This was the year....

...that I turned the corner.

I started 2011 in a bit of a down spot. I'd just come off of a fabulous 9-months working at the State Department and was faced with settling back into the job that brought me to D.C. in the first place. A job that I love and is absolutely perfect for me, but one that didn't quite feel the same after my short stint as a world-traveling enviro-diplomat. I knew that I still had lots to learn back at my old desk, and was grateful to have such a rewarding place to work, but I also felt in my gut that I eventually was headed back to State.

Thankfully, 2011 also brought some issues to my work that kept me busy and challenged while I decided how and when I would make my way back to the diplomatic world. I also moved into my very own grown-up one-bedroom apartment and had a full itinerary of travel for fun and work planned. In March, I bounced around Spain for 10 days with one of my best friends, drinking wine, sampling tapas, and admiring Picasso and Gaudi. After a short 20 hours back in D.C., I turned around for a work trip to Copenhagen that allowed me to get a quick fix of the international side of my job and also gave me a chance to see how Scandinavia celebrates St. Patrick's Day. At the end of April I headed to Costa Rica for a good friend's wedding festivities. It was the first time, probably ever, that I had gone on a vacation with the goal of sitting in one place and letting someone else figure out my activities. It was bliss.

The summer kicked off with a week in June in Denver for leadership training topped off by a weekend with my sister. Then 4th of July weekend in Seattle/San Juan Islands for a friend's bachelorette party. Another week in August for family camping in the North Idaho mountains, where there wasn't any huckleberries or cell phone reception but there were plenty of bugs. In September I headed way north and way west to experience Nome, Alaska for a work event with a quick stop in Anchorage on my way back to D.C. A few weeks later it was back to Seattle in for a wonderful wedding of two amazing friends. In October I turned 30, a low-key cabin affair with breweries, wineries, and waterfalls. I then managed to stay out of an airplane until December for my recent Christmas trip home.

Between all of the traveling and working, I also started to settle into my current job while paving a course for my future. This is where the corner turning really happened. After two plus years of working, I started gaining more responsibility and confidence in my career. All of sudden I was the go to person for certain things, and I loved it. Going to meetings and not only having something to say, but being expected to lead.

And finally, as I've documented here on this blog, my quest towards the foreign service has gone forward surprisingly smoothly. I took the written test in June, passed, was invited to the oral exam, and then passed that in November. I'm now on the register to be a foreign service officer, which was pretty unimaginable one year ago. Quite unexpectedly, 2011 turned out to be an amazing year filled with a comfortable combination of settling down in my current life while seeking out my next life. And so 2012 begins...

On the register!

Well, that was fast! In this whole journey to be a Foreign Service Officer, I've been warned that waiting, delay, and uncertainty is the norm. So after passing the oral exam back in November, I figured that getting my medical and security clearances complete and through the system would take a few months. Even with a current security clearance, I assumed that the holidays and the general slow trod of the bureaucratic machine I have come to know so well would put me on the register sometime in January or March. So I was pretty stunned last Friday when I got a letter (not an email) letting me know that I had been placed on the register exactly 30 days after passing the oral!

The upside is that all of the process stuff is out of the way and all I have to do now is concentrate on learning Russian. But the downside is that right now I have over 50 people ahead of me, with more being added as they pass the oral with higher scores or add language points. But, if I pass the Russian phone test sometime in the next year, I would probably end up in the top 5, pretty much guaranteeing me a spot in the next class. Of course, I could still get called up into an A-100 without the language points with the black box of budget + hiring needs + other factors (need for last minute class fillers) = an offer. This equation means that you're number on the list isn't always the end all be all. But I'm not one to rely on chance, so я буду учить русский язык.

Women in Public Service

While trolling around the twitterverse a couple weeks ago, I came across a project that seemed so obvious and simple, yet so clearly needed, that I had to share it here on my public service focused blog. The Women in Public Service Project was started "To build a generation of women leaders who will invest in their countries and communities, provide leadership in their governments, and change the way global solutions are forged." One of the key goals of the WPSP is to bring up and coming women leaders from around the world together for training, mentoring, and network building.

On December 15, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton kicked off the WPS Project at a colloquium that featured an all-star line-up of female public servants, including Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State; Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations’ Development Programme and former Prime Minister of New Zealand; Atifete Jahjaga, President of Kosovo; Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services; and Gloria Steinem, a preeminent feminist activist and author. One student blogger from Bryn Mawr  did a great summary of the key messages, with five pieces of advice for young women aspiring to be public servants that rang particularly true for me:

1) "Have confidence and belief in your vision”

This is probably one of the hardest thing for young women to do, and while I am completely confident in my personal vision, transferring that belief to my work vision is not always easy. I always imagine that I will walk into a meeting and state exactly what I believe is the right course of action, but of course I often don't. However, as time has gone by, I've realized that my insight is valuable, whether I'm new to an issue or well-versed in the topic, and that there is little risk to speaking up.

2) "Seek out and foster relationships with mentors"

Absolutely. I have some amazing mentors in my life and am now working to be a resource for other young women. And I've also learned that building relationships with peers is equally important. Having a network of friends and colleagues, and working to maintain those connections as everyone moves up and out, is key. I am now very lucky to have friends both in and out of the government whom I know I can turn to when I need career or life advise, or if I just need someone to grab coffee or a drink with after a long day of work (so important!).

