State 'Celebrity' Sighting

Forgive me....I forgot to mention something exciting that happened in Doha mid-January (in the middle of that whole gov't shutdown fun). Richard's boss of bosses - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the Middle East visiting countries. Given, Qatar is in the Middle East; Pompeo visited Doha. We had the opportunity to meet him (this was actually our first chance to meet a Secretary of State - John Kerry visited Tbilisi a week or so after we had departed post, Suva wasn't much on the radar for big visits, so here we were third post - first visit). Note: if it doesn't have a watermark, the picture was shared from the Embassy.

Needing to hit the ground running, they were not all scrunched up in economy seats like us little folks fly.

Sec. Pompeo was greeted by a local Qatari representative.

Off he headed for some meetings.

Sec. Pompeo's wife, Susan Pompeo had come along for the trip. She wanted to speak to EFMs (eligible family members) about life here at post. We had about an hour to chat, she asked a lot of questions, everyone had a chance to talk, and we all got a group photo after our talk.

We then went to another meeting room where our other halfs/other employees were gathering. After a few minutes, Sec. Pompeo and Susan entered the room and were introduced by the Chargé D’Affaires, William Grant (until an Ambassador is assigned to the Embassy, Grant is filling in).

Sec. Pompeo made a few remarks, but then asked the group questions.

What did he say/ask? Here's a little video from his twitter page of him talking to us!

We then all posed for the obligatory group photo....can you find Richard and me? Mason & Clarissa did not come as it was a last minute change to invite kids and I would of had to run to school to grabbed them out of class early and Richard needed the car to do some work stuff with the airplane crew....so logistically it didn't work out.

Afterwards, there was the chance for pictures/selfies. That part was a little crazy....but I did get these photos!

Sec. Pompeo was a really jolly/friendly guy.

A friend and I opted to ask Susan for a photo (as we had just had a relatively intimate chat with her).

So we survived our first, VIP visit. If you go the Embassy's webpage, you can even see where Sec. Pompeo met Qatar's Emir!

R&R 2017...Part 1: Charleston....

So not sure if we have ever explained what R&R is....(I don't think we have)....but R&R stands for Rest and Recuperation...pretty standard....but R&R from what and how frequently....you ask? To paraphrase the official definition it means life at post must be pretty rough or have sufficient difficulties to justify a break for the the employee (Richard) and family (me, Mason, Clarissa) during our assignment. Some examples of the factors that are weighed when determining if a post qualifies for any R&R's are climate, isolation, inadequate transportation within the country, lack of adequate recreation facilities, unsanitary conditions, lack of adequate medical or dental care, prevalence of communicable diseases, unusual personal hazards, excessive cost of transportation from the post to a suitable relief area.....the list goes on....but just to give you an idea. Suva, Fiji qualifies for 1 R&R for a 2 year posting or 2 R&Rs for a 3 year posting. So it falls into the 'life is a little rougher at post and breaks are needed to keep up employee morale' category. Countries in places such as Western Europe are rather modern and similar to life in America....you do not get any R&Rs (you can however taken personal vacations). Given we are here for just over 2 years...we only get 1 R&R.....so back in April.....we took it!!!

On Thursday, Richard worked a half day, the kids went to school, and I finished packing everyone up. When the bus dropped the kids off, they took showers and we headed to the airport for our journey that seemed to never end!

Here we are entering the newly remodeled international terminal in Nadi, Fiji. With a track record of 2 for 2, it appears if we get posted in a country: they will get begin airport terminal remodeling! We flew across the international date line and got to relive Thursday, unfortunately it occurred in the LAX airport. After taking a second red eye, four flights, nearly 14 hours in layovers between said flights....counting check-in time prior to the first flight's departure....we got from Suva, Fiji to Charleston, SC, USA in a mere 32 hours! We made great time! After showering off days worth of airplane funk, we quickly got down to business: got our flu shots, picked up toiletries at Target, and got a meal at our favorite restaurant under the sun! (Disclaimer: this photo was taken at another time eating at that establishment....we powered thru and did not nap that day. It was tough, but I do think that helped get over jet lag quicker....eating was hard enough that evening...let alone thinking to take a photo to savor the moment...lol).

Clarissa crashed on the way home from dinner, I crashed about an hour later and the boys weren't too far behind me. We all slept for a solid 12 hours!! We did a good bit of yawning our second day (but not because we were tired) and all headed to bed about an hour earlier than our "normal" time. The third day, we were a little snappy at each other. By the fourth day, I'd say we were over jet lag. So for an 8 hour time difference, that was pretty quick! I'm sold on the power thru-no nap method! 

