Things We Cannot Confirm or Deny...

Being a diplomat means that you can't say a lot - especially online. For example, if you want to know whether DH has been furloughed, you won't see an answer to that here. But if you know me, you will know that I will have thought out what to do if DH is/will be furloughed or has to go without a pay check for a while.

The great news is that, even if he is/will be without a pay check for a while, we have things covered. We have some cash on hand to cover this month. Plus, our house sells on the 23rd, and the buyers don't have an FHA loan, so everything is expected to go through smoothly. We will have a little cash coming in from that. While we were hoping to use it for some other things (for one, paying off the VW, which, by the way, we are supposed to be getting back from the shop today after a full month of repairs), we can use it to cover our expenses, instead, if need be.

Even if the sale were to fall through, we are members of the SDFCU now, which means are eligible for a 0% interest rate credit card for 6 months, which should be plenty of time to get back pay, were DH to have to go without a pay check for a while. If you are in a similar situation, check to see if your credit union has some sort of benefit designed to help you out during the shutdown.

Still planning on finding out where we will be posted on Friday!

Fairfax

A few weeks before A-100 started, the mentor group for DH's class put out an email with helpful tips. On it, someone wrote that Fairfax was too far away, and that you shouldn't try doing A-100 from here. While living closer in would have been wonderful (especially in one of the Oakwoods), that wasn't an option for us, and we had already secured this apartment. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. If we lived away from the metro line and had to drive to it, it would be too far away, but right on the line, it isn't a bad commute at all. Plus, we get the advantage of having the kids in an amazing school system. I am really happy with it. Of course, it does have its ups and downs...

Driving in Fairfax can be a challenge. During non-rush hours, the only thing to watch out for is the lane size. In MN, we are used to really big lanes. Here, they are a bit smaller. I have done more "curb checks" here in the last two weeks than I have in the last 5 years. And, they don't trim trees and bushes so that a large vehicle doesn't hit them while sticking to their side of the road. There are a couple of places that I always swipe tree branches if there are cars coming in the opposite direction. But on the up side, everything we need is sooo close. I can live my life in a 3-mile radius (other than going to classes/meetings at the FSI or Main State). I suppose some day I will venture out to Costco, which is 8 miles away (still in Fairfax), but until then, I have what I need right here in my own little bubble.

During rush hour, that 3-mile radius may as well be 30 miles. The roads are full to the brim, and any amount of rain will make the whole city come to a grinding halt. Stop light cycles are approximately 5 minutes each, making every red light something to be avoided at all costs. If your light turns green, you must look both ways really carefully, because it is likely that two or three cars more than should will go through that "orange" light. But never fear that you will miss that green light by daydreaming; the car behind you will honk their horn the second that light turns green, regardless of whether you were daydreaming or not.

Parking spaces are hard to get into with our Ford E-350 if there are cars on both sides. We have learned to love the back of the grocery store parking lot.

There are an amazing number of grocery stores within my 3-mile bubble. I can go to Safeway, which is right in my neighborhood. I can go to Giant, which is north of us next to our church (and which I have decided has better prices and produce, and is a time-efficient way to kill off the grocery task while waiting for youth activities). Walmart is only a couple of miles away to our west, and Target is only a couple of miles away to our east. There are also a CVS and a Walgreens next to Safeway, and a CVS next to Giant, in case convenience is an issue. Grocery prices here are terrible. Think Mackenthun's (my Waconia friends will get this), but with double the dairy prices. Milk is $4 or more per gallon. Eggs are $2.50/dozen, and butter is $4/lb. Ouch.

I have been to Target and Walmart, but they are both inconvenient to my normal driving patterns, so I mostly go to Safeway and Giant, unless there are household things I need that I can't get from the grocery store. There are also office supply stores all over the place. If I need something I can't get from CVS or Walgreen's, Staples and Office Max are both within a mile. Hardware stores are a little farther away. I would love to get to one so that I can make copies of the apartment keys, but I never find myself in that direction, so I will have to just make a point of it soon. I believe Home Depot is right by Costco, so I'll have to plan a combined trip.

