Two weeks ago in my Burmese class, I hit a couple of exciting milestones. First, I had a breakthrough in how I generate speech, especially when tackling longer discussions—finally, a strategy that clicks!
Second, I not only survived my third progress evaluation but even enjoyed parts of it. The results were a confidence boost, reinforcing my daily experience in the program, and keeping my hopes high for passing the End of Training test (EOT) in four months. Momentum is on my side!
Last Friday marked the end of week 26 of my Burmese program. Now 59% complete, we’ve shifted from everyday topics like our biographies, weather, and travel to work-related themes such as peace and security, bilateral relations, human rights, natural disasters, and the global economy.
Just weeks ago, my biggest challenges—less individual instruction time after our class merger last November and preparation for our upcoming PCS move to Burma this summer—felt significant.
As we reached the halfway point of our 44-week Burmese course recently, I felt an increasing awareness that significant changes lie ahead. I’ve also felt a renewed determination to meet the challenges of our important work. [Author’s note: I wrote and edited this post two weeks ago, before the State Department news of a personnel Reduction-in-Force was reported by the press.]
As I prepared for my second Burmese language progress evaluation last month, I also was getting ready for a special Christmas at home in Virginia. The reasons it was special were twofold. One, my dad (and later my stepdaughters) were planning to visit from out of state; and two, it would be the last Christmas V and I would be in the United States, potentially for years.
The past two weeks have been some of the most challenging since I began studying Burmese, largely due to feeling stuck in a prolonged rut. Struggling to recall vocabulary or make sense of syntax. Dreading the thought of leaving my warm bed to face the winter blues and drive to FSI. Feeling so drained that I fall asleep the moment I lie down, before forming a single memory.
Unexpected breaks from the routine—due to snow and illness—provided some relief, even though I was eager to get back to business as usual after the holidays. Yet, language learning continued to be a roller coaster of highs and lows for me.
Nearing the halfway point of this 44-week journey, I’ve solidified my determination to see it through, regardless of how much I think I suck at Burmese or even whether I ultimately pass. Looking back, I’ll likely view this stage as a pivotal point.
In 2024, when I wasn’t making the most of my time outdoors, I managed to publish 35 posts, conclude my fourth tour handling international parental child abductions in the Office of Children’s Issues, and begin long-term training for my next assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, Burma.
I also wrote a series of posts chronicling Foreign Service-related topics, including the centennial anniversary of the Foreign Service, the machinations of retirement and sixth tour bidding planning, and my best tips for success during FSI language study.
The Friday of week 16 in our 44-week Burmese course fell just before Christmas and brought our second progress evaluation. For me, the evaluation was a frustrating experience, the culmination of weeks of discouragement with my slowed progress since our class expanded from two students to four at varying levels.
I pretty much bombed my evaluation, despite intensively studying grammar, reviewing my thematic texts, and dedicating five hours before the evaluation to quiet practice and protecting my energy. By contrast, the effort I put into creating a memorable holiday for my family paid off, which is generally what I expect when I’ve worked tirelessly to achieve something.
Last week, as we passed the one-third mark of the course, I was reminded of the roller coaster ride that is FSI language learning. One day, it feels as though you can’t comprehend a single word being said. The next, you’re gradually piecing together structures and vocabulary to craft complex, sequential sentences you couldn’t have managed just a week or two earlier. But just as you start to feel a sense of accomplishment, you open your mouth to speak, only to have your mind go completely blank—like a computer freezing on the dreaded blue screen of death.
The cadence of the past two weeks has been unusually choppy, with several language classes disrupted by the Thanksgiving federal holiday, Area Studies, and an untimely bout of illness. These interruptions have contributed to my feeling lately that I can’t think of much to say in Burmese.
In week 11 we reached a milestone, completing the first quarter of our Burmese language course. The following week (week 12) marked a turning point of its own as our two classes merged into one for the first time.
The end of last week marked a significant milestone: we achieved 25% completion of our 44-week Burmese language course.
I’m not bidding in this current cycle. I already have my assignment to Burma that starts summer 2025 — hence my current long-term Burmese language training to prepare. But fellow FSO friends in the last year of their current posts are bidding for their onward assignments. Soon, their wait will be over.
As I mentioned in the first post of my Trail Quest blog series, in 2020 I inadvertently started a bid to visit all of Virginia’s 43 (and counting) state parks with a pandemic isolation-era visit to Mason Neck State Park (MN). The site of friends’ kids’ birthday parties and impromptu weekend gatherings over the years, Mason Neck as our first state park was familiar, and probably – as the state park nearest our home – also the only Virginia state park we’d ever been to.
At that time, I was only peripherally aware of the state park system in Virginia. I didn’t realize how many parks existed, where they were, or how nice they were. We hiked outdoors in lots of places, but in retrospect they were northern Virginia’s abundant local parks or bigger-visit national parks. Occasionally I would see a sign for a state park off interstate 95 while we were on the way to somewhere else. But in 2023, I discovered Trail Quest.
Last Friday marked a date I’d circled on the calendar during September’s first week of Burmese class: November 1st, our initial Burmese speaking and reading progress evaluation.
During weeks seven and eight in Burmese language class, we continued stringing sets of smaller ideas together to form larger ideas. Connecting these dots eventually got us from “I want to go to Burma and I like Burmese food,” to being able to express “I want to study Burmese language because I like Burmese food and in the future I’m going to work as a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Burma.”
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