Update - 2.5 Weeks Until the FSS Orientation

Back in the States and getting ready for the big move to Virginia. I've got most of the pre-employment forms completed and signed, except for the few that require witnesses. On Saturday my husband's friends from work will be hosting a party for him as he prepares to transfer his job to DC. He will be so relieved to cut his commute time in half. He took the German language test again last week as well as the FSOT. We're encouraged by the good news from The B Files and will continue to patiently wait for his invitation.

I had a bad scare yesterday when I was informed that my check out date for Oakwood will be in November at the end of the initial three weeks of training. I frantically called my HR representative (who deserves an award for patiently fielding questions from me) and was reassured that IRO training will keep me in the Washington, DC area at least until January. I had it in my head that we would be there until the end of April, hence my need to get our son into the FSI daycare. Several emails later, I think the right people know about my extended training and we should be set. In the end, how long we will be in DC will depend on our first post and whether I will need language training.

For now we are trying to enjoy our last two weeks in Michigan. The weather is gorgeous and we have some favorite autumn activities like getting apple cider and pumpkin donuts, going on hayrides, and visiting the places we haven't had a chance to yet, like the Ypsilanti Firehouse Museum.

Air Shipment

Yikes! Our air shipment survey came up twice the authorized weight which is currently 600 pounds with three family members. I have to re-think the children's furniture and the toys. Not a big deal. We signed up for this lifestyle knowing that we would not always have access to our belongings. It reminds me of my minimalist days teaching in Eastern Europe after college on $40 a month. I love a challenge!

In other news, we went to see the Wiggles yesterday which was such a treat for our son. He and I leave for Romania on Tuesday. I can't believe it's late August already. I also virtually met another IRO candidate starting in October and she's a tandem!

Resources

There are lots of books and online resources about the Foreign Service. I think the current two most comprehensive ones (besides the Department of State's website) are Peter Kennett's The DipNotes and Melissa VonHinken's Foreign Service Links. They mention books, other FS related blogs, Yahoo and Wiki groups, etc. There are also groups on Facebook like Foreign Service Specialists and Foreign Service Tandem Couples.

However, there is not all that much information about information resource officers. Besides the job posting, one has to search pretty hard to find out what a day in the life of an IRO is really like. Here are a handful of resources I have found on the Web. Please feel free to include additional resources in the comments.

• For information about the public events that IROs engage in (such as presentations and activities in embassy information resource centers), look at the websites of various embassies by going to: countryname.usembassy.gov
• Current IRO Wendy Simmons wrote an article tracing the recent history of embassy libraries. The citation is: Simmons, W. A. (2005). Three decades of challenges and changes in US embassy libraries around the world. Advances in Librarianship, 29, 99-132. An abridged version of Wendy's paper is available in PDF format here.
• Ruth Mara and Cynthia Borys wrote a brief article about IROs in the September 2003 issue of the Foreign Service Journal entitled IROs: Into the cyber age. It's available here.