Hopefully I’ll be a little bit better about blogging it all. It’s been a busy few months at work and personally. I got engaged a few weeks ago! Apparently the whole foreign service life didn’t scare Shaun off at all and he decided to sign up for the long term. So just in case things weren’t busy enough with the moving to DC and then to Morocco, we thought it would be fun to add into the mix the stress of planning a wedding. I think my father is more jazzed about that then I am. He ran out a couple of weeks after and signed a contract with a venue. He also got it into his head that we’re having an Alpine themed wedding. I’m not sure what that is exactly but I’m afraid it involves lederhosen… I’m entirely terrified and hopefully we can fend off the lederhosen before this gets too out of hand. I apologize in advance if this blog gets a little eaten up by wedding planning.

On the Morocco front, we’ve spent the last few months reading pretty much everything we can get our hands on about Morocco. I can’t believe what an amazing post we’ve got for the second tour. It is going to be hard to wait the little over a year plus to finally get there. We started taking French classes in El Paso to start getting familiar with the language. My job is Arabic designated so I’ll be getting a full course of Arabic and because of scheduling issues I’m getting two months of French as well, which is fantastic but we figured since that wasn’t much time, a head start never hurts.

1. Ankara
2.London
3. Tel Aviv
4. Rome
5. London
6. Ottawa
7. Casablanca
8. Madrid
9.Amman
10.Geneva

I’m heading to:

Casablanca, Morocco

I was hoping to work in an embassy this time around and for a tour that wasn’t straight consular work, but the location is nicer this time around and I get 8 months back in DC to learn Arabic. Let’s hope I do better this time with the Arabic than I did the last time around. After 2 years studying Arabic pretty much all I can do is brag about my cats in the language.

When you enter the Foreign Service as a single gal you tend to hear “abandon all hope… especially if you have cats.” I heard at one point that the cats in particular repel men. In my case that actually turned out true since the Archaeologist is so insanely allergic to cats I’ve resorted to investing in special chemicals to denature the proteins in the cat dander to get it off my clothes… oh the things we do for love. Somehow though despite the cats and the crazy job which I rapidly discovered last summer and fall during my dating exploits in El Paso tends to make members of the opposite sex go “you do what now? And you move how often? So you are here for how long…” Despite an inauspicious beginning, somehow I manged to find someone adventurous enough or crazy enough to sign up to be my MOH. MOH for those not yet fluent in acronym is Member of Household which in this case refers to an unmarried partner. Though, since he lives in El Paso and I live in Juarez, it isn’t necessary to fill out the paperwork to make him a MOH while I’m here in Juarez.

That brings us to second tour bidding! The last few weeks we’ve spent hours pouring over the bid list trying to decide what to bid and how. It’s actually a bit of a challenge to balance career concerns with the desire to live someplace interesting. After living on the Texas border for the last year I kind of want some place a little more exotic. I’m ready to feel like I’m in the “foreign” service. I also want to branch out and try something outside of the consular cone or try a different type of consular work. Add into that trying to find some place where Shaun (AKA the Archaeologist) can either work remotely or have decent job prospects and bidding becomes an almost herculean endeavor. Somehow though we managed to put together a bid list with a top 10 that excites us both. Actually, our whole top 20 is pretty great. I don’t want to jinx it by sharing out list, but I think we’ll both be pretty thrilled wherever we go. I will say that our Top 10 is pretty EUR and NEA heavy with the exception of one job in Canada. I may have to hang my head in shame if I go from one border to the other but the job was too cool not to bid and it will allow me to embrace my new found love of ice hockey. I did once move to Australia just for the Aussie Rules Football, so this wouldn’t be the least sensible decision I’ve ever made.

So that’s the quick and dirty update. Hopefully I’ll be a bit better about blogging in the future since the Archaeologist is going to be out in the field a lot for the rest of the summer and I will have a little less distraction and some more time. I’ll post an update when I know where I’m going, which hopefully will be very soon!