Anywho, back to our second day of fun! Richard and I did a bit of shoe and clothing shopping sans kids in the morning (I don't know if they ever noticed we were gone with so many channels on TV and unlimited wifi...lol). That afternoon we went to Ghost Monkey Brewery. Back in his Gov't contractor days Richard worked with Holly and Jim. Jim is one of the co-founders of Ghost Monkey! Jim is one of the brewers, while Holly helps with some of the behind the scenes logistical stuff. 

Ghost Monkey's grand opening was in July 2016 (so not since we've been stateside). Prior to their opening they did some fund raising and offered an opportunity to be part of the Founders Club...since we were friends, we wanted to support their endeavor (who doesn't like craftbeer?!?) and signed up....got some sweet swag (such as our stainless steel growler we brought with us to be filled) and a Founders membership...so this was also the first chance we had to finally do a little sampling of the ales.   

I'm digging the super fun names!

Ghost Monkey is doing pretty solid. They only sell at their brewery (primarily weekends (and special evenings) and will have food trucks on site (check their Facebook page to know what food trucks/special events). Most weekends they will sell out. They are their only distribution point currently but hope to expand that. It's kind of exciting watching a "brewery birth". Here is their super fun wall of taps.

The next week was jam-packed with assorted doctor/dentist/vision appointments mixed in with a dash of catching up with friends and family. Here are some highlights:

Mason and Kate hung out one day (they've grown up a bit since the last time you've seen her!). Kate's mom and I got a chance to catch up as well. Not sure who enjoyed themselves more....the kids or grown ups....we'll let them think it was all for them...lol.

One the way to one appointment, we stopped at Boone Hall Farms and picked strawberries!! We timed our trip perfectly in that regard! Local strawberry season had just started! Yummy! 

It should be noted that somebody also needed (and got) a haircut!

Note: Mason's berry in his hand about to be eaten before we pay....shhh.....

Mason and his friend Alex (and both younger siblings) went to one of those indoor "jump-aline" (as Clarissa calls them) places....super fun for an hour. We then had an early lunch at Sonic....I used to always laugh at students taking selfies....so I got a pic of them hamming it up for a selfie....

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and a beautiful sunset with my friend from graduate school, don't you agree!

The mermaids from Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida happened to be up at the South Carolina Aquarium for three weekends (two of which we were in town for). Clarissa loves mermaids and Mason had some international sand to trade in at the trading post. So we spent a morning at the aquarium. We used to have a membership, so it is always nice to visit and see what's new.

Besides the mermaids, they had lot of fun lego exhibits, either as animals next to the exhibit or as part of the habitat in the tank

or as the the popular face cut out boards.

We were able to catch up with Richard's brother, wife and kids for dinner. Clarissa took some cousin selfies...too funny! Need to teach her 'how to avoid double chins in selfies'...lol.

Nana got a great 'all the grands' shot!

Clarissa celebrated the first of many birthday parties (that is whole other post of its own!). She also had a tea party with Belle (and special guest Cinderella!). They had pink lemonade and a cupcake. Belle read Clarissa a story and they chatted. It was at Princess of Tides, which is every little girl's dream store. They sell princess dresses (but machine washable non-itchy kind) as well as tutus, 18" doll clothing, gymnastic clothing, tiaras, bows, etc. They also do camps and tea times with Princesses (much more affordable than a trip to Disney!). 

She used to be so shy, but she is starting to get over that for the experience with the princesses.

The next day we flew up to DC....which will be a R&R Part 2 blog post....

Ironically, we failed to get any photos with my in-laws. Oops....I guess since they had just visited us earlier this year we didn't think to take more photos...(to be fair I checked and they didn't take any either...lol). 

Unfortunately, while we were in Charleston, one weekend a super special event occurred up in North Carolina (a 10 hour round trip drive just wasn't in the cards for us). Richard's grandfather turned 100 years old and there was a birthday party to celebrate it. I did borrow this photo of Pop (and his 96yo wife Mamaw) from the party. Happy 100th, you crazy centenarian!

Tenure...Finally!

An important milestone in ones Foreign Service career is obtaining tenure. For specialists, one goes up for tenure after 24-36 months of service. To be granted tenure by the tenure board, you have to show the ability to successfully perform throughout ones career (see 3 FAM 2250 for more details). You get three shots at tenure, and after the third try if you aren't granted tenured you are separated from the Service (ie shown the door). Sounds easy, right? For my class, it wasn't that easy.

