May 26, 2009

Day 10: Bad News?

I was sitting around the hostel, about to call a taxi to take me to the bus station, and onwards to Puno. Decided to check my email one last time, and lo and behold, the long awaited email from the US State Department! For better or for worse, I will not be invited to the interview (or Oral Assessment) and will not become a Foreign Service Officer -- although apparently I can apply every year for as long as I live.

This news was not quite devastating, but it does shift my thinking considerably. By pure force of self-confidence I was expecting to be invited to the interview, although I also knew that out of the three stages of their hiring process (big exam, resume review, and interview) the resume review was the one in which I had the least to offer.

So now I have begun to plan alternate routes into the future, which is a little intimidating but also liberating. I know that I will be meeting el hermanito Samuel in Costa Rica in a little over a month, and so I have until then to figure out where to go after Costa Rica. Lucky for me the internet is available in almost any place I might visit, so I will have many opportunities to do some research. I have to say, it is nice to be in charge of my destiny, to have both hands on the rudder again.

I won't say much more for today because my stomach has issued a grumbling clarion call to lunch, and I still plan to make the 5 hour bus trip to Puno today. According to my fellow Californian who was sitting next to me at the internet cafe, there is some sort of massive indigenous gathering in Puno over the next few days. Onwards!

4 comments:

Hillary Rodham Clinton said...

My colleagues at Foggy Bottom and my overlords at the DLC have asked me to communicate with you regarding your Foreign Service application. Simply put, we had objections to your favorable review of "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" published in the ACORN Gazette. Such a one-two punch of progressivism wouldn't go over well at the Ambassador's Thursday afternoon teas.

Muhammad Yunus said...

We just heard about your State Department's biggest mistake ever. Come join us -- put some grameening in your life! It's the nobel thing to do; you can bank on it.

Anonymous said...

I will give you a job, you might not like it, but it will pay well.

GT said...

Anonymous-

I accept your offer -- as long as I can keep my dignity and my clothes on. Come to think of it, just one of those will do.