Those are all butterflies on that tree!

-On the highlights side was road-tripping through Mexico State with my best friend who came from South Korea to visit me, ruins, and the Monarch Butterfly Migration. That trip definitely deserves its own post but here is a sampling from the trip!

-Skiing in Albuquerque with some of my co-workers over a long weekend in February. There is nothing quite as odd as sitting on a chairlift staring out at dessert just beyond.

-Staring a delicious cupcake war with one of my co-workers. Really this is an evil plot to get him to bake more, if I have to make a few cupcakes in the process it is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

-Finding out where a number of my colleagues are going to be going on their next tour, western Europe is going to be filled with former Juarezidents. Hard to believe in a few short months, I’ll be bidding again.

On the down side was…

-Freezing temperatures in Juarez that caused most of us to lose heat, power, and water for at least a few hours and for some of us a few days. I spent most of that week without water. I particularly enjoyed the ironic messages from friends on the east coast where the temperatures were in the teens, telling me how lucky I was to be in Mexico where it was warm. Little did they realize at one point it was 2 degrees in Juarez… Amusingly at the end of the week I flew up to Michigan where it was actually warmer than in Mexico/Texas. Thank you mother nature. Unfortunately my water pipes still aren’t working quite right since the deep freeze.

So that and a lot of work is what has been keeping me busy. In the next few weeks I’m plotting another road trip with a friend of mine at the consulate in Merida and a trip out to Carlsbad Caverns with some friends. Hopefully I’ll be a bit better about updating this.

The day I found out I passed the QEP, I hopped on the yahoo group and responded to a post about forming a study group in DC. There were about 9 of us that regularly attended what became the first MLK library study group in DC. I’ve heard that a study group still meets at MLK quite regularly so our legacy lives on! Out of the original 9, four of us are now in the foreign service, 2 others passed the exam and are on the register, and I have no doubt that the others if they stick with it will get through sooner or later. If there is a group forming in your area, I highly recommend working with one especially if you are not fond of public speaking. I am very much not a public speaker. Having to present group exercises and practice interview questions in front of the group helped me get comfortable.

As I mentioned the yahoo groups have some good practice materials. We would pick a section a week to work on. During group exercise week we would divide up the projects and practice synthesizing the information and presenting it to the group just like in the actual assessment. My way of working through the group exercise was to skip the background material (I skimmed it at the end if I had time) and instead to read through my project quickly. I then read the project a second time pulling out anything I thought would go in the summary part of my presentation, positives of the project (these were things I tied to the Embassy’s objectives which you are given in the material), negatives of the project, and then the resources or cost information for my project. That way I had an organized way to present the information. I have heard some horror stories of people who had combative groups because everyone was trying to “win.” During the actual assessment I did not get any funding for my project, and that was fine. I got very lucky, my group all knew that the goal of the exercise was to get consensus not to win. Actually 8 out of 12 on my day, passed and 7 of of us are now in the Foreign Service (one is even here with me in Juarez), so I had a fantastic group. I did a FOIA request later so I know that I passed this section with a 5.4.

The Case Management turned out to the be the one section I didn’t pass. I got a 5.2. Again, as far as preparation goes the study group picked a week to work on these. We used the sample materials on the yahoo group. We did them before the group meeting and then passed them around and edited them. There is a lot of material so getting comfortable reading quickly is going to be the biggest help. Also, I found reading other people’s memos to get an idea of how other people were structuring their memos to be helpful. I did what a lot of others suggested on the yahoo groups, which was to put my recommendations up front and then defend them in the body of the memo. I think the reason I just barely didn’t pass this section was because, I realized later I had made a math error. If you only have one section where you get to show your quantitative skills… my advice is to double and triple check your math!

