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After reading the handy and oh-so-charming summaries from Business of Ferrets and Diplomaticus, I thought I'd finally throw my hat in the ring as well. I'm a PD-coned officer currently doing ACS work. Just had my three-year anniversary in the FS this year, too. I'm also on medevac right now, so I'll try to answer questions relating to that. But first, to contribute to the OP: a little about Public Affairs/Public Diplomacy...
What's the day-to-day like? Generally, if you're in the office all the time and not out meeting people, you're doing it wrong. But seriously, it can be one of the most fun jobs overseas - not unlike being a federal party planner at times. To provide a very very general summary of the work:
Edited for typos and flow. Argh. Zoots fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Nov 14, 2011 |
# ¿ Nov 14, 2011 02:01 |
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# ¿ May 11, 2024 11:12 |
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internetstuff posted:I agree, Wazoo, that is very interesting. Could you elaborate a bit on your background before you joined the FS? University study, international experience, what kind of career you had before the FS, how many times you took the FSOT, etc. Thanks! Glad I can be of use -- especially since this lets me kind of stay plugged in while I'm in medevac limbo. I studied broadcast communication and French lit in college. I opted to go straight out into the working world following my graduation in 2006. I still have my sights set on getting my Master's, but I'm not too keen on saddling myself with a load of debt. Anyway, I was all gung-ho on doing the freelance thing when I graduated. I had the chance to work a lot of big events, like the Olympics and the Kentucky Derby. However, that didn't pay the bills. Working three jobs did - PA at the local TV station, copywriter for a web design firm, and horse ranch hand (I was a "waste management specialist" according to my resume ). Still, that kind of life is really unpredictable and I wanted to start my "career" in earnest. After seeing me troll a bunch of job sites with little success due to a crappy job market, my sister suggested I take the FSOT. She was an intern at Embassy Paris back in the day and she noted her fellow interns all registering to take the exam. So, I looked into it, registered on the PD track (seemed most in line with my interests and background), and studied my brains out using the Yahoo! groups as my jumping-off point. I also had the benefit of guidance from a very good friend who joined the FS a couple years prior. I passed the written exam (don't know my score, sorry) and accepted an invite to the OA. I passed that with a 5.5, got my security and medical clearance in the following months and accepted an offer to join up in summer 2008. After meeting so many awesome people in my A-100 who took the exam multiple times, I count myself extremely fortunate to have made it through on the first try.
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# ¿ Nov 14, 2011 16:04 |
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By the way, The Hegemonist link in the OP has been defunct for awhile. I like to read Diplopundit, myself. The author trolls all the FS blogs and current events in DC and provides commentary with a good deal of snark: https://diplopundit.blogspot.com Zoots fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Nov 14, 2011 |
# ¿ Nov 14, 2011 16:15 |
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Vilerat posted:Oh. Facebook for state. What the christ. Do you have stairs in your housing pool? I see the potential for it - my concern is there's so many tools in place already for State folks to network that adding one more dilutes the effort. Still, it's kind of fun. On a completely different note, I'm super jealous of some of the folks at Post - they're renting a big house in the Italian countryside and doing a big turkey dinner together. As glad as I am that I to get to spend the holidays with my family, I was actually kind of looking forward to another Christmas overseas. The city of Rome really goes all out with decorations and nativity scenes. And a single FSO usually gets tons of invites to other people's homes - so lots of free food! Zoots fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Nov 23, 2011 |
# ¿ Nov 23, 2011 14:38 |
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Business of Ferrets posted:As far as I know, the cap has never been reached. Some people don't link for good reason, such as an 01 hoping to stretch into a senior position. Others are either too lazy or just don't understand the system enough to make a link and wind up missing out on just about the best deal you can get for going to AIP. As I understand it, linking an assignment entails bidding on your next assignment right away. It is a nice perk, but it still involves a significant amount of legwork to line it all up. You still need to do your research, find an open posting that matches your ETD from AIP, get the responsible bureau to offer the job, etc. etc. Hence the folks who just don't bother doing it. Of course, I could be completely wrong. Feel free to correct me here.
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# ¿ Nov 30, 2011 16:43 |
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Jedi Knight Luigi posted:Could someone explain this a litte bit further? How can one not continue to make payments on student loans as an FSO? TCD posted:As one of the incentives for serving in a hardship post, I thought there was a program to have the Dept cover a certain amount for repayment. More or less. There's a minimum hardship differential your posting must meet, and you need to have student loan debt in excess of a certain amount. It's been a couple years since I qualified, but I remember neither cutoff was super high (and the guidelines go out with the announcement anyway). I found the whole thing quite painless - all one needs to do is apply when the notice goes out, provide the particulars requested, and wait for it to be approved. A lump sum payment is applied to your loan balance directly - I received something like $5,000. Done annually, the SLRP ("slurp" ) really adds up. It's a nice little perk for serving overseas.
