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.

Heading home

Our home for four days and three nights - isn't she a beaut?

We made it back from the Yangtze River trip on Saturday weighing significantly less than when we started due to the amount that we lost in sweat. The trip was fun but it did have its share of challenges. I'll write more later but suffice to say that three big sweaty boys and one big sweaty girl sharing a tiny cabin with a pungent squatter toilet and a decrepit AC does not bode well for four days on the hot and humid river (which Daniel and Ken have dubbed the world's largest open sewer). The experience was pretty unique as we were the only westerners on board and I'm not really sure they knew what to do with us. If you add in Chinese men walking around in their undies and smoking, women doing laundry and then hanging their unmentionanbles on the deck to flap happily in the breeze and little bare-bunned kids peeing and defecating wherever they pleased then you only begin to get a glimpse of what our adventure was like. Of course we could have paid a lot more and gone on a more luxurious cruise that catered towards westerners, but that would have taken all of the fun out of it and I am sure the others would agree with me, right?

I've been spending these last few days packing and doing laundry. If you know me at all you know that I am not the most organized person ever and the current room that I am packing in is a disaster. Sean came over to help as he actually likes to pack and be organized. While backpacking he has been known to empty my pack and then re-pack it just because it was driving him crazy. Freak. Steve, Spring and Michael are coming over today to make dumplings and tomorrow we are going to have a final dinner with Zhao min and Qin Chen. Our flight on Wednesday leaves at 3:40 pm and we arrive in Chicago at 4:15 pm on the same day - funny how that works. Then it's off right away to wedding number one of the summer in which Sean is a groomsman - I hope they can use some chopsticks or a tea set!

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Sarah Sanderson

1 Comment

Erica on July 12, 2010 at 11:49 AM

yikes. I cringe at this, but that's just the stuffy travel agent in me. :)

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

Heading home

1 Comment