The last section, the structured interview is divided into three parts hypothetical situtations, past behavioral questions, and experience and motivation. I finished that with a 5.9. To prepare I tried to write down at least 2 examples for each dimension using the SAR (Situation, Action, Results) model. I also again, practiced with the questions from the yahoo group, most of which I believe are also available here. Working with a study group really helped here, because I have a tendency to talk too fast, practicing helped me slow down. I also felt really prepared when I got to the structured interview, past behavioral questions were all things I felt prepared to answer since they of course were based on the 13 dimensions which I had come up with examples for. On the actual day of the test, my advice is relax, smile, be friendly, and drink the water. You will be doing a lot of talking and trust me, you’ll want the water. Also, I couldn’t help but notice that two of the people who didn’t pass from our OA day spent most of the day looking like they were about to go in front of a firing squad. Just pretend you feel confident even if you are like me; I was actually quaking in my boots.

After the OA comes the register… the register is not what it was when I got in. I finished the day with a 5.5 during the height of the hiring surge. I got on the register and received an offer in the same day. Even if you pass the OA the first time out, unless you have a lot of language points or a high score, you might find yourself waiting for months and months and not getting an offer. If you have a score on the lower side, I recommend signing up again for the FSOT right away. Security clearances can take a while so by the time it is done if you’ve already signed up for the test again you could possibly have already passed or be about to pass your second OA with a higher score. So that brings us back to the one piece of actual advice I give, be in the top 2% of the most persistent people. If you don’t pass the OA, sign up for the FSOT again. If you do pass the OA, congrats– sign up for the FSOT again! So that is pretty much it for my little pearls of wisdom. Good luck to all the aspiring FSOs out there. Hopefully I will see you one day off at some far-flung post.

Step one for those attempting to join the foreign service is the FSOT. The FSOT is divided into 3 sections and an essay. The sections being the “Job Knowledge”, English Expression, and Biography section. For the biography section I pretty much prepared by looking at the 13 dimensions which are available on the careers.state.gov website. I assumed in preparing that since the State Department tells you that they are looking for those 13 Ds that they were probably looking for them in the biography section too. So I jotted down a few ideas for each of the Ds on things that I thought would demonstrate those dimensions. Other than that, I didn’t feel like there was much I could do to prep for that section. The toughest part on that one is time. I never had a problem finishing under the FSWE system, but I did under the FSOT. I took the FSOT twice just in case I didn’t get off the register the first time. It turned out I got “the call” before I got my scores from the second FSOT. Be prepared to go fast on the biography section, don’t get bogged down on one question. I nearly ran out of time both times and I wound up rushing through the last few questions.

On the English Expression, I pretty much feel like you either learned grammar in middle school or you didn’t. I did try to read through Strunk and White’s the elements of style but let’s be honest, anyone who reads this blog with any regularity (Hi Dad!), knows I pretty much put commas and punctuation where ever I want them and think they look pretty. But on the upside–this means there is hope for anyone! I even managed to do pretty well on the English Expression (55 the first time 59 the second time).

The last section of the FSOT is the job knowledge section. I’ve heard it described as “broad but not deep,” and that is pretty accurate. If you read the newspaper with any regularity you should be fine. I did notice the biggest improvement on this section between my first and second FSOTs. I jumped about 12 points, I credit that to taking economics for grad school just before I took the second test and reading Foreign Policy (the magazine) more regularly. My advice on this section is stay informed. If you have a weakness on one of the areas like maybe U.S. history or Econ, flip through one of those AP exam prep books. I was a history major in college and I do think that helped me out a lot on this section. I also played a lot of geography games before I took the test. I’m not sure how much it helped me for the test but when we got our bid list in A-100 I did know where all the posts were, even the weird ones. Don’t go crazy though! It just just one third of the test and it is fairly broad so you are never going to be able to study for every question on that test.

