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How much do you guys think a PhD would help me in getting a foreign service job? I'm thinking if I don't get hired after the next round (and after a year break), I might go back to school. That's sort of my dilemma, if I don't get hired next year, I'd like to keep applying. But if I get hired before finishing my PhD will I be totally murdered by academia if I drop out?
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Apr 6, 2010 06:26
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Omits-Bagels posted:Are the political track people the only ones who get to go to fancy parties? No even IT people have to go to the fancy parties. Fancy parties are not fun, they are horrible work events where you schmooze with people who act moderately important and you try and make smalltalk or else the DCM slaps your knuckles with a ruler.
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Apr 6, 2010 16:51
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Vilerat posted:No even IT people have to go to the fancy parties. Fancy parties are not fun, they are horrible work events where you schmooze with people who act moderately important and you try and make smalltalk or else the DCM slaps your knuckles with a ruler. This is what I was afraid of.
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Apr 6, 2010 17:00
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Vilerat posted:No even IT people have to go to the fancy parties. Fancy parties are not fun, they are horrible work events where you schmooze with people who act moderately important and you try and make smalltalk or else the DCM slaps your knuckles with a ruler. its like this across the board, even in the consulting & lobbying sector, FYI. Soirees 
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Apr 6, 2010 18:25
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Vilerat posted:No even IT people have to go to the fancy parties. Fancy parties are not fun, they are horrible work events where you schmooze with people who act moderately important and you try and make smalltalk or else the DCM slaps your knuckles with a ruler. Does anybody ever get horribly drunk and make a fool of themselves?
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Apr 6, 2010 23:27
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SWATJester posted:gently caress yeah. Congrats I've only had to work at two 4th of July events. Very informal though, they were a lot of fun. And I've had a high level politician accidentally call my extension instead of the Ambassador's. I transfer the calls of and point out the bathroom to people in power. I'm pretty important.
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Apr 6, 2010 23:38
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Is the economic track pretty competitive too? Can anyone give me an idea of the type of things economic officers do?
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Apr 6, 2010 23:54
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SWATJester posted:gently caress yeah. You should be good to go. State is hiring 800+ FSO's this year - about 3x their normal hiring rate which is tied to attrition. So they should be processing a lot of people off the register. The big thing is getting on it as soon as possible to ride that list for all its worth.
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Apr 7, 2010 01:15
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Yeah I'm hittin that medical as soon as I'm allowed (next week) and my clearances should all be good to go, I'm clean as hell, last time I was out of the country other than the military was before I was 18, no criminal record, etc.
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Apr 7, 2010 01:31
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Just wanted to clarify something from your post on the L&LSMT: For domestic assignments, we do not get per diem or housing. If you are in training between overseas assignments for less than a year, you will be eligible for per diem. But if you are in a domestic position and go into training you won't get it. Also, if at the time of your offer of employment you live within 50 miles of the State Department, you will not get per diem during initial training, including A-100 and language. Aren't you in the DC area? But it is an awesome job, and I'm glad you did so well on the exam!
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Apr 7, 2010 07:11
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xanthig posted:Does anybody ever get horribly drunk and make a fool of themselves? You would only make this mistake once I think.
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Apr 7, 2010 14:37
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Congratulations, SWATJester! 5.67 is pretty sweet, Ride that pony! Happydayz: whoa, I didn't realize State was on a massive hiring blitz this year.
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Apr 7, 2010 14:45
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I heard that in the past you would get a cost of living adjustment for DC assignments (among other places). For instance, you would get a 17% COL bump so while to a lay person a hardship bonus of 15% may sound great it's actually a cut in your salary. I also heard that the AFSA was lobbying to get the DC COL bonus to be standard (or at least bottom floor). Confirm/deny? (I'm not worrying about any of this, I am just curious). I'm also wondering how thoroughly the background investigation goes into online presence. E.g. would they want to know which forums I post on? Would they want to read my posts in this thread? I don't know if it's happening currently but I could see it happening in the future. Finally, I made the "mistake" of taking Spanish in college with absolutely no interest in going to Latin America. I'm going to try taking lessons and cramming in Arabic (yeah right) and French (took 3 years in HS, hoping to brush up to a professional conversational level). Realistically Arabic is a long shot and I won't have anything near proficiency until next round of hirings if I don't get picked up this time, but it may be possible that I get my French polished up enough. There are no bonuses for world languages like French right? Only languages like Arabic, Urdu etc?