Of course, I must also compliment the weather here. It has been gorgeous every day. When it is hot, it is not as humid as MN. When it is cool, it is not too cool. It is sunny most days. I am not thinking Fall yet, and that is a wonderful thing! The landscaping here is also gorgeous. For such a busy city, it has a lot of green in it.

Church is good in Fairfax, but keeps us way too busy with our big family. Youth activities are not all on the same night of the week. Mondays at 4pm we have Wolf den meeting every other week. Wednesdays at 7:30pm is Webelos. Thursdays at 7:30pm is Mutual. I am getting worn out from all the driving. I think DS1 will be ready to do the Thursday drive soon. This week, I started having him drive whenever he is in the car. It was time to get back on the horse, and now that I know the area well, I am comfortable navigating him around. He is being much more cautious, which I appreciate. If our post assignment is one that keeps us here through the school year, then once we have the VW back from the shop (no, we don't have it back yet), we will buy him a parking pass for school and have him start driving to seminary. If it is closer in, I'll just keep doing it, since we'll be selling a vehicle and wouldn't want to pay for the parking pass. I'm exhausted, but I hope to adjust to the schedule soon. Maybe once daylight savings time ends...

Oh, did I forget to complete that sentence? I think I fell asleep.

Okay, maybe I should tell you a little about our bid list before I take a mid-morning nap. I'd love to tell you where we would like to go, but apparently we aren't allowed to mention which countries are on the bid list online. There are over 30 posts in our top picks list at the moment. Basically, if it doesn't have accredited schools for our kids, it went to the bottom of the list. If it has good schools and the housing situation is good, it went to the top of the list. There are some posts in the mid section that just didn't excite us, like one country where the commute is long and the housing is rumored to be "depressing." We really took the commute into account for both DH and the kids. There is so much on this list that looks wonderful. It was hard to decide what factors would determine between high and medium, after the posts with no decent schools were trimmed out. DH really doesn't know whether he'd rather get his Consular assignment out of the way first, learn all about the workings of the embassy as an HRO (Human Resources Officer) or get a position in his Econ cone. I think he would optimally take a combination assignment, where he gets to share or rotate Consular and Econ or Consular and Political duties. But, it matters so little, because he has to do the Consular assignment at some point, so it may as well be now. We can't wait until October 11th!

Bid List

I'm sorry I've been so quiet this past week. DH got his bid list on Thursday, and we have been researching posts nearly every free second; that is, when I'm not chauffeuring children to church activities (which in our ward are not all on the same night, but fall on three different nights for my kids), going to spouse training, trying to figure out where to put all of the stuff I had sent to us via UAB, or helping DH fill out his voucher forms (that's how we get our per diem and lodging paid).

The bid list is wonderful! I guess DH's sponsoring class, the 172nd, is jealous. We are finding many, many posts that fit our criteria. Plus, the majority are in hot climates. Yay! (If you haven't heard, I am hoping for a hiatus from Minnesota-like weather this first tour). There is a lot of Africa, South America, and even some safe (ish) places in the middle east. We would like to get a hardship post our first tour, which will allow us to have more of a choice for our second tour post. Our top criteria is school availability, though. I would really like to not home school seven children, thank you very much. That would be insane to begin the one year that they are all in school. Of course, it is only six children if we don't leave until later...but that is still a lot to bite off. Plus, I don't really want to home school at all if there isn't internet, and it seems like the posts either have good schools and internet or no schools and no internet, with few exceptions. I'd also like to go somewhere where I can get an embassy/consulate job. Although I hear the pay isn't great, I think it would make a good entrance to the workforce for me.

I need to get back to researching posts, and then I need to get ready to go. I have spouse training again this afternoon. DH & I get to go to class together today and find out more about the bidding process from the CDOs (Career Development Officers).

