A passport to be proud of!!!!

I applied and had been issued my first DIPLOMATIC passport this week. For some reason, every time I think about it, I remember the scene at the end of Lethal Weapon 2, in which the official from the apartheid-era South African Consulate in L.A. claims diplomatic immunity after shooting Riggs (Mel Gibson), and is subsequently shot by Murtaugh (Danny Glover)?
Scene goes like this:


[Rudd shoots Riggs, then holds his ID in front of his face]
Ambassador Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd: Diplomatic immunity!
[Murtaugh shoots him through the ID/head]
Roger Murtaugh: It’s just been revoked!

Here’s the lesson that guy should have learned first: Diplomats don’t enjoy diplomatic immunity when they’re shooting at police officers.


The diplomatic immunity is a product of a practice between the Italian city-states in the Renaissance of exchanging permanent embassies. The idea is that diplomats serving in foreign countries are immune to the laws of their host countries. The idea rests on the principle of reciprocity: You protect my diplomats in your country, and I’ll protect yours serving in my country. And every state has an incentive to have ambassadors serve in other capitals to represent its interests, so each state should see to it that the principle of diplomatic immunity continues to thrive.

It also reminded me of bitter debate in the country I was born in, Romania. A very popular Romanian musician, Teo Peter, (I grew up listening to his music) was killed in a traffic accident in Bucharest in a very early morning of December 2004 when an U.S. Marine embassy guard, drove his Ford SUV through a red light and into a taxi carrying Peter. The American was drunk. He was given a breathalyzer test at the scene which confirmed his drunken state, but since he was a guard at the embassy, he had diplomatic immunity and was allowed to leave the scene. The Romanians requested that the U.S. government lift his immunity, but the U.S. refused to drop his immunity and lifted him out of Romania to Germany. To make things worse, the whole incident came only a year after the Iraq invasion, so we definitely didn’t need the story.


I also remember a similar incident years prior, one in which the U.S. found itself on the other side. On January 3, 1997, a Georgian diplomat, Makharadze, was driving home in DC after heavy drinking when he killied a 16-year-old girl. The Georgian Embassy reminded U.S. authorities of his diplomatic immunity, and he tried to flee the U.S., but under heavy U.S. pressure, Georgian President Shevardnadze waived Makharadze's diplomatic immunity in order to maintain good relations with the U.S. The judge at the trial called Shevardnadze’s decision "courageous." And it was.

Anyway, having my black American Diplomatic passport definitely fills my heart with joy and pride!!!!!

And the winner is: Bangladesh!!!!!!!!!

I volunteered for my first assignment and expressed my desire to go to Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Reasons?

I joined USAID because the organization represented my personal culture – to whom much is given, much is expected. Bangladesh has attracted my interest because of development challenges it is facing and the opportunities it presents. I wanted to be part of the exciting times that are transforming the country.


We’ll be living in Dhaka for two years starting next January. First things that come into mind about Bangladesh? Poverty, hunger, overcrowding, natural disasters, corruption, political riots! The country is the most densely populated in the world. There are over 160 million people (half the US population) living in an area the size of Iowa. Nevertheless, we are all really excited about it, even though we are aware of the challenges. After all, this why gave up our comfortable life to take the unknown road.

On top of it, we never set foot in Asia and to quote one of the most famous Bangladeshi ever, Rabindranath Tagore: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”.

Even harder, saying good bye to my parents

I will always love my mother…Today I find myself very frustrated with my lack of eloquence, because despite trying and again, I simply cannot put into words all the things I really want to say. I want to share her many great qualities, and to capture her essence with my sentences. I have concluded perhaps it is simply not possible for me to use mere words to describe all that I want to say about my mother. Given that, I apologize in advance for perhaps not doing her justice with my somewhat simple sounding words.
First, I wanted to list all the wonderful qualities of my mom. I wanted to share her brilliance, her smile, her wisdom, her perpetual neatness, her sense of responsibility, her total sense of sacrifice. Two things about her that truly fill my heart and mind is how much she loves me and how much she cares about me.
My mom was one person I could always count on. She single handed raised both my brother and I, with many sacrifices along the way. She always pushed me to be a better person. Saying good bye to her and to my step father is extremely difficult, as they have always dreamed of spending their retirement years close to children and grandchildren. They were so happy just being around us. And now, we are packing and moving away! However, I know that she wants me to be happy!

Saying good bye

We always thought that it would be very hard to say goodbye ... and it was hard. Yet we considered ourselves fortunate to have met so many special people ... that it made saying goodbye so hard!



We will miss everybody dearly and we will remember them fondly. Although we may be separated by time and distance in the interim, nothing will diminish the important role that our Michigan friends and family  have and always will play in our lives. We wish all of them the best and hoped to keep in touch, and who knows, maybe they would visit us in Africa, South America or Asia, or wherever we might be.

The party we threw was the best we ever had. And my brother surprised us by coming announced from Alabama on a very short notice.

My Ursus soccer teammates!

Foreign Service Hiring Process

My agency, USAID  uses the Foreign Service classification system. The USAID Foreign Service Officers are not required to take the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT)., but after that the process is somehow similar to the State Department.

For me it all began on their website, which is filled with all sorts of information about the Foreign Service,  the different positions and the current open position. You can apply for an open position, it requires you write multiple answers to questions on experience related to several skills.