3) “Test your limits”

In my short time in D.C. I've been able to be a part of things that I never in a million years thought would be possible. I've traveled around the world on behalf of the U.S. government and I've sat at a negotiating table and spoke into that microphone. I've participated on committees with dozens of people twice my age and I have stepped up to lead major efforts, despite my age and inexperience. Even when I don't think I'm ready, I stand up and do what needs to be done, and have been rewarded immensely for taking these chances.

4) “Grin and bear it”

This advice came from Secretary Clinton on the criticism and scrutiny that women in positions of power face.  I don't think she was talking about being quiet at meetings or work, but rather she was telling women to grow a thick skin when it comes to how you are perceived. For women much more than men, who you are in public seeps into your work, and vice-versa. Our personal lives, who we date, our friends, our family, all become more ways for people to judge us at work. This may not be fair, and I hope it changes, but in the mean time I've become very cautious about how I live my life. New York Times Columnist Gail Collins recently highlighted a case of an Ambassador failing to receive confirmation because of her relationship decades ago.

In her column titled "The Ghosts of Boyfriend's Past" Collins paints a tongue-in-cheek picture of Mari Carmen Aponte's blocked nomination to be ambassador to El Salvador because of the objections of a few conservative Senator's over her boyfriend 2 decades prior. The situation would be amusing if it weren't downright discouraging to women seeking to be in positions of power someday. While I'm just at the beginning of my foreign service career, I have high aspirations and so am trying not to spook myself by thinking about the potential ghosts in my closet.

5) "Develop a strong understanding of economics"

At first glance this piece of advice seeks esoteric and out of place in a list of aspirational tid-bits, but I whole-heartedly agree. I started with a solid foundation in economics from graduate school and have since added to that by working in an economic-focused office and keeping up on current policy issues. Even though my passion is the environment, I fully appreciate that addressing climate change or preventing oil spills cannot be done without taking into account trade, business, and the global economy. In fact, I believe doing so will best be done through the economy, along with the right set of policy incentives. As a future Economic FSO, I'm betting my career on my understanding of economics and I think as a woman, this sets me apart.


So thanks to the Women in Public Service Project for keeping the ball rolling and providing a forum and tool for future women leaders.

Tis the Season

One of the great things about living in Washington D.C. is that I'm never bored. There is always a concert, gallery, museum, or happy hour and great friends to accompany me to whatever random event pops up. And it seems that the longer you live in this city, the more people you know who can get you into the "good" events.

Over the past couple of weeks my social calendar has bulked up as the holidays descend on our Nation's Capitol. The Christmas season was officially kicked off by the lighting of the National Christmas Tree. Tickets to this annual event are available by lottery only, and this year I entered but did not receive tickets. Lucky for me, a colleague at work had the fancy seating-area tickets that are only available to a select few, and she had two extra seats. So instead of standing in the back, freezing, I was up near the front where I could see the President, Michelle, their girls, and of course Kermit and Santa. We even ran into Carson Daly, the host, on our way out.

Picture from Huffington Post/Getty Images of the lit tree and White House. 

Just after the Christmas Tree lighting, a friend and I walked over to the Newseum for the launch party for Coca-Cola's "Arctic Home" initiative. Both of us work on Arctic policy from the government side of things, so we were interested to see what Coca-Cola was planning to do with the iconic polar bears. As part of their awareness raising effort, they changed the can from red to white during the holiday season, which has apparently caused all sorts of confusion and outrage. Can color aside, it seems that Coca-Cola and WWF are partnering to help preserve the last areas of the Canadian Arctic that will experience melting due to climate change. Basically, ensuring that an "ice-refuge" will be protected for the threatened species. Of course, it's more complicated than that, but the party they threw in the polar bear's honor was lovely none the less. They had specially themed drinks, polar bear cookies, yummy appetizers, and a preview for a forthcoming Imax film that brought be back to my elementary school field trip to see Blue Planet on the Imax screen.


The Christmas extravaganza continued this week with a invite to the Danish Embassy's "Creative Christmas" party at the Ambassador's residence. It was great fun, like hanging out in someone's very large Danish Modern living room, but with fabulous catering, three bars, and live music. Once again there was an Arctic theme, with Greenland (which is under the Kingdom of Denmark) providing the inspiration for food and drink.

Finally, the week ended with the annual Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV) holiday party. This was my third RPCV event in D.C., and it's always a great event. Unfortunately I didn't walk away with any of the silent auction items I was going for (there was a large basket that someone kept out-bidding me on), but the event was still a good showing of like-minded world travelers.

Thanksgiving 2011

Yesterday I hosted my first Thanksgiving, and I'm happy to report that nothing burned down, no glasses or dishes were dropped, and there was not even one drop of blood spilled (except for the turkey). In all, it was much more of a success than I could have imagined.

There are so many things to be thankful for and it would take pages for me to list them all. I have the most amazing friends, who keep me centered, sane and laughing. My family, even though they are far away, supports my every wacky adventure with love. And I have been granted the most humbling career opportunities - working on super interesting topics that I'm passionate about while seeing the world. And as I look forward to the next steps that will lead to being a foreign service officer, to me the ultimate adventure, I can hardly comprehend my good fortune in life. So yeah, I have a lot of reasons to give thanks.  

