Exotic new places

If it weren't for the same language, currency, and Old Navy on every corner, you might not know Washington was part of the same country as New Mexico. It might not be as exotic as Kathmandu or Rwanda, but it is sure different and interesting!
Today we went to the beach at a nearby state park. We didn't bring our camera, but if we had, we could have taken pictures of starfish, barnacles, seaweed, crabs, snails, hermit crabs in snail shells, sand dollars, and tons of other wildlife. It was fascinating!
We walked for a while hoping to see a live sand dollar, only finding a few dead ones here and there. Eventually, though, we found a live one (they're purple and fuzzy when alive). We picked it up and observed it really carefully, only to notice several seconds later that we were standing on a little peninsula covered with the little guys. With every step, we probably killed like 20. I felt kind of bad, but then I saw a little kid skipping them across the water as his dog tried to catch and eat them.
So that was our beautiful afternoon in a nutshell.
And to sum up the rest of Washington in a nutshell, please watch this video:

Opportunities

When God closes a door, He opens a window. And sometimes that window turns out to be a sliding glass door, which is just as good as the door that was shut in the first place.

I applied for a job in Los Alamos. I need a temporary job, one that will start after our trip in April and last right about until my student teaching starts in the fall. I pondered this dilemma for about 32 seconds and then thought, "Bear Camp!"

For those of you who are not laughing really hard at me right now, let me explain. I worked at Bear Camp for all my summers during college. By my fifth year, I was already the counselor who had worked there the longest, and I had an entire closet full of Bear Camp shirts, ranging the entire color spectrum. In fact, my entire summer wardrobe consisted of Bear Camp shirts, with the word STAFF written clearly across the back. I may or may not have started answering to "Staff."

Basically, it was the funnest job ever. I got to play Monopoly all day, go to the park, go swimming, eat nachos and Mountain Dew for lunch, and (the best part) boss other people around! Who wouldn't love that job?!

So I applied to work at Bear Camp. It's a good thing I did (last Wednesday), because the applications closed on Friday. I got mine in just in time! That's a very important point, because since Bear Camp is run by the government, it is a huge pain in the butt to get hired if you miss the hiring date. Basically it doesn't happen. They would have to re-post the position for several weeks, do more interviews, and then hire you. Ahhh, bureaucracy.

I realize it's only been 2 days since the closing date, but I was getting very curious about my chances. So I called my old boss, ostensibly to ask about the possibility of a phone interview, but really to feel out my chances.

Good thing I called. It turned out that she had heard I'd applied and been really excited, but then had heard from HR that I hadn't qualified for the minimum requirements.

Um, what?

Yes, let's hear it for paying attention to detail. The requirements I needed to fulfill were to have and Associate's Degree in recreation, or a related field like Education. They would also substitute experience for education, of which I would need 2.5 years. I have 29 credit hours towards a Master's in education, so I felt pretty good about that. I put my work experience from the last two years of being a teaching assistant and then my 5 summers working at Bear Camp.

I didn't qualify.

See, I needed an Associate's degree. My credit hours didn't count toward anything because they don't count it unless you have a degree.

And then my experience, once you get down to the nitty gritty (which they did), didn't add up to 2.5 years of full-time work. The teaching assistant jobs were 3/4 time, and the camp experience was only for the summer months.

I talked to my boss and to the HR folks, trying to find a way to add to my application, change things, apply for a lower job, anything. But the deadline had passed, and I couldn't change it.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I was so mad-- mostly at myself. I knew it was a very particular application (I'd done it 5 times already), and I should have put down everything I'd ever done in my life, not just the last 3 jobs. I should have called in to follow-up before the deadline passed. I should have done a lot of things. I'm qualified for the job, and I really really REALLY wanted it.

I still have all my Bear Camp shirts.

There go all the eggs in that basket.

But thankfully I hadn't put all the eggs in that one.