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Apr 7, 2010 17:04
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Miss Fats posted:I heard that in the past you would get a cost of living adjustment for DC assignments (among other places). For instance, you would get a 17% COL bump so while to a lay person a hardship bonus of 15% may sound great it's actually a cut in your salary. I also heard that the AFSA was lobbying to get the DC COL bonus to be standard (or at least bottom floor). Current locality pay for DC is 24.22%. We get that when we are assigned to DC, but not when detailed there for training. State is trying to phase in, over three years, an overseas pay scale that mirrors the DC locality pay. We currently receive about one third of DC locality pay overseas, with another third due this fall and the balance next year. Hopefully it goes through; it will fix a lot of perennial pay issues. A-100 students do not receive DC locality pay because they are detailed to DC for training. I believe they are getting the overseas pay, though. Miss Fats posted:I'm also wondering how thoroughly the background investigation goes into online presence. E.g. would they want to know which forums I post on? Would they want to read my posts in this thread? I don't know if it's happening currently but I could see it happening in the future. Take down your homemade goatse fanpix. Miss Fats posted:Finally, I made the "mistake" of taking Spanish in college with absolutely no interest in going to Latin America. I'm going to try taking lessons and cramming in Arabic (yeah right) and French (took 3 years in HS, hoping to brush up to a professional conversational level). Realistically Arabic is a long shot and I won't have anything near proficiency until next round of hirings if I don't get picked up this time, but it may be possible that I get my French polished up enough. There are no bonuses for world languages like French right? Only languages like Arabic, Urdu etc? Arabic garners 0.5, critical needs languages 0.4, any other language 0.17.
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Apr 7, 2010 17:44
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Business of Ferrets posted:Current locality pay for DC is 24.22%. We get that when we are assigned to DC, but not when detailed there for training. State is trying to phase in, over three years, an overseas pay scale that mirrors the DC locality pay. We currently receive about one third of DC locality pay overseas, with another third due this fall and the balance next year. Hopefully it goes through; it will fix a lot of perennial pay issues. Let me see if I understand this, sorry if I don't. I understand COLA, but if you go on an overseas tour you are not awarded any sort of COLA payment, instead it comes out of per diem and possible hardship/danger pay or whatever benefit that post might take in. But you're saying currently they are looking into adding COLA to overseas tours.
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Apr 7, 2010 17:48
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The background investigator is in my offices, right now, interviewing my supervisors and co-workers. Very, very weird feeling.
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Apr 7, 2010 18:21
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Homie S posted:Let me see if I understand this, sorry if I don't. I understand COLA, but if you go on an overseas tour you are not awarded any sort of COLA payment, instead it comes out of per diem and possible hardship/danger pay or whatever benefit that post might take in. But you're saying currently they are looking into adding COLA to overseas tours. COLA and locality pay are two different beasts. COLA is a percentage of your disposable income that is provided at some posts where goods and services are more expensive than in the States. Locality pay is the premium the USG believes it must pay to attract and retain talent and remain competitive with the private sector. When overseas, you will get your base pay according to the overseas pay scale (eventually this should equal DC locality pay) and possibly danger, hardship and COLA. Untenuted generalists and many specialists are eligible for overtime. There are also other incentives, such as language incentive pay and extra pay if you extend a two-year hardship tour to three years in some cases. While overseas, you will only receive per diem when you travel or if you are TDY someplace. Housing is provided overseas.
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Apr 7, 2010 18:36
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Business of Ferrets posted:COLA and locality pay are two different beasts. COLA is a percentage of your disposable income that is provided at some posts where goods and services are more expensive than in the States. Locality pay is the premium the USG believes it must pay to attract and retain talent and remain competitive with the private sector. Oh. I thought COLA and locality were referring to the same thing; my bad. My current agency provides COLA based on that OPM scale, but they always referred to it as our 'locality pay.' So what you are saying is that locality pay should automatically be factored into the overseas base pay, with the chance of COLA being thrown on top (depending on where someone is going). Does DoS pay out locality and COLA for domestic assignments or is it just COLA pay?
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Apr 7, 2010 20:09
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BOF/TCD - can you explain more about the IMS/IMTS hiring process? Is it akin to a normal federal job interview, or is there a special aspect about it (in regards to foreign service) vvvv- sweet, Thanks. It just takes 6 months, eh?  Also, the company that holds the certification (ISC2/CISSP) is getting back to me this week on my certification credentials, after an unacceptable crapload of delays dealing with the weather, employee issues, etc. Do I just contact someone in HR/fax in the updated info with the same # and reference that was used for applying along with the updated information, or is there a specific process/POC for this?
