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.

Food in Harbin

We tried a few different restaurants in Harbin and our favorites were the German micro-brewery and a Russian restaurant.

We stumbled upon the German restaurant by accident and decided to give it a try. It was packed with Chinese people clinking giant steins of sweet, wheat beer. The restaurant was a buffet, sort of. You went up to get your side dishes and desserts but several roasted meats were brought directly to your table.

We dined on hearts, livers, beef, chicken, tongue, roasted corn on the cob, lamb, pig ear and a few other things that I couldn't identify. The food was good (and plentiful), the beer was delicious and the whole thing only cost about 35 RMB each.

Another restaurant that we liked was called Cafe Russia and offered traditional Russian food. We tried the cabbage rolls and the piroshki (cabbage, potato and meat puffs). Everything was delicious and it felt good to get warm and fill up on something besides rice. We also enjoyed the table full of Chinese girls next to us who were extremely skeptical of the food and were obviously not well-practiced with a knife and fork. I imagine that this is what Sean and I look like pretty much every day here in China as we examine new dishes and work on our chopstick skills.

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

0 comments

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

Food in Harbin

0 comments