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.