Tickled pink

I am trying to be good and tell people individually, but I am sure I will somehow manage to forget someone. I blame the lack of sleep I've had here in DC, of course, but I am posting here to correct the issue. So the big news is that I might actually become employed! On Tuesday I took the State Department's Foreign Service Oral Assessment in Washington, DC, and I finally passed. After a grueling 10-hour day, I sat in stunned silence as the assessors shook my hand and congratulated me on my conditional job offer.

And this, of course, is where it gets interesting. No formal offer of a position has been made to me, but it could happen in the next few months. I must submit paperwork for a medical clearance, go through the security clearance process, and endure a suitability review before my name gets placed on the list of potential hires for the State Department. That list is, of course, dynamic, as new names get added or deleted. Since I have such a long history with the State Department (2 internships and my previous employment as a Special Agent, with the latest association being my internship at the U.S. Embassy Lima from February to May of this year), I believe the security and medical clearances should go smoothly. It is my (limited) understanding that the suitability review is merely a review of the entire application package, including any information that may have been uncovered during the clearance processes, so I don't really see any issues there. The final hurdle will be completely out of my control and is entirely dependent on funding and the location of my name on the list of potential hires.

The placement of my name on this list depends upon my oral assessment score, which I believe is pretty competitive. I can boost that score by scheduling a phone interview with the Foreign Service Institute to gauge my Spanish language skills. If I pass the examination, then I get a .17 boost to my oral assessment score (scores are based on a 7-point scale) and thus move higher on the list of potential hires.

One of the things in my favor is that earlier this year Congress approved an increase in funding for the hiring of Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) (both at the State Department and USAID). This means that in the coming fiscal year (starts October 1st) they should have the ability to hire more people off the list than they have in previous years. Bonus!

If everything goes forward with a formal job offer, I will be a Public Diplomacy FSO. This essentially means that I will be the public face of the State Department, interacting with host country nationals on a daily basis. You can read more about it on the State Department's website. For those of you who wonder where I will be in the upcoming months or year, I can't say anything for certain, but if everything goes as planned (which nothing ever does), my life will look like this:

• Massachusetts, 1 month
• Mexico, 3-8 months
• Washington, DC (for training), 3 months - 1 year
• Unknown worldwide post, 2 years
• Unknown worldwide post, 2 more years
  

It is practically guaranteed that my first 2 assignments will be in the Consular section because that section always needs the most bodies. I also signed a binding contract on Tuesday that states that I understand that I may have little to no input on my first 2 assignments. So, it looks to me like I am going to become very good friends with uncertainty.

By no means does this mean that I have stopped the job application process. Over the next few months, I will continue to send out application packets to a host of federal government jobs. After all, I have only heard positive news from ONE of my top three dream jobs (of the moment)! And a girl likes to have options...

Distraction

I've been away due to many things, among them my other blog, schoolwork, the holidays, schoolwork, friends visiting from the states, and (yup, you guessed it) schoolwork. I'm hoping that by mid-February I'll be on a less intense schedule, especially concerning grad school, and then I'll be able to post more frequently. In the meantime, the internet is my source of distraction. Hence, the following "survey":