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# ¿ Dec 10, 2011 22:52 |
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Chantilly Say posted:Thanks. One more thing--for those rare people who did go straight from a bachelor's degree to trying to join the foreign service, what could you tell about what it was like for them? It sounds like I'll want a master's or equivalent experience before going and sitting for the exam, I'm just wondering what things would be like if I did go straight from getting my undergrad degree to the FS. I'm one of those people (though I had about two years of time "out there" before I applied). I'll just reiterate what's already been said: don't saddle yourself with a ton of debt getting a postgrad degree. Not knocking any of the folks who have theirs already, but you already know what you want, right? Why not go for it? Take the exam and see how it goes. If you get in, a few tours down the line you can try for one of the various fellowships/programs that'll give you a Master's anyway. The only immediate, tangible benefit I can think of is the starting salary. You'll be at a pay grade or two higher to start. But even if you start at the first rung of the ladder on the 06 grade, you'll be automatically promoted yearly until you reach the 04 grade. This is so that everyone eligible for tenure is at the same grade when the time comes (your three-year anniversary).
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# ¿ Dec 12, 2011 16:59 |
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So... Apparently I was tenured today. Got an email from my CDO and everything. Nice to know that I'm "bona fide" and have job security and all that now.
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# ¿ Jan 10, 2012 01:50 |
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Diplomaticus posted:You'll get stuck in the old building during summer. At least it's not goose patrol. Do they still have those ridiculous cardboard foxes on the grounds?
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# ¿ Jan 18, 2012 14:17 |
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Diplomaticus posted:Yes. The geese give no fucks, and that one rear end in a top hat goose attacks his own reflection in the cafeteria side door constantly. My first week at A-100, I had to kick a goose that charged me while walking to class. Punted that fucker a good 10 feet and he still kept coming. That reminds me of a memorial they held on the FSI campus a couple years back. Apparently some geese had chicks nearby and the bastards were attacking the family members during the event. US Foreign Service and FSOT Megathread: Goose Punters Anonymous
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# ¿ Jan 21, 2012 13:53 |
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We're finally getting Chrome? drat this medevac and my inability to receive cables!
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# ¿ Jan 26, 2012 13:53 |
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Diplomaticus posted:My new goal in life is to get someone in TTM fired. What was TTM again? I don't have my acronym dictionary handy.
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# ¿ Jan 27, 2012 18:19 |
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Diplomaticus posted:Travel and transportation. Carlson and/or e2 troubles?
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# ¿ Jan 28, 2012 03:11 |
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Diplomaticus posted:http://www.radissonblu.com/hotel-addisababa/dining/verres I love this hotel chain. Stayed at the one in Istanbul on the cheap thanks to low season and the government rate. Their Turkish hammam grinded my bones into jelly, though. I love this life partly because I will never need to stay in a hostel ever. I have friends in pretty much any city to stay with, and barring that I can actually afford to stay somewhere decent. For a dude in his late twenties, you can't beat it.
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# ¿ Feb 1, 2012 13:45 |
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It's hard for me to dread bidding (summer cycle, homies) when I'm already dreading the transition to the DS-5055. I suck at writing about myself. EERs and tax season. Bleh.
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# ¿ Feb 23, 2012 02:16 |
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TCD posted:No, it's Med that deals with that. Since I'm currently on medevac, I can throw in my two cents. I'm currently assigned to Rome, if that makes any difference. While in-country, I was responsible for paying all outpatient services up front. I then submitted the claim via fax with all the necessary receipts and I was reimbursed from BCBS within a week or two. I think the delay is a result of them needing to translate the Italian. When overnight stays were required, the Health Unit handled all the bills and dealt with my insurance claims. Any copays or deductibles I paid directly to the Embassy cashier. I usually got a bill from them after a month or two. It was really quite (har!) painless.
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# ¿ Mar 13, 2012 18:21 |
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Diplomaticus posted:Does your CLO have a list of tour guides for the Vatican? Because we'll be in Rome later this year -- hook a brother up. Since I'm still stuck in limbo here in the US, I don't have access to that info. That said, check the Rome intranet for the Veneto Views newsletter. The CLO is pretty good about listing that stuff. If you can't find what you're looking for, I'll try to hook you up once I return to post in a couple weeks. And hey, shoot me a message when you've got your plans nailed down. I'd love to meet up and take you out for some grub.