I was joined in my small basement apartment by friends from all parts of my life. We kept it traditional, with a simple roast turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, herbed sweet potatoes, ginger carrots, corn, and three kinds of stuffing (veggie, regular in the bird, regular out of the bird). I insisted on sitting down for dinner, which involved combining a spare desk with the rickety Ikea table surrounded by every kind of folding chair you can imagine. But some antique linens and a set of family dishes made it feel civilized and proper. 

The before. Unfortunately, the after picture never happened, but it was gorgeous.

The food all came out according to plan and we ate ourselves into food comas. We tried to burn off some of the food through competitive games of Scattagories and Catch Phrase, with some football in the background. It was a great day.

So who knows where I'll be next Thanksgiving. I assume that I'll still be in D.C., but then again, who knows? 

Memorial Inspiration

Last Sunday, before my big test, I took a bike ride down to the newly opened Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. I was looking for peace, reflection, and inspiration, and the space provided all of these. There are many great things about living in DC, but being surrounded by the reminders of the achievements of my country and memorials to some our most amazing citizens is what keeps me committed to this whole public service adventure. Here are some pictures and quotes from the MLK memorial.

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Foreign Service Oral (Part II: What comes Next)

So I've already covered the fact that I passed the final step in the foreign service officer (FSO) selection process - the notorious and much feared Oral Assessment. So what happens next? My score is a 5.5. out of 7, with scores above 5.25 passing. A score of 5.9 is considered very high and anything above 6 is almost unheard of, so I am in the middle/lower of passing scores. Many candidates also get additional points for Military Service and for difficult language skills, which you get to add on top of your passing score before you go on the "register."  I’ll get to the register in a moment, but first comes clearances. After passing you have to be medically cleared and receive a security clearance. I already have a current security clearance from my time at State, so that should go pretty smoothly, just some updating. And I’m not too worried about the medical tests. They have a Foreign Service Medical Unit two blocks from my work and I’ve already had every test known to mankind from both before and after my Peace Corps service. But all of this will take some time.

I’m estimating that it will be at least 2-3 months before I get put on the Register, which is the list of all candidates who pass the FSOA and are cleared to serve. There are actually five register lists, one for each of the five “cones” in which an FSO can serve. They are: Management, Consular, Economic, Political, and Public Diplomacy. I am in the Economic cone, which will allow me to work on trade, business, energy, and the environment. The way the registers work is that as candidates pass and are cleared, they get put on the list in order of their score. In you take the test in June and pass with a 5.6, and someone comes along in October with a 5.7 they will skip ahead of you on the list. You get to stay on the list for 18 months, and if you don't get called up, it's back to the beginning, do not pass Go and do not collect $200. 

Whether you get pulled off the list is largely dependent on the State Department budget, as well as the number of retirees and other attrition. For anyone with pulse, you should know that the budget situation is pretty scary right now, but even with that new officers will be hired. Every 2-3 months the State Departments sends out invites for a new class of FSOs. Known as A-100, this is when you are a real deal and are officially an FSO, passport and all. After a hiring spree in 2010, the numbers have dropped and each class is running around 80-100 officers spread out over the five cones. That means about 20-25 Economic officers would expect to get pulled off the top of the list (all my numbers are estimates here for demonstration sake). And if there are 40-50 people ahead of you, and more getting added as they pass, your odds of getting pulled off are not great. So I'm not counting on getting in on my score alone (though it could happen), but I was planning ahead when I decided to start getting some hard language skills under my belt. I'm a few months into studying Russian, and am already feeling pretty good about my progress. I can't exactly hold a conversation, but then again I wasn't really all that focused. Now I have the ultimate motivation. Russian is consider a Critical Needs Language (CNL), which means if you can demonstrate limited working oral proficiency (in a phone test), you get an additional .4 added to you score. This would bring me up to a 5.9 and would make it almost certain that I would get called off the register. 

So here's my plan. I have a job that I really like and no plans of quitting and moving to Russia, that would be crazy. Instead, I'm going to continue going to Russian classes, probably twice a week starting in January (using both formal credit classes and informal free classes through the Global Language Network). I will also take advantage of any and all audio programs I can find (there are tons of free podcasts out there). I plan to devote at least 2 hours a day to studying on my own and start using online resources like Live Mocha more, where you can do online chatting to practice. I think I can get up to basic proficiency (a 1 or 1+) pretty quickly, but getting to 2 will require some immersion. I have a lot of annual leave, so this summer I will take a  month and study in Russia at a language school. I've found a couple out there with good recommendations. After returning I will take the phone test. If I pass, excellent. If not, I can take it again in 6 months. So if I get on the register in March and take the phone test in August, I still (theoretically) have over year left on the register and six months after my last try. The other plan would be to start the process all over again in June and see if I can make it all the way through and get a better score. You're allowed to do this while you wait (it doesn't kick you off the list). I might do this anyways, since there is no harm in it. 

So that's the plan, hope it works out. I've posted my timeline on the left, with a lot of question marks still left, but in all reality it will likely be a year or more before there are any significant changes in my life.  

The Foreign Service Oral (Part I: The Day)

On Monday I took the Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA), an all-day test of mental feats and psychological endurance designed to bring the most self-assured world-traveling foreign policy guru to his or her knees. And before I get too far I will save you the suspense and let you know that I passed, comfortably over the just-barely mark.