I did send off an application to (another daycamp in town). I called them to ask if they'd gotten my application (which they haven't yet), and I had a great conversation with the person in charge of hiring for that position. I found out about a position that hadn't been posted on their website, one that I'm very very interested in. She learned about me and how awesomely qualified I am, and she'll be looking for my application.

This is a very flexible application. It is not a government job. I filled out one app, and it will work for any of the job opportunities they have available. I am looking forward to learning more and hopefully interviewing and getting hired for this job.

Maybe it will be for the best. I loved Bear Camp and all the kids and counselors. I loved almost everything about it! At this job, I don't think I'll have to go swimming every day. This will mean stinky kids and no relaxing shower every afternoon, but I think I can manage. I haven't worked at Bear Camp for 5 years, so I don't know any of the kids or counselors. I won't be missing them. And everything else about the job is found in this job prospect I've found at (the other place), and I think I can handle that.

I'm very excited about this upcoming opportunity. And I learned to call and ask about the job application right away, not after it's too late to do anything.

How to impress the neighbors

A few weeks ago I taught everyone how to prune rose bushes. I'm not sure I mentioned that it was only the beginning. On the hillside leading up to the house here, there are about a million rose bushes.

Reverence

My reverence could use some work.

Sometimes at church, especially while we're singing songs like, "Gather Sunshine," I just can't help but use my old lady warbly voice. It is kind of loud and rather swoopy, gliding from one note to another ("every passing daaaaaaa-aaaaaaaay"). It gets me through the cheesy songs.

Sometimes Kevin sings in his old man voice (which is much louder than my old lady voice) during songs that are actually religious, and then I feel very reverent as I elbow him in the ribs.

I guess some people find it distracting and irreverent when people give back scratches during church. Kevin likes me to scratch his back and play with his hair, and today I managed to get one of Penny's hair flowers into his hair for almost all of sacrament meeting. I realize this wasn't as reverent as it could have been. But we were sitting sort of towards the back, so I think only like 1/3 of the congregation saw it. It was very pretty.

No Smoking!

In addition to a thorough background check, the State Department also requires their employees (and the employee's family) to have a thorough medical exam before they get sent abroad. This makes sense, as you wouldn't want to send someone with medical problems to the middle of nowhere with inadequate medical care.

So today Kevin and I went to the doctor. He went first while I watched Penny, and I went second. The doctor was an osteopathic surgeon who also specialized in giving physicals to airline pilots. (They are required twice yearly. Now you know.) He had a lot of airplane stuff in his exam room, and there was also a lot of information posted about how to quit smoking. He asked me if I smoked, and then if Kevin needed some information on how to quit smoking. He had some good information and some tricks and some products. He was your man when you wanted to quit smoking. I just smiled, nodded, and said, 'Oh, okay.' Not sure why Kevin would need it, but whatever. Then the exam proceeded.

He told me that during his career, he had seen quite a shift in the population of airline pilots. Back in the day, they were all war veterans who smoked and were kind of a rougher class of folks. These days, it had been several years since he'd met a pilot who smoked, and most of them now have Bachelor's degrees-- if not Master's.

Later in the exam, the doctor told me to make sure Kevin never smoked while we were in the car, and especially never around Penny. At this point, I was pretty confused, and I mentioned that Kevin did not smoke. 'Oh, good!' The doctor was thrilled. Kevin hadn't really seemed like the smoker type.

Apparently, Kevin had seen the info on the walls, and especially the little pin that said, 'Ask me how to quit smoking,' and had taken him up on it.

The whole story

I have this problem where I tell an oft-rehearsed story, and because I'm so familiar with it, I leave important bits out and just assume that people still follow me.

So let me tell the whole story of the Foreign Service job.

