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Verify your humanity

Pressing Questions Regarding the Personal Narrative Questions and Verifiers

Greetings!

I just passed the FSOT and am absolutely ecstatic. For me there are really only two things I have a burning desire to do for a career: be a Chinese teacher or a Foreign Service Officer (I'm too old to be soldier). So the process to becoming an FSO is extremely important to me.

I am therefore faced with a peculiar dilemma. I have resided in Taiwan for most of my adult life. My BA and MA and all of my major experience is from here. For the PNQ questions I almost don't know where to start because there are so many things I have done that should qualify me for going on to the Oral Interview. So I will list my problems as follows:

1. Most of the people who could verify my experiences only speak Chinese or have limited English ability. Would that effect the QEP's decision?

2. Many of the people who could verify my experiences I have lost contact with over the years and I don't maintain much of a social life. I have over the years mostly just went to work (just me and my students and very rarely any supervisor), went to school, came home and studied and took care of my family and did things around the house. Is this a problem?

3. The people who could directly verify some of my best experiences are in fact my close recitatives, including my wife who is at the same time the closest thing to a supervisor I have. What can I do about this?

4. The only other people left who could best verify my experiences are my graduate school teachers and advisers, still their English ability is limited. However, these couple of teachers could verify my experiences. Is it permissible to use the same people as verifiers of my experience or should each experience require a separate verifier?

I really hope to pass the PNQs and move on to the Oral Interview. I intend to keep taking part in this process until I pass and become a FSO. This is because the particular experiences, struggles, frustrations and interests I have had in life have tempered me and I believe I would make an excellent FSO. I have had this desire to be an FSO since 1994 when my first daughter was born and I have always had the desire to serve my country. I have spent the last 18 years cultivating myself so that I may be worthy of undertaking this service.

Thank you for answering this most verbose set of questions.

Sincerely,
Ivan Zimmer