So, back to the test. There are three parts, a group exercise, an interview, and a memo writing portion. For legal and ethical reasons I can’t go into any specifics about these, but I can provide a general overview from my perspective. I arrived at about 6:40am to the testing center in D.C., and already there were a number of nervous looking candidates milling about the lobby. We were shortly escorted up the to the actual testing rooms, where we were left to get to know each other and stare at the walls while they prepared for our tests. It was immediately apparent that the candidates who make it this far represent the best of the best, and it was hard for me to fathom that at the end of the day the vast majority of these folks would be sent packing. There were 4 other Presidential Management Fellows (PMFs), all from my year (2009) and one of whom I had actually met during my orientation 2 years ago. There were a few lawyers, several people fluent in Mandarin or Arabic, and many candidates that had worked in Embassies already through details, internships, or through other programs. I tried to keep my confidence up as best I could.

Finally, around 8am we are given our instructions for the day, a schedule of where we were to be and when, and were split into two groups. My group of 6 was put in a nice corner office, with windows and everything, and we commenced our group exercise. The basic idea is that you are given a bunch of information about a fake country and projects that your embassy "task force" will be considering. Everyone has a different project and the goal at the end is to come to consensus on what will be funded and what will not, because of course money is tight. You have time to present individually (about 5 mins each) and then 20-30 mins to come to agreement on what to fund given your budget. Our group got along great, and our discussion was easy, logical, and organized. I felt I had done well on this, but no better than anyone else, even though in the end my project had the most support (maybe I’m a better negotiator than I give myself credit for J).  One down, two to go.

Part two was the writing exercise. You have an hour and a half to process a ton of information, provided to you in a binder, and respond in writing to a specific request, usually from the Ambassador or some other official. It’s designed to test your quantitative skills as well as your writing, so there are plenty of spreadsheets/numbers, and you have to make it all make sense. This is where I knew I would have the best chance to score really high, since my graduate program, thankfully, puts all students through a memo writing bootcamp and insists that we all know how to figure out a budget spreadsheet. Seriously, thank you Evans School Public Management courses! I completed the memo with a few minutes to spare, so I made some nice headings to make it an easier read (formatting is an under-appreciated art in my opinion).

I was given a short lunch break where I tried to eat something (yeah right) and returned back for the last part, my interview. It’s only an hour, but you have to get through a lot of information, including responding to hypothetical situations. Overall, I thought I did alright on this, but I wasn’t as organized as I’d hoped and ended up stumbling a couple of times. I came out feeling okay, but figured this might be the section that brings my score down a little.

Then comes the worst part, the waiting. My schedule had my longest break in the afternoon, so after the interview I had about 2 hours before they would start doing exit interviews. I wandered over the Museum of the American Indian, tried to drink some water, and called my mom. I was exhausted, but at least I was done. Once I killed as much time as I could, I went back to the center to join the other nervous candidates in the lobby. We joked about how it was possible that we could all pass, each knowing that only 2 or 3 at most would get a win. Finally, they put us in the computer lab where we had taken our writing exercise and then the torture began. One by one they opened the door and called people out. I kept imagining Top Chef's "stew kitchen", because that is exactly what it felt like. 

Based on reading blogs and online forums, it seems that the last ones standing are the winners, so each time that door opened I was praying that it wasn’t me to be called. Slowly, the room thinned out, and finally there were just three of us for quite a while. Then two. And then just me. For the longest 10 minutes of my life. I assumed this was good, but maybe they had changed it up? Maybe they read the blogs too and didn’t want us knowing the pattern? Maybe they forgot about me? At last the door opened and one of my interviewers called me back to the room where I had started the day in my group exercise. There were 4 other assessors standing there, and before I could put my stuff down, they read me my letter of congratulations. I had no control over my emotions at that point, so I very undiplomatically burst into tears. I pulled it together pretty quickly, shook hands with everyone and sat down to get my first briefing as a conditionally accepted Foreign Service Officer (FSO). 

October recap

Here in Washington D.C. fall ticks on. We had a freak showing of snow last weekend, but this weekend the sun is back shining and the remaining leaves are still clinging colorfully to increasingly bare branches. I've been busy during these past 5 weeks of not getting on an airplane to anywhere, doing some hiking, getting out on the bike, schmoozing away at work, mentally preparing myself to take on the oral part of the foreign service exam in about a week, and partaking in some general silliness to fill in the gaps.

Getting outside of the "beltway" is a must for sanity and clarity at all times of the year, but the colors and rolling Virginia hills are particularly soothing to the soul in the fall. I ended up on a path less travel in the Shenendoah Valley, a rare event indeed, and was able to enjoy some truly spectacular views with only a handful of other exiles.

Work has also been busy, fun, challenging, and everything I hoped for when I came to DC to work on environmental policy. I was part of a group that received a major Conservation Award, complete with a reception at the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB for those West Wing buffs out there) and a very official cake. A few weeks after that I was involved in the planning and hosting of a big, fancy international meeting. The highlight was a reception on one of the big wig balconies overlooking the National Mall. Sorry, no pictures, DC paranoia prevents me from putting anything that combines wine and political appointees on a website. 

I was also able to tick off one item on my 30 for 30 list by attending the Baltimore City Roller Girls a couple weeks back (#9). It was interesting, but not the heart-pounding thrill a minute that I was hoping to experience. And I don't think I'll be signing up to be a roller girl anytime soon, in case any friends and family out there were worrying about me going through some sort of 30 crisis. A month in I've only crossed off one item, so I'm really going to have to focus to make this one happen. 