Back when Kevin and I lived in Beijing, we went to church with a bunch of other foreigners living in China. Since our church isn't one of the 5 religions officially recognized by the government, the foreigners could meet together, and the locals could meet together, but we couldn't have meetings together. So most of the people we knew from church were also expatriates. Many of the Americans there (and also Canadian, Swedish, Estonian, and a few others) were working in the Embassy there in Beijing. They had a really cool lifestyle where they lived in places around the globe for a few years at a time, manning the embassies and consulates. They lived lives of adventure, and their kids got to see the world. Also, the kids went to great schools where all their classmates were also very motivated students who got a lot of support from their parents at home. What a great environment to grow up in!

As Kevin slogged through law school, he realized more and more that he wanted a job that worked with people in a greater capacity than just helping them make more money. I don't think he has a very argumentative or aggressive personality, and so being a criminal lawyer didn't seem to fit his personality very well. As he was working at his clerkship up in Boise (last October to be specific), he decided to take the Foreign Service Exam. It it a free test that many people take to see if they have what it takes to become a Foreign Service Officer (these are the folks that work in Embassies around the world... just want to connect those dots for you). It's an exam that tests your knowledge of geography, American history, government, management, economics, technology, Therapists, and potent potables. Ha ha. Seriously, though, it tests you on just everything. How do you study for this? People often ask that, and Kevin had a great method for it. He memorized the presidents of the United States and the major events and achievements during that president's term. He studied for several weeks, took some practice tests online and from the library, and watched several documentaries from the library. Oh, and he has been learning a lot in his last 27 years, too. That helped.

He passed the exam, and then he got to wait a few months. In the mean time, he had a telephone interview to gauge his Chinese language ability. Verdict: he speaks Chinese. The application people reviewed his application, resume, and credentials, and eventually invited him to fly himself out to Washington DC for the Oral Exam.

In order to study for this Oral Exam, Kevin worked super hard. He researched the exam on the internet. Some people post about their experiences taking the test. There are Yahoo groups for people who are taking it. He met up with a study group in Seattle. He practiced telling stories to illustrate how qualified he is for the position. He practiced interviewing. He wrote practice essays. As a certified procrastinator, I was amazed at his consistency and determination. Kevin is amazing.

The actual exam went something like this:

Show up at the building wearing a white shirt and tie. Out of the 5 people that passed the Oral Exam on the same day as Kevin, 4 were wearing a white shirt and tie. The 5th was a woman, and she was wearing a white shirt, no tie. The guys wearing blue shirts didn't pass. I'm sure that's not the only reason, but it's worth mentioning.

First they did the group exercise. That's where each examinee is given a few projects to present to the others. After presenting their projects, they all work together to figure out how to fit the projects into their given budget.

Then there was the interview. They asked him questions, and he was able to use several of the stories he'd prepared. He did have to ad lib for one story, and that was the one they heckled him on, asking a ton of follow-up questions.

After lunch, they had the essay section. They were given 30-40 pages of information (some were charts or emails, so they weren't that long), and they were supposed to summarize the info in a memo, and then give the best solution to the problem that was presented. Kevin said that his brain was kind of fried at this point, and he wasn't able to do this section as well.

After this part, they called him in to an office and told him he'd passed and would have to do a bunch more paperwork. So it wasn't until much later that evening that he told me how he'd done. I would like to say I energetically whooped into the phone and danced around the room. What the heck, I will say that's what happened! It sounds like a good reaction.

Now we're in an interesting situation. Kevin has a career, and once the security clearance goes through, he will have a job. That might take 6 months or even a year. Until then, we just kind of wait.

When Kevin finished his exam, he got a certain score. It was high enough to pass, and since he speaks Mandarin, he gets some extra points. So he has a pretty high score. This means that he's pretty high up on the hiring list. So once his security clearance goes through, if he's in the next group of new hires, he'll get called out to Washington DC for training. As I understand it, in training he gets to see which embassies are hiring that year. Then he makes a bid for his top choices, and the embassies get to choose him. Or something like that.