We Made it to Fairfax

We spent a week in two hotel rooms at the Springhill Suites. It had free breakfast, enough beds, and was clean, so I can't really complain...but I'll say it was a stressful week. We had to get seven children to three different schools that had three very different start times each day, plus get DS1 & DS2 to seminary before that. So, our day started at 5:15 a.m. DH drove the seminary run (it started at 5:55 a.m.), and luckily someone there was willing to get them to school for us. I drove the middle school run. It started at 7:40 a.m. Then, we went together to get the elementary kids to school by 9:15 a.m. On the first day, we picked up the high-schoolers at 2:50 and the middle-schoolers at 3:20. We had the elementary kids get used to the bus right off the bat, and picked them up by the apartment at 3:55 (although it was really 4:20 by the time it got there). We got bus schedules and tried to get the five younger kids to their bus stops the latter half of the week, but it never worked out for all of them until Friday. The elementary bus was always late going both directions, but that middle school bus was on time each morning...so they were the ones we always had to drive. DS1 & DS2 started Cross Country practice on Wednesday, so we had to pick them up at 5:45 p.m. each day, extending our pick-up times from 3:00-5:45 p.m. daily. Since the hotel was about 15-20 minutes away from the general area of the apartment and high school, we didn't like going back and forth between the trips, so it was a lot of sitting and waiting. 

DH and I ran errands during the days. We picked up school supplies that the kids found out about after school started. We got familiar with the neighborhood and walked the path the high-schoolers will be walking home from school. We got an oil change on the van, and a serpentine belt, as well, as we found out ours was cracking. (We would have changed the blinker fluid if they had recommended it, just to make sure our only car kept running properly.) The evening before the oil change, our battery died. DH had thought the van had a separate auxiliary battery, and had kept his components plugged into the charger several times while we waited for children at bus stops that day, Unfortunately, when we tried starting it after we stopped at a store, it didn't have enough charge to turn over all the way. That vehicle doesn't have a separate auxiliary battery. Oops. We got a jump start and drove it until we felt like it was charged enough, and we were fine the next day. 

On Friday, there was an after-school party for the elementary kids from our bus stop. They played at the neighborhood playground and we all brought treats. The kids did really well adjusting to school. There are still a little quirks, like the older kids not being able to get into Blackboard online. But all in all, it has gone well. They got into good classes, and met other kids from church in their classes. Church, by the way, was amazing. We called on Monday to find out about seminary, and by Tuesday, we had been emailed by every auxiliary leader to get information about the kids and let us know the schedules for the youth activities. By Thursday, our records had been transferred in and we could see everyone's contact information in our LDS Tools apps. We were even brought dinner one night. We have felt very welcomed to the area. 

Sunday was the big day! We went to church at 9 a.m., then checked out of the apartment at 1 p.m. We picked up our keys to our apartment and brought our luggage in. There were only a couple of minor issues. Mostly, I am really happy with it. I'll make a little list of the good and the not-so-good. 

The good: 

Comfortable beds & bedding 

Convenient location: The bus stop is directly outside my kitchen deck, and being on the lower level on the corner next to the stairwell, we only share one short wall with neighbors, and haven't heard a peep from those above us. 

The metro rail line is a 5-10 minute walk from here, so DH can easily jump on a train in the mornings.

Granite countertops, new fixtures New stainless steel appliances 

Attractive, functional furniture 

Lots of cupboards and closets 

Close, secure parking (the garage is underground, and we can park right by our apartment and walk a short flight of stairs from it) 

Washer and dryer have surprisingly large capacities 

Friendly neighbors 

The not-so-good: 

While having this location is convenient to the bus stop, there is a sidewalk right in front of it. People walk it all night long, and DS3 & DS4 had a little bit of trouble sleeping with the windows open last night. It wasn't a problem the first night, with the A/C on, so we may have to go back to that. 

The sunroom that is listed on our lease and was in the floorplan doesn't exist. In its place is a second deck, which isn't even the size the sunroom was supposed to be. Not like the size matters, because if it isn't enclosed, we can't exactly have someone sleep in it, can we? As the sunroom wasn't there, neither was the extra bed. However, there is a love seat, which is where DS6 has been sleeping. 

The dining table has four chairs, but could fit six. I may ask for two more as a concession for not having the sunroom and bed we were promised. 

The sofa is in the spot where I was planning to put bar stools. I am going to see if I can do some re-arranging today. 

The floating wood laminate floor is a bit loose in places. When walking over those places, one can feel the floor move. Not a huge problem, but it would have been nice if that wasn't the case. 

The keyed entry to the lobby is by a FOB, not a normal key. We only have two FOBs, so we will probably have to give DH's to DS3. If lost, it will cost $200 to replace it. Ouch! 