On the essay… well, remember they are looking for how you write not what you write. I failed the FSWE twice because of the essay. The mistake I made was believing that my mellifluous prose would make up for not doing things like structuring my essay well and including things like transitional sentences.  Once I got over myself and just tried to show I knew how to construct an essay, no problem. I got a 10/12 the next two FSOTs.

On to the QEP. This step is still a bit of a mystery. So all I can talk about is how I approached it. You are given a few questions and about 250 words to answer them. This is NOT a lot of space. I decided that they had my resume already, so they could see what I done in terms of work and educational experience. I figured that if they ask you to “tell us about a time when you were part of team that saved the world from annihilation”, they are not looking for “I’m wonder woman and as a member of the justice league I frequently save the world from annihilation.” I think your resume shows them that so instead talk about a specific incident or give an anecdote that shows your ability to work in a team rather than tells them “yes, I have worked in teams.” Show them something they can’t get from reading your resume. Don’t assume that the 20 years of experience running an international non-profit is going to speak for itself. Speak to the board of examiners through your essays–show them how you used that experience and what you learned. A lot of people use SAR for the oral assessment past behavior questions. SAR meaning Situation, Action, Results. I used that model on the QEP as well.

If you fail the QEP, don’t freak out. It is a tough step, a lot of people get tripped up there. You might submit answers that get you through one year, and they next they don’t. I’ve heard this happening to a lot of people, it could be that there are just fewer slots one year or the competition was tougher. I would just revisit your answers, see if you gave the strongest anecdotes.

Since this is getting pretty long, I’ll write up my FSOA advice next time. But if at any point you don’t make the cut– remember my one bit of actual advice “be persistent!” If this is really what you want, keep signing up for the FSOT until you get in off the register. Keep fine-tuning your QEP answers, keep trying to work on building examples for the 13 Ds– rinse, lather, and repeat until you get “the call.” It is worth it in the end!

Cancun was beautiful though. It doesn’t quite feel like Mexico since I think I heard more English spoken there than I do in El

Chichen Itza

Paso, but the beaches are gorgeous. The highlight of the trip was heading to Chichen Itza to check out the ruins. I’d never been to a ruin when this year started, but in the last 9 months I’ve been to Tikal, Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, and Chichen Itza. Not bad, now if I can just get out to visit my friend in Peru and check out Machu Picchu, I’ll be set. The main temple at Chichen Izta, is pretty amazing. If you stand in the right spot and clap it sounds like a bird call echoing out of the building. Also on the solstice the sunlight forms a serpent on the side of the building, tragically we were not there at the solstice. I was also able to meet up with my friend from the Merida consulate, and spend a night out experiencing Cancun nightlife, which is insane. I thought Oaxaca was wild at Day of the Dead time, Cancun is just crazy all the time.

Since then I’ve spent most of my weekends around El Paso battling border traffic. I’ve never seen anything as insane as the shops and the bridge crossing in El Paso around Christmas time. I’d also thought until recently that the scariest thing I’d seen in El Paso/Juarez was the cow I saw tied in the back of a chevy a few months back, until I started seeing all these cars with reindeer antlers and Rudolph noses tied on them. It is a strange, strange world down here sometimes.

So  I enjoy checking my google analytics from time to time to see how people are finding the blog. Based on the top search terms (ignoring the ones that were people looking for a bakery called diplomat– which sounds like it has a tasty menu) it looks like what people are most interested in is the process of joining the Foreign Service (specifically failing a test and trying again) and life in Juarez. Life in Juarez searches broke down in to two general categories–what is it like here on the ground and “the joys of working in Juarez” (and there are joys to working in Juarez, really!)

I’ll tackle the Juarez question first tonight and write up my not so pithy advice navigating the entry process in a not-to-distant post (really, I promise!). So what is life like in Juarez? Well I do honestly feel safe most of the time. I haven’t seen anything other than a few car accidents since I have been here. You do see a lot of federal police armed to the teeth rolling around the streets, but you get used to them after a while.

