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.
Tag: Hope
New Dynamics: Learning Burmese, Week 12
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.
First Quarter Achievement Unlocked: Learning Burmese, Weeks 10-11
The end of last week marked a significant milestone: we achieved 25% completion of our 44-week Burmese language course.
A Year Out From Sixth Tour Bidding: The Daydream
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.
First Progress Evaluation: Learning Burmese, Week 9
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.
Connecting the Dots: Learning Burmese, Weeks 7-8
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.”
Pivoting As Needed: Learning Burmese, Weeks 5-6
Over the past two weeks of studying Burmese, I’ve made a deliberate effort to increase my study time. A slump in week five made me realize the importance of establishing a more consistent and intentional study routine.
Hamster Wheel: Learning Burmese, Week 4
Last week, we finished week four of the Burmese language course. We’re just one-eleventh of the way through (ha!), but I’m already acutely aware of the hamster wheel I’m running on.
Building a Foundation: Learning Burmese, Weeks 2-3
Week three of my 44-week Burmese class is drawing to a close. In this short time, we’ve progressed from hand-drawing consonants to reading strings of script, sounding out words we don’t know like kindergarteners. We’ve even written some little paragraphs on easy topics.
Into a Bigger Bowl: Learning Burmese, Week 1
Last Tuesday – after the Labor Day holiday – over 650 shiny new students with language-designated onward positions arrived at the Foreign Service Institute to begin language training. I was one of them.
But Who’s Counting?
Last week marked the eighth consecutive week of summer tradecraft training that bridged the end of my tour in Children’s Issues to the start of Burmese language studies. It also marked the final week.
Lucky FSO Numbers: 50 and 20
Earlier this month, I celebrated 19 years of federal service, which includes over a decade at the Department and the remainder split between my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer and my federal civilian roles at the Voice of America and Peace Corps Headquarters.
My federal service anniversary milestone brought to mind two significant numbers for Foreign Service Officers (FSOs): 50 and 20. Often referred to as the “50/20” rule (spoken as “fifty and twenty”), these numbers signify an FSO’s retirement eligibility.
Back to School
I’ve just completed my first three weeks of Rangoon pre-departure training at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). The one-week courses were for mid-level consular managers and covered fraud and malfeasance (PC541), immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, (PC557), and American Citizens Services matters like crisis management and citizenship (PC558).
Know the Signs
In addition to ending my fourth tour and traveling to the west coast to see family, I did two other important things in Washington, DC in June. I had an opportunity to march in the Capital Pride Parade as a volunteer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and I went to a work-related training on atrocity prevention at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
Both the volunteer work and the training provided opportunities to reflect on important signs we may see that things are going wrong – before it’s too late.
Happy Centennial, Foreign Service
May 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the modern United States Foreign Service. It doesn’t mark the beginning of American diplomacy, which traces back to the beginning of our young union, but rather the passage of the Rogers Act of 1924. The Rogers Act, also known as the Foreign Service Act of 1924, joined the diplomatic and consular services of the United States. (Personnel of the former staffed embassies and legations around the world; the latter primarily promoted trade relations overseas and assisted distressed U.S. sailors – a precursor to today’s American Citizens Services consular work.)
The two services had evolved separately under former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, and in merging them the provisions of the Rogers Act created a more merit-based Foreign Service. The new structure provided more reliable pay, a guaranteed rotation process to keep officers from “going native” in their countries of assignment (complete with mandated stateside home leave between foreign tours), and updated policies around officer selection, promotion, and retirement.
Collecting Postcards 