And no DC pre-halloween festivities are complete without the running of the high drag race, celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year. Tens of thousands of fans lined the streets of Dupont to cheer on their favorite topically dressed drag queen. My personal favorites were the Royal Wedding Party, seen below, and the Pan Am Stewardesses who gave the crowd a pre-flight demonstration that topped anything I've ever had on United. 

So I think that wraps up October pretty well. November will center around my foreign service exam, which for good or for bad will be over by next Tuesday. I'm really quite chill about it, being that I have a great job, amazing friends, and pretty busy/crazy/silly life. Until next time. 

A lesson in chilling - thanks Ruby!

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30 for 30

Here are 30 things that I would like to do during my 30th year of life, in no particular order:

1. Take a cooking class
2. Visit a new country
3. Run a half-marathon (or a full)
4. See a show at the Kennedy Center
5. Take old timey dress up photos with friends
6. See Plymouth Rock
7. Get a fancy facial
8. Canoe and/or kayak on the Potomac
9. Attend a roller derby
10. Paint my walls
11. Go to a Washington Capitals game
12. See the Constitution at the National Archives
13. Visit a new state
14. Cook a turkey dinner
15. Shoot a gun
16. Get above 10,000 feet (not in an airplane)
17. Do a century bike ride
18. Knit some socks
19. Go sailing on the east coast
20. Be able to have a conversation in Russian
21. Ride a mechanical bull
22. Attend service at the National Cathedral
23. See all the Oscar nominated best pictures (for this year)
24. Score an invite to the Hemingway Bar at the Cuban Special Interest Area ("embassy")
25. Do a yoga hand-stand
26. Attend a Supreme Court hearing
27. Make my own ice cream
28. Get a palm reading from a psychic
29. Be a member of an audience on TV show.
30. Ride a Segway.



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The next step

So I mentioned a while back that I was going through the process of trying to become a foreign service officer. Every time I talk about pursuing the foreign service, I always feel the need to affirm that I actually have a job that I enjoy, one that is challenging, rewarding, and is exactly what I wanted to be doing when I was in graduate school. In the current economic climate having any job, let alone an interesting, well-paying job that I love, should leave me more than content. But I'm not content, I'm restless. Which led me to take the written foreign service exam back in June, which I passed, and after another screening step that involved submitting some short essays (know as personal narrative questions - PNQs - in State Department speak), I was invited to take the oral exam. The whole process is long and exhausting, so I'm thankful to have lots of other things to keep me occupied, but getting this far has really made me realize how much I actually want this.

I will be taking the oral exam in mid-November, and am now getting my head wrapped around this notoriously challenging day. The day is made up of three parts, a group exercise, a one-on-one interview, and a memo writing section. A detailed description of the day is here, but long story short is that it is grueling, and the people who will be there with me will likely be very experienced and highly impressive. The best part of the day is that you find out at the end of the day if you pass or if you are sent back to the beginning, so either way I'll know in less than a month if this path is something that might potentially pan out.

But I'm really pretty zen about the whole process and am looking forward to the challenge. Stay tuned...

I had it once, I'll have it again - the black passport

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thirty

Not too long ago I celebrated my 30th birthday, which is both completely unremarkable and absolutely unbelievable. It is unremarkable because I've felt like an adult for a long time now, maybe too long. I've now been driving for half of my life and have held a steady job for about the same. I've been a mall employee (very briefly), a bank teller (still my longest occupation), a student, an AmeriCorps volunteer, a student (again), a Peace Corps volunteer, a federal employee, a temporary diplomat, and a full-time policy wonk. I've done things and gone places that I could have only dreamed about before leaving for college. Add all of these things up and it's not that surprising that I've reached the ripe old age of 30.

But it's also unbelievable to me that I'm 30. Thirty was always that age off in the future where I would have things figured out, when I would be settled down somewhere with a career, house, etc., etc.  Now that this imaginary milestone has arrived without me managing to pass most of the traditional adult milestones, I realize how unimportant these fake points in my life timeline really are. But I still don't feel like a "real" adult, so maybe I never will.  Instead, I've defined my own milestones. I may not own a car, but having a Vespa is so much more fun and practical. And not owning a house means that I can remain flexible when it comes to future career options. And even though I haven't started a family of my own, it's funny how throughout your 20s, your friends progress from roommates, to housemates, to drinking buddies, to crisis counselors, to family. So I'm feeling pretty good about 30, despite it being unbelievable.

Next step, of course, is to make a list. Inspired by one of my friends, I am going to make a "30 for 30 list."  And as soon as I actually come up with 30 things I want to accomplish this year, I will post those here.

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Alaska!

Last week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to one of the most remote parts of the United States, the great frontier of Alaska.  I spent a couple of days in the near-Arctic coastal town of Nome and then another two days in the bustling city of Anchorage for work, getting a small taste of this far-away mega state in the process (see map below).

Welcome to Nome

One of the reasons for my trip up to Alaska was to attend an event that the National Park Service was hosting - a cultural celebration of Beringia, which is the region around the Bering Strait that includes both the United States and Russia. While you cannot, in fact, see Russia from the shores of Alaska, I did learn about the close historical and cultural ties between the people on both sides of the icy, rough waters that separate us from our Russian neighbors. I also got to experience a town most people have only heard about in reference to the early 20th century gold rush or the Iditarod dog sled races. Things I also learned about Nome while I was there include:

• Nome was once the most populous town in Alaska, with estimates ranging up to 20,000 at the height of the gold rush.
• Wyatt Earp once owned the most successful saloon/casino in Nome, earning a good living during his post-Tombstone retirement years.
• Total gold production for the Nome district has been at least 3.6 million ounces

Besides the standard meeting, greeting, and discussing of the issues that I was sent to Alaska to discuss, I also was able to learn about the Inupiat communities in Alaska and Russia, and to see first hand the similarities between them, through their dances, language, and food cultures. 