My class (the 130th Specialist) went up for tenure the first time in September 2014. When the cable (a cable is State Department speak for an "official email") came out, we submitted our EERs (Employee Performance Review documents) to HR in Washington. Most people had 2 EERs. Myself, due to having multiple supervisors during my first tour, I had 2 EERs and 2 Memorandums of Performance. All of my performance documents said I was performing superbly and at a high level and should be granted tenure. 

On the day we were traveling to Suva, I got the email one doesn't want to see. Our CDO (Career Development Officer) emailed almost our entire class saying we were denied tenure. Needless to say, my class was in shock. Traditionally (for IRM at least) tenure was granted for the first time to 90-95% of those eligible. This time, 80% of my class was denied tenure. The reasoning from the board was (for all of us) was they wanted to see "more overseas experience" - whatever that means.

I will admit being denied tenure was a blow to my ego. But I was determined to get tenure the second time up. When I arrived in Suva and had my first meetings with both of my supervisors, I mentioned to them I didn't get tenure and wanted to get it the second time, and wanted to work closely with them to ensure I was doing everything possible to get it. I also had some phone conversations with my CDO (who by the way was excellent and reassuring to me) on what I needed to do. 

This past August the cable came out saying I was up for tenure again. This time, I spent a lot of time reflecting on not only my current EER, but my past EER's as well. One suggestion my CDO had was the tenure board looks closely at a section of your EER call "area for improvement". This is an area that your supervisor writes and says where you may have a weakness and what you should improve upon. There are about 7 categories to chose from. In my last EER, my supervisor said I needed to get more confidence in expressing my ideas to those at a higher grade than me. In discussions with my CDO, he said the board really wants to see how you are addressing your previous area for improvement. Before my EER was written, I had spent my time in Suva working on my area for improvement, ie gaining confidence in myself when expressing ideas to those at a higher grade. Due to Suva being a small Post, I have the luxury of having almost daily interactions with the Management Officer, Deputy Chief of Mission and Ambassador. 

When I wrote my EER, I made it a point to mention that I had taken the previous area for improvement to heart and what I was doing to work on it, with concrete examples. Also, at the suggestion of some colleagues, I wrote examples of what I was doing to impact not only Post but "big Washington". All in all, I spent about a month writing and editing my EER. In September, it was sent in to Washington and the wait began.

I was hoping to find out before Christmas if I had gotten tenure or not. One thing I failed to mention is before the cable saying you got tenure comes out, those who did not receive tenure had to be contacted by their CDO advising them they did not get it. That is the email/phone call one does not want to get. Every day I would wake up hoping not to see an email from my current CDO. A few weeks ago, a few of my classmates received the dreaded email. Since we all keep in touch, we were all scrambling to look and see if we got one. Nothing was in my inbox. For the next 3 days I held my breath hoping not to get the email. Nothing came in. A coworker of mine finally told me if I hadn't heard by now, I'm safe. Nothing is safe until I see the cable.

Finally about a week or so ago I got the news. It was via Facebook from a friend of mine. The post said "congratulations on tenure". I grabbed by Blackberry and sure enough there was the cable, saying I was granted tenure! I can't tell you how happy I was to have this lingering cloud gone.

So what happens now. Well I've sent in my information to Washington so they can send me a certificate (signed by the Secretary of State) saying I am a career member of the Foreign Service. When Officers are granted tenure, their tenure certificate is signed by the President. Also by being tenured, I am considered a mid-level officer. If need be, we can extend or curtail our tours without having to jump through as many hoops. We are also subject to time in class/time in service requirements for the current grade you are. Also, I am considered as "competitive service" in the Federal hiring process. 

In closing, it has been a somewhat stressful 3 years while waiting for tenure. I want to thank all of those who have helped me and given me suggestions along the way. I couldn't have done it without you. Also, a big thanks to Deb for having faith in me and keeping my spirits up when they were down. We did it!

Odds and Ends...