Skandiaavity fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Apr 7, 2010 |
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Apr 7, 2010 20:15
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Skandiaavity posted:BOF/TCD - can you explain more about the IMS/IMTS hiring process? Is it akin to a normal federal job interview, or is there a special aspect about it (in regards to foreign service) It's completely different. If you're selected based off of your application, they'll bring you in for an oral assesment, but it's more of a Q/A session with a board. They'll ask you questions about your specialty (off of a list, they had no clue what they were asking for mine). You also have to write an essay that was very similar in scope to the FSO essay, just more specific to IT/tech. Then they let me know right away that I passed and would be contacting me for a starting date.
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Apr 7, 2010 20:40
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Vilerat posted:It's completely different. You submit your application, and then it goes through a QEP review, and then what VileRat said. Also, you're placed on a register of IMS/IMTS with a point score given during your oral assessment. Higher point values (out of 100 for specialists) are offered slots first. Edit: From submitting my application to reporting to DC for Specialist orientation was 12 months for me. ~3 months for application review, ~1 month wait for interview, ~4 months for clearances, ~4 months waiting for a hiring class. TCD fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Apr 7, 2010 |
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Apr 7, 2010 21:16
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Business of Ferrets posted:Just wanted to clarify something from your post on the L&LSMT: For domestic assignments, we do not get per diem or housing. If you are in training between overseas assignments for less than a year, you will be eligible for per diem. But if you are in a domestic position and go into training you won't get it. Also, if at the time of your offer of employment you live within 50 miles of the State Department, you will not get per diem during initial training, including A-100 and language. Aren't you in the DC area? I'm within the DC area but not as my "permanent residence"; it's a temporary thing for law school.
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Apr 7, 2010 21:23
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Hmm, though that might have bearing on my plans of officially moving up here. And now I don't actually remember what I put as my permanent residence on my forms. How much is the per diem? And if I was listed as living in DC, would I still be eligible for the housing allowance during A-100 and language?
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Apr 7, 2010 21:26
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SWATJester posted:Hmm, though that might have bearing on my plans of officially moving up here. And now I don't actually remember what I put as my permanent residence on my forms. If you're within 50 miles of DC, you're hosed. No per diem, and no DC pay.
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Apr 7, 2010 21:27
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Miss Fats posted:Finally, I made the "mistake" of taking Spanish in college with absolutely no interest in going to Latin America. I'm going to try taking lessons and cramming in Arabic (yeah right) and French (took 3 years in HS, hoping to brush up to a professional conversational level). Realistically Arabic is a long shot and I won't have anything near proficiency until next round of hirings if I don't get picked up this time, but it may be possible that I get my French polished up enough. There are no bonuses for world languages like French right? Only languages like Arabic, Urdu etc? The bonuses don't stack, you only get to pick one, so I kinda question bothering to study French at all in this case if you're not that passionate about it. They're also only looking for an ILR score of 2 (Spoken only, at that), which really isn't that high of a bar TBH. It will depend on how good at languages you are and what kind of study program you follow, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't hit that in a year of fairly motivated (but not totally crazy or anything) Arabic study. Probably more like 6-9 months if you moved to an Arabic-speaking country and didn't ghettoize yourself into an expat community. Personally I find it really difficult to study more than one language at once, too easy to get my wires crossed even when they're from totally different families. It's somewhat ameliorated if I study the L3 through my L2, but finding resources for that in the United States that can be quite challenging. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Apr 7, 2010 |
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Apr 7, 2010 23:05
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TCD posted:If you're within 50 miles of DC, you're hosed. What about housing? (either the housing stipend with dependents, or the housing complex owned by state?) Also at what time is this calculated? I could simply tell them "my lease is up next month" (which it is) "and so until my clearances go through I'm going to move back to Florida". Right? Note - and then actually do it, I'm not talking about defrauding anyone here. Leif. fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Apr 7, 2010 |
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Apr 7, 2010 23:11
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SWATJester posted:What about housing? (either the housing stipend with dependents, or the housing complex owned by state?) Housing is part of Per Diem. There's no State owned housing in DC unless you can convince Hillary to let you crash on her couch.
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Apr 7, 2010 23:26
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SWATJester posted:Hmm, though that might have bearing on my plans of officially moving up here. And now I don't actually remember what I put as my permanent residence on my forms. You definitely absolutely totally want per diem. Do not under any circumstances make DC your permanent residence between now and then. Well, run the math. If you are in a total podunk area right now you MIGHT be better off with COLA over per-diem, but I seriously doubt this. quote:Happydayz: whoa, I didn't realize State was on a massive hiring blitz this year. I know, it's ridiculous. I heard this first hand from a FSO in State's personnel section who is in a position to know. So not just a crazy internets rumor. As for 2011/2012/2013/etc, I have no idea what their hiring numbers are projected to look like. State has been talking about expanding its ranks for literally years now. I think there have been some hiring pushes in the past - but I'm not sure if this is the last gasp of hiring pushes or just one of several others expected to come down in the years ahead.