Yes, I have heard gun shots but none of them very close to my community. The violence here is very random and some people have seen more than I have or heard shots closer to their community. There are people who have driven by crime scenes, I’m just not one of them.  I do go out to dinners in Juarez and to bars with friends at least a couple of times a week. It involves a lot of common sense, things like knowing where the exit is… just in case and not staying out late in Juarez. I have come back over the bridge late at night from El Paso, and honestly sometimes I feel safer at 1 am crossing than I do at 1pm just because there is no one around and I can easily see if anyone is coming towards me. I also don’t go deep into Juarez. There is about 2 square miles around the consulate that I mostly stick to. I do almost all of my shopping in El Paso. There are plenty of people who do most of their shopping in Juarez without a problem. I did more when I first got here. For me it isn’t so much the violence as the fact that I can speak English in El Paso, and well sometimes that is just easier after a day of speaking Spanish in the window. Yes it would be nice to be in a city where I felt comfortable going out and exploring every inch of it and I will probably finish my 2 years here in Juarez without ever having seen much of well, Juarez but I don’t feel like I am going to die at every minute. I don’t feel like I am living in terror. I miss things like running outside but I got a treadmill so you learn to make do. I’m mostly not tempting the fates and taking advantage of being in Mexico to get down into southern Mexico where I feel completely safe and getting out and seeing the American Southwest. Despite all the drawbacks of living in Juarez (not running outside, not getting out into the city, ect.) there is a great community at the consulate and I am having a great tour. It’s hard to believe that I’ve finished nearly 7 months already. Time is kind of flying by.

Decor around Oaxaca is heavy on the Skeleton theme.

High on my list of things to do while in Mexico has been to visit Oaxaca for the Day of the Dead. I recruited my sister to come down for this one, since we are both bona fide foodies and Oaxaca is the land of the tasty grasshoppers and moles. After a few mishaps with changing flights we arrived in Oaxaca to find our hotel is literally right in the heart of Oaxaca. We are right on the Zocalo, which is great… until about 1 am when you really want to go to sleep and the party is still raging. And here the party does rage! It is like being in the middle of mardi gras. I’ve reached the point where I am so high on mole and sleep dep that I’ve embraced it and have just been enjoying the front row seat to the endless concerts and parades that are going on right outside our balcony. I will be glad I think when we get back to Juarez for the peace and quiet (words that were probably never before uttered about Juarez I am sure).

Oaxaca, though is absolutely amazing, we’ve visited a bunch of the markets, unleashed my Spanish upon the world, trekked all through the historic area, and attended a cooking class. In the cooking class we

Learning how to make salsa for the tamales.

learned to cook a bunch of different types of tamales including a red mole tamale. Tragically the one thing we have not yet found is the grasshoppers, they appear to be out of season. The plethora of delicious moles does make up for that somewhat. The decorations around town are amazing, we haven’t made it out to the cemeteries yet but almost every restaurant, hotel, or shop has an alter up in honor of their deceased relatives. I’m rather fond of this tradition. When I go, I would like my ancestors to leave me gifts of chocolate, and sugar skulls, and beer (take note future descendants–bring me annual tributes of booze and sugar please).  The whole city smells of incense, and pretty much around every corner is some sort of music performance or a parade. The actual Day of the Dead is today

Sugar skulls, one of the staples of the Day of the Dead, on an altar.

(I’m still awake thanks to the endless revelry outside my window), so I’m anticipating it being a bit more low key. As always we have met some really interesting people while traveling through Mexico. Though I really need to learn not to mention what I do for a living until I know for sure no one in the room needs a visa. Ah well, fortunately this couple was very nice about the whole thing… not like when the girl caught me at the bridge on the red light and used the fact that I was a captive audience to ask me about all about her cousins visas. Tomorrow we’re off to see some ruins outside of the city, and search for a vegetable since between all the mole and a the Oaxaca chocolate we really haven’t seen anything green in the last few days.