1. Name and Middle Name? Ryan McLean
2. What holiday is closest to your birthday?Thanksgiving
3. Favorite fruit? Strawberries, although I’m really digging bananas lately (thanks to Hannah’s banana cream pie!) and fresh mangos (thanks to Peru for the introduction)
4. Does it bother you when someone says they'll call you and they don't? Yes. I’m too OCD to let it go.
5. Are you allergic to anything? Wool, cashmere, mohair – if it ain’t cotton, I’m gonna itch.
6. Is there someone/something you want? Conviction (especially in terms of a career).
7. When was the last time you went swimming? It had to be more than 5 years ago, I really don’t remember.
8. How many U.S states have you been to? 41
9. How many of the U.S states have you lived in? MA, VA, DC (not a state, but whatever), GA, and ME (we had a summer home there). That makes it 4, plus the District.
10. Have you ever lived outside the U.S? Currently living in Peru. Spent a summer living in England.
11. What's your favorite kind of drink? I love (hot) tea. And none of that fruity crap. Also, I’m generally into decaf or herbal.
12. Does anyone like you? My mom thinks I’m pretty awesome, and I’m pretty sure the rest of my family agrees. Plus, there’s Anthony and my furry children, who are always happy to see me when I walk in the front door.
13. Do you have any strange pets? No.
14. What is your dream car? Can a train count? Cuz I love trains.
15. What'd you do yesterday? Met with my future supervisor about signing a contract with my university so I can receive academic credit for an internship, then pushed my friends Katie and William off a cliff (they went paragliding).
16. Are you bipolar? Not that I’m aware of.
17. So do you and your ex's have a good relationship? I’d say my relationship with ex’s is practically nonexistent.
(Dude, what happened to 18-20?)
21. Have you ever been kissed under fireworks? Probably – I’m not exactly keeping track.
22. What was the last text message you received? Probably one from Claro, telling me I could win some stupid prize if only I would send soles their way.
23. Have you ever bungee jumped? Not yet, but I will.
24. Have you ever kayaked? Yup.
25. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you? I’ve dated men ten years older than me on more than one occasion, so yeah, I guess you could say so.
26. Are you an extreme racist? That’s a definitive “no.”
27. What song are you listening to right now? The only sounds in my house are coming from Anthony and the dogs.
28. What's your favorite song at the moment? I’m not into “favorites.”
29. What was the last movie you watched? Raising Arizona – Katie hadn’t seen it, and she still hasn’t since she fell asleep to the opening credits.
30. Where was the last place you went besides your house? To the cliffs of Miraflores to watch Katie and William paraglide.
31. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else's property? Nah, it’s hip to be square.
32. Have you ever been punched? All the time by my brother. That's just what siblings do.
33. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Personality. People carry it like an accessory – if I don’t want to punch the guy in the face because his ego is 20 feet in front of him, then I probably notice his eyes.
33a. What's the first thing you notice about the same sex? The way they present themselves.
34. Did you participate in any sports in the middle school/Junior High? Track and Field (if you can believe it, I was a pretty decent discus and shotput thrower, plus I qualified for state in the 880) was my main sport, but I also played soccer.
35. What do you usually order from Olive Garden? I don’t eat at Olive Garden if I can help it. They charge too much for mediocre food.
(Whoever made this questionnaire seriously needs to learn how to count. 36-37 are MIA.)
38. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity? I’ve gotten some really strange ones – Mariah Carey (they must have been kidding), Sigorney Weaver (most common), and Carrie Fisher (from the Star Wars era).
39. Do you have freckles? Not many, but yeah.
40. Are you comfortable with your height? Absolutely. I can reach the top shelf, baby.
41. Do you love someone right now? Of course. My family, my friends, my Anthony, and my three furry children.
42. How tall are you? 5’9” or 5’10” or perhaps somewhere in between.
43. Do you speak any other language other than English? Spanish (it’s sort of a requirement here in Lima).
44. Have you ever ridden in a limo? Sure.
45. Has anyone you were really close to passed away? Yes.
46. Do you watch MTV? I gave it up when they stopped playing music videos.
48. What's something that really annoys you? My inability to read academic texts without passing out.
(Dude, 49-50 are also missing.)
51. Do you have a crush? I have the HUGEST crush on Grace. She makes me want to snuggle!
52. Do you know how to pump gas? Uh, yeah. There’s something very do-it-yourself about we New England folk.
53. Do you drive when you go on long trips? Not if I can get out of it.
54. What's the latest you have ever stayed out? Until 7 or 8 am, but that was in college and probably never to be repeated.
55. Have you ever thought that you were honestly going to die? Nope. I'm not a very hysterical, "the world is going to end!" or "we're all going to DIE!" kind of a person.
56. Were you ever rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room? Again, nope.
58. Who do you live with? Anthony, Grace, Pookie, and Maggie. Oh, and sometimes Ali.
59. What color is your hair?Brown.
60.What color are your eyes?Brown.

Proposition 8

It appears that proposition 8 has passed in California. The issue of gay marriage seems to me to be a very simple question of basic human rights, and I find it strange that a supreme court decision can be over-ruled by a simple majority of voters. If given the opportunity, many voters as late as the 1960s would have denied African Americans the vote and equal treatment under the law, and I see many similarities between these two cases.

In my ethics class last spring, one of my colleagues did a presentation on gay marriage and concluded that to respect the rights of those with religious beliefs, a "marriage" should be closely linked with the church, be defined as the union of a man and a woman, and entitle the recipients to a church ceremony. Civil unions, on the other hand, would not be religiously affiliated, would not occur in the church, and would be offered to homosexual and heterosexual couples. Both marriages and civil unions would grant the couple the same legal rights. This makes sense to me and bridges the divide between religion and civil rights.