All in all, I think the good outweighs the not-so-good. We are in close quarters, but not too close for comfort. And, it is temporary. October 11th is Flag Day, and then we'll know how long we will be here. (BTW, I may have said October 4th at one time, but that turned out to be bad information, which was corrected a week or two ago.) 

I suppose some of you may want to know how DH's first day went. He said it was boring. They met at Main State in D.C., got their security badges, found out how to read a security badge, had a benefits meeting, and listened to a lot of dos and don'ts. The A-100 class was combined with the specialists class and security personnel who were starting at the same time, so they didn't even meet all of their classmates. The only time they met people was when they were standing in lines together. Today they get to go to A-100 for the first time. I'll update you again after I hear how it went. One last thing - DS1's Eagle Application was approved at the end of last week, so we are in the process of setting up a board of review. They are going to do it via Skype. Yay!

Adversity

Everything had even going so smoothly before we set off. The house was sold, our stuff miraculously fit in our vehicles, and we had pretty good weather as we set off. Something was likely to go wrong, right?

First, we had major issues getting around Chicago. The bypass was stop and go all the way. There were thunderstorms, and we even got hit by some hail. It took 3 hours to travel what should have taken 45 minutes. Finally, we reached Indiana and were crossing into Ohio when DS1 ran into us at a toll booth. He looked down at something in the cup holder and misjudged how far ahead of us we were. The damage looked minimal - the grate of the Jetta had a hole in it and the license plate was messed up, and the Econoline's bumper was a bit dented, but nothing looked too bad, so we went on our way. 

After a couple of miles, DS1 called. The radiator warning light on the Jetta was flashing, so we thought we would find the nearest exit. The Jetta didn't make it that far. It started smoking and DS1 had to pull off the road. We hadn't removed the trailer hitch from the van after transporting the trailer last week for his Eagle project, and it had punched through the grate of the Jetta, pushing the radiator into the engine. Thus, the damage looked slim, but it was pretty bad.

AAA came to the rescue. We got a tow to a service station in Holiday City, OH, where we left the car overnight, and checked into a Holiday in just down the road. Marriott kindly let us out of our reservation for Cleveland. We found a U-Haul nearby with a tow dolly, and secured it for today. We are now trying to get a dead car loaded onto the dolly properly. DS and the tow truck driver pushed it up the dolly, but it was a little too far to the left, so the tow truck driver is going to jack it up a bit in a few minutes and push it into place for us. Then, we will be on our way. It will be a long drive today, as we head all the way to Fairfax.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

*********************************************+++

While we were moving luggage around, I managed to fall into a hole made by a pipe going to some drain tile and scrape all of the skin off of my left ankle. Luckily, we weren't checked out yet, so we were able to go soak it and get all the dirt out. I am grateful it wasn't my right ankle, or Aaron wouldn't get a break driving today.

If anyone out there is superstitious, you can quit worrying about us now, as everything comes in threes. ;-)

Proceeding to Close

The inspection report had no surprises on it; just a lot of little stuff one would expect to see with a 20-year-old house. The buyers did want to travel down the road of having the furnace and A/C replaced, but we quickly squelched that, as they are both working. Our thought is that if they want a new house, they should buy a new house. Ours has had every appliance other than the HVAC replaced in the last 5 years - several in the last 2 years - as well as the siding, too and driveway. Our price is lower than anything comparable at this point, so we are done dealing. So, when they asked to have their inspection contingency extended until Sept. 3rd to get quotes on new units, we said no; if they want to do that, they can let us put the house back on the market and risk losing it to someone else, because we aren't negotiating in new ones anyway, and anyone can price those out on the Internet within a pretty good ballpark in just a few clicks.

They withdrew their request and are proceeding to close! So, the house is now empty, we got vacant home insurance (did you know most policies won't cover a house that is vacant for more than 30 days if anything happens) and we turned down the utilities and turned off the water. Today, we pre-sign paperwork for close and assign power of attorney to my dad so we don't have to come back on October 23rd. Tomorrow we leave for Fairfax. This week has been so long, but it is almost over, and we can start our new adventure!

Sold!

We sold the house yesterday, contingent on a good inspection, which is scheduled for Monday. I don't know of any issues, so I am hopeful that it will go smoothly. 