Once he gets a job, then we'll go tootle off to China or Australia or Timbuktu (which is a real place, by the way) for a few years. Every post lasts 3 years, and then you go somewhere different. The State Department arranges your housing and lets you ship a certain allowance of stuff wherever it is you go.

Kevin will work in the embassy doing visa interviews and taking care of stupid Americans that go and get arrested in foreign countries. Stuff like that.

Come see us when you get a chance!

DC continued

As I was saying, we went and saw the sights of DC. You'll notice a gray, overcast sky in all our pictures. The day before we got there was sunny and 60 degrees. The same can be said of the day we left. Oh well.

Here I am in front of the Washington Monument. I visited this in 8th grade, and so I was able to be the tour guide and tell Kevin about how when they were making it, they had to stop for some war or something, and then when they resumed they used marble from a different quarry, or it had changed color or something. But you can see it part-way up.
Kevin thanked me profusely for such insight. It wouldn't have been obvious otherwise. I wear Kevin's law school shirt to feel smart.

And here is Kevin in front of the WWII memorial that I wrote about yesterday. Isn't it beautiful!
After painting the town red (albeit a dreary, grayish red), we headed back to our friends' house. We were staying with our friends Andrea and Dave, who are both going to school in DC. They are awesome not only for letting us stay at their casa, but they took us to and from the airport, put up with a tired baby who didn't sleep through the night, and found some really cool things for us to do.

Penny was marvelous for the first couple days. Our flight from Seattle left super early, and we had to pull Penny out of bed at 4:00 AM. I wasn't looking forward to starting our trip that way. But she stayed awake until the first leg of the flight, where she took a 45-minute power nap. Then on the final leg of the flight, she took another power nap. But all the rest of the day, she was bright and cheery. In fact, she didn't even cry on the plane but was giggling and entertaining everyone. Maybe we should wake her up at 4:00 AM more often! Ha ha ha, um, no.

Sleep-deprived-but-happy baby!

The second day was when we toured around, and Penny stayed awake and cheery for most of that. There were no strollers allowed in the museum, so Kevin and I took turns carrying her. Eventually she fell asleep on my shoulder for another 45-minute power nap. Then she was good the rest of the day. Amazing!

That night we went to dinner with Andrea and Dave. We went to a Moroccan restaurant with amazing lamb, couscous, chicken shawarma, and this amazing sweet and savory meat pastry thing. Plus there was a belly dancer. She was pretty good, I guess, but she got nothing on Penny's belly.

On Sunday, we all went to the Chinese branch for church. Then in the evening, Andrea and Dave invited some friends from their ward over who were in the Foreign Service. He was working in the same area Kevin will be, and they had a couple young kids, so it was awesome to be able to talk about their experiences and what they learned and how they managed living overseas with little kids. At that point, we were still talking hypothetically, but it was so valuable to talk to them now that it's actually going to happen.

On Monday was Kevin's exam. I think I'll ask him to write a guest entry and talk about his experience. Penny and I just took it easy that day. After her amazing feat of going several days without adequate sleep, I didn't want to push her any more.

We did take an outing to the nearby park, where Penny learned how the swings work.

At first she was happy but not terribly comfortable with them.Then she got used to the idea and loved her adventure at the swings.

Kevin's new boss

The nominal purpose of our going to Washington DC was for Kevin to take and pass the Oral Examination for the Foreign Service. Final verdict: check and check! Kevin took it, and Kevin passed! Now who's awesome?!

On Saturday when we got to town, we took the Metro into town and first scoped out the building where Kevin's exam would be. It's a good thing we did. First we got off the Metro and went the wrong direction. Then we had to search around a little while to find the building, which was behind and around the corner from a large apartment complex. That's something you want to do a couple days in advance, not as you're frantically trying to be early/on time for an interview.

Then we met up for lunch with Neil and his wife, Rebecca, at the International Spy Museum. (!!!) First of all, lunch was great. Deep fried and marvelous. Over a lunch like that is a perfect place to catch up on old times, back when your arteries were still supple, and fill each other in on what we're doing these days.