Unfortunately my busy days of meetings and some misty, rainy weather didn't allow for much time outside of the "mini-conference center" (that is honestly what it was called).  On our last afternoon we did go out looking for musk ox, which had been reported to be close to Nome.  Apparently Nome is one of the few places in Alaska where you can find musk oxen close to a village. But, as would be the pattern for all of our attempts at seeing the wild, we were not successful in our hunt for musk ox. However, seeing the fall colors on the tundra is amazing, and the last blueberries and crowberries were ripe and plenty.

Tundra berries!

Fall on the tundra

After our three days in Nome, I moved on to Anchorage for two days of solid meetings. I stayed at the historic Captain Cook Hotel, which seemed like the kind of establishment from which many an adventure had begun.  Once again, we were told to look out for local wildlife, this time moose, but once again a thorough search came up empty.  All failed animal sightings aside, the trip was amazingly productive, busy, and enjoyable.  Alaska is truly a unique, vast, diverse, and wild place that is a special part of the United States.  But next time I'm going to have to hire someone to find me a bear, moose, or musk ox.

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New York

Prior to this past weekend I had only been to New York city one time, nearly two years ago for Thanksgiving. Being that it was my first trip to NYC, the trip leaned heavily on the main attractions. Our first goal was to catch part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so my traveling companion and I left DC very early in the morning and found ourselves dropped off in the middle of Manhatten craziness, blocks from the parade route. We spent the three days immersing ourselves in the most authentic of NYC tourist experiences: Santa at Macy's, the Staten Island Ferry, Wall Street, Times Square, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, pizza and deli sandwiches. It was a great weekend and a wonderful way to first experience New York.

This past weekend was a much different, but no less amazing, NYC experience. I didn't do any of the things that I did on my first trip to New York, yet my experience was no more or no less authentic. The city is like that, all of the big tourist spots are important to the fabric of the city, but there is so much more, so no matter what you end up doing, you are experiencing the place. This time I had the benefit of a Brooklyn native friend as a tour guide and a brownstone in Park Slope as a resting place (complete with home-cooked meals and shopping tips). One thing that is new to both tourists and locals alike is The Highline, an amazing urban park and example of excellent urban planning. Suspended above the city streets on an old rail line, you can stroll for miles along the lower West side, eating popsicles and people watching.

At the end of the Highline we landed at Chelsea market, where we sampled a lovely WA state oyster to fuel our afternoon stroll through lower Manhattan. From there we wandered through the Union Square farmers market, sampling various homemade ice-teas and other local products. Our ultimate destination was Pomme Frites, a Belgian fry mecca with dozens of delicious dipping sauces, but on the way we took a detour through a fair-midway-like street event where I was introduced to the glory that is a "mozzarepa." Combine a sweet Mexican-corn arepa with Italian mozzarella and you have a mozzarepa - amazing. So after splitting the cheesy corn-cake snack and an order of Belgian fries over the course of about 5-6 miles, we were pretty well done with Manhattan. An evening spent drinking beer in Brooklyn and a Sunday adventure in thrift store shopping capped off a perfect NY weekend.

Everything goes in New York

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Into the Woods

For someone whose career is focused on natural resource protection, I rarely actually get out into those natural resources to enjoy the beauty and peace that inspired me to take this route in the first place. This past weekend I traveled a couple thousands miles to get back to my outdoor loving roots and to spending some quality time with the whole family, a feat even rarer than my chances to be outdoors.

After flying into the capital of the Inland Empire, Spokane, Wash., I helped the pack up the truck, camper, and accompanying vehicles with all possible provisions for a 3-day expedition into the wilderness with four kids and four adults. We headed east past Coeur d'Alene until reaching Kingston, ID, where we turned North along the Coeur d'Alene river. This is where cell phone signal ended and I started to remember what it was like to be completely without multiple digital leashes. Our destination was somewhere in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, along a glacial creek at a campsite where we ended up being the only inhabitants.

The whole family spent a couple of days battling the bugs, eating camping food, and enjoying the frigid rivers and streams. Nothing like the great outdoors to get the whole family to agree on something - that the great outdoors can be a lot of work!

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Earth Shaking

The last time I was in a real earthquake was over ten years ago, with a smattering of Central American rumbles in between. So yesterday, sitting at my desk typing away at some VERY important email, the last thing I expected to experience was a decent sized earthquake. The general sense in my hallway, as people stood in their doorways looking at each other, was complete bewilderment. I mean, we knew that it was an earthquake, but that just wasn't possible here in middle of the eastern seaboard. After the shaking stopped, there was not an announcement about what to do, so most of us returned to our desks until instructed otherwise. My coworkers crowded around my computer to witness the wonder that is twitter (a new fangled concept to most of them) as the tweets rolled in from as far away as Boston confirming that indeed, we had experienced an earthquake.

Ten minutes later, a crackly voice came over the ancient PA system, telling us to evacuate the building. It seems that that agency that houses the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS to most of you) should be able to get information to its employees more quickly than the time it takes to update all of my social media and send a few emails, but alas, not so.  That being said, the USGS twitter feed was updated much more quickly.