Today we did a little around the house, and then started gathering materials for DS1's Eagle project. The movers come tomorrow, and we move into the Residence Inn after that. Friday evening we will start on Tristin's project, and we will continue it on Saturday morning. Busy, busy!

Prepack Survey, Showings, a Dropped Price and a Firm Travel Date

This week, we had our prepack survey with the movers. Our UAB is estimated to come in pretty close to the allowable weight. We may have to remove a few heavy items and drive them to Fairfax, but we have room. It shouldn't be a problem. Our HHE is at less than half the allowable amount. We have read over and over again on blogs that people regret keeping all the junk they have accumulated over the years - furniture in particular - and having to get rid of it upon separation from the Foreign Service. Our mover said that he has heard that regret reiterated time and again, as well, and said that we are wise. I feel good about how much we have pared out. The movers come on Thursday morning, and we are nearly ready for them. We struggled with understanding our travel orders last week. We heard from the travel order issuer that the Foreign Transfer Allowance: Pre-Departure Subsistence Expense Portion was to be used after training, but the 172nd class (DH's class' mentors) had been telling us that it is for before we leave. We finally heard an official ruling on that. DH's class all got an official email that said that it is for use at the hiring location (here in MN) for non-local (meaning not in the D.C. area) hires. So, after our pack-out on the 22nd, we will be able to stay in a hotel and have our meals covered until we depart for D.C. on the 30th. This will give our friends who have been putting us up a big break! Then, our travel expenses are paid until we arrive in D.C. After that, we will have to pay for a hotel out of pocket until the 8th, when we get into our apartment. Then, lodging and M&IE (meals and incidental expenses) per diem begin. The government is pretty generous with its relocation package. It isn't quite as good as what I have seen some friends get in the private sector, but it is pretty great, nonetheless. For example, those of whom I speak have gotten assistance selling their homes. That isn't happening with our move. We will be paying commissions, and we will have to wait until our house sells, with no silver lining at the end of six months where the company will buy it at a pre-determined price if it doesn't sell for what we are asking. I'm not complaining - I'm just sayin', because if I don't, I can imagine that I will get snarky comments from strangers about how taxpayer money is paying for all of this and it is extravagant. At my husband's level in the private sector, it is not extravagant at all. He is taking a pay cut to take this job, and the benefits make it so that we are willing to take it, but we are missing out on some benefits a V.P. in the private sector might expect to see. Enough said. Back to the topic of selling our house... The market has been slow in our price range all month. A house in the next neighborhood over came on the market this week, with one additional bedroom, an additional garage stall, and 400 additional square feet. They came in so far under market value that we decided we had no choice; we decided to drop our price $15K to come close to matching it. It seems to have had some effect, as we had two showings this morning and have one more this afternoon. We continue to hope that it will sell soon. We have some wiggle room, but we are a little disappointed that the price is nearly as low as we bought it for 10 years ago. That was before the housing boom really hit, and we got a really good deal on it then. At least we have been paying it off all these years, so we will get something out of it.

Home, Sweet Home

Since my last post, we have been feeling a little homeless. We lived with friends a week, then crashed at DH's Aunt and Uncle's in Colorado for a few days, and are now at Many Point Family Camp this week, while some of our boys are at the Scout camp side of the lake. We will return to our friends' house for a night it two, then off to DH's parents' house for a week. DH, his dad, and two of our Ds's will be going to the Boundary Waters for a few days in there.

***

Many Point was great (and also busy, as I never finished my post), and now most of us are at DH's parent's house for the week, while DH, DS1 and DS5 are at the Boundary Waters with my father-in-law.

We found an apartment in Fairfax, so now I am busy trying to enroll the kids in school. We can't get into our apartment until September 8th, so we thought we would get a hotel for a few days so that the kids could be there by the first day of school. At the high school, however, in order to register, they require me to show up in person with the students for individual counseling sessions before they begin. So, it looks like those two won't be starting school on the first day. But at least we know where they are going, right?

Aaron has filled out and returned all of his employment paperwork, and we are ready to start thinking about our pack-out. Our house has had three showings and an open house. We are hoping that the market will start moving again soon, as the vacation season hit right as we put ours on.