• We are closing in on our fourth week here in Tbilisi. I'm slowly getting settled in at the job, and I think Deb and the kids are getting settled in at the house. I feel bad for them, I go somewhere each day, while they are stuck at home. Plus, up here in Z-town it is somewhat far away from anyplace. So to get to the store, we have to hitch a ride or take a cab (taking a cab isn't that expensive, it is like 5 Lari or so to get to the local Goodwill - a German supermarket) until our car gets here.
• Some of our neighbors let us borrow one of their cars this weekend while they are out of town. Deb went to Goodwill yesterday, and today all four of us went to Carrefour at the Tbilisi Mall. I drove, and we survived. Granted it isn't a far drive, but you do have to be aggressive and defensive at the same time while driving here.
• Carrefour was CRAZY today. We ran in to a few coworkers and the common consensus was it was the craziest people had ever seen. This week you have New Years, Georgian New Years and Georgian Christmas so I'm sure most of the crowds were there doing their last minute shopping. Mason got a little overwhelmed by the crowds (and lack of personal space). The big plus about shopping today was we got our Diplomatic ID's on Friday. By having those, we no longer have to pay VAT on purchases (which is something like 14%). It does save us some money and makes shopping a little cheaper.
• After our shopping, we walked around the Tbilisi mall and had lunch at a Burger King there. One thing Deb and I noticed about the mall was it seemed a lot of people smoked inside of it (in fact, Deb went to the restroom and two women were in there smoking. They quickly went in to stalls - I guess smoking was not permitted in the restroom - Deb said there were quite a few no smoking signs in there). I've found that smoking is a lot more prevalent here than in the US.
• Burger King wasn't bad, though I thought the burger was a bit dry. However it was nice to eat a piece of "America". And I was reminded that Europeans typically don't have ice in their drinks, but the soda was cold so it was fine.
• One thing that has been wearing on us is our UAB shipment. UAB is Unaccompanied Air Baggage. We were allotted about 700lbs of UAB, and we have items such as good pillows, good sheets, our iMac, Drobo etc. Well it has been sitting in Cologne Germany for close to 3 weeks now and no movement. Our UAB was suppose to have been here last Friday, then on Sunday then no one knew. I finally reached out to transportation in DC to find out what was going on, and quickly heard back. They were annoyed that the shipment hadn't arrived yet (they were told it was suppose to arrive on the 20th and had not been notified it had been delayed). The transportation company replied that due to heavy volumes it had been bumped was suppose to arrive yesterday, the 28th. 10 years working with a shipping line has had it's advantages, as I've found the shippers tracking website and have been monitoring the shipment. It is still showing in Cologne. I'm hoping that the site hasn't been updated and it has actually arrived in Tbilisi, but I think it hasn't. I'm going to have to send another email tomorrow inquiring on the status, and if it's not here yet I'm not sure what I'm going to do. We have ocean freight that has already arrived in country and I'm partially expecting it to be delivered here this week. That's pretty sad that ocean freight may beat air freight.

Not Everything Transfers...

Prior to joining the Dept. of State this past July, I was working for a few months for the Dept. of Navy in Charleston SC. It was only 5-6 months, but I did accrue a little bit of vacation/sick leave (that originally I planned to use for our 5 year anniversary trip in July to Hawaii, but DoS came a'callin...) as well as a little bit in my retirement account. Plus, I had my health insurance (including dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending account). I was told that everything would automatically transfer over. Come to find out, not everything transfers over (at least without some help).

When you start with the Dept., you are told it can take a few weeks for your first paycheck to show up. That's fine, as that usually is the case with most new jobs (you have to be put in to the payroll system, etc). When I got my first paycheck, I saw that my portion of my health care had been deducted from my check, but nothing showing my dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending account. I emailed State HR to find out what was up, and also called Benefeds (they are the party that manages dental and vision) as well as FSAFeds. Come to find out, I had to call them to let them know I changed agencies. Kind of opposite from the "everything transfers"I was told....

It took me a few weeks to get that straightened out, but finally my dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending is now being deducted as I signed up for.

Next up, vacation and sick leave. I'm sure at some point it would have transferred over, but some classmates of mine found the quick way (if you are just starting, don't do this first thing. Wait a few pay periods and if nothing has transferred yet go this route). First, make sure you have your FINAL Leave and Earnings (L&E) statement from your previous agency. I didn't have access to my old payroll system so I had to jump through a few hoops but I finally got it. Next send a copy of the L&E statement to "Pay Help" letting them know you you transferred from another agency and you would like them to transfer your sick and vacation balances. Presto, they will transfer it over and you will see it on your State L&E statement within 1-2 pay periods.

Other than the dental/vision and FSA portion, I'm sure the vacation and sick leave would have eventually transferred over. The rest, well it doesn't automatically "transfer over"....

Pin Cushion

Part of the joy of being in the Foreign Service is you get to get vaccinated for oh...everything before you go to post (and sometimes in between posts). I stopped by the medical center today during our lunch break to drop off Deb and the kids vaccination records. I cannot find mine, and my doctor does not have them in my files.

When I dropped Deb and the kids records off, the nurse asked if I  had mine. I told her I didn't and my doctor couldn't find them. She then got an evil look on her face and started laughing.  Looks like I'm getting everything (at a minimum I estimate 5 shots on my first round)!

Vacancy Announcement

If you are interested in spending quite a bit of times sitting on a plane and racking up frequent flyer points, the State Department is now hiring for a Diplomatic Courier.