I grabbed my purse, anticipating that our nearly 100-year old building might take awhile to deem safe, and headed outside. The parks of Foggy Bottom were already packed with excited feds from all of the neighboring offices. The Office of Personel Management, the General Services Administration, the Federal Reserve, and the State Department all mingled with the Department of the Interior as we soaked up some sun and checked our blackberries, updating each other on the tidbits of news that were flashing across our respective digital leashes. About 20 mins passed before people started moving back inside and the Interior folks were told to grab their things, get out of the building, and go home.  Seriously? An absolutely perfect 80-degree, no humidity day in DC and the fates have granted us the afternoon off?

The Feds of Foggy Bottom gladly take a break outside while awaiting word on the safety of our buildings. 

It was too good to be true and this good fortune deserved a drink.  And I was not the only one thinking along these lines. I headed to the closest bar and met up with my partner in crime, where we enjoyed a refreshing beverage alongside a few hundred other suits, all enjoying the perfect summer version of a snow day. Word was that the metro and buses were a mess, so what was the point of trying, right?

Today my building is still closed for inspection, so I'm doing my best to work from home while preparing for a few days of vacation.  The unexpected seismic event was fortunately mild, and so a most welcome break from the everyday.



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Tourist town, home

If I haven't mentioned it yet, I will admit it now that I have an unhealthy fascination with Segways. I've never been on one, but if I ever get fired from my day job (seems unlikely, but heh, these are strange times), I think being a Segway tour guide wouldn't be a bad life. Just yesterday I was totally impressed with one young man who was discussing the history of the Blair House, on a Segway, with no hands, while rolling backwards. I've definitely gotten used to living in a tourist centered town, one that sometimes feels less like a city than a cultural showcase for the U.S.A. as well as a symbolic punching bag for all the talking heads out there. Only in the past couple of years has it started to bother me that when the news reporters refer to the "problems in Washington," they are not talking about the local school systems, the poverty rate, or the fact that residents of this fine district do not have a voting representative in Congress. Nope, we are symbol for the dysfunction of all of the elected representatives that come from "actual" states.

But, D.C. is a city, a small one actually, that begins to feel more like a village the longer you live here. There are inside jokes, very good local restaurants, and even a decent coffee shop or two. And with a city chock full of overeducated young people, you also have a ton of technologically savy, socially networked Feds, staffers, lawyers, and lobbyists who share in common the place they call home. Which, after a certain amount of time, seems to grant district residents the right to a little self-mocking.  For example, the two maps below show a certain local perspective on D.C.

See this:



or this:



I'd venture to guess that the creators of either of map live in C-Spanistan (Capitol Hill) or Laptoptopia (Dupont Circle). As for me? Depending on the map, I either live at the intersection of Pandas and Oye Maje or on the southwestern edge of the The Liquorridor. I'm not going to say that either of these visualizations are right or wrong, but they demonstrate that D.C. has a lot of local flavor beyond "people who watch C-span."

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Why not learn Russian? (почему бы не изучать русский язык?)

It's been over two years since I handed in my thesis for what is distressingly called a "terminal degree." A Masters in Public Administration (MPA) is the end of the line...that is unless you want a Ph.D in Public Policy (the major differences, I know not). So for 24+ months I have joyfully enjoyed the lack of any formal education, instead immersing myself in learning the ins and outs of becoming a good a bureaucrat. Things like:

• Who to CC on an email and when. 
• Who not to CC on an email and when. 
• The risks and lack of respect when using BCC on an email.
• And the politically advantageous uses for email forwarding. 

Now that I've mastered the art of strategic email communication (and if you don't believe that this is an art, there are plenty of political email flubs available on the internet for your amusement), I thought I should move on to something a little more challenging. So I racked my brain for the most challenging thing I could possible think of, and I came up with, of course, learning Russian! Because why not add another half-baked set of language skills to my repertoire. 

(Left & Above: the Moscow Subway, a work of art) 



Currently my ability to communicate in anything other than English involves: 1) high-school Spanish that gets me pretty far when in Spain or Costa Rica after 3+ glasses of tempranillo (un mas vino tinto por favor!); 2) a college minor in Norwegian that at one point allowed me to read Harry Potter and converse about UN conventions and immigration policy in norsk, but now is at about the same level as my Spanish (det er mange finne gutter her og jeg vil ha mer øl!); and 3) a Belizean mix of kriol and two different mayan languages, which depending on the context would allow me to curse out someone on the bus who just grabbed me inappropriately (madda ras bwoi!) or ask for more tortillas (mane se wa?). I also know how say the equivalent of "cheers" in almost any place that I've traveled or had exposure to (skål, prost, chin chin, salud, sante, egészségedre). As a maybe wanna be diplomat, I've found that the word or phrase that you say while clinking glasses is often the most useful. 

But with Russian, I'm hoping to move beyond the level of novelty and actually communicate, which at some point in my life would require being in Russia for a period of time. And after spending a week there last fall, that would pose absolutely no problem with me. There were so many surprising, wonderful, and strange things in Moscow and I have been fascinated by the country ever since (hence my choice of banner for this blog). Getting back there may be a ways down the road, so for now I'm loading up on Pimsleur podcasts and have enrolled in a weekly class beginning in September. Should be an interesting adventure! до свидания!