Prepping to Sell

I know, I know. I haven't posted in a while. I have been busy prepping the house to sell. We are putting our household stuff into categories: Unaccompanied Baggage (UAB), Household Effects (HHE) and Stuff we are Taking in our Van (VAN). The first two abbreviations are the government's. The third one is mine. Everything going HHE is being put into our storage rooms in our house. Some of the UAB is, as well, as long as we haven't needed it up until now. The rest is just kind of all over.

Most of our furniture has sold. A few pieces remain in our garage. Our food storage is also slowly being sold off. I have a friend who will take whatever is left over when we need it gone.

I have been painting the entire interior of the house, with the help of several friends. I am down to a couple of closets, a small bathroom, the laundry room, and the music room. Then, I will just touch up a few places and it will be done.

There have also been all sorts of repairs and replacements all over the house, and trips to the hardware store and charity and environmental center drop-off sites.

Our piano also went to consignment today. Flylady would be so proud of our poundage lost today.

***

I wrote the above part last week,  and never got to finish it. On Monday or Tuesday, I realized I couldn't

continue to live in the house with the kids while painting and cleaning it out. I decided to take up an amazing friend's offer to move in with them while we finished getting the house ready and on the market. We finished painting the house, emptied it, cleaned it, and have had a showing already, with one more scheduled for today. My friend is amazing for letting us live with her family. I think it is going really well there, so far. They have four children who each have a playmate in our family. I just hope we don't upset their routine too much. I am trying to help out there as much as possible, but also have vacation preparations to do and little things to touch up at our house.

We leave on Tuesday for Denver to see DH's grandparents.  I am sure my friends will enjoy the quiet while we are away.

Oh, and I think we have housing taken care of in D.C. We won't be in Oakwood, but we found an apartment that will take us - for much more money than we would have spent at Oakwood, of course.

Invitation and Prayers, Please

Today, Aaron got the email. He has been invited to the A-100 class, which begins September 9th. Unfortunately, we have had a little snaffoo with housing. Last March I asked an authority in HR whether we could get into the recommended paid furnished housing with our family size. He said yes. Today, an assistant at HR sent over lodging orders to the housing facility, and they came back and said they cannot legally accommodate a family of nine. Uh-oh. The housing facility representative asked them if they could approve two 2-BR units for us, since we were told they could. The authority who I corresponded with is out of the office today, so his assistant said we will hear tomorrow. What does it mean if this is not approved? Well, we will have to rent something on our own. Per diem will pay pretty well for a few months, but it decreases over time, so that is not optimal. While it may seem premature that I have already sold most of our furniture, we can't bring more than 1200 lbs. with us to D.C., so we have to get something furnished, anyway. Of course, that costs more. Prayers, please.

All these Questions

I have gotten a lot of strange looks and what, to me, have been strange comments and questions when I have told people about the Foreign Service. So, I thought I would try to answer some of them for those of you who are wondering just what in the world we are up to.

Me: DH is going to be a Foreign Service Officer. Them: Which branch? No, DH has not joined the military. Think of it like this. Non-military government employees work in either the Civil Service or the Foreign Service. A civil servant may work for the FFA, the IRS, or any number of agencies that operate inside of the United States. The Foreign Service is under the Department of State. Foreign Service Officers work out of Embassies and Consulates worldwide. They are diplomats. DH will be an economics officer, which means that after his first 4-5 years of being a junior officer and learning the ins and outs of how embassies run, he will be analyzing foreign economies and helping with trade relations.

Me: We will be going to Virginia while DH trains in D.C. Them: Where are you going to be posted? We don't know where we will be posted. The bidding process starts during training. We will find out after about 6 weeks in a "Flag Day" ceremony. We won't be in one place for very long, either. For junior officers, posts are only 1-2 years, which means that we will be moving a lot over the next 4-5 years. After that, posts last 3-4 years.

Them: Isn't that a strange career move? Yes and no. As the V.P. of Marketing for a tech company, a bishop for our church, and a board member for several non-profits over the past decade, DH has just the kind of experience that the Department of State is looking for. He understands how to do qualitative and quantitative analysis. He is sensitive to people of other cultures. He has international business experience. He knows how to work as a member of a tight team of people toward goals. Also, this isn't an entry-level position. Yes, a person can get into the Foreign Service right out of college, but their pay is commensurate with their experience. The benefits are pretty good.