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Apr 7, 2010 23:55
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AKA Pseudonym posted:Housing is part of Per Diem. There's no State owned housing in DC unless you can convince Hillary to let you crash on her couch. Wait wat? I thought State owns a housing complex for people while they are in language school?
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Apr 8, 2010 00:25
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SWATJester posted:Wait wat? I thought State owns a housing complex for people while they are in language school? No there is long term commercial housing they have agreements with. There is no washington dc housing available for anybody but secstate.
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Apr 8, 2010 00:33
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I guess that's what I was thinking of. Things like the Oakwood aparments. It has a shuttle to FSI apparently. I thought I remembered reading that you get the option of either having State pay you a housing allowance, or you simply live in their housing place rent-free. Is this what I'm thinking of?
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Apr 8, 2010 00:42
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SWATJester posted:I guess that's what I was thinking of. Things like the Oakwood aparments. It has a shuttle to FSI apparently. I thought I remembered reading that you get the option of either having State pay you a housing allowance, or you simply live in their housing place rent-free. HR recommends Oakwood when going to FSI I think.
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Apr 8, 2010 01:17
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This question was sort-of asked and answered already, but not really directly, so I'm just wondering: Let's say you make it into the foreign service, then after 2 or so rotations abroad decide that you would like to "settle down." I know that the foreign service is "not for settling down," but would it be possible to just keep bidding for DC desk postings for the rest of your career?
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Apr 8, 2010 01:22
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Homie S posted:HR recommends Oakwood when going to FSI I think. Right, but does someone pay you to live Oakwood? Or is that only if you're over 50 miles away and getting the allowance? Leif. fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Apr 8, 2010 |
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Apr 8, 2010 01:40
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internetstuff posted:This question was sort-of asked and answered already, but not really directly, so I'm just wondering: At that point why not look at another government agency?
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Apr 8, 2010 01:49
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internetstuff posted:This question was sort-of asked and answered already, but not really directly, so I'm just wondering: Every 6-8 years you MUST go overseas. Many times people volunteer for 1 year unaccompanied tours just so they can reset the timer. There's always that I suppose! Fun side story: One of my friends from Baghdad got a cherry onward assignment where he said he'd be able to save money and it wasn't all that dangerous. Sent him an email today asking how Bishkek is...
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Apr 8, 2010 01:55
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SWATJester posted:Right, but does someone pay you to live Oakwood? Or is that only if you're over 50 miles away and getting the allowance? The Oakwood program is an option only if you are eligible for per diem. The 50-mile thing only applies for hiring and initial training, so "local hires" -- those from within the 50-mile radius -- are only hit with this once, at the beginning of their employment. Doesn't mean it doesn't suck, though. The expectation is that you will remain where you are living now while in training. There are also times during one's career when people choose not to take per diem and instead to be "assigned" to DC for training. For example, the next time my family and I go back for a year of training in DC we will not take per diem. Instead, we will be assigned there (vs. detailed there TDY) so we can have our car and our household good shipped (not possible if getting per diem). To us, the added comfort of the goods is worth more than the monetarily more lucrative per diem we could get, mostly because kids are involved.
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Apr 8, 2010 02:39
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internetstuff posted:This question was sort-of asked and answered already, but not really directly, so I'm just wondering: The Foreign Service is not conducive to this. And like Vilerat said, there are requirements for overseas service. Really, if you want to stay in the States, the Foreign Service is the wrong job, no matter what way you cut it.
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Apr 8, 2010 02:43
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Business of Ferrets posted:The Foreign Service is not conducive to this. And like Vilerat said, there are requirements for overseas service. Really, if you want to stay in the States, the Foreign Service is the wrong job, no matter what way you cut it. You do this job because you get bored in the place you are at every three years or so. You sign up because you actually think carrying a phrase book and stumbling your way through a completely unknown language to order some food you just KNOW is going to kick rear end makes you a little excited. Do you have a daughter? Foreign service is for you. What's that? Met a nice young man at school? Oh sorry, looks like we just got orders to someplace that doesn't even have a phone system. Them's the breaks!
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Apr 8, 2010 03:02
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Vilerat posted:Do you have a daughter? Foreign service is for you. What's that? Met a nice young man at school? Oh sorry, looks like we just got orders to someplace that doesn't even have a phone system. Them's the breaks! I always joke that when my daughter hits dating age is when we go to Saudi Arabia for six years so she can't do anything without me or her brother along.
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Apr 8, 2010 03:12
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