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# ¿ Mar 13, 2012 20:18 |
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Diplomaticus posted:We'll see if we can make it happen -- we're only going to be in town for a day (med cruise stopping in Rome/Civitavecchia) so maybe a lunch might be doable. Ah, Civitavecchia. That's like an hour and a half away with traffic. I'd say lunch is doable for you. Just don't get pickpocketed on the way, okay?
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# ¿ Mar 14, 2012 18:24 |
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Were any of you guys bidding this time around? Looks like the winter cycle assignments have just started coming out and the "mom blogs" are awash with both delight and despair.
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# ¿ Mar 14, 2012 21:13 |
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Jedi Knight Luigi posted:This sounds entertaining and informative, could you link to a recent one?
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# ¿ Mar 14, 2012 21:40 |
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Jedi Knight Luigi posted:Yeah, they mostly focused on this really old man with a southern accent who was ambassador to Japan, as well as a lady who was assigned to Pakistan right before 9/11. Other than that there was maybe 30 seconds of a guy talking about stamping passports all day. There was also a more recent special featuring the Secretary and the Ops Center. It did a pretty good job of showing what goes into making these visits happen - and it was hilariously awesome seeing past coworkers on screen. I may or may not have ribbed a few after seeing it.
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# ¿ Mar 15, 2012 12:37 |
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Beria posted:Whats up foreign service folks! If you pass the Orals, they add your veteran's points to your score and that will boost your spot on the register. In terms of how your military experience will look to the BEX - that's up to you. Anecdotally speaking, there were several people who were former military in my A-100, not to mention a couple reservists who had to log their time prior to departing to post. You should be able to demonstrate how your skills and background fit into each of the 13 dimensions, not to mention however you choose to answer your personal narrative questions on the application. In other words, IT DEPENDS.
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# ¿ Mar 16, 2012 16:42 |
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On a completely different note, if you're PCSing with pets via United or a United codeshare flight, things are about to get more complicated and costly. Their new policies and restrictions on pet travel are, well, way more restricting. They received major blowback from military families, so they instituted a waiver for those on military orders. The prolific FS blogger Digger does a decent job of explaining the whole thing:quote:United has, kindly, granted a waiver to members of the military traveling on permanent change of station orders. Although all the specifics are not clear, it appears that the main elements of the waiver are (1) optional use of professional pet shipper; (2) waiving of $40 fuel and security charges; (3) flat rate* for cargo under United’s PetSafe program; and (4) United will assume responsibility for the transfer of pets to the connecting airline. Without the waiver, the traveler has to somehow accomplish this on his or her own, coping with getting to a cargo terminal, collecting a crated pet, take it to the connecting airline and do all this within the transit time allowed. You could, of course, also pay a third-party freight forwarder to help, but that would add anywhere from one to four thousand dollars to your shipping costs. AFSA and about 3,000 concerned members asked, "Any chance we could be included on this waiver too?" United replied to AFSA: AFSA posted:“United’s Senior Manager for Marketing, Customer Service and Business Systems responded to my letter to United CEO Smisek on March 7. He said that United developed the waiver for the military “in recognition of the commitment made by members of our military and the family members (including the four-legged ones) who share in their sacrifice” and intends to limit this “special process” to military families only. United has sent a standard customer relations response to individual e-mails saying that concerns would be conveyed to senior management for disposition.” I realize that the FS community is tiny in comparison (insert military band member reference here) - but this isn't about the relative sacrifice that one family makes over another. Last I checked, we're all serving our country. But that reply stings a little. Hopefully United will come around on this.
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# ¿ Mar 22, 2012 14:32 |
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Tyro posted:How well written does this drat statement of interest for the FSOA have to be? Well, you don't need to be Mr. Fancyman or anything. However, if you can't string two words together without a typo I imagine that wouldn't work in your favor. Think like a mini college admissions essay.
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# ¿ Apr 2, 2012 22:06 |
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the_chavi posted:Yeah, Jesus Christ. If your Mgt people can't even get that right, then hell, they're worse than ours, and I life a drink to your name. Dude, when were you in Riyadh? I had a buddy who was the GSO there and he had those guys on speed dial.
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# ¿ Apr 6, 2012 21:58 |
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Coming back to Post after a medevac is the best feeling in the world. Finding your car completely dead in your garage with no way of getting in due to a lock malfunction kind of dampens that. On the bright side, at least this will give my now-rusty Italian some practice with a locksmith who will charge me an arm and a leg.
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# ¿ Apr 8, 2012 13:00 |
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the_chavi posted:Sup fellow Riyadh refugee... "Riyadh Refugee." I like it. I've also heard "Saudi Survivors and Sycophants." I just tried to PM you, but looks like you don't have plat. Who is this? Send me a email! Zoots fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Apr 8, 2012 |
# ¿ Apr 8, 2012 18:18 |
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Vilerat posted:There's a consulate in Istanbul. And they have a boat!