Them: How do you feel about this (insert funny face here that implies that I must have reservations about uprooting the family and dragging seven children around the world)? I am completely on board. DH has never been happy schlepping electronics. He is happiest when he is making a difference in the lives of others. Not only do I want him to have a career where he can have job satisfaction, but I want this for me and for my kids. I have always liked seeing the world. My kids have not seen the world. They have been stuck in outlying suburban Minnesota for their entire lives, and do not know how good they have it. They will get to see other cultures. They will get to attend some pretty great private international schools, as well as probably get home-schooled when there aren't good schools available. They will get to see places that others just get to read about. Also, this job comes with a lot more vacation time than DH's last one. In addition to accrued vacation time, there will be U.S. Federal holidays, plus all of the government holidays in the country we'll be staying in. Plus, they will "make us" come home to MN for a month every other year or so. We have never had the privilege of much vacation time, so we are pretty excited about it. Of course, we do understand that this comes at the cost of being away from family and friends, and that there will be some long hours at times at some posts. There is a trade-off. We just happen to think that this sounds like a good one. If you have any other questions, leave a comment and I will add to the list.

Chatter

There is a Yahoo Group called A-100. It is a members-only group for people who have passed the FSOA (Foreign Service Oral Assessment), the last step of the testing cycle before getting on a hiring register and attending what has been unofficially named the A-100 class (named for the room number in which the first Foreign Service Officer training class was held). People on this group share information with each other, such as how long it really takes to get through security and medical clearances, how to write a comprehensive resume for salary review, and it even contains shadow registers. I should explain registers. After a candidate's security clearance and medical clearance have gone through, and a final review panel has deemed the candidate worthy of becoming a Foreign Service Officer, the candidate is then placed in rank order by test score (plus any bonus points for languages or military service) on the register of the track for which the candidate has applied. When invitations to a training class go out, they start at the top of the list and work their way down. Amazingly, some people do decline. Others have their candidacies on hold for up to 2 years. For some people, it is to finish a degree or another life event like marriage or pregnancy, and for others it is to wait so that they can mesh their schedule in a tandem couple arrangement. A shadow register is made up of people who have joined the A-100 group and have submitted their score, position on the register, and other helpful information so that others can have a little better idea than just their position on the official register while they wait for up to 18 months to see if they get a job.

DH's track is Economics. He has been on the register for a week or two now with a raw score of 5.7 (meaning he has no bonus points as of yet for language). He started as #5/79, but is now #6/85. Yes, people who have higher scores get to jump ahead. But that's okay. We know from the A-100 group that at least three of those people have their candidacies on hold until after the September class. We don't know about the other two. But either way, another nifty spreadsheet on the A-100 group shows that, historically, invitations have always gone out to at least the 20th person on the register, and sometimes all the way into the 40s. So we're fine.

Yesterday, the Consular candidates had a major upset. The chatter on the board was that invitations to the September class had gone out, been revoked, gone out again, and been revoked again several times. Since they go out by email, it appears there was a glitch in the system. One person on the board claimed that their registrar confirmed his invitation in the end, but the rest claim theirs are not valid. My guess is that the registrar told him that the budget hasn't gone through yet, but when it does (which another thread referencing a discussion with the Management cone's registrar leads me to believe will be next week or at least by July 1st), they will have an offer. The reason I believe this is that DH called his registrar yesterday morning before all that chatter, and she said that the budget for the class has not yet been approved. All of the cones go to the same A-100 class, so how could one have budget approval before the others? If anyone knows, let me know.

Of course, this means that DH did not sleep last night. He is way too excited. He started going through binders of papers that he has collected up over the past 20 years and purging stuff. At 11:40pm, he asked me if I wanted to help him. I had to decline, as I was about to fall asleep, which I did a few minutes later. When I woke up at 7:30am, it was to more papers shuffling around and binders clamping together. He says he slept a little bit, but I don't have any knowledge of it.

Pray for speedy invitations!!

P.S. Just after I posted this, another bit of chatter came up on the board. "I just confirmed that ... offers for PD, Econ, Pol, and Mgmt will be sent out between the 26th and July 1st."