(Below Left: The Russian White House (Parliament) and St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square)

speed networking

The view from my pedestal

You know you've turned a corner in your life when all of a sudden you are the one that is handing out your business card, not in search of a job, but as the one who may be able to help others with their quest for employment. Now let's be clear, I do not have any power at all to hire others. I am still the lowest on the totem pole in my office, even after 2+ years at my desk. I barely get to tell interns what to do. But every so often I'm called upon by various affinity groups to serve as an "expert" or "mentor." It sometimes feels odd, to be that almighty advice giver, but I always enjoy the experience. I definitely learned a lot from others in my own job search as I went from one psuedo-paid volunteer experience to another, so giving as good as I got is only fair.

Tonight, at one of these events, I was humbled by the many, many post-graduate school, internationally experienced, multi-lingual idealists who were looking for any clue as to how to land a job, any job, in this shining white marble city. I wish I had better news, that it was a just a matter of knowing the right person and being in the right place at the right time, but even that fail safe route to your dream job seems way too optimistic. Times are tough and way too many overeducated, hard working young people are slinging lattes or whiskey shots, just waiting for their shot to become an under appreciated Federal bureaucrat. Usually I come out of these events bolstered by the energy of those still looking for their dream job, but today I feel hopeless. The stock market didn't help this dark mood, confirming that there was really no point of putting on a happy face and telling others, most of them my age, that there they had a chance. That instead of mustering up some creative job searching ideas I should have told them to go back to whatever country they just finished up Peace Corps service in and take up a life as an expat, because this country is clearly telling all of us that hope is in short supply, and finding a job...well, forget about it.

Being an adult

In about two months I will be 30 - a big step towards feeling like an actual adult. That's right, a step towards. I feel like I've come a long way since the rickety house that me and my closest Norwegian loving friends first moved into nine years ago (wow - typing that made me feel old) and I'm actually totally fine with turning 30. My 20s are and continue to be absolutely fabulous, and fully expect my 30s to be even better.  However, I got a lot of help along the road to adulthood, and when I came across this list on Apartment Therapy (a highly addictive design, decorating, random stuff blog), I just had to share:

30 things to know about adulthood: 

1. Read the instructions.
2. Youtube has videos for things you need to know.
3. Make sure everything has its place.
4. Keep your car clean.
5. Keep the instructions.

6. Keep good records and a filing system.
7. Clean your house before you go on vacation.
8. If you live alone your trash will smell. Use smaller cans/bags.
9. Deep clean your refrigerator at least every 3 months.
10. Look at your house as if you were a visitor.

11. Use company as motivation to clean.
12. You don't need that many kitchen gadgets.
13. The less you have the less you have to put away.
14. Don't spend more than you make.
15. Learn to repair things yourself.

16. Don't be afraid to call a professional.
17. Your credit is forever. Don't screw it up.
18. Stick to basic cleaning supplies.
19. Document any serial number on items you'd want back if stolen.
20. Take care of your stuff and it will last.

21. Save money every month, even if it's just $5.
22. Don't start activity B until you've cleaned up after A.
23. Entertain often and find great friends.
24. Nothing improves in storage.
25. True friends don't care if your house is messy. Invite them anyway.

26. Invest in a decent shredder.
27. Keep stuff off the floor.
28. Once in a lifetime deals usually aren't.
29. Keep track of your immunization records.
30. Stuff will always work out. Don't stress.

I definitely have to agree with numbers 2, 7, 23, and 30. For example, from youtube I learned how to polish the antique brass mortar and pistal that came over from India. And having traveled my fair share these past years, I can attest to returning to a clean apartment (the suitcase full of dirty laundry is usually enough). As for entertaining, I really can't imagine what I would do without my close friends, who are always willing to try some new recipe that I've been wanting to try.  And finally, the last one is often repeated to me (and by me to myself). Things will absolutely work out, even if I don't know what that will look like in the end. 

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International public service?

It's not that I don't enjoy my current city and job (it case you couldn't tell, I really do), but I'm always thinking about my next steps in work and life - I just can't help but be excited for that next turn of the road. And while I certainly enjoy, and have made a habit of, serving the U.S. government in one way or another, one thing that pops into my head occasionally as a potential dream career stop is the United Nations. The UN is a massive, sprawling, unwieldy organization and I've interacted with it's various branches enough to know there would be ups and downs as a UN employee. But none of that stops me from imagining what it feel like to work for an organization that is beyond the whims of any one government. But is the UN a form of public service?

I have to believe yes. What got me into this whole public service kick was a desire to have a career that created something that was not centered on making a profit or seeking fame. In economic terms, we call these intangibles public goods. Clean air, open spaces, safe drinking water, and humanitarian assistance when a hurricane strikes. These things are not meant to be profitable and should never be. And I am so very very fortunate to have found a career path that on a good day fulfills this desire. But what about those public goods that stretch beyond borders? When I was working at State Department, I got to do a lot of work on the treaty that addressed the hole in the ozone layer, the Montreal Protocol. This treaty performed a function that was beyond any one country, and now all the citizens of the world benefit from it. The UN Environment Program provided the venue and the support for establishing the treaty and for making sure that countries continue to keep it relevant, even as the treaty now turns towards taking on climate change. Being a part of that as a career could be very interesting.

The view of U.N. meeting from the "U" section

I don't think I will actively pursue being an international Diplomat quite yet, we'll see how the whole foreign service thing goes first, but it's always fun imagining what might happen down the road.

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