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# ¿ Apr 26, 2012 18:00 |
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TCD posted:That's also magnified in the FS as when you're overseas, the post community can play a large part in your personal life. Be a good person as often as you can be and people will be more accepting of you into the community which at some posts some of the only contact you'll have (compound living etc.) Seconding this. "The fishbowl" is a term coined for a reason. Even if you're not a jerk but somehow manage to offend in the off hours via your own personal conduct, it can come back to bite you. I knew of one colleague whose party-hard lifestyle somehow made the gossip rounds at Post, then on to DC, and then back to Post thanks to the DC-based tandem spouse of said colleague's boss. Cue another awkward conversation on corridor reputation. Zoots fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Apr 30, 2012 |
# ¿ Apr 30, 2012 21:05 |
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the_chavi posted:Oh hay, for OP updates, the Tunis field school is back up and running. We had a consular "thank you"/mixer event for our contacts today - thus ending a long work day around 8 PM. But I can't complain; the venue was a rooftop terrace with a view of St. Peter's all lit up at dusk. Plus, hey, prosecco. I love my job.
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# ¿ May 2, 2012 20:12 |
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Can't add too much to the Hooch Chat. Italian grappa tastes like gasoline, but we don't often find our contacts toasting with that. Now in Saudi, with the booze not quite being readily available, expats friends would brew stuff in toilets and bathtubs. I remember attending the concert of this terrible Filipino cover band at an expat compound where they had "beer," "red wine" and "white wine" available. All three tasted exactly the same and came in the oh-so-classy bright orange Gatorade coolers that you'd normally see at a little league soccer match. Two sips of the beer and I knew I'd wake up blind. I gave the rest of my drink punch card to someone else.
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# ¿ May 7, 2012 18:00 |
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Diplomaticus posted:Ugh grappa. Why is it that cops always want to drink grappa? Beats me. My first taste of it was with a rep from the carabinieri in Riyadh. They got a kick out of me coughing after swigging it down. Blech.
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# ¿ May 7, 2012 18:40 |
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1of7 posted:Liquor is way to expensive here in China & even then it's often counterfeit so there's really no telling what you are getting.
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# ¿ May 8, 2012 12:03 |
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FYI, if you have an active LearnCenter account, you might be able to see the current bid list.
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# ¿ May 23, 2012 18:53 |
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Skandiaavity posted:give you a hint, the capital city rhymes with "dagos" keke Dep Sec Burns is p. awesome. He gave the speech for our class' swearing in ceremony - mentioned some foibles from his first couple tours. The theme was "Hey, I managed tenure even after all that, so just chill and be " That, and he had like the most dapper tie ever.
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# ¿ May 26, 2012 06:05 |
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Ugh. On duty this week. Who needs sleep anyway?
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# ¿ Jun 6, 2012 06:26 |
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the_chavi posted:"OF COURSE IT'S AN EMERGENCY THAT I LOST MY PASSPORT, I WILL MISS MY FLIGHT TO MALLORCA TOMORROW WITHOUT IT!!!" I wish I was kidding. By the way, any of you kids catch Foreign Secretary Hague's speech on what British consular officers can and can't do?
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# ¿ Jun 7, 2012 18:14 |
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Diplomaticus posted:Public Diplomacy Statecraft (apparently consists of a PD intro course, and then specific courses for ACAO, IO, PAO, etc.) This is about a million different courses and consults as well. Grants training will get you certified so you can spend your budget on independent grants programs (or go to jail if you misappropriate funds ). Cultural tradecraft covers the myriad programs sponsored by ECA and IIP (Education/Cultural Affairs and Info Something Something Programs) and the nuts and bolts of sponsoring visits and spending money. Press tradecraft covers media relations, how to deal with the front office, PR spin, murderboards, and composure/elocution. There's also an optional PAO tradecraft that deals more with the administrative side of Public Affairs; handling budgets, interoffice cooperation, managing staff, etc. They spend like half a day on this stuff in A-100, but the actual courses themselves are like a total of seven to nine weeks.
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# ¿ Jun 23, 2012 08:23 |
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Depending on the outcome of tonight's match, the Italians will either drive around the city all night honking their horns or they will drive around all night honking their horns loudly. Forza azzurri? #foreignserviceproblems
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# ¿ Jul 1, 2012 19:10 |
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# ¿ May 11, 2024 11:12 |
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Diplomaticus posted:
A good friend of mine is there now. Lemme know if you want to get in touch with her.
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# ¿ Jul 3, 2012 22:15 |