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.

Universal Studios, Singapore

I’m still amazed that we found so much to do and keep us busy in Singapore since I had been anticipating a rather small and unexciting island. On our fourth day in the country we decided to do what all the Singaporeans were doing on vacation – head to Sentosa Island, the nearby popular resort getaway which offered aquariums, beaches, theme parks, casinos and lots more.

After taking the monorail there we were planning on just walking around but when we arrived we decided to check out Universal Studios. None of us had ever been to one before and after reading what there was to do we decided to bite the bullet and pay for a pricey day of Hollywood fun. And we had a blast! The theme park was filled with tons of rides, roller coasters, 4D shows and live spectacles. Everything was clean and well-organized and we didn’t have to wait in line for anything over 30 minutes. We spent the whole day there and I believe that we did every attraction – I haven’t had that much fun in long time and it felt like we were all kids again. ($53 hotel, $12 lunch, $5 transport)

The park was divided into sections which all had their own themes like Shrek, dinosaurs, Madagascar, New York City, the future, Egypt and water world. It was awesome and made me think of all the fun times I had with my family when I was younger and we got to go to Disney World. The tickets were really expensive and there was no way we could do the fun things in Singapore like Universal Studios, the zoo and the night safari without the help of Christmas money from parents and grandparents (thanks Mom, Dad and Grandma!). I’m so glad that we decided to go because it was a ton of fun and something totally different than what we had been doing on our vacation. ($110 tickets, $12 snacks, $45 dinner)

We hadn’t wanted to eat in the park or on the island but we ended up getting so hungry that we gave in and ate at a horrendously expensive Chili’s before taking the metro back to our hotels to crash for the night. Total for two people = $238 (our most expensive day of the whole trip)

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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

Universal Studios, Singapore

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