-to-back. I got to chat with some VIPs and retired VIPs. The receptions are good practice, but I was worn out by the end of the day (must buy more comfortable shoes!).
Today I took a self-defense class - something I've been meaning to do for years. This one was just an introduction, although I'm not sure I'm going to take the full 5 week course. I think it was helpful, but a little short on moves. Nonetheless, having practice defending myself seems like a good thing for "muscle memory" in case I ever need to do it in real life. J made me promise to take a CPR class, too. Classes, classes... ;)
My last week of orientation starts tomorrow, and then I jump into another 10 months of more specific training. Time has flown by - I'm looking forward to getting into a routine and being able to call this place 'home' for a while.
Coming up: 5k race with a friend on Saturday! We're even talking about running a 10 mile race this fall! Have a good week, and don't be a stranger - email/call/check in!
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