U.S. Foreign Service Officer headed to Wuhan, China

The mission of a U.S. diplomat in the Foreign Service is to promote peace, support prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad. The work that diplomats do has an impact on the world as they serve at one of any of the more than 270 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions in The Americas, Africa, Europe and Eurasia, East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.

The duties of a Consular Officer include to provide emergency and non-emergency services to American citizens and protect our borders through the proper adjudication of visas to foreign nationals and passports to American citizens. We adjudicate immigrant and non-immigrant visas, facilitate adoptions, help evacuate Americans, combat fraud, and fight human trafficking. Consular Officers touch people’s lives in important ways, often reassuring families in crisis. They face many situations which require quick thinking under stress and develop and use a wide range of skills, from managing resources and conducting public outreach to assisting Americans in distress.

The life and times of Sean

Sean returned to Tokyo about four days after I did but thankfully this time with a work visa in hand. He's spent the first few weeks in the city heading to numerous interviews and filling out job applications. He's hoping to find a part-time job teaching English that doesn't conflict with frisbee practice or require him to work in weekends - a tall order in a city like Tokyo.

Until then he's working part-time for a company called English Adventures that combines outdoor skills with English immersion education. It seems like a dream job and I know that he wishes it were full time. The company takes Japanese kids on week-long trips with activities such as hiking, backpacking, canoeing, rafting, skiing, camping and climbing all with native English-speaking staff. The whole trip is conducted in English so the participants have a language immersion experience in nature.

During his free time Sean plays on three ultimate frisbee teams: the university club team, the local community team and the Tokyo co-ed league team. Sometimes our tiny shoebox apartment smells like a locker room, which is not my favorite thing but the constant sports keep Sean quite happy.

We didn't travel in Japan hardly at all last year and that is one of our goals for our final year in the country. The challenges are finding time off together and affording Japan's insanely high prices. If only Sean could get a job teaching "English immersion ultimate frisbee". . .

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

1 Comment

Linde on October 4, 2016 at 12:24 PM

That is such a cool job for him! Living the dream.

Wanderlust

In Mandarin: 旅遊癮 (lǚyóu yǐn)

According to my Mandarin teacher, the term 'wanderlust' can best be translated as 'a travel addiction or craving'. In the above translation, 'yǐn' has several meanings such as 'a strong impulse', 'a longing', or 'a desire'.

U.S. Foreign Service Officer headed to Wuhan, China

The life and times of Sean

1 Comment