This is us at the Spy Museum Cafe.

The International Spy Museum is pretty awesome. It displays a bunch of spy gadgets (lipstick, ring, pen, and umbrella guns, a James Bond car), and there's a air duct you can stealthily crawl through. Kevin and Neil would make terrible spies, based on their stealth skills.

Eventually, once your arms are tired from carrying your 25-lb baby or you're just tired from being 6 months pregnant (Becca), they have little movie clips and stuff, showing you how loose lips sink ships.

I learned a lot. I look around at shopping centers and airports trying to find all the cameras that are doing surveillance. They're always watching, you know. ;)

Even though the day was drizzly and rainy, that was nothing to us Washingtonians. Once we'd done the Spy Museum, we said good bye to the Petersons and proceeded to paint the town red. We saw the Constitution at the National Archives, walked on the Mall past the Washington Monument, to the World War II Memorial. That is a BEAUTIFUL memorial, and I'm really surprised it wasn't made before now. I think it's my new favorite monument.

More later.

Blogging while I should be doing something else

I procrastinate. But while I'm procrastinating, I get so much done!! Like writing on my blog.

I should be taking a nap. Penny decided to cry all night a couple nights ago, and today it really hit me with the aftershock tsunami of exhaustion.

I should also be packing. Tomorrow (at a freakishly early hour) we go to Washington-- the other Washington-- for Kevin's oral assessment. He has been working really hard to prepare for this. It's a multi-section, multi-hour, in-depth process, not just a typical interview-- although that's part of it. He has practiced, studied, and prepared for this, and I think he'll do really well. I'm excited for the interview, and I'm also ready to have a little bit more of a concrete plan of where our life will go from here.

I'm also excited to go visit friends and see the capital again. I went to DC on an 8th grade trip. I didn't have a camera, and I remember spending the entire time at one museum in the gift shop. I bought my dad a Spock tie, and he has never worn it. I don't really wonder why anymore.

This time I don't know that I'll do any souvenir shopping. Kevin and I have finally figured out that buying one rather nice thing is much better than a million little trinkets that were cool at one point but you'll never use in real life. Plus, if you want one of those, just go to your local thrift shop and pick up one that someone else stupidly bought. This time, however, we may skip out on the souvenir shopping. We don't have any money anyway.

I do have a camera, though, so after I get back (or during the trip... we'll see), you might be forced to see us standing in front of cool monuments and stuff.

And as you're praying for all your friends to do well in their job interviews this weekend, please consider including Kevin on that list. ;)

How to nurture a glamor queen

Yesterday was the Oscars. I never saw it coming, but Penny got really into it.

She dressed up in her best velvet dress and insisted on wearing her Cheerios as earrings.
Then she was just so enthusiastic for all the awards. I think this one was for best audio mixing.

Reflection

Sometimes it's amazing to have a baby. You look down and see these tiny hands, tiny feet, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth that look exactly like yours, except in miniature version. She has some of your own personality, mannerisms, and even facial expressions. It's like looking at yourself 28 years ago.

Or at least that's what Kevin says. ;)

Sunbonnet Lou

It was sunny enough this afternoon that Penny needed a sun-hat. I had just the thing! When Penny was born, my freshman roommate, Ashley, sent us a cute yellow sunbonnet, and today we took it on a test-drive. Verdict: I love it! Besides being cute and yellow, it is also adjustable in size (all bonnets are, but I didn't realize it until today) and shades her eyes while still letting her look around.

Now we'll just have to keep up this sunny weather!

Update: Penny started making a squeaky kissing noise today. :)

Good question(s)

"Am I closer to the Savior today than I was yesterday? Will I be closer yet tomorrow?"

Sometimes it's a yes, sometimes it's a no, and I hope it's always an I'm trying to.

Hula baby in jail