[Rick Lee]

I was just awestruck at how dumbed down these questions were. One of the first ones was something to the effect of, "The number of close friends I have whose native language is not English is...." D was 4 or more. And if you chose more than one, you had to list the friends' names and languages and it was all limited to 200 characters. I only listed four, including my wife, but I could have easily listed 30-40. Do people who want to become diplomats really have so little interaction with foreigners that this question is necessary?

Several other questions asked how much business I have conducted by phone or how many business calls I make in a day. Again, any more than four and I had to list details. Well, 15 yrs. in sales means you have lived years of your life on the phone. How do I even begin to explain?

I aced the written exam last time, but didn't make it past the essay level. I was totally stumped by one of them that asked me to describe a memorable experience I had had with a foreigner. I didn't know where to begin with that. Even before I married a Chinese woman, much of my life consisted of interaction with foreigners, though much of the time I would have been the foreigner. When you've filled up a few passports, these questions are head scratchers. We're doomed. Fortunately, I couldn't take the pay cut to be an FSO and I wouldn't work for John Kerry for any amount of money.