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.

Still in the country

After walking around in the neighborhood we toured the cotton and rice fields. Zhao Min showed us how to pick cotton as she used to do it as a little girl. Her aunt (pictured above) still works in the fields now whereas Zhao Min works as a translator in a packaging business. One of their latest projects was making the bags for Abercrombie and Fitch.

Here are some shots of Zhao Min's house: the roof, a bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom.

Before we ate dinner, Zhao Min and her mom picked some Chinese cabbage and scallions to be used in some of the dishes. Then we dined on a feast of food like chicken, pork, rice, potatoes, wax gourd, beans, edamame, pea pods and several other things that I didn't know the name of. Sean and I filled up very quickly but to show hospitality and to help us with our pathetic chopstick skills the family kept piling up several new heaps of food on our plate. As Ken says, Chinese hospitality can be exhausting because after a weekend of being treated like royalty your face hurts from smiling and saying thank you and you are so full you can barely move.

We also made a new friend who we found dozing in the cotton, can you find him?

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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

Still in the country

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