First I want to apologize for the delay in getting this post up. As you've probably guessed, this experience has left me both crazily busy and extremely E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D! Considering it is Wednesday of the following week and I am just getting around to this post, I think it just shows a little of what my life is like right now. Thank you to everyone who has been calling and/or sending me e-mails. I apologize that I have not yet had a chance to return many of them, but I will do what I can to get around to it. By the time I hit the end of the day, get dinner and homework done, and then carve out time to talk to Steph I barely have time for anything else. I'm not too confident that things will change before Flag Day, but in the meantime I will continue to chip away at getting back to you all.
This week past week marked my first whole week and weekend without Steph. Its strange to realize that this is the first time in my life that I have lived alone. Throughout my life I've either had siblings, roommates, or Steph, so this is quite the adjustment. Its probably a good thing that I've got so much to do which helps pass the time.
Week three was another great week of training where I felt I gained so much. The first two days of the week were spent in the classroom where we continued to work on our cable writing. We received feedback on our last assignment, and I'm happy to report that I am improving with each try. I'm definitely glad that we're going to have so much practice before I ever have to write one for real at post! We also spent a large chunk of the two days covering management within an embassy or U.S. Mission. It is interesting to get a look at how our working situation may be covered and how we might be able to advance in our careers. We were lucky enough to have a panel that covered all of the career tracks. The more I learn about it, the more confident I am that I picked the right cone. I think being a Public Diplomacy officer will be great!
Before we left for our leadership retreat (The Woods), we were given the results of our Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI is an assessment that tells you your preferences in viewing the world, dealing with people, and making decisions. I am an ENTP, meaning that I am extroverted, I see the big picture first and then the details, I work through problem solving logistically rather than from the gut, and I do not prefer to schedule things in advance or plan too far ahead. We are supposed to use the results of our test to see how we deal with people and to recognize where we may have to work harder to deal with people that are different from us. I really feel that I learned a lot from taking the assessment this time around, mostly because they explained what each letter means so well.
The rest of the week was spent at "The Woods," a conference facility in West Virginia. This offsite is an opportunity for the A-100 staff to really dig deep and give us an opportunity to work on our team building and leadership skills. While we did not do trust falls and the other cliche retreat activities, we did go through many different exercises that tested our ability to quickly create working teams, identify leadership and expertise, and implement a plan. I've mentioned in previous posts what an impressive group my class is. After spending three days with them conducting teambuilding activities, I must say that I am blown away even more. Honestly, I really didn't expect to learn that much from the offsite. In the end, I was completely wrong and took away so much. It was such a new concept to work on such a competent team and to realize that I don't HAVE to be the leader of the group for it to succeed. A truly valuable lesson to learn I think.
In the midst of the offsite, I was able to complete my class committee obligation by participating in the A-100 Follies, a variety show put on by every class during the offsite. After a week of writing and practicing, I think the show was a hit. The class coordinators did not give us much guidance (in an effort to make every show original), so we settled on creating a show similar to Saturday Night Live. I was one of the anchors in the "Weekend Update" skit, which was a blast. I think the highlight of the show was both the live band we had (made up of classmates) and a skit called "Acronym Guy" which makes fun of the constant alphabet soup we're exposed to everyday as those in the State Department communicate with us and all those in the Department. We literally had people rolling on the floor laughing... what a blast!
After the offsite, I think everyone was completely exhausted. The bus ride home was definitely much quieter than the one on the way to The Woods. I guess its good to know that everyone put so much into the experience that all they could do was rest. I think leading into this week we were all really tired and it showed. We're probably at that point where you just maintain "operational" status in your life and do whatever you need to be able to stay awake in class, get your homework done, and learn something about how to do our jobs in the process.
This week I'm going to work on getting more sleep. I don't have a shortage of things to do, but perhaps I can do some exercises in moving from a "P" in the MBTI to a "J" forcing me to create lists and become more efficient in my time management.
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