If you are selected, somebody will contact you and invite you for an interview in Washington DC. There are three components in the Oral Assessment  a Case Study (this requires you writing a memo in response to a case situation relevant to the position), a Group Exercise (this one can be a little awkward, as you are required to develop a solution to the case study with the candidates you are competing against), and a Structured Interview with a panel made up by of a Human Resource person, a Foreign Service Officer, and a Technical expert. After the Oral Assessment I went home day and waited for almost a month to receive a response on whether I was accepted. They followed up with references that you provide and your package of your scoring from the interview, your experience, and your reference responses will be forwarded to a final panel for determination.

Security/Medical Clearance Process
The successful candidates will begin a preemployment process. You need to obtain a Security Clearance and Medical Clearance. Expect the process to take several months.

Final Suitability Review/Position Availability
Once these hurdles are cleared, you will be on their register or list of eligible candidates. Cleared candidates are grouped by their backstop and then often rank-ordered. A panel will then review the eligible candidates and make their selection on those to appoint.

There is a forum where many people discuss the USAID Foreign Service:

http://federalsoup.federaldaily.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4834&PN=1&title=usaid-junior-officer

The State Department hiring process is  fairly similar. The main exception is the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) being the first step to the process. After passing the OA, the process is the same like the one for USAID.

The process is explained on their Website:
http://careers.state.gov/officer/selection-process

State Department's positions are more general. State has 5 main career ladders or "cones". Every cone though will have to do a tour or two doing Consular work which means issuing visas for foreigners or assisting Americans abroad.

FSOT & Language Test
While filling in your basic information in the application, you will also have the opportunity to indicate whether you have any language capabilities. After completing the application, you have to select a test date to take the FSOT.

After taking the test, if you indicated you had a language skill, you may be requested to do an over the phone language test as you will receive bonus points to your score in the end if you pass the OA.

Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP)
If you pass the FSOT, you will be invited to the QEP stage. There will be questions on experience and you will have to provide a short answer response on that. After providing your response to these questions, your file will be sent to the Board of Examiners and they will categorize you based off your selected cone and review candidate profiles based off their QEP responses, their FSOT score, language proficiency, etc. This will take another month or two.

Oral Assessment (OA)
There are three components: the Group Exercise, Case Study, and Structured Interview. After the day of testing is complete, State provides immediate feedback of whether you will move on or not. Candidates will be placed in a room and called out. If you are not successful, you will be greeted by two of the examiners and be given a file with your results for the day and be given the chance to ask any questions.

If you are successful, then you will begin the clearance process and eventually be placed on a register for eligible hires.

Foreign Service, what is that?

According to Wikipedia, the United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 15,000 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S. citizens abroad. Created in 1924 by the Rogers Act, the Foreign Service combined all consular and diplomatic services of the U.S. government into one administrative unit. In addition to the unit's function, the Rogers Act defined a personnel system under which the United States Secretary of State is authorized to assign diplomats abroad.

The two main agencies with foreign service are the State Department and USAID (the US Agency for International Development). I am a proud member of  the USAID.

Members of the Foreign Service are expected to serve most of their career abroad, working at embassies and consulates around the world. The maximum stretch of domestic assignments should last no more than five years before resigning or taking a foreign posting. The difficulties and the benefits associated with working abroad are many, especially in relation to family life.

Why the name of the blog?

It's been almost seventeen years now since Cristina and I arrived on the Promised Land.
We can remember even now, very clearly, how scared we were. As time went by, we realized that on top of our wonderful family we had something very precious there. Friends! Despite the fact of being in a foreign country, having friends has provided us with the support network we needed to feel home. Now, why are we writing all these sentimental memories? Because, the news is, I have become a career diplomat and we are heading away, so this is a farewell letter!
Why diplomacy?
We have always been proud for achieving our dream to become Americans. I grew up with my grandfather pointing to the skies and reassuring me that one day the Americans will come. This was thirty plus years after the WWII was over and the poor old man had lost everything he had worked so hard for, but he kept his hope. Every week, granpa would pull out his worthless titles for the land that had been taken away from him and would read them again and again with tears in his eyes.
While there are many people who admire our nation, there are a vicious few who would see it destroyed. For some situations, military action may be the appropriate response. For many others, diplomacy is called for. That’s where we think we can make a difference. Because we have been so blessed to be a part of this nation, we feel it is time to give something back. We’ve had a lifelong interest in cultures and languages, creating in us a compelling desire to get to know many others. We’ve wondered if
there was a way to serve our adoptive country while satisfying our desire to get to know other people and cultures. Conditions may be rough, the assignments may not always be glamorous, and the welcome may not be warm for an American on foreign soil, which will deepen our appreciation for our homeland and challenge us to reach out and find common ground. Who could ask for a better opportunity?
Are we having a midlife crisis? Why would we give up this comfortable life here to take the unknown road?
We asked ourselves these questions: What do we care about? What ideals are we willing to commit to? We believe that every one of us has and will have unique opportunities to make a difference, if only in small and quiet ways. A successful life is about spotting those opportunities and acting on them. The only mistake one can make is to ignore the quest, to settle for an ordinary life, to just look out for Number One, to live and die without ever having made a difference. We’re not talking about becoming Mother Theresa, but just about merely trying to better the lives of others.
Poet Mary Oliver asked this question, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" This is the most important question any of us will ever ask ourselves. We decided to challenge ourselves to act, to be of service, to let our life become as meaningful as it is meant to be.
And like Dacia wrote in a school essay: "All we can hope for is that somewhere in a small village, in a foreign country, there is a small boy with his grandfather hoping and praying for our arrival"