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.

Lack of water

I have written about the lack of water before and things have kind of calmed down, but when I was reading some student journals this weekend many complained about the lack of water in their dorms. Due to the construction on the major road next to the university, water lines were routinely cut and nothing could be done about it. For a few days the situation was pretty extreme and we didn't have water for taking showers, washing or cleaning. On those days in class I would try and joke that we all looked pretty greasy and dirty and that the room smelled (we did and it did). To their credit the students did not complain that much maybe because they are resilient or maybe because they know that no amount of complaining or protesting would change the situation at all.

Here is a student's take on the water shortage during one of the dormitory inspections.

"These days we are always easy to get angry as we feel short of water. Now the road beside our school is under construction and the water supply is often in trouble. What is worse, without water, we can’t clean our dorm and it becomes dirty. It was said that some experts would come to our school to examine our dorms and cafeterias. All the leaders payed much attention to the examination. Every day we had to clean the room for several times until the ground was shining. On Tuesday noon, we had another clean. Unluckily there was no water in our dorm, but dorms in the first or second floor had water. We had to clean the windows and doors first. It was hot that day. We all sweated. About half an hour later there was some water in the wash room. The first work we did was to wipe the floor. Actually, the floor was rather clean. After finishing all the work all of us left the dorm. Because we wanted to keep it clean and tidy. The best way was to leave it. On Wednesday the experts came and examined. Then we could have a rest. I thought the test should be satisfactory."

I think this next student journal pretty much sums up a common Chinese sentiment towards life.

"Sometimes we may feel unfair. We feel angry about the world. The things always happened without our expectations. We may find ourselves helpless. We may hope that it will be a sunny day so that we can go out but it turns out to be raining. Don’t feel depressed just accept it. As we can have a good rest at home and enjoy the rain. You may hope that your friends will go out with you but they have their own things to do. Don’t be sad, accept it. You should learn to be independent. You may hope that you can achieve a high mark in the exam, but it is not so, don’t feel a sense of failure, accept it because you can find out your mistakes and get success next time. Life is just like a journey. The things we do not like it happens. It just like the waves in the sea. It just like the rough road leading to the broad way. They are all meaningful. If you cannot control your feelings you may easily go mad. Don’t let the things outside defeat you. Accept it. As it will happen in the future. It just happened a little earlier. Like the glasses will broken some day. Like the shoes will worn out. Like the pen will run out the ink. Accept it. As they are all within your expectations. Accept it. Everything happened makes our life more colorful."

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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

Lack of water

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