So why does it always come back to this vitriolic hate between religion and homosexual rights supporters? It just makes no sense to me.

In any case, I fully support gay marriage, under any title the law wishes to give it, so long as the same legal rights and protections are afforded to all our citizens. And I'm sorry to hear that religious creed is now embodied in the California state constitution.

One reason why Pitbulls are the most awesomest dogs EVER

You just don't know their character until you have one. Here's a video of a laughing pitbull.

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day

A couple of days late, but the sentiment still remains. Take this quiz to find out YOUR pirate name!

My pirate name is:

Captain Bess Bonney

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Livin' in the moment

Idea borrowed from from Pilgrimgirl.

I am wearing my fluffiest slippers, brown elasti-pants (so comfy!), and a white cotton tank top and faded green cotton long-sleeve t-shirt from Old Navy.

I am reading background material for my independent study, a Cary Grant biography, and the second book in the Inda series by Sherwood Smith.

I am hearing dogs barking, the ever-so-soft breathing of my sleeping puppy, and Grace’s sighs of jealousy as she sulks in a corner by the door. Thankfully all the construction stops around 7PM around here. However, to make up for the reprieve, I do have a contractor here in the house, banging in a new countertop.

Learning all the time how to be a better person. Now I just have to practice.

I am thankful for my friends who shower me with much needed affection now that I am thousands of miles away!

I am hoping that my independent study in the spring isn’t nearly as overwhelming as I feel it will be. (Something about conducting research in Spanish on a topic I know very little about…)

From the kitchen comes the noise of the contractor. But it is also the home of some Tin Roof ice cream that will be consumed the moment the contractor leaves.

I am creating memories.

Bringing beauty to my home by filling it with friends, family and laughter.

Around the house we need an empleada. I am the worst housekeeper ever. At least, it appears that way since every day everything in the house obtains a new coating of lead dust (from the car exhaust - yay for leaded fuel!).

Outside my window is the fenced-in front patio (?). I’m not really sure what to call it – Bubba will be kept here, but now it’s just a stone-paved area, with plants all around and a little shed that looks like Hansel and Gretel’s house (according to da’ Momma).

I am thinking about my independent study proposal and all those internship applications I haven’t yet completed.

One of my favorite things is that the puppy actually SLEEPS once in a while.

A few plans for the rest of the week include a girls-only French-Peruvian fusion lunch at Café Crème on Wednesday and shopping for something to wear to the soiree at the Ambassador’s residence on Saturday night. Gotta find something slightly more dressy than the two pairs of jeans, 5 t-shirts, and 4 sweatshirts that I packed in my suitcase when we left the States in July. (Update: household goods scheduled to arrive in 2-4 weeks.)

Makin' friends, tra-la-la-la

Here's a quick shot of me (looking like a booger) n' my favorite El Sol students, Cathy and Phil. Cathy hails from Ireland (with a nice rich N. Ireland accent) and is the only girl I know whose daddy actually did buy her that pony. She's in Peru for approximately 6 months to volunteer with an organization that allows her to combine her education degree and Human Rights law degree; then she's off to Ghana for another six months to be a something-something-insert-fancy-human-rights-education-consultant-title here.

Phil, on the other hand, hails from Park City, Utah, where he manages a ski resort. Apparently his company hires a lot of kids from South America to work through the winter, as the local rich Utah (or is it Utahan?) kids can't be bothered to make $15 an hour. He's blessed with a spitfire Peruvian girlfriend, who tries to keep him in line, and an interesting lifeview as a reformed (i.e. excommunicated) Mormon.

This week, I'm off to meet a whole new group of students outside the hallowed walls of El Sol. One such gentleman hails from Japan and has been in the majority of my classes for the last couple of weeks (interesting factoid: as a result of a very nomadic childhood, at the ripe old age of 24, Rocky believes he's visited somewhere in the range of 60-70 foreign countries). Since several of his friends will be in town from Japan, we're hosting an El Sol dinner with the Japanese friends and have invited the students and teachers at El Sol: which includes people from China, Algeria, Canada (oh my!), France, and (obviously) Peru. Should be quite the international forum.