We Will all Work For The Government Soon

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I decided to try out my geography bee knowledge and sign up for the Foreign Service Officer test. I’m not sure whether I will do it in June or October, but I think that by projecting this out onto the internets where a total of 7 or 8 people will see it, it might help shame me into studying more.  A large portion of the test is English expression, which I been practicing for a few years now, so that’s good. Another part is job aptitude, which is based on your personality traits rather than book learning, so that should also be ok (or if not, I guess there isn’t much I can do about it).  Then there is the portion where they ask you anything from, Who is the President of Burma? (Obama), to which countries border Iraq (The US, and Dubai.) There enlies the part where I need to do a bit of brushing up, and extra reading on our government and Constitution and such.

Thankfully, Obama has recently announced that funding for the Foreign Service will be drastically increased, signalling a new era of importance for the State Department, and a wave of new hiring that could potentially help my chances.  If selected, I would pretty much be required to be available for any posting worldwide for a time period of at least 2 years.  This has been pretty much my M.O. for the last 6 years or so anyway, so I figure I might as well get paid for it. Also, Mandarin is indicated as a Super Critical Needs Language by the government, so if I can test at a certain level, it could also really help my chances.

Thank you in advance for all the support and shame you can muster.