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Saturday, March 12, 2011

Hearing the Silence

Ever since the (unofficial) news came that State canceled the May class, I've had to make a conscious effort to keep hope alive. At one point a 5.57 was more than enough to guarantee an invitation to an A-100, but those days seem to be gone. The number of people with 5.6s and up continues to climb, mainly due to language bonus points. And each week that passes by my rank falls lower and lower on the Register.

Nevertheless, I do feel a sense of hope. Why? Well, it isn't due to my nascent gifts with Turkish. Lemme tell ya! I'm studying but progress is slow.

I guess I choose to believe because (a) it just feels better than giving in to despair; (b) common sense dictates that Congress will eventually pass a budget, one that will (eventually) allow State to resume training and (c) that the November class mentioned on State's website will help defray the damage done by the canceled May class.

Speaking of which, I also (d) retain hope that there will be a May class. The State Department responders to questions on the Careers Forum keep saying that invitations to A-100s go out six to eight weeks in advance, sometimes as little as four weeks in advance. This runs counter to the approximations posted on the A-100 Yahoo Group, which put advance notice at up to 90 days, i.e., 12 weeks in advance. If I go by State's statement, however, (the wiser choice, don't you think), then notices wouldn't go out before the middle of this month. In other words, if Congress passes a budget in time, then we might have a May class after all. That would be great.

Meanwhile, I'm considering signing up for a once a week Turkish beginner's class. I think I've already learned more than half of what the class would teach me, but I miss learning in a group and I believe I need practice in communicating the language. Most importantly, I want to make sure I have the fundamentals down pat. This is the same method I used to teach myself German. I started by studying alone, then took a basic course to firm up the fundamentals, and built on that, teaching myself the rest. By the time I moved to Germany, I understood 75% of what I heard. I was reluctant to speak, but once I started, it wasn't that difficult.

I still hope, however, that I won't need Turkish to get the call. I hope, and pray, with all my heart, that Congress will find a shared, rational and reasonable middle ground, and that within the next few weeks, we'll have news of a firm decision that takes us to September 30, the end of the fiscal year. It wouldn't address the matter of the November class, but it would be a start.

Meanwhile, I try not to think about how so much of this involves factors beyond my control. I think about Bridget (over at the B files) and how she anguished over getting the call. In the end, she waited only four months. Going by her time line, I had thought--hoped--to get the call in May for a July class. That seems like an impossibility now. So much has changed so radically since she got the call in October, only five months ago.

Five months from now, the pendulum could swing back the other way, I suppose, but how far down on the Register will I be by then? My rank has already been pushed down to the forties. The number of people with 5.6s and up continues to increase every week. And as more of them realize the narrowing window of opportunity, fewer of them will be going DNC (Do Not Call) status.

The chatter on the A-100 board has all but stopped. Everyone's just watching and waiting. You can almost hear the silence.
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Thursday, March 3, 2011

New Rank on the Register

Five minutes ago, I got the great news that my bonus points have been officially added to my score. That new tally of 5.57 brings my ranking from 109/191 to 37/199.

Wow! I feel dizzy, almost like I've just ridden a rocket ship!

This really increases my hope of receiving the call sometime within the next six months. It's so good to feel hope again.
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Grace and Blessings! I Passed!

My son opened up the email from the BEX yesterday and found the answer we'd been praying for:
“You passed the German BEX language test …”
I was so stunned. So totally stunned. I had actually already written to BEX, requesting to take the test again. I was that convinced I'd flunked it. And meanwhile, I'd started listening to Turkish tapes, wondering if it wasn't better to just spend the next six months learning Turkish.

That was yesterday. This morning, I'm still trying to take it in. But the shock is fading and it's giving way to gratitude. I’m grateful, so grateful, and so very, very relieved.

Almost immediately after receiving the email from State, I wrote back, asking for an update on my ranking on the Register. I’m hoping that my new score of 5.57 will put me in the  thirties. I do hope so. There are quite a few people with 5.6s and higher, but not so many. It’s mainly the other 5.57s I have to stand behind. We’re listed according to when we landed on the register. My date was January 12. So I’ll go behind the person who got on the register before that date and ahead of anyone who got on later, even if they received their 5.57 before I did.

I pray to get the call late this spring or early this summer, for the A-100 class that is schedded for the fall. Perhaps they would have to increase class size again and reach fairly deep into the register to get to me. Some say that's unlikely. Still, it might happen. The March class is already filled. There’s a class after that, which I doubt I’ll be called for— and then there’s another class after that. The third class would be the September one. That’s the one by which time I sincerely hope I’ve moved high enough up on the register to receive "the call."

In the meantime, I'm still considering whether to study Turkish. I really enjoyed the tapes I downloaded. I didn't have the faintest idea of what I was saying, but I found the pronunciation surprisingly easy. And it was enjoyable to start with a fresh language. There's an intensive beginner's class starting in April and I would like to sign up for it. I could study it now without pressure. If I get good enough at it, then maybe I could actually take the Turkish test and pass that, too. Wouldn't that be something?

But the main thing I'll do with this waiting time is use it to prepare — to clean up the apartment, empty it of clutter, make it ready for us to pack and move to Washington DC. The cleaning process will also help me believe that this is going to happen. We will be leaving this place and we will be moving on to a better one, a safer, cleaner, happier one. That’s our future.
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About the Author

I'm a novelist and former news writer. I'm also single mom with one child at home and one in college. I spent 15 years overseas, returned to the States several years ago. I've always wanted to join the Foreign Service -- (Doesn't that sound trite?) -- and now think it would be a wonderful time to do so.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this blog represent those of the author, and not of the United States Government or any of its agencies or officials therein. All information disclosed in this blog is non-sensitive and readily available in the public domain.

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