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.

Countryside of Cambodia (winter break)

Our first full day in Siem Reap we decided to take it easy and explore some of the surrounding area before we tackled the main tourist draw, the temples of Angkor Wat. After the insanely early off-key rooster medley wake-up-call and breakfast, we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day and headed out about 20 km from town to the land mine museum.

On the way we were able to see a lot of the countryside. It was a relief to get away from the crazy, tourist and vendor-infested streets of town. During the drive we saw lots of palm trees, rice fields, small houses and lots of people working on their farms or working with cows and water buffalo.

We wanted to go to the land mine museum because of all that we had heard and read about concerning the problems of active mines and UXOs (unexploded ordinances) that still exist in Cambodia today. Cambodia has one of the worst land mine problems in the world. Because of this, many men, women and children stumble upon mines that were left over from years of war and are killed or maimed. The land mine museum is run by a Cambodian who was a boy soldier in the Khmer Rouge whose job was to lay mines. Nowadays he goes around the country and finds mines to deactivate them and so far has removed thousands. His museum is also home to children who have lost their parents to land mines. After walking around in the museum you even get a chance to explore a garden where there are some non-active mines set up to see if you can spot them.

After a long day and kind of heavy and depressing day thinking about land mines, we were ready to try some Cambodian food which was served to us in banana leaves. The food had some coconut flavor, fish sauces and curries. After dinner we bought a small book about the temples we were planning to see tomorrow and tried to digest some of the history that we would be walking around in the following day.

Read More 3 comments | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

3 comments

Kate on April 30, 2010 at 11:28 AM

That last photo is making me so hungry! I bet it was delicious.
Anonymous on March 30, 2012 at 12:03 PM

love the picture of the house in the village...:)
RobertNelson on November 17, 2021 at 9:00 PM

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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

Countryside of Cambodia (winter break)

3 comments