Rotations

I have found that the busier I get the less I write. Did you ever notice how I had almost one entry PER DAY during the summer I was unemployed in Houston? Anyway, I am checking in to confirm that I am still alive and well after completing my 8th week (two full months!) in the Federal Government bureaucracy. Actually, it has been cake. This is easily the best job that I have ever had (yes, even better than outside garden, if only barely). Further, I just realized that the new DLI class started their orientation today which makes us, DLI-8, full fledged veterans! I feel wise.

Overall, this has been the fourth week we have spent upstairs in our cube farm since we graduated from orientation. Each week, I feel like I have a better understanding of how things are supposed to go. Things can still be rather confusing though. Important events, which should be set in stone by now - like the dates when we go to post, language training, etc., - are still incredibly unclear. Apparently, while the Foreign Service staff has doubled over the last year or so, HR has kept the same amount of people it had before. They must be going bonkers up there. At least we have each other to lean on.

In terms of life after orientation, the first three weeks upstairs, we were keep pretty busy by a number of technical trainings in the Ronald Reagan Building and in other locations. This reminded a lot of college. Like college, you really didn't have to go to class, but generally you did anyway because you would pay for it in the end if you didn't. In all seriousness, the trainings, however informal, were informative and helpful. We are actually getting paid to learn things that interest us. You can't beat that. For example, the other day we went to the World Bank headquarters and took a training on the World Bank's "Doing Business" indicators. These indicators are ratings on how each country matches up on such things as number days to start a business, regulations, protecting investors, getting credit, etc. Great stuff. Another day we learned about economic growth in terms of infrastructure, energy, and water. There was probably 15 others. The case studies in all these trainings are always facinating.

Flash to now. As I could see that my busy schedule was going to taper down in November, I started lining up rotations. If you don't know what a rotation means...a rotation allows you to work temporarily in a particular office to gain insight on how things are done and possibly network. To this point, I started my first rotation with the Development Credit Authority (DCA) the middle of last week.

Now, I chose this office to be my first rotation because I thought it was both interesting and complicated enough to where I felt I needed to get more familiar with its programs by working there. I set this DCA rotation to be only 2-4 weeks since I don't have a ton of time between technical trainings and language training which may start in January, if I don't pass my test. So, for the time being, I'm assisting the DCA by writing proposals, activity descriptions, and the like. It is keeping me very busy and I get to write which is fun.